Yesterday Matt turned two years old. He had his two-year check-up appointment this morning, and he checks out as a healthy two year old. He weighed exactly 30 pounds, which puts him around the 83-84th percentile. The nurse measured him at 35 1/4" tall, which is in the mid-70s range, but that seems short. Matt is taller than almost all of the 2 1/2 year olds (and some 3 year olds) we know. It doesn't matter, though, because he seems to be growing and doing well. We know Matt grew in height over the past month. His 2T pants and 3T shirts are not as long as they were when I first put them into his drawer, and his size 8 shoes are fitting more.
Matt is quite the chatterbox. His vocabulary and language skills have just exploded over the past month or so. The doctor asked me how many words he can say by now, and I can't even begin to count them. He regularly puts four, five, and even six words together in a sentence, and he uses different sentence structures, sometimes including adjectives and/or adverbs. He doesn't use a lot of prepositions, conjunctions, and articles, but he gets his point across pretty well even so. He will identify himself as "I," usually in the statements "I want" or "I need" (which seem pretty interchangeable to him at this point). For the most part he still refers to himself in the third person, though. Matt picks up words and phrases within one hearing, so we have to be careful what we say around him. His understanding of words is very good, too, and he definitely still understands more than he can say at this point. He makes increasingly sophisticated connections. The other day I observed that the cat was "not happy" she had to wait for her dinner, and he said, "Kitty cat not happy. Cat sad?"
Matt is, as always, one busy little guy. He still loves to read, do puzzles (we've introduced him to basic jigsaw puzzles, and he has caught on quickly), and "hook" things together. He is interested in building or at least constructing things - the engineer genes coming through, I think. Coloring with chalk and markers, painting (with a brush, as he doesn't like getting paint on his hands), and decorating with stickers are his main artistic pursuits. He insists on signing all cards and letters when he can, as some of you who have gotten mail from us lately have no doubt noticed. Matt also continues to like running around outside, playing in the sandbox, driving around toy trucks, and climbing ladders to go down the slide. Tromping through and throwing around the fallen leaves is a new-to-fall activity he has quickly come to enjoy.
The list of Matt's favorite things continues to look basically the same. Vehicles of all kinds, especially construction trucks, fire engines, and above all trains, are always interesting. He likes dinosaurs and animals. This past month he showed a particular interest in pigs for a while. (When he seems to favor an animal or anything else, I'll reserve a bunch of books at the library and we'll read them until he moves onto the next favorite.) He still loves Curious George, although he has loved Winnie the Pooh even more lately. (He hasn't even seen the Winnie the Pooh movies; so far he's just fallen in love with books and the stuffed animal. He does like to watch the Curious George TV shows, which he gets to do every once in a while as a treat or when he's not feeling well.)
Matt eats well. He is not too picky, but of course he has his favorites. He likes a good variety of food, which is nice, although he does have a bit of a sweet tooth. So far he's had no reaction to any foods. Knock on wood that continues to be the case!
In general Matt is a happy little guy. He is pretty easy going, although he will fuss when he's tired, hungry, or not feeling well. He's very curious and inquisitive, and he has an eagle eye for noticing things (put a few things in a different place, and he'll almost always go right to them to see what has changed). He's also very sharp and picks up on things quickly. He likes to figure things out for himself, although he also learns a lot from our reading. Like many toddlers he likes to help, although like many toddlers he can be more helpful at some times than others. His favorite chores are cleaning up his trains and tracks, adding ingredients to and stirring food that's being cooked, sorting and putting in laundry, unloading the dishwasher, throwing away junk mail, and doing yardwork. Matt is a snuggle bunny and affectionate with us and some of his friends. But he still suffers from separation anxiety when both Jon and I leave him, although he's getting better about being left with people he knows well.
Note: This is the last monthly update I plan to post, although I'll include this sort of information in our monthly recaps and post when there's significant news to report.
