Friday, May 20, 2016

Two-and-Half Years Old Kiddo Update

Eating a chocolate-chip cookie

A. His Schedule – He is not a morning person, and is frequently very drowsy and cranky when we wake him. If he’s good about getting ready in the morning, then he gets to watch one TV show on Amazon Prime before “school” (daycare). He only takes one nap per day. His bedtime is around 8:30 p.m.

B. His Size – Although he used to be a larger kid for his age, currently he’s smaller than average. His height is 35.25” (37th percentile) and his weight is 29 lbs. 1 oz. (42nd percentile). He’s currently wearing size “3T” – shirts in that size fit him but pants in that same size are a little bit long.

C. His Personality – He’s bossy, stubborn, opinionated, and he thinks he’s funny. Sometimes he’s quite the tiny tyrant. However, he also has a sweet side. I can’t tell you how thoughtfully he asked me the other day “Mom, [are] you happy?”

D. His Favorite Things
Activities – He likes coloring, playing with Play-Doh, reading (either being read to, or pretending to read himself), and running. He also loves sticks and trying to use them like swords.
Animal – He still loves cats (domestic, cheetahs, tigers, etc.).
Book – I don't think he has a favorite book right now. He was very into “Green Eggs and Ham” for a while.
Food – He likes chocolate milk and cookies best (when we let him have those things). Other things he likes (which unfortunately are also sweet) are Pop Tarts, muffins, and candy.
Security Item – He still loves his green, fuzzy blanket.
Toy – He loves a set of gel pens that we got him, although I know that is not a toy per se. He also likes building with blocks (wood ones or MegaBloks) and coloring on his Doodle Pad (magnetic drawing board, similar).
TV Show – Thundercats is his current favorite, but he still likes Daniel Tiger’sNeighborhood.

E. His Development
Speaking – He can speak quite a lot now. His teachers are concerned that sometimes the words he says are hard to hear, but so far I haven’t been concerned myself. He’s using four- and five-word sentences, so I think he’s doing just fine.
Drawing – He recently learned how to draw a circle – his circles look more like ovals, but it’s a big step forward from just drawing lines.
Music – He’s starting to be able to sing the ABCs song – he makes a lot of mistakes of course.
Potty Training – Although we’ve been trying to train him for about a year, he is finally starting to really get it, and to choose wearing underwear and using the toilet regularly over wearing Pull-Ups or diapers.

Bros

F. Surprises – It’s still amazing to me how fond he is of his younger brother. You’d think he’d be jealous of the attention that Ted gets, but he’s not.

G. The Best Things – Sometimes the best thing is just the way he smiles. Other times, it’s seeing him get interested in something that I’m interested in (like drawing).

Nine-Month Bear Update

Excited about food

I know I usually do these posts every six months, but baby Bear is just changing so fast that I thought I’d do a nine-month post.

A. His Schedule – He gets up at about 6:30 a.m. every day, takes two naps on average (one in the morning and one in the early afternoon), and then goes to sleep at about 8 p.m.

B. His Size – Bear is smaller than average boys his age. He is 27.25 inches tall (17th percentile) and 19 lb. 9 oz. (55th percentile). I think that he is smaller now than our older son was at this age because baby Bear is being fed breastmilk (as well as solids) whereas our older son was being fed formula (as well as solids) at this age. In any case, baby Bear looks adorable in his size "9 Month" clothes (at this age, his older brother was wearing size "18 Month" clothes).

C. His Personality – Bear is a very happy baby, and a pleasure to be around. He’s very cuddly and has a warm, affectionate personality.

D. His Favorite Things – Right now he is obsessed with our cat. He loves to try to follow the cat around, even though the cat will usually just hop over the baby gate and leave Bear behind.

He loves milk

E. His Development – He can say “Mama” and “Dada” right now, but I don’t think he knows what those words mean. He also likes to communicate via grunting (usually if he needs something) and/or high-pitched squeals of joy. He can laugh, and loves laughing when his older brother plays with him. He can crawl very swiftly. He can stand by pulling up on things (furniture, for example), and he can let go of the support item with one of his hands. Up until very recently, he had no teeth. He sprouted his first tooth just after turning nine months old.

F. Surprises – One of the biggest surprises for me is how much of an “easy baby” Bear is. He’s really a blessing.

G. The Best Things – My favorite thing to do is to hold Bear right before he falls asleep. He looks so peaceful and content.

Bear right before he falls asleep

H. Things I’m Doing Differently This Time Around – I’ve said it once but I’ll say it again – baby Bear doesn’t use a pacifier. If he’s feeling sad, I’ll pick him up and talk to him, but I won’t offer him a pacifier. I’m hoping his future dentist will thank me for this. Also, we’re reading to Bear less frequently than we read to our older son when he was at this age. I'd like to read to Bear more – it’s just that there’s usually a lot going on (e.g. potty-training our older son), and for his part Bear doesn’t seem too interested when we do read to him.