August 11th, My Two Year Old

I just don't know where the time has gone! Yesterday, my baby was born...I held him, nursed him, cuddled him. Last night, my baby turned one...I nursed him, cuddled him, played with him. Now, my baby is two...I cuddle him as much as he'll allow (mostly as we're reading his favorite stories), I play with him (intricate, involved make believe games), I cook with him, I'm amazed by him!

So, here's an update on his development, his likes and dislikes, his little quarks and his funny little ways:

Sam is developing on track. He's mostly potty trained and goes many days without a diaper, with the exception of naps and nights (I don't want to pressure him) and he usually only has accidents when he's really involved thinking about something else (like at the park or playing with a new toy). He runs into the bathroom by himself, goes by himself (he either stands or puts the seat down then climbs up to sit)! Sam's speech is coming well. He speaks in full sentences and mostly gets his verb tenses and pronouns and plurals correct. He is getting a little lazy with his pronounciation though, especially when he's excited, so we're working with him. Sam plays well and generally likes to share his toys and food with his friends...the exception was today's play with his best buddy Xander...maybe it was too soon to invite him over to play with the new toys, but by the end of their time together, they were sharing well...so hopefully it's a momentary backslide. Sam enjoys a variety of foods...favouring fruit and cheese the most. He eats chicken breast, whole wheat noodles, brown rice, whole wheat peanut butter sandwiches, and anything that his friends might be snacking on :) Sam now jumps with both feet at the same time (this took lots of practice with Daddy), likes to bike on his trikes (flintstone method), can bat a ball when Daddy holds the ball in his palm (but he never has hit Adam's hand! so...good aim), kicks and throws balls well (also, a lot of practice needed)...he got a couple hockey sticks for his b-day, so we're practicing that now (he's doing well handling the ball so far), loves to run, play tag-your-it, hide-and-seek...it's alot of fun! Oh, his memory is amazing...he knows names of people we meet before I do. Many mom's have commented that Sam knows more names of moms and kids in the mom's club than they do!

Hmmm, his likes and dislikes...he really likes to be outside...playing in his sand and water table, digging in the dirt, playing with the older kids (with Adam or myself of course), biking...racing bikes downhill with his little friend Micah. He likes Curious George, Seasame Street, Caillou, Mr. Rogers...he still doesn't like to sit for more than a few seconds, so no couch potato here! He likes to read stories by himself (sometimes he 'reads' outloud...he's pretty good at remember the right words for the right pages!), he likes trucks of all kinds, cars, motorbikes...puzzles, planes and trains...building blocks and playing pretend (lately, I'm Rachon and he's baby Maximus...then I get a cuddle! Ironically enough, the real baby Max isn't a cuddler at all!). His dislikes...any of the above when his teeth hurt or tired or just cranky!!!

Sam is quite a quarky kid...but examples are escaping me right now. He still likes made up songs at bedtime, where he makes requests to change the direction of the song...tonight he wanted a song about Curious George and the rumbling noise and the empty dump truck (all from his new Curious George book-which we read 8 times today). If we don't adjust the songs accordingly immediately, he says in a low gruff voice "LISTEN!" (it's pretty funny! He's clearly heard that word in that tone one too many times.). When he's had too much, he'll send himself to time out saying that he needs a little "privacy" (this usually happens when he's got a friend over who has needed a little privacy while they are having timeout for bad behavior, but lately it's happening in the late evening when he's just not listening and really tired). He'll eat just about anything if it's set in front of him and told that it's 'just right.' He'll refuse even his favorite food if it's set in front of him and told that it's too hot. He really, really likes to help (vacuum, cook, clean, take out the garbage) and he gets really, really frustrated when we don't let him help right away. Tonight he carried an empty box to the garbage for me and he was so proud! Oh, here's a quark: After Xander and Zach left (Zach is almost 5 months old), he said that he needed his soother because he's baby Zach.

After every bath, Sam puts on his froggy hoodie towel and, if I'm home alone, I have to run out to the couch and wait for him to run out and I say, "where's my little frog?" Then he runs over and I catch him in my open arms and give him a 3 second cuddle/dry :)