Height: 35.5 inches (78th percentile)
Weight: 29 pounds (72nd percentile)
Head Circumference: 50.1 centimeters (59th percentile)
He's a growing healthy boy, and we couldn't be more grateful for that!
When I think about Quinn's personality at two, two words come to mind. Independent and gregarious (most of the time, at least).
Quinn likes to figure out how to do things all by himself. Being dependent on others to assist him in meeting his needs is not something that he is interested in, whenever possible. For example, right around Quinn's second birthday (within a day or two) he figured out how to unlock the front door at Grandma and Grandpa's house, thus enabling him to be able to get outside whenever he pleased. This did not please me, naturally, because my child has no sense of fear or natural consequence (i.e. cars). This skill quickly translated to home, where he learned to successfully lock or unlock any of our doors. I had a few sleepless nights, fearing that Quinn would make his way outside while Pat and I slept. You might be wondering why we didn't just put a safety lock on the door at this point? Well, we have latch handles, and safety locks aren't easily available for this kind of door handle, at least not anywhere that I shop. Thankfully, I learned that they do exist (thanks Jamie) and purchased one immediately online. Sleep improved dramatically after the installation, and I don't have to spend rainy days constantly trying to persuade Quinn that playing inside can be fun, too. He is also well versed in moving his little toddler chair around the kitchen to try and find delicious snacks on counters, climbing on anything and everything to reach the valuables that we try and prevent him from touching, etc... Independent.
Quinn is also quite gregarious. As I get older, this trait is something that I admire more and more, for I am becoming quite the opposite. For example, when we take him to a park he loves to watch for a couple of minutes and find an older child, almost always an older boy, who is just a bit braver (i.e. crazier) than him. He will study this child’s behaviors and then attach himself to the child like a leach. He follows the child around and tries to mimic his every behavior. Often times this annoys the older boys, but Quinn doesn’t seem to be clued in to this yet. This social personality of his (and need for structure), is what led Pat and I to make the decision to put him in a half-day "preschool" program twice a week. We figured that with a baby on the way, this would give Quinn some social time that he so desperately craves (and will give me a little bit of one-on-one time with baby). The transition has not been going as smoothly as I would have anticipated though. So, we'll see how long we last... It's hard to justify spending money that we don't NEED to spend when it doesn't seem to be the amazing outlet that we had predicted it would be.
This independent and gregarious child of ours also has a bossy side (I'm afraid he probably got this trait from me). Quinn demonstrates a pretty clear understanding of behaviors that are acceptable or not (in Pat and my eyes) based on his bossiness. For example, if he wants to do something that he knows he shouldn’t, he will direct Pat or me (or whoever is responsible for him at the time) to “go sit”, or “go play", or he will simply go and hide so we can't see what inappropriate thing he is trying to do. This can be anything from sneaking food he knows he shouldn't have to ripping our books off of the shelves. My parenting tends to suffer at this time because I find his directions hilarious, and am also fascinated by what he thinks he’ll be able to get away with. I am working on it.
When safety is an issue (which seems to be much more often than I'm comfortable with), I have an easier time being clear and consistent with my boundaries. Around his birthday, after the door unlocking skill developed, we worked very hard to establish clear boundaries for Quinn (i.e. no going out in the road). Quinn will test these boundaries and walk out to the last piece of grass before touching pavement, and will then cover his eyes as if he doesn't realize that he's moving outside of the acceptable play zone or defined boundary. These kinds of dangerous behaviors are what led us to introduce "time-outs" as a consequence for Quinn. Some days they seem to work well, and other days he just doesn't seem to get it. The best part of time-outs has been the release. Currently when I go to release Quinn from his time out he quickly says “saucy” (sorry), gives me a hug and kiss, and then shouts, “Play? Woohoo!” It's adorable. I know that consistency is key to developing a well-mannered child, and plan to continue to follow through with consequences for Quinn's sake (and my sanity). I must admit that so far Pat is more of the disciplinarian in our family. I would have never guessed that would be the case, but appreciate his strictness and aspire to be the same.
At two, Quinn's favorite place to be is outside. He loves water, running, jumping, sliding, swinging, climbing, and FREEDOM. Outside is his paradise. Sadly, the weather this summer has not cooperated. Quinn isn't deterred by weather, but mommy is. We've had some fun dates at the pool and beach though, and I look forward to many more.
Quinn also loves movies. He is familiar with nearly all of the Pixar titles, and is expanding his repertoire beyond Pixar as well. His newest favorite is Shrek, and he requests it daily. His screen time is not lacking, let's just say that.
Our little munchkin is an extreme animal lover. He learned animal sounds before any basic words, chooses books with animals before anything else, and absolutely loves his pets, Lucy and the cats. Poor Lucy puts up with all of Quinn's "love", and we are so grateful that she is a patient and tolerant pup. The cats don't put up with Quinn at all, and for that reason cats are a magical phenomenon for Quinn that can't be touched. He loves to see the cats and is learning that he needs to be very still if he ever wants them around. This stillness doesn't happen very often though, and consequentially, Quinn rarely spends time with the cats. Lately we've been dog sitting for a friend, and so there have been two pups around. Quinn has been in heaven, and luckily Gizmo ("Momo") is just as tolerant as Lucy.
Quinn's love for books seems to ebb and flow. Sometimes I'll find him sitting with a basket of books and see him read through each one independently, identifying the pictures and/or animal sounds that he knows from each page. Other times when he reads he'll pick one page in each book, say a word or two, and then close the book and say, "all done". I hope that his love of books develops more, but don't want to push him away either.
Our little love also seems to be inheriting his dad's love of sorting. Play nowadays consists mainly of sorting toys, putting toys in a line, moving toys from one spot to another, etc... As the sorting/rearranging takes place, he tends to count in his own special way, leaving out the number two always, and oftentimes just beginning with the number three. Quinn's counting goes something like this, "Wuh, tree, four, fide, sick, seven, eight..." and then random numbers start getting thrown around or he starts back at three. I would think he was unaware of the number two except my aunt was showing him the peace sign around the time of his birthday, trying to get him to say peace, and he responded with "No, two". We had been trying to teach him to respond to the question "How old are you?" with "Two, yahoo!". It happened on occasion, but hasn't translated into a sequential number for counting just yet. He goes through phases that seem to change daily regarding whether or not everything needs to be orderly vs. absolute chaos. Naturally, I prefer the orderly days, and am trying to figure out how to foster that preference.
Quinn is also developing an ever-growing list of comfort items (and learning how to procrastinate during our bedtime routine by adding to his list). Currently, when he goes to bed, the required toys are first and foremost "doggies" (there are two musts, but sometimes he has three), Buzz, Woody, Alien, Saur (dinosaur), Nemo, pillow pets (all three of them), etc... It is absolutely ridiculous, but not worth fighting in Pat and my opinion. Oh, and his binkies. We haven't let go of the binky yet, and I don't plan to take this away prior to his sister's arrival. I dread this transition, but know that the longer we wait the harder the break will probably be.
Thankfully, Quinn has had a growing interest in babies over the past couple of months as well, thanks to his cousin Delaney. Unfortunately, my intuition tells me that this interest will likely take a turn for the worst when there is a baby around 24/7. He has a big brother book that he enjoys reading (or having us read to him) and he picks out himself as big brother in the book and says “Quinn”, and he identifies the baby as either “baby” or his sister’s name. It’s pretty darling. He also requests "babies” on my computer, which means he’s interested in watching you tube videos of babies laughing or babbling. He gets the biggest smile on his face, and sometimes says (with prompting), "so cute!" I have been having a little (okay, a lot), anxiety about how he will adapt from being the center of our universe to having to share our attention as we welcome his sister into the world. I anticipate some rough weeks, but remind myself that siblings are a wonderful gift, and just pray that he and his sister will be the best of friends before we know it.
Quinn's language development has really started to take off in the past few months as well. However, when I see him around his peers I recognize that his speech is simply not as developed. He is starting to be able to express his needs and wants in a way that Pat and I can understand about 70% of the time, and that has been quite helpful. He also tries to mimic anything that we say, and he is showing an interest in knowing what things are called. This has been a huge step for us, and I anticipate his speech will continue to burst in the upcoming months.
A few of Quinn's most common words at two:
"Saucy"=sorry
"Tank-to"=thank-you
"Sucy"=Lucy
"Wook"=Look
"Where'd go?"=Where'd it go?
"Igunnagetchew"=I'm going to get you
"Eeww, yuck!"
I “anything imaginable”= I WANT that (he hasn’t figured out want yet)
...and our personal favorite, hands down: "Iyu you"=I love you.
I could go on and on about all things Quinn, but I think that this summarizes him pretty well at two. It is so fun to watch his little personality develop, and I am so grateful for the light that he brings to our lives.
Quinn, we love you! Happy 2nd birthday!!
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