2 1/2 Years Old

2 1/2 on this day

Notice cars next to him

William is 2 1/2 years old! He is the cutest and sweetest boy ever! And what a fun age! He is so much fun to be with and always up for a good time. He is so loving and caring. Always offering things and worried someone needs help. A kiss and a hug are a mandatory combo and the terrible 2's is not something we have encountered (clearly, they all have their days, but for the most part he is really obedient and good). In celebration of his 2 1/2 birthday, we got a Carvel cake! No candles or anything, but William LOVES ice cream. I thought I'd write down some bullets as to what William is up to and like at age 2 1/2 -- enjoy!

Loves to wrestle with Grace 

Big smiles at the beach

Peter and Green Blanket in tow

William at age 2 1/2:

• He's learning his colors. Sometimes you need to ask him to check the color before answering again. Then he takes a look and comes up with the right answer. 
• Learning to count. Counts to 3 now. And I overheard him go to 4 the other day.
• Knows his first name and last name. He says "Orosz" better than most!
• He knows his manners: Please, Thank you, I'm sorry, and May I?
• Says "I love you"
• Very caring and thoughtful - I have actually seen him offer one of his cars or Peter Rabbit to Grace to play with or when he's on the playground he's happy to share his favorite Mater tow truck or Lightning McQueen.
• Wants to be "tucked in" every night and nap time, and still needs: original green blanket, backup green blanket, gray blanket, airplane blanket, Peter Rabbit, bunny, Pooh, and Dog to be in his bed for bedtime. He literally will hyperventilate if anyone is missing. Not so much the blankets if one is missing (with exception of original green blanket). When we travel he's okay so long as green blanket and Peter are with us -- the rest can "nap" at home. 
• Has climbed out of his bed (see last post)
• Loves to read and will sit in his little chair flipping through a book. He will sit still for quite some time. He tells me he's going to go read and then he makes observations on each page. His favorite book right now is a big Winnie the Pooh book. He's so worried about Pooh finding his honey or running away from bees. Tigger makes him laugh too. 
• Loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Chuggington, Peter Rabbit, Thomas the Train, a little bit of Sesame Street if Elmo is on.
• Has watched Disney's Cars (Mater "tow truck", "Light Queen" or rather Lightning McQueen are his two favorites), Disney's Frozen (Elsa and Anna are his favorites), Piglet's Big Movie, Jungle Book in their entirety - he's seen Cars 2, and Up, in tidbits
• Recognizes Idina Medzell's voice - she is Elsa in the movie Frozen and Idina sang in Wicked as well. When a song from Wicked came on the radio, William immediately looked at me and said, "Elsa." with big eyes. He also sings "Let it Go" from Frozen in the most adorable voice. Only sings these parts though: "Let it gooo... Let it gooo... Don't hold back... Let it gooo.."
• Loves trains and when we are driving in Winter Park will always ask if we can ride the train.
• Very good with location in general! If we're driving down Lakemont he asks if we're going to the gym (YMCA is on Lakemont) and if we're passing Matt's office, he points and tells me it's Daddy's work. Any of the roads near Park Avenue in Winter Park, he would know the train is nearby and when we're near Morse, he talks about school.

Loves going to the pool and swimming

Loves Disney's Cars - "Light Queen" in background.

Fun in the ocean

Grace you need to take off your shoes to swim!

• Knows where we live. When we pull into our driveway he says, "Our home..." It's so cute. 
• Enjoys drawing. I found him sitting quietly with a  few other kids at the Y daycare the other day drawing. He sat there for a while and when I finally told him I was there, he came up to me and said, "Mommy, I draw Elsa!" A Frozen coloring book was available haha!
• Always wants to know where Grace is. When he wakes up or if we're out without her. He basically assumes she is always sleeping though. Sometimes when she's grouchy, William will say, "Baby Grace needs nap."
• Nap time is a breeze and he sleeps 3 hours usually! From 1-4ish. If he has cars in the bed with him he stays up a bit and will sometimes not fall asleep till later meaning he will sleep till 5p!
• Bedtime is flexible. He is able to stay up later if we're out, but if it's a normal night then he probably goes to bed around 8p - and may not fall asleep till 9p. Depends on how tired he is. He's happy to sit in his bed though and plays with his stuffed animals.
• Eats pretty well and actually prefers more interesting food to the basic kids food like PBJ and chicken tenders. I can rarely get him to finish a Chik-fil-a meal, but if I have mahi mahi with couscous, he wants it all. He loves feta, spinach smoothies, salmon, black bean burgers... we feed him what we eat. We really don't ever make them special meals that are more "kid-like". We want them to be open to anything. The other night at dinner William insisted on as many clams and oysters from my bowl that I'd be willing to share. He wanted to drink the seafood broth with a huge spoon! 
• Loves chocolate milk and sweets of any kind! Some mornings he asks if he can have ice cream for breakfast!
• Loves pancakes.
• He is great at sitting at a table, drinking from a regular cup and feeding himself. No assistance needed. 
• Loves sports. Wants to play football, basketball, soccer, baseball, golf, tennis. When we pass a golf course, he wants to golf. When we're home and he sees my tennis racquet, he wants to play tennis. At the gym when we pass the courts, he wants to play basketball. He's ready to get into the game too. Some older boys were playing soccer out front of our house the other day, and I had to bring William inside because he was so upset that he wasn't allowed to go play with them.
• Remembers his friends names and will ask where they are when he's thinking about a particular person. 
• Knows who his uncles, aunts and cousins are by name. 
• He's shy when he first encounters a situation, but wait two minutes and he's dragging you to the playroom (assuming it was at home).
• Little negotiator. Will hold up one finger and say, "One more time." or "One more gummi and that's it!" He likes that one at swim lessons too. He will tell the instructor, "Almost done and that's it!" 
• Really enjoys the water and is thankfully cautious. Only a few times has he jumped into the water without warning us specifically beforehand. We're there to get him, but usually he gets our attention before swimming from the edge or jumping from the edge. He's getting very strong at kicking and moving his arms. I'm sure by next summer he will be all over the pool. 
• Time out happens now and then, mostly for pushing Grace. He gets very upset when he has to go to time-out. 
• Big on clean up. Will put his shoes away at the end of the day. Or says he wants to carry Daddy's shoes upstairs to his closet. When we're done playing with toys he sings a "Clean up" song and will happily pick-up. Amazing! 

So excited he has a ticket to ride the train

Hugs for Grace

I'll carry the luggage, Mommy!

Watching Mickey Mouse or Peter Rabbit probably!

Always running

Golf is the newest sport

I could go on and on. The list is rambling, but I like to try and remember all the cute and funny William-isms. He's getting so big (he's as tall as some 4 year olds!) and he understands so much and is talking in lots of complete sentences. He's funny and cracks us up all the time. Like when he told the carpool line lady at school that I was going home to take a nap after 9 a.m. drop off. I probably was, but he didn't have to share it! Haha! 

We love you William and want you to stop growing up NOW! I'm sure the best is yet to come though. Here's to the next 1/2 of the year until 3!