Todd the Two Year Old (Month 1)

Todd at 2 years + ~2 weeks – September 7, 2016

YEAR 3, MONTH 1
AUG 21 – SEPT 20 (2016)

2ND BIRTHDAY

• my parents had been visiting from Oregon since 8/17 (see last month’s post)
• Todd’s birthday (August 21) was on the last day of their visit before going back home on 8/22
• I took a video of me singing “Happy Birthday” to him just after he woke up in the morning, just like I did last year
• we all went swimming then Todd had his nap, then we had dinner at my parent’s campsite

Confluence State Park – August 21, 2016

2 years old – August 21, 2016

He loves grass! – August 21, 2016

COMMUNICATION & COGNITION

• he says “two” when we ask him how old he is
• he says “two” when we ask him pretty much any question that has a number for an answer
• he said “baby” while holding his baby (8/22)
• he makes a sign for kiss (like blowing a kiss)
• he said “garbage” (sounds like “cap-odge”)
• he says “mama, outside” (outside sounds like “oss eye”)
• he says “oof” for dogs
• when he backs up he says “beep, beep”
• he said “wow”
• he gave me a big wrap around hug when I got home from work
• he frequently asks “help, please” (“ah-p, pease”)
• he says “more” when swinging (sounds like “mo”)
• he said “no way” (9/9)
• he says “shoe”
• he stopped needing to sign “more” because he says “mo”
• he repeated “skinny cat” (it’s what we say when we ask him to put his arms overhead to take off his shirts) (9/15)
• he said “me” & “you” (9/17)

A FEW OF HIS FAVORITE THINGS

• playing on our outside deck
• trying to drop toys off the deck
• jumping on my bed
• holding my hand during walks
• having me get his “formula milk” for him (i.e. he insists “mama”)
• doing somersaults onto stacked up pillows in the living room
• taking baths
• swinging at parks
• laying down on grass
• playing with Lego Duplos
• playing with Lego apps on iPhone/iPad
• “reading” books in the glider chair
• watching Formula 1 car racing on TV
• sitting in the driver’s seat of the car
• snuggling & dancing with “Pillow Bear”

New Lego dump truck – August 24, 2016

Todd “reading” books – August 29, 2016

Geared up to watch Formula 1 car racing – September 2, 2016

Driver’s seat – September 20, 2016

DAY TIME ACTIVITIES WITH ERIC
“Stay-At-Home-Dada” (SAHD)

• painting with watercolors (8/22)
• riding a public bus (8/22)
• riding his Globber
• watching the “diggers” & heavy equipment trucks at Washington Elementary
• walking at Mission Ridge (8/31)
• scenic drive, Wenatchee National Forest (Entiat) (9/2)
• trying out his bike on the pedestrian bridge over the train tracks
• checking out model airplanes in East Wenatchee (9/8)
• walking at Horse Lake Rd (9/14)
• walking at Dry Gulch (9/19)
• fossil finding at Old Blewitt Pass (9/20)

1st time painting – August 22, 2016

Todd on his Globber – August 25, 2016

Eric & Todd selfie – August 26, 2016

Eric & Todd checked out the landslide at Mission Ridge – August 31, 2016

Todd at Mission Ridge – August 31, 2016

Bridge over train tracks – September 6, 2016

He was a really good boy around the airplanes – September 8, 2016

Todd at Horse Lake Rd – September 14, 2016

Todd at Dry Gulch – September 19, 2016

Fossil finding – September 20, 2016

FAMILY ACTIVITIES & DINING OUT

• stroller walks on the Canal Trail (8/27 & 8/28) and picking/eating grapes
• neighborhood bike ride with Todd riding in the bike trailer, then play at Washington Park (slide, swing, playing with other kids with soccer ball) (9/5)
• afternoon/evening walk over the train tracks, then stopped into Saddle Rock Brewery for a beer (Eric, Elisa) & apple juice (Todd) (9/6)
• afternoon/evening play at Pioneer Park; he climbed up rails to the top of the play equipment (9/7)
• 15 mile bike ride (using bike trailer) to the Apple Capital Loop Trail & (vegan) pizza at Saddle Rock Brewery (9/10)
• morning walk over the train tracks, then had (delicious!) vegan waffles at The Hunter’s Wife Health Bar (our first time there) (9/11)
• 9.68 mile bike ride (using bike trailer) to the Apple Capital Loop Trail & walk around at Pybus Market (9/17); we had (dairy free) sorbetto at Ice; later that day we had dinner at La Fuente
• 4.30 mile hike (with & without stroller) toward Castle Rock (9/19); Todd did some hiking and trail running!
• afternoon/evening play at Methow Park; he met new friends & went down a big slide by himself (9/19)
• evening pub trivia at Saddle Rock Brewery (9/20)

Eating grapes on the canal trail – August 27, 2016

Demonstrating his “jump off with both feet stopping technique” – August 27, 2016

Saddle Rock Brewery – September 6, 2016

Eric with Todd in the stroller on the trail toward Castle Rock – September 18, 2016

SWIMMING SKILLS PROGRESSION
(see the post “Todd’s Swim Videos (~2 years old)“)

• he flipped from tummy to back (8/23)
• he let me put him on his back to go in circles (8/25)
• he tried to flip over onto his back (8/26)
• he pushed off from steps, went onto his back briefly, then back to tummy (8/28)
• he pushed off backward from the ladder in the deep end (8/28)
• he did a full flip (i.e. feet over head) underwater (8/29)
• he floats prone with his back/butt right up to the surface (8/31)
• he did 5 full linked arm swimming strokes (9/3)
• he put his head back while on the steps (9/9)
• he kicked while holding on to the steps (9/9)
• when jumping in from the side of the pool, I let him go under, then bob up before I grabbed him (9/15)
• last swim in the condo pool this year (9/15)

Todd underwater – August 25, 2016

Todd underwater – August 26, 2016

Elisa & Todd – August 26, 2016

Todd underwater – August 28, 2016

Todd & Elisa – September 4, 2016

Frame grab from GoPro – September 15, 2016

SECOND YEAR MOLARS

• his first second year molar started coming in (bottom, right)
• that’s his 16th tooth

La Fuente – September 17, 2016

FOOD NOTES

• he’s lost interest in eating pancake & drinking green smoothie for breakfast
• new favorite breakfast food = plain pasta (twists)
• he loves cashew pieces, roasted pumpkin seeds
• favorite fruit = grapes; he also starting eating orange slices
• he still drinks his “formula milk” upon waking, before nap, afternoon, and evening/before bed…he loves it!
• he has this funny habit of hanging upside down off the papasan chair to drink it

Mmm, vegan ice cream! – September 4, 2016

“Todd’s chair” – September 4, 2016

Upside down drinking – September 15, 2016

DAY TIME NAPS

• Starting this month I’m NO longer tracking nap start/end times & nap durations!
• Todd did just fine with having Eric put him to bed for naps instead of me (weekdays)
• his nap time starts in early afternoon, let’s say “1:00 ish” (+/-)
• sleep duration is unchanged (~2-3 hrs)
• he wakes up from his nap when I get home from work or just before (i.e. in the 3 or 4 o’clock hour)
• he’ll say “mama” when he hears me come in the door
• if he’s already awake & out of bed when I come home, he runs over to me with a big smile and gives me a hug & kiss 🙂

NIGHT TIME SLEEP

• he woke up crying in the night 4x this month
• on 3 of those 4 nights he woke up at either 4 AM (once) or 4:30 AM (twice)…unusual times for him to wake up!
• all 4 times he quickly went back to sleep after having a “formula milk”
• starting this month, I’m NO longer tracking bed times & morning wake-up times!
• he still sleeps roughly ~9-10 hours per night (same as it’s been for a looong time)
• when he goes to bed at night, I lie down with a pillow on the floor next to his crib & I hold his hand through the crib rails until he falls asleep
• he likes to turn on his Baby Einstein Sea Dreams Soother (aquarium lights & music) before he falls asleep

August 26, 2016

A NEW MORNING WAKE-UP ROUTINE
AKA…where did my snuggly baby go? (sniff, sniff)

• so…in past months Todd’s morning wake-up routine was that he’d sit & snuggle with me in my glider chair for a long time, while he drank his first “formula milk” of the day & I read books to him
• well…that started to change during his 24th month because we had to stay in our house without furniture in it for the 2 weeks before our official moving day of August 6th
• then…once we moved, we had a week when family was staying with us, so Todd liked getting right out of bed to play instead of snuggle with his mama

Which brings us to the current month–

• early on I recalled at least a few days when he did sit with me & read/snuggle
• then there were some days when he wanted to just hang out in his bed while drinking his formula milk
• on 8/27 I sat in the glider chair (next to his crib) while Todd stayed in his crib; I held his stuffed frog like a baby & rocked him. Then, the next day when I sat in the glider chair while Todd stayed in his crib, Todd handed me his frog and his baby to rock…how sweet!
• he asks to get out of bed by saying something like “es-chew”
• when he gets out of bed, he pretty much goes straight out to the living room with his pillow blankets

September 14, 2016

POTTY TALK

• starting this month, I’m NO longer tracking every poop in the potty vs. every poop that didn’t make it there!
• I’d say he generally does more poops in the toilet than not in the toilet
• the vast majority of pee-pees are going in his diaper (size 6)
• on 9/6 he seemed like he needed to go poo-poo, so I asked him about sitting on the toilet, but he motioned to his baby potty, then he did one there instead (a first!)
• 1st poop in the bathtub 😀 (never did that before!) (9/20)

On the canal trail – August 27, 2016

Todd is such a sweet boy and generous with kisses! – August 27, 2016