Soren Update: 22 Months

Soren has hit the Terrible Two's.  I shouldn't be this surprised since I've seen the tantrums before, but Soren is our "mellow" one, so maybe that's what's caught me off guard.  His little outbursts have been cute until this point.  Then Oliver got a new bike, Soren saw it and had a down-and-out 30-minute tantrum.  Nothing could console him and we couldn't reason with him.  Honestly, Chris and I didn't know what to do with him. 

Then there's the shrieking.  Soren used to mostly just shriek with joy.  But now he shrieks if Oliver looks at him funny, comes near him or looks like he might possibly think about taking something Soren might possibly even remotely be interested in.  So that means that if Oliver and Soren are in the same room, there's usually some level of shrieking, crying and/or screaming going on. 

The commotion can reach such a high pitch (and stay there for an extended period of time) that I apologized to the neighbors in advance.  Since our houses are so close together and people often have their windows open, I'm embarrassed by how much my kids are potentially disturbing the entire neighborhood. 

In fairness to Soren, part of the reason behind his mood could be attributed to how often he's been getting sick, including two more times since last month's update. He's possibly been sick five or six times in as many months, but honestly, I've lost track.  The last time I took Soren to the doctor, he couldn't find anything a reason for his high fever, other than that it was probably a run-of-the-mill summer virus.  We were given the usual instructions to keep him hydrated and give him Ibuprofen and Tylenol to control the fever and to be thankful that he didn't have vomiting or diarrhea, which usually accompanies these types of illnesses.  Well, last Monday he was fine when he went to bed and when I checked on him in the morning, he had vomited in his bed and had a 103 fever.  This virus was a least the shortest-lived, but it still gave him enough time to throw up on our nanny and his car seat and require us to do three loads of laundry in 24 hours. 

Tantrums and illnesses aside, there's still plenty of joy and wonder experienced as a parent of a toddler. Soren still imitates everything Oliver does.  Oliver noticed our neighbor's cat sunning herself on the front walk and he bent down to take a look at her.  Soren walked up next to him and bent down and looked at the cat.  Oliver meowed at the cat.  Soren meowed at the cat.  Oliver stood up.  Soren stood up.  And so on. 

Soren is also imitating more and more words.  He picks a random word from a sentence he just overheard and repeats it.  If Oliver says, "I want to go to the park today," Soren repeats "park" softly to no one in particular.  Many of the words I've never heard him say on his own or in context, but it's interesting that he can still isolate a word in a sentence and say it correctly. 

Although Soren can still fit in 18-month shirts and 12-month pants, I might be getting close to boxing those clothes up for good.  I thought he'd never grow out of them. At his last doctor's appointment, he topped out at 22 pounds and three ounces.  He's still wearing size four diapers.

For all the sleep problems we've had the past few months, Soren is finally going to bed without much fuss.  Remaining consistent with bedtime and the routine is surprising proving to be more crucial for peaceful bedtimes for Soren than it was for Oliver, who as a baby and toddler melted down in the blink of an eye if you pushed his limits on his need for sleep.  Soren has to have everything just so - brush his teeth, give him his pacifier, change his diaper and pajamas and let him pick a book.  Then he crawls into bed, pulls his covers over his lap and pats his lap as he waits for his bedtime story.  Where he used to cry and carry on once you left the room, he's now fine as long as he gets an extra-long snuggle.  So after I turn on his fan, close his shades and turn off his light, I curl up with him and hold him snugly against my chest and kiss his cheeks and stroke his face.  He clutches the front of my shirt as if he wants to pull me even closer and I can feel him relax.  I'm honored and humbled to be that person who can calm him with just my presence.  I really do wish I could hold him all night, but I know the little guy needs his sleep to prepare for another energetic day.