Much is made of the "terrible twos" when it comes to raising a child, and I'll freely admit that Simon has been, uh, challenging, to be polite. But to be honest, there's a part of me that wishes he could stay as he is for much longer, even though I can see him changing every day.
The best thing about Simon right now is that he's very affectionate. The kid will hug and kiss anyone, but the love he shows for his parents right now is absolutely priceless. It's actually hard to get him out of my office in the morning, because he wants so badly to be physically close to me. It's hard for me to set limits and boundaries, too. I've put him down for his nap quite a few times as of late, even when I should be diving back into work.
His speech has been delayed, but school is helping a great deal, and he's really catching up quickly now. With this comes all kinds of super cute things he says. When he does his flop maneuver on the bed, it comes with a count. When he leaves and says bye, it's now often coupled with "have fun," because I tell him that when he goes to school. And of course, there's his now classic, "Ooooooh nooooo!" that he's so fond of shouting. It was really amusing that Sunday morning in downtown Chicago, where it echoed.
Simon takes a lot of pride in his physical accomplishments as well. We've finally got him climbing stairs with his less dominant leg first, and he cheers when he does it. He gets his toys and puzzles. When he puts his train together, he knows to turn the cars around when the magnets repel, and then gently pushes it around the entire figure-eight track. He helps with the shower doors. He helps water plants outside with the hose.
I get a lot of joy just watching him play on his own. I love watching him figure stuff out. This emerging personality is so amazing. For all of the other things in life that cause me some amount of grief, it just goes away when I spend time with Simon. I really dig being his daddy.
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