And just like that, Michael is two.

He was showered with love at church on his birthday, and got many hugs and well wishes. I snuck a photo of him going up to get a blessing with my mother and another parishioner, who both celebrate their patron saints’ name day that week (St Ita!).

Michael’s birthday gift to us was a nap: he actually slept for a few hours in the afternoon while I made his birthday cake (a chocolate sheet cake, inspired by Little Bear’s love of chocolate cake).

That evening, we had a small family dinner for him. We opened presents and watched happy birthday videos and FaceTimed his aunts and uncles who couldn’t be with us.

I am extremely grateful that we can connect with those family members who live far away. I love that he recognizes their voices and faces and says their names, even though we can’t visit often.

We also had a small birthday party for him with some of our friends from church! One of his favorite books right now is Where the Wild Things Are, so I leaned into that for the “theme”.

It was small and sweet. He got to run around outside with his friends (thankfully there was a break from rain!), and color and open presents and sing happy birthday — so he was quite happy.

Over the last few weeks, it seems like Michael has been talking more and more: we chat about our day together and he asks me “what doing?” whenever I’m working around the house. We often narrate our daily adventures together. Whenever he bonks his head or has a small injury, he makes sure to offer it to us for kisses to make it all better. If we happen to also get an injury or say “ouch”, he runs over to kiss it for us.

He loves helping: almost daily, we make the bed together (he puts the pillows on the bed), and empty the dishwasher (he hands me plates and silverware) and fill it (he puts silverware and plates in). He’s still working on putting up laundry with me: he thinks all laundry belongs in the dirty clothes hamper, so I’ve had to fish some folded socks and shirts out of the hamper.

He loves the outdoors with a passion: he plays for hours in the dirt and grass and still doesn’t want to come inside, even if it’s raining. My grandparents — his Gigi and Papaw — got him a fantastic outdoor climbing gym for his birthday, and he absolutely adores it.

We’ve been going to our local park a bit more often to help satiate his desire for the outdoors: he really enjoys watching the ducks and geese, and climbing on all the play structures. He’s still not sure about the slides.

The current favorites for books right now are Where the Wild Things Are, as I mentioned above, and Green Eggs and Ham. He has large sections of both of them memorized, and often recites them as we read to him.

To nobody’s surprise, Grandpa remains his best friend. Even if he’s in the worst of moods, my dad can somehow make him smile.

I know they’re nicknamed the terrible twos, but I’ve loved this explosion of communication and curiosity. Sleep may still be a struggle, and he may have quite a strong will which needs to be taught and redirected (often), but he’s such a sweet boy, with a fiery soul and a tender heart. I’m so grateful to walk alongside him as he explores the world, and I’m so blessed to be his mother.