34 months

today talan turned 34 months old. only 2 more months until he is 3 years old!!! that's crazy.
i have decided that the terrible 2's are nothing compared to the terrible 2 1/2's and early terrible 3's. talan's tantrums have become much louder and even a bit longer, although he is able to calm himself down relatively quickly.
the sass on him continues to grow. he loves to tell people "i don't like you." mostly when you need to do something he doesn't want done. one day tina was going to come over and she was going to cut his hair. when i was telling him this he put on his mean face and just started saying "i don't like tina!" of course when tina came over he decided he liked her after all.
talan continues to climb out of his crib anytime he feels the need. one nite i was in the bedroom watching tv and when i got up and opened the door i found him laying in the hallway right next to my door with all of his blankets and stuffed animals. one way we have found to keep him in his crib is by threatening to turn the hallway light off. he loves having it left on as he falls asleep and if someone accidentally turns it off he'll immediately start screaming and crying until we turn it back on again. so every nite before bed we tell him "if you get out of your crib, we turn the light off." and that almost always keeps him in for the nite.
he also loves to get out of his crib and put everything he can get his hands on into his crib. i'll come in after nap time or in the morning to find he has taken 2 whole shelves of books and put them all into his crib. he also has included all of his stuffed animals and anything else that is loose in his room. thankfully it doesn't happen all of the time, but it does happen on a somewhat regular basis. i find that if i just let him go to sleep with 3 or 4 books he won't empty out the whole bookcase later in the evening.
he used to be a great cleaner but has recently decided he'd rather just make the messes and have someone else clean up for him. he will eventually clean if you stay on him about it, but it's a LONG process. one afternoon he wouldn't clean up his mess so i put him in his crib for a timeout. he stayed in there for just a few minutes screaming at the top of his lungs. then suddenly he stopped, climbed out of his crib, walked out to the living room and said "i clean now, mom." walked himself downstairs and cleaned up his mess all by himself. all the while yelling up the stairs "i cleaning mom! all by myself! i cleaning!"
talan loves to watch the show max and ruby. it's a show about 2 bunnies....max, the younger bunny who really appears to be quite slow for being 3 years old and ruby, his older sister who is bossy, rude and actually dumber than max in most instances. we hate max and ruby, but the boys love it. apparently there is one episode (i wouldn't know since i try not to watch them) about the emperor's new clothes. in part of the episode, max takes his clothes off. i have found talan on MANY occasions stripped down to just his diaper after watching that episode. needless to say we have since deleted that episode from our tivo.
usually when asked about the baby in my tummy talan tells us "i not like that baby!" when asked why, his usual response is "the baby going to cry!" he will also get very possessive and start saying "baby not touch my toys! baby not touch that tv!" or anything else in the room that he sees. he sometimes changes his mind like the other day when i asked him and he gave a heavy sigh and then said "i sink so."
talan picks up so many phrases and always seems to use them at the most appropriate times. one of my favorites from this month is "no problem." talan...can you help me with this "no problem, mom." another one is when we ask "who did such and such?" and he'll answer while pointing his thumbs at himself "this guy!" talan is one rad little kid.
depending on his mood, he will only allow certain people to dress him, change him, put him to bed, give him milk...whatever. if dave goes to do something for him but talan wants me he'll just start yelling "no! mama try it!" and if dave gives him the milk after he has asked for me to "try it" the milk will be thrown across the room.
he hardly eats dinner anymore. and he almost never eats breakfast other than a poptart. of course he tries to snack through the day. and he usually eats a pretty decent lunch. i guess it's good he eats at least one good meal a day. we don't always get that from hayden!
talan loves chocolate. he loves getting a letter in the mail. he loves playing "fight" with swords, guns and light sabers in the basement. he loves making messes. he loves strawberries. he loves salami and waffles. he loves tormenting hayden. he loves bowling with anything he can knock over. he loves going to church/mops. he loves isaac gregg. he loves making people laugh. he loves music and dancing and drums and guitars. he loves his "green blanket" and pulling at the fuzzy's on the corner of it. he loves milk. he loves running around the car before getting into his seat. he loves making silly faces. he loves playing with hayden (most of the time). he loves his binky's. he loves fireflight. he loves the "nana song" (pink's so what) and the "yahoo" song (king of leon's sex on fire).
talan hates having to sit for meals. he hates sitting in his booster seat. he hates being buckled in his seat. he hates having water get in his eyes during bath time. he hates anyone telling him what to do. he hates to hear the word "no." he hates it when anyone corrects him, especially hayden. he hates cleaning. he hates fuzzy's which he calls "funnies." he hates getting hair in his mouth. he hates hiccups and has been known to put his hand over his mouth and yell "NO!" when he gets them.
talan can really push our buttons and drive us crazy through the day, but for the most part, he remains a happy toddler who loves to make everyone laugh. and laugh we do. he is a total entertainer and always wants people to watch him. "watch this guys" he will say many times throughout the day. he still loves playing his drums and he is AMAZING at it. dave and i just look at each other in awe most evenings when we sit down hear and listen to him. you would never know it was a toddler playing...he plays better than i do. he is a total rockstar. he is mr. personality and he is ALL boy.
many days i may count down the hours until bedtime, but i would never want to trade him in for anything!
we love you so much, talan cash! happy 34 months!!!!