It would be hard for me to believe that Jameson was two and a half except that we have a newborn at home, so it’s starting to feel natural that he looks and acts so big. Since he first turned two, his reasoning and thinking skills have really improved. He won’t hesitate to tell us what he wants to eat, and then just as decisively will tell us that he wants something else instead and no longer wants chicken nuggets. And speaking of food, he seems to be more consciously messy, which drives us bonkers. Spitting food out on the table and dipping in his milk is a frequent favorite.

Every like and dislike is said in an earnest and urgent tone, and when he doesn’t get his way we are always talking him down from the ledge. Sometimes is easier than others, but overall we don’t experience many tantrums and consider these upset moments as blips on the radar.

Jameson is 26 pounds as of a month ago and measured about half an inch under 3 feet.

He is really developing his imagination which seems to revolve around food: playing tea with Lily, giving me “pizza”, and he has even told us that Bobby Bear wants to sit at the table to eat. Luckily Bobby Bear doesn’t eat real food. I can only imagine how much messier we’d be!

When I took a picture of Bobby Bear, Jameson said “say cheese Bobby Bear” and when he realized I couldn’t see his smile, he got Bobby Bear out of his chair and turned him around so I could take a picture of him smiling; I obliged, of course.

In another example of his growing imagination, as I was making his bed he told me he wanted a bounce house (he hadn’t really experienced the word “tent” yet). I built one for him, and while we didn’t bounce in it, we did lay in it and made another one that night which he decided to call a castle this time around and read stories inside.

Bed time has been going very smoothly. We had a couple rough months prior to Coraline being born but since then has been very smooth and routine-driven. So has the morning ritual and most mornings go great. Jameson is still wearing pull ups to bed (we tried recently without and it didn’t work nor did he wake up), but during the day he is completely potty trained even through naps.

We read library books at bedtime mostly now, switching them out every month or so. He really enjoys Curious George books which are longer than our former board books and a little more now. But he doesn’t like Curious George the TV show as much; that favorite still goes to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (the Mr. Rogers cartoon reinvention). He asks to watch Daniel Tiger goes potty and Daniel Tiger goes to sleep.

And Coraline… he loves his little sister more each day as she seems to be more active and alert. We talk about her smiling at him, and he has finally sat still enough a couple times that she has been able to focus on him and truly smile at him. He likes to take her hand and do knuckles with her. At bath time recently he did “this little piggy” on her hands and toes, which melted my heart.

He does show some signs of wanting more of mom’s attention since it is frequently on Coraline and feeding her or holding her; dad does the morning and most bed routines, so when he can get mom to read a story or sing a song he is thrilled!

Jameson just loves to be outside and doing what daddy (and sometimes mommy) is doing. He sings frequently, sometimes songs we didn’t realize he knows. There is nothing better than listening to a garbled song from a cute toddler!

He loves playing with his neighborhood friends Lily and Nathan and is starting to remember that Nathan lives nearby now, requesting to go to his house on walks. He recognizes his school from the car while driving, even if we are just passing it, and also recognizes our neighborhood when we get close to the house. We can’t fool his memory as easily now!

We haven’t really experienced much of the terrible twos, so (knock on wood) I’ll take more of these toddler years please. He’s so fun!