life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

My favorite little babe in the universe is two-and-a-half years old! Today! How is this even possible?

I adore him so freaking much. Still, even 2.5 years later, I want to spend every single moment with him. It hasn’t changed. Even in the moments of his tantrums and meltdowns, the minute they pass I want to snuggle and cuddle and just be with him all the time!

Obviously this isn’t possible (or normal? haha), but I seriously soak up every single second we spend together. Even though the time is going super fast, it feels like we are doing so many fun things and having such a blast every day.

It feels like nothing is new and at the same time, everything is new. He is a little human! He speaks in full sentences (non-stop, he nevvvvver stops talking) and tells tons of stories, is slightly dramatic (um where does he get that?), loves to run and play outside and loves to read constantly. I’m unapologetically obsessed with him. So I’m just going to ramble on and on, like I usually do. Now you know exactly why I don’t send these posts through an RSS feed…

life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

A few months ago, Max started just randomly looking at me multiple times a day and going “I love you mama!” He says it so much and so often which is amazing and I just melt. Probably because I say it 56 times a day. He is such a lovable little chunk!

This is going to sound ridiculous and like the most “mom” thing ever, but I feel like Max is the most perfect combination of independent and loving at this age. He is so independent and loves to play with others the most, but also plays so well on his own. He is SO into playing outside and playing at 100% intensity at the time. He doesn’t want to be interrupted or bothered and when he’s playing with other kids, he NEVER wants to stop.

At the same time, when he wants mama and wants to snuggle, he’s the most snuggly and cuddly bug ever. He still loves to be held, loves to cuddle, always asks for “kisses and smooches” and is so freaking sweet. He still loves to be with us and even loves to be held a lot. It’s the most wonderful thing ever!

life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

One of the things we struggle with the most DAILY is that I cannot get this child to put on clothes, change his diaper, go outside, leave the house, etc without the most HILARIOUS running/giggling/”chase me!” game. I mean, it’s kind of fun and it is also adorable and I love that he is so giddy and happy all the time, but every.single.thing we have to do is a chase and it takes forever to do everything! It’s not a tantrum, but he thinks it’s a game. And it eats up so much time!

Luckily, this doesn’t impact us time-wise much because you guys know that I’m a psycho who has to arrive a very unfashionably 30 minutes early everywhere I go. I basically spend half of my life sitting in cars, waiting to go to places on time instead of so early that I appear freakish. Max hasn’t changed this because now I just start getting us ready even earlier when we go somewhere! But maaaan is it exhausting have to run and chase him in a fit of giggles just to wipe his hands or get him dressed or anything. Super funny.

We haven’t had to deal much with major tantrums, although as I say this right now, last week was a little bit of a doozy. He has minor meltdowns over things he wants to do himself, often whining “no! Max does it!” and the occasional flip out if he wants to wear different shoes than the ones I put on his feet. We’ve been so lucky and really only deal with tantrums and fits when his molars have been coming in and whoa, that is rough! We didn’t deal with any of that with teething before – obviously since he wasn’t a toddler yet and well, I was still nursing and that was the best calming effect ever!

life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

Max is still in a bit of a picky phase with eating. I don’t worry about it because the doctor said the best thing to me last year – that he will have hungry days and non-hungry days, and on the hungry days, just cram in all the fruits and veggies that we can! That’s what we do. But on some days he only eats peanut butter toast, bananas, smoothies, yogurt and crackers.

Since the moment he was born, I have obviously been cooking tons of different things since it’s my job. I did everything I possibly could to ward off the toddler picky phase and it still came to visit. I get TONS of questions about this and my answer is to not stress. As long as I’m constantly offering him the GOOD food every day, I don’t stress over it and hope it will pass. In our favorites later this week, I’ll throw in a few of our favorite foods. In general for smoothies though, we do kefir, harmless harvest coconut water, tons of greens, hydrated chia, some liquid omegas, frozen fruit like organic blueberries, peaches, etc, coconut oil and maybe even a small piece of an apple (though he usually will eat apple slices daily). He loves smoothies and I do find that with most foods, as long as I offer them to him consistently, he will eventually get on board!

One funny thing is that he hates dips. He hates to be messy, so dipping things in ketchup, hummus, etc isn’t even an option. He doesn’t even like butter on his bread!

life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

As far as the new baby coming, I feel like he sort of gets it… but doesn’t fully. Of course. He knows there is a baby in my belly and if you ask him to kiss it, he runs up and grabs me and smashes his face into my stomach. He still only says I’m having a girl (which I’m STILL convinced is because my SIL is having a girl, and he knows that!), that he is going to name her “Pink” or “Purple”?!?! and he gets super adorably and giggly when we talk about sharing things with his brother or sister.

So! Fun things we are doing this summer. We have our normal classes, like music and swim and then we also have our annual zoo pass, but some stuff I’m super excited about are the camps I’ve signed Max up for. He’s doing some camps at the zoo and then also at Phipps Conservatory which I think will be so, so fun. He is also going to start soccer soon (and maaaaybe learn-to-skate, but I think that is in the winter!) and I just cannot wait.

I’ve got a lot of questions about school and since Max will only be 2 in the fall, he will not start preschool. In fact, kids around us rarely start until 3 and even 4. I didn’t even realize that 2-year olds could go to preschool until I saw it all over blogs and instagram. Every time I’ve asked my mom about it from ages 12 months to, well… NOW, she looks at me like I have 4 heads. Max is involved in so many things here and we have so much fun learning with him, so the plan right now is to start him in school next year, fall of 2018, when he is 3, but we’re also not opposed to reassessing that decision and possibly starting at age 4. Depending on the circumstances, of course!

life with max at 2.5 years old I howsweeteats.com

So that’s really where we are at right now at 2.5 years. I can’t get over how much I love this boy and how much I want to be with him every single day. Before I had a kid, I was so worried that I wouldn’t adjust to having a child around since I’d spent most of my 20s doing whatever the heck I wanted, and it’s just crazy how wonderful it all is. Every single day!

Later this week, I’ll share our favorites of the moment, so be sure to stop back. Thanks so much for reading all my rambles about this little lovebug.