Bitty boy is 2

Happy Birthday Bitty Boy!



I relish that I can still call Egan my ‘Bitty Boy.’ The year from 1 to 2 is always amazing. Talking, walking, running...play shift to the dramatic exploration of the world around.

Physically, Egan really developed his gross motor skills this year. He is very focused on keeping up with the big kids. So it wasn’t long from his teetering first steps that he moved to running and climbing. Egan has little physical apprehension. He will try to climb almost anything from a ladder in the garage to the tallest (1.5 story!) slide at the play ground. He is on the merry go round, the swings, climbing up the rope net. When he falls, it usually doesn’t slow him down. He’s just up and moving again. He is not apprehensive about things - he will go out in the row boat alone with sister (parents right near of course for safety, but not for his peace of mind! He would row across the lake.) Egan is the child that mocks ‘baby proofing’ and has pried the light socket covers off to try to plug in the vacuum in. He will run away after other kids, or dash off to the other end of the playground. It’s both inspiring to see his exuberance but also frightening to keep him safe!

Egan is still a little guy. I don’t have his official stats, but he’s still wearing some 12 months clothes and when compared to other kids his age, he’s certainly holding steady in the 5% for height and weight. He is working on his 2 year molars and now has a full set of chompers, which, thankfully he uses with less frequency than his sister did at this age. He is less interested in things like coloring or drawing. Though he does like to paint with dot markers. He is very engaged by games and puzzles - even if he can’t play them exactly the way the directions say.

In the past month or so, Egan’s language has exploded. He didn’t say very much until this summer, when single words become more common. Now, he strings three words together ‘Daddy play now.’ ‘Read story Egan.’ He likes books, his favorite stories are Biscuit, Duck in a Truck, and anything with trains.

Socially, Egan is an extrovert. He loves people, he feels comfortable in groups, either playing with the big kids or off playing by himself. He has little apprehension of different situations/groups and warms up very quickly. If he sees a group of kids, he will run to be a part of that group. We are lucky to have a tribe of older kids that welcomes Egan into their games and accomodates his younger age. He is starting to copy cat - from cooking, to sisters dress up, to social laughing. Egan likes to do what you are doing so that we can be together. Egan remains an extremely loving child. He wants to cuddle, have hugs, be near you. He wants to push his head against yours and press his forehead to yours and smile. He wants to pet your face, he wants to get under the covers and snuggle in his PJ’s. We cherish these moments of rocking him after nap or cuddling in the morning. We know they are brief in the span of a lifetime. He wants to climb up on sisters bed and snuggle and read books with her. Unlike Elena, he doesn’t have a ‘lovey’ (like her trusted Bunny). He’ll play with stuffed animals, books, toys, dolls, trucks, but hasn’t ‘bonded’ with one. He also doesn’t make up imaginary friends - I guess he doesn’t need to. He has sister.

A few of Egan’s favorite things: Egan loves trucks - fire trucks, trash trucks, tow trucks. He hears a truck on the street and drops everything to go running to climb the chair to look out the window. The garbage truck comes early across the street (5:30 am) if he happens to hear it, he will wake up and chirp from his crib ‘Trash truck!!!! Egan up!!!’ This is of course just what parents love at 5:30 am. Egan loves dogs. He likes to pet dogs and watch dogs. He doesn’t mind licking and a little rough housing. He likes to play with stuffed dogs, feeding them and walking them. Egan loves cooking. He loves his play kitchen with pots and pans. He likes to cook all the board game pieces (so much for that play food!). Egan also love to help in the kitchen. Like Elena, he has a kitchen chair to stand on and always want to help stir, cut (with his plastic play knife), and taste. He likes to help with the dishes, even if they need a secret wash after he is done. He also loves his paci...though his is sort of starting to lose interest during the day (hopefully?!) Egan also loves his sister. He likes to have her read to him. He likes to play with her. He is also starting to be more independent in play and will entertain himself. Like the time he snatched the garlic salt off the kitchen counter and started to use it in his kitchen! See how angry he was when I took it away

(and vacuumed it - mom’s are SO mean sometimes).

Egan’s biggest source of frustration is basically being two! He cannot always express what he wants as we play a round robin family guessing game at his words. When the big kids are doing something and he cannot, he gets mad. When he sets his mind to doing something and it doesn’t, he gets upset. He is pretty good at handling transitions, as long as he wants them to happen!

This year has been so much fun. The fall was filled with discovering our new town. Egan settled in with his nanny, Brittany, and spent most of the winter reading books and playing kitchen while the snow fell. Then it was off for his first international adventure, to Scotland, where he proved to be a wonderful traveler, just like his sister. Summer including trips to Mexico and Maine and lots of time at the pool and playing in the yard. Now fall has arrived again and he begins another year. Who knows if he will get much bigger this year, but we know he will do some amazing things. We’ll keep snuggling you bitty boy as long as you will let us.