My two year old

Having a two year old is an amazing experience! I love seeing Arthur grow up little by little and each day I can't wait to hear what new things he will come up with.
The other day I went into his room and found all of the vacuum pieces sprawled across his bed and him reclining on his pillows reading the owners manual. He loves to help in the kitchen and lately has been Daddy's dish washing buddy. He's my helper as well and looks forward to delicately picking the leaves from our herb plants to add to our dinner. Even if his cooking style gets a bit creative at times (cilantro in our spaghetti sauce?) I wouldn't trade my little chef for anything. I made mini strawberry cheesecakes the other night for some friends who came over for dinner and Arthur single-handedly mashed the graham cookies to make the base. Of course every few minutes he would put down the rolling pin that he was mashing with and say "break time!" and pick out a piece of cookie to eat. He is my funny hard working boy.
We went to a wedding reception last weekend and Arthur found heaven in chasing around a group of young boys who were equally enamored with having him as a playmate. It was all we could do to keep track of him and would occasionally just see the top of his head as he went running between tables chased by his new friends. In all of the fun and excitement I spent the evening trying to convince him to eat something from the very well stocked buffet that served as our dinner. Each time I approached him with food he would give me a look as if to say, "Are you kidding me?" and run away squealing with laughter as he caught sight of one of the other young boys. But being the mom that I am, I didn't give up trying and after about an hour and a half of chasing him around with various bits of reasonably healthy food meant to tempt and tantalize him, I finally took him to the buffet tables, gave him a plate and told him to pick out whatever he wanted to eat. What did he choose? Three strawberries and a cupcake. Better than nothing? Well that's what I tried to tell myself, at least he choose some fruit...that is until I noticed that the cupcake had disappeared in record time and the three lone strawberries remained on his plate untouched for the rest of the night.
Some of my favorite things he is saying lately:
Anytime one of us says "I know" we can hear Arthur mumble almost under his breath "I know the muffin man!" I love it!
He started saying "How about" the other day and now uses it whenever possible throughout the day. Anytime I present him with a choice to make he starts with "How about..." and makes hhmmmm thinking sounds as he debates about what to choose. Sometimes if I tell him we are going to do something that he isn't thrilled about he says, "How about....watch movie!" or something equally exciting and much more impressive than what I have to offer.
Arthur's response anytime we tell him anything like 'no, that's not a good idea', or 'I don't think so', or 'Not right now', is always the same- one word: "Try". At times it comes out in a bold expression of confidence "TRY!". Other times as a sweet squeaky plea "Tryyy?". And sometimes as a statement of 'well isn't it obvious' "Try!". I believe that Arthur's answer to anything seemingly impossible would be "Try!" and I love his determined optimism!
If you could peek into our bathroom right now you would be greeted by a plastic blue and green potty chair shaped like a frog, a box full of pull ups, a small library worth of kid's books, and probably a few random items of Arthur's clothing scattered on the floor. That's right- we are officially potty training! Scary? Yes. Successful? Some days. Mostly, he enjoys sitting on the potty as long as we read to him and I only have to bribe him with Popsicles every now and then. It will be a long road I'm sure, but my future is brightened knowing that someday all these diaper changes will be a distant memory!
As I put Arthur to bed the other night, he laid down beside me on his bed and looked up at me. Suddenly he put his arm around me and said "Love you". It melted my heart! I got to hear quite a few "Love you"s that night from Arthur, and although it reached the point that I started to suspect he was using this new affectionate phrase to stretch out his bed time, I wouldn't trade any of those "Love you"s for a minute of sleep.
Love YOU my little boy.