Gallant at Two

I knew I had not been blogging much about Gallant, but I had not realized how truly silent I had been!

I wrote about how he behaved at one year of age, but have said almost nothing since then (except mentioning teething in January, March, June, and July).

Blame extra visits and Skype time with family members.  Since they were satisfied with that and a mostly up-to-date Picasa Album, I have been neglectful!

Size

At Gallant's two-year checkup he was 33.0 inches tall (15th percentile), he weighed 24.6 pounds (10th percentile), and his head size was 49.3 cm (66th percentile).

Overall, small changes from his 18-month checkup.

It was interesting to note that the percentile chart is now computerized, so the big discrepancies I have observed in older blog posts may now be an artifact of the past.

You can also compare these numbers to when his older brother had his two-year chekup.  Smiley was an inch taller and about a pound heavier.

Language

That post about Smiley's two-year checkup mentioned a very long sentence.  Gallant uses language much differently.

When he turned two, at the start of the summer, he used few words.  He did not need many!  Almost any need would be met by either bringing an object to a parent and grunting (which could mean "play with me with this" or "fix this" or "may I eat this?") or if the object was out of reach he would point to it and say "there".

In mid-July his use of language really took off.  He suddenly became a talker with his requests, using sentences of two and then three words.

In early August he used his first four word sentence ("Daddy get bowl please").

Now, at the end of August, he can string words together to limit of his ability to concentrate.  Two days ago I told Smiley that he could use a ticket for computer time while Gallant and I took naps, and Gallant tried to bargain: "Me watch movie.  Daddy take nap."

Gallant, unlike his brother at the same age, does very little self-narrating.  He uses it to share happiness ("Run, run, run!") but in general appears to not feel a need to talk about his activity.

Movement

At one year he could only jump when holding hands.  Now he can jump off the weight bench by himself.  Hopping like a bunny is a frequent method of movement around the house (and has become a well-established "funny" part of going to the changing table).

He climbs up and down ladders well.  He loves slides, and can climb up most of them.  (The water slide at Amazon Pool is the best slide of all.)

Gallant is an amazing hiker.  We go up the steep route climbing Spencer Butte often.  Except for 6 to 8 places where the step up is too high for him and he needs a lift, Gallant can hike almost all the way up himself.  (Near the top is a ten foot rocky wall to climb, at which point he gives up.)

He love running, more than his brother ever did.  It seems like he could play chase all day.

Finally, I just wrote about how he loves wrestling.

Water

Gallant does not swim, but is unafraid of the water after spending a lot of time at Amazon Pool this summer.  This is a great change from the start of summer, when he disliked baths and feared showers.

He can spend half an hour holding onto my back while I swim around.  "Me on boat!" he explains.  Often Smiley is a shark who chases us.

(Smiley cannot swim unassisted, but when wearing a life jacket can move as fast "swimming" as most of his friends hop around the shallow pool.)

Teeth

Gallant finally got his last two-year molar in mid-August.  For two weeks he has been sleeping through the night.  Hooray!

Favorite Toys
The boys have very different favorite stuffed animals.  I am not sure if this is fortune or simply that Gallant picked ones not claimed by his older brother.

The only stuffed animal still in Smiley's room is bunny.  He ignores it, and it sits at the foot of his bed or underneath his bed.  But I am careful to leave it in his room in case his affection for it ever rekindles.

Gallant loves most a cat, dog, and bunny.  As is age-appropriate he calls many animals by the traditional noise they make, so these are Meow, Oof, and Bunny.

He also plays with other stuffed animals, more than Smiley ever did.  This is nice, since over the past five years our relatives have given us a bunch of them.

Gallant also loves his letter tiles (from a Bananagrams set).  Sometimes he works with his brother to place these on the letters of a book.  Most often he uses them as a "liquid" in his play kitchen because they can be stirred: he makes alphabet soup or letter tea for me to drink.

Gallant plays with vehicles a lot, but unlike his brother has no favorite kind of vehicle.  Duplos, Matchbox and Hot Wheels, or any other toy car or plane or helicopter is great.  He has favorite real-life vehicles (trash trucks, construction vehicles, fire engines) but shows no favoritism towards these in toy form.

He also uses our toy phones a lot.  He pretends to call his great-grandmother at least once per day.

Colors and Letters

A month ago Gallant could recognize color names and letter names as part of their categories but could not use them correctly.  (If we asked him what color an object was, he would say a random color name.  If we asked him to identify a letter, he would say a random letter name.)

Something in his brain finally clicked, and now he knows almost all his colors (blue and purple are still interchanged) and quite a few letters.

One curiosity is how, as a younger child, his play environment is much less strictly designed.  When Smiley was two I tried to mostly expose him to uppercase letters until he learned those well.  (Books, of course, were an exception.)  Gallant sees many more lowercase letters as a two-year-old, and so far is learning a haphazard collection of uppercase and lowercase letters: he will need to learn more than 26 to master a complete alphabet.

Foods

When Gallant turned two he was not a picky eater except for proteins.  He would eat yogurt and hummus, drink milk, and sometimes eat beans or cheese.  Now he also enjoys salmon, sliced turkey, oatmeal, egg, cotja, and more often other cheeses or beans.

Both boys are still picky about vegetables, preferring carrots or frozen spinach.  Smiley will also eat tomatoes.  I hide vegetables in blender recipes of smoothies, batters, and ice creams.

Fruits and grains are no problem.

Gallant seems to be growing.  Thursday for lunch he ate half a pear, a bowl of salmon, a salmon quesadilla, a banana, a few corn chips, a cup of milk, and a piece of chocolate for dessert.  Then he drank more milk before his nap.