James 2.5 years old

Man oh man I love this kid. How can a little person make you laugh, cry and want to rip your hair out all in the same hour? Toddlers have an incredible ability to feel and express emotions us adults have trained ourselves to suppress. Yet hanging out with this little guy can rub off and I sometimes feel like I am losing control of my own emotions! It is not a feeling I like (unless it is the laughing my pants off kind of emotion). Being the parent of a toddler is challenging and fun. I guess it is just the process of things, as your children grow, you have to grow more too. I have had to learn how to control my temper (which I didn't even think I had until we hit the toddler phase). I have to watch my actions more because someone else is watching my every move and learning from me. I have to be creative with how we spend the day. I want to teach my kids lessons, but I also want them to have fun, experience new things and be active. This is not always easy to do on a daily basis, between running the house, working, taking care of two kids and other obligations it can be a challenge. OK, enough about me...

(Just the 2 of us at Disneyland for my birthday)

James is such a fun kid. He feels emotions very deeply. When he feels happy, he is bursting with joy. He loves to giggle and run around and be goofy. On the flip side, when he is upset, he lets you know! He can wake up super cranky from naps (especially if they were too short) and take a whole hour to get over it. He can cry at the drop of a hat. He is also very loving and will kiss his toys goodbye or goodnight. He will randomly run up to me, hug my legs and say "I love you mommy" (best feeling ever!). He is kind to other people, most of the time and not very physically aggressive towards others. He loves being social. When we are at the park, he instantly will go up to other kids and say "hi". He likes running around and playing with other children and especially likes the older kids. Little ones can bug him sometimes. He loves his little brother, except when Davis is going after one of "his toys". James has a possessiveness when it comes to his toys. We are working on sharing. He is getting better, but it really depends on his mood. Some days he is so willing to share. Others he will cry the second someone gets near something he is playing with. The best is when he says "Oh no! Baby coming... ahhhhh!!!!"

James loves trucks, especially garbage trucks. He also loves cars and trains. I am hoping he will work at the dealership and not the sanitary district. He will sit in our back patio area playing with his trains and trucks all morning long. He is really good at playing alone and entertaining himself, although he does loves when mom or dad joins him. James loves going to his Grandparents house. He will wake up from his nap saying "go to grandmama and pop's house" or "go to nana and bops house". I am so happy he loves being with his grandparents, they are all great so I am not that surprised. He also loves his cousins and will get excited when we are planning to see them.

We spend a lot of time at Disneyland, the park, going for walks, going to the gym (he loves playing with the trucks at the gym daycare), playing with friends and relatives and reading books. He also LOVES the movie Cars. James likes to paint and has made a few pretty impressive art pieces. 

James loves to play with his Dad. Haws got him (and himself) a monster truck remote control truck for Christmas that he loves playing with.

We got to watch Brad and Kori's boys while they went to the Golden Globes (lucky!). James was so sad when they had to leave. The day was full of crazy fun with these four. Haws did a lot of the entertaining. He is the best!

We have started the potty training process. We had some friends for dinner one night and their son who is 6 months older than James was potty trained. After James saw him go to the potty, he wanted to do it too! I held off doing the full on potty training because of the holidays, but he would go in the potty when he felt like it. Now of course that we are pushing the potty training, we are met with some resistance. Always more fun when it's your idea right? It has been about a week and he is doing OK. Still accidents here and there, but hopefully it won't take forever.
We see a lot of these cheeks around here lately:

And sometimes James brings his trash truck with him to help him go potty. Whatever gets him there!!!

James is still sleeping well in his bunk bed, but he has learned how to open his door! After that happened, he started wanting his door left open while he slept. He was "scared". He will stay in his bed, but when he wakes up in the morning, he just comes into our room and if we are not already awake (we usually are and then he comes downstairs) he will come right into my face and say "good morning mommy" in the cutest little voice ever. But because it is usually sometime between 5am and 630am I usually don't find it very cute!

James is doing awesome with his speech. It is fun having him express his thoughts. He says the funniest things sometimes. I need to start writing them down more.

James is still our tall and lean guy. Not sure what his height is, but he weighs about 27lbs.
Sporting the big boy underpants and abs of steel. (nice socks)

I am sure there are things I am missing, but I have been meaning to write this post for over a month. I love you James. Even though you keep me on my toes, I am sure I will be sad when this stage is over.