My son is two years old!

Over the last 2 years Ian has....

Gained 20 lbs. He weighed 6lb 1oz at birth, which was big for coming 6 weeks early (that is attributed to my having had gestational diabetes). This photo was taken in the OR right before he was whisked to the NICU. It's the only one we have before he was hooked up to lots of tubes, wires, etc.

Gained 9 teeth. His first tooth (bottom left side front tooth) broke through a couple of days after he turned 9 months old. Thus far he has 9 teeth (8 incisors and 1 molar) that have completely broken through. A small portion of three other molars have broken through. If you count those, then he has 12 teeth.

9 Months Old

Been under general anesthesia 4 times. The first surgery took place a couple of days after he turned 10 months old (October 2010). The other three were in May, June, and August (2011). Two of the surgeries were urological (hypospadias repair), and the other two were upper endoscopies.

10 Months Old

Learned to sleep through the night. He mastered this skill around the time he turned 15 months old. What a relief!! He now sleeps from 8pm to 7am. Bliss. He hasn't yet learned how to nap (unless one 10-30 minute nap a day counts as a good nap).

15 Months Old

Become mobile. He started crawling right around his first birthday. It was the lights on the Christmas tree that motivated him to figure out how to get from point A to point B. At 15.5 months old he started walking, and ever since then he's been running all over the place!

15.5 Months Old

 

Been diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis. The diagnosis came in May 2011 (17 months old). We finally found the cause of his feeding disorder. Eliminating milk, soy, peanuts, and eggs from his diet brought an end to the frequent vomiting which had been a constant for more than a year. Over the past 2 years he's had breastmilk (for 14 months), cow's milk (5 months), formula (12 months), Elecare (3 months), almond milk (2 months), and rice drink (2 months). He will drink any form of "milk" as long as it's warm and served in one particular brand of sippy cup. He's seen two feeding teams, three GI's, three allergists, and two dieticians in regards to his esophagitis and feeding issues. At this point he can only eat pureed food, baby cereal, applesauce, yogurt, and pudding. He loves to lick pretzels and chips. He's had weekly occupational therapy services since he was 13 months old.

17 Months Old

Learned how to talk! His verbal expression skills really took off shortly before he turned 20 months old (August). He had speech therapy for about 3 months (June - September). He's talking up a storm these days (3-5 word sentences) and also singing many songs throughout the day. The word he says which makes me smile the most is "alrighty," and the one that touches me the most is "I love you," especially when he says it of his own initiative.

20 Months Old

Learned so many things! It's really amazing how much young children learn in the first two years of life - gross motor skills, fine motor skills, receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, etc. Ian is learning to use manners; he's getting pretty good at saying, "please," "thank you," and "you're welcome." He's also learned some of his shapes (oval, circle, triangle, square, diamond, and rectangle), can count to 13, can do peg puzzles on his own, can identify a few letters of the alphabet correctly, and knows some of his colors.

23 Months Old