8.11.2014

Lachlan - 2.5 years

Here is the very delayed post for highlights of Lachlan at 2.5 years old (as of 6/13/14):

Stats:
  • Wide range of clothes: mainly 24 month/2T clothes-- 3T in some shirts (mainly so we can maybe use them again next year)
  • He has some of his 2 year molars- can see both on the bottom coming in...not seeing any on top!
  • Good thing we finally got him new shoes- jumped 1.5-2 sizes!  Now wearing 9-9.5 Wide.
  • According to our scale, weighs about 32 lbs.
School:
He frequently tells me "No school" in the mornings, but I know he enjoys it once there.  When I drop him off at school, he loves for me to look back in the cafe and he blows me a kiss and then wants me to come back in for a hug...then blows more kisses.  Seriously just melts my heart cause I know these days are limited...before long it won't be so cool to do this in front of his friends I'm sure!  

Smarts:
  • Knows all his shapes
  • Counts to 20 but sometimes can still miss a number in the teens or get something mixed up; Counts to 10 in Spanish; Is getting better with pointing to objects and counting them, but I think he gets overwhelmed once there are more than 5 objects and just doesn't really try to count them.  He likes for us to point to the objects while he counts.
  • Still can recognize all upper and lower case letters.  For most letters he knows what sounds they make, but not sure he can do all (haven't fully quizzed him).  Still gives correct words most of the time when I say "A is for..."  Now we've started asking him "What letter does apple start with?"
  • Knows tons of songs (has known these for a while, but is getting more and more words and verses included each time)- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, London Bridge, Bingo, This Old Man, Old Macdonald, Happy Know It, More We Get Together, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc.
  • Just starting to teach words like Bigger, Smaller, Most, Fewest/Least, etc. but think he is pretty confused by these concepts.
Skills/Milestones:
We don't push using the potty, but it's there if he asks.  He is starting to wake up dry in the mornings, so that is huge step that maybe we can start working on potty training now.  He usually asks to go in the mornings...however, he goes a teeny amount in the toilet, then I'll put on a diaper and he unloads.  He has yet to go any substantial amount in the potty.  We are going to soon revise the potty policy-- he used to get 2 m&ms for sitting, but a mini chocolate candy if he went pee.  It needs to change to only get the chocolate if he goes a substantial amount...the trickle just isn't going to cut it!  He has pooped one time recently at school in the potty.

He's a little awkward/slow, but is starting to get the hang of using a scooter.  Not a lot of improvement with the tricycle- he's actually pretty good with the steering if I'm pushing, but has trouble getting the hang of pedaling.

Behavior:
Bedtime is hit or miss-- I think he is just starting to get smarter on how to work it so he can procrastinate or stay up later.  Some nights he is real good and others it is a struggle.  We let him pick 2-3 picks that one of us or both of us take turns reading in his rocking chair.  Then we put him in bed and sing a song of his choosing- lately he wants Wheels on the Bus...probably because it is longer than Sunshine!

Still acts up quite a bit and is very frustrating when he doesn't want to listen to us.  School uses the terms "Sad choices" and "Happy choices" so we use that at home.  It actually does really bother him if you tell him he just made a sad choice- he doesn't like to hear that.  We do the time outs- has to sit facing the wall for 2 minutes...this usually takes what feels like 15 minutes to complete cause he has such a tantrum and refuses to do it.  We started a sticker chart on the fridge to reward good behavior and make a big deal out of when he does something good.  Hoping this reward system will help him make happy choices!

Definitely just has full out tantrums and meltdowns.  Sometimes I have no clue what sets him off or he'll just do something bad out of the blue, like pour his glass of milk on the floor.

Speech/Sayings:
  • Says "Home" when we turn into our subdivision.  After going to my parent's house a few times, he now says "Papa House" when I turn into that subdivision.  
  • Still refers to Makenzie just as "Baby" a lot....e.g. "Where baby go?" "Baby sleeping?"
  • When he goes to sleep at night, he always says "Bye Mommy Daddy...Sweet Dreams"...then repeats this like 3 times and I can still hear him saying it after I shut the door.  

Fun Times:
Went to the Forth Worth Zoo which was GREAT, swimming indoors and at papa's house, did a "farm" field trip (which turned out to be my worst nightmare cause had huge dogs and then I got chigger bites)

Randomness:
  • Loves singing songs and dancing
  • Started watching movies- Monsters University was first one, then Cars, then Lion King.  Loves them all!
  • With building all the houses on our street he loves to go looking for bulldozers and trucks.  They started on the house next door to us, so that will make things more convenient!  We just sit and watch...one time he wanted me to blow kisses to the workers.
  • Really starting to string words together for complete sentences/thoughts.  "I have a question" "Here you go mommy (says every morning as he loves to open the door for me and Kenzie)"
  • Trying to explain grown-ups vs adults.  He gets it right for our family- but not others.  E.g.- tells me his teachers are kids.
  • Loves chocolate and ice cream!  Not too many foods he doesn't like...really is just hit or miss if he eats something on this plate or not.
  • We really tried to talk up the Easter Bunny, but he was scared and didn't want to sit on his lap for pictures.  We did 2 egg hunts and each I made sure they had age categories so he wouldn't be competing against older kids...however, I was just disappointed in both of them.  I think he got about 2 eggs in each hunt while other kids are coming out with 20+ eggs in their baskets and parents were super aggressive.  I guess I'm too into fairness, but seems like they should put a limit on the amount of eggs you can get.  And I just can't see myself some day letting Lachlan collect all these eggs when others hardly have any...guess we'll see!
  • Loves to brush his teeth.  However he still swallows/eats the toothpaste, so I have him on the baby toothpaste and I guess need to work on getting him moved off of it.
  • Likes to take showers with daddy.  When taking baths, likes to try to help wash himself and dump the water on his own head.
  • It is Texas tradition to take pictures of your kids in bluebonnet fields...so I had my mind made up that it was our first year here, we were doing this, I would get great pics of the kids.  Well, it took multiple scouting trips to actually FIND these stupid fields.  Then both times Lachlan was completely uncooperative refusing to look at the camera or sit nicely.  Combine that with my subpar skills and ended up with seriously zero decent pics to frame.  Complete bummer.  Just gotta tells myself...there is always next year!


Vintage pepper hand me down tee

Can't splash enough in the tub!

Dad trying to break him out of his bad mood at the bluebonnet fields


This is usually how his Kenzie hugs go

LOVES to go "swimmin!"