Desmond is 2!

TWO! It feels like he's been 2 for a long time, probably because he's so brilliant and polite and big and strong and generally very advanced for a two-year-old. (I might be just a little bit biased

I've also been noticing lately what an even-keeled kid he is, especially considering his age. He certainly still gets upset sometimes - if you take away a toy, or if you put him in the bathtub before he's ready - but overall, he doesn't tend to get upset over nothing. He only hits back (and rarely even does that, not that it's ever okay, but, you know, he's 2). He (usually) eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's tired. He is pretty good about "please" and "thank you."

He's not a big snuggler. Never has been, really, but it's getting a little more obvious now. Sometimes at night he'll ask to be rocked, but he won't snuggle against your chest. He turns around and faces out and says "Like DAT!" He'll lie back against you, but that's as good as it gets. BUT, while he will very rarely snuggle, he is very free with his kisses. They are really sweet kisses, too.

This year, his birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving. So Grandma made him a cake. A PANDA CAKE!!!

He tried really hard to blow out the candles, but his aim just isn't quite there, yet.


Teeth: Still no new teeth. I'd kindof like to get this over with, already. (Hellooooo molars! They call you two-year-molars for a reason! Chop chop.)

Height: Unofficial height: 36.75" Per the wall chart, he's grown 2.25" in six months.


Weight: Unofficial weight: ~32.5 pounds.
Still thinning out a bit, but those chubby little baby cheeks are stubbornly and very cutely sticking around. Like every toddler, his appetite waxes and wanes. In the last couple of days, he has been eating a LOT. Like, full dinners, plus snacks. Then he'll call you into his room a little while after lights out:
Us: You want to rock rock?
Desmo: No. Dinner.
Us: Dinner?
Desmo: Eat... dinner.

So far, we've managed to convince him to wait patiently while we get him a banana, which he devours before heading back to bed, usually for the night.


Sleep: He's pretty consistently good for about 10 hours at night with a 2 hour nap (give or take) during the day. Getting out of the crib on his own is pretty much his routine now, but he's still very willing to sleep and/or stay in the crib. Sometimes he practically sells his soul to do so, since that's the only place he's allowed to have his pacifier. If he drops the pacifier, or wants a book or something, Independent Boy will climb out and get it, then call you to put him back into the crib, since he can't quite make it back in by himself just yet.

Still, the kid knows when he's tired and (with incredibly few exceptions) doesn't fight it too hard. (If he is even remotely tired, he is no match for a moving car. We don't go for drives just to make him sleep, but if we happen to be in the car around naptime, he is out.)


Food: WAFFLES! Good god. I didn't think we would be eating food by the box until they hit puberty. But I'm starting to wish for industrial-size home delivery of frozen waffles. And eggs (one dozen per family breakfast). And milk (2+ gallons per week). I'm sure when they are 13, I will laugh and laugh at how I thought this was us going through a lot of food.

He's still good on variety, willingly eating many kinds of meats, vegetables, dairy, and fruits. So we don't worry too much about the disproportionate amount of frozen waffles in his diet.


Words: I've been forgetting to mention his funny and adorable language pattern with predicates. He's almost Yoda-like. Instead of "Eat yogurt," it's "Eat it, yogurt." (Well, "yoyurt," but you get it.) He is very consistent, no matter what "it" is.
"Drop(ped) it, fork."
"Read it, book?"
"Watch it, Yo Yo Gabba."
"Get it, toothpaste?"
"Wash it, hands."
"Get 'im, Dehtah" (The only real variation on "it" is "him," and only in this context.)

Books: Good Morning, Sun and its creepy humanoid sun face is still heavy in the rotation, but now he doesn't bother with those other animals. It's just "Good Morning, Sun?" and then, "Find it, cow." Then he goes immediately to the page with the cow, opens the barn door to see the cow, and says, "Mooooooo." It's pretty cute and almost makes the creepy humanoid sun face bearable.

Dennis just got him a new book about dinosaurs - a *real* educational book about *real* dinosaurs. So far, he just likes putting his finger on the dinosaurs' teeth, saying "ow!" and pulling his finger away. Surely some of the (presumably) scientifcally accurate dinosaur info is filtering through, though, and will continue to do so as he is more willing to explore the book's pages instead of just finding dinosaurs with teeth.


TV: Still loving TV. Favorites are Yo Gabba Gabba ("Yo Yo Gabba"), Dinosaur Train, and anything Elmo. Panda is still acceptable, as is Fish (Finding Nemo), Thomas, Bob the Builder, and a few others. He's not as willing as he once was to sit still for a longer show or movie, though. I'll take this as a good sign that he won't be a couch potato suffering from obesity at age 6. I'm happy to say that, while he still asks for TV a lot - and the phone. My god, don't even try to use a phone in front of the kid unless you are willing to surrender it or listen to a very upset kid - he is (mostly) just as willing to quit watching TV to go outside, or ride bikes in the basement, or play with trains, or just run around the house.

TV time is the only time you can trick him into snuggling with you, though, so I'm selfishly OK with some TV time for him. :)


Smarts: Colors are just about there. FINALLY!!! He'll still sometimes mix up pink and purple. Occasionally red and green are still confused. Black and white, too. But he's right about 95% of the time now, so I'm going to call that good.

He also counts - 1, 2, 3! The first time I heard him do this, there actually were 3 things he was counting, so I was pretty impressed. Since then, he's shown that everything countable has 3 things. And don't try to convince him otherwise. Once, mention of "4" sent him to sad little tears. Poor baby.  I think he'll change his mind about 4 really soon.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Have I mentioned his dinosaur pajamas? These are his favorite pajamas. He isn't upset when they are not there, but they are always the first choice if they're available, never lasting overnight in the pajama drawer. Unfortunately, they are size 24m, and they are getting a little tight. . That isn't stopping him yet, and I don't have the heart to take them away, either, so I won't until the situation gets pretty dire. I even tried to find them in a bigger size, but of course they haven't been made for about 2+ years, so they don't exist anymore. I guess it's a lesson he'd have to learn eventually, but he just has so few things that he (and only he) really likes that I wanted him to have that for a while longer.

Also, guess which boy genius can now pedal his tricycle just like a big boy?! He is so smart. :)