Running from the Law: Mac - 2.75 Years

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Mac - 2.75 Years

Dear Macaroni Bologna,

How do I even begin to put down in words just how amazing you are?  Everyone told me that 2 was a magical age that was both wonderful and horribly infuriating and they did not lie.  You are the most frustrating, endearing, exhausting, exhilarating, sweet, obnoxious, stubborn, lovable person I've ever met.  You may only be a few feet tall, but your personality is through the roof.  You have more attitude in your little finger than most grown-ups have in their whole body.  You are such a spitfire and 100% boy.  I refuse to believe that the next update I do on you will be THREE YEARS.  How can that be?!  

Every day you seem a little bit older and a little more mature, which is both heartbreaking and totally amazing.  You are no longer the frustrated and jealous little boy you were a few short months ago when your sister arrived.  You've learned how to control and express yourself so much better these days and (knock on wood) the tantrums are slowly dying down.  You use your words to express your feelings and it's incredible to see the difference that makes in your behavior and attitude.  Don't get me wrong, you still insist on doing things by yourself and must have exactly what you want at that exact minute, but somehow it seems to be getting better.  Most meltdowns these days seem to be over wanting to eat junk food or making you get dressed.  I am such a bad mom.
You are still a total daddy's boy, but I've found the more time we spend together one-on-one, the better our transitions are and the easier you are on us.  Sometimes I just have to put Mim down and focus on you completely for a minute and then you're totally fine.  We're learning how to do this whole "family of four" thing together and we're getting better at it every day.  I'm hoping that we'll soon be able to start doing more Mommy/Mac dates where we can get out of the house and have some time together.  You are such an amazing kid when you're getting ALL the attention - the acting out really only happens when we add more people and the focus isn't 100% on you (believe me, I understand).  You love mommy, but when you get hurt or when you first wake-up for the day, daddy's still the person you want the most.  Of course I wish it was me, but I love that you and your dad are so close and have such a great relationship.  You've got a pretty great dad. 
You are also becoming such a good big brother.  You are much more tolerant of Mim these days (although not completely) and don't mind her being around as much as you did a few months ago. You absolutely love to make her laugh, which is good because she is completely smitten with you and thinks you are the funniest being on earth.  You love getting right in her face and making her laugh. Any attention that you bestow upon her is like gold and she can't get enough.  You still get jealous very easily, so for now I make sure that I hug/kiss you first when I get home and I make sure that you and Mim take turns with things so you don't feel like you're getting passed over.  Getting in front of the jealousy before it happens seems to help a lot.

You started nursery school back in November and are doing great!  You say you don't like it, but I think you have a good time while you're there and you love to talk about what you do at school. Dropoffs are the hardest part.  You do great until we leave the room and then the tears start.  The first few times I dropped you off was absolute torture for me and I cried all day about it.  But every day gets a little bit easier for both of us.  Your crying stops by the time I get around the corner (I stop and listen outside your room), so I try not to worry about it too much.  Your teachers say you're doing great and that you always have fun.  Last week at dropoff, we were hanging up your coat and you said, "I'm not going to cry today, mama."  I told you that was great and praised you for being so big and brave.  As I handed you off to your teacher, your little lip was quivering and you wanted to cry so badly, but didn't.  I was so proud of you!  The crazy thing is, I think it was harder on me that you didn't cry - you are just growing up so fast.

School has fostered a newfound love of learning and questioning things.  You can sing your ABCs and identify most letters.  You can count and show me your numbers on your fingers.  You express your feelings so incredibly well, even your teachers have commented on your incredible verbal skills. You talk like a five-year old and have always been ahead of the curve on your vocabulary and grammar.  You are so inquisitive these days and ask me questions like "why?" and "how?" and "what's that mean?" all the time.  I thought we had another year or two before we got to the "why" phase, but I think it came early.  It's pretty amazing to watch your little brain work and make connections though.  You are such a smartie.  And you're nosy.  Any time you miss what the adults said or don't understand what we're talking about, you say "What'd you said?" over and over again until we stop and explain things you to.  It's both adorable and really obnoxious.

You love music, dancing and playing the guitar.  You have a small guitar (just like daddy's) and you like to sit on your little chair in the living room and play the guitar for anyone that comes over.  You say, "It's the Mac Show!" and begin playing and singing.  But before every song, you have to count it out and you say, "A one, a two, a four, a six."  It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.  You have music at school every Friday and you come home singing and dancing.  You love the "Ram Sam Sam" song at school and are getting really good at singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Every night before bed you insist on turning on the radio on my alarm clock and we have a mini dance party on the bed before heading to your room. Your dance moves consist of bouncing, twirling and jumping, with weird arm movements.  It's the best! 
The biggest change I've noticed over the last few months though is your independence.  You must do everything by yourself.  You love to dress yourself and are so proud when you get your clothes on without any help, even if they're backwards.  We just let you wear them backwards, since it doesn't hurt anything.  You can put on your own coat, snowpants, mittens, hat and boots too.  The only thing you can't do is zip up your coat.  It's pretty impressive to watch you get dressed.  You love helping and we try to give you chores that you can do to help out.  You are in charge of feeding the fish and dogs every night.  You also vacuum and wash windows.  You're very good at entertaining Mim while I change her diaper and you can let the dogs in and out of the house now.  You helped me shovel the snow off the driveway and you love watering the plants.  I try to let you do as much as I can and we're always looking for new things you can do to help out.  

Oh kiddo, I just love you so incredibly much. You are the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me.  I am so lucky and blessed to be your mom.  You keep me on my toes and make everything amazing.  Never change.

Love,
Your mama

Likes:
- chocolate
- dancing
- playing the guitar
- chicken burgers
- tea
- chapstick
- playing basketball
- chase
- Ram Sam Sam song
- brushing your teeth
- books
- daddy
- being outside
- sticker books

Dislikes:
- vegetables
- sharing 
- bears
- saying goodbye


18 comments:

  1. They grow up so fast! He's definitely a big boy now and no longer a baby! I'm so impressed with his language skills. Noah's always been a little behind in that department so 2 year olds that have real conversations shock me! Noah also likes doing everything himself and helping us with everything... Today I posted about all the chores he helps us with!

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  2. I just laughed out loud when I saw the title of this post because I just wrote down Elin's age as 2.75 and I was thinking, "Who else says that?" Love seeing all the similarities in what both are kiddos are in to right now.

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  3. Aw, him and my 2.5 year old daughter are SO much alike, they always have been. I'm pregnant with my second and so curious what he/she will be like.

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  4. Ram Sam Sam...a constant in our house! ;) He is SO HANDSOME and seems like such a great little boy, son and brother. It's been so fun to watch him grow, and now he is turning into a little BOY!

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  5. Cue ALL the tears. It's so incredible and amazing and impossible how fast these little boys are growing up.
    I love that Mac has his own show! How sweet and adorable is that? And, such a good big brother.
    If Mac could, would he please teach Marcus that getting dressed solo is a good thing? I feel like I'll be pulling up pants until my kid is 10…
    Happy 2.75 Mac!

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  6. That top picture is adorable! He seems like such an amazing lil guy. :)

    Mandie ~ http://badbrewpack.blogspot.com/

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  7. Awww... He sounds like an absolutely precious little man!

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  8. I can totally sympathize with your boy's love for daddy, especially when he wakes up. Reed always calls for daddy on the monitor and when I walk in the room you can see the disappointment all over his face. If Jeff goes in with me he freaks and claps and dives to hug him. Just once I'd like to get that welcome reception! Also, tell me more about this Mac not liking bears things. Is it teddy bears or all bears? That's an interesting dislike!

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  9. Oh I just love that Mac is transitioning into the big brother role well! He & liam always sound so similar, so I'm really hoping to two is their tougher year and not three. Oh I can't even imagine three!

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  10. I love these posts that you do! I think when your kids turn 18, you should print them off or put them in a book somehow and give them to them. I would love to see what my mom had to say about me when I was younger. It would be so interesting, especially now, to compare how I was and how Mason is.
    Mac is looking like such a big kid these days! I love the concentration he has when he's playing with something. So serious! Happy 2.75 Mac!

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  11. Our blogging brains must be in sync this week as I'm working on Eloise's 2.5 years post. How did this happen? What a great post.

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  12. Your kids are absolutely adorable. I love these wonderful notes you write them.

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  13. Definitely going to have to take some pointers from you and get my boy to doing some chores! He is so so independent so he would probably LOVE to help out and of course I can use some help! :) Love your pictures of Mac...especially the first one with that look and the last one in the bathtub...babies in bathtubs are the best!!

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  14. Umm...seriously, can Mac come and teach Elyse how to put on her own clothes? (that sounds a lot better than asking if he can teach her how to take off her clothes...hee hee!) I think I may be dressing her until she's 12. At least I don't have to fight as big of a clothing battle with me dressing her every morning!

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  15. What a big boy!! Such special updates/letters to your little ones. We're approaching this age and I just can't believe it. Such a jump from that baby/toddler to a kid. Hard to believe, but you do such a great job 'documenting'. How fun to compare/look back on this time. What a fun boy you have!! :)

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  16. What a sweet post! He's getting so big, I hear you with drop offs, Scarlett still cry's when I leave her with anyone but doing ok at her day home now! The lip quiver is heartbreaking but the fact that he didn't cry is such a huge step, what a brave little boy!! :)

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  17. Such a precious little guy you have on your hands!! I hope things keep getting smoother and smoother (school drop off, sibling love). You'll have your dates soon!

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  18. What a sweet post! He's getting so big -- can you believe in 2 months we'll have 3 year olds?! So crazy but so fun too! I think he loves school from what you said -- I can't wait for Callie to start. These verbal kids are amazing and terrifying. I was trying to talk in code to Jake about something and Callie who was watching a show turned around and said "hey why are you talking about me?" you do such great kid updates!

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