Roman, to me, is in that stage where he's not a toddler but he's not a "preschooler" either. However, there have been signs lately (both positive and negative) that he's more preschool than toddler.

1. He has told us to shut up.
2. He took a Thomas track, pointed it at Doug, and pretended he was shooting. Doug asked who he was pretending to be and Roman answered, "Power Ranger." When asked where he learned that, he said the nursery at church.
3. He says no to everything. He is contrary to every comment made by Doug and I. Today we walked outside and I said "It's not raining" and he said, "Yeah, it IS raining." And I said, "oh you're right, it is raining" and Roman replied, "NOT raining!" And then laughed.
4. He is drinking from a cup at mealtimes and does not spill. Much.
5. He can blow bubbles in his bathwater now.
6. His reasoning skills are pretty good. He wanted to be done with dinner and I said I was going for seconds. When I got to the stove he came rushing over to stop me yelling, "No Mama! No! No more food!" Knowing, of course, that it would extend dinner time.
7. His memory is getting better and better. He pretends that we're different people or characters and he will refer to us by those names, even minutes later. We pretended that I was Bob the Tomato from VeggieTales, and almost a half hour later he came in the kitchen and asked, "Bob, what are you doing?"

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We took Roman swimming today at the Rec Center for our last day of family vacation. It was $14 for us to get in on a day pass, but it was worth it. We swam close to 45 minutes and that boy is a FISH. He kicks while he moves his arms alternately. Of course, I think it's more like "pedaling" which is what he yelled out most the time, but for a 2.5 year old I think it's great. He did not want to do much jumping from the side or playing, he just wanted to swim around the pool and on the "lazy river" with the current. This confirms with me that future vacations will always include a hotel with a pool. Plus, it wore Roman out tonight - barely a 3 minute fuss when I put him to bed!