How to be Two by Lucas Kaden

Lucas had his big #2 birthday a couple weeks ago. He is a deal. I am sure that every two year old seems like the most rambunctious ever, but I actually think Lucas might get a prize. He climbs all over everything. He is into everything. He wants fruit snacks at 5:00am, but by 7:00am he in not hungry and doesn't want breakfast. Sometimes, he loves the dogs (as apparent when they lick each other's tongues), and other times, he torments the dogs into a self-imposed exile. He is learning lots of words and a few sentences. He is figuring out that he can use his new language skills to manipulate his parents. "Ride" means a sled ride. . .then a wagon ride. . .then a tricycle ride. "O-pee" means open this bottle of bubbles or open this third bag of fruit snacks. We are figuring out that our only hope of sanity is to try to keep him busy on constructive tasks. If I let him put dishes into the dishwasher, then he stops taking the other dishes out, etc. Being Dad is a blast. The last two years have been a blur. A blur partly because he is growing up so fast, and partly because we are only seeing the world as we run by chasing him.

Comic relief. . .in church. . .

Lucas can be a card in church. There are a lot of quiet times for a little boy to make his voice heard. Today, the priest was praying for a series of things and pausing for reflection after each. Every time he stopped Lucas would say, "Yeah." At least he didn't say "No, no."

When the cantor lifts her arm to get the congregation to join on the Psalm response, Lucas thinks she is waving to him, so he waves back.

Lucas has not perfected the sign of the cross, but he moves his hand all over his head and body and then claps his hands together for the "Amen."

He loves The Lord's Prayer because everyone holds hands. He even knows to raise his hands a little higher when we get to the "For thine is the kingdom. . ." part.

Monkey

When we took Lucas to get his "2 year" pictures, there was a little boy toddling out of the studio where we were waiting. His Grandma saw him, and she said, "Hey, Monkey!" Lucas looked at her and you could just tell he was wondering, "Are you talking to me?" He has earned that nickname. I always thought I nickname my boy something cool like "Tiger" or "Champ." Nope, if he is not "Lucas," then he is usually "Monkey."

He overly inquisitive, and quite determined. He pushes chairs around to reach things that used to be safely out of reach. The other day, he pushed is bead block (about a 1 foot cube) over to his high chair. Then, somehow, he managed to climb into the highchair. Chris found him standing on the tray of the highchair! Wow, he might pay for that trick some day.