Height/Weight: 37″ (or 3’1″), 32 lbs
Sizes: 24 months or 2T in clothes; size 5 in diapers; size 8/toddler in shoes
Taking selfies with us at Sea Ranch
Eating: Rowen is not a picky eater and will try anything we put on his plate. Like a typical toddler, he loves yogurt, cheese, apple juice, gummies, and pasta. He’s always trying to steal my coffee/tea. His favorite Starbucks order is a chocolate cake pop.
Eating ‘ocean pudding’…it was vanilla dyed blue/green 🙂
Rowen nursed until the end of May, when I was about five months pregnant and he was 22 months old, then pretty much weaned himself. He occasionally says he’s going to have nanas with the new baby but we’ll see what happens.
Sleepin’ with SaraTop
Sleeping: Rowen naps for about two hours a day, and wants someone to lay down with him until he falls asleep. He also sleeps with his stuffed orange triceratops, SaraTop, and a paci. At night he sleeps in our bed (but we don’t actually have another bed for him at the moment.) He likes to pet you or stick his hand in your shirt sleeve/strap or armpit as he falls asleep.
Sticking his hand in my sleeve…probably to make sure I can’t get away!
Rowen is a pretty good night sleeper (at least compared to his big brother at this age…) but does wake up 1-3 times a night. He frequently gets bloody noses in the middle of the night, so that sure doesn’t help with sleep.
Cuddling with Dada – this is our normal sleep arrangement now
Favorites:
- Animal: when I asked him, he said ‘elephant’. He loves all pets, especially my parents’ cat; he’s pretty good with them all (Ripley is SO patient) but he does like to give hugs and says “I love you” to all the pets, which is adorable but they don’t always appreciate.
- TV: Little Einsteins, Dinosaur Train; he also watches YouTube kid music videos/surprise egg videos incessantly.
- Songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hickory Dickory Dock, alphabet song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Five Little Monkeys (he’ll also sing it with whatever is handy – shells, rocks, toys, feet, shoes), Little Einsteins theme song… He also sings songs I’ve only heard in those silly YouTube videos, like the Finger Family song and Johnny, Johnny. Rowen loves music and is singing much of the time (like when he’s supposed to be sleeping!)
- Toys: cars, Little People, wooden blocks (he’ll build something and say, “I’m making Egypt!”), Duplo blocks, his stuffed triceratops (“SaraTop”), puzzles (and he’s really good at them!)
- He loves playing on the playground or at the library.
Brother kisses!
Language/Development:
Rowen plays pretend with Damien (when they manage to share). Some pretend games include Magic wands (“abwa cadabwa!”), putting stuff on his head (“I’m a princess!”), and pretending they’r e blasting off in a rocket (counting down from 10).
He speaks in multiword sentences and has the vocabulary of someone twice his age (and so does his big brother, so I guess it’s normal to us.)
Building a super tall tower! This last block was the one that knocked it down, lol
He loves family, especially Mama, Mimi, and aunties (although Uncle Jay put him down for a nap at his house & he talked about it for a week!) He goes back and forth between calling Damien ‘Buba’ or his name, and he’s starting to refer to the new baby by name, which is super cute. Both Damien and Rowen still call us Mama and Dada.
Playing with the light table in our new library
Lately he’s starting to tell people “I love you” unprompted. Rowen is super polite, saying “please” and “thank you” and “I’m sorry”; he also asks “are you okay?” if you sound like you’re hurt. One time he saw me crying and brought me a pinecone, “so you can feel better, Mama!”
Reading books with Dada under Damien’s bed
In the Terrible Twos department, Rowen is also starting to throw tantrums, usually when he’s tired or hungry. He and Damien can fight about ANYTHING, which I suppose is typical sibling behavior, but I didn’t expect it this early!
Popsicle time – a summertime staple
Rowen Quotes:
5/6: do you love Dada? “Yeah! Dada is sweet!” Do you love Mama? “Yeah! Mama is cute!”
5/9: (at bedtime) Are you cuddling my arm? “Yeah. Night night arm! See you yater, arm!”
5/15: (in car) “Hand Mama, hand!” (He wanted to hold hands)
“Umm, help? I’m stuck!”
5/16: (after reading a big brother book) Me: “We’ll have a big brother, a middle brother, and a baby brother.”
Rowen, pointing to Dan: “And a giant brother!”
5/25: “Mama! Hurt my foot! Hurt my sockies!”
“Yeehaw! I’m a cowboy!”
6/2: (at bedtime) “Waahh! I wanna drinka wawa! WAAAH!” Daddy’s getting you water, Rowen; chill. “Ok I’ll chill.”
6/3: Damien: “Stop doing stupid stuff, Rowen.” Rowen: “NO YOU STUPID STUFF.” Dan: “Good one, son.”
6/7: “what’s that, Mama?” It’s my armpit. “It’s cute!” *Kisses it*
Another favorite summertime activity – watering plants (and toys, and feet…)
6/11: “I go this way path, and mama go that way path.” (There was a line of grass growing in the middle of the path, and I guess we were supposed to walk on either side…)
“I’m hiding these rockses!”
We missed the sandbox! It’s been so long since we had it set up it feels like a new toy.
6/13: Rowen, what are you doing? (He’s standing on a box and wiggling) “I’m doing the rocket dance, Mama!” (Proceeds to dance wildly and almost fall off)
Says all the time, “I know what to do!”
Puts random stuff on his person (like capes/bracelets) and yells “SUPAPOWAS”
Selfie time!
6/21: Rowen: “Mama, my magic is stuck!” Damien: “Rowen, did Ripley sneak up on your magic wand?” Rowen: “Yeah, I sink!”
” ‘Zackly!”
“Kiss my eye! Kiss my nana eye!” (Nana = other)
“This is Neptuneses, and these are moonses!”
Going down the smallest slide at Fairytale Town in Sacramento
6/25: “My Crocses are too heavy!”
6/28: Randomly will say “clap for Mama! Clap for Rowen!” (Repeat with all family members…and actually clap, of course.)
He always wants to shut the door to his room while playing “so the crocodile can’t come in!”
Apparently he was a bug-riding cowboy! (at the Fairfield Mall)
7/1: (on changing table with wipe) “Clean my face! Clean the lamp! Clean the bump head!” (The ‘bump head’ is the shelf above the changing table, haha)
7/2: Dan: “Are you cute?” Rowen: “No I’m not! I’m not cute anymore!”
“You have pretty hair, Mama.”
Riding the horses pulling Cinderella’s carriage in Fairytale Town, Sac
7/5: “Is this a violin? No, it’s an armpit!”
7/10: Rowen: “I’m scared of the dark!” Dan: “You’re scared of the dark?” Rowen: “No, Dada, don’t say the words!”
Don’t be grumpy, kitty cat!
Driving cars while riding a scooter…? I don’t know, lol
7/13: Are you a baby? “No, I’m a children!”
Where is the new baby? “Not in my butt!”
He was trying to fit in this little box… He didn’t fit at all, lol
7/15: (after eating waffles…) “It’s a sticky arm! Sticky arms are marvelous!”
Should I turn down the fan? Are you cold? “No, I’m not cold, I’m cute!”
(A toy breaks) Rowen: “We can fix it together!” Damien: “NO WE CAN’T.”
Making the dinosaurs kiss
7/17: Rowen: (hugging Ripley) “I loooove Ripley!” Damien: “I love Ripley more!”
“I’m a super duper duper children!”
7/24: “Don’t take a picture ’bout me, Mama. It’s disgusting.”
7/25: (pointing to the stretch marks on my eight-months-pregnant belly) “Mama, you’re covered in paint!”
Playing peek-a-boo in the pop-up tent 🙂