terrific twos: ashford style

i can call them terrific since i've been through age three now. haha! it's been way too long since i've done an update on ashford and i love going back and reading about my kids at different ages because it's so easy to forget all the little stuff. ashford finally had his two year check up last week, so i thought it would be a good time to do a two year update!

stats:

weight ~ 26 lbs (30th percentile)

height ~ 35 inches (55th percentile)

you are one pound heavier and one inch taller than your sister at her two year appointment. you did really well at the appointment (you didn't have to get any shots - woo hoo!). you even sat on the chair by yourself for the exam portion. such a big boy! the doctor said your chattiness was great to hear and that you are very friendly and seem to have a great disposition. music to your mama's ears! 

clothes: you wear a mixture of size 24 mo/2t clothes and size 5 for shoes and diapers. i still get to pick your clothes for the most part, which is nice ;) you love to pick your jammies, though, and want to wear them day and night. you are obsessed with your rain boots right now (which is good because it rains a lot) and you can even put them on yourself. big boy! your hair cut was less than 2 months ago, but i feel like it's already growing over your ears again. i'm not used to this frequent boy hair cut business yet.

eating: you are still a pretty picky eater these days. you love mac and cheese and burgers and fries consistently. ha! other favorites include crackers, guacamole, bananas, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, cheese, and peanut butter. most foods are "sometimes likes" for you. for example pizza, toast, chicken, deli turkey, quesadillas. you are a challenging one to feed, but we try to give you what we are having for the most part, so you get used to those foods. i know you would prefer to live off of goldfish and blueberries, though. ha! you love sweets and get to have one if you eat a good dinner. you've been sitting in your trip-trapp chair for meals since last october. you drink water 99% of the time, but on occasion you will have some milk. you've had chocolate milk a couple times and you are obsessed, and juice too. neither one is being served on the regular here, sorry dude. we stopped nursing a few days before your second birthday, while we were in minnesota. i'm so proud of how long we shared that bond. i don't even remember the official last time you nursed because i thought it might not be the last time. my plan was to wean you in minnesota since i'd be away from you a lot more than i am in seattle and it worked out great. i think we had both gotten to a place where we were happy to keep going or to stop. i'll forever treasure that time i had with you. 

sleeping: you are still not the best sleeper, but i've just come to accept it. i know you will sleep eventually, even if it takes 13 years to get there ;) you go to bed between 8 and 8:30 each night (same as azalea) and 9 out of 10 nights you wake up crying for me in the middle of the night and i bring you into our bed for the remainder of the night. this is partly because i'm a sucker, partly because you share a room with your sister, and partly because you generally go right back to sleep, so i get the most sleep this way. i know you won't want to sleep in our bed forever, so i just let it fly. naps are still pretty decent (unless you sleep for more than about 10 minutes in the car - dang those car naps!). you don't have a set nap time (just some point in the early to mid afternoon). on a good day you will sleep 2-3 hours, but you also have days where you only sleep for an hour and a half. you nap in your sister's bed for nap time and you sleep in your crib at night. you never try to climb out of your crib, so we are in no rush to move you to a toddler bed. you sleep with your elmo doll every night and for naps. 

playing: you love make believe (especially kitchen sets), trains and cars are a huge hit. you have learned how to play your sister's card games (old maid and uno) which is so cute to watch because you get really into them! you also enjoy play doh, puzzles, coloring, painting, reading books. some favorites are "goodnight moon", "the very hungry caterpillar", books with pictures of things to identify, etc. you love to go out and do things like play at the playground, go to toddler gym at the community center, the indoor play areas at the zoo and the church in our neighborhood. you seem to get along really well with other kids. rarely fighting over toys or being too aggressive or too passive.

talking: your speech has really taken off in the last couple months. 2-3 word sentences are heard all the time now and it makes me so proud to hear you communicate so well. while you do throw tantrums, it's typically not from us not understanding what you are saying, so that's nice. even when we have to guess on words, you are super patient and will giggle at the incorrect ones we suggest and say "no, mama...not xyz". you love to be silly and talk about poop & pee, and things being "yucky". such a boy! you ask lots of questions like "go now?" or "dada home now?". we hear lots of "i dooooo it!" and talking about things you love like trains, elsa, and dinosaurs. all of your "c" and "k" sound like "t's" and it's so adorable - tiss, tatch, titty. haha! 

other things: you love super why, daniel tiger, and caillou. you are still obsessed with my hair and rub it between your fingers to fall asleep. you love to give kisses and hugs. you copy everything your sister does. you still love baths and lose your mind with excitement when it's bath night. you are a little dare devil and love to climb everything and jump off of everything. you mastered tons of things around 18 months that your sister didn't do until age 3 (like opening the fridge and round door handles). you love babies and you are always so concerned when you hear them cry. you are obsessed with brushing your teeth and don't want any help getting to tooth paste on (sighhh). you love your sister's preschool and waltz in there each day and say "hi miss tina!" and take out toys to play with. you love animals and always want to pet them. you love to walk, but demand to be carried quite often lately. you seem to be sporty already - you are really good at throwing and catching balls. you are obsessed with helping in the kitchen. you throw some tantrums, but they are still pretty easy to diffuse. we haven't started any potty training and probably won't for many months, but we'll see. you are still very much a mama's boy, but adore your dada and sister too.