Caroline is a big girl now, the end.

This morning I opened the gate and sent her downstairs herself. When I came down a few minutes later she gotten two clementines off the counter and peeled them – one for her, one for her brother.

Today at the play place, she taught all the other kids how to slide down the slide head first.

She also conned one of the moms into giving her all the snacks the mom brought for herself. I told the nice lady she didn’t have to share, Caroline is very well fed, but she insisted she didn’t mind because “She’s so cute!”

Yesterday at bedtime I explained to her my back hurt so I couldn’t sit on her bed while she fell asleep but I’d be happy to sit in her chair instead. She said “OK Mommy. Feel better now.”

Instead of crying when she fell off the couch and on her head, she jumped up and said “TA-DA!”

She is spunky, funny, full of life, full of attitude and charms almost everyone she meets. She is an amazing two year old (and is going to be a TERRIFYING 12 year old).

Likes include animals, books, apples, oranges, running, jumping, making up songs, dancing, Minnie Mouse, Monsters Inc, snow, playgrounds, friends, Daddy, bath time, Tinker Bell, cuddles, princess skirts, wearing pull-ups instead of diapers, stacking things, exercise, noodles, strawberries,  and her brother.

Dislikes include time outs, wearing clothes all day, hair clips and when Evan doesn’t want to play with her.

25 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Stacks six blocks – Caroline and Evan used teamwork to stack 12 stall tubs of play-doh, so I’ll give her half credit for that.
Walks with smooth heel-to-toe motion – Walks, runs, jumps, dances, all like a big kid.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Uses pronouns (e.g., I, me, you) – All the pronouns are belong to Caroline.
Washes and dries own hands – Her favorite part of potty training (and the only part she’s very good at).

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Speaks clearly most of the time – I can understand her about 90% of the time, other people are probably at about 75%.
Draws a vertical line – Sort of. But she likes drawing circles the best while shouting “CIRCLE CIRCLE CIRCLE”.

We had the Birth to 3 people come out for Little Evan’s speech evaluation yesterday. They scheduled it for 1 pm which is an hour past his normal nap time, so when Evan started asking “night night? night night” before noon I knew it was going to be a LOOOONG afternoon. He actually did pretty well, only reaching that crazy level of exhaustion-induced hyperactivity for the last few minutes of the appointment.

Of course, he’s still a toddler, so his general behavior was in the realm of “I DO WHAT I WANT” for the whole hour. After the fourth time he almost hit the therapist in the face with his miniature hockey stick E took it away and an EPIC meltdown ensued – just at the exact moment the evaluator asked “Does he demonstrate appropriate negative emotions?”

Um, is standing in the middle of the kitchen wailing with giant tears running down his face because we took his stick away “appropriate”?

Turns out the answer is YES. BECAUSE HE IS TWO.

The evaluation was actually for all sorts of possible developmental problems, including an early screening for autism spectrum disorders. They brought toys and games and asked him to stack rings and point at items and identify pictures and show off his motor skills. There was one test that involved matching items on little cards (where’s the other spoon? where’s the other dog?) but he was totally over it after less than 30 seconds and ran off to chase the cat. The therapist actually skipped that test completely, because although not being able to focus long enough to participate is unhelpful, it wasn’t a measure of his ability to complete the task and she didn’t want to score him a zero on that one test when he could complete all the others.

The other 50% of the evaluation was questions for me ranging from my pregnancy to how Little Evan handles meeting strangers to what goals we have as a family. (I bombed on that last one BTW. I had no clue. She said some people say to be healthier as a family or to buy a bigger house or maybe a new car. I said “I just want us all to be happy” which makes me sound like a Miss USA contestant.) She asked a series of questions until we reached one where I gave a “wrong” answer, even if it meant going far past the skills they expect a 26 month old to have mastered. Not knowing which answer I was supposed to give made my palms sweat, but both women were so nice and very willing to help me explain and elaborate on my answers until they really understood what Evan’s typical behavior would be.

E came home from work early to be here for the meeting, which was both helpful – when dealing with EPIC TODDLER MELTDOWN – and unhelpful – when the evaluator asked “Does he have trouble separating from mom and dad, even with other familiar adults?”

“Not at all” said I.

“Absolutely” said E.

After a few minutes of clarification and discussion, we decided that we were both right. When we are all at home in the family room and one parent leaves Little Evan will scream and cry and throw a fit because someone is going somewhere and it is probably fun and how DARE they not take him TOO??! But when it comes to allowing another adult to provide for him he doesn’t care at all who it is. He let my father-in-law (who he hadn’t seen in months) put him to bed in an unfamiliar bedroom in Ohio without any problems. He regularly wanders off to the bathroom with my friend Cheri when she takes her son. He will ask anyone who happens to be around for help if he needs it. Apparently a lack of stranger-danger is OK at two, although I am suddenly much more worried about someone snatching him in public because he’d happily go without any protest. We should work on that.

But we WON’T be working with the Birth to 3 people anymore, because after an hour the therapist determined he’s totally normal for a 2 year old and we did not qualify for services. Which is good news. They assured me his vocabulary is fine and that they could understand a lot of what he said and that he had no other signs of any sort of delay. Some of their statistics were really reassuring – the 50 words by 2 is only a general guideline because that’s the point when kids start to put 2 words together and THAT is the real milestone for normal development. Little Evan has recently added “I” in front of most of his statements  – “I slide! I wash! I stink! I fall down!” – so we’ve got 2 work phrases down. They also said a parent should be able to understand 60-70% of their child’s words at this age, which is almost exactly where we are. The speech therapist also confirmed that a child with advanced motor skills (she was REALLY impressed he can hit a ball with a hockey stick with direction) might take longer when it comes to verbal skills. I know it’s something people SAY but to hear it from an expert was nice.

One suggestion from the speech therapist that I really loved was to qualify and expand on the words he does have when he says them. When Evan points at a balloon and says “bah-oon!” instead of just saying “Yes that’s right!” I should say “Yes! That’s a red balloon! A big red balloon!”. I don’t know why I never thought of that on my own, but now I’m going to make a real effort to do it for all his words.

Two more things that made me really happy: First, we’re elligable for a development evaluation every 3 months, so if 12 weeks from now I’m still concerned they will come back and do it again. Second, at no point did they tell me I was over-reacting, concerned for no reason, imagining things or silly. I was actually more afraid of being laughed at than I was they would find something wrong and suggest we start therapy. But this evaluation couldn’t have gone better.

So if you’re wondering if you should mention your developmental concerns to your pediatrician? The answer is YES. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted and I can go back to just enjoying being mom to a toddler.

Monthday update only one day late! Pretty good after 25 of these and 2 kids. If it helps, I also forgot about Cinco de Mayo so we’re having Mexican food tonight instead. Yeah, I just compared the day I gave birth to a baby to a day for eating guacamole. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL ABOUT GUACAMOLE.

My dear sweet weird little boy, you get sweeter and weirder every day. Your favorite food is Honey Bunches of Oats (with Almonds!) but you refuse to eat either granola or almonds on their own. You love it when I sing but get mad when I dance. Your favorite tv show is The Price is Right and you shout for “pry eh rye!!” every time I turn it on. You absolutely love to sleep (maybe you feel bad about not sleeping through the night for the first 15 months of your life) and made the transition to a big boy bed with almost no trouble at all. We even took the side rail off your bed so I can climb in with you in the morning and cuddle until we both wake up a little more. You are obsessed with your little sister’s toys and seats and stuff and love sitting in her Bumbo chair, even though it sticks on your butt and you end up yelling for help to get free. Your favorite loud game is playing hockey with your foam stick and running in circles screaming. Your favorite quiet game is pointing at mommy’s freckles. You love to read books but REALLY love technology – out of a somewhat limited vocabulary, one of your most understandable words is “IPAD!!”

You’re actually getting better at listening and haven’t fought with me at all this week when I said it was time to leave the park and come home for lunch. We are both working hard on using our indoor voices, even when we are mad, and we both appreciate the effort. You’ve peed in the potty four times this week, although you still wake up very wet so I don’t think you’re quite ready to full-out potty train. It’s amazing to see your memory getting better too – you tell me every day that I got a booboo on my toe and that you got one too (sorry about that, I didn’t realize those sandals were giving you a blister until we got home) and that booboo’s hurt. You also saw a picture of your Grandpa (Bamba) today on my Year of Little Evan Calendar and started asking for him. When I asked if you loved your Bamba you said “Essss!!”

If we walk with your friends, you want to hold their hands (forcibly, if necessary) which is just beyond adorable. You are also totally fearless. TOTALLY. You climbed to the top of the big kid playscape and threw yourself down the tunnel slide without being able to see the bottom or waiting for me to tell you it was OK. It almost gave Mama a heart attack but she loves how brave you are…and that you still want hugs when you fall down.

I feel more and more lucky to be your mommy every single day. I love you more than a million words can say Little Evan.

Joy

Playgrounds make him so happy. And tired. We got a 4 hour nap out of 45 minutes at this one.

Sliding! I slide! I slide!

Look Ma, no feet! I'm so little!

Whut? This is totally normal.

Always my baby, even though he looks like a big boy

25 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Stacks six blocks – EFF YOU AND YOUR BLOCKS BABYCENTER. We put all the blocks upstairs because I was tired of tripping on them, so he hasn’t actually had any blocks to stack in a few months.
• Walks with smooth heel-to-toe motion – He walks like a normal person. He runs like a crazy person. It’s fantastic.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Uses pronouns (e.g., I, me, you) – He has started saying “I” as in “I fell down!” or “I slide!” or “I roll!” but I haven’t heard me or you. He did finally start saying “Eban!” if you ask who he is though.
• Washes and dries own hands – OMG THE BEST THING EVER. He also brushes his own teeth and puts on his own deodorant, mascara, headbands and jewelry. Someone is a good mimic.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Speaks clearly most of the time – AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No. We have a speech evaluation on the 23rd, although he gets better and better every day so I suspect the therapist won’t find him eligible for the Birth to Three program.
• Draws a vertical line – He doesn’t really like drawing, unless it’s on the walls. But some of the lines are pretty straight.

I’m also please to see that the “Starts to recognize ABC’s” and “Names one color” milestones are both a few months away and listed as advanced skills. Sometimes I feel like I’ve already failed him as mother because so many kids a few months younger seem to be naming colors and numbers and letters already. I don’t need my kid to be a genius – I just want him to be NORMAL. Except for jumping. My kid is a damn jumping PRODIGY.