stephanie on the move: Noah News: 2

When did I become a mom to a 2 year old?! Noah turning 1 seemed very real and normal. Him turning 2 is kind of blowing my mind. I feel like time is moving at warp speed!! I can only imagine what having a second baby will do to this!!

BUT, this post is all about Noah.

My boy.

Food: Noah is a pretty typical toddler when it comes to eating. He is a fairly erratic eater and vegetables are a challenge to get into his cute little bod. His favorite foods are hot dogs (if you ask him what's for dinner, the answer is always hot dog), macaroni and cheese, Knorr pasta, pizza, yogurt, and granola bars. When he is truly hungry, he can put away food like a teenager, but most of the time it is a bite here or there and then off to the next thing. He has found his sweet tooth since his first birthday which works out nicely as a bribe from time to time. In the beverage department, he gets his water with a smidge of apple juice, almond milk, and as a special treat...a sip or two of Dad's Gatorade ;-).

French Onion Dip is a food group, right?!

Physicality: Holy smacks is this boy physical. To finish up the food topic...Noah hasn't sat in a high chair since he was maybe 18 months? He prefers to stand in a big boy chair to eat. At restaurants this works great, however, at home, it poses a challenge as we have trouble getting him to stay and focus on his food for more than 2 minutes. He prefers to take a bite, run around and burn it off, and then return for a second bite. This is something we swore we would never allow...but live and learn I suppose. In addition to his mealtime antics, Noah is constantly on the move and testing the limits of his little body daily. He jumps, hops, gallops, flops, crashes, climbs, and runs perpetually. The only time he is truly still is first thing in the morning when we snuggle to watch a show, and when he is in his crib.

Jumping off couches (right onto Mom) is a favorite pastime.

Sleep: One thing Scott and I did succeed at is making Noah a good sleeper. Noah takes a 2-3 hour nap daily (1-4pm) and sleeps through the night, every night. Currently he is sleeping from about 8pm-7am. He is also a rockstar about being flexible about sleeping. He can push through without a nap when needed and has stayed up much too far past his bedtime on a handful occasions with no ill behavior to show for it. He does tend to get a bit spun up when he is over tired, but he is happy as a clam and just tears around a little extra wildly. So far, he hasn't tried to escape from his crib, nor shown any dislike for his current sleeping arrangement. He always wakes up in a completely different position than we lay him down in so I think a big boy bed might be a ways off.

One thing that doesn't get to be too far off is saying goodbye to paci. Currently, Noah only gets paci (and bear) when he is sleeping and for about 15 minutes after coming out of his crib. It is actually a pretty powerful tool for convincing him it is time to take a rest. Just mention p&b and he goes running for his room. But, before Baby #2 makes an appearance, we hope to cut paci out of the equation. I'll be sure to post updates on that.

Noah also still sleeps in a sleep sack. Blankets are just not his jam (he tells me to take them "off!" whenever I try to cover us up in the morning) and he frankly doesn't like anything in his crib other than bear and 3 extra pacis. But, again, we are nearly the end of this phase, mainly because we are running out of sizes, so we need to find a way to keep our little goose warm at night without his sack.

After his haircut. He's a perfect client for those lollipops!

TV: "No screen time until 2". Well, we broke that rule. Although, not terribly, and mainly because of Noah. Noah isn't really all that interested in TV. When he doesn't feel well or just wakes up, he'll zone out in front of the TV, but otherwise he takes a casual glance and moves on. I've tried to use it as a distraction at restaurants or on the airplane and he lasts about 5 minutes before wanting to do something else. 99% of the time, I am thankful that he would rather be catapulting himself off the couch than watching TV, but during that 1%, I sure could use the help!

When he will watch, his favorite shows are The Cat in the Hat ("Cat Hat"), Curious George, Sports Center (I kid you not...he is a sports fanatic), and any YouTube video involving trains, diggers or airplanes. By far, his most favorite thing to watch is "Ouchies" with Papa. Ouchies is a video of the Isle of Man motorcycle race where riders go flying off cliffs (presumably to their demise) among other not-two-year-old-appropriate scenes. He loves it, and the time with Papa is adorable, so we permit it.

This boy loves his Papa (and digger!).

Talking: Not a whole lot of action here. Noah can say a lot of single words and does a fairly good job of getting across what he needs. Well, he can tell me! I am pretty sure to the average person, he speaks a lot of gibberish, but I know what his funny words mean (i.e.- "nonny" means snail or tennis) and so we get along just fine. He isn't putting together two words yet, and doesn't really seem all that motivated. I'll be anxious to hear what our pediatrician has to say at his two year appt, but I imagine it goes something like this, "kids all talk at their own pace, and he is so physical that he is concentrating on that instead of talking". But, I'll report back. Report: Dr. T said that when kids have around 50 single words, they typically hit the developmental milestone of starting to string a few words together. I did a count of all the words I could come up with that he says and we are right around that 50 mark so I imagine we will see some more combinations, soon. That said, he said we have nothing to be concerned about for at least another six months.

One hilarious thing has has done in the past few days is start calling me mom. He definitely uses mama and mom interchangeably, but it is just so funny to hear his little voice say, "Mom!". He is also getting quite bossy with Scott and I, but in a fun way. He makes demands about where we should sit, who he wants to play with, and who should leave the room (this is all communicated with "Dada" and a pat wherever he should be seated, or "Off" with a little hand gesture indicating that I am not welcome to join the boys playing!).

No big deal...just hanging out in my toy bench.

Activities: Currently we are consistently doing gymnastics and soccer. We were really good about swimming lessons weekly this summer and early fall, but now it is just too cold to think about hopping in the outdoor pool where our program is held. The pool is seriously heated, but the getting in and out part is just not really appealing. Plus, three days after Noah's birthday, he starts school! I'll do a separate post on his school after his first day, but we are really excited for him to spend time with kids his age and have some structured activity sans mom & dad.

He knows his Sambas are his soccer shoes and loves to get them out on Fridays.

Injuries: Nothing major enough to send us to the hospital, but with all the crazy running, the boy has had his share of falls and bumps/bruises. Most recently, he pulled on one of my potted plants and brought the entire thing crashing down onto his head (this one had me calling my mom to make 100% sure I didn't need to take him to the ER...mind you he was back up and running 5 minutes after the incident), and he also slipped and slammed his head into my parent's bathtub during our visit. It is pretty amazing what their little bodies are designed to withstand, but it still sends my heart racing every time we have a big fall. The little ones (knocking his head on a table, running and falling straight forward, getting knocked down by Nana) are no sweat and he just dusts them off and moves on.

I could seriously eat him up.

Heart: My boy has the best heart. In the midst of running like a banshee, he will run over and give the biggest/best snuggle in the whole entire world. He gives kisses constantly and loves to have his boo boo's kissed, as well as give anyone/anything else with a boo boo a kiss (he has been known to knock his stuffed animals into things on purpose just to give them a kiss). He also has a funny habit of "food snuggles". Lately, whenever he is eating, he like to tuck in for a big snuggle with me while he chews. It starts about half way through his meals and just makes my heart melt.

He also loves his friends and his Nana (and Harvey!). He has started giving everyone hugs and is a great sharer. He rarely gets upset if someone takes his toy, he just moves on. His love for animals is amazing and he is always extremely gentle and, if anything, just tries to over snuggle sometimes. That said, he is not immune to the occasional toddler outburst of giving Nana a swift smack or kick. But, it is few and far between and on the whole I am so proud of the sweet, loving, generous little two year old I have.

Waiting for Dad to come home from work.

Terrible Twos: I don't really think two is terrible for us. There are definintely moments when I have to say, "oh, man, are you two!!!!". This is usually the result of him being frustrated by not getting what he wants, me taking something away that he wants (because he is throwing it, or it's not kid approved), or him not being able to communicate what he wants. We haven't had any need for time outs and most of the time if I can take a minute to sit down with him and talk calmly, we can diffuse the situation and he rebounds great. Again, there are moments where I lose my cool and just have a little tantrum of my own, "Noah! Stop whining! What do you WANT?!". Even at 30 we all have our moments.

Freeze! His favorite game and most effective tool for stopping his very fast running!

Potty Training: While Noah is starting to become aware of all things potty related, I think we are a ways off (like, a year!) from actually using the potty. He has a toddler potty and will sit on it from time to time, but has yet to do anything "formal" in there. He is aware of when he is going #2 these days and will often tell us when he has gone and needs to be changed. So, the good news is, he is becoming aware of it, and doesn't show any signs of fear of the toilet. In fact, flushing is one of his favorite things to do.

Loving his birthday present from Grandma & Papa.

Fears: Pretty much anything that moves without warning (i.e.-remote control cars, motion activated toys/decorations, garage doors, paper shredders). He tends to get pretty startled by these items and comes running. He much prefers wooden or plastic toys that make zero sounds!

Soaking up life as a family of 3.

Likes: Car, trucks, diggers, trains, helicopters, airplanes, buses...are you sensing a theme? His other theme, as I mentioned, is sports. He loves all things sports and can name pretty much any of them that are on TV, in addition to loving to play all of them.

We can't walk by PBKids right now. He pretty much glues himself to the window!

Obviously, I could go on and on and on. But, I think that gives you a pretty good picture of what our boy is up to as a two year old, and serves as a great reminder of this amazing time in his life. I am sure I will feel this way at every age he hits, but this age is my favorite so far!

The #1 reason I am not looking forward to taking paci away...he doesn't make a peep on the plane!

Stats:
Height - 33.5"
Weight - 25.5 lbs (up to the 25th percentile from the 5th)
Haircuts - 12
Airplane Flights - 20 (possibly 22...I think we had layovers on one of our flights to/from St. Louis)

Up next...an actual birthday recap. But just to give you a glimpse: