On Two

Its been a while since I pontificated about motherhood or Elliott's development...and not just because I'm painfully behind in blogging in general. But the eve of Elliott's 3rd birthday is a perfect time to talk about 'where we are'.

First of all, we made it through the 'twos'! And we are all still standing, limbs intact ;) I kid, I kid! All in all the 'twos' weren't so terrible, as they say. I have been told the 'threes' are worse, but I'm still hoping the worst is behind us. There was definitely a period say around the 26-28 month range that was harsh. He was prone to the most random fits of anger. So without even knowing it, my parenting style shifted to one of managing. I began to see patterns in the freakouts and started to figure out how to minimize them from happening or reduce their devastation (on everyone). These freakouts usually stemmed from plans being interrupted. It was not always easy to see when a plan was in formulation, but sometimes you could see the wheels turning. This also meant picking battles. Sometimes you could avoid a freak out by letting something that doesn't really matter go, in exchange for keeping your foot down on other things (usually those that impacted safety or were otherwise fundamental rules of the house).

And then one day, I realized how pleasant Elliott was to be around. We would have evenings and days of the best fun. Lots of talking, lots of games, lots of learning together. That's when I knew the worst of it was over. We still get a random freak out, but it usually is derived from being too tired, too hungry or a misunderstanding. So as long as we keep up on those fronts, we have a very cool little boy to be around.

This brings me to Elliott. His communication has developed in leaps and bounds over the last year. He loves to tell you how things work and about all the cool things he sees. He still isn't one for telling you much about his day, but we are seeing more and more hints of his school days through the songs he sings and other little stories. It is also helpful that he can tell you what's wrong if he has a bad dream (another new thing this last year). He is very polite and almost always tells you 'thank you' and sometimes even 'thank you, bud' :) He speaks shockingly clear sometimes, but has still kept some of his cute mispronunciations (hoptopter = helicopter, nindow = window, annunner = another). I love being able to 'talk' to Elliott and I can't wait to learn more and more about him and how he thinks in the coming months.

He is also the best helper! He loves to help make coffee and dinner. He helps vacuum and sweep. And special projects? Oh my, you have never seen a more enthusiastic assistant. He will hand you tools and make sure you don't miss a thing. When he is especially excited about a project (Brad putting together our new tool box cart comes to mind), he will repeat and mimic the things the helpee is doing.

Another new thing this year is the transition from pretend play to imaginative play. I LOVE the things he comes up with. His green lego bin? Tip it on its side, its a computer! I didn't know that! I also didn't know that the green divider in the bottom of his toy bin is a guitar or my whisk is a remote control for the (invisible) TV on the kitchen wall. He is always surprising us with what he 'sees'.

As for the things he likes to play with, trains, cars and trucks are still huge. And he likes to play 'working man' - being a construction worker :) He also loves to read books, but generally at quiet times of the day. We've been making frequent trips to the library, so we keep plenty of books in rotation. He also likes to joke around. He likes things that are silly and when he finds something funny or thinks you will find something funny, he says 'that funny?' and laughs. Hee. Unfortunately, we've also come to recognize Elliott's 'giggle of doom'. If you hear that giggle, nothing good is going down and you better get in there quick!

I may add to this post as I think of things I've missed because I know there's a ton, but otherwise, I am so excited about where we've come from and where we are going. So here's to three!