Riley is 2.5

We celebrated his 2.5 year birthday at Disneyland! I actually didn’t even realize it until we were headed home.

Another 6 months has passed since I last did an update, and we’ve had Charly around since then!

Size: 38lbs? I really have no idea, we should stick him on the scale here at home. Height, 41.5″ we measured him before we went to Disneyland. He’s wearing 5T/6 clothing. Size 9 shoes. We’re on the verge of the season changing back to warm again, so I need to buy him some summer gear. He’s one of the biggest kids his age I’ve ever met. When we meet new people they always ask how old he is. They are shocked when I tell them.

Health: He had the real full blown stomach flu over the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was gnarly. He tried to tell us he didn’t feel well, and we didn’t understand him until he got sick on the living room floor after refusing breakfast. When I went into his room I found out he’d probably gotten sick during the night, but we never heard him make a peep on the monitor. He spent the rest of the day laying on the couch, using the “barf bowl” and looking miserable. He got sick all over me multiple times when I would hold him, no warning. By the end of the day he would say “mess!” every time he was going to get sick. His fever spiked that night and after treating it he was much better. I read a lot about vomiting and got much better at managing when and what to give him. I slept on the floor of his room half of that night, and he was back to himself the next day. We thought he may have had the chicken pox after Christmas and were frantically texting everyone we thought might know. We ended up taking him to the Peditrician just to be safe. They ruled it an isolated allergic reaction, and the only thing I can pin it to is the ALL Free And Clear Detergent we’d recently started using. The bumps on his face still haven’t 100% cleared up

Sleep: Kid NEEDS his sleep. I have a feeling he’ll be napping for a good long time. I think he’s like his Daddy. He takes an 1.5 – 3 hour nap and sleeps from 7:30pm – 6:30am. If we’re off our routine for too many days in a row he doesn’t handle it well. He’s not a mess, he’s just so so much happier when he’s gotten the right amount of sleep. He’s always been like that. If he misses a nap, or doesn’t sleep long enough I pull up his bedtime to offset it. Still happy in his big brother room, and wakes up calling for us. If he’s taken a good nap he wakes up so chatty and just rambles on about all kinds of things.

Eating: I’m a little frustrated with the pickiness that’s appeared recently and the “yuck!” faces I get when I offer him new foods. I try to give him 2/3 things he will for sure eat (grain or any kind of fruit or dairy) and then offer 1 new thing. Sometimes he eats the new thing, sometimes he doesn’t. He loves green smoothies, which is the only way he’s eating green veggies. Breakfast foods are still his favorite. He’s just started grabbing a whole apple from the fridge and eating it for real, it’s so cute and funny. He ate one today and got it all the way down to the core! I’m trying to get him into more veggies and new kinds of foods, but I think he eats pretty well for a toddler so I can’t be too upset. I do kind of repeat foods (I do it for myself too) so that’s part of it.

What Riley is up to: His personality is coming through and he’s a funny, organized and focused kid. He can be very particular about how he wants something done. He likes routine, and will remind me if I’ve missed a step. He has a great attention to detail and really good fine and gross motor skills. He can throw a ball, do a floor puzzle and he’s learning to dress and bathe himself. I think he’s pretty typical when it comes to behavior and energy. He’s moderate energy, and tantrums have gotten so much better. We rarely have to count to 3 and get him to time out. Times we do are often for pushing boundaries, or hitting the dog. Poor Betsy. His speech is coming along, and he’s saying new words every week. He’s also counting to 10 on his own and starting to identify letters. He cannot go outside without his sunglasses and a hat.

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.02.31 PM — BFFS. Doing the Long Distance Thing.

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.00.36 PM — Loves rain puddles!

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.00.25 PM — Helping me celebrate 30

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.02.42 PM — Same age. 1 day apart. BFFs for Life!

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.18.50 PM — Stomach Flu Day

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.19.43 PM — Halloween 2015

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.20.08 PM — “Ma Boat!!!”

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.20.37 PM — Cars in a line – TA-DA!

Screen Shot 2016-02-09 at 2.20.46 PM — Big Brother

Toys + Activities: Hotwheels, park trips, stroller walks, walking Betsy, stacking, lining up cars, cooking, helping with tools, painting, Playdough, Curious George, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Thoughts: It’s a sweet chapter in parenting. Sure, it’s hard and totally exhausting. But it’s so cool to see him becoming more of a little human, and have his own style and personality. I love how happy he gets when he can communicate something to me and I understand him. Being a toddler must feel like being in a foreign country where you have a limited grasp on the language, and you don’t understand all the unnecessary (in your mind) rules for everything. I love that we did Baby Led Weaning with him, he’s very careful when he eats and doesn’t make a huge mess. I’m also glad we encouraged solo play since he’s happy to do something on his own for a while before inviting me to join in or see his finished project. We don’t have any plans to send him to preschool, and I’m pretty happy with that plan. I’d like to homeschool, so we’ll see where it goes.

2 thoughts on “Riley is 2.5”

Lauren says:

February 9, 2016 at 4:18 pm

I love these updates so much!!!! Miss my Murphys !!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

1. The Merfett says:
  
  February 9, 2016 at 4:25 pm
  
  And we miss you guys big time! Glad you can stay up on the stats this way ;)