almost 2

Colin will be 2 in a little over a month so I thought I'd give an update on his skills.  We can actually communicate with him pretty well.  He strings words together to make concepts and categories such as "dark-moon-stars-night night".  He has a big vocabulary, even if it is a little challenging for a non-parent to dicipher some things.  Eg. Pronunciation of some favorite foods:
Faffle = waffle

Aig= egg
Muk = milk
Bish= fish (goldfish crackers)
Meeyos= tomatoes
Nudenells= noodles
Hofoo= tofu
Keeny= zucchini
Kayetts= carrots
Wobble= water bottle


I realized today that Colin has an imagination.  He frequently lines his toy cars and trucks up into a traffic jam, but toy cars are fun on their own without having to pretend they are real cars.  Today, he pretend-fed a wooden horse some "hay" which was really playground mulch.  He has a great memory and can recognize several letters and their phonetic sounds.  He says "C- Colin" and "R- Rawr!". 

He loves helping make dinner-mainly so he can snack on the ingredients.  He can peel cilantro leaves from the stem, mix things, and pour things.  I like having him "help" because it means he isn't getting into something somewhere else in the house.

Colin likes to watch "Doege" (Curious George) and "Tiger" (Daniel Tiger's neighborhood), and the movie Planes.  He likes to go outside to watch the Airplanes and "Hopters".

Colin is learning to put his toys away when he is done and often does it without being reminded.  They do this at his montessori preschool too.  A few weeks ago I put a lot of toys away so that he only has one puzzle or toy (or group of similar toys) on each shelf in his room.  I haven't stepped on a lego or hot wheels ever since!  I do switch out toys occasionally so he doesn't get bored- but the hot wheels "truck bucket" is his favorite.

He can identify a cello, a guitar, and a violin and asks for "songs" on instruments.  He likes to sing along with 'row row row your boat" and "head, shoulders, knees and toes".  He has started singing rhythms on the syllable "ba".  He likes it when I repeat his "song". 

Sometimes I don't like that Colin spends so much time in preschool/daycare but he seems to enjoy it and get a lot out of it.  Also, I love it when he runs and hugs me when I pick him up from school. Then he grabs his backpack and says "bye bye!" to the room as he drags me out the door.