25 months (early!!)

Well, I meant to update her 2 year post with some things that I forgot to mention, but seeing that she will be 25 months next week, I am going to do that post early and make myself feel good :)

At her 2 year checkup, she weighed 29 lbs (78%) and measured 35 inches (81%). This is quite a bit bigger than I was at age 2. She gained about 5 lbs in the last year and grew about 4.5 inches. It is amazing how much they lean out once they hit the toddler phase. The doctor said that everything looks great and she was very impressed with Elise's knowledge and sentence structure. She asked her a bunch of questions that they usually ask at the three year checkup and Elise got them all right.

Here are a few things that she's been doing this month:

-understands the concept of yesterday, today, and tomorrow and will say things like "We went to the park yesterday. Are we going to the park today?"

-is accurate with tense most of the time

-has started asking more questions that don't start with "what", "where", "how", or "who" (like "Do we need to get a jacket?" or "Mommy, are you in the shower Mommy?" as she knocks on the bathroom door or, my personal favorite, "Is Elise going to go in Mommy's tummy too?")

-likes to talk about her favorite things ("I would like to read this book. This is my favorite book.")

-is beginning to recognize simple words without looking at a picture. the only two i know of for sure are "elise" and "boy"... there are several others that she recognizes and will say "that says jack!" or "that says orange" but i think it is just tied to a specific word in a specific location (like in a certain book or on a wall)

-likes to read parts of books and spell words (while looking at them, of course!)... she prefers the words with capital letters

-is getting much better at using "you" and "me" correctly in sentences, but sometimes still uses "you" when it should be "me"

-responds to questions with yes (yeah), no, or i dont know (has been doing this consistently for the last few months). this month, she has started adding something after the response like...
"Elise, do you want some pineapple?" "Yes please, Mommy. Yeah. I do."
"Elise, will you please put your shoes in the closet?" "Yeah. I will put my shoes away. I will."

-always wants to know who gave her everything that she has (clothes, toys, cards, etc). This is one sentence that she usually messes up by saying "Who gave it to you?" instead of "Who gave it to me?" This must stem from all of the birthday presents over the last month.

-is no longer interested in siting on the potty, sigh. I am going to put it away for a while and try again in another month. I think she is physically ready for potty training but I guess it just isn't time yet.


Here are a few cute things that she has said in the last few weeks:

Me: "I love you, Elise!"
E: "I love you Mommy! I love you SOOOOOO much. I love you SOOOO much Mommy!"

(while eating some steamed apples with cinnamon)
E: "These apples are good Mommy! Thank you for the apples Mommy."

E: "I would like some vitamins please Mommy."
Me: "Elise, you can have your vitamins after you finish your sweet potatoes."
E: "No finish sweet potatoes."
Me: "Why don't you want your sweet potatoes?"
E: "I don't like them Mommy."
(dumps the rest of them on her tray and sets the empty plate on the table)
E: "I'm all done Mommy!"
(for the record, she did, in fact, willingly finish the sweet potatoes before her vitamins... we distract her by counting the pieces that she has left and then having her eat the smallest one first, or the biggest one first, etc)

(after a nap)
E: "I'm awake Mommy! I wake up! I like my bed. It's comfortable."

(in the car a few minutes after leaving the house, which is conveniently located near a big orange and white water tower)
E: (spots another water tower) "That isn't our water tower. Where is our water tower?"
Me: "I don't know, Elise. Where do you think it is?"
E: "It is behind us."

It is so funny to see her think as she tries to put a longer sentence together (especially those with new combinations of words).

We have been trying to figure out how to discipline her on the occasions where she does something that she knows is wrong, like throw something or hit something or someone. These little fits almost always occur after she has asked for something that she either can't have or can't have at the moment. Most of the time if she has a fit and throws something, she will look at me and say something like "We need to put ___ away. We don't throw ___. We throw balls."
Then, we put the thrown object on top of the refrigerator. She usually forgets about it and days later (without looking at it in the kitchen) she will ask "Where is ___?" and then answer herself "It is on top of the refrigerator. I threw it. That is bad."

Anyway, the consensus has been time out in her room. We tried time out by the front door but that didn't really work. She didn't mind it and would sometimes volunteer that she needed to go to time out. Per the love and logic class, I decided to do time out in her room with the door closed. The main idea is that she is not with us or within sight of us, which is a punishment for her. The other day, we were sitting on the couch and she asked for her milk. I told her that we would get it in a few minutes, and she proceeded to throw a little fit and hit me with something that she had in her hands. Here's how it went down.

Me: "Uh oh, Elise. That hurt mommy. It's time to go in your room for time out".
(I carried her in her room, put her down on the floor in the middle of the room, said she needed to stay by herself, closed the door, and left. I was curious to see what she would do, so I turned on the trusty video monitor. She just stood there, completely quiet, looking around the room. After about a minute, I walked up to her door.)
Me: "Elise, are you ready to come out now?"
E: "Yeah. I am".
(I walked in and gave her a big hug.)
E: "I'm sorry Mommy."
Me: "What are you sorry for?"
E: "Hitting Mommy."

We've had to do this a few times in the last week (maybe averaging once every other day?) and she is always aware of why she went to time out and then apologizes for it, even without me talking to her about it in detail. Love and Logic says to keep the words to a minimum since, if you are consistent, they will know why they are in time out anyway. She has even told us a few times that she needed to go to time out.

Eating habits are pretty much the same... we've discovered that she likes asparagus and nuts. The doctor recommended keeping her on whole milk, so we will continue with that for a while. It is probably a good thing since she doesn't get a whole lot of fat from other sources.

Sleeping habits are also pretty much the same. She's been waking up a little earlier the last week or so, so I've decided to cut her nap short and wake her up by 3 pm if she isn't already up. I did some research this week and several different sources say that 2 year olds should get 12-14 hours of sleep per day. She's always needed more sleep than the recommended range, but I think she's starting to need a little bit less. I'm going to aim for 14.5 instead of the 15-15.5 that she had been getting before she started waking a little earlier in the morning.

I greatly apologize that I haven't taken the time to post any videos. Maybe one of these days :)