I have to say that I absolutely LOVE this age! Most people may think I'm crazy. Yes, there are definitely some "2" kind of moments... like saying "Balian, come here please" and you look up and he's got a big grin on his face while he runs away from you. lovely. Or you ask him to do something and he either flat-out says no, or uses the slightly kinder version of the same thing. "I don't want to."
But despite those areas of disobedience that need help, I really love this age. Kids are just a sponge at this age - learning and absorbing SO much. Balian is definitely no exception.
His vocabulary is definitely improving everyday. It's like everyday he says something new or figures out how to say something correctly - or at least more correct. As vocabulary expands the fun really begins! I begin to see the fruit of my labors. Before kids talk, you teach them things and you have no idea if they understand a lick of what you're saying. I have always been in the mindset of talking to my kids as if they can understand everything perfectly from the beginning. And when they start talking, I just love how they start spewing out everything you have been teaching them. Because Balian has been right there during school time with Bella, he's learning a TON of stuff!!
He is now counting to 10 - and is recognizing a lot of those numbers. If he's counting and stops and gets messed up or something, I can show him a number flashcard, and he recognizes it and gets back on track. Pretty crazy.
He's continuing to do well with his letter sounds. The same rule applies here as with the numbers. He tends to do better if he sees the letter, rather than just asking him what a certain letter says. Perhaps he's like me and is more of a visual learner vs. an auditory learner. At times, Bella will have a brain glitch and forget a letter sound...and I'll say "Hey Balian, can you tell Bella what Y says?" and he says the sound. Now, he's starting to spit out the letter names too. (And LOVES to sing his alphabet song - what he can say of it anyway) This is good and bad. Good, because it's good for him to know them. Bad, because he's starting to get confused between the name and the sound. I'm confident he'll get it all worked out - especially as he's listening and participating in school time with Bella this year.
Balian also already knows all of his colors. I have a flip-book that I made where each page has a circle cut out of construction paper - then glued to a 6x6" square of poster-board, laminated, and holes punched at the top. Balian can look at them like a book, or I can take the rings off, and lay them out on the floor so that we can do "color games." And he LOVES doing this. I'll just set all the pages out, then ask him to pick up a certain color and give it to me. Or, I'll tell him to stand on a certain color - or point to a certain color. Or I'll point to a color and ask him what it is. If he can't say it, I'll go over the name with him and ask him to try to repeat the name - to improve his vocabulary as well.He's doing well with sorting as well. When he's working on his lacing beads - he will tend to choose one shape of beads and lace all of the ones of that shape. I noticed this the other day and thought it was really neat...so now, we'll be working more on that.
He's learning his shapes too. He knows circle, square, oval, star, and triangle. we're just working on solidifying this and learning some more difficult ones like hexagon, etc.Aside from school, Balian LOVES music. He loves to sing, and he's started trying to sing and "play piano" at the same time. His BSF teacher noticed how much he was enjoying the music/worship time in class. Just like his mama, he seems to always have a song in his head. Jesus love me, the B-I-B-L-E, Jesus loves the little children, All through the night, All things bright and beautiful, twinkle twinkle little star, the itsy bitsy spider...the list could go on and on of songs that he sings all the time. Right now his favorite is from VeggiTales (we listen to a CD in the car from Chick-fil-A) "When I share, I get my share of friends. Dodododo...yeah!" ha.
Balian is also our funny-man. He's always finding some way to make Neil and I laugh - or hide from us or Bella so that when we walk by he can say "Boo!" He is a really happy kid. The only things that get in the way of that happiness are discipline and food. He's our foodie too. He LOVES to eat! If you've got something, he wants some too. It doesn't matter if he just had a full meal that was more than an average kid his age eats... seriously high metabolism, I guess...because he's definitely not fat! He must be like his daddy.
The other thing about Balian is his love for everyone. He is so loving and caring toward everyone. He is definitely a man's man. He is much more apt to go to an adult male than female. Whether it's Poppie or PopPop, or the men at church, or Mr. Charles next door, or an older man at the grocery store. He will go to/ say hi to/ask to be picked up by...men.
And of course, he loves his siblings to pieces. Somehow he can get SO mad at Bella (because she's pestering him, as usual), yet never tire of playing with her. a 5 minute break is all he needs if they really get into it. And with Isaiah - yes, I have to tell him not to sit on his brother : / but other than that, he just loves to go up to him and give him hugs and kisses and laugh with him. And the love is definitely reciprocated. I hope so much that they continue to be close as time goes on.
So that's the scoop on Balian. There are times that I think I can't believe he's 2...then I think gosh - he's only 2? But really, I don't care about the age. I love him to pieces. And I just love watching him learn, explore, and grow.
