Isaac at 30 months

I will start by saying that while I thought that Luke's infancy and toddlerhood passed in a hurry, it pales in comparison to the lightening speed at which Isaac's short life has flown by. He is two and a half. I swear I just birthed this little one. I remember Luke wearing this very same outfit as a two year old and it really was just yesterday.
Isaac made me fall in love with motherhood in a whole new way. I can remember having the same experience with him more than once, sitting in the glider rocking or nursing him as a little baby and asking Heavenly Father to send me six more just like him. He was, from the beginning, so sweet, inquisitive and full of life. Seeing the world through his smiling eyes has made my life so much richer. I think that it took me by surprise because when I found out he was another boy I felt a little like I had been there and done that and I didn't anticipate many new feelings or experiences. I couldn't have been more wrong. Isaac taught me that each child is so much more than his or her sex. It's a whole new person. Oh, I love this little man.
Each child also adds more layers to the family life. His interactions with and adoration for his brothers makes me love them more. I have loved watching Noah take on the role of big brother and best friend to Isaac. Luke is so nurturing and tender with him. Nat and I have both been able to just enjoy him as we have watched him change our family. I think that I am beginning to understand that the bad and the irritating things are stages that kids pass through in this clumsy process of growing up and the good things about a child are what last in their personalities. Kids grow out of tantrums but not out of tenderness.

Isaac at 30 months:

• is the most independent child I have had. One morning he had created havoc all over the house with spills and messes. I looked back and realized that each mess had been in an effort to take care of himself. He spilled the cereal as he tried to get himself more, pulled all his clothes out as he got ready for the day, and peed all over the floor in the bathroom because he didn't ask for help going to the bathroom. If I take a deep breath and see the big picture I can deal with the messes a little bit better.
  
• loves to dress himself and change his clothes. He can get himself competely dressed and undressed. If left unattended he will usually go in and find a different outfit to try out. He also loves to go in and start himself a bath.
  
• is still a terrific sleeper. Noah has him beat in the sleeping in department but I can count on him going down for naps and bedtime very cheerfully. While in San Diego I was fussing over him and cuddling him before bedtime. He looked up at me and said, "Mom, I just want to go to bed now." He often cuts me off in the middle of a lullaby with a request to be put down.
  
• is the most outgoing of all the boys. He waves to passing cars and people and warms up to people much more quickly than the other boys ever did.
  
• has mad fine and gross motor skills. He can find a way to accomplish whatever mischief comes into his mind.
  
• loves his mom.
  
• chatters away constantly.
  
• thinks he is one of the big boys.
  
• loves books.
  
• has my iPhone all figured out.
  
• has a love/hate relationship with the dog. I think that he enjoys having someone to boss around but doesn't like that his face is just at Jem's licking height.
  
• loves to eat. He loves meat especially.
  
• is far more interested in the potty than I am interested in potty training him. I keep telling myself that we will get serious about it this summer when and if it ever warms up.
  
• spills water all the time. He loves to get himself something to drink, fills his cup all the way full and then dumps whatever water is left in there once he's done drinking.
  
• has fantastic pretend play. I love to hear his little imagination go.
  
• sings a lot.
• loves his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Most of them are included in his prayers.
• wants to say the prayer all the time.
  
• has boundless energy.
  
• is still as full of smiles as he was as an infant.