Growing Sound Roots: 28 months already?!

Power tool heaven

So, I just can't stop. I thought I was going to. All month I figured I would stop. Then there comes that magical calendar date that says 21 and I feel some magnetic force pulling my fingers to the computer. Must draft blog post. Must update on Micah's development. Must remember all these amazing details about my boy. This kid is so interesting, smart, funny, curious, observant and is the epitome of a little sponge soaking up the world in front of him. He is a little parrot as I guess most toddlers are.

This month Micah:

got so super excited about the holidays. Hanukkah and Christmas were magical this year with every little detail noticed and celebrated.
had so much quality time with family.
became super animated and interactive with kids in the 3-9 year old range
Luckily, hasn't shown much preference for one parent over the other this month
often asks, "what's that for?" and "what's that mean?" and is already starting the phase where are answers aren't quite satisfying enough so he asks again and again.
has the funniest matter of fact laughs often followed up with "that's kind of funny".
often asks us to sing to him and even though we are pretty sure he knows the words, he doesn't sing with us yet. Sometimes when we tell him it's his turn to sing, he will just whisper the lyrics so that we can just barely hear him.
doesn't mind playing by himself at times with his toys. He has been super into his legos and placing his little animal figures just right and declares it his project. "Micah working on a project, Mama"
still enjoys wearing his working goggles a lot and sometimes wears a hardhat or baseball hat.
now jumps with forward movement instead of just up and down.
really finds words fascinating and often will repeat a new word hours later to process it out loud. One of his favorites this month was portabello.
likes to be silly like papa and make funny papa noises and say with them and at random times "Riki tiki tembo no sarembo chary bary roochi pip perry pembo fell into the well, fell into the deep dark well" and "eddie cucha catcha cama tosa nova tosa ...sammy cammy wacky brown....Who?!" like they say.
has fun at preschool.
has been to shabbat at temple, kiddish club, and we joined the Seattle children's museum. is very helpful at the grocery store and has been enjoying sitting in the stroller for our family walks (when we get to them).
Loves counting and reading still. Does both without prompting from us. Often counts 1 (or 2) - 9 and then says 11 loudly! Sometimes he goes into some teen numbers. He also occasionally says alphabet names and plays with the fabric letters that Nana made him.
has been so resilient and has dealt with change pretty well. This month we went cold turkey on bottle use while in California. He only requested them once or twice and then was fine.
has helped put our family on an eating schedule to minimize grazing, increase appetite and variety of foods consumed at meal times. Surprisingly, he has been pretty responsive to all of it. Now he knows that if he doesn't eat what we serve, he might be hungry until the next scheduled meal or snack time.
started increasing independence at bedtime (with our nudging). We were snuggling him to sleep each night and daily nap and mostly it was quick and I am the first to say how much I loved the snuggle time, but sometimes (more often than not) it took about an hour before the adult could leave his room. We finally decided that we have to prioritize a little more adult time. It's been almost a full week of this new routine and he is doing so well. Our plan went a little like this:

Night One: Micah, we're going to give you a hug and a kiss after bedtime story and teeth brushing and then you get to snuggle your animals to sleep so that Mommy and Daddy can have adult time (which if you're wondering is not always how it sounds!). We said, "Feel free to do whatever you want on your bed, but it's adult time. We love you" and we put his sound machine on, left the door open a crack, and went to relax. He tried coming out after crying a bit three or four times and we continues with the same broken record process. Fell asleep on his own.

Night Two: Same process except tonight when tucking him in with a kiss and hug and saying it's adult time, he says "yea and Micah gonna cry." I said, "you don't have to cry, you have all your animal friends to snuggle up with" and he was comforted by that a bit. We didn't have tears, yet he still tried to come out about three times. Fell asleep on his own.

Night Three: Tried to come out only twice. Fell asleep on his own.

Night Four: Tried to come out about four times again. Fell asleep on his own.

Night Five: Down to only one attempt to come out. Fell asleep on his own.

It's been an interesting process, but one that we feel like is appropriate at this age and phase.

has also been encouraged to use the potty more. I wouldn't say we are officially potty training, but we are offering it more and figured it wouldn't hurt to try. The smaller size seat on the big potty wasn't working, so we went out and got a training toilet with all the bells and whistles you can imagine. It's a singing potty with sensors that turn the song on when he pees. It also lights up and talks when you "flush" it! Oh lord. We are also trying out a sticker chart. In one week he has acquired 11 stickers. I'm a little unsure about the whole process since they are all external motivators and I just don't think he cares enough yet, but we shall see. I'm not the one changing a majority of his diapers.

I wish I could remember more of the funny things he's been saying. One day he started saying "hi folks, hi folks" with his little animals. I said, "Where did you hear that Micah? Who says that?" and he says, "Nana and Papa say that" (I am not sure why or if they said it, so it seems funny).