Uncle Becca, Uncle Don, and Grandpa Phil all came to visit this month. No, my sister isn't going through a gender transition, but no matter how many times I tried to explain to Moriarty that she was "Aunt Rebecca", he was insistent. I gave up. He's 2. I have to pick my battles and making sure he has on pants is higher on my list.
The visit was great. We ate a lot. Pip cooked some epic food and Moriarty ate it all with glee, including ribs on the bone. We went out for sushi one day and I discovered that he likes wasabi with his soy sauce. We also ran out of mild salsa and he was quite happy to use the medium. Wow. He'll be out-spicing me in no time.
In addition to having a high ball of Lafleurs (my choice of collective noun for this visit), the Roberts clan came over to play with us at the park and eat the epic rib feast. Rebecca and Pip had a corn bread off which my sister handily won, and it's even egg free so Moriarty and I have been begging Pip to make it since.
The milestone of the month was clearly his birthday. The whole week leading up to it we talked about birthdays and that he would get a present. He clearly said he wanted a fire truck and every day after he called his birthday Fire Truck Day! We did get him a fire truck with siren sounds, helmet, and Curious George fire adventure book. He loves the truck. I thought it would make me more crazy from the sounds, but he's learning stuff too. It has arrows that point forward and back which control the motorized wheels. I taught him the relationship between the arrows and movement and now the truck goes where he wants. Every little thing he learns is incredible to me. To make the birthday fire truck magic complete we saw a REAL fire truck when we were in Seattle. The ladder was up and there were real firemen. He was mesmerized and talked about it for days.
We went to the regional yoyo competition and now he's very into yoyos. We bought him his first yoyo (a small plastic one) and during the competition he was imitating the performers by dancing and moving his yoyo string around. It was priceless. The competition was at the Seattle Center (where the REAL fire truck was) which also has that incredible fountain. Moriarty played around the fountain for a long time, then got distracted by something and walked off a 2' ledge onto concrete. He got a seriously bloody nose and there was blood in his mouth. I was a very nervous mommy, but before the blood had even stopped flowing he wanted to go meet a dog walking by. He's hardy.
In general updates, he had his 24 month well baby visit. He's perfectly healthy. He was thrilled to wear the gown because it had tigers on it. He's talking so much more than even a month ago. His sentences are getting more sophisticated and longer. He's also having really big feelings that are leading to more tantrum-type behavior. We're trying really hard to help him stay calm and cope without punishing him or ignoring him. I think those are the times he needs our help the most and I want to help as much as I can. Not everyone agrees, but that's my philosophy and it's working for us for now. The increased talking and feelings are also translating in positive ways to talking about people more. He talks about all the family members he's seen recently on a nearly daily basis, and friends he hasn't seen in months out of the blue. He's incredibly social and cares about people and wants to look at pictures of the people he knows. It's beautiful to watch. He's magical. I think I'll keep him. Sorry gypsies.