This is me throwing up my hands and admitting my poor second child isn’t going to get monthday updates anymore. I’m not going to make it to 36 months. I’ve barely made it to 30 months. I’m not going to force myself to do these when I’m already posted dozens of photos of her every week and chronicling our lives in detail. But honestly, keeping track of Caroline’s milestones isn’t useful when she’s basically done with them. All levels of toddlerness have been achieved, game over. The only thing that makes her even a LITTLE bit like a baby is wen’re not done potty training. (Honestly, we haven’t started in earnest. I’m so lazy.) Besides the diapers, she’s pretty much identical to her 4 year old brother. And TALL. I still think of her as a peanut but her legs are insanely long.

I left her with a sitter for 9 hours on Tuesday while E and Evan and I went to Boston and she didn’t care. Whatevs, Mom. Just leave me some pizza money and a Princess movie and I’m good. I picked her up at 10 pm and she was talking a mile a minute. The sitter said Caroline seemed tired right before dinner, so Caroline went and got her pillow and blankie and put herself down for a 2.5 hour nap. Because she’s a real human person. A tiny, curly-haired, amazing little person.

Two and a half is basically the very best and the very worst. SO WORST. Taking her on vacation was the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done, including giving birth. She can be incredibly unreasonable one minute and perfectly reasonable the next, so it makes dealing with her more like hostage negotiation than anything else. I’m tempted to videotape our next argument and share it, but anyone who has ever had a 2 year old can tell you exactly what it looks like. Plus I don’t want her to have MORE things to complain to her therapist about some day. Her emotions are just totally unpredictable. At the beach, she rocked over her toe with a huge rocking chair, crushed her nail and bled all over the place. She cried for like, 90 seconds and then was totally fine, even as we bandaged it up. But GOD FORBID you get tired of holding her upside down by her feet after 10 minutes, or she’ll scream at you for an hour straight.

Likes include talking, eating, talking, eating, talking, the iPad, the other iPad, my iPhone, movies, Macklemore, singing, dancing, cats, dogs, talking, running, jumping, pretending she’s a kitty, ponies, drinking water, Princesses, Elmo, pillows, hugs, climbing, dolls, gently sloping sand beaches, seashells, buckets, marshmallows, eating, talking, eating, making up songs, spinning until she’s so dizzy she falls down, ice cream, cheese, Daddy, Evan, and me.

Dislikes include swimming, swimming pools, boats, life jackets, sleeping past 6 am, being told NO, and being teased by her brother.

All pictures are from the lake house portion of our vacation, right around her actual 30th monthday:

 

 

30 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter originally, but they changed their format so these are from Evan’s 2 1/2 year post.)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Brushes teeth with help – Brushed teeth on her own. I go over them again just to be thorough.
• Washes and dries own hands – Yep.
• Draws a vertical line – Mostly, but would rather continue to draw the sort of creepy counter clockwise circles. I keep expecting Nicolas Cage to show up and tell me it’s part of some secret code.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Draws a circle – Yep.
• Balances on one foot – Yep.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Puts on a T-shirt – Yep.
• Names one color – Names all the colors and will ask you what your favorite color is and discusses in length which one is best.
• Names one friend – Names all her friends, plus her aunts and uncles (both real and basically-like-family) and all her grandparents.

There is very little mouth-shutting going on around these parts. Evan’s volume is constantly set at eleven. He repeats everything, shouts everything, sings everything he hears. It’s ear-splitting joy from morning to night, with a few two-and-a-half year old tantrums thrown in. I’ve started pretending I’m deaf when he shouts at me, which is going to become a reality if he gets any louder.

I’ve been trying to write this monthday post for three days now and am finding it almost impossible. He’s such a little person, an actual recognizable human being – how can I sum that up in words? He loves routines and sameness (he not only has a favorite blankie, but a favorite corner of his favorite blankie) but isn’t afraid to try new things (like roller coasters and sweet potatoes). I talk WITH him instead of at him, and am amazed when he understands complicated concepts like hours and days and where daddy is when he’s not home). He often tells me that he’s sad that he doesn’t get to go on the boat anymore this year, but that he will be happy when he goes on the boat next year. I want to buy him all the boats in the world.

Despite what feels like a constant stream of parenting mistakes on my part, he’s a wonderfully kind little boy. He says please and thank you unprompted and I get teary eyed every time he says “I sorry mama!” and throws himself around my legs after doing some naughty. I can’t even be mad when he grabs his toys away from Caroline, because he immediately hugs her and says “I sorry baby! No sad, no. Here!” and gives back whatever he took so she stops crying. Best brother ever.

Food update: My former picky slash non-eater now eats anything. I only got three bites of the quinoa I made last week because he (and the baby) snarfed it down. Don’t be too impressed though – last night he had Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner.

TMI Potty training update: The poop goes in the potty about 50% of the time. The pee, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, he LOVES using the potty and goes every time we put him on it. But he also goes in his diaper, especially when he’s sleeping. I think I’m just holding onto hope that when I actually buckle down and TRY (probably using the 3 day method) he’ll be totally on board, but I hate to TRY and have it not work. But the siren song of having only one kid in diapers is getting stronger by the day.

At 30 months Little Evan is wearing a 2T consistently, with some 3T shirts thrown in to make sure he doesn’t outgrow ALL his long-sleeved clothes before spring. He has some comfy new size 7 velcro shoes from Target which are very convenient but end up thrown on the floor more often than not. He’s only had 2 haircuts ever and isn’t even close to needing another one. He sleeps from 7:30 pm to 6:30 am and takes a 3 hour nap in the afternoons because he wants to, not because I make him. He bites his fingernails, just like I do.

Likes include boats, carrots, The Fresh Beat Band, dinosaurs, noodles, garbage trucks, milk, fake driving the car, running fast, dancing, friends, baths, climbing things, dogs, and his sister.

Dislikes include falling de-noun (down), hangnails, being interrupted when he’s watching Nick Jr, and when Caroline jumps on his face.

30 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Brushes teeth with help – Yes, and I’m even teaching him to spit so we can move up to real toothpaste
• Washes and dries own hands – Part of potty training is LETTING him wash his hands. It’s almost as good a bribe as the lollipop.
• Draws a vertical line – Yes, but he’s also started drawing things like “T-Rex” or “bebeh” or “Backyardigans” and telling me about them.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Draws a circle – Yes, and also the letter C. He gets them confused.
• Balances on one foot – We’ve moved on to hopping on one foot. I’m counting on a sports scholarship of some sort since I’m blowing all his college money on elaborate children’s parties.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Puts on a T-shirt – Still questionable. He’s about 50% accurate with dressing/undressing.
• Names one color – Blue, green, red, yellow, and white are all colors he names. I’m a teeeeeny bit worried he might be colorblind since his accuracy seems to be getting worse.
• Names one friend – Still 2 best friends, “Triss and Ayahyah”, still runs out the door to see them almost every morning.