23 Months Old - The Terrible Twos

It all started with a week and a half of being sick with a few days of high fever.  He was needy and crying all the time AND the ugly head of the terrible twos has shown itself.  They were here in full force and now that he's feeling better, thank goodness he is mostly back to normal, but signs of the terrible twos indeed remain.


He refuses to let you take any item of clothing off without a fight  diaper changes often involve screaming and/or crying.  This I find bizarre.  We try to distract him with interesting things, but he's just really upset if you try to undress him.  He also doesn't want water poured over his head in the bath anymore and tries to climb out and get as far away from me as possible.

He gets upset when other people play with his stuff and he protests by telling you that someone is playing with "my car"! 




Baby CP was very excited to play with the fire engine at a local block party last weekend.

Sometimes he refuses to sit in his carseat or a stroller.  If we're in a rush we have to force him into the carseat which results in crying really hard for a really long time.  Super annoying...but you gotta go what you gotta do sometimes.   I think we have to start planning even more of a time buffer into anything because the terrible twos may rear it ugly head at any time.

Unfortunately while he was still recovering, Baby CP started acting very unhappy at daycare, which resulted in staying home for a couple days.  Even the week after he was better he still protested when we dropped him off.  The teachers said that he still played with his friends well but wouldn't allow the teachers to get too close (i.e. the same stuff like changing clothes or diapers).  Thankfully today he greeted his teacher with a smile though I saw hesitation on his face when I handed him over.  I hope he was ok today.


Baby CP and his daycare buddies playing outside at the new location

On an unrelated note, he seems to have grown a noticeable amount recently and he's been eating more than he used to eat.  And thankfully, now when he doesn't want to eat something instead of spitting it out on the floor (or my couch!) he comes back to the plate and spits it out there. 

22 Months, 3 Weeks

Since our last post Baby CP made a trip back to NY to see his grandparents.  Baby CP's cousin, Junior, also made the trip.  These two are trouble makers.



NYC was cold that day

 Baby CP was very well behaved on the plane both ways...videos helps with that a lot.  We tried out these special JLab sound limiting headphones so that he could hear the videos without bothering neighboring travelers.  It did not occur to him that he could run up and down the aisles.  Luckily there were no other kids on the plane doing that to give him the idea.

After being back a week or so, Baby CP caught another cold, though this one turned nasty.  After discussing with Grandma CP, I think it was roseola.  He's been so fussy and needy and had a super high fever for a few days.  He had a non itchy rash for a day and still continues to refuse food and drinks for most of the day.  He also demands to be held all day long and says "no" to almost everything.  Poor guy.  I hope it passes soon.

The cold wiped him out and he passed out while watching Thomas on the couch

Sometimes you can catch him saying "my" truck or "my book".  He can identify blue things.  He's not so good with other colors yet.  He picks or gnaws chocolate chips off of cookies.  Gross. 



Exploring nature

It was pretty warm this weekend, so I broke out the water table for Baby CP to enjoy some outside time in the backyard.  It's not too often that SF gets warm enough to play with water outside.

21 Months, 3 Weeks

These pictures make me laugh.

Baby CP has a new favorite cartoon - Busytown Mysteries.  He likes to sing along with the theme song.  He definitely has preferences for different shows at different times - he might request Dora or Busytown Mysteries one day, but on another he'll say no Dora.

  I think these are fine motor skill training exercises.  He looks very focused.

Baby CP was sick this week.  His teachers said that on this particular day he was so unhappy except when they were making these lanterns.  He had not been this unhappy since his first week at daycare and he insisted on being held all day and asked for mommy all day.  Poor guy.  His runny nose seemed to have dried up yesterday though, which is pretty good.  Usually it takes about 10 days to run its course.

Sentences, Counting & Songs

Baby CP has started to link more words and can form sentences....many are commands, but he can make some statements too.

Come here Mama.
Come on Baba.
Baba shang che ("daddy get in the car")
Kan baby shu ("let's read the baby book")
Mei kan dao Dora ("I don't see Dora")
Ziji Zou Ziji Zou ("I want to go [downstairs] by myself")

I have no idea how he ended up with the pineapple cookie cutter, but I LOVE it!

Baby CP understands the concept of counting and can count up to five in English and 10 in Chinese (though for some reason, he usually stops at 3 or 5).  He's more likely to count higher if you ask him how many of something there are in a book.  He also says "abcd" and sort of understands the concept of letters, because I was told he saw a "6" somewhere and said it was a "b", but I've never heard him say any letters beyond "d".

I'm not sure whether this is bread, a cookie, or nothing edible at all.

Baby CP likes to request songs and he can sing along for a good part of the Wheels on the Bus song, Row your Boat and the Chinese song about two little tigers.

Ahhhhh - Open Up Mr. Fishy

After Baby CP had his cleaning, he had some time to kill before the dentist came in to check his teeth for cavities and gingivitis.  Baby CP was being helpful by helping Mr. Fishy brush his teeth.  If only he were this good at brushing his own teeth...

This is a recent video of Baby CP kicking underwater.  He's still got some improvement to do, but he has no fear of going under the water and trying to go somewhere.

Baby CP was making his own lunch last week - wontons.  Yum.  He ate 6 - which was the most of anyone else that day.

Baby CP had to get some shots today.  He seems to know that he doesn't like the doctor's office, because once we went in, he asked if we could leave.  I let him watch some videos so things were fine until the shots, partly because I had to hold him down.  He really really hates being held down.  He stopped crying a few seconds after the bandaids went on though.

21 Months Old

Baby turns 21 months old this week.  We've hit a little rough patch with the sleeping.  I'm not sure why...he just tries to delay when it's bedtime or he listens to all his stories but then has some trouble settling down.  Maybe there is some extra brain development going on.  He's been learning words super fast these days and putting ideas and words together.  He can jump about an inch off the ground with both feet.  He can even take apart and put train tracks together.

I think Axl Rose had a similar look...

This past weekend, we went to the Aquarium by the Bay on the Embarcadero.  Baby CP enjoyed looking at some fish and especially liked touching the starfish.

I see you!

Let me at 'em!

My precious starfish.

Baby CP went to his first dental visit this week as required by his pediatrician.  Much to my surprise, Baby CP allowed the dental assistant to clean his teeth and brush flouride onto his teeth and then he let the dentist check for cavities and gingivitis.  I was a little annoyed because if Baby CP let's me brush his teeth (which is about 1 out of every 2 nights), he only gives me about 20 seconds to do so.  The dentist told us we had to pin him down to do it for his own health though...so that's what I do now...but I still have to work very fast.  I think last night (the second time I had to pin him down), Baby CP realized that it had to be done, so after his crying and my brushing, he said he wanted to sit on the bench with me and brush his own teeth.

20 Months, 2 Weeks

It's been very interesting to see what Baby CP has been up to at daycare recently.  When he first started, he wasn't very interested in any arts and crafts projects, but recently he has been participating in things like making valentines and sandwiches.

I'm told he eventually took the sandwich innards out, ate only the good stuff and ditched the bread.

His daycare providers also continue to take him on outings to local parks and the library.  Recently they've been exploring plants and flowers.

I like to call this one Blue Steel.

A slightly odd piece of information - Baby CP is freaked out by Humpty Dumpty.  A couple months ago, we were watching a Dora the Explorer episode that includes a short section about Humpty Dumpty.  When Humpty Dumpty was in view, Baby CP started to cry loudly.  Mr. CP thought that Baby CP was distraught at the thought of Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall and cracking.  Last night that episode was showing again and I thought he would probably think nothing of it, but once the egg was in view, Baby CP started crying super loudly...tears and everything.  He said he was scared and demanded to watch Bob the Builder and repeating "No Dora.  No Dora."  Who knew Humpty Dumpty was such a scary guy?