Greyson's Turn

Greyson turned 2 1/2 in the middle of January.  I've been saying he's 2 1/2 for a few months now, but its actually official and it seems totally crazy.  The kid is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  He has personality bursting from every pore.  He is energy, energy, energy all the time.  Some highlights of his life right now:

*He is playing pretend all the time.  I love watching him play.  His cars, trains, trucks, and helicopters are his favorite toys and they all talk to one another.  All of his cars have names, even if its just "blue car" or "yellow car."  Each one of us has a car assigned to us as well.  His toys have conversations like,
            "Hi blue car how are you?"
            "I'm good.  I'm going to Best Buy. See-ya in 2 days!"

*We have groupings and lines of cars literally all over the house.  On every surface, floor space, wherever.  I sit on the couch, there is a car poking my butt.  I pull back the covers for bed, a car stabs me in the knee.  They. Are. Everywhere.  And they are lined up in particular orders only known to him.  He drives them on every surface possible as he walks all over the house.  They make up his own little world and I love it.  Every night we line up like 10 cars along the edge of his bed in a very specific order.  Sometimes when we go somewhere, I will discover that he's stashed like 6 cars in his pants pockets.  The kid is a nut for cars.

*His vocabulary is skyrocketing.  There isn't a word he won't at least try to say, and his conversation skills are awesome.  He can put three or four sentences together at a time to tell a story or get a point across.  And his sense of humor is so great.  He cracks me up all day long.  I wanted to write a bunch of funny phrases that he says, but I can't think of any right now.  So, I'm going to come back to this post and add to it as I think of them.  Check back :)

*He loves his daddy oh so much.  Dan is off on Fridays, so he tries to have a morning out with Greyson each week if they can.  If you ask Greyson what they do when they go out, he gets so excited, jumping up and down, and says, "We go to the coffee store (Sbux), then Best Buy, then the Apple Store!"  They pretty much do the same 3 things each week, which Greyson loves.  This week, they went to the bank too, and Greyson said, "We're gonna get some money!"

*He is starting to come out of his shell socially, which is a relief to me.  He loves hanging out at church with daddy and loves seeing all the people he knows there.  He talks to them and even gives hugs.  He has also started responding to strangers when they ask him how he's doing, how old he is, who his little brother is, etc.  This is totally new territory for Greyson because he is usually super shy.

*He is learning so much.  He has been able to name all the letters of the alphabet since maybe September or October.  He is working on their sounds as well.  He can tell you words that start with most of the letters.  He can count to maybe 13 or 14 (sometimes 16) by himself, but often makes up numbers.  My favorite ones are eleven-teen and five-teen.

*We got him a puzzle of the Unites States for Christmas, and he has been learning the names and locations of some of the states.  He knows Arizona, California, Ohio, and Tennessee (where our families live) and can locate them on the map.  He knows other states by the picture that's on their puzzle pieces and can place them in the correct spots on an empty map, i.e. the fish state (Washington), the car state (Michigan), the big rock state (Utah), etc.

*He knows concepts like opposites and can identify tons of them.  He also understands when something is too big or too small and can tell you why it doesn't fit.

*He is learning the sting of discipline and the importance of apologies.  He says sorry to us and to God for whatever he has done when he has a time-out or spanking.  He loves reading books about God and he tries to figure out which guy in the picture is God.  Its important to him to pick one, no matter how many times we try and explain that its not God on earth.  Whatever, he's 2 and he loves learning about Him.  That's what's important.

*He is such a great big brother.  He loves Sawyer and has so much fun playing with him.  He tells me all the time that "Sower" is getting "bigger and bigger and bigger!" and will soon be able to play too.

We are having so much fun watching Greyson grow and learn every day.  He is such a special little guy and our lives are so blessed by him!