Josiah at 2

Josiah had his two-year check-up Friday afternoon. When the pediatrician asked him how old he was, he said "nine." Then he changed his answer to "six." He normally does answer two the second time. Here are his stats, and a few memory book details I want to remember about him at this age.

• Height: 34 inches (50%)
  Weight: 26 lbs. (25%)
  Head: 19 in. (50%)
  The doctor said his thinning out was normal, but recommend we keep him on whole milk, rather than going to 2% or less, because of his weight and because he doesn't drink a lot of milk a day.
  
  
  
• Takes one nap a day for 1.5-2 hours, normally around noon. He typically gets to bed by 7:30 p.m. and wakes between 6:45-7:15 a.m. He normally goes to sleep with no trouble, but sometimes we'll have a rough patch. We've added some elements to our night-time routine. He cleans up his toys, brushes his teeth, says goodnight to Mom or Dad (or our whole small group on Thursdays), and picks out three books to read.
  
  
• His vocabulary is blossoming, and he seems to pick up words daily. He's combining words more, and I think I may have caught a few three words combos. It's really fun to see him progress with his communication. We were a little concerned about his language development because we'd compare him to girls his age, and for some reason we thought the two-word combination milestone had to be a noun and a verb, and of his own making (I don't know why we thought that). Plus he doesn't enunciate really well. Our pediatrician was very reassuring. He easily has over the 50 words she was looking for, and she clarified that the two words could be anything. In that case, he hit that milestone months ago. She said you can't compare boys to girls, plus he doesn't have an older sibling and isn't in a regular daycare or MDO program.
  
  
• His favorite foods: fruit, fruit, fruit, pasta, goldfish/pretzels/crackers, PB&J, and well, ice. He's very passionate about ice. He'll eat some veggies; he gets on big pea kicks and likes dipping carrots and cucumbers in ranch dressing ("sauce"). He likes some sweets, but normally won't polish off a whole item. He's drinking from a regular cup pretty well now, but we don't normally do it.
  
  
  
• He's starting to recognize some letters: O, E, B, W, X, Y. He called a "T" a cross the other day. He'll occasionally get shapes and colors correct, but not consistently. He recognizes some Bible characters in his books: Jesus, Noah, Joshua, Zaccheus, and Jonah. Of course, he can name a lot more Thomas the Train characters...
  
  
• He sings parts of some songs: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Ro, Ro); Do To Others (his favorite, requests it every time he gets in the car, from Hide 'Em in Your Heart); B-I-B-L-E; Praise Ye the Lord, Old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus. He can also fill in the words for parts of his books.
  
  
• Obviously his favorite toys are trains and anything with wheels. He's very studious about playing with them, lining them up, putting them on top of each other, placing characters in them, etc. He also enjoys puzzles, balls, blocks, and has a fondness for stuffed animals sometimes. He's not big on coloring, though he likes his sidewalk chalk more than crayons.
  
  
  
• I don't know if books count as toys, but he still loves them. I wrote down every book he read this summer for the reading program he participated in: over 130! That's a combination of library books and our own.
  
  
• Personality wise, we're very blessed. He has a naturally easy, mild temperament. He's content to sit for long periods of time (for a toddler). He'll run around and play, but isn't overly energetic. He's tentative about climbing and trying new things. He's friendly to people he knows and loves talking about his relatives and friends. He's cuddly after he wakes up and when reading. Nursery workers seems to like because he's "easy."
  
  
  
• Even though he has an easy temperament, he's still a natural sinner. He's responsive to discipline, and we vary between spanking and time-out. When it's deliberately disobedient, we tend toward spanking. When he's inconsolably upset or whiney, time-out seems to work better. We try to always pair our discipline with Bible verses and always with reassurance of our love.