The days are long, but the years are short. Profoundly cliche but never more true than when caring for a 2 year old. Especially a 2 year old who takes his responsibility of living up to the “terrible two” moniker seriously. And with that, I give you Colin’s 2.5 year update.

From the blue corner, weighing in at 29.8 pounds and 27 inches is the Confetti household wrestling champ. His stats put him firmly in the 75th percentile for height and head circumference and right around the 50th for weight. Despite being average in size, Colin is a mighty tough kid, unleashing the fury on any willing playmate (and often, unfortunately, on the unsuspecting girlfriend who isn’t so apt to play in such a rough and tumble manner). He is pure boy, wanting to run, jump, wrestle and generally maintain some form of constant motion 24/7. Our greatest challenge is reminding him 17 million times a day to “keep his hands and feet to your own body” because gentle play turns to roughhousing in a blink.

ADVERTISEMENT

The biggest “milestone” since Colin’s two year update is that he started preschool, and it has made such a huge impact on our day-to-day existence. He only goes two mornings a week for a few hours, but in a short time, he has learned and grown so much. His program places a huge emphasis on encouraging independence and developing self-help skills, and since he started, he now puts on and takes off his shoes and jacket (flip-flop-over-the-top-style) all by himself, is more willing and able to clean up his messes (food and toy related) and more. Beyond these tangible skills, he has become much more comfortable with separation after the first few (tough) weeks – now he just sprints through the door, eager to play with his buddies. He has also expressed a surge of empathy, telling me all about his friends at school and their trials and tribulations and feelings. It. Is. Precious.

Looking back at the past six months, sleep and eating have remained fairly consistent, changing only ever-so-slightly. I’m hesitant to say it out loud (or, you know, type it out loud), but sometime in the past month or so, Colin magically decided he could sleep past 5:50 a.m. and now wakes around 6:25-6:35 a.m. It’s such a tiny change, but for us, it’s a game changer. Even though we never actually got him out of the crib in the 5’s, just being able to hear him singing and playing in there woke me and drove me a bit bonkers. (Also a revelation we came to in the past 6 months: white noise machines aren’t just for babies. We got one for our room that has been a game changer for my sleep. I know we won’t use it once the new baby arrives, since we’ll need to be able to hear more urgently, but whoa – amazing upgrade for mom and dad! Wish we had done it sooner!)

Colin’s eating habits are improving slightly. He will more willingly eat vegetables (mostly raw, dipped in hummus) and try new things, which is great. He has a new love for “helping” in the kitchen (quotation marks necessary, since most of what he does isn’t truly helping), and he eagerly drags a kitchen chair over to the kitchen island to offer his assistance mixing his scrambled eggs, making grilled cheese, pressing microwave buttons and more. We still have that lingering bad habit of watching TV during meals, but I am happily ignoring it as I waddle through my days in my third trimester.

Colin’s greatest strength is his communication skill – he continues to blow me away with his verbal and receptive language. He is now full of questions, from “why?” to “what does ___ mean?” and soaks up and spits out words and sentences like a sponge. The boy never, ever stops talking. His greatest challenge is his fine motor skills, mostly because he lives such a gross motor lifestyle. All this boy wants to do is run around, and he has little patience for drawing, writing, puzzles and other fine-motor-developing activities.

And my greatest challenge in the past six months….patience. These “2’s” are a challenging period, and my waning energy doesn’t work in my favor. I still haven’t perfected the art of discipline – we are using some kind of hybrid of time-outs, time-ins, counting to three and just modifying our communication style to better nip issues in the bud before they blow up into full-scale meltdowns.

Despite the challenges inherent in the 2’s, he is so much fun to hang with, and his sweet, affectionate side usually outweighs the rough afternoons. He asks for “family hugs” all the time, gives amazing kisses, and when asked at school what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, he said, “Mom, dad and Kenzie [our dog]. All my family in the whole world! All the people! I love all my friends!” Big heart, this kid. And he’s got a hold on mine.

What is your 2.5 year old up to these days?  Any great tips for the “terrible twos”?