2 years

I can't believe it's already been 2 years since Neil was born. It doesn't feel like it's been that long but at the same time I look at him and can't believe we have a little boy now, who is talking, singing, running, jumping, dancing, and definitely has a mind of his own.

We have found that Neil REALLY likes puzzles and has a knack for them. He loves to put them together and so far finds things like faces to match up. He has a 24 piece Thomas puzzle and the first thing he puts together every single time is Percy's face along with some of the green color of the train. I'm working with him to group like colors together. He does try to jam pieces in the wrong way and then looks at it like it's okay and I tell him he's being silly and that it doesn't match. This is where I wish I was better at teaching. I want to do a mix of letting him figure it out without me telling him directly and not letting him go so long he gets frustrated.

He also definitely knows colors, which is something I've been wondering about (if he's way behind on that). I am starting to think it's his attitude or something, that's why he says the wrong color. If that's the case we're really in for it.

He still skips numbers- in English it's 5 and in Spanish it's tres. It's cute. He doesn't always skip them but most of the time he still does.

First night in his converted toddler bed

We couldn't get Neil to sleep in the actual toddler bed in our converted guest room. So we decided to give in and convert the crib. That does mean we have 2 toddler beds in our house. But it worked like a charm. The first night we converted it, he slept fine in it. I think that changing rooms was part of the problem. So our plan is to move and pick out his room and then transfer him to the actual toddler bed and put the crib back together as a crib. There are so many big changes at once for him right now that I'm a bit nervous about how all this will go.

At first Neil was staying in his bed for both naps and getting up in the morning. We were pleasantly surprised. I take full blame for ruining this. I credited this to daycare, because since he turned 1 he's been sleeping on a mat and they tell them to stay there until a certain time even if they wake up. Well, I was telling daycare when I picked Neil up one day and saying yeah he could get out of bed now but he doesn't, thanks blah blah. My mistake? Saying that with Neil standing right next to me. He listens to EVERYTHING now even if he seems like he's playing and not paying attention. I forget how much he understands, too. So now we're working on telling him that he needs to stay in bed until we come get him. Imagine my surprise and delight to be woken up in bed the first Saturday after I had this talk with daycare. I have to say, it is cute, and reminds me how much he's growing. But gone are our peaceful days in the morning and I think he has been laying in bed awake so we'll be getting up earlier now.

Neil is definitely playing more organized now. He seems to have a group of friends at daycare. One of the other boys, his mom told me she hears Neil's name along with the other boy at home. I nodded and said yep they must play a lot together or something. He also actually plays with trucks and runs them around and puts things together/builds a lot better. He loves to knock things down as well but it's fun to watch him learn and grow and actually play with things as they were intended. He also lines up his stuffed animals, sometimes to play basketball together. Oh and his favorite toy seems to be Rock N Roll Elmo. He knows the words and even laughs along, and everything can be a microphone for him.

We are now using a booster exclusively. I miss the high chair sometimes; it contained him better. Especially when we're eating out, he doesn't want to sit still and is touching everything on the table, trying to talk to the people sitting next to us, etc. But he really doesn't seem to want to be in the high chair. In fact, Mickey has been in his high chair for the week or so leading up to his 2nd birthday.

Stats:
Clothing: I started putting him in 2T pajamas but they are too big so we just let him wear a mix of 18 month and 2T pajamas. We're doing the same with shirts. Pants have to be 18 months and even some of those are too loose and fall down on him.
Diapers: Size 4
Shoes: Size 7, when I last measured his foot was 6.5 but the shoes I found were 7's and they work well AND light up so that's what he wears
Weight: 28 pounds (50.76th percentile)
Height: 35.5" (85.69th percentile). Apparently I really can't measure his height because I got 33.5 inches. I give up. I need some help.