Arlo: 2 years old

Two!!  In some ways these two years with Arlo have flown by in record speed, and in others it's hard to remember life before he was in it.  It's true what they say, the days are long but the years are short.  Erik and I have been reminiscing a bit lately, looking at several of the photos of Arlo when he was first born.  How much he has grown and changed in two short years, it's nothing short of amazing, really.  Here is what our little guy is up to at TWO!

'sleeping

Not many big changes in the sleeping department.  Still napping once a day around 1:30pm or so and going to bed around 7:30 or 8:00pm.  He now gets to stay up a bit later on the weekends, which I am not going to lie, is so we can all sleep in a bit later the next morning!  He is still sleeping in his crib but at the babysitters house naps really well in a toddler bed and I am told he always wakes up super happy because he can get himself up when he is ready.  His toddler room is all set up (except for the mattress, still need to order that) and I plan to post more about that once we move him in there.  A couple of months ago I gave him a toddler pillow and he loves sleeping with it.  Periodically he will have a nap that he wakes up from before he is actually ready to get up, and will want to cuddle in his rocker, falling back asleep on my chest.  I cherish those moments because I know they won't last forever...

eating

His eating habits haven't changed too much and he still eats what we eat the majority of the time.  For breakfast now I ask him what he wants and he tells me, which is so much better than me guessing and then having to make something else when he doesn't like it!  Breakfast always includes fresh fruit and is paired with his choice of oatmeal, cereal, or waffles with nut butter and we rotate though those pretty regularly.  Lunch and dinner isn't a choice, he eats what we eat and overall is a very good eater.  Some of his favorite foods right now are: apples, clementines, raw bell peppers, hummus, carrots, coleslaw, tofu, toast, raisins, dried cranberries, macadamia nuts, pizza, pasta, tomatoes, bean burritos, and avocados.  He is thriving on a plant-based diet and it's been very easy to raise him on one since that is the way that Erik and I have been eating for a very long time now.  If he is ever skeptical about trying a new food we show him that we love eating it making a really big deal about it being delicious, and he will almost always have at least a bite, more if he likes it.  If that fails all we need to do is bring out a "dip" (hummus, ketchup or fancy sauce - ketchup and veganaise mixed) or "sprinkles" (nutritional yeast flakes) and he will eat whatever we add the magic ingredients to, ha!.  We recently discovered he likes salad, and I'm not talking iceberg lettuce with ranch - he loves spring mix with a vinaigrette, which really surprised us.  He eats with regular metal utensils and does great with both a fork and spoon now - even with tricky things like cereal and soup.  He still drinks milk twice daily, usually 10 oz in the morning hours and another 8 oz or so after dinner.  He has been offered sweets on several occasions but does not like them at all.  My mom baked special mini banana nut muffins and molasses cookies during our visit last month and Arlo wouldn't even try a single bite.  He even refused his cupcake on his birthday!  Which, I am totally okay with because he really doesn't need processed sugar and one day it's going to be a struggle to keep him from wanting sweet treats all the time, so I am okay riding this train as long as we still can.

weight and length

At his two year check-up, Arlo weighed in at 24.4 lbs putting him in the 21st percentile for weight for his age.  He measured in at 33.5 inches tall, which is about the 37th percentile for height.  Head circumference is up to 20 inches, still in the 97th percentile.  So, following his growth curve with a lean build and big noggin', ha!  Apparently at around two you can predict with relative accuracy how tall your child will grow as an adult, and our pediatrician thinks he will be somewhere around 5' 9" or 5' 10".  So, maybe around Erik's height (5' 11") or a bit shorter.

wearing

This kid has been really easy to buy clothes ahead of time for, since he always fits true to size relative to his age.  The 18-24 month pants I bought when the weather turned cooler had some room to grow at the time, now they are getting to be just a bit short on him but still fit great in the waist.  I actually thought they would have lasted a bit longer.  Shirts are 24 month or 2T.  The 2T pants are still a bit long and I have a feeling he will be able to wear them later this winter as well as next fall/winter.  He will be solidly in 2T shirts and shorts this summer, which is great because I have a huge tub overflowing with summer clothes for him in that size.  2T pajamas fit with zero room to spare and all his spring/summer jammies I have been buying are 3T.  Actually, this holiday season I had the brilliant idea (pats self on back) to buy only 3T Christmas jams so he could wear them for two years in a row.  The pants were a little long but they otherwise fit great and I am happy we will get another holiday season out of them!  Current shoe size is a 6 or 6.5.  Winter boots are a 7 which also fit and will hopefully will until spring.  Stride Rite is our favorite brand of shoe and is almost all he ever wears.  They are so well made that we will get to use them for kiddo #2 should we have another boy since they are still in great condition!

likes

Favorite things include...

Micky Mouse everything 

cars/trucks/planes/trains - so obsessed

collecting all the treasures on our daily walks (rocks, sticks, pine cones) and bringing them home to his ever-growing pile in the garage

HATS - all the time indoors or out (favorite hat happens to also be Dad's favorite smartwool beanie and when they go out together it's always a challenge to figure out who gets to wear it!)

books - and will now "read" along with us when he knows the words that come next

feeding/diapering/kissing/strollering his baby doll that he named "Howie"

hopping/jumping (on the bed too - ugh!)

emptying the lint screen (it's become his official laundry time job - he cleans the screen, hands me the lint, and replaces it in the dryer)

"washing dishes" which started at my parents house and now he always grabs his little chair and brings it to the sink so he can "help" me (or make a huge wet mess haha)

Lucy and the kitties (grumpy Bosco kitty does NOT share his affection)

his bestie Lyra and our babysitters daughter who is the same age and probably like a sister to him by this point - he asks about them both all the time

getting his picture taken - when he sees me with my phone he will smile and say "cheese!" so I will take his picture.  he also loves looking at pictures of other kids and I always show him pictures of his friends when I am scrolling through my instagram feed.  he knows them all by name and has the biggest smile when he sees them!

"losh" (lotion) that he loves putting on his body whenever he steals it from my room

bracelets (my hair ties, will still load up his wrists with them every chance he gets)

washing his hands

getting his hair cut - he gets really excited about it and will stand surprisingly still while I use the clippers

undies and using the potty (more on that below)

drawing/coloring with markers/crayons/paint, play doh

having people over - he loves "showing off" for guests

reading in his tee pee (which is actually called a "tee pee" now - sadly no more calling it "pee pee")

being outside and going to the park which he asks to do on a regular basis

... and probably a whole bunch of other things that I am forgetting!

dislikes

Typical toddler dislikes - getting dressed in the morning (this is actually our biggest daily struggle - this kid hates the process of putting on clothes!), having to stop playing to go inside or take a nap, being told he can't do something - swiffer the walls, stand on the table, drive our cars, remove everything from the pantry, and the list goes on.  He is a pretty ambitious kid, ha.  While he definitely has moments of protesting and shouting "no!" when he doesn't get his way, we are pretty lucky that he is usually pretty easygoing.  We have only had a couple of big tantrums where he has thrown himself on the floor and completely refused cooperation and I am hoping the frequency of those stays to a minimum!

new milestones and developments

We have seen some really big changes here since the last update, most notably in the past month or so.  Kids have physical growth spurts, and I definitely think they have developmental spurts as well, as we saw huge changes from 18-19 months and now from 23-24 months.  His speech and language really took off and he is talking all the time now.  He puts short sentences together and pronounces words so much better than before.  For example he has always said "all done" as "dahl dee" and just recently we have been working with him to change the way he says it, and now he can say "all done" clear as can be.  He still shortens long difficult words - for example flamingo is "mingo", elephant is "elf", and he still calls lotion "losh" but I have started calling it that too and now I think it will forever be losh!  He answers yes and no questions reliably which has been awesome in so many ways, and quite frankly made life a whole lot easier.  At his pediatrician appointment he passed the developmental question exam with flying colors, actually seeming advanced in several areas.  I still think he is pretty average in terms of language and speech for other boys his age, unlike his little girl friends who are pretty much talking nonstop and practically in full sentences.  Everyone has said that is a big difference at this age, girls tend to be a lot more talkative, and really - does that ever change?! 

Arlo can count from 1 to 10, and at first he always left out seven but now he has decided to include it.  ABC's are a work in progress and something we really haven't spent too much time on.  They go something like "A B E X I P D but at the end of the song he says clear as day "now I know my A B C'ssss!" haha.  I really need this on video.  He knows his left from his right and will tell me which is which when we are putting on his shoes.  

He often says please and thank you without even being prompted, and every time he is done with his milk he brings the empty cup to me and says "thank you" which I never taught him to do but I so love it.  He usually eats snacks at the table instead of his high chair, and will bring the empty dish to the kitchen and put it in the sink.  He knows the difference between the trash and recycling station and will (usually) put things in their appropriate place. 

I have a feeling that even though he's not the biggest kid on the block, he will probably be quite athletic.  He loves to climb and has no problem getting to the top of the "big kids" play structure at the park.  He runs, hops, and jumps all the time and seems to have no fear of heights.  He can walk up and down stairs without holding onto anything but when he does I have a small heart attack and ask him to "please hold the railing!"  He loves to play ball with his dad and can throw and kick really well (yes, I see little league soccer in his future!)  

At around 23 months, Arlo entered into an extra-clingy phase, which is something we haven't seen since he was a baby.  I think it is somewhat common around two years old though, as other friends have mentioned similar experiences with their kids around the same age.  He started coming to me multiple times a day saying "hold" and putting his arms up to me, wanting me to carry him around (I actually had to break out the Ergo at one point so I could get things done!)  He still does it maybe once or twice a day but it has certainly lessened in the last couple of weeks.  He will also now happily cuddle up on the couch with us and watch a TV show, which is also something new for him.  I never liked the idea of him watching TV as a baby and would almost always turn on a kids Pandora station instead of TV when we wanted background noise, but as we approached two we relaxed our screen rules a bit and let him watch short shows periodically.  Screens and sugar are inevitable as kids grow up, neither are necessary or necessarily bad in moderation, but I have always figured why rush either?  So, now Arlo wants to watch Mickey Mouse, Daniel Tiger, Thomas the train, or my least favorite show in the world - Chuggington, at least once or twice a day.  This actually works out in my favor since it allows me a few minutes to get ready in the morning or cook dinner in the afternoon. 

And finally, probably the biggest accomplishment of the last month or so is that Arlo is now nearly completely potty trained!  He has been peeing on the potty daily but not consistently since around 18 or 19 months, and started pooping on the potty right when he turned 23 months.  Once he started going number two, he took a big interest in wanting to go on the potty all the time.  So, we actually got serious about potty training, spent a few days at home diaper free (had a few accidents of both kinds) and then just like that he was going to the potty on a regular basis.  The whole process was a whole lot easier than I thought, and I feel like we actually followed a "child led potty training" plan if such a thing exists.  We never pushed him to do anything, only praised him when he did well.  He went through about a week of what we called poo-phobia where he was afraid to poop on the potty, in his diaper, or on the floor.  So he would hold it and cry and say "no mama, no poop!" which was so sad.  This was probably the hardest part of the entire process, and I felt like there was so little we could do to help him, outside of just supporting his choices.  Luckily he outgrew that quickly and we made a huuuuuge deal when he got comfortable pooping on the potty (like high-fives, first bumps, and both Erik and I dancing around the bathroom!)  We had to spend a couple of weeks with Arlo naked to avoid accidents, since he seemed to always tinkle a little with undies on.  But now he can wear undies (he calls them "unnies" and loves them) and pants and will reliably go to the bathroom on his own, pull everything down, and call for help if he can't get his pants up.  He also empties his little potty into the big one which we are trying to get him to call for help since that could get very messy very quickly.  For naps he wears a pull-up just in case, it's still hit or miss with him waking up dry or not, and during the night we put on a diaper.  He still drinks a lot of milk close to bedtime and I can't imagine it will be anytime soon that he will wake up dry in the morning.  That being said, I didn't even think we would be starting potty training until closer to three, and am still amazed that we were for the most part, potty trained before two.  When we leave the house we put a pull-up on him but he now asks to go to the potty when we are out and about.  Erik actually got to take him to a public restroom for the first time on one of their father/son Starbucks outings, and surely it was a very proud dad moment for him.  Soon we will probably venture out in his real undies but I am still nervous about having accidents and our car seat is such a pain to launder!

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Arlo, we are so proud of the awesome little man you are turning into.  You are so kind and compassionate, energetic beyond belief, imaginative, curious, and sensitive.  You love giving kisses and hugs and always seem to want to please us.  You know what you want, have your own opinions about everything, and are not afraid to voice them.  You have your Dad's eyebrows, your moms mouth, and a smile that everyone always comments on.  When we are out and about you are such a flirt with the ladies, and you always know how to make us laugh.  You still love music and dancing, just like when you were a baby.  Everyday I feel so lucky that I get to look into your sweet blue eyes and call you my son.  Thank you for being you, and for choosing us as your parents, sweet boy.