Ian, 27 months, or 2.25 years old

Dear Ian,

Right now, you are pretty freaking awesome.  Here is what is happening now:

You correctly identify all of the primary and secondary colors.

You correctly identify a variety of shapes, including (but not limited to): trapezoid, parallelogram, and rhombus (although you still struggle with the differences between pentagon, hexagon, and octagon).

You can count to 10 and almost to 20… usually you make it to 12 and then skip around until 19.

You can count to 10 in Spanish.

You sing lots of songs, both with me and to yourself.  Repertoire includes:

·       ABC Song (and you are working on singing it backwards, like me)

·       Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

·       Do-Re-Mi

·       Edelweiss (or “aydal eyes” as you say it)

You will sit and read for more than an hour at a time.  You love for me or Daddy to read to you, but you are equally happy to sit and read to yourself, especially in the car.  Your favorite hidden object books include Where’s Waldo, I Spy, and Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things that Go (where’s Goldbug?).  The only problem is that you are a total rock star at remembering things, so once you find the hidden objects, you never have to search very hard again.

Your physical abilities are improving daily.  I love watching you play on a playground.  You run, jump, and swing like a monkey.  I can’t believe the difference, especially from this summer.  You are getting more daring every day, but you are still fairly cautious.  Sometimes you say, “That’s not a good idea” if something seems a bit out of reach, like large gaps between ladder rungs.  Your ability to throw and kick a ball is improving, and you are also working on catching.

  

One of my favorite things to watch is your developing relationship with Ellen.  You love her so much.  You like to talk to her in the car, and by talk, I mean laugh and yell construction machine names at her.  One morning I heard her wake up, and I sent you in to talk to her.  It got a little quiet and by the time I got in there, you had managed to climb into the crib and the two of your were giggling, thick as thieves.  Since Ellen just started crawling, you have started to realize that she is about to have nearly unfettered access to your toys!  One of your solutions is to bring toys to her in an attempt to keep her out of the playroom and away from your stuff.  You should know… it isn’t going to work in the long run.

You are very sweet.  A hug always gets a matching kiss.  You like to snuggle and have been frequently sneaking into our room to sleep in the “big bed” in the middle of the night.  You are quite stealthy… most of the time I don’t even know that you are in bed until I wake up in the morning – unless you are having a kicky type of night.

Things You Say:

·       I want you to say “Yes” instead of “Yeah,” just because it sounds nice.  Apparently I have driven this point home… a couple of times when I have said, “Oh Yeah!” you will respond, “I no like yeah, I like yes.”

·       Words that are funny:  trashcan, dromedary, June, tumble

·       Once, when singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” you sang: “Up above the world so high, like a rhombus in the sky…”

  As always, looking forward to more adventures with you!

 

{Ian and Ellen, Christmas 2011}

 {Happy Family Swinging, Christmas 2011}

 

{Ian at the Rowena Farm, Christmas 2011}