It seems by 2 and a half they've got the concepts down: basic sentence structure, certain shapes are letters, letters make sounds, sounds make words, words can be read. Same thing with numbers. There's the idea of “yesterday” (any day that already happened, and occasionally even this morning) and “tomorrow” (you guessed it: any day yet to come). Yes, there's a lot of fine tuning to be done, but in a lot of ways, 2 and a half is it (give or take). Amazement at the world is still keenly there, but it's different now, he's more experienced, more able to put it into words (though if he doesn't quite have the words he wants, he'll stutter quite cutely). The trouble with 2 and a half is tantrums. Wow. It was as if someone turned a knob and his tantrums went from 0 (ok, 1) to 60 in a day. All of a sudden we had daily, intense tantrums. They're still happening, but crouching down to his level, letting him know we know he's upset and talking about the situation really seems to help. A lot. It's even better if we can do all that good parenting stuff before the tantrum happens. Oh, to be 2 and a half and not really able to say the thing that you know you should be able to say, but you just can't figure it out.
We took Eli and his cousin to see the ballet Aladdin at the Michigan Opera Theater. We got to the theater and looked at all the fancy stuff. It was fun. Once we got into the performance space the kids told us they wished they were sitting up higher. For once we DIDN'T have the cheapest seats in the house, but the kids wished we did. The performance was clever and stunning (the market place had especially neat choreography including children throwing fruit all around). There was a dancing genie with a 2+ foot head (where the persons face is in the mouth of the mask), then there was the giant genie in “the cave.” This was a multiple person puppet: the head was at least 6', if not more, as were each of the hands. The body was loose fabric that swallowed Jafar in the end. Eli is still talking about the genies and the cave. Anyway, it was a cool production, and I'm glad we took the kids to see it. Plus they got to go on stage (!!!) and meet some of the principle dancers afterward. The lamp (really, the dancer who held the lamp) let Eli touch the lamp, so that was a little extra cool.
As for the “Millie-moo,” she's been crawling for a month or so, but before that she liked to move… wait for it… no, not backwards like most kids… she flipped around in circles. If Eli left a toy just out of her reach to the side she could whip around and get it like a superstar. Seriously. Her body would be taking up the same space, but she was instantly facing the opposite direction.
Her new big things are waving (soooo cute, this little open shut graspy thing that she does whenever someone says hello or good bye) and trying to feed herself. If the food on the spoon can withstand gravity, she can get it into her mouth. Which is to say, she has successfully fed herself yogurt and oatmeal. Pretty good for a not-yet-9 month old. She, like her brother, is all about feeding herself, so we're back to remembering how to make food that is easily digestible and can be picked up with her fingers. She bables and giggles often, especially when accosted by papa's beard. Eli always gives her the sweetest hug and kiss before going to bed. It's pretty great.
