Dear Jack: June 2017

So far this June the name of the game has been to beat the heat. I'm not sure how we're going to survive another 2+ months of warm weather, but I have a feeling that ice cream and water sprinklers will be even more involved than they are now. You have, what feels like, an endless supply of energy so we try and find at least one thing (in the morning) that we can go do to get your energy out. On the rare occasion that the temperature is below 90 degrees you can most likely find us at a park or walking around some of the trails around town

You are still very inquisitive and ask lots of questions all day long. I find myself trying to explain things to you like how they get food on the top shelves of the aisles in grocery stores, or how construction workers will get down from the building they are working on. I'm not sure why but you always want to know the exit strategy for everyone: "How that man going to get down from there?????????". The other day you were asking how people were able to get up to apartments that were located above store fronts and when I told you there were probably stairs on the other side you gave me a look like.... "she doesn't have a clue!". The only time this gets uncomfortable is when you don't realize the volume of your own voice...you can't really shout "WHAT THAT MAN DOING?" in the grocery store about an old man in front of us without him figuring it out.

You still enjoy going to the library and finding books to bring home, although you have found the "educational" video section and we have now checked out every single fire truck/construction truck/farming video the library has had in stock. There is a fire truck video on YouTube that we watch over and over and over that happens to be from England, so I'm hoping by the time you're old enough to figure out how to dial a phone we can convince you that the number is 911 and not the British 999. You just about lost your mind when your grandpa sent some fire truck pajamas to you in the mail. I've had to wash them more times than I can count because you refuse to take them off in the morning and they inevitably end up with half of your breakfast on it.

For some reason you have taken quite the interest in Oliver lately. You like to tell me "He is MY puppy, Mommy. Not YOUR puppy". If you'd like to start taking over his vet bills, please be my guest. Oliver has finally acquiesced and now lets you pet him in VERY short spurts without pretending to be overly annoyed by it. He also will let you chase him all over the house trying to get the toy from his mouth. He's figured out you're an excellent food source and a pretty great companion as well.

You try and be helpful still, although sometimes I wonder if it takes longer for me to clean up after you help vs. me doing it myself. You are almost always up to help me vacuum still and will help pull out all manner of brooms/mops when I start getting things out to clean. For some reason none of this extends to picking up your own toys, but maybe these are steps in the right direction.

Side note: you love creamy jalapeno dip from Chuy's as much (maybe more?) than I do.

Overall I would say you're a pretty typical (almost 3) 2 year old. You're super pumped about your birthday next month, so I hope we can live up to your expectations! Here's to the last month of being two!