Can I qualify for tax exemption if I lived in home 23 months in the last 5 years

[Jameson Hedin]

I have 2 questions that I would love if someone had insight into.  

1) as the title says, we don't quite reach 2 years for the tax exemption. We were one month short before renting it out.  We closed in May 2018 and the first lease started April 2020.  Is this a rigid boundary or a "spirit of the law" type situation

2) We sold a home under this exemption 3 years ago.  As far as I can tell you just cant have sold a home under the exemption in the past 2 years.  Is this accurate?

Thank you so much to any who can provide some answers.