Two-year old teething

This is what two-year molar teething looks like. Sleeping every night and nap with Mama, back on the paci (he's hoarding three more under the sheets), snot everywhere because there are not enough nose wipes in the world to catch it, and the accompanying snotty poops. Did I mention the attitude? Time outs cannot contain it the little tyrant. Whew!!

Toy explosion

Without a dedicated playroom built to contain the toy explosion, it is difficult to organize and store all of the trappings of being two. Five people pick up the toys, so organizing them in our two custom, Papa-made boxes one day means they only stay organized if one person supervises putting away the toys...just doesn't happen. William's even getting lost in the toy heap!

Blueberries for Sal

One of William's favorite bedtime reads is Blueberries for Sal.  It is such a cute book, but has ALOT of words, so we sometimes skip a couple of pages.  Shhhh.  One night, William looked at the cover, and said, "Cheese all over the face."  He could see that I was confused, so he pointed to the yellow, and said, "Mama, cheese all over."  Always thinking about food - especially cheese.

Tee-tee

No pictures for this one.  Just stories.  William's figured out that he can get tee-tee to come out if he pushes in a certain way, and he's particularly tickled by this trick when he's not wearing a diaper - during diaper changes, baths, and showers. 
In the bath, he'll stand up, making a straining noise, and squeeze his boo-yee really hard to get the tee-tee to come out  Then he sits back down in the bathtub (yes, I know) and giggles with a BIG smile on his face.
He's started swimming at my parents' neighborhood pool, and when Mimi showers him off afterwards, he tinkles in the shower, and the other kids who are running by say, "Ewww!  He's peeing in the shower!"  It hasn't occurred to him that they are teasing him for this.
And he ALWAYS tee-tees in the shower.  We've manipulated the situation into a way to teach him to go on demand, and it works.  He'll even hold it in the evenings until he can go in the shower.

Self portraits

These are the experiments of a 2-year old learning to use the iPhone camera. The second one is particularly Instagram-y.

Makeshift water table

Mimi was trying to find a special toy that William could use outside when the weather started to get hot.  She heard about water tables from some friends, and decided that a plastic storage container filled with water on top of a patio table with some plastic toys would provide the same entertainment factor.  William loves splashing around in the box, and when the swarms of mosquitos aren't out for blood, he gets to give the water box a whirl.

His highness' new throne

A new potty chair did not speed along William's desire to try real potty training, but right after we unwrapped it, he couldn't wait to put it on the toilet and give it a spin.

Haircut

I trimmed William's hair when it grew out too mullet-like, but couldn't bring myself to cut any more than absolutely necessary.  It worried me that he would lose the mess of curls when I cut off the ends, but one night when he was being particularly calm after a shower, I took advantage of the situation and cut off 2 inches.  So presidential.

Independent ice cream

Typically Mama or Ba holds William's ice cream cone for the sake of everyone's sanity. Mama does the laundry, Ba has a bit of OCD when it comes to crazy messy events, and William gets to lick to his heart's content without fearing the loss of his scoop. This summer, we're trying something new - William managing his own cone...given it is a small enough amount of ice cream for us all to be comfortable.

Life's hard

Nang came back with a few habits from an international flight - duty-free chocolate, a burgeoning appreciation for the Mad Men series, and this thing.

Rub-a-dub-dub! One boy in a tub!

Nang has been giving Big Dub his evening bath a few times a week, and Dad has a different way of doing things that William definitely appreciates.  With his small tub filled to the top, he can dunk under the water.  Before going under, he tells Nang, "Bye!  See yooooou laaaater!"