Ian Year 2 Month 9 Battle Report

Ian is 3 months away from turning 3. As Einstein theorized, the closer we get to age 3, the longer it seems that age 2 has lastest.

Ian is fierce. He knows exactly what he wants and isn't afraid to raise Hades when he doesn't get what he wants. Related, his emotional IQ is off the charts and he will conclude his tantrums with phrases like "Will you snuggle with me?", "I need to feel better!", "Take care of me!", or "I want to be happy!". He is great at using and throwing away Kleenex, but hates when we have to suction his nose. Even showing him the giant boogers is a non-starter because he'll turn away ("No! I don't want to see that!")

He likes when I make up songs and rhymes (his favourite for a long time was "Construction Site, There's a Poop in My Scoop!") but he will continue to ask for more rhymes ("What else?") long after the rhyming options have been exhausted. He says that he loves toy trains, especially the one he received from the grandparents for Christmas that drains AAA batteries as if they were free shots at O'Faolain's.

He loves doing what Maia does and following her around. He'll repeat anything she says like a tiny echo. When not following Maia, he'll want us to play with him -- he grabs our hand and pulls us somewhere while chanting, "Let's play!" However, there are very few things we're actually allowed to DO during playing, as he doesn't approve of most of our attempts to expand upon his carefully curated Duplo world. At the moment, two cats, Abby and Amber, live in a house with an attic near the train station and sometimes they drive the Amazon Prime truck.

His favourite food is corn ("I love Torn so much.") and he recently started reading stories on the iPad with Khan Academy Kids ("I want to read a rectangle book"). He also loves watching and rewatching a DVD about John Deere tractors checked out from the library -- the first thing we hear from his room in the morning is a recitation of the DVD (including ads: "Don't miss it!") We work slightly harder at limiting his screen time than Maia (who would happily stop with screens to do something else) but he also gets to watch slightly more TV at this age than Maia did. We just started watching the perfectly wholesome show, Trash Truck, on Netflix.

Ian sleeps very well now although naptime is sitting in bed singing John Deere songs 50% of the time. If Rebecca is home, she must be the story-reader although he has assured me that he's okay with me doing it "when mommy isn't home".