Rooney, 2.5 years
QUICK STATS
clothing size: 2T-4T
diaper size: 5
shoe size: 8-9
ROONEY, 30 MONTHS
- Has all her baby teeth
- Noticed her birthmark for the first time
- LOVES singing
- Likes to wear pigtails (finally!)
- Spells her name R-O-O-N-Y-E
- Best friends: Finley, Adah, Levi, Ivory
I was FaceTiming with my mom the other day (we try to do it on Wednesdays when I'm home) and I was telling her what a handful Rooney has been the past couple months! She is definitely testing us and her boundaries. My mom responded with "How old is she? Yep. 2!"
I mean, I get it, it makes sense. But I still thought these characteristics would have come out a year ago when she learned to walk and everyone was asking us if she was tearing our house apart. She wasn't, so I thought we had escaped some of the challenges we are dealing with now.
For example, this month:
- She ripped three pages out of her Bible
- Snapped a chip clip in half
- Ripped the flaps off her lift-a-flap book
- Found chocolate in a drawer and opened it and ate it
- Ripped open a band-aid box
- Emptied out our Q-Tips onto the floor
Maybe I should just give her a piece of paper and let her rip it, since it seems to be her favorite thing...
FIRSTS THIS MONTH
- Baseball game (Iowa Cubs)
- Iowa State Fair
- Climbing up slides at the park
- Singing along to the radio with the right words
- Burn (on her hand)
- Voluntarily going down a water slide (I think?) (I did bribe her with a treat, which she was sure to cash in)
- Top knot hairstyle
FAVORITE FOODS
- Macaroni and cheese
- Strawberries
- Pancakes
- Donuts
- Hummus
- Ketchup
- Coconut oil popcorn
- Bananas
- Pirate's Booty
SPEECH
We love having conversations with Rooney! She is saying sentences all the time and up to seven words in a row.
- "What you talkin' 'bout?"
- "Nummy in my tummy!"
- "When daddy's [eggs] all gone I eat mommy's."
- "What happened mommy?"
- "This one puzzle be over here."
- "I found this!" (a diffuser that was on my bedside table)
- "Mommy can you help me with this?"
- "Where we going?"
- "I need to eat food."
Favorite songs to sing:
- Baby Bumblebee
- ABCs
- Itsy Bitsy Spider (video)
- Twinkle Twinkle
- If You're Happy and You Know It
- Wheels on the Bus
- Round Is the Circle (video)
- Table prayer before meals (video)
- Ring Around the Apple Tree
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm ("Old MacDonald was a farm, e-e-e-e-o")
- Row Row Row Your Boat
SLEEP
- Bedtime: 8:00-8:30 pm
- Night sleep: 11 hours
- Morning wake time: 6:00-7:15 am
- Nap time: 11:45 am - 1:00 pm
- Nap duration: 1.5-2.5 hours
Sleep is OK - good, really, in the grand scheme of things - but Eric and I both think she is waking too early in the mornings. I am fine with 7:30 am but the 6:00-7:00 am mornings have been rough. I have mentioned this in my updates since Rooney turned 2, but she has had trouble falling asleep since her 2nd birthday (my family can vouch for this since they witnessed it when we were on vacation together). She has been fighting sleep in general and on occasion will just not nap. I have read that this is normal for her age.
If she is sick (like she was for a couple weeks this month), we will go to her right away, but if not, as parents we find comfort in setting a timer and letting her try to figure it out. If we hear her cry (even if we JUST left her room), we will set a timer for 5 minutes. If she is still standing up in her crib or crying when the timer goes off, we go to comfort her. She always wants to leave her room and go to the living room and we oblige (we probably need to cut this out at some point, but it's the only way to get her to calm down). We let her watch what we are watching on TV or a video of her on our phones and then put her back to bed after a five-ish minutes. If we hear her crying again, we set the timer for 10 minutes. We add five minutes to the timer each time and repeat the cycle. One night we got up to 15 minutes, but she had fallen back asleep before the time was up.
We let her sleep with us ONE night when she was sick (Eric wrote a little about it here) and didn't want to be alone in her crib, and since that night she has asked to sleep on our bed for naps and bedtime EVERY TIME. I can't tell if she is ready for a big-girl bed yet, but she is almost too long for her crib.
POTTY TRAINING
Rooney is still NOT interested in potty training. We are prepping her for potty training (I bought this book for her this month, which is super cute) but we're not doing much else until she shows more signs of being ready.
TANTRUMS
I haven't written much about Roo's tantrums and it's mostly because I feel like I am talking bad about her if I do. I will say I am getting pretty thick skin and most tantrums do not phase me at all anymore! I've found that if I ignore her, she cries it out for a while. When she's done, she wants her sleep sack and paci and a hug, and then afterward she is pretty sweet.
DISCIPLINE
Rooney is generally very obedient and the threat of a timeout usually causes her to get back on track with listening. I will admit that now that she is 2.5, we have been a bit firmer with her on boundaries and expectations (treating her like a big girl and not a baby), and it has been worth it. I thought she might fight us even more, but she seems to enjoy boundaries. What I mean by boundaries is: Playing by herself and allowing Eric and I to have "couch time" after work so we can connect before the evening really starts (which is a Babywise principle), taking more responsibility for throwing away her diapers and putting her dirty clothes in her hamper, helping us clean up the table after supper and cleaning up her toys before she can play with another one.
I foresee a lot of transitions in the near future - moving to a big-girl bed, weaning off the pacifier, potty-training, etc. in the next six-ish months - and Eric and I both realized we needed to tighten up our parenting before we tackle those things. It is easy to get sloppy when she's sick, and this summer has been more laid back for sure. We signed up for a parenting class at our church and I am excited to see what we learn from that!
When getting dressed in the morning, I almost always give her two choices. I would be happy with either choice and although I usually have a preference, but I let her pick which ones she wants. She seems to really enjoy this freedom, and I love watching her go over each one in her mind while she decides. I can already tell she is going to be one who is slow to make decisions (like her mommy). She likes practicing her independence because she NEVER picks the shoes I recommend.
DEVELOPMENT
I am trying to not be a helicopter mom. It is honestly very hard for me! If I see her having trouble with something, I always want to rush in immediately and help her. I am trying to allow more natural consequences to occur (letting her fall or fail) because I know I need to personally learn to do this while the stakes are lower (rather than protecting her until college), and I know I need to let her learn things on her own and to fail when the consequences are lower too. So I am trying to let her do more without my intervention, like struggling to put clothes on her doll or doing a puzzle that is challenging. I so often have the desire to jump right in and help her! It's just hard on my mommy heart to see her frustrated.
- Is able to do almost everything at our park by herself - except the monkey bars and fireman's pole
- Loves puzzles and can do 15-piece puzzles on the iPad
- Is really close to spelling her name (she says R-O-O-N-Y-E)
HEALTH
- We still see the chiropractor every week. She loves getting adjusted!
- She takes a bath twice a week
- She went to the dentist for the third time
- Teeth: all 20!
- She burned two of her fingers when we were making popcorn :(
- Got sick with a low-grade fever and didn't want to eat. She said her mouth hurt. At first I thought it was the stomach flu (she threw up a couple times) and then hand, foot and mouth - both of which were going around. She seems to be fine now.
Rooney,
You are looking so BIG to me lately. And we have been having the most fun. I think for the first time, the fun factor you bring is outweighed by the work you require. I love laying in your crib with you. I love our tickle fights. I love finding toys in my bed that you've left behind. I love how you call daddy "ducky" when you have your pacifier in your mouth. I love that you notice litter on the ground and want to throw it away. I love that you are getting so brave at the playground.
My heart is finally open to another child. Having siblings was the best gift my parents ever gave me and I want to give that to you, too. I wish you were into it, but you are very much against mommy having another baby right now. I think you will change your mind, but if there's anything I've learned in the past 30 months, it's that you'll do it on your own time.
xoxo,
Mommy
