Quinn: 30 months!

Days before Christmas, Quinn turned 2 ½. He has been through a lot of change in the past six months and while many facets of his personality have been evident for what feels like years already, many things have also changed.

Yesterday I asked Pat to think of a word to describe Quinn. Without hesitation, Pat responded with “boisterous”. According to Merriam-Webster boisterous means:

a: noisily turbulent: rowdy

b: marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits

I think Pat nailed it.

July:

He met Master Chief at 343 Studios.

He ran into an old stroller strides friend on the beach, and they played nakedly together.

First dentist appointment

Enjoying the jumpy castle at my 10 year high school reunion.

Some of the major changes that have occurred in Quinn’s life over the past six months include switching day cares and ultimately staying home full-time with me, moving to a new home in a newish city, and most obviously, the birth of his sister Kira. Quinn has loved Kira from the beginning. He truly loves her and this love is evident in the way he looks at her, talks to her, plays near her, and this love seems to be developing with each passing day. Just this morning when he woke up he shouted for her. My heart swells with pride as I think of his love for his sister. However, he has certainly faced challenges during this transition. The challenges are most obviously seen in his behavior.

August:

First park date after Kira was born

Admiring Kira while showing Grandma Cathy and Mariah the new house. He and Mariah found a fun little hiding spot.

Swinging at Grandma Cathy's house in the summer

Dancing with and tackling Chloe

Trampoline fun and puppy love on the farm

Taking a sunset stroll with Chloe and their gardening gloves.

I have spent many of the past six months worrying about Quinn. I hate to admit it, but it is true. I worry about his negative behaviors. His talking back, his expressive death glares, his folded arms, his temper tantrums, his safety. He has run away from me in public at a park. My child is strong-willed and he is testing his boundaries. I also worry about his eating habits. The kid eats far too much junk, and far too few veggies. I worry about him watching too much TV. I worry about him not having enough social time with other kids his age. I worry that his exuberant personality can make him difficult to love and I worry about how this will affect his relationship with his peers and authoritative figures over the years. I worry about whether or not we’ll be sending him to college with a handful of binks. I worry. I tell myself that worrying about a child is normal. And for me, I think it helps to fuel a motivation in me to work harder. Discipline more. I also pray that a lot of this is all normal two-year-old stuff and that in time many of these worries will fade. Time will tell.

September:

The Chesnuts came to meet Kira. Quinn his smitten with these two little girls.

Fun at Remlinger Farms

His first solo carousel ride.

First roller coaster. He loved it!

Quinn’s boisterous personality comes with innumerable endearing qualities that make Pat and I proud. As we sat down to reflect on Quinn at 2 ½ we found ourselves getting carried away with all of the things that we love about Quinn. First and foremost, we love his relationship with Kira. We love seeing a nurturing side come out as he cares for her, tends to her when she is upset by dancing goofily, giving her binkies, showering her with tickles, helping feed her bottles, sharing his toys, reading her stories and kissing her every night before bed. He shows empathy with Kira, and it is so refreshing to see that characteristic within him.

October:

One of his first pictures in the new house/sharing his favorite toys with Kira.

Helping Grandpa build Mommy's new dresser.

So Quinn. Binkies and milk. His two most comforting items.

Bathtime fun with Delaney during the family work weekend.

He doesn't really know the movie Cars too well, but Pat was excited to see Mator (I think that's the character's name) at the mall while we were couch shopping.

More work.

Making play dough

Playing with the play dough!

Sharing the playdough with his cousins! We got to meet Ruby for the first time this month.

Painting. October brings out the crafting in us.

Playing dress-up

Uncle Ryan's old Halloween costume. Too big for this year... maybe next!

He found the cutest little pumpkin in the patch!

Quinn was Snoopy! The profile of this costume is the best, and this was the best picture I could find.

Trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood!

He has an inventive imagination. He gets this from his Daddy. His favorite toys are his Toy Story toys and he flies Buzz around (with sound effects and all) to rescue the other characters. His favorite thing right now is a lasso, which Pat made for him using spare rope from the garage. Quinn will lasso his toys, he will lasso himself, he will lasso the air. The kid loves to lasso. He loves to invent games. Tag games, racing games, rescue games, etc… While his preference is to play with mommy or daddy, he is also capable of sitting and playing independently. While his creative spirit can be exhausting, it is a quality that we treasure.

November:

Playing "I'm gonna gettchu" with Ryan!

Soccer!

Loving Kira

Quinn loves to play with puzzles, and we were averaging two hours a day with puzzles in the month of December. He has graduated from peg-in-shape puzzles to the traditional puzzle. Currently he is mastering every 24 piece puzzle in the house.

He also loves to draw and color. In recent months he’s shown an ability to target specific spots on the page, although he often chooses not too. The days of simply scribbling may be numbered.

He loves to read books, and he requests books throughout the day in addition to our traditional nighttime stories. When Quinn gets a new book, he will study it carefully as Pat and I read it to him. After a couple times through Quinn insists on reading the book himself. He amazes us with his ability to memorize the pictures and key vocabulary from each page.

Quinn is certainly in a phase where his ability to learn and acquire new skills and vocabulary is abundantly clear. He is showing a desire to learn, and this has been fun for me. In recent months he has developed a love of letters and at this point I’d say he knows at least 20 consistently. He can also count to twelve, although his accuracy is inconsistent. He has shown little interest in colors, and only seems to recognize blue and red. I try not to push the academic stuff at home, but have fun working with him when he is interested.

He loves music and will put in a CD and start a dance party spontaneously throughout the day several times each week. I love this!

He also loves water and since I don’t take him to swim classes, he has learned to settle for showers in the morning and baths at night. He spends at least an hour a day in the water. His favorite thing to do is take cups and practice pouring water from one to the other.

Quinn has been our athletic little stunt-man for as long as I can remember, and this continues to be the case. He loves to run, jump, climb, hop, and according to Pat, “he still throws lefty and righty!” I remember when we first found out I was pregnant Pat had a dream that he was playing catch with a little boy. This was before we knew Quinn was a boy. Pat’s dream has certainly become a reality in the past six months. Playing catch and baseball is just one of the many things they do together each day.

December:

Enjoying some holiday festivities at the country village with a train ride and meeting Mrs. Claus.

Eating sweets and refusing to pose with Mommy in his holiday best.

Merry Christmas!

Quinn has proved to have a sensitive side to him as well. In familiar environments, he has a dominating and controlling personality. However, in unfamiliar settings he becomes more shy and introverted. Recently we were at a coffee shop that had a toy area for kids, and I observed an older child take a toy from Quinn. He stood there stunned, but quiet, and I watched his little spirit crumble. He tried to contain his emotion, but within minutes he ran to me and burst into tears. While it breaks my heart to see him upset, I am grateful for these experiences. I hope that it will help strengthen his ability to empathize with his friends in the future when his dominating nature takes over.

Quinn is also quite charming with his manners. He has learned to say please, thank-you, and you’re welcome regularly and unprompted (well, most of the time). If he really wants something he’ll bust out his signing skills as well. “Mommy, I want a cookie, pleeeeeeease” (while rubbing his chest in a circular motion, the sign for please).

His speech has developed dramatically over the past six months. He’s speaking in fragmented sentences. He does spend a lot of time babbling, but we can usually pick out what he’s trying to say because there are several words within each sentence that are familiar. He has even proven to be a bit bilingual of late. “Ayudame Mama, Ayudame!” And who said television wasn’t educational?

Potty training feels like it’s a world away still. He goes through phases of being interested in the toilet, but he has never accomplished anything while sitting there. I think he just likes to be naked. At this point, I’m not interested in rushing it. He has however started to show interest in dressing himself, and he puts his boots on independently each day. Quinn is obsessed with boots.

So there you have it. A random account of Quinn at 2 1/2.

He is our boisterous little boy who will be to blame for me going gray early in life; but, he is so full of love and adventure, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be his parents.

Happy 2 ½ little guy! We love you so much!