Terrific twos

I am not sure why they call it the terrible twos. So far, Isaac has been quite easy to get along with. I am sure that most of it is due to his pleasant personality, but we are all enjoying watching him discover the world.

He is learning about his place in space. We have several boxes around the house for storage and he will try to close himself into a box even though he is much bigger than the box. He is so funny when he hides behind the sheer curtains when we play hide and seek. He will hold very still until you look in all the places in the room except behind the curtains. He will finally burst out laughing and then you can "find" him.

He is learning about the blessings of the natural world. Whenever we take a walk together he has to stop and smell every flower we pass. If we go to a store and there are artificial flowers, he has to smell those too. He has never met a bug or a rock or a stick that wasn't worth a close inspection. Poor Sonya, he loves to chase and pet her as well as feed her. We have a drainage ditch behind our house and he loves to go down with his boots on and stomp around in the mud. Actually, he loves his boots because he can put them on himself. He will tell you what most animals say and if you ask him what a mama says he will say, "Love you." I am glad it's not NO, or stop or don't.

He is learning to pray, and whenever we are at the dinner table, it doesn't matter who Tom calls on to pray, Isaac will start to pray. When Tom does call on Isaac to pray, he will start the prayer and then take a break to drink from his sippy cup. Sometimes these turn into very long prayers. At bedtime we read stories and then pray. He will sometimes rush through his prayer so that he can climb up the hippo next to his bed. One night Tom lifted him up into bed and he kept saying Hippo, hippo and wouldn't go to sleep. Tom finally figured it out and went back in to do the prayer and then the hippo climb to ensure a good night.

He is learning about social interaction. Also at the dinner table, if we are all talking together and start laughing, he will start laughing too, just to be part of the group. If we still don't pay attention to him, he will begin to cluck like a chicken and move his arms like chicken wings. Then we all start laughing at him and he just eats it up. He loves the tickle bugs in the sleeve trick and will regularly pull his sleeve over his arm and have you look inside only to discover a whole sleeve full of tickle bugs jump out to attack you.

He has already learned that all of the good things are up high where you can't reach them. I dread hearing the chair being dragged across our wood floor because then I know that he has found the cinnamon rolls I made for breakfast and is licking off all the frosting. At least there is warning with the kitchen chair. Sometimes, it is very quiet for a long time and then I will hear the toilet flush, and Tom isn't home. I then know that something has gone missing from the house. It is usually several days before we figure out what it was. Luckily no toilet has overflowed yet. Doors used to be an obstacle, but no more. This big guy can open most of them now.

He is learning the joy of working together as a family. He is a big helper whenever there is a task to be done. We had to buy him his own broom so that we could sweep the floor. Before he had his own broom, he would take the one you were using so that the only time anyone could sweep was after he was in bed. He has a little lawn mower that we pretend is a vacume. He will follow us around with his lawn mower while we are vacuming. If his hands are sticky or there are papers on the floor he will say, "Mess" and hold up his hands or point to the floor. We then clean them up together.

I love having a 2 year old in the house. It reminds me to slow down and enjoy the flowers, lick off the frosting and squish the mud. I love the sticky hugs and the eskimo kisses. He is a special little guy and I am so happy that I am his mother.