FAVORITES (or as he calls them, his "favarate-favarate")
food: gogurt, hershey kisses, turkey rollups, smoothies, candy of any sort (mr. D recently introduced him to pop rocks which he called "party rocks").
color: green and blue
toy: curious george backpack
game: basketball in the living room or imaginary baseball anywhere
stuffed animal: curious george
show: curious george (are we seeing a trend here?)
song: you're a mean one, mr. grinch
book: a curious george book he got from my parents for Christmas that has 8 stories, all of which I have read more times than I can remember
logos: BYU, Patriots, Bruins, Red Sox
Little d can
-pick out the letter "d" from just about anywhere consistently
-put on his own clothes and usually insists on doing so (shirt, pants without zipper, socks, shoes, boots)
-sleep consistently from 8pm to 6:15am with a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon. He likes to pick out his own clothes each morning so I give him two options to choose from each morning, and while it was a nightmare to get him to change his clothes each morning, he understands the logic that PJs are for going to bed.
-He wakes up sweaty (usually soaking half his pillow, no joke) but happy to share his dreams or what he remembers from the day before.
-sleep in his "big boy bed" without getting out... I have a childlock on the door but every time he wakes up he calls me until I come get him out of bed
-count to 20 without assistance
-sing dozens of songs on his own, including a bunch of christmas songs I am not sure he will ever unremember
-help me wash dishes, prepare meals and snacks, feed the cat, make beds, sort laundry, clean up toys, etc. I have do doubt that he will be a huge help when the baby comes
-have an extremely active imagination. As of late he talks about a ghost who lives on our back porch window, has a talking baseball and talks to his stuffed animals, especially George, whom he loves reading Curious George books to.
-watch Downton Abbey with me. As in, he watched the second half of the premiere episode and was talking about the wedding and how pretty that girl was for a few days afterwards.
-sit at the family dinner table and eat three meals with me/us. This is quite a feat since he has always been able to eat wherever he wants up until a few weeks ago, and I love only eating meals at the kitchen table, which he has been really respectful of. He is also very good with his pleases, thank yous and is working on "may I be excused." Also clears the table after a meal. Yes, I am a little obsessed with good manners.
-dance like a crazyman. Gangnam style throws him into this crazy breakdance I cannot even describe but it cracks me up every time.
-play by himself on his swingset. I am always out there with him, but it is nice to see him get on the slide and swings without having to lift him up every time (only when there was like 11 inches of snow on the ground).
-draw faces with circles around them and occasionally scribbles little "shirts" right under them.
-understand the concept between our home and my inlaws (darsi's house or the uncles house)
-be extremely independent. Is able to play by himself while I am making dinner or taking a shower (when he is usually playing with a few toys in the sink)
-brush his own teeth and loves doing that little routine at least two but sometimes three times a day. It involves taking a little bit of water from the faucet on his finger, and cleaning the bottom of the toothbrush holder, putting toothpaste on his brush and brushing (he can spit properly now), rinsing the sink and giving me the toothbrush, after which he will wash his hands with soap and water while I do a second tooth brushing. Better to overdo it than to hate it (like he did a few short months ago, where he cried while I brushed his teeth), right?
-make jokes. The other day we were stopped in traffic at a red light and he told me that Kevin eats red lights and it made me laugh so hard that he continued to tell me what else silly Kevin eats: trucks, cars, snow, green lights, etc. He LOVES making people laugh and will go to great lengths to do so.
-adjust well to other people and is extremely friendly, what with nursery once a week, going to my inlaws at least once a week, a mommy and me class at the library once a week, and daily trips to the gym daycare, he is getting to be better around other kids. The funniest thing for me at the gym is that they have this huge window where he can see me on the treadmills and he loves to wave, smile and blow kisses as well as give me the thumbs up while I run... a GREAT motivation.
-Finally go through the grocery store with me again (we hit a rough patch filled with meltdowns right after we first moved), where we get a cart with those cars and he "drives" us around. His favorite part is our visit to the deli where they give him a turkey rollup and cheese slice. We have also discovered the power of the flower shop that gives him a blue balloon each week he remembers to request it.
-still pick a mean fight with Kevs. He will just sit eye to eye with him and they take turns batting at each other (like a game of chicken?) until one of them cries because he got scratched or runs away and hides. Wild guess who each one is, and little d always finds that game hysterical.
-sit through a simple family home evening, and looks forward to scripture reading (because we read scriptures before curious george), FHE (because it involves treats and coloring), and prayers because he just loves saying prayers. He always prays to "and bless Blake on a mission" without fail, even if it is after we have said amen :)
-remember things with terrifying accuracy. I promised him we could have a picnic outside "tomorrow" and it happened to be freezing outside the next day, literally. I tried not to mention anything but he insisted on we three eating lunch in the cold. I will pay better attention to the weather forecast in the future.
He is fully aware he is going to have a sister in the spring and is beyond excited, giving me extra treats because we've been talking about how the digestive system works for himself and myself (he actually tried to force me to eat a cracker the other day because he just KNEW baby A wanted it). He tells me (unprompted!) when I get dolled up for church that I look beautiful and whenever I have just painted my nails always makes a comment about how nice they look.
He will also brag to the cashier at the grocery store, personal trainer at the gym, random person at the library, etc about his baby sister. I'm still a little scared to put the crib in his room, but when that happens sometime in the next month I am hoping it will look different enough that he won't remember it as his own. Also, he calls all beds "cribs".
So sure, he throws a mean tantrum when he can't get what he wants or when something is not predictable. But the consistency of the last two weeks or so has been really good for the both (three) of us and there are not quite so many tantrums, and coupled with the fact that he is not constantly in front of a screen has made for a much more pleasant child, even if he still picks his nose. He is at least learning that "no" is going to be a permanent part of his vocabulary. He's learning a LOT, actually.
But he still loves animals, sports, sports, and more sports so I know he's mine and as much as he has changed over the last 2.5 years, the basic parts of him that make him my little d are unchanged.
I love this boy.
