Shortly after his 2nd birthday, we transitioned Bennett's crib to a day/toddler bed. He had no issues with the change, and surprisingly never fell out! He loves being big and will tell you "No, I am big!" if you tell him he is too small or too little to do something. In November, we transitioned the crib/toddler bed to a twin bed. Again, no issues at all with the transition. In fact, it probably helped him sleep better! He seems more comfortable and warmer, which therefore allows him to sleep in a bit longer.
Speaking of sleep, he is a night owl! If we allowed him to, he would stay away until 10 or 11 every night. He just never wants to slow down. He has no time for sleep. But, once he lays down and falls asleep, he is a great sleeper. We have never had any issues with him waking up in the middle of the night. But, regardless of what time we put him to bed, he always wakes up around 6:30 AM. We sometimes get lucky and he will stretch it to 7 or 7:30 but it is not consistently. One hope I have for baby #2 is that Bennett's sleep patterns rub off on her. We have never had an issue putting him down or him waking up in the middle of the night. If the biggest complaint I have is that he doesn't sleep in as late as we would like, I will take that over the other two issues any day!
(First night in his big boy bed-such excitement!)
One of the biggest milestones from the past 6 months was successful potty training! I dreaded potty training Bennett. I just felt like it was going to be so much work. If I have one bit of advice for other parents or future parents I would say, just let it happen on its own! I know this is a hard concept to understand, and even I would scoff at that statement and be like, "well, how do I know when it is going to happen on its own?!?! what do you mean???" For around 6 months, Bennett would show interest in the potty. We would let him sit on it, play on it, explore, but he never really went (maybe once or twice here and there). Then, one night he decided, again, that he wanted to sit on it but this time he actually went! And the same thing happened again in the morning. We asked our babysitter to just keep putting him on the potty to try and the next 2-3 days he kept doing it. That weekend we bought underwear and officially stopped using diapers during the daytime. The first couple of weeks came with some accidents, maybe 1-2 a day, but never enough to make us feel he wasn't ready. It has now been 3 months and he has been doing great. I don't remember the last accident he had during the day. Night time has been a little different, we go back and forth between using pull ups and letting him wear underwear to bed. He has absolutely no interest in the pull ups and usually it is not worth the fight to make him put them on. The last couple of weeks he has done really well, for the most part, and has either made it completely through the night or woken us up to go potty.
Bennett is very much a tv junkie. I almost hate writing this, but being 8 months pregnant, can't say I haven't been using it as a crutch during this pregnancy. Oops:) His favorite TV shows are Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Team Umizoomi, Blaze and the Monster Machines, and he will have spurts of PJ Masks and Paw Patrol. But really, he would watch any cartoon if we would let him. We have taken him to a couple of movies and he seems to really enjoy that also. He loves playing with Monster Trucks, Hot Wheels, Play-do, his Paw Patrol game and trucks, his "tools", legos, and Batman. Batman has recently become an OB-SESS-ION around here. He refuses to take off his batman clothes and does not understand when they are dirty. He will run around the house, put his hands on his hips, and pronounce "I AM BATMAN!" And of course, Mommy and Daddy are characters too, I am Batgirl and Daddy is Superman. Bennett absolutely loves playing hide and seek and could play for hours, although he is the absolute WORST hide and seeker:) He also craves being outside. We are all dealing with a bit of cabin fever, so the moment the weather gets above 25, we are usually outside for a bit playing.
(A little shy around Santa this year, but no tears!)
(A big boy bike from Santa)
For a while, while he ate, he would stop and say "mmmmm Delicious!"
His vocabulary amazes me. I love being able to have little conversations with him. I also love that he is able to tell me he loves us, he misses us, ask questions, etc.
Recently he has started saying "Baby Sister come out!" and it just melts my heart.
Eating is probably the biggest struggle we have with this little dude. How a kid with so much energy can run on such little food is mind boggling. He rarely eats more than 3 or 4 bites of anything. He hardly snacks. He just runs and runs, no time to eat. Dinner time is the biggest hurdle of the day and usually can be frustrating. We try to have him take one or two bites of everything on his plate, but honestly, sometimes the battle is just not worth it. Instead, we just say no snacks later, and sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.
(This kid LOVES Monster Jam!)
At 2 years old, Bennett has been sticking around the same size clothes for a while. Typically, he will wear 24 mos. We are finally outgrowing some of the last remaining 18 months clothes. And 2T is making appearances in his wardrobe. He is a bit short for most of his pants. Shirts seem to fit fine. And his feet are small compared to other toddlers his age. He has been wearing size 6 shoes for 6 months now.
Bennett is extremely social and loves attention. But, if we try to introduce him to someone, he will then get shy. He loves kids his age and always wants to "be friends." He will try to grab their hands or follow them around to play.
Watching him learn has been so exciting. He can count to 15 (misses a few numbers here and there), sing 2 or 3 songs (with some help), point out colors, understands red means stop/green-go,yellow-slow down. I hate to say it but the TV shows now are so educational and I honestly feel that some of these shows have helped him learn counting, colors, etc. I don't feel like I have ever had the time to sit down with him and really work on these things.
We have truly enjoyed having it be just us three for the past 2.5 years, but ready for our next adventure! I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks with just Bennett. I gave up my phone for lent while I am around Bennett, an effort to be "more present." I only get 5 short weeks with just him left (give or take!) and I want to take full advantage of it. We have been trying really hard to get Bennett to go to Daddy with more requests, and I think it has been working. Either way, once baby sister arrives, he will have no choice but to give up on me some (tear!). We are so SO SOOOOOO excited for this next chapter and this summer is going to be a lot of fun (let's hope!).
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