Busy Times

We've had a busy month! Reshen has been doing great, growing and learning. He's talking so much and saying funny "grown-up" things. Some that caught me off-guard just recently are:

- "I think so" when I asked him a question

- "Oh yeah" when I remind him of something

- "Remember that?" when he's recalling a past event

- "Hmmm, let's see." When he's thinking about something

- "Oh, so cute!" about babies.

- "That (was/is) so funny!" Followed by a forced hearty laugh

He seems able to express almost anything he needs to now. I think he talks fairly clearly for his age (as I understand almost everything he says), but find myself having to sometimes translate for him to others- so maybe he is still a bit "dutchy."

He knows a lot of colors now- blue, green, orange, yellow, red, pink, black, purple and his new favorite- turquoise (or "turk-noise" as he calls it :-)

He is really into trains and loves to read about them, watch them on TV, and play with them. He's into both Geotrax and Thomas the Tank Engine. He has two Geotrax episodes on DVD and has watched them so often he now recites lines from the show and acts out scenes on his train set. "Slow down, Eric!" he says and makes the train fall off the track. He makes his "guys"
wait at the station and has the train stop and makes the guys get on and off. Yesterday the train was running out of batteries and he told me it was "going slowly." He also loves the music of Choo Choo Soul and enjoys getting on the computer (with our help of course) and watching their music videos. In fact, he has now begun singing their theme song when he pretends that *he* is a train. Yesterday he decided that a pattern on the floor at Macy's looked like a train track and immediately he became a train and had to "chugga-chugga-choo-choo" around it.

Speaking of pretending, he pretends to be many things these days. The newest is a water hose. He makes a funny sound-effect (sounds like "ppssshhhhh") and waves his hand around. Then he laughs and exclaims that whatever he was aiming at is now all wet. If he sprays me I have to pretend to dry off (yes, I said *have* to- he orders me to if I don't automatically). Other animals/objects he pretends to be:

-chicken popping out of an egg
-cat (he has the cutest meow)
-dog
-lion
-monster
-monkey
-fire truck
-airplane

His other favorite thing to play besides trains his with his "guys". He has a variety of them- from Fisher Price Little People, to GeoTrax figures, to toddler-friendly Superhero action figures. He makes them "live" in a toy house that Santa brought him for Christmas and acts out day-to-day life. They eat food in the kitchen, wash their hands, go potty, take showers (funny, because he actually takes baths, not showers), play with toys, read books, play outside, etc.. Of course, he enjoys it most if mommy or daddy play along and we have the same scenario everytime:

Reshen: "Want come inside?"

Me: "Sure, I'd love to come inside"

Reshen: "Hungry. Want, ummmm, applesauce!"

Me: "You want some applesauce? Sure I'll make you some."

(pretend my "guy" is making applesauce.) "Here you go, guy."

Reshen: "Thank you." (pretends his guy is eating it). "Bleh!" (pretends his guy is spitting it out) Laughs hysterically.

Then we move our guys into the "living room," then into the "bathroom,"etc.. and play out the normal scenarios there. It's very cute, but can also get a little monotonous for an adult- when you've already played it 10 times that day. ;-)

He also pretends with his Fisher Price animals that came with a zoo set. He has designated the seal as the mommy, the lion as the daddy and the x-ray fish as the kid (himself probably). He is always the fish and then he makes me be "mommy seal" or "daddy lion" or sometimes both :-) They "walk" around the room and go on adventures to the library, zoo, restaurant and Costco :-)

He's still a big music fan. Still loves the traditional nursery rhymes songs and action songs, Raffi, and songs from A Mighty Wind. He got a little guitar from his Gramma for Christmas and likes to play it while daddy plays the Guitar Hero video game. He also likes to play drums and is also a
very enthusiastic dancer (his moves mostly involve spinning and jumping).

Health-wise he's doing pretty great too. At his 2-year check-up in November he was 29.5 lbs and close to 34" tall. That put him around the 50% percentile for both height and weight. He's in 24 months to 2T clothes for shirts and mostly 24 months for pants (although he can wear some 2T pants if they are on the shorter side). He seems to be long waisted/short legged, like his daddy. ;-) He is also in size 6.5 extra wide shoes.

Illness-wise, we've still been pretty lucky to avoid anything too terrible. He's had a number of colds and one long ear infection so far this fall/winter, but other than that nothing too bad. That was the same last year too- just colds and ear infections, but none of that nasty flu, bronchitis and other viruses that went around. Wish us luck that we'll avoid all that again this year! Knocking on wood so hard my knuckles are bleeding!

He's still the early riser- 6:30 seeming refreshingly late for him. He normally is asleep around 8, although I do try to get him down earlier, seeing that he wakes up early no matter what time he goes to bed. So on average he sleeps from 8pm-6am (although this week it has been like 5:30
a.m.). He takes one nap at daycare, and I think he sleeps around 1.5 hours. At home on the weekends, he always seems tired and crabby in the morning, so sometimes he'll take a 30 minute morning nap and then another 1 hour or 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon. He resists sleeping on and off (although that is not really new), but now is tricky about it. Sometimes he'll tell me his mouth hurts. If I say he's fine, then he says his ears hurt. If I again say he's fine, he then tells me he has a poopy diaper. He's such the little stinker, because he knows those are all things that have previously gotten him out of his crib.

He is becoming increasingly a "2-year-old" in the behavioral sense. We've had some issues with him running away while in public. He now gets a warning when we're in a store and if he continues he gets strapped into the cart or stroller (which he hates). He's become more defiant at home, yelling "No!" if he objects to something and/or collapsing on the floor crying. We do warnings and then time-outs at home. It seems our discipline is going to have to get a little stricter than it has been... he is getting older and able to handle more rules and consequences now I suppose. All-in-all, though, he is still a fairly compliant kid for the most part. The bad behavior is mostly triggered when he's tired, bored, hungry or overwhelmed, so I try to keep ahead of those!

The potty is still an on-again/off-again interest. 2 days ago he announced out of the blue that he wanted to sit on it and read books. We did just that and he actually peed in it. That was the third time he's successfully used it since July. He didn't seem too impressed, though, nor did he the other times. He hasn't even sat on it since. We're still taking it slow.. just letting him use it when he wants. I still don't think he's really ready for any real "training" yet. I don't think he has the physical control and doesn't usually tell us before he has to go. I honestly don't mind the diapers too much so it's really no big deal for me to wait until he's ready.

He's beginning to become afraid of things. Some things we now know he is scared of:

- The crow in the Fox in Socks book

- Halloween gorilla masks

- Jim Carey as The Grinch

- A scene in the movie "The Snowman"

He is only mildly afraid of the crow.. in fact sometimes he actually wantsto see it. But he is very afraid of the rest of them (cries and clings to me). Poor little man.

We had a fun Holiday season. Reshen enjoyed Christmas- he got the idea of Santa and giving and getting presents. Between his birthday and Christmas, he got to open a lot of presents and knew exactly what to do when he saw a wrapped gift. It was fun to share the Holiday with him this year and watch his wonder at the lights, music, snow and general atmosphere of the season.

So in summary, our guy is doing great! A happy, healthy and very active 2-year-old. We are truly blessed :-)