Todd's toddlerhood

As I mentioned, someone in this house turned 2 recently. This little boy is charming, happy and completely adorable. And did I mention charming. There is just something about Todd that makes people smile. Sometimes it is his smile and other times it is his enthusiasm, the cock of his head, his earnestness...it is hard to describe but there is just something about him that is hard for anyone to resist.

Overall, he continues to be the easy-going child that he was as an infant. Which is not to say that he doesn't ever express his will or state his desires. And quite frankly, when he expresses a desire, he is serious about it. He isn't just halfheartedly telling you something to see how you react. He has decided that this request is urgent to his state of happiness. And he will stubbornly defend this need with typical toddler methods.

The positive thing that I have learned about the above stubbornness, is that most of the time he still has the attention span of a toddler. If he doesn't protest strongly, the protest will likely die down in a few minutes. If he does protest strongly, then it is time to move on to something else and come back to the issue in 5-10 minutes. After a break, it is likely that his easy-going and cooperative state will have returned. Who knows how long this technique will continue to work!

His language is really amazing. I don't have specific data points, but my impression is that his language exploded sooner and faster than Heather's, who was no slouch in the words department. At his 2 year check-up, the doctor asked if he had at least 20 words and we had to do our best not to laugh...since he had more than that at the 18 month appointment. By his birthday he was starting to use 3 word phrases pretty regularly and now (2 months later) is using 5-6 word sentences. Tonight: "Thank you [for] making dinner mommy." It is kind of amazing to me that he is talking so much, especially when you consider the chatterbox that he has for a sister. But maybe that is why, so he can get a word in edgewise. ;-)

15-21 months was a tough period. Sleep was tough and so was his level of neediness and separation anxiety. It gradually improved and now it feels like we have come out of the worst of it. Of course, we have also entered the world of toddler tantrums. But in some ways I prefer the occasional tantrum over a toddler velcro-ed to my side nearly 24/7.

Todd's favorite things:
- Doing whatever his big sister is doing. Anything and everything that Heather does is what he wants to do, too.
- Playing with and watching others play with baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, etc. If it is a sport, he is intrigued.
- Swinging at the playground. He enjoys climbing and sliding, too, but he can literally swing for an entire visit to the park.
- Playing in water - at the spray park, the pool, the kiddie pool, a water table, the bathtub, etc.
- Eating fruit. (There are other things he likes, too, but fruit is definitely eaten with the most gusto and quantity)
- Playing with his friends Will and Henry.
- All of the TV and movies that his sister enjoys. He has a pretty long attention span for it, for someone his age...which is both good and bad. :-)
- Anything with animals - books, TV, the zoo and real life visits with dogs and cats. He would be thrilled if our cats would allow regular petting and playing sessions.

For his birthday, we had a small party with his two pals and family. After the party was over, we tested the new bubble wands, colored Easter eggs and rode bikes. It was a lovely day to celebrate the little boy who made our family complete.

Translating Todd

Todd is still primarily saying one word at a time with the occasional 2-word phrase. The interesting expansion of his language is into verbs and words which express more than just object identification. For those interested in the progression of toddler language, here are some examples.

"doing" (usually with pointing)
You are doing something interesting or unusual and I need to see or participate in whatever it is that you are up to.

"some"
You are eating something that looks or smells good. I need some, too.

"heavy"
I need you to move this for me to a new, and probably less-convenient location.

"carry"
I require you to carry me at this time. Until I deem that you are allowed to put me down again.

"this"
I can't reach it, but I need this item that I'm pointing at. Please hand it to me now.
Or
What is this object? Is it this for me to play with?

"ketchup"
My food requires more tomato flavor. More ketchup, please.

"cut"
Please cut my food into smaller pieces, mommy.
Or
Please cut a piece of your pie/scone/sandwich/pizza for me.

"Talk! Talk! Talk!"
You are on the phone. Therefore I will describe what you are doing into the phone as loudly as possible.
Or
I need to talk on the phone, too, even though I have no idea who you are talking to.

{Vigorous Head Shaking}
I would rather have you spoon feed me yogurt than wear that bib you are holding.

"help" or "stuck"
I have climbed into/on top of/under something and I can't get out without your assistance.

"broke"
The toy I'm playing with isn't doing what I want it to do.
Or
My sister just broke or tore a toy/crayon/box/piece of paper.

"hat"
I want to watch Cat in the Hat.
Or
You have a hat on and I need one, too. (same for "coat")
Or
Where is Woody's/Jesse's hat?

"yee-ha"
I am playing with Jesse and that is what she says.

"boots"
I am playing with Woody and that is what he says.
(He can clearly identify Woody, Jesse and Buzz as well.)

Miscellaneous Kid Update

I feel the need to write a post, but I'm honestly not totally sure what to tell you. Shall we see what comes out?

1. There seem to be a new word or two coming out of Todd's mouth each day.  This has actually been going on for a while and it is to the point that I'm almost not surprised by new words.  Two word phrases are still more rare, so those get my attention a little more. But the most fun is the comprehension. He doesn't understand everything, but sometimes we can have a real conversation.

T: Nurse! Nurse!
M: Can I please start dinner before we nurse?
T: No.
M: Can I please get my phone before we sit down?
T: Yeah.

Or....

End of bathtime
R: Todd, you got in first, so you need to get out first.
T: Noooooooooooooooo!
Once he's out and in a towel, staring back at Heather:
T: Baff! Baff! Baff! Baff!
(bath, in Todd speak)

2. Heather is really great and a lot of fun right now. Coming up with lots of extravagant pretend play scenarios, singing, dancing, practicing writing letters, chatting away and making up stories. She can also entertain herself for a while with her toys and seems to need at least one good session of solo play each day.

But she also loves to play with other kids.  We have been to an indoor play place several times since my layoff, and this week she was definitely trying to actively find other kids to play with.

3. There are, of course, a few challenges now as well. Todd's sleep still sucks for a 20 month old. He naps great at daycare, but rarely naps outside of the car seat or my arms on home days. I can only put him down totally asleep and his overnight waking is random and unpredictable. He's finally gotten all his teeth through, only has a minimal cold and the separation anxiety is lessening during the day, so hopefully a breakthrough is coming.

I've considered various strategies, from bedtime changes to nightweaning, but each time I'm ready to implement his patterns change again. And quite honestly, he is minimally cranky when he's tired, so other than adult tiredness there isn't much other motivation. We've also considered a bed change as a strategy, since some nights he really enjoys Heather's bed and seems like he could cuddle up in it and sleep.

4. The primary challenge with Heather right now is her acting like a baby and refusing to do the things we know she can do (dressing herself, clearing her plate, putting on shoes, etc). In the grand scheme of things, we are working through it and it is really on the easy end of the Heather-behavior spectrum. But frustrating when both kids act like they need the same level of 'care'.

"scr" evolution

And a note on Heather's evolving speech.

Sunscreen used to be "sun-skeen". Now it is "sun-skween".
Ice cream is now "ice kweem" instead of "ice keem".

Adorable!

Consonant Clusters

My favorite words in Heather's vocabulary right now are the ones with consonant clusters...

"grape" is "gape"
"blueberries" are "booberries"
"playground" is "pay-gound"

You get the idea. There are more examples, but my mind is turning to mush.

I'm also a big fan of "shovel" (suh-bul) and "yellow" (yeh-woh).

She's really speaking well. I think these words are especially cute because they are among the few that aren't quite right and because they are contained in long sentences and intricate stories. She is even learning harder concepts like "because" - "Todd doesn't need his pacifier because he is nursing". Although sometimes it isn't really needed in the sentence, it is just used to amplify her point - "I need to eat some grapes because I need to eat them".

I know it will be a while, but I can't wait until Todd starts talking, too. ;-)

Next time, I owe you a post about Todd's stats (he's growing great!), but the numbers are in my purse ALL the way downstairs...

Quote

I just thought of one of my favorite recent Heather quotes that I left off of yesterday's list. She has said it in the morning while driving to school with her daddy.

"Mommy's on a bus."

:-)
Correct and appropriately timed!

ETA: This mobile text message was screwed up for you the first time by AT&T

More words and flexible naps

It really seems like Heather is now repeating everything we say. "Okay" "Ready" "Let's go" "That's it", etc, get repeated while we're getting ready to leave the house or start some activity.

Other new words:
Jellies (for jellyfish)
Hat
Book
Helicopter (okay, you probably wouldn't recognize this one, but she tries really hard and it is clear from context that she is identifying the right object and trying to say a 4 syllable word)
Tunnel (new word last night from our trip to the zoo)

(ETA: I knew I was forgetting a few. Cheese, Lulu (her bear), Shhhh (when she sees an animal or someone sleeping), shoe, thank you, Pooh, Eeyore and Kanga. I'm sure there are more. These are all the ones I remembered this evening and I'm quickly realizing that there is no way to easily document them all.)

Since she's repeating what we say, we've started repeating what she is saying and adding "please" at the end. We will see if that works.

We learned this weekend that we have to beware of taking advantage of her somewhat flexible schedule. We were invited to a picnic for R's boss that fell right in the middle of Heather's nap. I was convinced that taking an unnapped toddler out was a bad idea, so we put her down at the earliest possible naptime and crossed our fingers. When I went to wake her after 90 minutes she was stirring (I think she was between sleep cycles) and woke up easily. She was pleasant and happy at the picnic for a couple of hours, until the point that she wasn't anymore. :-) She went down easily for a second nap and I felt (foolishly) like we had dodged a bullet. Hmrph.

She slept for nearly 2 1/2 hours (!) and woke up in a horrible mood. So bad that I was convinced she was ill and took her temperature (normal). I think we actually made her more annoyed by asking her lots of questions and try to make her happy. After about half an hour she finally adjusted and then the three of us had a lovely couple of hours together. We read books, had a "pizza picnic" in the living room, and watched some Heather videos on the big TV.

Her late nap meant a late, difficult bedtime and a fussy night. We all survived and she seemed to be back to normal last night, but we should certainly avoid dividing up Heather's nap in the future.