2 YEARS OLD 24 THINGS AT 24 MONTHS

2 years old, how did that happen! Time flies when you are having fun and little ones don’t stay little for long. His arrival only seems a moment ago and yet here we are in the blink of an eye with a happy, funny, gorgeous little boy who is 2 years old. As much as the newborn days were wonderful, he gets better and more fun every day and we get better at being his grown ups every day too!

I’ve scrolled through my memory book for some memories at 24 months!

• The first word, after Mummy (and Emmay) and Dada, was tractor. What else was it going to be really. Shouted repeatedly as we tried to eat lunch in a little pub in Langstone harbour much to the amusement of us and everyone around us when they realised he hadn’t said it before!
• Rarely is the little one stunned into silence, but watching his first harvest and the combine harvesters had that affect.

• We haven’t had that many proper bugs and illnesses, aside the usual everlasting snot and the odd tummy bug. But chicken pox and hand foot and mouth all at once was pretty nasty, and he dealt with it like a pro. Bronchiolitis over Christmas wasn’t much fun either, if indeed (with hindsight) the shortness of breath and persistent cough and high temperature was actually what it was…
• A danger with the walker: in the house, in the garden, at the sailing club, anywhere he had his wheels or something with wheels. He was fast and unstoppable! And particularly good at cornering at speed too! Walking on his own at 14 months slowed him down for a few weeks and then it was on to running!

• Before lots of words, came great noises – bmooo (moo), daaaa (baa), durdledurdle (car engines)! Favourite words are still pleeese (please), cheeeese, ats (hats), ay (hay), ots (hot), wets (wet), wheels. But we get little 3 or 4 word sentences now which I love.
• Sports day at nursery was hilarious. Charging ahead into the lead of the crawling race it was amazing, but he peaked too soon and collapsed into a heap!
• He owns the pout of champions, a warning of upset coming. But also deployed for concentration, accompanied by such focus that breathing gets forgotten and he sounds constipated!
• The delightful habit of biting his toes during a nappy change
• Favourite songs are certainly loved and on repeat – eiei, baa baa, row row, bus, heads… Who needs all the words! Farm animals are obviously a bit hit, when he sees the cows at the end of the garden, points with both hands and charges towards them squealing ‘hi dows’. The time he gave them his ball and didn’t get it back when he asked for it probably wasn’t his favourite cow moment!
• Feeding the ducks is a big event, ‘ducks in there, in the fish pool’ is a favourite phrase. Often the bread for the ducks get eaten rather than given to the ducks so I am glad that we’ve found actual duck food instead now!

• We don’t watch TV, although ‘The Little Farmer’ tractor simulator was useful in lockdown when trying to prepare meals discreetly in our ‘everything’ room. The funniest thing though is that if Sam tries to watch the rugby, the little one finds it intensely boring, only getting excited for the adverts – which seem to always have horses, dogs and cars. Speaking of ball games – football skills are seemingly pretty advanced!
• It’s impossible for him to do just one thing at a time, he’s always doing ten things at once. He does a lot of thinking and analysing and no doubt plotting. He’s definitely bright! And he’s a little hoarder, whether it’s carrying around six of his little cars at the same time, or as many of our hotel soaps that he keeps in a cupboard!
• I was mortified the first time I had to sign a naughty form from nursery, for throwing a toy at a friend and not sitting down for circle time. These days if we get anything I check with my mum friends that they weren’t the recipient!

• The consumption of books makes me very happy. We have hundreds, and I know the words in most off by heart. We know he wants to read because he reverses into our laps with a book. At mealtimes now there are a few little truck books (sounds like ‘chat bots’) that have to be read, like the papers. And all images are pored over in such detail. It also makes me very happy that we can bake together, although he isn’t keen on eating the cakes we make and specifically asks for ‘icing off’ if he’s given one with icing!
• Favourite phrases are definitely ‘oh no no no’ and ‘stuck’. Although recently ‘duddle’ has started melting my heart – Mummy-duddle or Daddy-duddle are frequently requested! If I give Sam a hug and he sees, he comes charging across to us to join in! Cheers is also popular! Mummy-work and Daddy-work he learnt during lockdown whenever we had a shift-change between work and childcare. And Mummy’s water, pointing at a glass of fizz, was definitely one of the funniest things he’s said in a while!

• He loves dancing, whether its head bobbing to music in the car or dancing like nobody is watching at home! Apparently at nursery with his best buddies, dancing is one of their favourite things!
• We are left in no doubt of his need to be somewhere else – he will get our shoes and his shoes when he’s ready to go somewhere or, embarrassingly, to leave somewhere we’ve gone!
• He has always hated having dirty or sticky hands. Thankfully living in a pandemic has taught him to ‘wash hands’, something which he likes so much you could call it a hobby! At the beach ‘wash toes’ is quite a problem as sand just keeps on sticking to wet toes! We’ve not spent enough time near the sea, but recently on days off we’ve been enjoying it together and he’s been having the best time running around on the shoreline and knocking down the sandcastles I diligently build him!

• We won’t forget having a house extension during lockdown, it couldn’t have been worse timed. But thankfully the big stuff either kept him entertained, or he slept through it. The back of the house was demolished at great noise during a nap, no eye was batted! Lockdown itself had is moments – yes it was a delight to full time parent and not miss a milestone, but oh my goodness it was near impossible to work full time alongside! His very first haircut was in lockdown and I did it myself!

• Food was an easy thing about six months ago, before we lost the kitchen. And finally we are coming out the other side of a spaghetti hoops diet… There continues to be a love of melon (we’ve confused him and he does an elephant trunk impression when he wants it) and babybel (cheeeeese) and stuffing as much food into his mouth as possible. Often we still need to spoon feed him and hide things inside other things!
• Learning how to blow dandelion clocks apart is one of the funniest things! We’ve had so many walking adventures in the village that he knows his way around. So many walks have we done, that he knows to stand to the side of the road for a vehicle or a bike to pass. He’s also very particular about who he waves at – speeding cars stand no chance, but he always made the day of an elderly driver passing by! He knows where the tractor shop is, he knows where the tractor depot is, and he knows where the little girls hang out on their bicycles too – he loves them as they always wave! He knows where to find ‘cluck cluck’ too! He’s on fire with his plastic balance bike, it started as a trike but now the wheels have been spun and he’s balancing like a pro!

• Seeing him with his own friends is one of my favourite things. When he started nursery and first started choosing his friends and greeting them it was wonderful. I worried in lockdown he’d forget his friends and they’d forget him. But no concerns now. Playdates are so much fun, spending time with my friends older children is a dream as he hero worships them (he’s still looking for one of them in the garden). And nursery, NCT and Tuesday friends clicked back into place as soon as lockdown started to be eased. In fact he goes to bed saying the names of his besties over and over – Charlie, George the most for sure, but Nancy, Minerva, Aria, George, Evelyn, Rory, Freddie, James, Leo too. And recently Arthur and Albie too! Anything to delay sleep!
• The best word we’ve heard him say, is his own name. Just a few weeks ago he finally treated us to it and now he just won’t stop! And that smile that just keeps beaming, so happy so much of the time. My favourite of his smiles is actually one we rarely get to photograph – when he first sees us after nursery and is really delighted it’s a special smile, with so much excitement that he smiles sort of sideways with lips together. The cutest thing.
• Kisses, he loves kisses and we are getting to love the slobbery snotty kisses that we are given! We read about eight books at bedtime in our routine and he waits for the end of ‘ten little fingers’ to get his ‘three little kisses on the tip of his nose’.

2 years old, 86 centimetres tall, size 6G feet and 14.5kg heavy, full of fun, happiness and adventure. No party this year, just dates with little friends a few at a time instead. We can be thankful that no group gatherings meant no massive party clear up! I’m not sure he would have been ready to share his amazing new climbing frames with anyone yet anyway! The terrible twos await, and we’ve had glimpses at it already on some difficult days. But thankfully he’s good-natured and loving and beams the biggest smile loving everything that he does! And I’m going to keep letting him after an after-nap doze on me for as long as I can as I adore it!

And because I’ve never been able to show restraint in the number of photos I take, here’s my favourites from the year… Just a few!!