Parenthood - 2020-07-10 Michael turns 2.5

July 10, 2020

At two and a half Michael is rapidly leaving babyhood behind. He's at that frustrating stage where he has IDEAS about what he wants to do but doesn't always have the physical abilities to make them happen. And sometimes those mean parents or siblings say no. This definitely results in the odd tantrum.

He likes to pretend things - he's fond of being a cat or a bunny. He loves to grab people's legs and go for a ride.

Michael likes his routines. He usually wakes up around 6:30am and goes to his door where he will knock and softly call "Mommy, mommy I want you". He usually needs a diaper change and will allow Mommy to go to the bathroom but only if "me tum too". Then we climb back into bed for a little nurse. For a few weeks he was waking up at 5am (ugh). I could often convince him to have a bit more sleep after an hour of nursing in that case though.

Once it's time to get up for the day, Michael first puts on his clothes (shirt first, THEN pants). Then he asks "me go downstairs NOW?" He appends the word now to almost every sentence. Now is popular and the other kids mimic his verbal patterns constantly. I have a standing agreement with Elizabeth not to allow him downstairs before 7am because he likes to go wake up his siblings. Matthew is safe because he's in the upper bunk and Amelia always tells him to go find Elizabeth. He's the only sibling Elizabeth allows in her room so he often will go jump on her head and roll on her stuffies if she's not already up. Then he drags her off to read stories and otherwise be his personal slave. Elizabeth sometimes thinks this is quite unfair but we tell her this should be incentive to get out of bed earlier...

Michael loves to read stories, often the same ones over and over. His current favourite is "Noisy Jungle". He likes books about animals and trucks.

His favourite snack is peanuts. And 'cocolate' And grapes (but he means cranberries). This is best eaten off the counter while standing on a little chair. He loves to sit in the fridge or freezer. Unfortunately he has also figured out how to open these. He also has started stashing magnets and other toys in the fridge.

Eating-wise he more or less eats most things. Breakfast he strongly prefers his peanut Chex, with milk. He's mostly stopped deliberately throwing food on the floor but is still a pretty messy eater.

He very much enjoys bouncing on couches - there's a definite wild streak. He will take all the cushions off the couch then climb up on to the back and pounce onto the bouncy part. He's been known to run at other people with scissors laughing maniacally and snip them. (Usually Amelia). Kids who have been snipped have gotten MUCH better about not leaving scissors lying around, at least for a little bit. "Me naughty!" He will give very nice hugs when someone is sad and is very affectionate.

He's not at all interested in toilet training.

He's pretty much stopped napping but loses the plot the closer it gets to bedtime. If he has a nap he still loses the plot but then plays in bed until very late so naps are not encouraged.

After supper we wash his hands and face. Then if he remembers he has a thirty second nurse (always the left side first). Then he goes upstairs with Daddy to get changed, brush his teeth, read a story, say prayers and hop into bed. Daddy then hangs out across the hall (out of sight) until he falls asleep. This is close enough to be able to abort any attempts to make a run for it.

Bedtime usually starts around 6pm but it's highly variable as to when he actually falls asleep.

All in all it's a pretty fun - if rather exhausting - stage.