Two Years and Two Months

Dear Roman,

Right now you are really into playing with toys. You say, “play with me Mama” and then instruct me on what we are going to play.

Lately it is a lot of building with blocks- “houses” and “rockets” are what you tell me we are going to build. Then an “astronaut” or “knight” (imaginary) join in the fun.

Another thing you still like playing with is your play food/kitchen. You ask me to sit at your little table and serve “tea” and “grilled cheese” sandwiches. Sometimes you’ll make some “treats” for us to eat too.

“Play cars” is usually something you want to do with your dad when he gets home from work. Playing cars consists of you dumping the bucket of cars out and distributing a car to each of your stuffed animals. “Here you go kitty cat, dog, orangutan” as you hand out various colored cars.

You are obsessed with clasps and latches like the ones on your booster seat, car seat and stroller. You HAVE to “help” me strap you in. Along the same lines you have now found huge interest with trying to take your toys apart. You’ll turn them over, run to get a screwdriver and twist away hard at work and deep in concentration. You really like trying to figure things out.

At preschool you LOVE the sensory room and spend most of your time at the paint, playdoh, water and sand stations. Today at school you rolled blue paint all over paper ducks and would stop everything to go wash your hands if paint got on them.

Evenings are spent with you getting quality time with your dad. The two of you go upstairs and get creative. I can hear the two of you playing that you are in a spaceship going to the moon. There’s lots of running and physical play and you LOVE it! I think your dad does too.

As you can tell you want your parents involved in your play time. For awhile you were going off on your own sometimes for up to 20 or 30 minutes, but these days you are all about having us near by and involved.

Besides playing you are are busy stringing words together and making sentences- although sometimes they are a little confusing for us to understand and you talk non stop, usually very enthusiastically and often using little sayings like “no way” “oh nice” and “no thank you please.” You try to count, but it comes out like 1, 3, 10…. and you try to say your ABCs which are also all jumbled up, but very cute to hear.

You LOVE singing songs right now. “Sing Mama” you’ll exclaim and then I’ll start singing a song and you’ll tell me “yeah” or “no” if you want me to continue. Songs you like to sing along to are Rain Rain Go Away and Row Row Row Your Boat.

You still adore rocking and reading books- especially before bedtime. There are definite favorites, currently you are loving anything illustrated by J Otto Siebold. You’ll stare at each picture and point to an image and say, “what’s that Mommy/Daddy?” over and over again.

You go to the potty on the toilet every night before bed. This has been going on for a couple months and has become part of your routine- go potty, brush teeth, put pjs on. You really feel like a big boy sitting on the toilet.

All in all you are still a very easy going child who is usually pretty happy which is saying a lot considering you are two!

Changes

Dear Roman,
There seems to be a lot going on right now for our family-

We found out that “Baby Bean” is a girl! A revelation that you have apparently known for awhile. Constantly you would tell me Baby Bean was a girl. Even if I’d try to explain that the baby could be a boy you’d persist with a confident- NO MAMA A GIRL!!! I was relieved to find out you were correct and I wasn’t going to have to argue with you anymore. You’ll give my belly lots of pats, hugs and kisses. And you try to share all your favorite things with her by shoving them at my belly and saying, “Please Baby Bean take this.”  But my favorite thing is when you tell me, “Baby Bean come out so I hold you.”

We started to look for a bigger house and you totally caught on to what was going on. We’d drive by houses and you’d say, “that my house?” Or you’d look and decide if it were a “nice” house or a “yuck” house. I actually started taking your opinion into consideration.  I’ve caught you calling Ben (our Realtor) on your play phone and having conversations about houses. It was all kind of amusing at first, but now I think you are tired of having your time taken up with looking inside houses where I run behind you saying NO TOUCH. You’d rather be at the park. So it’s probably a good thing that we ended up finding a new home.

I just apologize in advance for the coming months when your life gets turned upside down with packing, boxes, new rooms. Hopefully you’ll adjust to it all before we throw another curve ball your way. She’s due to arrive at the end of March…

Happy Halloween

Dear Roman,

This Halloween was so much fun. Right away you caught on that this holiday was something you were going to be into- mostly because it involved treats. The days leading up to October 31st you’d talk about candy. Anytime you saw a pumpkin you would exclaim “treat” as though it was a reminder of what was to come.

So it wasn’t surprising when we took you trick or treating tonight and you walked right up to each house, knocked on the door and said, “treat please” as though you were an old pro. Looking adorable in your astronaut costume people couldn’t resist and offered you multiple sweets from their candy bowels. And you really knew how to work the person at the door by politely asking for an extra piece of candy for “Mama” or “Kitty Cat.” I swear there was no coaching involved.

After a big night of going door to door you were completely content with a single lolly pop and your Dad and I are devouring the rest of your haul…

We love you!

 

Astronaut

dear roman,
your imagination is running wild lately. sometimes i think you just aren’t sure what you are talking about and other times i think you should pursue a career in creative writing.

something you are really into is pretending that you are an astronaut flying to the moon on a rocket ship to look for moon rocks. you will run up to tell me that you are an “astanaut” and then you take your hands and pretend to fly. Once landed on the “moon” you look for “moon rocks” and pick tiny pieces of nothing off the ground and put them in your pockets. We were walking down a city street the other day and out of the blue you took on your astronaut persona picking up moon rocks off the ground. you even held some up to a group of guys walking by shouting, “look moon rocks” as they smiled and laughed at you.

your kitchen set is another favorite pretend spot as you’ll make “soup” or “treats” or “cheese sandwiches” for your parents, stuffed animals or friends. And you love, love, love to serve tea. You will get a cup and saucer and hand it to me saying, “please mama tea” while pouring and re pouring from a tea pot.

then there are the stories you tell. You’ll talk about flying baby bumble bees and the neighborhood cat. You tell me stories about the people you love and what they are doing.

this part of your development has been fantastic to watch and we can only “imagine” it’s going to get even better!

Preschool

Dear Roman,
Today was the first day of preschool and you had a blast! Not too much of a surprise that you jumped right in. You wasted no time saying “hi” to teachers, exploring the five rooms and making yourself completely at home.

Your favorite room was the “craft room” that had multiple sensory tables filled with oatmeal and scoopers, play doh and cookie cutters and a water table with doll babies and wash rags. You played a lot at the play doh table and pretended to look for “baby seashells” at the oatmeal table like you would with sand at the beach. The funniest moment was when you handed wash rags out to your teachers and instructed them on how to clean a baby at the water table. Of course they were good sports and played along.  Besides the craft room you spent a lot of time at the play kitchen. Two little boys sat at a table while you served them play food and you all did a very good job of pretending to eat!

At the end of class we sang the goodbye song, you got a stamp on your hand and then started crying “no go home Mama” over and over. Luckily you and I get to go back every Monday for the rest of the school year.

Baby Bean

Dear Roman,
A topic that has been on your mind lately is that you are going to be a big brother! You talk about “Baby Bean” all the time. Sometimes you just say “hi” or “goodnight”. Other times you offer up your pacifier to Baby Bean. And when asked where’s baby you say, “In Mama” so we are pretty sure you are getting the concept.

What we are very sure of is that you are going to be a totally loving, gentle, generous and friendly big bro.

Baby Bean is one lucky baby!

Happy Birthday Roman!

Dear Roman,

This past year you became an independent, self sufficient toddler! You finally started sleeping through the night,  tackled weaning and separation anxiety, you’re talking, you’ve made friends and taken lots of classes. You HATE being at home, at an empty playground or basically anywhere that doesn’t have tons of stimulation and lots of other people/kids/faces. You are most content outside, on the move, where the action is. You’re a particular, independent, mild mannered, sensitive, generous little guy with the biggest heart of anyone we know.

So Happy Birthday to you…
Our cupcake connoisseur, swing obsessed, neat freak, book loving, cat spotting, guitar playing, two year old!

We love you more than you love your blanket (tag) and pacifier combined- and that is saying a lot!

xo,
Mom and Dad

23 Months

Dear Roman,
Your Dad and I can’t even believe how it is possible that we are almost parents of a 2 year old- a kid- a person, but when we look at you lately that is exactly what you are. Roman, you are turning into a self sufficient, caring little guy who we are so proud of. Here’s what you have been up to at 23 months:

Your motto should be something like “me do it” because that’s what we hear from you all day long! Forget any help, you are all about getting into your stroller or carseat, walking up and down the stairs, putting your own toys away, opening doors to get outside, cleaning up spills and crumbs and walking walking walking everywhere on your own.

Speaking of walking, a new ritual of yours has been evening walks with Dad. Every night when he gets home from work you guys take off on foot around the neighborhood. You love to pick up rocks, look for cats and of course you have to push all the cross walk buttons. One night you guys were gone for two hours because you both got side tracked downtown and ended up sharing chips and salsa at the mexican restaurant.

You are talking more and more each day. Still lots of jabbering and saying things that we can’t really understand, but between your own language we have been able to pick up more actual words. You like to talk about bikes and helmets, bugs, balls, friends and animals. You always point out if something feels “hot” or “cold” and you have been using the word “back” appropriately- either when talking about front and back or when walking backward. Also of interest is “sleep” and “awake” and colors although you usually call all colors black or green.

Current favorite toys are your little guitar and/or anything music related, a tee ball set your Dad got you that you love taking to the park to play with, crayons and pens, little toy cars and pretend food/kitchen toys.

I am beginning to see you pretend when playing. You’ll pretend to eat your toy food and give a bite to a stuffed animal sitting across from you. I’ve caught you a few times playing with a little toy car which you told me a friend of yours was driving in. Oh and you still will pretend anything and everything is an instrument. The other night while out to dinner you played a very good straw flute!

Summer Concerts

Dear Roman,

Every Wednesday morning you and I walk down to our neighborhood park and enjoy an outdoor concert. Each week a different band sings songs and entertains you and all your friends. It’s pretty much the best hour of your day since you LOVE music, instruments and dancing!

Here you are dancing with your buddy Evan and hanging out with Izzie.

22 Months

Dear Roman,

22 months feels a lot like having a two year old. You are all about doing things yourself or “me” as you say. When I ask you if you want to be held or walk back to the car you always choose the second even if a couple seconds later you end up asking to be picked up. You open doors, jars, boxes- you could pretty much get yourself out of bed, downstairs and prepare breakfast for yourself if given the opportunity. In fact you are able to get out of your crib! The first time you succeeded your dad and I were greeted with a good morning “hi” at our bedside from you. Needless to say we were a little shocked to see you standing in our room when the last time we saw you was the night before safe and sound in your crib. We’ve had to figure out some tricky ways to keep you from climbing out and finally found success with putting you in a sleep sack/sleeping bag thing which basically prevents you from using your monkey legs and feet! Score one for the parents!

Here’s what else you have been up to this month-

You participated in the city of Kirkland’s 4th of July parade for the second year in a row. Last year your Dad, Pop and Poppi pushed you in your stroller but this year you rode on your trike (still being pushed by Dad, Pop and Poppi) all decked out with stickers and streamers and a patriotic bell- thanks to Grandma. You looked like such a big boy coming down the street with all the other kids and you loved the musical band that participated along side you in the parade!

You have been spending a lot of time at the park with Izzie- a girl you met last winter at Gymboree. The two of you had a connection then and have continued to be friends even though class has ended. The best part is that she lives two blocks away!  Roman, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were pretty fond of your little friend. You draw pictures of Izzie, sing songs about Izzie, pretend to call her on the phone, point out the street she lives on every time we drive by and at night you say goodnight to her. I’ve heard from Izzie’s mom that the feeling is mutual as she hears a lot about “Mo” Izzie’s name for you.

All day long you play with your toy instruments making up parades and marching back and forth. Sometimes if an instrument isn’t handy you’ll grab a random object and turn it into one. The other morning I got out of the shower and found you dancing to music on your bed while playing my curling iron like it was a trumpet. Something kind of cool that you do is pick out the sound of instruments in songs. We will be listening to a tune and you will hear an instrument and then name it or pretend to play it- you move your fingers to an imaginary piano, blow an imaginary harmonica and I have to say you do a pretty cute air guitar!

We have been eating out in restaurants again! This is a really big deal because basically since you were 3 months old you just could not handle being in a restaurant unless you were asleep. But now you get super excited to eat out. Once a week we meet Nana for a trip to the library and a trip out to lunch. Usually you aren’t really interested in eating, but you enjoy hanging out and watching everyone else eat. Hey it’s a big start!

You have been having a lot of little tantrums, crying fits and have been throwing things. 22 months old has been exceptionally emotional for you. I would normally describe you as a pretty mellow kid so watching you lose it over a certain blanket in your bed (you apparently did NOT want the blanket in your bed) or being given a certain snack (you wanted to eat chips when you were given raisins) is sometimes hard to watch. There have been lots of battles of will, lots of loving something one day then hating it the next, little patience for books and reading and oh did I mention lots of insisting YOU DO IT YOURSELF.

With the negative emotions also come the positive. You have started to express when you are feeling “happy” as you will declare. Everything you say seems to be two and three words at a time like “Hi Nana Baby” which is your favorite saying that you repeat all day even when Nana is nowhere in sight. And when you are feeling “happy” you are very affectionate. The other night I was rocking you and we were talking about our day. You leaned in for a kiss and I kissed your nose. “No Mama, like this” you said and pulled your pacifier out of your mouth and kissed me right on the lips. That one moment made up for all the other challenging moments we’ve had combined!

xo,

Mom and Dad