First, the sticks. Daniel's favorite toy right now is a 4-foot-long plastic tent pole (also known as "Deeck" (stick)):
It is a: fishing pole, gun, sword, meal (either hot or cold), straw, light-switch flipping wand, pregnant belly poker, limbo pole, tightrope for small toys, speed bump, balance beam, and best friend. Here is Daniel giving it a good night kiss before putting it to bed (after brushing its teeth and helping it go potty):
His other favorite toy is his "baby", a small pumpkin he grabbed at the store that he didn't want to part with. Pumpkin joins us for family meals, requires frequent kisses, and apparently occasionally bites and needs punishment. The other day I found him thus:
Daniel loves to play-act that he's afraid of things, now, too. We watched Lady and the Tramp the other day and now Daniel runs around all the time yelling "Aaaaah! Rat!!!! Bite! Tooosh! HIIIIT!" (Then smacks it with our afore-mentioned Deeck). All scary things will bite your toosh, so beware. A neighbor has a scary halloween decoration in his yard and without fail, Daniel will approach it, pretend to throw a punch in its direction, then grab his butt and run away screaming "aaaaah! Bite! Tooosh!".
He was consistently waking up at 5:15 every morning and coming down and shouting at my door "momma! help!". He's generally VERY good about staying in bed when it's time to fall asleep, he just doesn't have a concept of morning time. So I bought this clock for him:
30 bucks is more than I would have liked to spend, but it has been worth every penny. We set it up with a red light when it's bed time and that lasts until 6:15 in the morning, when it switches to green. It only took a few nights and he now won't get out of bed until the light turns green (and even then he doesn't usually get out of bed, he sits ont he edge of bed shouting "green light! green light!")... lately he's been sleeping in even more. Today we slept in til 6:45! Glorious!!!
We've had a few spats of terrible twos here and there- usually for 3 or 4 days at a time he'll be a real pill but then we get over it. About a month ago we were both breaking down daily so I whipped out the Love and Logic for 0-6 book and reread it- still, most of the advice seems geared at ages 3+, but it did help remind me to be consistent and follow-through better so I don't repeat something 18 times then lose my temper. Just a few days of one-warning-then-some-fitting-punishment did WONDERS, though it was a rough few days for him, for sure.
This week he's a bit of a fussy pants. Yesterday he had a complete break down because I got a box of cereal out for myself and put it on the table. Still, overall he's a good kid, it's just rough being a 2 year old sometimes.
His language skills have sky-rocketed. He's still a tad behind his peers but he now more than makes up for it with effort. He will repeat what we ask him to and loves to say prayers now:
He's super accident-prone and regularly has at least 4 scratches, 6 bug bites, and countless bruises and bumps. His legs are always this mottled black and blue from bruises acquired in day-to-day exploration. The school had to call me earlier this week because he got scratched by another kid at school, making it the 4th time I've had to sign an accident report because he's drawn blood at school (a few of them were scratches he got from little girls from giving over-zealous hugs to them). I honestly don't mind, though I think the school is worried I'll think they are negligent. No, I understand- Daniel just attracts owies.
He weaseled his way into a playgroup at the park and now we hang out with them almost daily. It's been great, they do a lot of fun things and are all very friendly.
Potty training is going great- we still get an occasional accident but it's pretty rare, and he's not giving us much attitude about it anymore.
He and Patches the dog are still best of friends, though Patches has a kind of haunted look about her these days. He's learned he can command the dogs to sit, and they obey, so the poor dogs rarely get to stand for long in his presence anymore. He loves to take them in the backyard and play with them or just sit on the concrete with them.
All in all, this two-year-old is a blast. Exhausting but so much fun, and I LOVE watching his mind take off and grow and do all sorts of fun new things.
5 comments:
He is SOOO cute! His talking is to die for too! Love his "best friend" and his "baby". Great imagination! Maybe I should teach C the word toosh. PS, Kenny's laugh at the end of that clip is EXACTLY like B's. I forget that seeing as how we haven't seen you guys in so long. :( We'll have to remedy that one of these days.
How cute. The video cracks me up, and the stick and pumpkin as his little friends are so cute too! The tantrums... ah we are there too. I try to be consistent too but it is good to know other moms with toddlers are going through the same things!
Your child cracks me up! :)
Oh, I miss Daniel. He is such a cute little boy. It was fun to see what he's been up too, it feels like we've been gone forever!
What a cute Daniel. I love the imagination stories! It's great to record those too so you can go back and laugh again later. Thanks for making me smile.
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