2 Years in the Making

Dear PeepsTWO,
You are now two years old and 1 month. It is time to update all of your exciting abilities.
A list will be the easiest to get out the latest and greatest...
1.  You sing ABC's (knowing what they are and that they make up words mean), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Happy Birthday, Mary had a Little Lamb and our made up Jammie Time song.
2.  You can identify at least 20 letters of the 26 letter alphabet army.
3.  You've moved on to to more involved story books.  You really like to read Goggles!, Peter's Chair, Hi, Cat!, Man on the Moon, and Skates by Ezra Jack Keats.  Keats was an author that based his character Peter on a photo booth picture he found on the ground one day.  Peter grows up through the books with his sister Susie.  You loved the characters names and pictures in Keats books so much Mommy put them all on reserve at the library and we spent a week reading them over and over again.  You also love Blueberries for Sal by Robert McKlosky, Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman, Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion.  It appears that you like mostly books written in the 50's-70's.  The stories are crisp and clear with sweet characters. 
4.  You have started "reading" books to us.  For about 6 months you've "read"  Machines At Work by Byron Barton.  One afternoon I said why don't you read it to Mommy this time.  And you recited each page accurately.  You do the same with most books after 2 or 3 reads.  
5.  You have a super charged memory for books or events you've experienced. 
6.  You easily talk in 5-10 word sentences using nouns, pronouns, verbs, contractions, adjectives and verb tenses.  I should add that you LOVE to talk.  You speak very clearly too.
7.  A great joy together is art time.  We paint, stamp, stick stickers, play with play dough, markers, glue, glitter, and crayons.  You tell us you're drawing cool backhoes.
8.  With all of the road work in town you can identify every type of heavy equipment.  You point out the window and yell, "BACKHOE, CEMENT MIXER, LARGE EXCAVATOR, BULLDOZER!"  It isn't unusual for me to hear begging from the back seat to turn around because the crane is now working.

9.  You are starting to have dreams and with that comes fear because you aren't quite sure how cows and horses are floating in the sky or why there is a goat in your room.
10.  We are so pleased that you now say yes more than no.  It is particularly endearing when you say, "Yes, I do!"
11.  Word games are a favorite of yours.  You mix and match the middle and ends of words or swap out the vowels as if you conjugating verbs for fun.  Tico Taco Toco Tico...Henusk, Henisk, Mamisk, Mamusk, Smack, Smook, Smeek.
12.  You can identify and say the colors... red, blue, green, brown, black, yellow, orange, silver, gold
13.  You can identify and say the shapes... circle, oval, square, triangle, rectangle, trapezoid, octagon, hexagon, pentagon, heart, star, plus or cross, diamond, crescent, half circle, and quad foil (four leaf clover).  You find these shapes around you all around you and shout them out.
14.  Still love sweepin' for Mama, which is wonderful but you can make a lot of mess.
15.  Pee in the potty often.
16. Brush your own teeth and wash your own hands.  You love washing your hands.  It is hard to pull you away from the sink!  If I try to help I get a quick, "Henny do it his ownself!"
17.  You make good playtime practice at the library train table of always handing a toy to someone else before you begin to play.  Along with your new understanding of playing with others, this has seriously cut down on your desire to swipe other kid's train cars.
18. Most nights before bed time you look out the window by Daddy's office to find the moon.  As soon as you find it you let us know if it is a crescent moon, half moon or a full moon.  I love that!
19.  You are obsessed with poop.  Someone got you the book, Everything Poops, and all you can talk about it poopin' in mud and running over it with a backhoe.  I hope this one passes quickly, no pun intended.
20.  You can id most money, and can tell us who's picture is on the penny & 5, quarter &1, the 20 and sometimes the 10 and the nickle.

21.  You now love our night time ritual.  Daddy and I take you back to your room after reading for 20 mintues (you'd have us reading all night long).  Then you ask daddy to, "TICKLE BELLWEE!"  Daddy does that for about 5 minutes then you have him hold you like a baby.  Next you give him a hug and kiss.  Daddy says, "Goodnight, see you in the morning, I love you tantamoose!"   Then it is my turn.  I give you big hugs and snuggles and sit you on the edge of the crib.  I slide you back and forth with a big hug and sing with you, "Squeezin' means lovin'.  Lovin' means squeezin!"  With a kiss on the nose I say, "I love you, I love you SOOOO much."  You lay down and you say, "So much! Too much, Too much Mommy."  I say, "Never too much! Never!"  You roll over and put your thumb into your mouth and curl around your blankets and say, "I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy!"   I say, "Goodnight, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. I love you."  Daddy yells out, "Dude abides."  We close the door and you shout it back a couple of times and you're asleep.  Thanks for being so easy.
22.  You can spell your own name!  We were at the zoo with cousin's Ella and Tyler and Tyler asked me if you could spell your own name yet.  I waited a second, looked at you and said, "Henry can you spell your own name. H..."  You said, "H-E-N-R-Y!"  Never under estimate my dorky obnoxious songs doing some good!

You scare us with your knowledge sometimes but can't get enough of you.  We are so fortunate.
Love, Mama