Two is here. A little early, but oh, is Two here.

Two blew in with a vengeance this weekend. The child formerly known as Baby Boy won't be two for a few more days, but he's already Two. He just had a total meltdown because he's jealous about Big Girl's new shoes. While Two was sleeping yesterday afternoon, I took his big sister to the outlet mall and got her some new shoes, and he is JEALOUS about her new pink Timberland sandals. He keeps trying to steal them from her and make an escape to play with them in his room, and he's been ignoring me when I tell him to leave the shoes alone. He's been ignoring Hubs and me throughout the weekend, actually, to the point that we are worried about what will happen if he's about to get hurt and he pulls this ignoring crap.

He's got a cold, which always puts him in a bit of a funk, but there's more going on here. Two is asserting his independence in a big way, which leads me to dread the struggles to come over the next year. He's very strong-willed - gets that from his mama - and he has a powerful lower pouting lip. But Two may find that, with increased mobility and verbal abilities, he will also encounter his equally-strong-willed mama who will be a killjoy when it comes to rolling the bathroom with toilet paper and other exploits.

Big Girl, by the way, is totally stoked about her new shoes. She has leaped up almost two sizes, so this was definitely needed. I let her have some choices when selecting her sandals and her new sneakers, and she loves both pairs and has been modeling them around the house for everyone to admire. The sneakers are Nikes, white with pink and silver accents. I vetoed the Dora the Explorer pair that she selected first - they were just too bright and overwhelming, and didn't look that well-made. She really enjoyed our girls-only shopping trip, despite the heavy rain we encountered, and we also picked up a few cute skorts for her to wear this summer. They really look like skirts but have shorts underneath, ideal since she's too busy playing to worry about silly stuff like modesty. We looked for shoes for me but had no luck. I'm awfully picky and I wear a very small size which is hard to find, so really, no surprise.

If he's in a good humor, I may take Two to find a pair of shoes for him tomorrow, since he really does need some. He doesn't have any big boy shoes yet, just soft-soled Robeez, although a little bird told me he might get some big boy shoes for his birthday, too.