The baby boy is 2

Wednesday we celebrated this little man’s 2nd birthday.  Can you believe Luke’s 2 already?  Me, either!

Having his birthday so close to Christmas adds an additional level of busyness to the season, but despite this I want to slow down today and reflect on this little boy’s life and how much joy he brings us.

Luke Dawson has a big personality to match his big size.  (We haven’t had his official 2-year-old check up yet, but at 18 months he was almost 30 pounds and over 35 inches tall.)

One minute he’s the sweetest boy on the planet and I hear one of my three favorite phrases:  “Hug Mama!”, “Kiss Mama!” or “Cuddle Mama!” and the next minute he’s throwing a temper tantrum because I cut his banana in half.  Serious drama.   His sweet side more than makes up for it, though.

You might have noticed the slight blurriness to these pictures.  Getting a picture of Luke is a very hard task.  The moment I pull out my big camera, he runs toward me, yelling, “See, Mommy!  See, Mommy!  Luke see!”  He doesn’t want me taking pictures, but wants to look at any pictures that are on the camera.  So I have to be sneaky with my iPhone camera, which doesn’t always result in the best shots.  Oh, toddlers.

The last few months have brought enormous changes with Luke.  It wasn’t until 16 months that he uttered his first word, “more.”  (Fitting for my big boy who likes to eat, right?)  This was before “mama”, “dada” or any other typical first sounds mommy’s hear.  His lack of talking up to that point worried me, but looking back I can see that he was just working on his development in other areas.

Since then his language has exploded and he’s talking in short sentences. He’s also super smart.  Okay, I know I’m biased, but he knows all his letters and sounds, shapes, and colors.  I’m his mom, so I’m allowed to brag about him, right?

Despite the snow picture, he absolutely loves being outside.  I’m a big wimp when it comes to the cold weather, but I try to get outside with him as much as possible so he gets at least a little time out every day.

He also loves trains, trucks, and cars.  He was so surprised and happy when we gave him this train table for his birthday.

I’m not holding my breath, but so far I have a good eater on my hands.  Because this is my second child, I know that this can change quickly at any time, so I am definitely knocking on wood over here.  But so far, he eats a big variety of foods including vegetables, fruits, eggs, beans, and meats.  He isn’t big into rice, quinoa, or pasta, but does like bread.   His favorite food right now is broccoli.  I kid you not.

He will eat up an entire portion of broccoli and ask for more twice before touching anything else on his plate.  There aren’t too many vegetables and fruits he doesn’t like.  He even ate my brussels sprouts! (Yeah, Meghan won’t touch those.  Someday?)

He is still milk and soy protein intolerant. (MSPI)  We’ve tried giving him small amounts of both and it always results in slimy, mucous-filled stools.  We are still hopeful that he’ll outgrow these intolerances, but in a lot of ways not being able to eat dairy has been a blessing.  It forces me to not rely on cheese as a filler for calories/protein/calcium as I did so often with Meghan.

Luke is still breastfeeding.  Although I thought I’d wean him by 2, I don’t have a compelling reason to stop right now so I haven’t actively tried to make him wean. I really like the idea of him getting the extra immune-boosting benefits breast milk provides throughout the winter.  I really have no plan of how or when I’m going to wean him if he doesn’t wean himself.  We’ll see!

Lukes loves his sleep and is a great napper.  He was very slow to transition to one nap, but between 18-19 months he dropped that morning nap and started taking just one afternoon nap.  He typically goes down between 12-12:30 and sleeps for 2-3 hours.

Night time sleep has been hit or miss his entire life.  He’ll go weeks at a time where he sleeps through the night wonderfully.  Then, without warning, he’ll start waking again. He seems to be very sensitive to things like teething.  He always wakes in the middle of the night when he’s teething.  So I go weeks at a time when I’m very tired from waking up with him, but that’s life with a little one I guess.

Watching Meghan and Luke’s sibling relationship develop has been such a blessing.  Of course they fight like typical siblings, but through it all their love for each other is evident.  Luke wants to be just like his big sister, and tries to emulate her every move. She is a kind and loving sister and shows so much patient for his toddler ways.

Luke is my sweet, feisty, smart, and energetic little boy.  Happy birthday, my son!  I love you more and more everyday.