Two and a half

So over the weekend, Noah officially turned two and a half. Wow.

He is such an awesome kid. He seems to get smarter and more articulate every day, and he is paying attention to his world in ways I continue to be surprised by.

This morning I let Eva eat her breakfast in only her diaper. Chad came in and noticed. Unprompted, Noah said "Eva has no shirt on because it's going to be all covered in avocado." I was impressed, since I never said anything about why Eva was eating with no shirt.

The above story is even cuter because Noah can't say "avocado" so it sounded more like "bacado."

Later this morning I said I had to quickly finish something on the computer. He asked to sit on my lap. Before I could tell him to do something else he assured me "I won't touch any of the buttons!" while shaking his head and his hands for effect. Then I gave in. Because at 2.5 getting him to transition to something other than the one thing he has decided it is time to do, is, let's say, a challenge.

And you know what? He didn't touch any of the buttons.

Noah has started to "read" books by himself. It is really impressive, because he can recite several of the books we regularly read verbatim. It gives me goosebumps to watch him turn the page and say the words of the text perfectly. It catches me by surprise. It seems like one minute I am reading the book and he is looking at the pictures, and the next minute he is reciting text that I had no idea he knew. Twice now I have left the room for a second and returned to see him reading to Eva.

Noah the 2.5 year old is the best big brother ever. He loves Eva, he wants to hug and kiss and hold her. He will pick up the toys she drops, and share Henry with her on occasion. He wants to know where she is and wants her to do things with him. Like sit in the chair. No, THAT chair. OVER THERE!

He also scolds her when she does something he thinks she shouldn't. "No Eva! No pulling hair!" He will then come over and tell me "I said to Eva 'No pulling hair!' I said it to him."

He is still a bit confused about pronouns.

He is also apparently a bit bossy. Please feel free to draw your own conclusion about where he could have possibly gotten this from.

I can't believe how different he is from a year ago, or from just six months ago when his sister was born. He is such a delightful kid. We are one lucky family to have him.

In Noah's honor, I think we should spend the week watching videos of him. Here's the first, a good example of what Noah is like, most nights.

Yay 2.5. :)