How old are you?

TWO!! It's been amazing to watch Caiden's development recently, especially his memory and language. He's getting new words and phrases every day. I think the longest sentence I've heard from him was 5 words: "turtle hiding in da bubbles!", speaking about his bath toys.

He did great at his 2 year checkup. Thumbs up from the doctor. No shots. His stats:
Weight: 30.8 lbs, 80%
Height: 2'11 (35 inches), 60%

He certainly has the 2 year old attitude down. With occasional exception (the mega meltdown), it's pretty easy to deal with. Giving him options, and letting him do things himself, make a world of difference. Wonder what a mega meltdown looks like? Here you go!

Some other updates...

Layers
Caiden hates, and I mean HATES, layers. Sweaters, jackets and vests are all equally despisable in his book. He even doesn't like when other people wear jackets. He'll try to take it off for you.

Bedtime
We're back to easy bedtime. We discovered that the time he gets into bed is critical. Not rocket science, I know, but even 10-15 minutes late will mean tears, difficulty falling asleep, and early waking. So we moved up the bedtime routine to make sure he gets into his crib at 7pm. Unless he is teething or sick (or gets stuffed animal fuzz in his mouth, as was the case last week), he'll sleep really well.

Backseat driver
Caiden attempts to direct my driving from his carseat. Our drives are full of: "That way! That way! Turn 'round! Turn 'round! No! Not dis way! Go back!" And sometimes even "Cars - careful! Train coming!"

Mom's turn!
For someone so full of energy, he sure can have a lazy streak sometimes. "Mom's turn" is code for "Mom, I want you to do that for me". An example: we were playing downstairs and Caiden asked about his "blue car". I told him it was upstairs and suggested we go get it. He said "Mom's turn!", gave me a gentle push towards the stairs, and even had the nerve to yell "Mater too". I don't think so, buddy.

Binkie
We are officially pacifier free except during naps and night time. Breaking the daytime habit wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. He occasionally still asks for it, but we tell him it's just for nighttime and he usually drops the subject. He tries to fake us out though- if we are upstairs he will turn off his bedroom light, go stand next to his crib, and say "night night". We fell for it the first time- thinking he was ready for bed early- but once in his crib he just grabbed his pacifier and then asked to get out and read books. Sneaky fella.

Dad where are you?

It's not terribly newsworthy, but Caiden does a cute thing where he calls out "Whereareyou?" when one of us leaves the room