Austin is 2 years old!!!

Austin at 2 years old!!

-weighs 31 lbs, is 37” tall.

95 % for height, 82% for weight

-loves the TV show Team Umizoomi. He gets to watch a few mins in the morning, and then a few episodes at night. They are great, 20min long shows about the “power of numbers and math.” With me as his mother, the kid will need all the extra help with math he can get.

serious TV watching

 -since he started the show, he can identify some shapes: a triangle, an oval, and a crescent

-he moved up to the 2-year-old room at school. He’s enjoying the bigger playground, but drop-off has become very hard. Tears and trying to distract him. Sad..

-walks up and down the stairs on his feet, without help. All the time, I might add.  His normal thing now is to go upstairs, get something from his room, and come back down.

-has gotten really into stuffed animals and wants his “friends” around at all times- Albert the Alligator, Button the Blue Bear, and Buddy the Brown Bear. He sleeps with them every night and wants them downstairs with him when he is down there too.

find Austin!!

 -likes watching his show in Neal and I’s bed and we do this every weekend morning. A little cuddle time is pretty awesome.

-eats better than he did but is still hesitant to try new things he doesn’t recognize. Eats well: bananas, applesauce, raspberries, oranges, green beans, hummus, ground meat, chicken, pasta, pesto, sausage, carrots, pineapple, cheese, peanut butter. So this is his main diet. At least he isn’t on a crackers-only diet anymore.

-talks a lot and says simple sentences. “no Mommy work” (says this every weekday morning) “Henny come over here!” “Trouble Makers took it!” (characters on Umizoomi). There are other sentences, but I can’t remember them all. For the most part we can understand him pretty well.

-plays pretend.. he’ll offer his nonny to his stuffed animals, or offer them food.

-loves to climb on furniture and jump off of it. We try and stop him, but sometimes it’s impossible. He’s pretty fearless.

-stamps his feet in frustration and throws mini tantrums if he doesn’t get his way.

-likes things a certain way, in a certain order (who did he get that from??? Not his control freak Mother, no.. never).. he likes blankets spread out on the ground and they must be straight and wrinkle free…. He gets upset if his shirt sleeves get bunched up by his jacket sleeves and the shirt sleeves have to be pulled down… he likes his socks straight or he won’t put on his shoes…. Just certain things he is very particular about.

-he is going through a stage where getting him dressed is a battle. He wants to only wear sweatpants. He wants to pick out his own shirt. And his own socks. Even then he still sometimes throws a hissy about getting dressed.

-he has gone potty in the potty a few times, not consistently. We aren’t pushing it until he’s really ready.

-loves having naked time after baths and insists on running around for while diaper-free.

-can count… usually just to 10, he’s gotten as high at 18 once.

-knows his colors. They practice these a lot at school, and he has bathtub toy penguins he likes to say the colors of.

-says “please” and “thank you” when he should. Usually. Most of the time.

-whines when he doesn’t like something or want something. We are trying the “use your words” thing to hopefully get him to stop the whining. He is very, very adamant about things he doesn’t want. There is no simple “no” if he doesn’t want… to be tickled for example. He’ll whine “noooooooooooooooooo. Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!” continuously, even several minutes after we stop doing whatever it is he doesn’t like. Working on this with him.

-on his own, said “I love you” to me one night when Neal told him to go give Mommy a hug before he went up to bed. I think my heart stopped at that very moment. J Overall he is a sweet, kind, loving little kid. I feel like, at least in this moment, we are doing something right with him.

-loves to have his picture taken.. he could do it for hours!

-learned to pedal his trike and loves to “go down hallway”… as he rides by he says “Bye Mommy!”

 -is going to be a Big Brother in his 2nd year. :-) Like how I snuck that in?? He wants a "seester." I'll see what I can do...