Growing Up - Two and a Half

Warning:  This post is LONG and was written mostly for me and maybe a brave grandparent or two :)


Since Kai turned 2 I've been randomly writing down little things that he says or does on note cards.  Those notecards have piled up over the past 6 months, so now that he is 2 1/2 I figured it was time to compile the various scrawlings and write another update post before my mommy-brain forgets this undeniably challenging yet incredibly fun age.

Let's go month by month...

24 Months 

November brought us a lot more talking in short sentences, although they were still often incorrect or incomplete.  We heard many things like, "Play you?  Please!!" and "Can't believe it!".  Kai also developed lots of encouraging and positive language which made our parent hearts very happy.  He was often heard saying things like, "Good job mommy!", "Hey daddy, don't you worry!", "Good idea!", and "Oh, yes, sure, of course!".

He also suddenly became very interested in the alphabet, and picked up the sounds the letters made earlier than the actual names of the letters.  I guess this makes sense considering that he picked up animal sounds faster than animal names :)

Along with all of the intellectual learning came the continued process (both for us and Kai!) of learning to deal with toddlerhood and the "twos".  

25 Months

Kai's speech continued to develop through December, and it was nice that he could communicate (even if only in a rudimentary way) basically whatever he needed to.  He quickly learned to dialogue, rather than solely asking or answering simple questions.  When I would tell him that we were going to hang out with a friend, he'd often create a little imaginary dialogue between him and that friend, complete with different voices.  For example,

Kai: "Hi Hunter!  What's going on?"

"Hunter": "Just playing."

Kai:  "Oh, okay.  Come here.  Come play with trains."

"Hunter": "Okay!"

He also came up with many other random things which didn't completely make sense to us, but which made us laugh.  At dinner one night he was talking to me in a rude voice, so Bryon said, "Please don't talk to mommy like that," to which Kai responded very apologetically and sincerely, "Oh yes, talk to mommy like diamonds."

We also continued to hear a lot of songs, with his favourites being, "Jesus Loves Me", "Away in a Manger", "Twinkle Twinkle" (Bryon and I always laugh at his line, "Up abubba world so high" :)) and of course the "ABC" song.  Sometimes he sings at appropriate times like while lying in his crib (oh how I wish I were 2 so I could comfortably belt out songs while falling asleep!), while other times he picked the most inappropriate places to sing very exuberantly, like in the library :)

26 Months

Our big accomplishment in January was potty training.  Hooray for not having to wash anymore diapers!  I'd been waiting for a time when we would be home and not traveling for a few consecutive weeks, and tax season seemed like the perfect time.  So, we rolled up the rug in our living room, covered the couch with blankets and with Kai's help "threw away" all of his diapers (not really since they're cloth, but we put them in a big garbage bag and had him put it out in the garage so he thought they were thrown away).  The first day was absolutely awful and I started having visions of my child wearing diapers to kindergarten :)  I think we had a total of 17 accidents that first day!  But, I kept reminding him (and mostly myself!) that his diapers were gone and by the end of the second day he had the basic concept mastered.  There were still a few accidents after that first marathon weekend, and he still doesn't enjoy having to stop a fun activity to use the potty, but overall he's done really well.

Of course he was very vocal about the whole potty training process including the following anecdote from one of his first successes on the toilet, when he exuberantly/slightly incoherently shouted out,

 "Boom!  Poopy down there!  Something came out 'cause baby's pants are down."  Ha!

He also got really into describing everything and would go throughout everyday saying, "That's weird!",  "That's a funny sound!", "That's scary" etc.

And, he continued to be obsessed with the alphabet, knowing upper case, lower case, sounds and key words.  He started seeing letters everywhere, like in the shapes of branches, the veins on my hands etc. and enjoyed trying to form letters out of whatever materials we had lying around the house.

27 Months

This month seemed to bring on the "twos" in even fuller force than before.  His extremely opinionated and stubborn nature showed up more and more in both his actions and words. (Hmm, I wonder where he gets that from!)  Therefore, my trips to the library yielded books like, The Strong-Willed Child and Raising Your Spirited Child.  It has always been hard for me as a parent to not get frustrated with a child who doesn't seem to learn the first, second or hundredth time.  Thankfully I have a very patient husband to balance me out.  And, of course when Kai would do something like run away from me yet again (laughing as he went of course), I was reminded of myself as a child who when reprimanded about "running away" to the neighbour's house a few blocks away, replied that I actually hadn't run away, I'd ridden my bike :)  Yes, like mother like son!  

Thankfully along with the more difficult moments of parenting came the sweet and gentle moments.  Kai started calling me "Little Sweetie" instead of mommy and he seemed to sense when I needed to hear it. "It's okay Little Sweetie.  I'm sorry," he would say after seeing a look of displeasure or frustration on my face.

And of course there were the moments that were embarrassing yet funny, like at church when he said a little too loudly, "Who's that funny looking kid over there?"

28 Months

A slight reprieve from the "terrible twos" came in March and it was gladly welcomed!  Kai entered an extremely polite phase (at least with those people he knows well...still working on it with strangers), and everything was, "Oh THANK YOU mommy....Thank you for driving this car.",  "Thank you for this delicious oatmeal.",  "Thank you for putting me to bed.", "Can I have a snack pleeeeaaase?"..etc. etc.  He started thanking us for/asking us politely for everything we did, big or small and it sure made us feel good!  

He continued to make us laugh too, like when he said to me at dinner one night, "Mommy, my soup's hot.  Please blow it up!" :)

His creativity and imagination also grew this month, which made for lots of fun play and a lot of funny made-up songs/stories.  Sometimes he didn't entirely make up his own songs, but just mixed different songs together, like one day while we were taking a walk in the rain and he suddenly burst out singing, "Raindrops keep falling on my head. One fell off and bumped his head!  Mama called the doctor.....".

29 Months

The "twos" returned in full force as he neared 2 1/2 in April...whether testing boundaries, defying authority, or asserting his opinions, he sure knew how to make his presence known!  A lot of what he said and did was a direct reflection of things that I or Bryon have said or done to him, which is a not-so-fun reality check.  We heard him saying, "Don't talk to me like that!" or "Stop it!" and realized that maybe we say these things too often.
He also voiced his opinion frequently through suggestions like, "How about you chase me" or "How about you share that cookie with me" etc. , just like we try to direct his sometimes thoughtless actions with better suggestions like, "How about you throw the rocks in the water instead of towards us!".   

He also entered the phase of "because" (or "pecause" as he says), and started using it constantly, although not always correctly.  One day he told us, "I can't reach the branches on the tree pecause I am so big!"  It also works well (or so he thinks) for explaining his way out of trouble like, "I was just jumping on the couch pecause it's really soft."

And of course, like every 2 year old I know, he is started saying, "actually...".  If I'd ask him to pick up his pants off the floor, he'd inform me, "Actually mommy, they're jeans."  And the other day he got into a big fight with his equally opinionated friend over whether her magnet was an "o" or a zero. 

"It's an 'o'."

"Actually, it's a zero."
"NO, it's an 'o'!"
"ACTUALLY, it's a zero!"

Etc. Etc.

He was right, but I had to explain that sometimes things really aren't worth fighting over, even if we're right.

His alphabet/words obsession still continued which sometimes made his usually clear speech sound like he had a speech impediment as he sounded out words..."Gggggarbage truck.  'G' is for garbage truck, mommy!".

He is like a sponge, and I still never know what's going in until I hear it come back out, sometimes days later.  Every night we read the bible together after dinner, and I figured that the Psalms we had been reading were probably just going in one ear and out the other, until he sat down one day with Bryon's bible and  pretended to read to me, "For the director of music.  A psalm of David.....".

He's getting older and I am continually trying to find that balance of giving him his independence while still maintaining a safe control since he's really not that big yet.  He said to me the other day, "Mommy I'm big now, as big as small people!", which sums it up pretty well I think.

He makes me laugh, he makes me cry, he gets my goat multiple times a day, and still he makes my heart grow bigger than it's ever been.  He has boundless love, energy, attitude, and stubbornness.  He may tackle you one moment and smother you with kisses the next.  He will argue with you intensely, and express his undying gratitude to you a few moments later.  He takes time to warm up to people, but once he does he loves them with all he has.  

We are so thankful for our Kai, and all that he is teaching us everyday.  May the second half of the "twos" be as fun, and even as challenging as the first half has been, because in all honestly the challenges are part of the joy because of everything they have taught me.