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Sweet Sam,
You have been on this beautiful earth for two whole years now. That is pretty hard for me to wrap my head around. Sometimes it feels like you were just born, and other times it feels like "what did we do with ourselves before we had Sam?" (Also known as BS- "Before Sam")

We haven't been for your 24-month well-child (or are you still a well-baby? PLEASE still be a well-baby, PLEASE) check yet. Mainly because your mom is a slacker and didn't email for your appointment until last week. If I had to guess your stats though, I would say you weigh as much as a feather, in comparison to your (little) sister who weighs as much as three elephants. You are long and lean, but your little baby belly is the cutest thing I've ever seen, especially when it's all full and puffed out from dinner.

You received a lot of size 24-month clothes for the fall/winter, but are having a bit of trouble fitting into them. I got you dressed for preschool the other day and went to change Molly. You walked in a few minutes later with your pants around your ankles. I guess the cloth diapers help give you a badonkadonk, while the disposables you wear to school do not. So we have pulled out your size 18-month clothes from last year. You wore a lot of sweatpants then, huh? Can't say I blame you. They're my pants of choice too.

You still aren't talking. Well, I take that back. You talk all the time. You aren't speaking coherent words yet. You jabber on when you see airplanes, helicopters, big trucks, tractors, dogs, birds, kids on bikes, and whenever the washer and dryer go off. I'm not sure where you get this obsession with the laundry. Probably from your father. The one word you are saying (besides "YEAH!") is "pee pee." And not like, "Oh mother! I need to pee pee! Please locate a facility for me to use so that don't urinate in my pants!" It's more like, you're sitting in the bathtub and you point to your, ahem, and say "pee pee?" I'm not sure if I should have been referring to that as something else all along, but you are constantly quizzing me on the name/color/shape of everything, so that is what I started calling that. Hopefully you learn some more words soon. Words like, "Mommy" "I" "love" and "you." Those are all great words to learn.

Your eating habits are kinda horrible. Not gonna lie, kid. With your dietary restrictions, you really need to learn how to love vegetables. You will eat them out of the squeeze-y packs, but son, God gave you teeth for a reason. You will eat just about any fruit, and meat-wise you will eat turkey dogs, ground sausage in spaghetti sauce (no noodles), and grilled chicken. You also like rice cakes, your special pretzels, your special cookies (made with nothing but pure happiness and magic apparently, judging by the ingredient list), Chex, cheese (sometimes, if the stars are aligned just so), and raisins. We learned the hard way that you cannot have too many raisins. Let's just say that they are not so easily digested. Let's also say that your father isn't here to spray out your diapers in the backyard either, so we are taking a little raisin hiatus for a few months.

Tried a little cheese-covered bacon. He needs some meat on those bones. And rice cakes aren't gonna cut it.

You love Molly. You'll bring her toys if I ask you to (and even when I don't) and always try to console her when she's crying. It's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. She idolizes you too, as little sisters usually do with big brothers.

You miss your daddy a lot. I know this deployment is hard on you. He misses you too and can't wait to re-establish himself as the bath-giver/bedtime-routine-conductor. Trust me when I say that I'm looking forward to that more than both of you combined.

You are really enjoying playgrounds now and we have set out to explore every last one in the Fort Campbell/Clarksville/Oak Grove area. You're fearless on the slides and love running wild, collecting every decent stick you can find along your way. Those feet of yours still give you a little trouble (you know, when it comes to walking and standing up and all), so you usually have just as many boo-boo's as you do sticks, but you seem to recover fairly quickly.

Taken right before he face-planted into the sidewalk.

Your current obsessions right now are 18-wheelers, tractors (omg, going to see the Mennonites is like THE best day EVER for you what with all their tractors they drive like cars), trains, bulldozers, and any and all construction equipment. Let me not forget to mention helicopters too. Because if we happen to see a helicopter flying through the sky, we must stop any and all movement and give it nothing less than our undivided attention until it has completely left our eyesight AND earshot. (This can make taking walks verrrrrrrrrrrrry difficult sometimes.)

You go to preschool two days a week now and seem to really enjoy it. You got a little clingy at drop-off twice (right after your dad left), and I actually enjoyed it. When else do I get a hug that easily??? After I enjoyed a hug from you, I peeled you off pretty quick and left, because son, I KNOW THIS GAME. You don't miss me. You do like attention though. Well-played. Your teachers ratted you out and said that you were fine the second I left.

Yes, sometimes we take the elevator. Judge all you want, but Molly+carseat+trying to wrangle Sam up the stairs during the morning rush= we will never get there on time and I will be sweatier than usual, which is already pretty sweaty. Also, how sweet is preschool art?!?!?! I'm trying to show some restraint and not frame it all.

I love you so SO much. You definitely know how to drive me to the edge, but you also regularly fill my heart to bursting with your sweet ways. Looking forward to all the awesome things you'll do in your third year of life, buddy.