I am thankful for you!

In two and a half weeks you will turn 2! What a fast 2 years your young life has been! I wish I could stop and drink you in like the smell of the sweetest flower.

We are at James and Camille's. You know we have come to Nana and Papa's town. You keep looking for Papa. You hear James talking and call, "Papa! Papa!" Then when you find James and realize it is not Papa, you are disappointed!

You have enjoyed playing with balls and Chevron cars while you are here. You have won over James Young's (Camille's Father) heart. He plays with you and likes you. You win over everyone's heart. You are so sweet and chubby and cuddle-able. I love your chubby hands and I love the way you wave them and clap them and "zoom, zoom, zoom" them!

Papa and Grandma were in town last week. You and Papa forged a special bond. Papa took you to the playground twice and you would push a tractor down the slide and Papa would catch it. Every morning you looked for him to come. Again, you won his heart. He says he is on a Taft High and can't wait to see you again! You make everyone feel special in the way that you love them.

Towel!

Alyssa had gotten chocolate chips out of the fridge. She dropped a few on the floor and Taft pick them up. I assume Taft had eaten them. A few minutes later I went to put his shoes on and he opened his hand to reveal a melty chocolate chip mess. He started to cry a little bit and say "Towel towel towel towel." He wanted to wash the chocolate off his hands. He refused to eat it!

mmm My Tafty

Taft, I love you!

You play so happily and sing twinkle twinkle little star.

You love Legos and trucks and babies and food!

You love to be snuggled when you are feeling sad.

Your favorite books are "I Want My Hat Back" by Jon Klassen and "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and maybe "Mama, Do You Love Me".

We have started attending story time at the library in Austin and you love Lou the lion and "Little (animal), Little (animal) are you behind the (colored object)."

You love Joel and watch out for him by giving him blankets and such.

You are happy and smiley and passionate!

I am thankful for you!!

Update

Taft and Alyssa are good friends. They play together all the time and usually it is happy play! The last two weeks we have had Claire and Grandma visiting. There was an air matress set up in their room and Taft LOVED to go to the air mattress and plop down on it. It had become one of his coping mechanisms if he was feeling upset about something. The morning after Grandma left we deflated the air matress and put it away. I told Taft not to do something (probably to put the toilet brush away or stop playing in the toilet) and he was feeling a little upset. He toddled into the room to have his moment with the air matress and was very disappointed to find that it wasn't there!

The most current picture I have of him...he's so cute!

We went to the zoo with Lauretta and Atlas Price to see a dinosaur exhibit they had there. Taft was not a fan of the dinosaurs. He would turn his head away from them, with a big pouty frown as we walked by. He did like the other animals though! He was particularly fascinated with the flamingos.

Taft likes to sing. He will lay on the floor or walk around the house singing fun little songs to himself. He loves "The Wheels on the Bus." He moves his hands in cute circles when he wants to sing it. I recently found him sitting with the book we have of "The Wheels on the Bus" circling his hands. It is fun to see the connections he is making! He will often go pull some books off the shelves and look through them. I am glad he likes books!

One afternoon Ben and I were sitting on the floor reading Taft books. He walked over to me and fell across my belly and started giving it open mouth kisses. I think he knows his friend is in there and wants him to come out and play! Sometimes he will also stand at my feet and look up at my belly and pull my shirt away from underneath like he's trying to figure out what is going on!