Today, David is two. He has been acting two for several months now, so I am not expecting any major behavioral milestones except maybe to start acting 32 and getting a job and contributing positively to the household finances.
He certainly doesn't care that he is two. If I say "Happy Birthday" to him, he says "Happy Birthday" back. But when he gets a gift--ohhhh, he is sooo thrilled. "Look! I have something new to fill my treasure chests of toddler booty! I'm king of the world!" Several different people have sung "Happy Birthday" to him, which pleases him, but also perplexes him a bit. "Why are all these people singing the same song? Did I miss a memo?"
Even though he has been acting two and can do all the things a two-year-old can do (we've changed our last name to "Yogurt," so he has hit that last milestone), I am surprised by my own reaction to this birthday. I still feel like I missed something "He's two? That's a lot, isn't it? That's like 730 days, I don't remember 730 days. If I count them up, I get, maybe 550, tops."
Today, I read back over the what I posted for his first birthday. I was blissfully unemployed and we spent spring break in Colorado with grandma Susie and Grandpa Steve. David was extremely sick--sicker that ever before or since. In that post, I was able to give a brief summary of his developmental milestones. This year, I couldn't even begin to summarize all of the things he can do. Last year, I had a short list of words he was saying. This year, I would have to provide a short list of conversations he can have, including:
At one, David would hold up one finger when asked how old he is. We have not been working on this for two. "One" was easy because he was already pointing and we just started calling that "one." For all he knew, the question, "How old are you" meant, "point at the ceiling." Now our ruse is exposed.
When he was one I could sing, "she loves you. . ." and he would respond, "yeah, yeah, yeah." Well, now he has quite a repertoire of songs including, "Row Your Boat," "Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider,"Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern," etc.
At one, he could stack one block atop another. He has pretty much mastered stacking blocks. Now, I try get him to imitate block patterns. I set down two blocks and ask him to choose from the three block in front of him which ones match and to lay them out in the same pattern. He is getting good at most two-block patterns, but usually cannot get three-block patterns.
He pretends. You've seen the train boxes. He will also get on the floor under his highchair and push it around calling it his car. He will put his arms in front of him and run around saying he is Superman. He gets that from Collin, the babysitter's four-year-old. He pretends to talk with and feed his stuffed animals and doll. He can also pretend that I am not in the room asking him to pick up his toys. He is very good at this. I can even be holding him and he can pretend like I don't exist. Pretty impressive, huh?
Actually, that last one is kind of reminiscent of two years ago as well, when everything but food and sleep was ignored. When, in fact, he could be ignored for half the day. When all his little parts were so tiny and fragile that I could not imagine that he could ever be the talking, climbing, running, pretending, excited little person that it would only take him 730 days to become.
He certainly doesn't care that he is two. If I say "Happy Birthday" to him, he says "Happy Birthday" back. But when he gets a gift--ohhhh, he is sooo thrilled. "Look! I have something new to fill my treasure chests of toddler booty! I'm king of the world!" Several different people have sung "Happy Birthday" to him, which pleases him, but also perplexes him a bit. "Why are all these people singing the same song? Did I miss a memo?"
Even though he has been acting two and can do all the things a two-year-old can do (we've changed our last name to "Yogurt," so he has hit that last milestone), I am surprised by my own reaction to this birthday. I still feel like I missed something "He's two? That's a lot, isn't it? That's like 730 days, I don't remember 730 days. If I count them up, I get, maybe 550, tops."
Today, I read back over the what I posted for his first birthday. I was blissfully unemployed and we spent spring break in Colorado with grandma Susie and Grandpa Steve. David was extremely sick--sicker that ever before or since. In that post, I was able to give a brief summary of his developmental milestones. This year, I couldn't even begin to summarize all of the things he can do. Last year, I had a short list of words he was saying. This year, I would have to provide a short list of conversations he can have, including:
"How are you doing today, daddy?" (to the untrained ear, this sounds more like "hoayoudoontday daddy?")
"I'm doing very well, thank you. How are you doing?"
"Good, thanks"
"Would you like an apple or some melon?"This is a cool one, because he can be presented with several things and choose. Similarly, he can string together lists of things with "and," as in the crib role call "David and baby and meemo and elmo and grover and bat."
"Mellon."
"Can you tell mommy what you saw today?"His recall from memory began several months ago when we would blurt out words related to people or events seen hours or even days previously. Now, we can ask him about his day and get a report of the most significant two or three items.
"Helicopter!"
At one, David would hold up one finger when asked how old he is. We have not been working on this for two. "One" was easy because he was already pointing and we just started calling that "one." For all he knew, the question, "How old are you" meant, "point at the ceiling." Now our ruse is exposed.
When he was one I could sing, "she loves you. . ." and he would respond, "yeah, yeah, yeah." Well, now he has quite a repertoire of songs including, "Row Your Boat," "Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider,"Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern," etc.
At one, he could stack one block atop another. He has pretty much mastered stacking blocks. Now, I try get him to imitate block patterns. I set down two blocks and ask him to choose from the three block in front of him which ones match and to lay them out in the same pattern. He is getting good at most two-block patterns, but usually cannot get three-block patterns.
He pretends. You've seen the train boxes. He will also get on the floor under his highchair and push it around calling it his car. He will put his arms in front of him and run around saying he is Superman. He gets that from Collin, the babysitter's four-year-old. He pretends to talk with and feed his stuffed animals and doll. He can also pretend that I am not in the room asking him to pick up his toys. He is very good at this. I can even be holding him and he can pretend like I don't exist. Pretty impressive, huh?
Actually, that last one is kind of reminiscent of two years ago as well, when everything but food and sleep was ignored. When, in fact, he could be ignored for half the day. When all his little parts were so tiny and fragile that I could not imagine that he could ever be the talking, climbing, running, pretending, excited little person that it would only take him 730 days to become.
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