Stats: Jack weighs about 25 lbs and is about 35 inches tall. He is outgrowing a lot of 18-24 month shirts and size 2T shirts fit best. Some of his 12-18 month pants still fit. He still wears a size 7 shoe with plenty of room to grow. We've had a handful of warm days and discovered that he needs a bunch of new short sleeved shirts. He can fit into his from last summer but they are way too short. His shorts from last year still fit :)
Sleeping: Jack is still an excellent sleeper. He usually throws a fit when you tell him it is nap time or bed time, but by the time he is upstairs in his room, he's totally fine and easy to put to bed. He gets to read a few books (favorites include Good Night Gorilla, First 100 Trucks, his Bible, and then whatever the favorite book of the week happens to be) and sing a few songs. Sometimes he requests to sing himself and other times he wants Mommy or Daddy to sing. Then we just lay him in his crib and he goes right to sleep. He has started sleeping with a light blanket and loves it. He wakes up happy most of the time and in the morning likes to sing to us over the monitor. So far, no attempts to climb out, even though he easily could. Knock on wood... those wood floors would hurt. He goes to bed around 7:15-7:30 and is usually talking in his crib by 7:15 the next morning. He takes a 2-3 hour nap starting around 12:45.
Eating: Jack has actually gotten a little more adventurous with his eating this month. He's tried and enjoyed lasagna, enchiladas, several soups, and other combinations of foods that he previously has rejected. He usually eats a good amount of food at each meal, but every now and then he doesn't like what he is offered and doesn't eat as much as normal. Breakfast is probably his favorite meal. He loves dry cereal, yogurt, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, and fruit. For lunch, he usually has something related to cheese and turkey (on a sandwich or a la carte), peanut butter or almond butter (on a sandwich, on crackers, or made into granola balls), and fruit. He has attempted veggies and dip a few times and really enjoys dipping things into ketchup, salsa, etc. His favorite vegetable is still sweet potatoes, but he has recently enjoyed broccoli with cheese sauce and will eat vegetables as part of soup, so we are making progress. He still gets a lot of fruit/veggie purees or smoothies. For dinner, he is typically offered a meat, a starch, a vegetable, and maybe another fruit depending on how much he's already had that day. He could eat his weight in macaroni if we let him. He still likes beans and loves our weekly Chipotle dinner.
One of his favorite pastimes is asking for specific foods or snacks that he likes. Sometimes the answer of "no" or "not now" will be accepted, and other times, a fit will be thrown. Such is life with an almost 2 year old :)
Playing: Jack loves to play with anyone but he is also quite good at entertaining himself. He is better at independent play than Elise was at his age, probably because he usually has a 4 year old in the room with him instead of all by himself. He absolutely loves trucks, trains, cars, balls, and anything boy. He spends a lot of time these days pushing his Green Toys vehicles around the play room. He seems quite athletic for his age and is constantly wanting to climb something. He figured out how to climb the small rock wall side of our Step2 Woodland Climber that is in the back yard and is much more independent at the playground. He loves to go on walks around the neighborhood, play outside or at the park, go to the zoo/aquarium/etc, go to the library or Barnes and Noble to play with the train table, and basically do anything involving his Daddy. He also loves his classroom at church and will try to open the door and walk right in when we drop him off. He is quite the little jumper and LOVES the trampoline. He can even lift his knees toward his chest when he jumps now. I'm so thankful for a large basement... the trampoline was essential to getting us through the winter! We are thinking about getting the Step2 Train and Track Table for his birthday. I think it looks great for independent or joint play with trains or cars... right up his alley! I also like that it can clean up easily and turn into a table. When he's older we could use the lid to build train tracks, play Legos, etc.
Learning: Over the last few months, Jack has transitioned from mostly phrases/some sentences to almost exclusively sentences. For example, instead of saying "Help,
please!", he will say, "I need some help please Mommy." He also asks a lot of questions, like, "How is your dinner, Mommy?" "Are you going running, Mommy?", "Want to play playroom, Mommy?", and "Does that sound good, Mommy?" He can sing 6-8 lines of a song with quite a bit of accuracy and strings several sentences together. I need to do a better job of working with him on letter sounds. He knows quite a few but I'm sure he could get them all quickly if I put in a little effort. We can actually exchange sentences with him and have little conversations. His voice is so cute!
Potty training: We attempted potty training about a month ago and he actually got the concept very quickly. He went on the potty 6-8 times the first day but by the second day would say, "I want to go pee pee big potty" and then run upstairs only to sit on the potty and cry or just not want to sit on it at all and then end up with an accident right next to the potty. This was very similar to Elise's first attempt at potty training. So, we stopped and will try again this summer. Hopefully he will decide on his own when he's ready to do it and that it will be sooner rather than later :) He often asks for a new diaper.
Funny sayings:
We turned his car seat around last week and when he got in it, he excitedly exclaimed, "Mama fixed my car seat! Thank you, mama!" A few minutes later, he said, "My car seat is just like Elise!"
He loves to be "just like Elise" and is always saying things like, "I do puzzles just like Elise. I eat Cheerios just like Elise. I get hat just like Elise. I read Bible just like Elise. I climb this (usually something too difficult for him at a park) just like Elise."
I recently got him a sun hat and every time he puts it on, he thanks me profusely for it. He must enjoy not having the sun in his eyes!
I was sick with a sinus infection last week, and if I coughed or blew my nose he often asked if I was okay. Sweet boy. He also randomly comes up to us and says, "I love you" and gives us a hug.
Mike was putting him to bed last night and he said, "I need some more water. Mama will go get it. OH MAAAMAAAA!!!!"
Sometimes he likes to pray before meals and it usually comes out like this: "Dear God thank you my food thank you my family AMEN!"
He loves the view from facing forward in the car and yesterday exclaimed, "I see a city bus up there! You think there are people in it?"
Mike put him in the car to go to church and he said, "It's a nice day. I go to zoo with Maddie and Miss Rose." (friends of ours)
Mike put him in the car to go to church and he said, "It's a nice day. I go to zoo with Maddie and Miss Rose." (friends of ours)
Mike: "Jack, do you want your strawberries?"
Jack: "Yes, I want my strawberries. I want my cereal too. Yes, let's do that."
Ahhh, happy 23 months little dude! We love you!
Stacking cups... there are actually about 10 cups in this tower! I just realized how terrible I have been about taking pictures with my camera while they are playing. I often take pictures on my phone but rarely get the big camera out. I will work on that for my next post.
Busy with fire trucks, school buses, dump trucks, cars, and trains
Favorite new accessory. He asks for it if I forget to bring it outside when it is sunny.
Smoothies in the backyard
They both love their hats. The brand is Sunday Afternoons. I got them at REI. Elise wears the size 5-7 years (and has since she was 3.5) and Jack wears the size 2-5 years.
