26 Months Old

1. I had mentioned a few months ago how he was obsessed with wearing his shoes All The Time. Well that changed awhile back, and now he never wants to wear them, even when we're out in public. The only shoes he enjoys wearing around the house these days are my shoes or Paul's shoes.
2. Ian's attention span for books has increased greatly over the past few months. It's so nice to be able to read him books that have more text. Two of his favorites over the past month have been Bad Dog, Marley (same author as the movie) and The Tooth Book (Dr. Seuss). Of course some of his favorite books are briefer. Sandra Boynton is one of his favorite authors (ex. But not the hippopotamus) although I had to throw one of those books away a few days ago because he accidently dropped it in the toilet. Even though there was only water in the toilet at the time, I just couldn't picture myself touching that book again.

3. He's still obsessed with shapes. He's also starting to point out colors more (of his own initiative). Out of the blue he'll say things like "Mater is brown" or "Ramone is purple." Yes, he's obsessed with the vehicles in the Cars movies even though he's never seen the movies.

4. He talks about emotions quite a bit these days - ex. "Larry is sad." He also says "xyz is scary" quite a  bit. It started with "Jonah is scary." I wonder where he heard that from? His sister said that for months and months until we went to Sea World in August.
5. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but it deserves noting that Ian has gotten oh so much better at sitting in a high chair at a restaurant when we go out to eat as a family (ex. at Friendly's). Considering he doesn't eat anything while the rest of us are eating, I think he's doing well for a 2 year old. It's a big improvement compared to say six months ago when someone had to be walking him around as he wouldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes.

6. Getting him dressed goes more smoothly when I allow him to pick out what shirt he wants to wear (so I almost always let him pick). For whatever reason, he often finds it traumatic to have his pjs taken off in the morning even though I try to make a smooth transition by rocking him in the glider for several minutes in between getting him out of the crib and getting him undressed. His favorite two pairs of underwear are his Mater and Ramone briefs.

7. He's not particular about what we watch. At some point his tastes will likely diverge from Nadia's (although some shows/movies appeal to both genders). I can't imagine him enjoying "Gigi" when he's older for example. Paul at least can't stomach those dvd's, lol. They watched Cinderella for the first time a few days ago, and Ian was laughing his head off at some of the antics between the cat and mice. I'm grateful he hasn't reached the age yet where it wouldn't be "cool" as a boy to watch a princess story.

8. He's back on Elecare as his esophagitis returned due to feeding him yogurt. He won't be having any dairy products for the next 6-12 months. He gained quite a bit of weight after being on the Elecare for a week. He has loved having more than a week off from eating solid food. He is back on Prevacid (15mg twice a day).

9. He's doing pretty well with the potty training. He still has an accident every now and then, but most weeks they're pretty infrequent. The next thing I'd like to see him master is his ability to go #2 in public. He doesn't have any problems peeing in a public restroom, but the only toilet he's pooped in is his froggy potty. He also needs to learn to aim downward. Even in his froggy potty (which has a very high splash guard), the urine sometimes goes out of the potty when he's peeing. Overall, I'm very pleased with his progress, and I have zero desire to work on staying dry overnight any time soon.

10. His nap is almost always 30 minutes long. Most days he doesn't cry when I put him down, but every once in a while he cries for an extended period of time before falling asleep. He almost always stays dry during his nap. He's slept in my arms the last few days, but typically he goes weeks without that happening. He usually goes to bed around 7:45pm and wakes up between 6:30-7:30am.

11. He has an amazing memory. Recently he pointed out a toy and said Gabby gave Nadia. I racked my brain, and then remembered that yes, Gabby had given it to Nadia in October. Amazing. In the flurry of gift giving at Christmas, I honestly wasn't sure of who gave the children each of their gifts. Ian remembers who gave him most of his gifts. He'll point out the Cars pjs and say that Grandma gave them to him. Wow.

12.  He speaks in complete sentences most of the time.

13. He absolutely loves to play hide and seek. If you want to see him scream with delight, then look at his face when he's been found. His favorite hiding place is under the dining room table. He hasn't learned to be quiet when hiding. It's easy to find him no matter where he's hiding if you just use your ears.

14. He loves to be chased. This also causes him to laugh hysterically.

15. He still makes big messes All The Time, but he's starting to get a tiny bit better at cleaning up afterward. Just a few days ago he started helping to put books back on the bookshelf, for example.

16. He shocked me last week by voluntarily going over to the storytime area and sitting down and listening to the librarian! I think I'm going to start having him join for a few minutes each week now that I see he can sit and listen in that group setting. The program is geared for ages 3-5. He did join in when the librarian had the kids singing "Row, Row, Row your boat" last week.
17. He loves to sing!! He has an excellent sense of pitch, in my opinion. How well he enunciates the words varies greatly from song to song. He knows MANY songs.
18. He loves to build towers for the sheer pleasure of knocking them down.
19. A couple of times recently he has joined me for 30 minutes of my 3rd-5th grade Sunday School class. I've been impressed that he sat still on my lap for that amount of time before I took him to the nursery.

20. One bad habit he has acquired lately is to hit his sister (with his hand or with some object he's holding). Thankfully it's done very gently so she's never been hurt at all, but it's definitely something he needs to stop doing!
21. He still plays with his belly button many times throughout the day. I wonder how long that habit will continue? It's a soothing technique (similar to sucking one's thumb). You can see proof in the pictures above that he touches his belly button a lot!
22. The easiest way for him to melt our hearts is for him to say those three magical words (unprompted) - "I love you." What could be sweeter? I know Paul has been touched as much as I have when he's said it to Paul.
23. He's still a cuddler. He often says "I hold you" or "Mommy hold you." In both instances he's asking me to hold him. He often phrases things in the same way he hears me say them such as "I will carry you" when he wants me to carry him.
24. Ian refers to Nadia's Sleeping Beauty figurine as "Angel." I understand that because she's dressed in a white dress and white veil. I have no idea however why he calls her Cinderella figurine "Jonah." She has blonde hair and is wearing the traditional light blue gown. I'd love to know why he thinks she looks like Jonah! I guess he's giving all of the Disney princesses biblical names.
25. He mastered going down the stairs safely (without assistance) in the last week or so!

26. He's doing oh so much better with separating from me. I can now run upstairs or go to the bathroom without him crying. Yay!