2.5
Why, WHY don't the children stay two for longer? Like five years. Five years of two-year-old Fritz would be perfect. His only major fault is that I want to carry him all the time like a baby but he weighs as much as Heidi.
I see why the baby of the family is the baby of the family. Fritz is the first Reitzling who, at 2.5, didn't have a younger sibling. It shows. He's very jealous of my attention (and my lap). There are a few other babies on the block who just need to be squeezed sometimes and Fritz does NOT like it. If I dare to hold a neighbor baby (or even Heidi, for that matter) Fritz barrels into us with his giant head and shouts, "Dat's MY MOMMA!"
His vocabulary also tells me he's ready for preschool: Why? What's that do? No Fair! You a stupid buttcheek! Shut up! Heidi is super looking forward to Fritz being in her classroom. Mom is still a little ambivalent. I'm going to miss him SO MUCH. And without a baby cramping our preschooler style, I totally could keep him busy and stimulated. But he's totally ready -- any time we picked Heidi up this spring, he ventured into her classroom, called by the siren song of those perfect cylinder blocks and lovely objects to polish. It will also be good for him and Heidi to have that experience together. Some grace and courtesy lessons wouldn't kill him either.
He bosses us and cracks us up with endless chatter. I had to take all three of the youngest kids to the doctor last week. The poor pediatrician could barely talk to Ingrid or Heidi because Fritz wouldn't let anyone get a word in edgewise. "Dis my big sister Ingrid. Dis my sister Heidi. I'm Fwitzy. I have a big brother Henry, he's at school, he like hockey. He not sick. I'm rashy...." Our bedtime chats are ridiculous. Sometimes I pat his little face and tell him I love his little nose, I love his blue eyes, I love his chubby cheeks, etc. Last night he adds, "....and you love my nipples." And then laughs at his own joke. After our chat, he gives me a big squeeze and then chants, staccato, "GOOD! NIGHT! MA! MA!" as I walk to the door.
In addition to being very articulate, Fritz is very self-aware for a two year old. We often get to 1:00 or 7:30 and he tells me he's ready for bed. Ingrid used to do this too, much to the amazement of our neighbor friends. He gets tired of hanging out with people and marches off, telling me, "I no like friends anymore." I appreciate that he tells me things like, "I not hungry," or "I no like pork chop. Give me beans now," instead of screaming and throwing his food on the floor like most toddlers. He tells us exactly what he wants, and he's adorable, so he basically gets whatever he wants.
He pays attention to what is going on with the family and likes repeated retellings of interesting events. We had to talk for two weeks about the dead rabbit down the block. That story was replaced by the tale of going hiking and the bridge was broken and Daddy had to get his boots wet. He also fixated on the April Fools joke Grandpa taught him. He says, "There's an elephant walking down the street!" I have to respond, "An elephant! No way!" And Fritz knowingly responds, "It's an April Fools joke." Still telling it at the end of June.
Fritz owns every room. We went to a party at Grandma Carol's house, full of adults Fritz did not know, and he just strolled around like he was the guest of honor. He helped himself to apricots ("happifofs") off the cheese tray and stray cups of root beer ("dis my wine") all night. None of the other kids would have strayed from our laps at age two in a room full of strange grownups.
He's been potty trained for almost six months. Still hasn't readjusted to wearing pants.
I was briefly concerned that he was color-blind. He was very aware of shapes, sounds, etc. and had the vocabulary to express them all, but couldn't identify any colors accurately. Apparently he just didn't care about what I said. We got Henry to work on colors with him and now he's getting it (though still pretty inaccurate).
He loves bubble guns, balls, and anything that looks like a sword/stick/javelin/spear. He still loves real animals of all kinds but it totally over the 8 million toy animals we bought him six months ago. We often go to the zoo to see a couple of favored animals (goats at MNZoo, the baby giraffe and polar bears at Como) and then he's done with it. Good thing the zoos are close and free. He had a very intense dragon phase, thanks to Room on the Broom and How to Train Your Dragon, and we had to carry around his toy dragons, talk about dragons, and listen to Puff the Magic Dragon on endless repeat every time we got in the car.
My days of rocking a tiny person to sleep are growing short. Fritz no longer wants to sit on my lap to read and rock to sleep. He sits right next to me and cuddles up, but not on my lap. Sometimes I get to cheat because he falls asleep there and I can scoop him up for a cuddle. He's the best. Stay two, buddy. Please?
Stats from his 2.5 checkup:
Weight - 36 lbs (97th percentile)
Height - 38" (94th percentile)
His vocabulary also tells me he's ready for preschool: Why? What's that do? No Fair! You a stupid buttcheek! Shut up! Heidi is super looking forward to Fritz being in her classroom. Mom is still a little ambivalent. I'm going to miss him SO MUCH. And without a baby cramping our preschooler style, I totally could keep him busy and stimulated. But he's totally ready -- any time we picked Heidi up this spring, he ventured into her classroom, called by the siren song of those perfect cylinder blocks and lovely objects to polish. It will also be good for him and Heidi to have that experience together. Some grace and courtesy lessons wouldn't kill him either.
He bosses us and cracks us up with endless chatter. I had to take all three of the youngest kids to the doctor last week. The poor pediatrician could barely talk to Ingrid or Heidi because Fritz wouldn't let anyone get a word in edgewise. "Dis my big sister Ingrid. Dis my sister Heidi. I'm Fwitzy. I have a big brother Henry, he's at school, he like hockey. He not sick. I'm rashy...." Our bedtime chats are ridiculous. Sometimes I pat his little face and tell him I love his little nose, I love his blue eyes, I love his chubby cheeks, etc. Last night he adds, "....and you love my nipples." And then laughs at his own joke. After our chat, he gives me a big squeeze and then chants, staccato, "GOOD! NIGHT! MA! MA!" as I walk to the door.
In addition to being very articulate, Fritz is very self-aware for a two year old. We often get to 1:00 or 7:30 and he tells me he's ready for bed. Ingrid used to do this too, much to the amazement of our neighbor friends. He gets tired of hanging out with people and marches off, telling me, "I no like friends anymore." I appreciate that he tells me things like, "I not hungry," or "I no like pork chop. Give me beans now," instead of screaming and throwing his food on the floor like most toddlers. He tells us exactly what he wants, and he's adorable, so he basically gets whatever he wants.
He pays attention to what is going on with the family and likes repeated retellings of interesting events. We had to talk for two weeks about the dead rabbit down the block. That story was replaced by the tale of going hiking and the bridge was broken and Daddy had to get his boots wet. He also fixated on the April Fools joke Grandpa taught him. He says, "There's an elephant walking down the street!" I have to respond, "An elephant! No way!" And Fritz knowingly responds, "It's an April Fools joke." Still telling it at the end of June.
Fritz owns every room. We went to a party at Grandma Carol's house, full of adults Fritz did not know, and he just strolled around like he was the guest of honor. He helped himself to apricots ("happifofs") off the cheese tray and stray cups of root beer ("dis my wine") all night. None of the other kids would have strayed from our laps at age two in a room full of strange grownups.
He's been potty trained for almost six months. Still hasn't readjusted to wearing pants.
I was briefly concerned that he was color-blind. He was very aware of shapes, sounds, etc. and had the vocabulary to express them all, but couldn't identify any colors accurately. Apparently he just didn't care about what I said. We got Henry to work on colors with him and now he's getting it (though still pretty inaccurate).
He loves bubble guns, balls, and anything that looks like a sword/stick/javelin/spear. He still loves real animals of all kinds but it totally over the 8 million toy animals we bought him six months ago. We often go to the zoo to see a couple of favored animals (goats at MNZoo, the baby giraffe and polar bears at Como) and then he's done with it. Good thing the zoos are close and free. He had a very intense dragon phase, thanks to Room on the Broom and How to Train Your Dragon, and we had to carry around his toy dragons, talk about dragons, and listen to Puff the Magic Dragon on endless repeat every time we got in the car.
My days of rocking a tiny person to sleep are growing short. Fritz no longer wants to sit on my lap to read and rock to sleep. He sits right next to me and cuddles up, but not on my lap. Sometimes I get to cheat because he falls asleep there and I can scoop him up for a cuddle. He's the best. Stay two, buddy. Please?
Stats from his 2.5 checkup:
Weight - 36 lbs (97th percentile)
Height - 38" (94th percentile)
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