A Day At The Park

This morning it was in the 60's. Ridiculously beautiful and unexpected for this time of year in Houston. Sam and I hit the park. This is how our outing began:

And this is how our outing ended:

No, the two are not related. He slipped on a pile of leaves on the concrete when he was running after a ball. It looked bad at first, and he couldn't shake the pain like he normally does. After a rinse in the drinking fountain, a call to the pediatrician (placed by a Mommy Friend while I consoled the injured), and a few pictures emailed to Dr. Grandpa, it was determined that no stitches were needed. Hopefully the lip, and Mommy's cute yellow shirt, both experience a full and speedy recovery.

Two Years Old

So Sam is now two years old - time for a developmental update. We hit up the pediatrician yesterday and Sam cried from the moment we walked into the building until the moment we left, except for the 5 minutes right before the doctor walked into the exam room and I was able to distract him with a Thomas book that had clearly been placed in Exam Room 4 by the Lord himself. No other distraction, not even candy, worked. At 18 months he started to cry in the waiting room...next time will it be when we get off the freeway? Or maybe it will go better, since he doesn't have another well visit until he's 3, didn't get any shots yesterday and won't get another shot (even flu shot can be the inhaled kind once you're two) until he's 4!

This time I remembered to take his immunization card - hadn't remembered it since his 6 month well visit! And I had to take in his first school form. Good news: he's fit to attend preschool in the fall. Also, he passed the very scientific autism screening.

But I digress. Because he is a big boy now, Sam weighed in on the normal person (read: not infant) scale for the first time - standing up, fully clothes, just like a grown up. And got measured standing up, which means its probably the most accurate height measurement we've had in his whole life. Sam is officially 33 1/2 inches tall (grew over two inches in 6 months), placing him in the 27th percentile. And my skinny little boy gained 4 pounds in the last 6 months to weigh in at 25 pounds, moving him all the way up to the 15th percentile. Woohoo! And get this - my take home sheet lists a BMI for the first time. Are we concerned about obesity in toddlers? Anywho, his is 15.66 for all those who are interested. I did some googling and that puts him in the green "healthy" band according to the CDC. Underweight? Not my kid!

He's talking up a storm, Chris and I are often the only ones who can understand him. Its hard to say how many words he has, because he'll repeat most things when asked. Still working on stringing things together, but he'll get there.

He's still a physical guy. Climbing on everything, jumping off everything, throwing everything, kicking everything. We're really encouraging the use of balls for the last two. I take him to the park almost everyday or else he has too much energy to take a nap. And mama needs naptime as much as the boy does.

Terrible Two's? I think so. Not truly terrible, but a power struggle for sure. He throws himself on the ground when he doesn't get his way, but I find that easy to ignore. Its when he uses his pathetic cry that I tend to give in more. He's learned to ask to go in his crib with paci and lovey when he feels emotionally overwhelmed, which I think actually displays some maturity even if it is reaching for "baby" comforts.

I'm trying to lighten up a bit about his eating. Its without question our biggest battle. He wants to graze, I want him to eat 3 meals and two snacks. But he's always been a grazer - he nursed 5 times a day (2-3 ounces at a time) until he was 12 months old! My pediatrician reassured me that I can teach table manners at any age, and that they don't enforce much with their three year old. Ok. I'm going to try to focus more on WHAT he's eating rather than WHEN he's eating it.

For those in the "children should be potty trained at their second birthday" camp, lets not talk for about 6 months. He's just not there. We can see signs that he's getting closer (telling us right before or after he dirties a diaper), but I know for sure there is no control there yet. Then there's this: few weeks ago he pooped in the tub and it really frightened him. Poor kid is very afraid of pooping anywhere other than a diaper right now.

What else? He can pick out his favorite books from the shelf. I've heard him make his first attempts to sing along with his "Amen Car" cd. He's graduated from pointing to the matching picture on his chunky puzzles to placing the pieces in the right spots. He now likes to color and really likes stickers. This year he loves playing in the water outside. Ok, I'll stop now. But let's do one last list for the boy...

Likes:
Running, Jumping, Climbing
Throwing and Kicking balls
Thomas the Train
Planes, Buses, Trucks
Playing with his Friends

Dislikes:
Not getting his way
Transitions he isn't prepared for
Being left alone
Overwhelming Social Situations
Rob Hays (I wish I were kidding)

Sam's Second Birthday

The day started bright and early with a bang...a huge pile of presents waiting for the boy as soon as he woke up. We wanted him to know that it was a special day from the beginning, so we started it with presents from Mommy and Daddy, Gammy and Papa, Nana and Papa, Aunt Becky and Mommy's Becky. You can see from the size of the pile that this child is loved. It took us about an hour and a half to get through everything because you have to stop and play with everything as it comes out of the package! And we did stop for pancakes when the birthday boy declared, "EAT!"



The next real excitement came after nap when Sam's friends came over for his Thomas the Train party. I tried my hardest to go with the theme this year, from the decor and food to the craft and activities. The result wasn't quite as dramatic as some of the things you might find if you do some googling, but I was still pleased.



Mostly, I was pleased with the cake. A friend of mine in our community group told me it was a "bold move" to bake my own cake after the amazinglyDelicious one I bought for the party last year. Then the group prayed for my cake making skills. In all things, seek the Lord in prayer, right?! Most of my Friday was spent making the cake and watching the royal wedding. Again, not as fancy as some you might find on theinternet , but for my first attempt at making my own birthday cake (ever!), I was a little proud of myself. I liked this cake plan because of all the candy - you see, Sam doesn't actually like cake. He gets really excited when you talk about it, asks for it, and then doesn't even taste it. Every time. Weird. So this way he got to look at the cake and eat the candy off the top. He was happy about all the jelly beans!

Sam cried through the first half hour of the party. I think it was caused by several things, but mostly he was overwhelmed. Once he calmed down, everyone seemed to have a nice time snacking, playing trains, decorating their own train cars, and climbing on the new fort that Chris built for Sam. And I think there were only two time-outs given out during the party...not terrible considering the presence of 8 toddlers!

After all our friends had gone home we took the birthday boy for chicken fingers and fries at a local place where we could eat outside on the patio. He opted for the regular chair instead of the high chair...so big. He even mostly obeyed when Daddy told him not to touch the water.

After all that he was too tuckered out to attack the presents from the party guests, so we didn't officially celebrating until after dinner on Sunday! He seemed a little disappointed that there were no more to open, silly boy. All in all, I think it was a great weekend for our boy. Now to see what the next year will bring his way...