October 2, 2015

Jenson update: 23 months

Sadly I wasn’t too far behind on this post when I started, but I did get the pictures ready in time to add to the post. And then something happened to September. Actually, it’s like it didn’t happen at all. Thus, we have an almost 2 year old. But here’s his 23 month update anyway.

Jenson had a verbal explosion this month. I’ve probably said that before, but everything just clicked with him this month – sentences, stories, colors, shapes, numbers, animals, etc.

He stayed overnight with Nana in August. They went to a small parade and kept telling us the story. The conversation goes something like this:

me: did you go to a parade with Nana?
J: YEAH! I saw kids!
me: did you say anything?
J: I say hi! (and/or bye), plus he adds in a wave to demonstrate
me: What else did you see?”
J: I saw motorcycle. Vroom Vroom it loud.
me: did you see anything else?
J: a firetruck!
Sometimes he says he saw a helicopter too.

He actually did see all of those things, unlike the monkeys and fishes he claims to see in our yard. He’ll look out the patio doors and say – Oh, a deer! or Oh, a monkey! When I ask if he see anything else, he says “fishes!”.

After that, he started telling us the stories of each days’ events (with prompting – “what did you see/do/say?”). And anytime I ask him if he wants to go somewhere (the library, store, park), he says “See kids?” And if I say yes or maybe, he says “I say hi”, and adds a wave.

Twice this month he ate oatmeal and promptly threw it up – like as soon as he finished the bowl. He wasn’t sick either time – wanted something else to eat right away and didn’t have any other issues that day. He also got carsick again (4 times total now). Those things, along with a few other issues, makes me wonder if he has some sort of food allergy or digestive issue. I did as a baby/toddler – and of course do now/still with gluten too, so it’s entirely possibly. The Dr. was planning on discussing allergies and possible testing for gluten allergy at his 2 year appointment, and it hasn’t happened again since, so we’ll just wait. For now, I’ve decided that if I’m going to drive him anywhere more than 20 minutes away, I’m putting a bib on him, on top of his carseat straps and buckles. Those things are awful to clean (and the straps can’t be submerged), so I feel like my car always smells faintly of vomit. Lo says it’s in my head (it’s not).

He needed another haircut this month – we didn’t want to go too short since he’d be getting his pictures taken at some point. I think it’s his 5th haircut. He doesn’t do as well with it as he used to – he had to sit on one of our laps the last two times or so. We actually let him have the sucker afterwards this time – though we took it away when we got to the car, so he had it for about 3 minutes.

Still testing hitting and smacking on occasion, but if you say “ouch” or “no”, he usually says “sorry”, very sadly. He knows he’s not allowed and that it hurts people, but he’s trying to connect the dots and resist the temptation. Luckily, he only tries to smack us…not anyone else or other kids. It’s usually when he’s just playing with us and it’s not aggression based, so its just testing.

We did a lot of fun stuff in August…the Zoo, Touch-a-Truck, Columbus Commons for Kids, John Deere Day of Play, Food Truck Festival at Dawe’s Arboretum. It was a busy, fun month.

Monthly Jenson update: August 6 – September 5, 2015

Age: 23 month old
Weight: Still 24 lbs (on our scale)
Length: 31ish inches
Size: He’s in 18 and 18-24 month clothing. 2T is still long on him.
Teeth: He has all of his baby teeth and the 4 that are right in front of the molars are still working their way in. The tops are pretty much in.
Sleeping: Sleep got better this month. We take turns putting him to bed. He still takes 30-45 minutes to fall asleep, but he wants in his crib right away and talks and sings until he falls asleep. He’ll ask us to sing Rock-a-bye Baby (“Rockababy”?) over and over, so we’ll sing it a few times and then tell him that’s all. We still sit outside his door until he’s mostly asleep because he’ll try to interact with us to make sure we are still there, and will get upset if he doesn’t get a response. He’ll stand up in the crib and won’t lay back down until we poke our head in the door and tell him to lay down. Once he stops trying to interact and is laying down, I usually go back downstairs even if he’s still awake. One night he held onto his stuffed puppy for hours, which he never does – it was so cute.

He naps right after lunch, but will fight it for 30-45 minutes sometimes. He’ll stay in his crib and talk if I lay in the spare bed and will eventually fall asleep (both of us). I wake up about 20 minutes later and go downstairs. His naps last between 1 – 2.5 hours…there’s no rhyme or reason. He still wakes up bad from his naps – crying and fussy until you put on a show or some music for him.

Eating: His list of food hasn’t grown any. All fruit, plain yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, cheese, crackers, peanut butter, bread, cottage cheese, hummus, smoothies, muffins, pancakes, mac and cheese. That’s about it. He still asks for applesauce at every meal. Now I think he does it for the reaction, because I always act shocked and go “what???! – no applesauce for breakfast!” or something like that. He smiles and just says it again. We sneak veggies in with smoothies and pouches. He still won’t eat meat. Nothing wrong with just giving him a spoonful of peanut butter when I can’t get him to eat anything else, right??

Word Up: He repeats almost everything that we say, and talks and sings constantly. He likes to say his ABC’s and count things. He knows a lot of words to the songs on the “Bus” cd that he request during every meal. I usually play it during lunch, but only during breakfast if he eats after the regular NPR programming is over for the morning (9 a.m.). We tell him that we listen to the news or daddy’s music (pandora on his phone) during dinner. But when he listens to the cd, he’ll start singing or humming the next song that’s going to come on before it starts – he knows the order that well. He’s learning even more animal names and sounds, and different types of balls and vehicles from reading books so much. When he hears a firetruck (or any siren vehicle) or a motorcyle, he’ll stop what he’s doing and say “hear that?” (“yes, what is it?”) “motorcycle (or firetruck)”.

He suddenly started talking in sentences most of the time. He used to know the words for the colors, but didn’t assign them correctly – everything was “blue”. But one day things just clicked and he knew which color was which. He’s also able to identify some shapes and letters, and different types of sports balls.

He still says “here ya go baby” when he wants to hand somebody (anybody) something. He’s getting more talkative to people and perhaps slightly less shy, or at least warms up more quickly. He’s starting to get more comfortable at story time at the library and doesn’t always need me right with him. He’ll wave to people in the grocery store sometimes, or will say “hi” or something to them if they aren’t looking at him.

He repeats things I say when I’m driving, so I really have to be careful. One day when a semi cut us off and I had to hit the brakes hard, I blew the horn and said “stupid truck!” (shockingly didn’t say anything worse), and he said “stupid truck” over and over. If we hit a big bump, he’ll say “bumpy” or “whoa”.

He loves being at the counter when we are doing something in the kitchen, and if we put the chair in the corner of the counter and stood on the other side of the chair, it was relatively safe. We had intentions of building this kitchen helper stool because they are well over $100 to buy, but I got lucky and was the first to claim one posted on a buy/sell page for $50. It would have cost us around $30 to build this one, plus take some time, which we are lacking lately, so it was a bargain to us. He loves it and can climb up on his own (but needs help getting down. It folds up, but we store it open in the hall right outside the kitchen and he’ll climb up in the hall and said “cook” or “I cook, I cook”. When he’s in it, he’s usually just having a snack or pouring water back and forth in cups while we make something. Before and after cooking solutions:

One of the things that cracks me up is that he’ll say “oh, a ____!”, like it’s a complete surprise when he’s looking at his books, toys, or out the window. So things like “oh, a dog!”.

Milestones:

Talking in full sentences
Knows his colors
Counts objects (instead of just saying numbers)
Knows some shapes and letters

Favorite Toys/Activities:

Bathtime – he insists on one after dinner every night.
Playing outside with dirt, rocks, and sticks, and in the water table or pool
Reading. His favorite book is still “Little Blue Truck”. He’s constantly asking everyone to read to him – “Read, read?” or “read a book?” He knows most of the words to Little Blue Truck.
Story time and playing at the library

Going to the Zoo and talking about the different animals. If I don’t want him to fall asleep in the car, I ask him what all of the animals say…over and over until we get home.
Music, especially kids’ songs/cds
Picking flowers and strawberries. Lo’s grandma gave us a bunch of strawberry plants and he loves getting to pick and eat the red ones. He knows he’s not allowed to pick them unless they are red.

Watching Sesame Street (“Elmo”) and Daniel Tiger (“Nana Cyder”)
Tractors, firetrucks, and motorcycles

Coloring, especially if we sit at his little table with him. He’ll bring his papers or crayons into the living room one at a time. He’ll say “more papers?” or “more colors?” and then run into the dining room to get them from his little table in there.

Playing with his toy food (he often wants to put them down our shirt…something he and Lo did one day, and it stuck)
Organizing and kissing his stuffed animals

Stacking blocks and legos (“I stack it”)
Going to the park

Dislikes:

Meat and veggies
Waking up from naps – he wakes up fine in the mornings, but just cries and is grumpy after nap unless it’s extra-long.
Not getting his way (though the pouting in these pictures is fake)