33 Months

I've always thought of Leif as more like Austin while Asher is more like me- that is certainly the case in the way they look and in many of their characteristics. Several months ago I said something to Asher about how he was like me and Leif was very eager to hear how he was like me too. I came up with a few insignificant things, but have changed my mind since a recent conversation with Austin. I've always said that Leif is very sensitive, but Austin got it right when he said that its not really sensitivity, its passion. Leif is very passionate about whatever he is feeling. When he is upset, he is very upset. When he is happy, he is very happy. And when he is silly, he is very silly. He definitely gets that from me and not from his dad, whose emotional state is pretty flatline :)
One of Leif's defining characteristics lately is being a messy eater. He is driving me nuts with the mess he manages to make at each meal. Asher is relatively clean and can often eat his entire meal without needing to be washed up at all afterward. Leif is just naturally more messy and always needs to be cleaned up, but his messes go well beyond this. He finds great pleasure in dipping his hand into whatever beverage he has, loves to pour that beverage onto his plate, loves to drop pieces of food into his cup, almost always spills, is magnetically drawn to smearing around anything that has been spilled . . . really any kind of mess you can think of short of throwing his food- thank goodness! I've had a number of talks with Leif about not wasting food or making more messes for mommy to clean up. I've made him eat/drink the various concoctions he makes out of his food. But really, the only way I've found to keep him out of trouble is to monitor his entire meal, which just isn't always possible at breakfast and lunch with a busy schedule and a baby. I mentioned above that Asher is pretty clean, but he still gives his contribution to the mess by urging Leif to do things, although he loves to run and tell me that Leif is making a mess :)
Leif loves to call me "mama", which I love. Its especially cute because he ends almost every sentence he says to me with the word "mama". Another thing he has gotten into recently is to talk in a funny voice without opening his mouth or teeth. He only does it when he gets into a really silly mood, but its pretty creative of him. He really enjoys it when Austin talks in the same way back to him. 
The boys are getting more aggressive with each other lately. They argue over toys (or who gets to look at their little sister) constantly and hit or threaten each other over them. But they also play together more and more creatively too. I often hear them making their toys talk to each other and directing each other on what they should do next in a game they have made up.
Here are some photos I got of Leif eating our raspberries in the backyard. Don't mind the handle of Asher's little broom that he couldn't seem to keep out of the pictures :)