So what has Ronan been up to?
His speaking/language skills are more advanced now. It went from 2-word phrases at 15-18 months to 8-word sentences at 24 months! Jerry keeps a journal of all the milestones, and here are some examples:
"All done"
"Baby hold"
"Daddy eat bread"
"Grandma go night night"
"I don't know"
"Where did it go?"
"I couldn't find it"
"Mommy be careful behind you"
"Where did the man in the moon go?"
He says "please" when asking and "thank you" after receiving. We used to have to prompt him, but now he says it all by himself.
He also covers his mouth when he coughs. And when he sneezes, he says "scuze me" and "tissue please."
When we ask him "How are you?" he replies by saying "Fine."
He knows the colors. His favorite color right now is purple. Before that it was light blue. Before that it was orange. And before that it was green. His favorite color changes from week to week.
He knows the difference between loud and quiet. He can adjustthe volume on the iPad or iTouch or iPod. Speaking of electronic devices, he totally knows how to work them all by himself, from turning them on and sliding the arrow to unlock to picking out the video to picking out a particular chapter.
He still loves to read his books. He has every single board book by Sandra Boynton. And his collection of books has grown to include books by Stan Berenstain, Dr. Seuss, Sesame Street, etc. After reading the book once or twice, instead of just looking at the pictures he likes to point to the words and spell. He makes a game out of finding the letters in order. He starts with the letter 'A' and looks around the page for that letter. And so on and so forth. Sometimes, he can't find a word that starts with a particular letter, so he gets a little frustrated.
Speaking of spelling, he spells everything in sight! When we were at Party City getting supplies for his birthday party, he points to the sign on the store and spells P-A-R-T-Y C-I-T-Y and asked "What's that?" And inside stores, he likes to spell everything that he can see!
He also sees letters on objects. For instance, he has an easel and at the side it's an A-frame. He sees the letter A. And then he proceds to find other objects for the rest of the alphabet. Unfortunately, the letter A is the only thing that he could fine.
He can spell a few words all by himself in addition to his name. He knows that the jumble of letters in the alphabet can make words when you put each letter in a certain order. He already knew how to spell his name when he was about 16-18 months old. Here are some more words he can spell:
Hug - A game that he likes to play is the HUG game. I started off saying
"H-U-G, hug" and give him a hug. He repeated after me and we do it over
and over. And now, he initiates the game. He says "H-U-G hug" and gives
us a hug. So sweet! And he spells it using his block letters, too!
Milk - Because he asks for mommy's milk quite a lot, we decided to teach him
how to spell it using the block letters. During playtime, Ronan
asked for mommy's milk. So Daddy lined up the letters and showed him
how to spell milk. Ronan pointed to the letters and said them
out loud. A little while later, he wanted mommy's milk and proceded to
go to his letters and spelled out milk. We were both so suprised! How
could he have picked that up just by seeing it only once? And then we
realized that it wasn't the first time that he did or say something after
seeing or hearing it only once. Amazing!
He is still waiting on the last set of molars. Sometimes I think I see something, but then nothing shows up. Instead of giving him baby motrin or other medication, he wears the amber teething necklace (you see him wearing it most of the time in pictures). The amber really does seem to help with the drooling and the overall fussiness associated with teething. When I forget to put it on him right after he wakes up, he seems to drool a lot and is generally cranky. But once he wears the necklace for about 15-30 minutes, the drooling has stopped and he's in a much better mood.
He can eat and drink from a cup all by himself without spilling. Since he started eating solid foods at 14 months, I was suprised that he reached this milestone so soon! The video is a few posts down.
His palate is definitely sophisticated. He's always willing to try new foods. In fact, he insists on it! Here's a sample menu for one day:
- Breakfast: steel cut oats (oats, milk, egg, coconut oil, coconut sugar,
pink himalayan sea salt)
- Snack: frozen grapes, Muenster cheese and gluten free crackers
- Lunch: Monte Cristo (bread, turkey, ham, swiss cheese, american cheese,
coconut flour, coconut sugar, pink himalayan sea salt, aluminum-free
baking powder, olive oil)
- Snack: Brocolli sauteed in coconut oil or brocolli quiche (brocolli,
onions, garlic, pink himalayan sea salt, brown rice, eggs, milk)
- Dinner: Meatloaf (ground beef, eggs, milk, quinoa flakes, pink himalayan
sea salt, onions, paprika, cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, red/yellow/
green bell peppers, flaxseed)
- Snack: Corn
The menu changes every day, and sometimes he will want to eat the same thing day after day (especially corn). But other foods that he likes are chicken-n-rice, spinach spaghetti & meatballs, tortellini & pesto. We give him only organic, non-genetically modified foods.
I've now just started culturing my own probiotics. We all like the water kefir. It's so easy to do and oh so healthy! Kefir grains in sugar water, let sit on countertop for 24-48 hours, strain out the kefir grains and put in new solution of sugar water. After the kefir grains are strained out, I either just drink it straight or flavor it with juice. Eventually, I want to start making other cultures like buttermilk and even milk kefir. But I have to get used to the idea of letting milk sit on the counter for over 24 hours.
He is a fast runner! I'm not talking about walking fast, which he could do ever since he started walking. But I'm talking about actually running! He must've inherited that from his paw-paw (Jerry's dad). Because he likes to run all the time, we always have to hold his hands whenever we're out or else he'd dash off!
He is into pretend play big time! One of the things that he likes to do is to play airplane. He would stretch out his arms and 'fly' around the house making an engine noise. It's so cute! He also likes to pretend he's cooking. Mommy made him a play stove out of a box that one of his toys came in. And for food, he uses the colored blocks as bullion cubes, rubber duckie to make duck soup, wooden eggs, etc.
The game of the moment is the "Oh Baby!" game. Either Mommy or Daddy would say "Oh Baby!" several times while looking for him. Of course he's right in front of us, but we pretend that we don't see him. So we keep calling for him until he decides to let us know when he wants to be found. So cute! (video coming soon)
He knows how to use his iPad, from turning it on and unlocking it to picking out a video/song/app to adjusting the volume. He also knows how to work Daddy's phone. Like father, like son! (We will be getting him an iTouch soon, as it's much easier to hold in the carseat.)
He called the UPS or FEDEX delivery person "The Man." We get packages several times a week, and most are for him. So whenever he sees "The Man" at the door, he says "The Man! New Stuff for baby!" He's so silly!
The past two years have been the best two years of our lives! Happy Birthday, Baby! What a precious Miracle you are and we love you so much!
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