Two Year Well Check

At G's 2 year well-check appointment, he was:
weight: 31 pounds 8 ounces (80%)
height: 36 inches (88%)
head circ: 49.75 cm (76%)

Slightly less of a bobble-head situation going on now. :)

Two Year Letter

Dear Gabriel,

Last week we celebrated your second birthday. Somehow you are already 2 years old! Time has flown, it seems.

In April you started going to Sunrise Montessori. This has been a great change for you. You really enjoy your time at school where you wok on social skills and all kinds of cognitive and physical development. You love to do things for yourself, like serve yourself food.

Sunrise has been a great opportunity for you to experience a more structured day that still allows you to have some control over what you focus on. You even got to watch butterflies hatch.

You’re also learning about using the potty. You’ve used the potty successfully several times now, but you’re not consistent about it. We’re not pushing it yet, but the fact that you are interested in the process is good.

You had your first school pictures taken this spring. It almost seemed silly to get school pictures when you weren’t even 2 years old yet, but man are they cute. You look so darn grown up.

Lately you’ve been dancing and singing for us. You love to groove to a good beat, and you often grab something to use as a microphone (or use your hand) and shout “Duppa duppa day!” It’s so cute that Daddy bought you a microphone for your birthday. Now you can perform for us all the time!

Your language and vocabulary development has really taken off in the past couple of months. You talk a lot and can mostly tell us what you want with words now. You’ve been putting 2 or 3 word phrases together for a little while, like “socks and shoes” or “help please, mama.” This morning you came into the bedroom and said “I’m drinking milk.” Sentences!! Your daddy has more trouble understanding you than I do, but you’re getting clearer every day.

Just this past week you’ve started doing some two-foot jumps. And you’re still a dare-devil about climbing and jumping on things. There is very little fear in your heart, little man. You’re still fairly clumsy, though. It seems you always have a bruise or scratch somewhere from running or falling.

You’re still a good helper. You are great at putting your dishes in the sink after a meal, at throwing trash away, at putting dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, and helping load or unload the dishwasher and clothes washer and dryer. Sometimes you help sweep or vacuum around the house, too. Your teacher at school says you are a good helper there, too.

You pay a lot of attention to what is going on so you can try to understand how it all works. You love to play with trains, you love to do puzzles, and you love to read books. You like to build towers with blocks and to throw balls. And! You learned to open all the doors in our house, so nothing is off-limits anymore. Plus, you go into a room and close the door behind you, just because you can.

You’re growing up, my little boy. Keep at it. I love to watch you learn.

Love,

mama

First Plane Ride

Gabriel took his first plane ride today. He did really well and even took a nap. 

Paisley's Birthday Party

I took Gabriel to a classmate's birthday party today. It was at Pump It Up where the kids can climb and bounce on large inflated bounce houses and slides. 

Gabriel went straight up the ladder and down the big slide as his first thing. It was pretty difficult for him to climb that ladder at first, but he was not giving up, even when bigger kids went right past him and made him feel unsure of his footing. 

After the first time down, he still wanted to climb up, but wasn't so sure about going down that long, fast slide again. So the second and third times he ended up needing help from an employee to come down the slide. 

He liked going in the bounce houses, too. I thought he might get overwhelmed by all the bigger kids bouncing near him and knocking him down, but he really had fun. He went back and forth and back and forth between different activities and smiled the whole time. 

 

He was definitely the smallest/youngest one there, but he was by no means the most timid. 

Brave Mr. G. 

He's a Dancin' Fool!

Gabriel was getting his groove on last night during the credits of Shrek Forever After.

Milestone: language

Gabriel is saying many more words now. Most recently he started saying stuck, hug, and no. Lots of no.

Eighteen Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are 18 months old! The past three months have been a time of great development for you. You are asserting your personality and teaching us who you are. You crave independence and control. You know exactly what you want and when you want it, and when things don’t go exactly as you like, you are quick to total frustration. We’re working on communicating your needs without shooting straight to the full-blown fit. You can point to what you want and shake your head no when the item offered isn’t what you want. You still wave your arms across your body to mean no, also.

Though there does seem to be a lot of whining lately, you are also a playful little boy who loves to laugh. You laugh so hard sometimes that you get hiccups. Still. You’ve been doing this since you were a baby. The way your face lights up makes me so happy. To see that joy in your face makes me feel like bringing you into the world was so absolutely right.

You are mama’s little helper by taking things to the trashcan or the sink. In the morning, you usually go to both sides of mama and daddy’s bed, get the cups we have in there, and take them to the sink for me. You also help us unload the dishwasher, though it does end up taking longer with your help.

Though language development has been a bit of a concern for me, you have recently picked up several new words. I may be the only one who understands you, but you are definitely using words to communicate. You say up, help, juice, cheese, yes, mama, dada, papa (food), car, hat, eyes, hi, quack, and make a monkey sound. One time I swear you repeated goldfish when I asked if you wanted the crackers. You say mama and dada, but you haven’t completely assigned one name to each of us. Dada seems to mean daddy most of the time, but sometimes means me. And mama seems to mostly mean that you want something. We’ll keep working on that.

You feed yourself very well with your fingers, but using a spoon or fork is a pretty messy and inefficient way to get food into your mouth. Sometimes you stuff WAY too much in your mouth, which leads to gagging and spitting it all out. For a while, if we asked you what was in your mouth, you would open your mouth and push it out. I’ve caught lots of chewed up junk in my hand. But that’s ok, it’s one of my jobs.

You are growing and growing. You’re running around and chasing the cat or your daddy. You have been practicing jumping, but your feet don’t leave the ground. It is incredibly adorably the way you crouch and swing your arms and then look so proud of what you just accomplished. I’m sure you’ll take flight soon. You have no sense of danger at this point. You love to climb on anything that sits still long enough. All of this activity means you get tons of bruises. I keep noticing how my little baby is slipping away as you become a kid.

Of course, you still hate having your hair washed at bath time. You throw a screaming fit about water being poured over your head. You basically hate getting your head and face wet at all. After bath time, we put on pajamas, and you suddenly turn back into my baby. After we read books, you curl up on my shoulder while we sing a couple songs. I love how you snuggle up and throw your arms around my neck. Holding you there against me fills up the hole that I often feel inside me.

Watching you explore and learn new things everyday is so completely amazing. Watching how you problem solve makes me so proud. Watching you grow up is both happy and a little bit sad. But no matter what, you are the best thing I ever did.

I love you,

mama