Mr. C Turns 2!

or, as he'll tell you, "not three!"

(I think the focus on 3 is because his dad said he could get hockey skates and go ice skating when he was 3 next winter.)

I'm not sure this post will be of much interest to all of you, but I wanted to capture a little bit of the life of C at this moment, baby-book style.

At age 2...

Likes and Milestones:
Books. All the books. It's best if you read them multiple times in succession ("read 'gain??"). We've had to cap bedtime stories at 3 books, but he regularly weasels his way into more.

Favorite toys and activities: construction vehicles, trucks, trains - "shoot" or "dunk" basketball - improvised indoor hockey/golf - "color" or "make" (art) -

Taggies and loveys (the crib is a bit crowded) and "cozies"

Frozen, especially Olaf. By extension, his "Kristoff hat," which is actually just a regular winter hat.

Elmo and Cookie

Hockey, hockey guys, and ice skating--or the idea of it.

Favorite foods: waffles, sausage, hot dogs, chicken, fries, 'roni-cheese, applesauce and pouches, blueberries, oranges. He thinks he wants bananas, but doesn't. Smoothies. Ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Knows colors reliably. Identifies circle, square, triangle, octagon. Knows body parts. Counts from 1-10 and sometimes higher. Beginning to count with one-to-one correspondence. Not as interested in letters, but knows that C is for cookie. Usually knows it's for his name.

Regularly uses 4-5 word phrases. The longest I've heard is 7, but that was an outlier. Suddenly calls himself just his name instead of "Baby C." Still refers to himself in the 3rd person, but just this week I have heard correct usage of the first person ("I do it."; "I am C; this is mommy."). It made me kind of sad!

Has moved from simple labels or statements to more complex story-telling or thoughts. Starting to correctly use more sophisticated concepts like already, after, under, where, everyone, and no _____; just ______. Often surprises us from things he remembers that took place months ago. Yesterday he told me that he wanted to get another green Christmas tree for his house and the big house, and put a star on it.

Predictably, is asserting independence and autonomy. But requests a hug if scared or unsure.

Dislikes: I'm having trouble thinking of any specific dislikes, but I'm sure they exist. Has started running away naked before bath, but that's just because he likes us to chase him (while yelling "Jailbreak! Naked baby! Naked baby!"). Can be hesitant in new and strange situations. We have the typical resistance to transitions and sometimes I do terrible things, like getting out the wrong cup, which can lead to total loss of composure.

Stats:
He was scared of the measuring contraptions at his 2-year checkup, so the pediatrician was not confident that these measurements are valid. But he's about 26 lbs and 2'9". He's fairly tall, but still on the not-heavy side. His growth curves are fine, so that's just how he's built for now! I can confirm that he eats well.

They've told us we can turn the car seat around to face forward, but we haven't done it yet.

Size 5 diapers. Showing interest in the potty, but no potty training plans at present.

2T clothing. Approximately size 6 shoe, though he only wears his boots these days.