Developmental update: 2 years, 5 months

Beck continues to sleep like a rock, usually only waking up once in a while if he is disoriented by Theo wailing his face off or making a ruckus, or by some other unusual event. Theo wakes up at least once a night, usually, asking to be re-tucked in. After which he almost always says, "Mama leave door open. Mama stay upstairs." Last night was pretty bad, with Theo waking a bunch and the cats keeping us up as well in between. We'll try to nip that in the bud over the next few days.

The boys nap every day with no issue for Mindy, with less ease but not a lot of struggle with Daddy, and NOT AT ALL with Mama. I have decided not to bother with them any more. On the days I am home, we just do whatever we do, with no mention or cajoling into naps. They then sometimes get a little cranky near the end of the evening but they go down to bed earlier and sleep more heavily and later. Which kind of works for me, because on the days I'm home with them I want them to go to bed on the early side (especially if they have not napped) so I can have a little extra time to myself. And on the evenings when we get home from work at 5 it's nice that they can stay up a little later and are better rested so we can enjoy them later into the evening.

The boys are talking up a storm these days, saying full sentences and words/concepts you wouldn't think they would know (yesterday, tomorrow, helicopter, "in a few minutes," "not right now," "I did it!"). Beckett regularly says things like "I growing. I grow big like Grandpa Stu some day!" They certainly understand the idea of turns and will frequently yell "My turn!" when the other has something cool to play with.

They love reading and spend hours every day reading to themselves. They have several books memorized at least in part, and sometimes read word-for-word pages at a time (especially from their George books). Most days we read at least twenty books together, some more than once, but they spend lots of time sitting and reading by themselves, too, often narrating as they flip the pages. Yesterday they both enjoyed holding books up so that I could read aloud.

Beckett is very interested in things that could be dangerous, and frequently points to things, in books or in real life, and says "hurt you." Lobsters, crabs, spiders, and sharks all warrant this stern warning from Beckett. I'm trying to make him focus on the good, and interesting, about these strange creatures, rather than just their potential for danger, but I think I've now confused him to an almost dangerous degree. Now when he sees a spider or a picture of a spider, he says "spider hurt you." Then he shakes his head and says, "No, give you hugs and kisses!" So I clearly need to work on that.

We spend lots of time naked at least from the waist down to encourage using the potty. Beckett is pretty reliable, whether he has pants on or is naked, at getting to the potty in time, using it for poop or pee, and then advising us so that we can empty the potty and reward him with an M&M. Occasionally Beck will have an accident if he is really engrossed in something but he's pretty good. Theo is less reliable and sometimes asks for a diaper on, which usually means he is about to poop. He has pooped in the toilet a few times but only with Mindy, I think. We have gone out of the house a few times with no diapers on, just pants, and Beckett has never had an accident. Theo had one at the playground Saturday. We bought underwear a few months ago but they tend to pee right through underwear, I think because it feels like a diaper to them. So we usually go commando if we're going to go diaper-free. I think they're doing great!