I read a blog post recently that described in detail all of the things this particular little boy was doing at age 2. I thought- I need to do this! Mostly for myself, I need to write down all of the things Landon is doing for the simple fact that it will be fun to compare what Lincoln is doing when he is 2. I'm fascinated by the differences between the first born and 2nd (and so on). Your first born made you a parent, a mother. You learned on your first born. You made mistakes, you grew, you saw what worked and didn't work, you spoiled, you over-parented, you watched and learned. If you're lucky, you did just about enough "RIGHT" that by the time number 2 came along, you had this mothering thing down. Not perfectly in the pocket, but close.
Being that both of my children were born premature and at a low birth weight, I have watched and compensated by extra teaching when need be for any type of developmental delay. While it's common in preemies, it's not guaranteed. For the most part, I feel we've been so blessed to have two little boys that show no significant signs of delay and even more so, appear to be incredibly intelligent in different areas. I realize I may be coming across more medically practical than emotionally sensitive. I think that's my nature having studied child development in college and worked wit children so long. I'm pretty familiar with the ins and outs of developmental milestones. What's more: I'm familiar with how insignificant they truly are :)
Landon at 2.5:
Language: I have no interest in counting how many words are in Landon's repertoire. At this age, though it has taken many months to get here, I know what he is saying 75% of the time. It takes some detective work sometimes, but those who know him well, can also figure out the main point. He does not use very many emotion or sensory based expressive statements such as, "I'm cold. I'm sad. Why? How come? Good job!" but those will come. Currently he mostly talks about what he is doing, what I am doing, what Lincoln is doing and what his daddy is doing. He likes to inform me of what is going on. "Mama, Daddy's working." "Baby awake" "Shh. Baby sleeping." "Oh, Molly's barking." Secondly, he tells me what he needs and/or wants. This took many months of practice to be able to express his needs. "May I have popsicle please?" "May I watch George (curious)?" "I want snack." Everyday he surprises us with new and funny little quips that make us smile. The other day he told his brother that he could not go in that room because daddy was working (daddy works from home).
Care of self: Shew! This is a big one. Self-sufficiency is important to me. It's not that I don't want to "do for him", it's that I want him to feel confident and accomplished by doing it himself. At 2.5, Landon dresses himself with underwear, pants, socks and shoes. Shirts he has some trouble with and sometimes a shoe will not cooperate and he will need assistance. So while he CAN do all of those things, he has to be almost forced to. He would rather not get dressed, of course :) He can scrub himself in the bath as well as scrub his brother, mostly just for fun. He sits at our dining room table in a booster seat and feeds himself everything. He has been feeding himself since he was maybe 10 months old. First came finger foods, and not long after utensils. He is a very neat and skilled eater, as his fine motor skills have always been leaps and bounds above his gross. He is potty trained all of the time except during naps and bedtime. We are close to being nap-trained. At 2 years and 5 months, I decided to get serious about it, and one week later he was going down the hall, using the potty on his own and the rest is history.
Cognitive Development: Landon is an organizer. He loves things to be orderly, and enjoys the process of doing so. He knows colors, counting (1-15 about), most of the ABC song, and has great memorization skills. He knows the book, "Are you my mother" by heart. He knows big/small, in/out, up/down, in front of/behind, on top of/under, loud/quiet, many emotions and is great at following multi-step directions. He thrives on reward-based chores. He understands something being dirty and needing to be cleaned. He understands almost everything that we say. Far more than he says, he understands. I can ask him to go onto the front porch and get the package that was delivered. If the front door is locked, he will find something to stand on to unlock it, then open the door and go out, get the package, come back in and shut the door. I try to let him solve as many minor problems that occur in his day as I possibly can. From doing this, I can really see his problem-solving skills growing.
Social: Landon loves children and babies. He has a schema for babies since he has a little brother so he is comfortable in that world. He will share, sometimes, not always. He gives hugs and kisses to children his size and overall he just enjoys their company. He does not like to be left alone in an environment without someone he knows well and trusts. He still clings to my leg at church. I don't practice tough love when he is clinging to me. I wait until he is stable, and let him know that I will be going away, but I will be coming BACK very soon to see him. That may make him cry, but at that point, I can leave knowing that he understands what is going on. When preschool comes, yeah I hope they expect me to stick around the first couple of days until he feels like he knows who is caring for him and is secure enough to be left. hehe :)
Physical: Landon is on the small side for 2.5 as he has been all along. He has excellent hand-eye coordination as I mentioned previously which tie into his fine motor skills. He loves to draw, pick things, anything (labels, stickers etc.). He cannot jump straight up off the ground but he can jump off something. He does not enjoy playing sporty-type games. He will hit a t-ball once or twice and then want to take apart the t-ball structure and put it back together. Catching and throwing a ball are utterly pointless to him. He may throw the dog's ball since there is a result. He does not ride his tricycle with his feet on the pedals. He would rather push his feet on the pavement. He runs well but is very clumsy which I attribute to his very large feet. He loves to be rough and tumble, wrestle, go wild and be crazy.
Sleep: Landon sleeps 12 hours every night and takes one nap each day that lasts 2 hours. He has been a champion sleeper since about 5 months old. We could NOT be happier with his sleep schedule! He gets into bed by himself and asks me to sing to him. We pray with him and ask him who we should pray for. He will ask me to sing once more, once more, once more and then abruptly he will say, "Night night" and point to the door. He does not cry at bedtimes, never has really.
Overall, he is this interesting, energetic little person that puzzles me often, makes me laugh and usually just blows my mind in one way or another.
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