I can’t believe I officially have a 2 year old! It’s amazing to see how much Caroline has learned over the course of two years.
What’s even more fascinating, is going through each of my monthly updates on the schedule page, and seeing the differences that are noted simply in a few weeks!
In her 21 month update I mentioned a few words that she was saying “Moe” for “Moose” (our dog). She now just says Moose. Probably even more amazing is that I had forgotten all about how she used to say “Moe”…and it was only a few months ago!
Her speech REALLY took off in the last couple of months, as well.
Schedule
Not much has changed with her schedule. She’s still taking one nap, and goes down very easily. She reads for awhile longer before going down for her nap these days, but she still takes a nap once she feels she is ready.
I am still leaving her in her room for the full 3 hours. She reads, then naps, then has quiet time- all in her bed.
7:15 am wake and drink milk
8:30 am breakfast
12 pm lunch
12:30/1-3:30/4 pm nap (I no longer wake her), milk when she wakes
5:30/6 pm dinner
7:15 pm bed
Eating
Month 21 I had noted that eating had become a bit of a struggle for the first time ever. I was right in my thinking that it was due to teething.
She quickly snapped out of her eating funk and is back to normal. Usually one or two really good meals per day, and then dinner is light.
She’s great at trying everything and lettings us know if she dislikes something. She now says “don’t like this” if she doesn’t want to eat something.
We are trying to work with her on not spitting food out. She spits food out if she doesn’t like it, but also spits food out if she likes it, yet has her eye on something else she wants to eat at the moment.
She’s starting to understand that, once the food is in her mouth, she needs to just swallow it and move on (even if she doesn’t like it). I’m teaching her to use water to help her swallow something if she really doesn’t like the flavor. She’s starting to really like meat!
Sleeping
Naps are great. They are typically about an hour and half. She reads for awhile on her bed, then lays down on her own and goes to sleep. When she wakes, she stays in bed quietly and has quiet time until I come in (when her clock turns yellow).
Bedtime is much improved from her 21 month update. She is falling asleep faster (it was taking her almost 2 hours to fall asleep). She still responds very well to her ok to wake clock when it turns blue at 7:15 pm.
She has started requesting to use the bathroom after we leave the room, even though she’s already gone. This has happened before, and she eventually moved away from doing this. She is back at it (but also constipated), so we are going with the flow and allowing her to go.
She usually isn’t going, so we just explain to her every night that she needs to only ask to go if she really has to go. Potty is always hard for us to just say no to. This just happened starting again this week.
She’s also waking up around 4:30/5 am and is unable to go back to sleep, although she sure tries! Might be in a bit of a regression or just needing less sleep at this point!
Update: This early morning waking only lasted a few days. Her constipation resolved at the same time using Miralax- may have been related. She’s also no longer delaying bedtime asking to go potty.
Wake Time
Morning wake time has been all about reading in Mama and Daddy’s bed, watching Dinosaur Train, and going for walks with Moose (if the weather is nice enough).
She does independent play about once a week right now. I always feel like I should do this more, but it’s often hard to find the time. Once a week she goes to a mother’s day out program, and she also does gymnastics once a week.
We might have errands to run another morning, and activities that we attend other days. She loves going out so much, that independent play often gets pushed out.
I usually get a few toys out for her in her room, and she’ll play with them for a bit, but then just lays on her bed with her friends (stuffed animals), or reads a book, and sometimes even brings her blanket down on the floor and rests.
She’s just kind of indifferent about her room time and ends up not doing much, but also not complaining. This is much better than what was happening at 21 months where she was not letting me leave the room, however!
For our outings, we usually go walk around and explore somewhere. She loves just walking and finding sticks, playing in the leaves, and even sitting in the grass.
We go to a nature center close by, we walk our dog, go to playgrounds, or go feed the ducks. She enjoys being outside so much, that we go outside whenever possible.
She really doesn’t care to play with other children yet. She kind of does her own thing. She will, however, interact with other children and adults now when I ask her to. She’ll say hello, thank you, please, goodbye, etc.
Her favorite inside thing to do is read books. She knows her books so well that she can pick one up and tell us the title or general subject of the book now “Dog Donut“, “Pig Pancake“, “Mouse Cookie“, “Big Mama Mummy“, “Teamwork”. She also says certain words in the books when we get to them.
She’s really starting to enjoy helping in the kitchen. She helped make pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving, and made chocolate chip cookies this week.
She dislikes chaos and loud places. We’ve stopped going to story times at the moment simply because she doesn’t enjoy them with all of the children talking and running around.
She’d much prefer a quiet gathering where there aren’t many other people.
Milestones/Interests
She says sentences as long at 6 words “Read this book again, please, Mama”
Caroline uses the word “too” correctly.
She really loves to refer to things as this or that, and is using the concept of “again” a lot.
While I hadn’t attempted this until I filled out her 2 year old survey for the pediatrician, she is very good at drinking from a regular cup with no lid!
She insists on getting into her car seat all on her own, and then buckling the top buckle. She does both great!
When she’s cleaning up she says “Clean up, pick up, put away”, just like the song from Daniel Tiger. (Apparently I sing it way too often) LOL!
She loves to stack play-doh cups, and stack her washable paints.
She carries her plate from the dinner table to the kitchen to help clean up.
She’s started to really enjoy dancing again- it’s been awhile!
In the bath she’s started to flip over in different positions and experiment with floating, kicking her legs, moving her arms, etc.
She loves getting her hair wet, and in our showers together she always requests baby time where I hold her up in the water and lean her head back.
She loves climbing up me (from my knees to my chest), and then clinging to me like a little monkey while I let go and tell her to hold on tight.
She understands over, under, in, out, loud, soft, big, small, tiny, little, fast, slow, hot, cold, etc.
She can say all of the letter names correctly (even W).
She can count to 4 all on her own consistently, and I heard her count to ten on her own once.
Her favorite color is purple at the moment.
She says all of the color names correctly, except for orange- she says “oage”.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches get devoured in a couple of minutes for lunch every day- crust and all.
Kiwi and raspberries are new favorites- she also really likes saying kiwi and raspberries.
She loves all things trains.
She knows her colors.
She is very interested in dressing and undressing herself now. She tries really hard to get things on and off.
“Naked Caroline” is a daily request for an activity.
Caroline LOVES seeing family. She’s had visits from both grandparents and her auntie and uncles…she warms right up to everyone and has a blast while they are here.
Balloons are a favorite play item.
She can catch!
She can run incredibly fast now. I actually have to put a pep in my step to keep up these days.
Caroline likes to hold our hands at mealtimes.
Caroline is great at sharing and giving away her toys to other families when we ask that of her.
She really enjoys having her hair down these days- even if it does end up in her face.
Caroline is 27 pounds, and 34.75 inches tall!
When we arrive somewhere in the car, she says “park now”.
If we ask Caroline what she wants to do, the answer is always “go out”.
“I need ___” is a frequent sentence that she says.
There isn’t a word that we’ve said that she hasn’t tried to say! She’s getting confident with her speech and nothing is holding her back now!
Caroline has a laugh like Mamas- so loud, and she really gets into it.
She loves to be ticked and requests “more tickles please”.
Caroline says “I love you, too”.
Caroline has an amazing memory.
She is brave enough to ask a waiter for “more grapes please”, with just a little prompting!
She is still excellent at waiting and listening to directions.
She’s very close to understanding right vs. left- appears to already!
She asked her first “why” question today (1 week after turning 2)!
She has a new reading nook, called “Carly’s Corner”. Carly is her new, HUGE caterpillar friend. It’s been her favorite place to be the last few days.
Check out all of our baby and toddler schedules, along with scheduling resources!