The Bean at Two and Half Years Old

This post is awesomely overdue.  I had every intention to post on the day The Bean turned two and a half, and though we had started the update, that day came and went.  And then we were away.  And, well, it just hasn't happened until now.  Hope it doesn't cause him any great trauma. ;)

So...

Jen and I have both been noticing so many new things that The Bean is doing these days, but of course, now that we're sitting down to record them it's hard to remember them all, so rather than being completely comprehensive, this is just a snapshot of what The Bean is up to at two and half years old.  (With actually snapshots from the past month, mostly taken on our trip to PA, you know, in case I don't get to that update.)

-The Bean is still a little peanut.  He weighs somewhere around 25lbs and we're not really sure how tall he is.  He usually wears 24 month shirts and 18 month shorts, but today, for example, he was wearing a 9 month swim suit.  It's not a concern, he's just a short and slender guy.

-His favourite shirt right now is his octopus shirt.  He maintains that it is a scary octopus.  We can mostly get away with sticking him in an outfit of our choosing, but he does now have some opinions on what he does and doesn't want to wear.

-Another thing he's been wearing is underwear!  He's doing a great job with potty training.  He is able to "hold it" for a couple of hours and sometimes remembers to go without a reminder.  He's even been waking dry from time to time, which makes us think about when a good time to ditch the nap and nighttime diaper will be.  We're not quite there with BMs yet.

-The big boy has also started sleeping in a toddler bed.  The transition has been going really well.  We've kept our usual routines around bedtime, which helps and the crib is there as an option (and also a consequence for getting out of the toddler bed).  He'll sometimes ask us to lie down with him for a little while before leaving the room, but that's okay.

-The past few months especially we've received many complements on how well The Bean expresses himself.  It's hard for me to remember what's typical for a two and half year old, but he does seem to have a pretty good vocabulary and is usually quite confident speaking to people.  He will greet people and introduce himself.  He can clearly express his likes and dislikes.  He loves to sing and has just recently started making up songs and stories, which is both adorable and hilarious.  He tells knock knock jokes.  (His favourite right now is knock knock." "Who's there?" "Hank." "Hank who?"  "You're welcome!")  And with a reminder to say it as a question, he will rephrase his demands.  

-He loves to run and jump and climb.  He is pretty fearless.  Fortunately we haven't had many big falls (just one tumble down the stairs about gave me a heart attack).  He loves playing outside and going to the park, especially the "big park" which is about a ten or fifteen minute walk from our house, as opposed to the "little park" which is right outside our front door.

-He is also very into vehicles.  Emergency and construction vehicles to be more precise.  (Oh, and motorcycles.  Let's not forget those!  And trains.  To be safe, let's just say all vehicles.)  They were building a house a few blocks from his daycare and every morning we would have to circle the block at least three times for him to see the digger.

-I already mentioned the singing, but he also loves playing instruments as well as listening to music.  He can identify guitar, violins, pianos and drums when listening to music.  He also recognizes all kinds of instruments.  It's pretty impressive.

-I wouldn't say he's particularly into visual art, but he does seem to enjoy play-doh, painting, colouring and stickers, so maybe he's more into it than I would be inclined to acknowledge.  He loves it when people draw things for him.  Trains and rocketships are both high on the request list.

-Bathtime is pretty popular.  He likes to "play toys" in the bathtub.  He hates having his hair washed.

-He's kept up with his swimming lessons and is doing really well with them, but like in the bathtub, does not like getting his head/hair wet.  He can now kick his legs and "pull" his arms.  He blows bubbles.  All the games and songs they play as a part of the class are played in the bathtub at home and sung pretty much all the time.  We're taking a break from swimming lessons over the summer, but will start back up in September.

-He also just finished a session of gymnastics classes.  It was a city-run program and not really super-high on the instructive level, but he enjoyed playing around on the equipment.  Jen and I saw a big improvement in his balance on the beam in particular.  He seemed to enjoy the "monkey bars" and playing "What Time is it Mr. Wolf?" the most.   

-Though we limit it to a great degree, The Bean does watch some TV (both at home and at daycare).  His favourite shows are Blue's Clues, Dora, SuperWhy and Octonauts.

-He also really likes Spiderman.  I don't think he's ever seen it as a show, but they have Spidey action figures at daycare and apparently they are a hit with all the kids there.  (The daycare provider said she had to go out and get multiple Spidermen since all the kids wanted the same toy.)  When he was teeny tiny Grandma and Grandpa gave him some Spiderman PJs and a costume, which he is really enjoying getting use out of now.

-Daycare is going great.  In addition to loving the provider, her family, and all the kids there, we can also see that he is learning a lot.  He pretty much can recite the entire alphabet, recognizes most letters, can count to ten accurately and to 20 with some assistance, knows his colours, the days of the week, etc. etc.  It's a ways off, but I am sure he's going to be super well-prepared for kindergarten.

-He still loves books.  Oliver Jeffer's is a favourite author (his books Lost and Found and How to Catch a Star, in particular).  We've moved towards reading some longer story books versus quick little ones.  I love it when he gets really into it and will just sit on our lap and listen and look at the pictures and talk about it.   I also love it when he goes over and picks books out himself to look at.  He's even started memorizing a few and listening to him "read" is pretty awesome.

-Perhaps even better is listening to him read to his little sister.  I love our Bean in this big brother role.  He reads to her and sings to her and tickles her tummy.  He just lights up when he sees her in the morning, and the admiration is definitely mutual.  Recently there's been a little pulling of toys away from her while she's playing and the like, but it's understandable and (so far) fairly easily dealt with.  

-In true two and a half year old fashion, he can get quite fussed up when something his not going his way.  He's prone the the odd tantrum and some whining, especially when he's hungry or tired.  We've got a fairly low tolerance for it.  Hitting results in a time out.  Mostly we try to talk to him about what's bothering him and/or distract him.  I won't miss it when he outgrows this.  (That happens by three, right? ;) )

-Again acting like a typical two and a half year old, he has become The Pickiest Eater.  Mostly this means he ends up eating the same few things day after day.  Toast and apple sauce for breakfast.  Peanut butter, hummus, sometimes pasta, a hard boiled egg, hot dogs and chicken fingers for lunch and dinner.  Granola bars, soy yogurt, grapes, watermelon, banana, raisins, crackers, rice cakes for snacks.  The occasional cookie or popsicle for a treat.  (He loves treats.)  He also loves cheese, but we've taken him off all animal dairy as he was having some tummy issues.  I suppose he could be pickier, but we're working with a pretty limited menu these days.

-Sleeping is pretty good.  He goes down between 7:30 and 8:00pm most evenings and sleeps until somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00am.  He naps in the afternoon.  Usually just a short time at daycare (an hour or two) but on the weekends will sometimes sleep for four hours or so depending on how tired out his is from our morning activities.  We sometimes even need to wake him up from his nap to ensure that he'll be tired enough before bedtime.

Having a two and a half year old is wonderful and challenging.  He will sometimes say "I frus-trated!" and sometimes I tell him I am too.  The spontaneous "I love yous" and sweet giggles are sure to last longer in our memories than the imagine of him crying at the bottom of the stairs because it's time to come in for dinner.   Parenting this little guy is such a privilege.  We're lucky to be his moms.