the jellyball family blog

Dear Noah,

You are a character. Oooh boy, what a funny little guy you are. You're now 26 months old but growing up far too fast.

You have made tremendous strides in the past couple of months in the food department, even though in general you can be a fairly picky eater. You are now a lover of spaghetti and I am pleased to report that spaghetti is no longer something you eat strand-by-strand with your hands, but you have transitioned into a much more polite fork-eating, slurping kind of technique. Pasta was never a favourite of yours but thankfully with the help of our friend, parmesan cheese, you are now a believer. (But as far as we're concerned, there is no other pasta other than spaghetti.)

You eat broccoli and sweet potato fries! Hooray for vegetables! I mean, there are days where the first thing you eat on your plate is broccoli and it ends up being one of the only things you eat. I never thought I'd see the day where you'd wolf down your side of broccoli and demand more, but I'm happy to provide you with as much broccoli as you want. Your brother wants nothing to do with these sweet potato fries (the "orange fries", as he calls them) but you are totally up for it, which makes me really happy! You'll even occasionally entertain red pepper strips, so I am happy that your vegetable repertoire has expanded so greatly in the past couple of months.

You're a fan of pineapple, watermelon, oranges, kiwis, and pears. You can be persuaded to do just about anything for a cracker or a pastry (clearly you're mother's son there). You can be a really funny eater - some days you will try just about anything, and sometimes you will ask me for a bite of what I'm eating, then turn up your nose when I offer you a piece like you're really offended that I would dare even ask.

You have learned to ride a tricycle. You got your first bike helmet not long ago and broke it in within hours of wearing it when you took a wild U-turn and learned why it's important to wear a helmet. You'd gotten a two-wheeler for your birthday but you're not quite ready for it just yet, but given how quickly you've learned to ride the trike, it probably won't be long before you're whizzing around the driveway doing loops like your brother.

One of your favorite things to do is to play with our neighbours' kids, Morgan and Oliver. Sometimes you are so desperate to see your friends that you will moan to me that you need to see your two friends, and where ARE they? Every time we get home, you and your brother will make a mad dash across the front lawn to peek at their driveway to see if they're there playing or playing in the backyard. The four of you happily play in our yard or theirs, and we couldn't be happier that you guys have some play buddies.

You and your brother Caleb are like two peas in a pod. All in all, you guys get along really well for two brothers. When you guys wake up in the morning, it's like you missed each other. You greet one another with an enthusiastic "Hi, Caleb!!!" and "Hi, Noah!!!" as though it's been days (not hours) since you last saw each other. Some mornings, you greet each other by running into each others' arms for a long hug and some kisses. (Definitely a favourite sight of mine.) It's not long before you guys are climbing all over us in bed, demanding to go downstairs to play, while we are desperately clinging to a few last moments of sleep.

You are totally the instigator between you and your brother. You are always coming up with new schemes and troublesome activities. You are always making him laugh, especially while you two are eating, with some kind of silly face or word. On one hand, I find it really adorable that you guys really make each other laugh, but sometimes it makes a meal really frustrating when no one is eating because you guys are egging each other on.

Noah, you have an amazing vocabulary for a two year old. You express your thoughts in French with eloquent little sentences. You understand just about everything in English, and can have a pretty basic conversation (or at least attempt one) with anyone who will talk to you. People are always pretty amazed at you because you follow directions fairly well and are so autonomous for your age, not to mention the fact that those big chipmunk cheeks and baby fat make you look younger than you are.

You and your brother have a pretty tight relationship with your grandparents. You have been spending a day a week with your paternal grandparents, which usually results in you guys coming home with all kinds of interesting expressions and phrases, like when you look me square in the eyes and say "Hey, baby!" Your grandfather (Papi) has been preparing for their upcoming Italian vacation by inventing Italian nicknames for everyone - Papi Zamboni, Mamie Pronto, Noah Bambouni, Caleb Scusi. It's gotten to the point where you will fart and then say "El petto!" or "Scusi!" Most days we just shake our heads, but we laugh at how much fun you guys have with your grandparents and how much you love them.

You usually have a short playdate with your grandmother every weekend, too, where she comes fully stocked with fruit ("Hey, Ba Ngoai, what food did you bring me today?"), surprises (lately it's been fortune cookies), and elaborate games that only a grandmother would have patience for - like the time when your grandmother showed up ready to teach you guys about the concept of money with all kinds of hand-cut cardboard coins and dollar bills, all colour-coded, with numbers written on them. At some point, you, Caleb and Ba Ngoai (Vietnamese for maternal grandmother) end up eating a snack in the TV room by the large window facing the back yard, looking at birdies or counting squirrels and inventing all kinds of funny stories about them.

Your sleep habits have gotten a lot better in the past month. You sleep in a toddler bed now. You still nap about half the time - sometimes involuntarily (due to a long car ride) or when you clearly need it. You've stopped waking up a gazillion times a night. It seemed like a few months ago, you were up 4-5 times a night, but there have been a couple of nights in recent weeks where you've more or less slept through the night, or have only woken up 1-2 times.

Lately you will call out for us when you have lost your blanket or your bunny rabbit, and this week you've been asking for kisses or rarely it'll be a glass of water (which is significant considering 2 months ago, you'd wake up 3-4 times a night asking for water). It's still fairly common for you to wake up at least once between bedtime and midnight. You'll sometimes wake up as early as 5:30am but can be persuaded to sleep a little longer if it means you get to sleep in bed with us. I know it's become fairly habitual for us to stretch you out an extra hour this way since we've started keeping a pillow just for you in our bed. You'll setttle into our bed between us, asking us "Mon oreiller?" ("my pillow?")

You keep up pretty well with your brother in general, and in keeping up with him, you've learned some pretty amazing things. You can count to 20 in French and recite the entire alphabet. You know most of the train names for Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. You know that Gordon is the #4 engine, and that James is the red one. You know all the names of the characters in Bob the Builder and sing the theme song. Speaking of music, your favourite non-children's songs are "Low" by Flo-Rida, "Whatever you like" by T.I., and "Boom boom pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. There is something quite funny when I hear you sing fragments from those songs and talk about whose booty you're going to slap.

You have had your decidedly two-year old moments. There are some tantrums, which mostly escalate from you hitting Caleb or failing to listen to repeated requests to stop doing something, and then ends up with some full-out meltdown because you won't do your timeout in the corner. You are a pretty stubborn little guy - these episodes of discipline can last up to an hour where we are talking you through first calming down enough to hear us talk, to getting you to stop talking, to getting you to go stand in the corner silently for a couple of minutes. Doing all those things at the same time is a tough job for a two year old, but I know you'll get better and understanding who the bosses are in this house. (No, it isn't you, really.) There are days where we feel you are light years ahead of your age, and there are days where we are reminded that you are only two.

Your potty training is going pretty well. You have started to have a lot of dry diapers in the morning, and dry diapers throughout the day between your trips to the potty. We are still having a really tough time getting you to do the #2 on the potty, though you're pretty good about telling us about it after the fact. Your dad says he's going to be having you run around pantless and diaper-less all summer and it'll be fixed in no time.

You really hold your own - you have never been the little brother who follows along aimlessly. You will boss around your brother like you will try to do anyone else. You have your little diva moments where you insist that you will be the only one who will be allowed to sing - solos only! You throw up your hand and insist, "Non! Noah chante!" (No, Noah sing)

You have started to be a little bit better with your fear of dogs - you still like them in concept but don't like to be anywhere near big ones. I no longer have to take you in my arms every time we pass a dog on the street (which, living in our neighbourhood, is a real relief now!) but you will go into a tizzy and wail "J'ai peur!" (I'm scared) if there is a sizeable dog anywhere in your vicinity for more than a few seconds. You're not a huge fan of birds either, but thankfully your brother really enjoys chasing them away on your behalf, so we seem to be OK in that department. You really do love all animals, just mostly when they're in books and not so much when they're in your face.

Your favourite book is one called "Bob", which is about a rooster that is learning to crow, but that learns all kinds of other animal sounds as well on his journey to find another rooster to teach him how to crow. You will enthusiastically belt out all the animal sounds with zest! I could read you "Bob" five times a day and you wouldn't get bored.

Easter pretty much blew your mind. I mean, a holiday that involved bunny rabbits AND chocolate? Holy moly.

You do a pretty decent mean face. I especially love when you give me this face when I ask you to smile for the camera:

That pretty much sums it up. You are a funny guy, and far, far too smart for age. You give the best kisses. You are a real joy to be around, and you make us all laugh with your sweetness and sense of humour.

We love you lots!

Love

Maman & Papa