2 1/2!

Grayson is now 2 1/2! And what a fun little man he is! I am LOVING this stage -- he is so incredibly cute and fun! Granted, the screaming, constant "NO!"s, tantrum-throwing, and general stubbornness isn't that fun. But everything ELSE is :) Here's a little about what Gray's up to lately: (warning: this is a long post of things I just wanna document. Feel free to not read the whole thing in it's entirety)
* Gray is talking up a storm, but isn't quite forming his own sentences yet. He can repeat usual phrases ("I love you", "Thank you", "To Infinity and Beyond" -- you know, the essentials), but usually 'makes up' his own sentences by using "blebababaglubablue" as a filler.
* His "I love you" sounds like "I judge you". Hilarious.
* He is now saying "Grayson", and I love, love, LOVE how he says it! Beyond cute! Sometimes he still refers to himself as "baby", though.
* Gray still loves his Ele, but he now calls all other elephants "Ephants" -- he used to call all elephants ele. Now it's only his special one. As an aside, wanna see how many elephants Gray has?? It's a lot:

* Gray has a stellar memory. He can point to a drawer and ask for a toy that's in there that hasn't been played with for a year. He can also repeat every word to Cars, Toy Story (1&2), The Princess and the Frog (say "I think it's done, Da-addy" to him sometime, and behold the awesomeness. Just saying.), "Over the Hedge", "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and "Land Before Time".
* He often goes off into dramatic monologues, acting out scenes from these movies, and making up his own. He is BEYOND entertaining.
* Gray's current favorite thing in the world is Thomas the Train. He knows all the different trains, and LOVES to play with his toy trains.
* Grayson is a very picky eater. He'll eat like a bird for 3-4 days, then eat more than I do for a day or two. He loves pizza, chicken nuggets, fries, popcorn, crackers, pretzels, ice cream, juice, chocolate muffins, cheetos, chocolate milk (instant breakfast -- it's the only way he gets nutrients some days), peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and anything chocolate/candy related. SOME days he can be persuaded to eat cereal, apples, peaches, spaghetti, mac & cheese, yogurt, and string cheese.
(this is his Cheeto-Monster picture. Also, lately he's been asking me to take off his shirt. Except he says "Pants off" when he asks. Silly kid)
* He is starting to get sneaky. I'll tell him not to do something, and he'll do it when I'm not paying attention. His favorite is sneaking out the dog door into the back yard. He's not supposed to do it, but he just can't resist, now that he's figured it out. And it's so darn funny to watch him do it, it's hard to get too mad at him (plus, the back yard is fenced, so he can't really get into too much trouble out there...) He also will flat-out fib to me -- "Gray, did you poop?" "NO!"(as he runs as fast as he can the other way)


* Gray loves anything with wheels, and thinks any toy car/truck/train/etc he sees is automatically his. He isn't too good with the whole sharing thing, but he IS very good at telling OTHER kids to share. And he does get there eventually, if not begrudgingly.
* He LOVES making adults go where he wants them. He constantly orders me around the house ("Go DAT way!"), and makes me sit ("Sait, Mommy") where he wants. When we go to my mom's house, he has to position every person EXACTLY where he wants them to sit, and heaven help you if you try to get up before he says you can. He even tells HIMSELF where to sit ("Sait, Baby!"). Then he goes around the room and points to everyone, naming them off as he goes.
* Grayson LOVES Ollie. They are little buddies. Thank goodness I have such a tolerant dog! Gray chases him everywhere, orders him where to sit ("Sait, Ah-yee!"), sits on him, drives his cars on him, and generally just laughs his head off at anything Ollie does. Even when I call Ollie by his full name (Oliver), he laughs SO hard. Ollie is very good-natured about it all and just takes it. If he gets too annoyed, he'll just leave the room. He's never EVER even growled at Gray. And he's always the first one into Gray's room in the morning. I love that they're such good buddies.


* Gray thinks almost everything is a computer. If it has buttons, or anything he can PRETEND is buttons, he says "Puter!Poot!" (I think that's trying to be "Computer! Boot!"), and furiously 'types' on whatever it is. We got him a LeapFrog laptop for Christmas -- I can't wait to see him with his very OWN computer! :)
* Gray loves water. If there's a puddle anywhere NEAR this kid, he'll find it. But he doesn't like swimming pools, and he didn't like the splash pad. His favorite thing is for his Nana to squirt him with the hose. And the water play table at her house.
* He still loves books, but doesn't like you to read to him. He'll snatch the book out of your hand and take it to the floor to read it himself. I really miss having him snuggle on my lap while I read him books.
* Grayson unfortunately inherited his daddy's migraines. It's the saddest thing ever to watch him when he has one. He just says "Head hurt" over and over, sometimes throws up, and just wants me to hold him. It's the only time he'll let me really snuggle him. We just lie on the couch together and watch movies or sing soft songs. Poor little guy. Tylenol DOES seem to help so far, though, so I hope they never get as bad as Steve's.
* Gray loves the song "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" and will sometimes make me sing it 20 times a day. We always have to sing it for FHE. He knows all the words. So cute.
* Gray hates anything unexpected/unfamiliar, but he's fine as long as you give him warning, or let him get acclimated to a situation before making him do something. It just takes him a little while :)
* Overall, Gray is such a sweet-hearted little guy, and is SO much fun! I love every minute I get with this little guy!