Xander Update - 2 years

So, Xander's two!  I took him for his well visit this week.  He is now 36 inches tall (88th percentile), 34 pounds (96th percentile) and his head circumference is 20 inches (93rd percentile).  He's a big boy!  Even Dr. E (Xander's pediatrician) commented that he looks like he belongs in a 3-year old class.  This might have been the worst of all the well-visits, though. Xander is now keenly aware that the doctor is a place where not-so-pleasant things happen.  Like, getting held down to pull hardened wax out of his ear (that happened last week - TRAUMATIC - for both of us), or getting shots (he had to have one booster shot this time), or just a place where strangers (whom he is not excited about, see below) try to touch and prod him.  The whole time Dr. E was talking to me, Xander was saying over and over again, "Mommy. Car. Go. Doctor E. Go..." or any combination of those words.  Dr. E also commented that he is "quite the talker." :) I wonder where he gets that?

Even though most articles say that 2-year olds will have 2-word sentences, Xander's tend to be much longer.
He comes up with a lot of concepts on his own, not just mimicking words, although he does some of that, too.
He knows his colors, his letters, his numbers (through 14).  He knows what sounds most animals make.
He can name almost every Sesame Street character. He would watch Elmo 24/7 if I let him.  I don't.
Recently he's learned what the word "need" means as he told his Mimi, "I need cake."
He has wonderful manners and almost always says please.  He's not as good about saying thank you :).
He is almost painfully shy with strangers, usually burying his head in my shoulder or chest or just laying on me instead of running around.  He's typically okay if they don't try to get in his face or touch him.  He has a harder time with people who are loud.  It takes him a little while, but he usually warms up, especially if he's in his own home.
One of his favorite foods is pizza. David and I laughed the other day when the doorbell rang and Xander yelled out, "Pizza!"  It was the UPS man :).
Some of his other favorite foods are cake, cookies (yes, he inherited his mommy's sweet tooth), peanut butter, applesauce, waffles, and yogurt.  I can rarely get him to try new things anymore.
His favorite book is "Are You My Mother?" by P.D. Eastman.  Because I try to expose him to important things like authors and typically tell him the title and then the author, he calls that book "Eastman."
As I've mentioned in other posts, his favorite toys are balls, any vehicle (as long as it has wheels) and his letters - he has a set of letters in almost every room in the house.
He's still as sweet as he can be.  Recently he's started asking me to sit with him on the couch or the bed and he'll snuggle up against me.  He asks me to play ball with him or watch him play in his car.  He'll give me kisses and tell me he loves me.  So precious.

So there's a pretty good update on my little boy!