These are the Days

I'm not sure how that title made the cut, since today it was easily 90 degrees, humid, with no breeze. I'm a solid 26 pounds heavier than pre-baby, with at least 10 more weeks to go that can be about a pound a week in more weight gain...I spent a good half of it in and out of the sun, I think got a sunburn on the back of one of my shoulders when I couldn't handle having my hair down anymore, I'm pretty sure I have to start wearing sneakers regularly to get the support I need to carry this very low and comfy "down there" baby around at 30 weeks and counting, and even with not getting up until after 8 a.m. and taking an hour nap, I could still go to bed at 7 p.m. I'm sweating more than a pound a day in this weather, I'm sure of it, and my face is generally a shade of pink or red just from the effort of walking in the heat/sun/doing some chore/carrying Levi.

I stayed in my big-boy bed all night! But rolled off in the morning :)

But. Nonetheless. I feel like we've entered sort of the joyful days of summer. Even amidst the ridiculousness of a busy and stupid hot Saturday (and it's only June 1! this child will clearly be my one and only summer baby), things seem happy, if also hazy :)


We walked around market this morning and Levi helped me carry one of the very heavy bags I was carrying (OK, I bought apples, a pineapple, and several other hefty-ish items while shopping at market by myself without a stroller....), did not walk away from me once, and even climbed in an out of his carseat all by himself, saving me the awkwardness of bashing his head trying to stoop down while lifting him high enough to put him in it!

Playing with Jeeves, Gigi's (faux) butler

 At the carwash (Gigi, you'd be proud of how beautiful my car is now!) He stared out of the big picture window in awe while they cleaned the inside of mommy's car, and even repeatedly pointed out my car to the man standing and watching his own car.

At naptime, he immediately began taking out the train tracks I'd so carefully put away so I could take cleanish pics of his big boy room, but then acquiesced to climbing in his big-boy bed with his "truck blanket" from Nannan, and actually fell right asleep without the usual shenanigans.

 He was absolutely delighted with the slip-and-slide at his friend's birthday party, chock full of smiles the whole time.

He helped me put the vegetables away in the fridge after market.

He chatters about motorcycles and trucks and dump trucks and buses and also motorcycles anytime he sees/thinks about one of the above.

Playing football in Gigi's yard

He fancies himself a techie, going around plugging the end of my headphones into anything that could be construed as a jack, including mommy's belly button (decidedly an outie at the moment).

He politely brought me several pieces of his plastic train tracks while I was in the shower this morning, because I must have been bored without tub toys like he has, apparently.

He pushes not only his dresser drawers closed, but also Daddy's (Anybody seen that Tina Fey/Steve Carrell movie date night, where the husband can't close a drawer ever? yeah. Tim's vice also includes cabinets along with drawer fronts).

He also fancies himself quite the craftsman, using things like daddy's (small) clamps and screwdrivers to "fix" things. Or just...bang on things.

He loves to give hugs, and while he doesn't quite seem to understand kisses, he at least makes the "muah!" sound if you ask him to give you kisses.

He loves to give high fives, and is even very fair about it - if he gives Daddy high fives, he must immediately find mommy to give her high fives also.

I realize this sounds like he's the most calm and intentionally nice child ever, at all times, and that's certainly not the case. But he's rarely rigid, tends toward laughing instead of crying when he's tired, and is pretty easily distracted by "let's go find mommy's car!!" or "let's go look at some trucks!" if we need to leave/stop doing something and go do something else. He still has his moments - even with dozens of words, his first response is ALWAYS to whine instead of talk, he freaks out if you misunderstand what he meant (he wanted to FLUSH the POTTY by HIMSELF even though he clearly said "HELP!"), he hates when tubby or shower time is done and will express himself with kicking or hitting when he's worked up, and he'll cry and say no when he really means yes please I want that. He'll scream this angry little scream when he can't figure something out or it doesn't work like he thinks it does. All completely normal for a

Petting Gigi's pet dragon

two-year-old.

I know two can be terrible, but I try to remember that at two, most things are either terribly exciting or slightly scary, and it seems like grownups always say no to the exciting things and think you should be fine around the scary things. So if I can let him enjoy the exciting things as much as possible without them being dangerous, and remember that he does just need a hug or to hold my hand sometimes for no reason, it makes it easier to just recognize those happy moments throughout busy, whiny, sweaty days :)

Sighting planes overhead at Gigi's