This is basically just a blog post full of all the things I don't want to forget about Judah at 24 months of age :) Along with a few pictures, of course...
These bath time pictures were taken just a day or two before his birthday.
I just love them because they are so descriptive of his personality.
Things he says a lot at the moment:
"No touch the computer/heater/etc.! No touch it!" (he knows what he's not allowed to touch... doesn't always stop him though!)
"Mama get up too!" ... "Mama go downstairs too!"
"Mama sit down here"
"Come on Mama! Let's go!"
"Mama open the eyes please! Put on the glasses!" (when he's trying to wake me up, ha)
.... [Obviously from the above sayings, Mama does not move fast enough for him!]....
"Judah hold it! Hold it the tablet please!" (or anything else he's normally not allowed to hold...)
"Chocolate have some in mouth please?" (a boy after my own heart)
(He sometimes says sentences kind of backwards... with the important word first... "Phone have it please?" or "Food have some please?")
"More cabbage please!" (his "cabbage" actually means "ketchup"... haha, at least it sounds like he eats his vegetables!)
"Ok! All right!"... he says when he falls down. He also will ask his toys if they're ok/all right if they fall etc.
"Solly Mama!" (sorry mama), he says to me if he does something naughty... or "Solly firetruck/other toy"... if he drops/throws them or is otherwise destructive.
"Judah ride the bicycle. Judah go that way." - he is obsessed with his balance bike that he got for his birthday.
"No like Mama's towel. Take off Mama's towel." - he tells me this whenever I have my wet hair wrapped up in a towel, he really doesn't like it!
"Firetruck go upstairs in bath too?"... he always wants to bring his toys with him for bath time/bedtime.
"Go in mama's car? Go to the work?"... he always asks to go to "the work" because that is where Papa goes everyday :)
"Go to the park? Play with the dump trucks in the dirt?" - his favorite park has a sandpit and dump trucks.
"Sharky have some pancakes with peanut butter and jam too?"... he always wants to share his food with his toys :)
"Play outside! Dig in the dirt! Find the squirmies!"... squirmies = earth worms :) His favorite thing to do now that the weather is getting warmer.
"I LOVE IT!"... he declares about anything and everything that he likes.... milk, water, food, activities, toys... "I LOVE chocolate!" or "I LOVE eggies!" or "I LOVE firetrucks!"
"Judah do it!"/ "I do it!"... yep he's definitely becoming a 2 year old!
"Get Judah! Get me!"... or "Judah get Papa!" - he loves chasing or being chased around the circle of our downstairs.
"I drive Mama's car?"... he asks every time we get in the car. haha.
Bedtime excuses:
"have some water? have some milk?"
"sing songs! sing songs! more songs!"
"more rock-a-bye chair?" (meaning he wants to be rocked and snuggled more)
"pray?" (how are we supposed to say no to that!)
"more kisses?" (the little stinker likes to withhold kisses from me all day, and then whips them out at bedtime... like Thomas says, he's got me wrapped around his little finger...)
"hugs?"
"sleep in mama's bed?"
When he really wants something his sentences go up in pitch and noise level... "Judah have some milk? HAVE SOME MILK?
HAVE SOME MILK PLEEEAASEEEE!"
Talking about the baby:
"Hi baby!" while rubbing my belly... "Give baby kisses??"... "Give baby hugs??"
"Baby come out now?"... sorry, not for a while buddy!
"Mama and baby come play with the toys?"... he often includes baby now when he asks me to come play!
Once I told him that the baby was kicking me... he thought for a moment, and then said "Naughty baby! No kick mama!" .... haha! He knows that he's not allowed to kick people so he's trying to instill the same values in baby brother :)
We were going for a walk one day recently, and he asked "baby come out and ride in the stroller?"... :)
He got to hold a friend's newborn recently and now he's always asking for "baby brudder" to come out so he can hold him.
He's started quoting his favorite movies (which are Despicable Me 1 and 2, The Croods, Mater's Tall Tales, Leapfrog Math Adventures to the Moon):
"Lipstick taser!" (DM2)
"Cookie alabata!" (something one of the minions says in DM2)
"not cool! not cool!" (Croods)
"dun dun dah!" ... along with arm gestures (the little sloth guy in the Croods)
"cha cha cha!"... along with dance moves (Mater's Tall Tales)
"what happened?!" (MTT)
"Let's get outta here!" (Leapfrog)
He also is really starting to play make believe:
- The other day he turned his little four-legged stool over and sat in between the legs, and told me "Judah's rocket ship! Go to the moon!" ... and now it's one of his favorite things to play. He does rocket ship sound effects and goes up to the moon and then comes back down and says "Judah back!". I ask him what he did on the moon and he grins and claps and says "Fun on the moon!".
- He does little voices for his stuffed animals and makes them talk and interact. Same with his cars. He was feeding his rubber ducky breakfast in his highchair the other day and asking the ducky "ducky like yummy toast?" and then saying for the ducky "mmmm yummy! more toast"
- He'll pretend that he is an airplane, or a car, or a firetruck, or a rocket ship etc... he will tell me what he is, and run around making the respective noises.
- He loves to sit in boxes/laundry baskets and pretend he's in a boat, and sing "row, row, row your boat..." and then climb out and pretend to splash in the water.
- He'll tell me his piece of toast that he's eating looks like a turtle or an elephant or a rocket ship whatever else he thinks it looks like at that moment.
Starting to answer more when we ask him what he did, or what we're going to do etc... Like if I ask him to tell Papa what we did at gymnastics class, he'll say "played in the balls! go in the dolphin swing! circle time!". Or when I say we're going to playgroup he will immediately start talking about how he's going to "play with the other kids!"
His memory astonishes me. For example, the first time we went to the birth center for an appointment with my midwife, the assistant gave him a little red ball to play with. That was back in... October? Every time we go back (once a month) he still asks for that little red ball even though he only played with it once. Also, whenever I tell him we're going to see my midwife, he says "listen to the baby's heart?"... he knows what's coming!
He is also very observant. For example, we were Skyping with my family and Uncle Matthew was in the background. We were talking away with Nana and Grandad, and Matt yawned in the background. Judah said "Uncle Matthew tired!" :) Even when he is totally absorbed in playing with something or acts like he isn't listening, he IS indeed listening to every word we say and if he hears something interesting (like how Nana made muffins...) he will instantly ask "Judah have some muffins please?!" (and then we have to explain that Nana did indeed make muffins... but Nana is in Kenya and therefore we can't have her muffins because they're on the "other side of the computer"... poor kid).
Other general language development:
- using pronouns more - me, you, I
- better overall sentence structure, getting the words in the right places
- starting to use different tenses correctly - "I go play"... "I went"... "I played"
- uses words to describe how he's feeling etc now: "Judah scared of the dark"... "I no like this sandwich" etc.
- using words like under, over, behind, around, close, far away etc... to describe things. "Judah hiding under the table!"... "Doggy far away" etc
- starting to sing more complete songs - Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me.
Personality:
He is two years old and therefore has his moments, but his general demeanor/personality is very sweet and gentle around other kids... he will try to hug them and hold their hands and play and laugh and giggle with them. This also means he kind of gets taken advantage of - other kids will grab toys away from him and he usually just looks sad momentarily and then goes to find a different toy. When other kids hit or bite him he just looks shocked. If the other kids' moms are watching and make them say sorry to Judah, Judah will grin and try to hug them - all is immediately forgiven and forgotten. If he does knock another kid down, it's always by accident because he is focused on what he's doing (I always have him say sorry! And remind him to watch where he's going.). If he wants a toy that another kid has, he will usually just follow them around until they put it down, haha. We do talk a lot about "waiting your turn" and he will ask "Judah's turn? Judah's turn?". I always hope and pray that he doesn't pick up any of those aggressive gestures, but somehow learns to stand up for himself in a healthy way! He does get more ornery and terrible-two-ish when he's just at home with us (because we're his parents I guess), but with other people he is usually very sweet.
Still very picky about food and textures. We're working on it. We finished nursing at 22 months old because my milk dried up at the beginning on the 2nd trimester. It was a great way to calm him and comfort him and get him through big transitions/changes, but we're figuring out new ways. There are definitely times when I sigh and wish I could just nurse him, when nothing else is working - when he's sick, or temper tantrumming, or inconsolable etc. Nothing works quite as well as snuggling up and nursing did!
He is SUPER active and full of energy... pretty normal for a 2 year old boy! But he also loves to sit and snuggle and read books. He loves to be outside and is so much happier and sleeps better when we get to play outside. Thank goodness winter is on its way out. He is silly and goofy and loves to "put on a show" and make us laugh!
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Judah William, we are just loving this age! It comes with its issues, as does every stage, but right now you are so talkative and you are developing the funniest little personality. You make us laugh all day long with the things you do and say. We are in awe of how quickly you grasp things. You are so compassionate and loving and gentle, even in the midst of your rough-and-tumble 2 year old boy-ness. We love you so very much!
