Every now and then I feel compelled to describe a bit of what Rowan's up to. He turned 2 years old recently, so it seems like a good time for that kind of update. It won't be too long because his naptime will be over soon, but here goes.
Sleeping. Rowan sleeps one nap per day, and we've begun limiting it to two hours so that he will sleep longer at night. When we do that, he's been sleeping from about 8:30pm until about 6:00am. It's less than many of our friends' kids sleep, but since he does take longer daytime naps it all balances out.
Potty. Rowan became interested in potty training many months ago and so we made a big fun deal out of it and bought him a potty. He peed on it very soon after we bought it, and pooped on it shortly after that. Since then whenever we take him to the potty he goes, and when it's me at home with him, he sometimes tells me when he needs to go. He seems especially aware of the mess that can be avoided if he tells me ahead of time that he needs to poop (his aversion to being confined to the changing table helps motivate this behavior!) We're in no rush to complete the potty training process, so we're pretty sure that over the next few months Rowan will become less and less fond of having a messy diaper, and at some point he'll stop having them altogether. That's the idea, anyway, and it's working great so far.
Development. (These are not in order of importance. Just in the order they came to my mind!) Obviously Rowan is very verbal at this point. At his 2-year checkup the pediatrician commented that he is "extremely verbal" and that we ought to be "really thankful." We are, of course! It's such a joy to hear the hilarious things that he says. Equally wonderful is to ask him a question about something that matters, like whether he's hot or thirsty or needs to go potty, and know that he will answer. What a breath of fresh air when compared to the complete guessing game that comprises infancy!
He's running, climbing stairs, jumping, coloring, holding the leash to walk Angel, and more. We'll be taking a flight later this week, and there won't be a stroller in sight; he'll just walk through the airport with me. I hope.
Activities.I've begun to give some thought to activities that Rowan will be taking up soon. It's been spurred by his progress at swimming recently; even with infrequent trips to pools, Rowan has gotten the hang of kicking with a kickboard and yesterday he even tried to tread water a bit. At the dive shop we bought him a snorkle and mask which we'll take with us when we go rafting down a river in north Florida in a couple of weeks. Maybe he'll get his first peek underwater, huh? There are other things I'm thinking of starting soon too. Like piano lessons. Folks start at age 2 around here, and from my preliminary investigations it seems like the challenge will be finding an instructor with an opening who isn't a long drive away from our house. And for a first sport, I'm thinking golf...