Waiting For Kai: Two Years Old

This month Kai turned two! He was excited about his birthday mainly because he likes to say the word "birthday" and also because he and Mark made a fun poster all about the first two years of Kai's life for his birthday celebration at school. On the big day, he woke up talking about a yellow truck, and then had blueberry pancakes and apple juice for breakfast. Then we took his poster and some jello jigglers to school for his party. His teacher really enjoyed the poster, especially the parts that represented the first year of his life, spent in Korea.  At home that night we had his favorite dinner -- pasta with lots of sauce and cheese, followed by a scoop of ice cream for dessert, with two candles on top. Kai loves to "bump" glasses together in his version of toasting, so he kept yelling "birthday! bump!" and holding out his cup so we could toast again and again.  Mark & I were drinking wine with dinner so we kind of felt like we were playing a drinking game, but Kai enjoyed it! Later we gave Kai his birthday presents (lots of books, a wooden airplane toy, glow-in-the-dark stars for the ceiling in his room, and an art caddy filled with paints and brushes).

Over the weekend we had Kai's birthday party with family and friends, including a few of his pals from school. We set up the moon bounce that was a gift from Grandpop and Bubbe, and also had a water table and sprinkler in the yard for the kids to keep cool. Kai was a little overwhelmed with all the people and attention, and didn't want to go in the moon bounce, but he played with play-doh with some of his buddies and also enjoyed the pizza and cake! He also really liked the balloons we used to decorate, and the choo choo train that was on top of his cake. We were so happy to be able to celebrate his birthday with everyone, having missed his first birthday last year when he was still in Korea. The rain even held out until after the party. It was a great day!!!

Here's an update on All Things Kai, now that he's a TWO!!
- He's getting really good at letters and can identify just about all of them.
- He also is learning the numbers 1-10, although mixes them up so it sounds kind of like this: one...two...free...figh...eigh...nigh...teh...eigh...nigh...teh!!!
- He can identify his name when he sees it written.
- He finally learned to hop/jump, after trying so hard for so long!
- His favorite things are pillows, cars, trains, trucks, airplanes, painting (especially with watercolors), snacks, books and bubble baths.
- His current favorite book is Little Blue Truck.
- He also loves "puh-lee-doh" (play-doh) and wants to play with it every day. He's really good at rolling it out flat and can also use the scissors. One day at school he formed a car shape out of play-doh -- even the teacher was impressed!
- He just recently discovered Thomas the Tank Engine when we showed him a video on youtube, so he now likes anything related to "tommy train".
- He lines everything up to make a train: food on his plate, toy cars, chairs at school, etc. If it's possible to put things in a row, he will do it and call it a "choo choo".
- His current favorite foods are: apple juice (actually any kind of juice, he calls it all "apple juice"), cereal, waffles, yogurt, american cheese, rice, pasta & sauce, pizza, corn on the cob, cannellini beans, ice cream with blueberries ("boo-berries") and strawberries ("red boo-berries").
- He's talking up a storm and saying more advanced things like "bumble bee" instead of just "bee". He puts words together, like "Dada fix it" or "Mommy puh-lee-doh peez" (he's moved on from "bees" to "peez" for please). He loves to describe everything with colors: red car, orange kitty cat, yellow dump truck. He's also started calling me "mommy" sometimes, instead of "mama". Mark is still "dada". And at some point within the last couple of months he started saying his name correctly, "Kai" instead of "Dai".
- He's really great about cleaning up. We ask that he put one thing away before he moves on to the next, and he's really good about it. After he's finished with his play-doh he pushes all the little crumbs to one corner of the table with his hand, and then goes to get his dustpan and sweeps it all up. He likes to clean up and put things in the trash can. I wonder how long this will last!
- We've managed to go this long without him being able to open a doorknob, but I feel like any day now he's going to discover the joys of getting into the pantry. So far every time he's reached up and started turning the knob I've been able to distract him, but really how much longer will I be able to get away with that?!
- He really enjoys school and has made some friends during summer camp. It's really neat when I bring Kai to class in the morning and the other kids see him and start yelling "Hi Kai!". One day after I dropped Kai off I saw one of his classmates walking in with his Dad.  When the little boy saw me he got all excited, gave me a big smile and yelled "Is Kai here?!!" It's so sweet that he has buddies at school!
- He still likes to give hugs and kisses, be held, and sit in our laps. I'm trying to prepare myself for the fact that at some point all of these things will stop, but for now I'm trying not to take it for granted and am loving every hug, kiss and cuddle I can get.
- He's sweet, smart, easygoing, shy at times, affectionate and caring. When he falls or gets a scratch Mark and I will pat his arm or rub his back and ask him "are you okay?" So Kai has started to come up to us at random times, pat our shoulder and softly ask "okay? okay?" just to check how we're doing, and he seems genuinely concerned.
- He's kind of learning to share and will often share his food with us, although not always right away if we ask. He does like to give things to others if it's his own idea, like if I'm lying down he'll come and give me a pillow -- really sweet! It all balances out, though, because he often throws a fit if we ask him to give something to someone else or share his crayons, toys, etc.  But eventually he gives in and gets over it.
- When he doesn't get his way he pouts and cries, but it's usually short-lived. He's learned to stick his lower lip way out to pout and he totally milks it. Drama!

At this age Kai is learning so much every day and just soaking it all in. Every morning he gets up and starts talking about whatever he left off with the night before. He lies in his crib in the morning and can hear dogs barking outside, birds chirping, and airplanes flying overhead, and he gets so excited to talk about it all. I really think he gets excited about each day and what new things he'll get to play with or learn about. So even though we do have to deal with "terrible twos" behavior from time to time, I'm really enjoying this age. Every new thing he says is cute, and he's constantly impressing us with what he's learning. His little world seems so sweet and innocent right now, filled with toy trucks, teddy bears and his imagination. A hug from mama or dada can still make everything all better. Ah, to be two again!