only 2 for 2 more weeks

sitting at a booth eating dinner, crew naturally stands up, to look over the back of the bench at the passer-bys'. to one random man, crew said hi, the mad oddly only gave crew a friendly two fingers up, as if to say "peace" crew excitedly turned to me and j with a big smile on his proud face and said "mom, HE is TWO!" LOL...

this pic was taken a while back when crew had finally conquered the coordination ability to show his age. in the earlier part of his second year, when asked how old he is, he would show both his pointer fingers.

my sweet angel will be 3 soon. i love him so much. he is so cute and fun and funny and smart. i say that objectivly. wink! i seriously am in awe listening to him and watching him every single day grow into himself and adapt to this world. he knows and can identify all the abc's, and knows the sounds of almost all of them, knows his shapes (even recognizes the difference from a pentagon vs. and octogon), colors, his right and left, his address (the whole thing), his gender, his numbers thru 10 easily, 11+ is coming along right around the corner, he can spell his name and differenciate the first, middle and last name. he also knows a lot of biblical people and stories and religious beliefs. he loves fire trucks and every thing associated with them. he was asked at halloween if he was a fireman, and without hesitation he replied "no, i am a fireFIGHTER!" he loves to climb, jump, run, play trains, drink chocolate milk (at least 2 cups A day), swing at the park, play hide-n-seek, read books, and above all, play pretend...anything AND all the time. he is very aware of his surroundings (when i get lost driving (becoming less frequent) he asks me "are we going a different way?" vocalizing his feelings with gusto and charm is always my thrill and pride.

TERRIBLE TWOS
in my parental-denial-ship, i found myself assumming crew is too smart and ultimately above the so called "terrible twos". i told myself...becaue his level of understanding 'good vs. bad choices' and their consequences is so advanced, he is above any extraordinarily bad behavior and won't push the limits. boy oh boy...was i in for a treat!

with the three years of age mark quickly approaching, it is ACTUALLY, I, THE MOTHER who is learning the big lesson(s)...we didn't just wiz by his 'terrible twos'. no. they were merely LATE.

Now i am in a different kind of awe "listening and watching" my sweet little boy turn into a, shall we say less than angelic child. time and time again his DAILY mischievous blatant stunts and outlandish defiance is beyond my wildest imagination and any "hard parenting" cliches. UUUUUUGGGGG. (this might be a little embellished. but, crew, you know i love!)