Nearly 2.5 years a Madre
Somehow I have a nearly two-and-a-half-year-old boy, B-O-Y.
On his second birthday I wrote that I had always wanted a two year old boy, it was the stage I looked forward to the most. A cute and misbehaving companion that enjoys walks through the neighborhood holding my hand, one way conversation that can be quite annoying considering his dismissal of my behavioral corrections but also quite charming when sitting at the dinner table using his flatware and stemmed (plastic) wine glasses on occasion.
Below is a handful of "status updates" on life two years and five months into motherhood.
CONVERSATION As mentioned above he is becoming a chatty cathy who throws in dramatic hand gestures and unexpected facial cues into almost every 'conversation' we have. His eye rolls and winks are very distracting (in a cute way) when trying to interpret his words. A sample of some of his phrases are as follow: "don't want to", "I do it", "need a tissue", "I wash my hands" said as a demand and intended to mean that he must wash his hands. He loves washing his hands.
GROWING UP The boy is becoming more and more of his own person by the minute. I often complain to my mom about his defiance and mischief. The mischievousness can be cute at times but when he is looking you directly in the eyes pooring his milk onto the table for the 100th time I can't help myself but be like 'wtf dude! do you know what you are doing!?' Turns out he does. My mom always reassures me that he is testing his boundaries and learning what is safe and what is acceptable and that he needs to be corrected when doing something wrong and he needs to have consequences. So far the threat of 'do you want to go to your crib?' is working pretty well.
The defiance, she assures me is also nothing to freak out about either. He is learning all about his autonomy and needs to be given choices each day that allow him to express himself and grow as an individual. Things like choosing what shoes to wear each day or what he wants to eat at a meal. Simple things that, yes slow my day down a bit, but give him a bigger sense of self and independence.
SPEAKING OF THE CRIB The boy doesn't know how to get out of his crib on his own and I don't think he has even considered the option of climbing out. I really expected this to happen by now. On the one hand I am relieved but on the other I am wondering if he is somehow missing an adventurous gene or he's going to be a baby forever... This seems like something a nearly two and a half year old boy would be doing, amirite?
HAIR Begrudgingly, for both of us, on occasion I have been using some pomade on Mo's hair in an attempt to train and tame his mane. I don't even know if the 'training' part works that way. Can you 'coach' a hair pattern or a part? But the fact that haircuts are so difficult at this age I think this is an ok approach. The more his hair grows out the more he looks like an elf with a bowl cut and I can't really stand it.
PLAY & GAMES Having a toddler, there is so much of a need for activity! He is constantly running, climbing, dancing, flushing the toilet, opening cupboards or most recently the oven! He is an active dude that makes caring for him quite the adventurous chore.
Just this past weekend I ran upstairs to change for a run and came back down to find the oven open and him standing on top of it pretending to cook at the stove! I know this is extremely dangerous and was completely shocked when I saw him doing this.
But back to my point. We play a lot of ball in and outside of the house, hide and seek, scooter rides in front of the house, pretend cooking most recently with these very cute toy eggs. Fortunately the weather has been nice enough to play outside and we bought one of those cheap plastic kiddie pools so that has been providing another activity for him. But please send any and all ideas on how to entertain this very curious boy!
xx Ly