Toby, our little toddler!
We have been having so much fun.
His cheeky little personality has really come out and he is a hoot.
At the start of the month he mastered climbing up on the couches. It was a proud moment.
But not without more mischief.
His busy little hands get him into lots of trouble.
House plants and toddlers don’t mix.
Toby still loves to do whatever Jude is doing.
Having an older brother like Jude has made Toby pretty fearless. He climbs over tree trunks, falls on his face but gets right back up and keeps going.
He is so active during the day and falls asleep so easily. It’s great.
Food is still one of his favorite things. He always finishes his meal (unless it contains broccoli or cauliflower).
And still insists on feeding himself (ugh, the mess…).
He’s figured out how to make us laugh.
He has a great belly laugh that comes out when he is having the time of his life.
One of his favorite things this month has been standing on his head. He will randomly put his head down and butt in the air and just hang out there for awhile.
Like Jude, Toby also loves diggers, cars, trucks and trains.
He will say ‘vroom, vroom’; over and over as he steers toy cars around the living room.
Toby, you little spunk. We love how you have really started to shine.
Jude really, truly lives life to the fullest. He has so much energy – it’s impressive.
He’s a super fast runner. I just have to make sure I can always run faster.
He’s also totally fearless and is always keen to hold or touch whatever insect we find – no matter how creepy, crawly it is.
When Jude relaxes, he really relaxes. He really exhausts himself at the playground so when we get home he tends to crash. His sleep has also been so great recently. It can be a challenge actually getting him into bed (as he dishes out every delay tactic in the book) but once he is there, he will have solid, long sleeps.
A lot of my friends think I am crazy for taking them both to Costco but it’s actually one of the easier places thanks to all the samples.
Jude is still totally into his friends. It’s so cute as now he can come home and tell Dad what he did that day- where we went, which friends he played with, and what we did.
The sibling bond certainly runs deeper than his friendships – he cares for Toby in a different way but he is also way meaner to Toby than his friends. We’ve had a lot of incidents of Jude pushing Toby out of the way when he doesn’t want Toby to participate in a game with him.
But then we will do things like hiding in the play tent and calling out for Toby to come join him.
It’s complicated but I know deep down there is a lot of love.
One big difference between Jude at 2 and 2 and a half is his strength and ability to control his body. He’s quick but very sure-footed and easily navigates playground obstacles.
Jude continued to work his magic over crowds of Taiwanese this month. He really knows how to turn it on in front of a camera.
The days go by so fast with these two. I have such a hard time remembering what Jude was like when he was Toby’s age and thinking about what Toby will be like when he is Jude’s age.
We love these boys so much even though they drive us crazy.
Especially you, Jude.
Five years in Taiwan 