Augie turned 2 a couple weeks ago and I have been meaning to write a little post about him in celebration. Here goes:
- He likes to be very independent. I am not allowed to help him at all with the process of climbing into his high chair, getting buckled in, or attaching his meal tray. He wants to do everything that Elek and Beata do and gets very upset if he is not allowed their freedoms.
- He has absolutely no fear of the water. When he sees Elek and B jump off the side of the pool he gets out of the water, walks to the edge of the pool, and walks right in himself. This definitely keeps me on my toes since he has not yet mastered the art of jumping so he would smack the back of his head on the edge if I didn't catch him each time. Oh and not to mention he can't swim yet. He sure tries though and it's hard to believe but he can already touch in the shallow end if he stands on the tips of his tippy toes. He had his first swim lesson on Friday. A woman named Frances came to the house for a one-on-one session with him. He loved it and I am really hoping she can teach him at least to turn around and grab the wall if he were to fall in.
- When he sees a birthday cake or anything party-related he says, "mom. happy birthday to you." Except that it is all jumbled up and totally adorable-sounding.
- When he isn't happy about something I've said he says dissappointedly, "oh mom."
- He often greets people by running up to them and hitting them.
- He has "duplex" fights with Elek where they hit one another back and forth and call each other "duplex." This strange battle has it's roots in lessons taught by cousin Sy.
- He is a pretty laid back kid and very likable. He loves to make people laugh. He is very go with the flow and can usually skip naps and still be good as gold till bedtime.
- His best friend/frenemy is Hayden Hershman. They treat one another like brothers, getting excited to see one another and fighting over toys.
- He has got a great head of hair. A mixture of tight curls and strands as flat as a board. I love the scraggly mess atop his head but Andrew would love to shave it all off. He threatened to while I was out shopping last week actually and got himself a nasty phone call with all sorts of other threats if he went through with it.
- If I ask for a kiss or hug he usually denies me but the second I look sad he showers me with "lovin's".
- We haven't had nearly the focus on teaching him letters and numbers that we did with Elek and B so he is much further behind in these areas than they were but I'm convinced that if we spent time with him on it he could pick it up pretty quickly so I'm not worried about it.
- "Dada, throw up," is how he asks Andrew to launch him as high into the sky as he can....he LOVES it!
- He loves hanging out at the beach...in the sand and in the water. He loves it all.
- He can come out with some pretty long strings of words at this point but he leaves out articles and pronouns so you've kinda gotta piece it together.
- He doesn't like smoothies which is just so strange since Elek and Beata have always loved them. He also doesn't like bananas and is wishy washy when it comes to strawberries.
- He is a very physical kid. He knows a soccer ball from a baseball from a football and loves playing with all of them. He gets especially excited about baseball though. I am hoping that Andrew and I can pull through as parents and help foster his love for sports despite our being so sport-challenged/uninterested.
- He is killing it on his strider bike. He has loved riding it from day one but a few weeks ago really mastered the "run-run-run put your feet up" part that we have been trying to teach him. A few days after he turned two he rode his strider all the way to Orlando park and all but one block home. He did it at a decent pace too and I am sure that if I had pressured him at all he could have made it the whole way back. I'm fairly sure that we could have they boy riding a two-wheeler by 2 and a half!
- You can tell he is hungry when he gets grumpy. In fact, he gets grumpier when he is hungry than he does when he is tired.
- The first thing he usually wants to do after waking up in the morning and from naps is "see B."
- He still twirls his hair when he is tired. It is the sure-fire way to tell whether or not he is sleepy. It was so sad when Andrew trimmed his hair before because he couldn't twirl. But the second those locks grew out he went right back to twisting that hair around his fingers. Sometimes he works it into knots from twirling it so much.
- He is obsessed with his Pop Pop. When we were in California he usually preferred him over me. He grew very comfortable with Weeta on that trip too. I'm pretty sure I could leave him with them for a month and he wouldn't ask for me.
- He has an awesome relationship with his aunt Gigi. He acts like he doesn't like her and they go back and forth hitting and pinching one another (don't worry, she does it lightly) but you can tell that he loves her a ton. And when he is feeling sentimental he will love on her.
- He is a big boy both physically and personality-wise. When you see him with kids his age it is hard to believe he isn't quite a bit older because of his size and the way he acts.
That's all I have time for for now. Will try and write more about the other two munchkins later. Today is Father's day and we are hoping to hit the beach. Yesterday we went to the zoo for Andrew's company picnic. After the BBQ we let the kids play in the splash pad which they all loved and then I let them play in the indoor play place there (it started to downpour) while Andrew ran to Walmart. That night we made last minute dinner plans with Amy and Steve. We went to El Ambia, an amazing Cuban restaurant, while the kids stayed at home and had a blast with Ava and Gavin. Hoping for an equally awesome day today!
