Jenson update: He is 2!

This kid cracks me up so much.  Now that he talks constantly, he says the funniest things and is so entertaining.  It was a busy month – I felt like September just disappeared.  And then I started writing this and October disappeared. I’m going to start quarterly updates for him instead of monthly, now that he’s a toddler.  We did so many things in October and I took so many pictures, that I’m going to have to break things down into events rather than wait for the quarterly updates.  Better late than never, right?

We went back to Vegas in September (posted about it here), and went to the Zoo with his cousins, aunt, and uncle.

We took a trip to visit my family so we could catch my nephew’s football game and my nieces’ volleyball games.  He had fun picking and eating apples from a random apple tree that grew at my mom’s house.

He loves going to the library for story time and playing with the house, spaceship, foam shapes, and phone booth afterwards.  He’s getting less shy and will interact with the other kids and during story time more – he’ll even dance and do some of the song motions usually.  I joined the YMCA and took him to the child watch a few times.  I was really worried how he’d do…he’s not used to being left with strangers.  I checked on him (just looking through the window) at least 3 times in a little over an hour.  They said he cried a little, but just for a few minutes (they call for you if it lasts more than 5-10 minutes).  He said he had fun and he liked it.  We went back a few times and he got better with it each time.

His favorite game/story to act out goes something like this:
“Get more letters?” referring to his magnetic letters (us: yes, go get more letters) “Be back!” (us: okay, come back) “Wait here” (us: okay, we’ll wait).  Over and over, for each letter, or crayon, or coloring page.  It’s a great way to kill 15 minutes.  If you don’t repeat his commands back to him, he keeps repeating “more letters, more letters, MORE LETTERS!!!”  You can’t just say yes.

I started keeping track of funny things that he says and does on a calendar in the kitchen…here are some of my favorites:

• “Mangos all gone.  I eat them all”
• “Boof, you coming with me?”  (he was trying to get her to chase him)
• “Jenson funny, hehe” Unfortunately he usually says this when he thinks he’s being funny, but isn’t – like when he’s kicking his feet when we are trying to change his diaper
• “Jenson happy”.  He said this in the car shortly after he threw up everywhere in Home Depot.  He was carsick and waited until we got 30 steps inside the store.  I wasn’t so happy – not that I was upset with him, but it was just a frustrating afternoon.
• Very bossy with me: “do it mommy”, “sit mommy”, “read it mommy”
• Anytime we ask him if he wants to go somewhere, he says “See kids?” and if we say yes, or maybe, he says “I say hi”.

His birthday party wasn’t until the weekend after, and we had a low-key evening for his actual birthday.  We just went to Devine Farms to play after Lo got off work, and then headed home for dinner and presents.  We decided we’d save cake for the weekend since he didn’t know it was missing, and then we didn’t have to eat a cake by ourselves before the weekend.

Monthly Jenson update: September 6 – October 5, 2015

Age:  2 years old!
Weight:  25 lbs., 12 oz. (22%)
Length:  32.75 inches (16%)  Despite these percentages, people always ask us if he’s big or tall for his age…apparently not.
Size:  Mostly in 24/2T clothing, as 18 month is getting short
Sleeping: Sleep got a little worse this month.  We’d still put him in the crib (sometimes rocking first), and he wants us to keep singing to him.  He still always wants Rock-a-bye Baby (“Rockababy?”), but then I started a bad habit of substituting other animal and people names into the song in place of baby, so he likes it even more.  I couldn’t help it…I got tired of singing the same thing.  We still sit outside his door until he’s asleep because he’ll try to interact with us to make sure we are still there, and gets 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.  It takes an hour from start to finish.  Too long.

He naps right after lunch usually, but will fight it for 30-45 minutes or more 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.  Sometimes it takes rocking him to sleep, sometimes him laying in the bed with me.  The best days are when he falls asleep in his highchair.  His naps last between 1 – 2.5 hours…there’s no rhyme or reason.  As long as he gets closer to 2 hours of sleep, he wakes up okay now.

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 asks for applesauce at every meal, but they way he does it, we can tell it’s just for a funny reaction from us.  He still won’t eat meat.  The Dr. said that we don’t need to worry about what or how much he eats, for the most part.  We thought for sure he’d be concerned that he hasn’t gained much weight and has slipped in percentage for weight, but he didn’t say anything about it.

Word Up: His language is ridiculous – he talks in sentences almost always, and it pretty easy for most people to understand.  He knows a bunch of songs, all of his colors, most of his letters by sight, and shapes.  He still says “here ya go baby” when he wants to hand somebody (anybody) something, and it’s funny every time.  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.  People want to talk to him constantly in the store (often about how cute his hat is), so I think he’s finally getting used to it.  He describes most things with color “red flower, blue cup, etc.”  Gray and brown still trip him up.  At his 2 year appointment, he was talking up a storm when the Dr. came in (he was reading a book with a bunch of animals), and the Dr. immediately said – ok, well obviously he’s saying a lot of words already.  He said they want 2 year olds to be saying 30-40 words, and he’s easily saying hundreds of words.  The Dr. commented several times on how advanced his language is, and reminded us that our next baby probably won’t talk like this and we shouldn’t expect it – just because its not common.

Milestones:

• First time on a flight (to Las Vegas) sitting in the real seat.  We couldn’t take his carseat on the one flight, so he sat in the seat with a seatbelt on.  It was his last time flying for free (under 2).

• First football game (his cousin Brady).  He did really well at the game.  He liked the band and when the cheerleaders were doing dance routines.  When he got bored, he just walked back and forth along the bleachers and flirted with some high school girls that were sitting there.

• Went to YMCA child watch (first time being left with strangers)
• Jumps off the ground instead of just stomping a foot when we tell him to jump.

Favorite Toys/Activities:

• Bathtime – he insists on one after dinner every night.
• Playing outside or at the playground

• Balloons. I bought him a random one at the dollar store one day and he was obsessed.  Even after it deflated.

• Reading. His favorites are probably a National Geographic one with a bunch of animals and The Fox that Walked Alone (both books that my sister got for him), but he likes a variety right now.

• Story time and playing at the library, especially in the “house” there.
• Music, especially kids’ songs/cds. He’s always asking for “songs” and loves the Toddler Pandora station on the tv
• Cheesy smiles

• Watching Sesame Street (“Elmo”) and Daniel Tiger (“Nana Cyder”), though he started to ask to watch them less this month and just gets busy with playing or wants “songs” after nap.
• Wooden puzzles, pictures and videos on our phone (and rain boots)

• Tractors, firetrucks, and motorcycles, though Lo got him a firetruck for his birthday and he was terrified of the sounds it makes and made us put it back in the box.
• Gathering up his stuffed animals.  He wants them all in his crib when he sleeps, but we are planning to cut down the amount because it’s up to about 8, and that’s a little crazy.

• 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.
• Pumpkins – he loves carrying around a plastic pumpkin that my mom gave him, and he points out pumpkins any times he sees them.

Dislikes:

• Meat and veggies
• Going to sleep in a reasonable length of time.

Looking forward to:  Fall weather!! It didn’t really start until mid-October.  Jenson’s birthday party, fall activities like farm visits, apple picking, etc., Halloween.  And Lo and I actually get to go out (without Jenson) to see Paul McCartney!