2 years

A brief exchange:
ME: I’m writing your two-year blog post. Is there anything you want to say?
HER: No.
ME: How old are you?
HER: Two … three, four, five.

Current stats: 35.5 inches tall; 27 pounds, 15 ounces

Tooth count: The last check was 16 but I don’t dare put my fingers anywhere near those super-sharp things.

New tricks: counting to 15, 3 to 5-word sentences, conjugating verbs, running, singing the ABC song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

New words: We’ve honestly stopped keeping track. Her vocabulary is really advanced and we think she has about 150 words.

The most recent additions: please, thank you, right now, bugaboo, outside, orange, Alex (our babysitter’s name), penguin, upside down, potty, Parker, myself, stroller, cake, bubbles, piano

New sentences:
“Mama, what you doing in kitchen?”
After fake falling down: “Is Biscuit ok?”
“More chocolate?” or “Have chocolate for dinner?”

THE LATESTParker didn’t seem to enjoy her birthday party. At one point, I discovered her in her room alone reading books. I think she was just overwhelmed by the people, the excitement and everything. She did enjoy her cake.



And, overall, we had a nice day with lots of new and old friends.

So, here we are, two years into this parenting thing. It feels like it’s getting a little easier. She’s getting better at expressing exactly what she wants. I’ve found that giving her choices is working to curb the meltdowns. It usually goes like this:

ME: Time to get dressed.
HER: NO! NOOOOOO!
ME: Do you want to wear the green shirt or the gray shirt?
HER: Green shirt.
Shirt goes on without incident. Then I repeat that process for pants and shoes.

The Biscuit’s been almost totally healthy since her ear infection at the beginning of the year. On the recommendation of an experienced mom, I’ve been giving her half a teaspoon of black elderberry syrup every day for immune system support. It’s made a huge difference in how many colds and the duration of the colds she had this winter.

THE POTTY
Since introducing the potty, it’s been up and down. We’ve had about half a dozen “successes:” putting pee in the potty. For this she’s been rewarded with stickers and a Hershey’s Kiss. The pediatrician says this is the only good time to use bribery. We’ll see about that.

If we can get her to sit on it first thing in the morning, she goes right away. If I try during the day, she’ll sit on her potty chair for 45 minutes, reading books, with no success. Then she stands up to get a fresh diaper and pees on the floor. I’m glad we still have a ton of those cloth diapers we used when she was spitting up constantly as an infant.

Sometimes she says, “Go potty right now.” But she doesn’t have to go. She just wants to sit there. She’s not that into it, I think.

My second mother suggested a DVD called “Potty Power.” Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds but she really likes watching it. Since we have to watch it at least 5 times a day, I’m thankful that it’s only 20 minutes long. There is a fair amount of baby shaming in it (“Are you a baby or a big kid?” “Babies where diapers. Big kids use the potty.”) but I think it’s empowering for her. She imitates what the kids in the video do and say so maybe she’s just not ready to be potty trained. We’ll keep trying when she’s open to it but, for now at least, we’re playing it cool.

This article about a dad’s experience with his son is HILARIOUS.