Keeping Up Kelton: Nolan is TWO!

...And just like that, I have a two year old.

How in the world is it possible that my little baby has become a funny, wild, rambunctious, stubborn yet sweet toddler who talks and plays non-stop!? I cannot believe how quickly the time goes by, and even more, how quickly he has changed from the last update 6 months ago! Nolan continues to be all-boy, as he is super active and very into getting dirty, making a mess and is starting to be interested in more athletic activities. He loves to play with Play-Doh and make crafts, especially painting with his hands. Cars and trucks are constantly found scattered throughout our house, and while we're out or driving around, he's sure to point out many of the cars and trucks we see on the road. He loves to wrestle with Daddy at nighttime and could do this for hours on end! They also love to play basketball together on his new hoop, and has a great arm when throwing balls back and forth. Nolan continues to looooove Sesame Street (as you can tell by our birthday party theme!), and has his select favorite episodes that we watch over and over again. His absolute favorite thing of his is the iPad, and will ask for this constantly throughout the day. He knows he is limited to a set amount of screen time, which is usually while I'm cooking dinner or, sometimes, when we are out running errands, and when "iPad time" comes around, he screams with excitement! He loves to watch YouTube Kids on the iPad but also enjoys playing some game apps like Tony the Truck and his Matching Games. He is starting to initiate more imaginative play during the day and I love seeing his little mind in motion!

We continue to attend classes both through the rec center and through the St. Rose Women's Center, where he has become very comfortable and is no longer timid to be around other kids. Even with unfamiliar faces, he will play with others well and loves to follow and watch other kids intently. We've taken some preschool classes and it is definitely evident that although he is comfortable with new surroundings and others, Nolan definitely has a shy demeanor. When asked questions in class (What color is this? What letter? Shape?) or asked to repeat words, he clams up and usually does not respond right away, it takes him a few seconds to answer even though he knows the correct response. Despite this, he still participates in all activities and will go in front of the class to participate in an activity, such as put a shape or color on the board. He really lights up when he is around his close friends, and has become a little "Monkey See, Monkey Do", especially with his older buddy and BFF, Hudson. As well as being shy, Nolan continues to be our stubborn little man, just as he's always been, and definitely gives the terrible twos a run for its money on some days! We're learning to adjust with disciple, waiting our turn and being patient, not getting everything we want, and being told "No." As a struggle for any two year old, Nolan handles these with tantrums, but luckily we are learning with him on triggers and how to react to said tantrums. Despite his every-two-year-old meltdown moments, Nolan is still a sweet, loving little guy that loves to give hugs, kisses and high-fives to all of his friends, and has started to randomly give Mommy and Daddy hugs and kisses just because he loves us so much! ::Melt:: He loves to laugh and make others laugh, and has a infectious one that kills me every time!

One of the most impressive things I find about my babe is how smart he is! I know every parent says the same thing... but really, Nolan is super intelligent and I love that he is learning so much and enjoys the learning process at such a young age. Nolan's speech has come a great distance and can identify and say most words, and loves to repeat things he is unfamiliar with and store that for later use. We've learned the hard way in the last few months to watch our language, as our little parrot has shown us he'll repeat those curse words CLEAR and LOUD for everyone to hear. Oops! Also in the last month or so, he has really started putting words together to form more sentence-like structures ("More water, please", "Mama, help", "Bye, Bye Harley!"). He can identify many, many characters from TV and movies, some of which I don't even know how he knows them! He knows how to ask for certain items or foods he wants, and we're working on our manners with Please and Thank Yous.

Nolan knows all of his colors and most of his shapes. He can identify most of his ABCs, with about 7-10 he gets mixed up on still, but otherwise, can point out and tell you what each letter is. He knows how to identify his numbers and also count 1-10. He absolutely loves to sing songs, and can sing along with you (most words) to some basic lullabies and songs like Row, Row, Row Your Boat, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald, Elmo's World, Bingo, The Wheels on the Bus, Daddy Finger, and a few others- we're working on the ABC song currently! The videos below show just a tidbit of what he knows!!

Here's what else our big two year old has been up to:

Height, Weight, and Sizes:
At his 2 year well check, Nolan clocked in at 28 pounds (42nd percentile), 35 inches tall (66th percentile), and 18.5 inches head circumference (38th percentile). He is still tall, coming from Jason and I, so we believe he's going to have his spurts early and then stay short later in life! :) Since his last update at 18 months, he has cut his two year molars on just the bottom, although the top two are working their way through currently. He currently wears the majority of 2T clothing, and some of his 2T shirts are becoming a little snug, so we'll probably be moving to 3T in some tops in the coming months. His bottoms are all 2Ts, but has a hard time finding just the right fit since he has longer legs and a skinny waist. His pajamas are mostly 3T, with some 2T still scattered in there (especially the footie jammies). He wears mostly a size 7 in shoes, since we recently just switched out of most of our size 6s! He is still in size 5 diapers, and will probably be transitioning out of these in the upcoming months, as we get ready for our potty training journey! As of late, Nolan uses his potty seat on the big toilet every single night before his bath, and willingly goes pee on it every time. He has yet to poop on the potty and still has trouble telling me when he needs to go, but is great at telling me right after! We may attempt training before baby sister gets here in May, or we may wait until after... we'll see how things go and how his interests perk!

Feeding:

Nolan is definitely a pickier eater than other two-year olds, but does eat well for what he likes! He still refuses any type of fruit, even though we try to introduce them constantly to him (still waiting for the day he'll take a bite of anything fruit related!) He remains picky about his meat choices, only eating chicken nuggets, some ground beef meals, bacon, and hot dogs. Yep- a real vegetarian here! His sensitivity to tomatoes has lessened, although we don't usually allow him to eat whole tomatoes, just in case, as we have avoided peppers to be safe, also. He really enjoys cucumbers and will ask for them every single day. Peas and carrots are also still a favorite, so even though he doesn't enjoy fruits, he does have favorites in vegetables which makes us happy! Other favorites as of late include pizza (his absolute favorite), quesadillas, pasta, avocado, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, PB&Js, chips (literally any kind), and waffles. Dessert is alllllways a favorite and we can usually negotiate him to try new items or finish his meals by using the whole, "If you want a cookie for dessert, you need to finish this or try this!" and most of the time, this works. Our next adventure is to work in more of him eating what we eat at every meal... although I know most kids have their own "meals" at this age so I'm not stressing too much about it!

Nolan uses his utensils very well, and has just started drinking out of a regular cup with no assistance. He's learning to take it slow, otherwise he's wet! He also still receives his milk 4 times a day, although we've cut down on the amount for each serving. Soon we will be taking away the milk before bed to make it just 3 times a day- with each meal. He sits in a booster seat and no more high chair, and when we visit restaurants, sometimes he can sit independent of any type of seat assistance.

Sleeping:

Nolan continues to follow the same schedule as our last update, and is still a solid sleeper (yay)! His day consists of waking around 8:00AM, and is up playing, running errands, attending classes or meeting up on playdates until lunch around 12:00PM, and nap time shortly following around 1:30PM. He has cut his longer naps down to about 1.5-2 hours every day, where Mommy definitely tries to get in a nap, too, since brewing this little girl is hard work with a toddler in tow! Bedtime is still around 8:30PM, and he will sleep through the night with sometimes calling out for "Mama!" just to know I'm still here. We plan on switching to the toddler bed this weekend, so we're hoping the transition goes smoothly! I'm worried he may be up playing with his toys during his nap or early in the morning, but I'm not too worried about him waking in the middle of the night. Hopefully he will continue to sleep solidly throughout! As for sleeping aids, he continues to use his pacifiers just for naps and bedtime, and now also sleeps with a pillow in his crib which sometimes he uses, other times not. He also has his favorite stuffed animals in with him, of which he cuddles Elmo the most and talks to them all when he's falling asleep or when he wakes up to play.