Letter to a TWO year old

Owen dear,

You are two years old!  And you know what they say about the terrible two's?  Yeah, it's all true with you.  Sweet one minute, crazy the next.  Kind and lovable one day, meaner than snot the next.

You are a brick.  You've jumped from being around the 75th percentile for weight to 95%.  You are a whopping 32.6 pounds (and to put that in perspective, that's 10 pounds less than your brother).  Your teachers at school (Ms. Heather and Mrs. Ony) say they worry when you come running at them full speed for fear you'll knock them over.  Almost everyone we see, whether we know them or not, comment on you being a future football player.

You are constantly saying 'mommy'.  You yell it from across the house, you say it from the backseat.  Anytime, anywhere.  Over and over and over again.  I've thought about changing my name, but I'm sure you'd just repeat that over and over again like you do 'mommy'.  It makes me crazy, but I know you just need a little extra attention.

We still haven't conquered the pacifier.  It seriously is going to be the fight of our lives to get rid of them.  We thought you were making headway when you threw two pacifiers in the trash, but then you got sick and we were forced to get you another because we were traveling.  There's no sense in all of us being miserable.  Sometimes, just to make your point you aren't relenting in the war against the pacifiers, you'll walk around with two pacifiers in your mouth.  It's quite the sight.

You really like to be held, touched, carried, loved on, played with, etc.  Since day one of your life, you have always longed to be next to us.  It's not enough to be sitting next to us on the couch, you need to be on our laps or crawling all over us.  It's a little exhausting, but without that, you wouldn't be you.

You love to play and fight with Luke.  You worry if Luke's not with us and ask about where he is.  He gets you into a lot of trouble.  A lot.  I hope that your conscience will guide you as you get older so that you know when he's trying to rope you into doing something that will lead you to trouble.  He's good about getting y'all to the edge and then letting you do the dirty work so you get into trouble when he's looking nice and innocent.  Don't worry, we know he's not innocent.

We didn't throw a party for this birthday.  We just moved to the new house and had a ton of unpacking to do.  We did get a cake for you and we celebrated in Fort Smith with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jon, Aunt Emily and Baby Brooke.

You love to go to the pool.  Your favorite thing to do is jumping in from the side.  You get up and say 'ready, jump!' and jump into our arms.  I don't know where we'll go swimming now, there's really not a pool around here.  I guess it's time you learn to swim in the lake.  I can't wait to take you on the boat and go tubing and teach you and Luke how to ski!

You're so fantastic and we love you dearly.
Happy two years old, mister!
Mom and Dad