My baby’s two. How the heck did that happen?

Charlie’s two in just a few days. TWO YEARS OLD. The last couple of years have gone in the blink of an eye. He’s changing so fast and doing new things every day and saying new words and to be honest, I’m finding it hard to keep up. I don’t want to forget anything, so here’s a list of the things he’s doing right now, things that he will almost probably not be doing in a year (sob). My baby! STOP GROWING UP.

On the bright side, how awesome are toddlers? Seriously I thought five months was good. Then ten months. Then a year. But 2 – TWO! – is the best age for sure.

1. I love the way we get home from being out, and he raises both arms and says, “Waaay!” so joyfully. So damn happy at being home.
2. How he drags a book over from his bookcase for me to read it, literally trying to press it into my face he’s so keen. Or says ‘storwee mummy’ so I’ll read to him.
3. How, when reading The Tiger Who Came To Tea, how he does the tiger bits by pretending his hands are claws and doing baby growls. (I die.)
4. Or, how he stands there looking serious and rubbing his tummy with his chubby paw, listening while I read it.
5. His banana obsession. Sometimes if we’re sharing one, he will grab my half and eat that too.
6. If he’s in a playful mood, he’ll lift his head up so his neck is exposed, then laugh hysterically while I tickle it.
7. He’s recently taken to putting food between the pages of a board book, smashing it flat, then eating it.
8. Or leaving it in the book for me to find. (And the ants, oh joy.)
9. His kisses are entire, open-mouth affairs that try to swallow my nose or face.
10. When he’s tired, he’ll place his head on my shoulder and snuggle up to my neck.
11. In bed when he wakes up between us, he’ll put his chubby arms around my neck and said sweetly, ‘Oh, MAMA!’ (I love you too, kid.)
12. The strange things that make him laugh. Right now, his dad or me saying ‘Bananas!’ in a funny voice sends him into hysterics.
13. The sweet penguin waddle he does down the hall. Those chubby thighs. Nom nom.
14. How he’ll just start doing loud piggy snorts whenever Peppa Pig comes on, or he sees a picture of a pig in a book.
15. The downward dogs! How do babies know how to do yoga? Baffling.
16. The way he giggles when I show him how to go underwater in the pool. He’s not so good at it yet.
17. How he says hello to everything. Us, characters on TV, the heater when we switch it on. I took him outside yesterday and he walked up to a tree and waved to it and said ‘hi’.
18. The annoying but adorable way he will make a beeline for my water glass, stick his hand in it, make splashes then walk off. Or pretend to drink from it, blow air into it then say, ‘BUBBLES!’ with a big silly grin.
19. The gentle baby babble and conversations he has with his books and toys, which I would never get sick of listening to but always forget to tape when I have the chance.
20. The way when we cuddle on the bed he’s still small enough to curl up and gently press his feet one by one into my thighs, like a cat (but without the claws).
21. The way he lifts the receiver of the toy phone to his ear and says, ‘Herrow?’ in the sweetest baby voice.
22. When he lies down randomly (sometimes on the pavement) and pretends to sleep. Complete with fake snoring.
23. Or has a tantrum, which involves lying on the floor and saying dramatically, ‘OH NO’ or ‘OH DEAR’. Then he gets up. Not quite the ‘tantrums’ I was expecting but maybe they’re coming…
24. The adorable way he tries and fails to speak. Phone is ‘showne’, porridge is ‘po-po’. If he gets stuck (which happens all day,  every day, whether it’s a foot between the spokes of the dining chairs or his entire lower half sandwiched down the back of the couch) he yells ‘stucky’. He also likes to shorten everything – so Ninky Nonk is ‘Nonk’, Pinky Ponk is ‘Ponk’, Iggle Piggle is ‘Piggle’, Peppa Pig is ‘Pig’, spider is ‘spide’, weetbix is ‘bix’.
25. He’s just started realising that he’s part of a family and me and his dad are his parents. At least once a day he’ll do this surprised relay, running back and forth multiple times between me and his dad for cuddles and each time he’ll say, ‘Mama!’ or ‘Dadda!’ Once he’s exhausted himself, he might take both our hands and pull us along with him for a ‘wawk’. (We die from the cuteness.)
26. Or, when he takes my hand to get me off my laptop, and drags me into the front room to find a toy he wants. If it’s at night, he’ll always look back and me and whisper, wide-eyed, ‘DARK’. I don’t think he’s scared, but he just realised what dark is, and is kind of intrigued by it.
27. When he’s watching a show and starts laughing hysterically but I can’t figure out what’s so amusing. Roaring dinosaurs seem to be part of it, as do ducks wearing robot outfits. Ditto when he giggles in his sleep. What IS he dreaming about? I’d love to know.
28. How in the morning, when it’s still quiet and we’re still half-asleep, we’ll hear a little voice between us asking for ‘a bottle… just a leetle one’. Bless.
29. When I spend hours making something (like chicken nuggets with hidden broccoli) and he sighs, ‘Yummy!’ like it’s truly gourmet fare. (Sure beats the times he looks me dead in the eye and says ‘YUUUUCK’ – but it’s about 50/50.)
30. When he says, ‘OHHH!’ or ‘WOW!’ and puts his pudgy hands on his equally pudgy cheeks in surprise. (Usually upon finding a long-lost Thomas the Tank Engine train or someone offering him cake.)
31. The way he does a serious cat’s bum face while playing with his trains and yells, ‘CHOOOO CHOOOO’.
32. Or tries to count: ‘One, two, FLOWER!’ Or tries to count his pudgy fingers but just counts one, two over and over. Although if I say, ‘Charlie, what comes after eight?’ He says, ‘Nine’. Every single time. Hilarious. (UPDATE: This morning in bed he counted to six all on his own, go Charlie Bear!)
33. When I give him some vegemite toast and he mashes it in his hands and tries to stick it all his mouth at once.
34. Or the way he says, ‘Ahhhhh’ at me when I’m drinking a cup of tea. Or how he always grabs my cup when I’m finished and pretends to drink. And I love it when he plays with his tea set and gives me a fake cup of tea and some cake. Or pretends to cook fake food in his little toy saucepan and frowns and tells me he’s ‘koook-eeng’.
35. When I say, ‘Have you done a poo?’ and he shakes his head vigorously and says ‘No no no no no’. Or, he’ll hold his bottom, look at me all surprised and say ‘Poo!’ Toilet training around these parts is going to be interesting…

What cute things does your toddler do that you don’t want to forget?