We’re all proud of our kids. They’re the cutest, sweetest, most brilliant children on the face of the earth. After all, they are our children, right? 😉

My daughter was so verbally advanced that I have to try really hard not to compare. When the pediatrician asks questions about my son’s development, he has to remind me that my daughter is/was exceptional, and I can’t use her as a benchmark! However, my son has totally shocked me in the past several months.

I’m going to be annoying and say he’s “28 months old.” I promise I will not be saying 40whatever months, leaving you scrunching up your face, doing mental math! It just seems like there’s such a huge, huge difference between a child who just turned two, a child who is 2 and 2 months, 4 months, almost 3 etc.

In the months since his birthday, his vocabulary and sentence structure has exploded. He’s counting to 15, singing songs and all that good stuff. Not only can he count to 15, he seems to have a slight grasp on #s, as in, he knows that “free bellypops” (three lollipops) are way better than one or two!!

The other weekend, he used a public potty with no potty seat and he accidentally drew a perfect lower case e on his magna doodle. Oh accident schmacksident, he’s a regular Einstein! Tee-hee!

He also understands if/then propositions way better than my daughter did at that age (heck, better than she does now!) He totally gets we’ll change your diaper, then we’ll go down and play. Picks a diaper, lays right down, then hops up ready to go! Unfortunately he also has the selective hearing that’s common to 2-year olds (and the male species in general), so “eat dinner, then you can have candy” backfires, since he only hears “you can have candy!”

The same day he used the public potty, he was holding a lemon slice from my water (and don’t tell me about all the reports about germs on lemons, I don’t want to think about it…ew) and my daughter was having her usual fit of pouting because “I want a lemon too!” (read this like: I want an oompa loompa now!!) and my son, without hesitation, ripped the lemon slice in half and gave her a piece!

I know sharing and 2-year olds is an iffy issue, especially since my 6-year old sets a terrible example. (We’re working on that, but she was an only child for almost 4 1/2 years, so it’s tough!) His willingness to share actually leads me to probably the top reason I’m proud of my son.

He has an uncanny ability to read people’s facial expressions and feelings, and he has genuine empathy for other people. Even when we are reading books, he will analyze the characters and other illustrations and say something like; “Pooh Bear sad, water fall down.” That was in a book where Pooh Bear slipped and knocked his honey pot over.

When we were dropping my daughter off at gymnastics, he saw a child a little younger than him crying, looked concerned, and said “He’s crying. He’s mad.” I didn’t even know if the child was crying out of sadness or anger/frustration, but his mother agreed that he was indeed mad! He is always concerned when his sister has a tantrum (daily, at least) and wants to make things better. He even tries to stick up for her, like the other day when she said my dinner was “disgusting” and wanted “something else.” He tried to ask me for “sunthin’ ewse” for her, on her behalf!

He also has a genuine understanding of “I’m sorry.” He may step on my foot and when I say “ow” (that kid seriously stomps for such a little guy!) he will turn around, say “I’m sorry” and give me a little pat, or otherwise make sure I’m OK. If he spills something, he will say “I’m sorry Mommy!” and he’ll go grab a towel to help clean it up.

It may seem like a strange thing to be proud of, but it seems like American boys/men are taught that they shouldn’t have feelings, let alone show them, nor should they have any regard for anyone else’s feelings either. Two year olds are supposed to be self-centered, so it’s just amazing to me that he’s more in-tune with others’ feelings than his 6-year old sister (or most adults for that matter!!)

Are there any things your kids do that make you proud, that might seem like a weird thing to be proud of?

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