"hes testing you"

my little boy is days shy of two

he going through a word explosion right now. repeating everything we say {everything...}.
tuesday he brought me his raincoat {which had been hanging on the hook by the back door...have i mentioned he is also GROWING?}.  he handed it to me and said:

"naining outside mama peese boots mama outside?"

and on sunday when he wasnt feeling well, and i just thought he was coming down with a cold, he pointed to his right ear and said "ouch. eahr ouch"

man this makes life easier.  i remember before bennett could speak...and he would come down with something.  in true first-time-mom fashion i would hypochondriac-ly come up with myriads of serious diseases he *might* have.  knowing good and well he probably just had a cold or was teething.  but that juvenile mama brain imagined much worse.

now, its "ouch. eahr ouch."
lovely words.

however, i did say my boy is days shy of two.  a taste: he has been refusing to nap.  acting out.  letting me read him a book, sing him a song, snuggling close, then throwing his paci and blankie across the room and screaming "dora boots!!! dora boots!!!" ad nauseum. 

yesterday he did not nap.  he was like a little recorder on repeat "dora boots dora boots!".
yesterday i decided dora and boots were on vacation. 
indefinitely.

today was looking the same.  until my mom showed up to borrow some shoes and found me ear-deep in unruly toddler.

mimi took him to his room, read him a book, sang a song, and put him to bed.  and he didnt budge.

"hes testing you" she said.

i think i need to study more...hes a pretty tough teacher.