Ian Year 2 Month 11 Battle Report

Ian is just 1 month shy of turning 3 and, jokes about "half his life" aside, it feels like he's been 2 for longer than 50% of the dynasties in imperial China.

Ian is full of big emotions and very aware of how he feels, but struggles to adapt when things don't go exactly as expected. We can be having a perfect afternoon and then he'll fixate on something that isn't quite right and have a tantrum. He averages 1-2 tantrums per day at the moment. We're working through it patiently and we hope it improves in year 3.

He naps well and sleeps well. As soon as he's up, he runs to the living room to recite scenes from his tractor DVDs while driving trucks around. He likes to play by himself until he realizes he's playing by himself at which point he'll come find me or Rebecca and tell us he misses us.

He is rigid in his routines, from asking us, "What's after that?", for each phase of the day to always wanting to watch his John Deere tractor DVDs before nap time. He wants to read the same books over and over again (I once read Berenstain Bears Learn about Strangers 10 times in 6 days) and wants the Duplos positioned exactly as he left them (even if he doesn't want to play with them anymore).

He's got a great arm for throwing things and a great sense of pitch for singing his favourite songs, the John Deere theme song and Tractor, Tractor. He's also a whiz at identifying car makes based on the company logos, and loves taking the stroller to preschool (instead of the car) so he can identify myriad parked cars along the way.

He's figuring out how to mash up the English language to convey ideas -- when he wanted more water out of the faucet, he asked me to "turn it louder", and when he tasted a plain yogurt instead of his preferred mixed berry, he said, "I can't feel this yogurt, I want another one".

Here is Ian at preschool. He's learning to wave for the camera gradually.