Not everything can be about the twins: Dominic's two-and-a-half-year update

He just had to wear his new snow boots for his picture!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is two and a half already! He no longer looks like a baby or a toddler, but a little boy. Just like I did with his monthly posts his first year, here's the low down on his life as a two-year-old.

Weight and height:  33.5 lbs and 36 inches. He has slimmed down a lot over the past six months because all the sudden he decided to grow upward!

Sleeping patterns:  Over the last year, his daytime nap has shorted from a little over two hours to about an hour and a half. He's still going to bed around 7, and wakes up around 6. We transitioned to a toddler bed around his 2nd birthday, and he handled the transition well, most likely due to sleeping in a cot at daycare. He had a few weeks where he would get up in the middle of the night and crawl into our bed, so we put a child-proofing door handle cover on the inside of his room door. We've tried to take it off a few times, but he'll come into our room at 4 or 5 ready to party. I hope to slowly fade it over the next few weeks since I'm worried about how he's going to handle the babies screaming crying all the time.

Not all nap times are perfect...

Eating habits: Sometimes he eats like he can't get enough, and other times he doesn't eat very much at all. His favorite drinks are chocolate milk (we make our own using Nesquik so we can make just barely chocolatey) and apple juice (which is really 90% water 10% juice; straight up juice is the magic for making him poo!). He favorite foods include cheese puffs, broccoli, carrots, peas, grapes, hot dogs, cheese, and candy of pretty much any kind (just like his mother). His cheese obsession has significantly decreased over the last year, but he used to sit inside the fridge munching on cheese sticks.

Places he went: We've had lots of adventures since the last post like this way back when he was 15 months old. Lots of trips within Iowa to visit family, and a few trips to Minnesota to visit friends and family. Here are a few from the last few months.

Zoo and lake
My parents got Dominic a zoo membership for his birthday, so we spent at least a day every week at the zoo this summer. We also went about once a week to either Gray's Lake or Raccoon River park for Dom to play in the water. I didn't feel the best this summer during my first trimester, but I tried really hard to do something fun with Dom every day.

Strolling at the zoo

Sleepover with his cousins
Brian and I went to Seattle for a really long weekend, and he got to spend most of the time we were gone with my sis and her family. He had a blast with Laney and Brinley! I think we'll have to repeat this again every summer, regardless of whether or not Brian and I go on any trips.

Arizona + first airplane ride
Brian's parents took us all on a trip to Arizona to visit family, so Dominic went on his first airplane ride. He was good the majority of the way there and was an absolute rockstar on the flight home. Thankfully we had direct flights and no real delays! We all had a great time visit family, and I wish we could do it more often.

Four generations of Craun men

Special friends he's made:  His best friend is a little guy at daycare. They are very close and love to see each other every day. His buddy is about 5 months older than Dom, so when he transitioned from the one-year-old room to the two-year-old room last January, Dominic didn't know what to do with himself. He started crying more at drop offs and was just overall sort of mopey. Brian and I decided one night that we'd call daycare to beg them to move Dom up early, and before I had a chance to call them, they called us to see if we would be okay with them doing that. His little life was so much better after that! This summer and fall we've done more with his buddy and his mom, and I love to see the two of them together.

Noises and babbles: He is a talking machine! He loves to ask questions and to repeat things. Sometimes he'll sing songs. It's amazing how much his language has advanced over the last year. You can actually have conversations with him, and he understands so much more. I love when he tells me about his day after we read our bedtime stories. He has the sweetest little voice, too. When he goes to Target with me, we often have little old ladies come over to the aisle we're in and say that they just had to see who belonged to that cute voice. And of course he acts all shy and bats his lashes at them! Flirt!

He has the best manners, too. I love when I hand him something and he says thank you all on his own. He'll often say excuse me when we're in the way, and for the most part, remembers to say please.

He calls himself "my Dom Craun" because there's another Dominic at daycare and that's what his b-fri calls him, so now I always find myself calling him that too. He has started to call me Mom, which breaks my heart that he's so big already. He also knows our names. There have been a few times where he has called Brian by his name to get his attention. And he loves to share what he's learning at daycare. It's hilarious when he counts. He's so set on his order that I don't have the heart to correct him.

Firsts: 
Train ride
We met his buddy at Thomas the Train in Boone, and we got to ride one of the passenger trains. I thought he was going to freak out a little when the train started moving but he loved it. He enjoyed looking out the window, and wanted to go on another ride as soon as we got done.

Dental check-up
He had his first visit to the dentist's office a little bit ago and handled it really well. He followed all the directions really well and didn't cry at all.

 Bloody horror scene
When we were in Arizona, we went to a sky dive place to watch the planes and divers. Brian's cousin ended up diving, which was so cool! Anyway, Brian, Mark, Bennett, and Dominic were playing on the bleachers near the landing field and Dom thought it would be fun to jump from one step to another. I thankfully didn't see this all happen but apparently his face broke the fall and he almost bit all the way through his bottom lip. Thankfully there was a medic on site who saw it happen. She cleaned it all up and made it look much better. By the time Dominic made it over to where I was sitting, his lip was swollen and still bleeding. He now has his first scar on that cute little face. :(

Pumpkin patch and horse ride
We met Dom's bestie for an afternoon at a pumpkin patch / farm. He loved the goats and tractors, but his favorite part was the horse ride. He had a blast with everything!

Using the potty
We started working on potty training a few weeks ago and Dom is totally rocking it. He's had a few days with no accidents, and when he does have accidents it's usually no more than one or two a day. So proud of him!

Favorite things:
Some of Dominic's favorite things right now include:

• The Hawkeyes. Any football player is also called the Hawkeyes.
• Daddy. I finally got to the point this summer where I became the preferred parent and then I got hit with the pregnancy nausea truck and that all was ruined. He especially loves to wrestle with Daddy.
• Going places and being outside. He loves to be active and watch what's happening around him.
• His grandparents. Last night my mom came over to fix Dom's botched Great Clips haircut (there's a reason their haircuts are so cheap!), and as she was getting ready to leave Dominic said, "No leave me." Awwww!
• Helping. He loves to help us do pretty much everything from cooking and cleaning to building and fixing things. He also loved helping with the babies' room. He's so proud of himself when he helps out and will say, "Look at me!"
• Reading, especially Where the Wild Things Are (aka "Max"). He loves for us to read lots of stories before bed, and likes to pick a new one to read each night. He will often read to himself, as well, and you can hear him making up stories to go with the pictures as he's lying in bed before he falls asleep. Sometimes he'll read in the mornings, and we'll find him sitting on his window seat or on his bed reading.
• Choo Choo Thomas. He loved seeing the big Thomas in Boone, and he loves to play with the train set at Von Maur and at daycare, plus his little track at home. Toward the end of summer I started DVRing the cartoon on PBS and he loves to watch it.
• Bob Bob. He is obsessed with SpongeBob SquarePants! We had a Bob Bob themed birthday party for him that he loved, and we watch an episode pretty much every day. It's a good thing there's some adult humor in that show, too.
• Planes, trains, and automobiles. He loves trucks, trains, tractors, airplanes, fire trucks, po po's (police cars), dump trucks, you name it. He can spot our cars from super far away.
• His kitties. He loves Marbles, who we now call Mars because that's what he calls her. She is so good with him. He would love to pet Coco, but she doesn't really like him so he never gets close enough. 

At Night Eyes rocking his favorite book character

Helping Daddy cook

I think I've said this about every age, but this age is truly my favorite. When I come home from work every day he says, "Ma! You home!" I love my welcomes home, and his hugs and kisses. He's so caring, and often asks me if I feel okay (he knows I felt awful for a few months) and is pretty decent at sharing. I'm not sure how we did it, but I'm so proud of the little boy he's grown to be. He's the best!