At 2-years old, Oliver still amazes me every day. He is talking so much more, 4-5 word sentences in both English and Chinese. He is using proper grammer, often says "I'm watching", "I'm done." And loves to describe things like "The blue trash can is behind the car." He is even singing the ABC song and Chinese version of Twinkle Twinkle little star. I have looked this up, and he's probably at a 3 year old level in speech skills. And I think most strangers can understand more than half of what he says, especially when he always remembers to say "Thank you", "Please", "Bless you", "Excuse me" (sometime adding psss...psss at the end because I did it once.) and sometimes "You're welcome".
Oliver still loves music. He now sings while he's playing with his toys, and dances whenever he hears music. He is interested in other musical instruments such as the cymbals, saxophone, and violin. It seems that he just gets excited about music and even recognizes the sound of the piano when he hears it. Every once in a while I'll find a video on YouTube to show him how an instrument works and sounds. He always watches intently and I feel like he's just absorbing it all until he gets his hands on one for real. When we are in the car he also asks me to turn up the music or to skip a song that he doesn't want to hear.
Since we stopped taking classes a few months ago, we've just been having more play dates and going out more. We love riding the trolley at the Grove, and the zoo is still one of our favorites. Most places we go now he's able to walk most of the way himself. He's good about stopping at the intersection, and always looks for a ramp to walk across instead of stepping up and down the curbs. He is very good about stopping at a sign or red light, and reminds me to go when the light turns green. And at the play ground, he is always waits for his turn.
Oliver continues to be helpful around the house. Now he can help open and close the car door, take off his own shoes and put them away when he gets home. He's good about letting me put on sunscreen before going out. And even though he now says "no" sometimes, he still does it eventually or we do it together. I'm always happily surprised when I walk away and come back to see the toys put away. One day we brought home a bunch of stuff from Costco, he started to help me bring in the boxes one by one from the car to the house. It was so nice for him to help, and he didn't just carry the light stuff!
When we are out, it doesn't take too much work to get him to leave with me when it's time to go. I try to let him know what's coming after we leave so there's something to motivate him. Then we say bye and thank you to the place or toys before we go. If we are with friends, he'll always give them a hug or high five. Those times I really do feel lucky and spoiled that I don't have to carry a crying baby out of a store.
And when it comes to sharing, Oliver is the most generous baby I know. He never gets upset when someone else takes his toy. I have explained to him when that happens that it's because the other person really wants to play too but hasn't learned to share. And a quick replacement of something else usually is ok with him. He has always loved to share his food with his family. And now he has learned to say "Try this!". Although he doesn't like to try as many food himself. However, if it's something he wants to eat, like a bagel or berries, he not only won't share, he asks for the biggest piece. Or maybe offer you a smaller piece.
At some point, Oliver started to show how empathic he can be. Any time he hears or sees a child crying, he stops what he is dong and watches to try to understand what's going on. I am usually next to him explaining to him what happened and what is being done to help. Oliver can also say the phrase "somebody help" which is really cute and thoughtful. A few times he has walked with me over to the child who is upset, I'll explain to the parent that he is very concerned. I will ask if he wants to rub their arm, tell them it's ok, or give them a hug. He is always happy to show them that he cares. At home, any time a stuffed animal falls, he always picks them up and give them a kiss. He does the same for his family when we are not feeling well. Today, a little girl at the park stepped on a bee. She sat on the bench while her mom took care of her. Oliver walked over, lifted up her bandaged foot and gave it a kiss. Then he asked "walk?" It was so sweet. I gave him a big hug after and told him how nice it was that he did that. And he saw her walk away and I think he felt better too.
Oliver now also asks me for permission. When he wants to bring along a toy out of the house, he'll pick it up and say it's name like a question while showing me the toy. "Boat come?" "Two toys?" When he asks so nicely and looks so cute, it's hard to turn him down. He also waits before touching his food for me to wipe his hands, and asks if he can go outside to play.
One of the most exciting thing to see is how his sense of humor has developed. He's always been a little silly and purposely do things to make us laugh. The latest thing he does is he'll hold something the wrong way and say "Like this?" and keeps going by figuring out what other wrong way he can do it. He also likes to make up words and funny sounds and waits for me to repeat it. One day I took the wrong street and told him I got lost, he sat in the back and started laughing. I asked "Are you laughing because mommy got lost again?" And it was as if he couldn't contain himself and laughed even harder and said "yah!"
Another amazing milestone is his sense of imagination. Pretend play is a popular game these days where we have imaginary dirty when playing with his trucks, imaginary food from his imaginary kitchen which is just a blank wall. He loves to exaggerate and pretend things are very cold or very heavy. One day he looked at his toy stethoscope and said "Y", then said "Apple" pointing to the ear piece part which curved around and looked like an apple, then closed the ear piece part and said "O" like the letter O. It was so great to see how visual he is and made those connections. And today when we visited Kidspace Museum, while playing with these foam building blocks, he surprised me again. He took 2 shapes and made a chair, then he wanted to turn it into a car and proceeded to put the cylinders next to it. It was so wonderful to be able to witness that.
I am so proud to see how much he has learned and how he is able to use that information and apply them to all different areas of his life. I am really enjoying my days with him, and feel that I have the responsibility to continue to expose him to new experiences. I can't wait to see what else he comes up with.
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