2-year-old Karsten

Karsten turned two on June 26th. I have a two-year-old. Two.

And a newborn.

A two-year-old and a newborn.

A chunky lover boy and a teeny tiny babe.

A toddler and a warm little lump o' love.

Should I keep saying it or have we all grasped the significance of this fact? I'm not the first to experience this. And it's not even my first time experiencing this. And I know I won't be the last to experience this. But regardless of its precedent or its repetition, it's overwhelming, people.  Pure and simple.

Good thing it's summer and I can throw schedule and responsibility to the wind.

Aaaannnyway, I do so love my two-year-old Karsten, despite the fact that it's because of him that I'm shaking in my booties for the time when I am abandoned by all outside help and Dan has to recommit himself fully to work.  In one word, Karsten's personality is best described as EXPLOSIVE.  When he is happy, he is explosively happy.  When he is upset, he is explosively upset.  I get tired watching him live life so fully, but every day I am grateful for his exuberance.  It keeps me young, I think (or makes me gray, I'm really just trying to be an optimist here, sheesh!).

So here are a whole bunch of things I want to remember about two-year-old Karsten.

I love . . .

~ that when he wants to eat something he sees, he says, "some?" and smacks his little lips, repeating both word and gesture over and over in his cute little voice
~ the way he says "So So" with a slight lisp
~ how he sits outside the bathroom door to wait for Soren or Anders anytime either of them is pooping
~ that he simply says "why?" when reprimanded or denied something
~ that his pointer finger plays with his eyelashes while he sucks his thumb
~ that he has developed a knack for imitating mommy's incredulous exclamation of "what?!" in a high-pitched voice
~ that he doesn't like tears in his eyes or on his face and will get extremely frustrated if he can't clear them off quickly
~ that he'll use just about anything to wipe his snotty noses (our bed sheets, daddy's shorts that he's wearing, his own shirt that he's wearing, his bare arm, etc.)
~ that he loves to chase people around the house, roaring at them
~ that he has the most awesome, bounding run
~ that he can very often be heard saying "weed book" (read book) to any one of the adults hanging around our house, after which he will bring a stack of books to said victim and keep him/her occupied for a loooong time  :D
~ that if one of his brothers wanders out of his sight, he'll yell for them with gusto, "SO SO! ANNERS! SOREEN!"
~ that he'll nurse for about 10-20 seconds on my left side, pop off, and ask for "mo miw a-side" (more milk, other side).
~ that if his brothers try to recover sneakily-appropriated toys from him and ask him why he took them, he now responds "cuz, it's mine"
~ that he loves to be sung to.  His favorite (and most requested) songs right now are: row row (Row Row Row Your Boat); Dawteen Song (My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean with Karsten's name subbed in); poporn (Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree); a bean (Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam); pider (The Itsy Bitsy Spider); mommy song (Love is Spoken Here); ABC's (Alphabet Song); Tempo (I Love to See the Temple); yabadabadabadabadaba (If I Were a Rich Man, from Fiddler on the Roof); and he also hums the Elmo's World tune anytime he wants to be sung to
~ that he sleeps with Elmo and Guy Guy (a stuffed Lego guy)
~ that he calls motorcyclists "Ee-eego (Lego) guy guy!" and gets so excited whenever he sees one.
~ that he says the sweetest little "cue me" (excuse me) whenever he burps, gases, or needs to get by someone
~ that he says an equally cute "kink you" (thank you) at appropriate times and often without prompting
~ that when he says "you're welcome," it sounds like "a red bum"
~ that he loves to sit down, surrounded by books, and read for long periods of time
~ that he likes me to do "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" on his back, after he's lying in bed, for every nap and bedtime too
~ that he likes to ride on Daddy's back while he's doing push-ups
~ that he tools around the house spouting random number sequences like "2, 3, 4" and "7, 8, 9, 10" and even the occasional 1 all the way up to 12
~ that he loves to play cars with Mommy, which consists of him declaring over and over that his car "aw faw down" (oh, fell down!) and insisting that the mommy car help him back up on the pillow, after which he says "oh, kink you!" and our cars kiss
~ that he loves to watch Curious George
~ that he says "uh-kay" (okay) in his cute little voice
~ that he gets so sad when he gets in trouble
~ that he calls skeletons "pooky" (spooky)
~ that he calls ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars "wee-oo wee-oo's"
~ that he says "gark" (dark)
~ that he says "ope-it?" (open it?)
~ that he loves to wave, say "hi," shake hands, pound the fist, and give high fives to just about anybody and everybody
~ that he says "newman" for "snowman"
~ that he says "heppease" for "help please"
~ that he says "I did it!" when he accomplishes something by himself that he was previously asking for help with
~ that he runs around saying "a morneen" (good morning) when he wakes up in the mornings
~ that he calls Oskar "Okar" (Ah-kur) or "Cute" (As in, "Hi, Cute!")
~ that he calls Oskar "teeny tiny" and always wants to rub his soft head and kiss both cheekies
~ that he begs to hug people, which really means that he wants you to hold him "Hug a Mommy!"
~ that he sits next to me and "hugs" me (rests his head on my arm/shoulder) while I nurse Oskar
~ that he loves his family so much and always makes sure he knows where every member is at any given time
~ that he whimpers whenever he discovers that someone has left the protective umbrella of his care, "Daddy work?" "Daddy drive car?  Home soon?  Hug a Daddy?"  :(

Dear Karsten,

We adore you.  Every time we get to anticipate the addition of another member to our family, we wonder how we'll manage, how we could possibly extend our love to include yet another human being.  But that is the wonder of love, it expands . . . and expands . . . and expands. Now we can't imagine life without you.  It would be dull indeed.  Thank you for brightening our lives with your smiley rainbow eyes, cheesy grin, chubby legs, and bounding run.  We love you.

Love,
Your Family

Here are a bunch of pictures and videos from Karsten's intimate little birthday party, and, yes, those are matches on his cake.  Don't judge.

Birthday dinner

First piece of birthday cake (a healthy carrot cake with applesauce topping)

Lucky kid got to have both sets of grandparents AND Aunt Susan at his party

Soren and Anders both have stools that Karsten is always stealing.  He's thrilled to have his own now.  :)