Hellobee

“Mama, I have a question,” Will said to me tonight, pausing before a fistful of raisins went in his mouth.

“Ok, what it is it?” I asked, watching him and waiting for a response.

“I love you,” he said, and absentmindedly turned back to his dinner, attention on his next bite.

.  .  .  .  .

This is my son, at two years old.  That “I love you” up there? It comes out “I yove you” and between squirms on our table’s bench, as he asks not to eat in his booster seat, strapped to a chair at one end of the table, but rather on the “big boy bench.” That inevitably ends in his dinner ending before it would likely end if he was trapped, I mean, strapped, in his toddler seat.

Two is the dichotomy of this moment, magnified times one thousand, every day, day in and day out. It’s hard and it’s awesome and it’s exhausting and it’s inevitable.

Stats: At his two year well visit last week, Will weighed 28 pounds and was 38 inches (3 feet, 2 inches) tall. That puts this kiddo in the 99th percentile for height (or, off the curve as his pediatrician says), and 50th percentile for his weight. They say size at two can be a predictor for adult height, but Will’s doctor maintains that three is a better time to guess. Either way, we’ve got a string bean on our hands – but his cheeks remain squishy and squeezable!

Milestones: The last year has brought so many milestones!

• Will really got a grasp on this speaking thing around fifteen months, and his vocabulary exploded right around twenty months. He prefers full sentences and just this week began telling me winding stories using multiple, compound sentences as we drive home from daycare. He still shouts out single words and short phrases when he is flustered or upset or whining, but he also responds to, “Please use words instead of whines” a solid fifty percent of the time (which is, like, a total toddler parenting win!)
• He loves to dress himself as much as possible, and officially has two chores: feeding the dog, and washing his cups after meals, using the learning tower Mr. Milk made for him.
• The day Will started hopping and jumping using both feet was  MONUMENTAL in my eyes! Now, we can’t get our little bunny/frog to sit still most days.
• The last few months have brought a familiarity with the ‘potty’ and daycare really helps him to use it frequently and on schedule. We do it whenever we remember at home, and just this week he has started telling us when he needs to use it (though, not yet consciously for number two).

A reward ice cream cone on a Friday after a solid week of “making good choices” at daycare.

Eat: I would say that Will is a decent eater but has had some struggle weeks – and typically, has two really picky weeks and two really hungry weeks each month (which tend to coincide with growth spurts). His tastes have evolved over the last year, from loving nearly everything, to preferring dairy and carbs, to an aversion to vegetables and love of fruit, noodles, and anything he can pick up with his hands that’s crunchy. Typical meals for Will at two look like:

Breakfast: On a hungry day, a bowl of oatmeal, a handful of blueberries and a glass of milk. On a not-so-hungry day, a cut up banana or two, a few Cheerios or the like, and a few sips of milk. On weekends he loves to get a blueberry muffin at our local coffee shop and usually houses that with some fruit and milk!

Lunch: Will LOVES “soup,” especially soup with noodles or rice, so he often gets that on weekends with us. He also likes peanut butter and jelly bread, applesauce, and any fruit (kid really, really loves his fruit). He might also eat a handful of crackers, and he usually drinks a good size glass of milk at lunch.

Dinner: We are trying to be better about eating with Will and serving him the same things we eat. We recently committed to giving him one vegetable a week, in a variety of ways, and this week he chose – sweet potatoes (peas and carrots were not so much a hit, ha!). For dinner, we focus on a protein, a fat, and a grain. This usually means some rice or noodles, chicken or fish (nuggets, of both varieties, let’s be real here), a vegetable, and either fruit, cheese, applesauce or yoghurt. Plus some milk and water!

Snacks: He eats a morning and afternoon snack, which is usually fruit, yoghurt, or crackers. He is a kid who gets “hangry” QUICK so I tend to have lots of snacks on hand at any moment. Current favorites are freeze dried fruit, Lara bars, and puffed corn/rice (Pirate’s Booty).

Sleep: Since about thirteen months old, Will has finally slept through the night. We’ve had some lengthy hiccups – a solid month of crappy bedtimes, wakings with crying, etc. – around 22 months old but the bad nights are much farther between these days. He sleeps in his crib, with a blanket, and I think we’ll add a small pillow soon too. He has four stuffed animals with him and he snuggles a stuffed lamb every single night. We still use a white noise machine in his room and the hallway, and I don’t want to hear anything about the ends of those days. Bedtime routine has remained consistent since he was about one month old: bath, books, songs, bed. Of course, the number of books has changed to a good four or five, and he loves to sing along as we snuggle in the dark these days! We start this routine around 7:30 and, if all goes well, Mr. M or I are back downstairs by 8 PM. I am NOT looking forward to transitioning him out his crib anytime soon :).

Helping Papa prepare dinner, a favorite new evening tradition!

Wear: Will is solidly a tall kid with short legs, so he still wears 24 month clothes best – and some of his shorts are actually 18 month size! He also easily wears 2T, though the shirts are a bit long and the shorts need to be rolled or have a working drawstring to stay up. He’s in size 6 and 7 shoes. Our current uniform includes cotton drawstring shorts or khaki shorts, a fun tee, and either Saltwater sandals or cheap flip flops from Target which Will LOVES because he can easily put them on and off himself!

Do: He is nonstop (thus, why he eats pretty well but doesn’t seem to keep weight on him!), and loves to “go really fast, Mama” whenever possible. His favorite activities at two include:

• Gardening. Will loves to get in the dirt with his kid-sized trowel, help pick the ripe tomatoes and water the plants.
• Water. He loves washing his hands, toys, and playing in the kiddie pool. Oh, and he loves bath time! He does NOT love water in his face.
• Legos. Will is a big fan of building things and then promptly destroying them, so we get endless hours minutes of fun creating fun things and then breaking them apart.
• Puzzles. He is very into any puzzle he can easily lift the pieces from and return, especially if they make noise.
• Drawing, coloring, painting. Our two year old would color, draw or paint all day everyday if he could!
• Dirt. I mean, literally, he loves to take sticks and play in the dirt! It was a rainy Sunday last weekend, so I quickly made him ‘moon sand’ (flour and baby oil) and he stood on his learning tower for an actual hour!
• Trucks, cars, trains, etc. As much as I have tried to raise Will gender neutrally (basic alert), he loves all things stereotypically boy. Garbage day is THE BEST.

And that’s about it! Will is such fun and so trying these days, but I am trying to remember all the things child development research tells me: this is normal, this will pass, and if I can maintain my patience and demonstrate the unconditional love I have for him, we’ll all keep on keeping on.

Parents of three year olds and beyond: what do I have to look forward to?