2 and A Quarter Updates

It's been a while since I have updated everyone on Beanie's stats/milestones, so the following is a little bit of what has been going on with him :)

He is now 2 and ¼ years old and weighs in at 35 lbs. You might remember that he has previously weighed up to 41 pounds. He has really started to thin out and grow! He is 36 and ¼ inches tall so this means he grew another quarter inch the past couple months. Although we wish he were still on an organic, pale style diet like he was the first 18 months of his life, that is not the case. It turns out when they turn two, they start forming strong opinions as to what they will and will not eat :) Don't get me wrong- he still enjoys his broccoli and chicken. But he also loves graham crackers, gold fish, and chez mix. I guess it could be worse, right?

Frozen Yogurt :)

As far as potty training goes, WE ARE DONE! He hasn't had so much as a tiny leak in nearly two weeks. He is AMAZING at telling us when he has to go if we are out in public, in the car, etc. He is also able to hold it as well so the race to the restroom isn't nearly as dramatic these days. He now wears underwear even during his nap time, and doesn't wake up wet :) The only time he wears a diaper is when we are settling in for bed at night.

His potty sticker chart is out of control!

Speaking of bed, he calls the shots at bedtime. Like clockwork, between 8 and 9, he will say "Mommy, bed? Night Night?" and that is our cue that it is time for bed. It's awesome. No tantrum, no fighting, just a peaceful 10-20 minutes where we get the diaper on, fill his juice cup (for comfort) and grab a book. Then it is into bed. It is wonderful that he knows when he is ready for bed and he doesn't dread it!

He has also started sleeping better again. He is totally into his big boy bed and sleeps in it through the night about 90% of the time. The other 10% consists of him waddling into our room between 3-4AM and him climbing into bed with us. Every once in a while, I will go into his room to comfort him if he wakes up crying and I'll climb in bed with him where we sleep together for the remainder of the night. Usually, however, he sleeps through the night.

Some new things that he has just started doing are taking showers with Daddy (he was terrified before), saying his name (it's a hard name to say for a two-year old!), and singing and humming. Sometimes, when he doesn't realize I am paying attention, he sings to himself in the playroom, in the car and especially when picking up his toys (He loves the "Clean Up" song!) If I am listening, however, forget it! He is way to embarrassed to sing in front of people. It is hilarious how a 2 year old can be so shy :)

Another "new" thing that he does is pick out the show or movie he wants to watch. Before, we would just put on "Peppa Pig" or "Bubble Guppies" and he would sit contently and watch the program. After moving to our new house, however, we got Netflix. He has learned (very quickly) how to navigate Netflix and how to use the remote to start a new program. He is very picky about what he watches these days and he tends to pick PBS shows, which we love, because they are much more academic based than Disney or Nick programs.

Picking Out a Movie

His new daycare is academic and Christian based as well so they have been learning letters at school. Between his exposure at school and working with me on our Alphabet poster, he can now identify As, Bs, and Cs. He can also draw a line and a circle if prompted. He is VERY close to being able to write and 'X' but sometimes forgets to cross the two lines :)

Sidewalk Chalk in the garage with mommy and daddy :)

His favorite things are still playing outside, going to school, and reading books. He LOVES his "book nook" in his new room (in the closet) and pulls one of us in there for long periods of time, several times a week.

I may have mentioned previously that Xavier was going to be moved to the 3-year old class at school in December. Well, they decided towards the end of August that they wanted to move him sooner because he was the only child potty trained in his first class. Also, he wasn't speaking much at school and they thought putting him with the older kids might spike his vocabulary. Although we were apprehensive at first, we OKed this change. It turned out to be great for him! He almost immediately stopped having accidents at school and he started talking so much more at school. He has started saying new phrases at home also and I can tell he is picking them up from the other students. I love it! He is so funny and uses his words more than ever. His current go-to phrases are "I don't want that!", "I don't like that!", "No way!"….you get the point ;-) He is getting so good at expressing his thoughts and feelings and it makes it so much easier to keep him happy :)

He is growing and changing so much. We absolutely love this age! He is so much fun!

Growing Bean :)