Someone is finally growing in his two year molars! It's about time. They are sneaking through his little gums and it is so much fun to see him looking at the "new molars" in the mirror, and make sure to brush them so they don't get cavities. Between that and his bronchitis the last few weeks (which left his poor stuffed nose worse for the wear), we are super lucky that his sleep has not suffered too much. Only a handful of times has his nap gone for only or just over an hour, most days it is about two hours. He goes to bed between 8 and 9, usually singing to himself or just saying "bless you" to Mr. D's and my coughing until he falls asleep, which usually takes at least 30 minutes but has been known to take over an hour. He has only ever skipped three naps in his whole toddler life, and one of them occurred in the last month. He still wakes up at 6:30 am like clockwork, calling my name and typically staying in his bed until I come to get him and we chat for awhile before he feels like getting out of bed. I love this little routine, and he does it for post-naptime, too.
Everything gets turned into a song. most of his songs are mashups of what he is doing or wants to do and songs he knows, typically primary songs or take me out to the ballgame. he sings in the car (and requests the radio is turned off so he can sing to me), before bed, as he is eating, in the tub, ALL the time. I love it. It's hilarious and endearing and I hope it never ends. Unfortunately he is also terribly camera shy lately so it takes a lot of coaxing to sneak a picture or video of him lately, hence why I have yet to get this on camera.
Little d is able to play on his own now! I never thought this would happen since he mostly likes playing sports and there are few sports that can be done with one person, but lately while I have been showering or cooking or otherwise occupied, I hear him moving stuff around, singing and talking, in his own little world. He is always more than delighted to play with me or his dad, but it is nice to not have to be constantly throwing new toys or game ideas at him all day, he can do some of that on his own.
Polite to a fault. LOVE it. Since we have all been sick, little d has taken to saying "bless you" everytime someone not only sneezes but also coughs. Which the latter has been extremely frequent, and even in his bedroom (while we think he is sleeping), he does not skip a beat.... "Bwess you!" and he fully expects a thank you, after which he will reply "you're welcome! love you." Sometimes he has done this in his sleep, but most of the time it has been a good predictor for when exactly he falls asleep (that's how we know its usually 30-60 minutes after we put him to bed). He also likes to make a lot of noise since he sleeps next to the wall and will practice drumming his hands or feet against the wall until he gets bored. He has finally gotten into somewhat of a routine of eating only at the table, saying his pleases and thank yous, and (my personal favorite) complimenting me on the yummy meal and asking "mayibe 'scused?". Sure, he has his wild, can't-get-him-to-sit-still-for-sive-minutes-at-mealtimes moments, but as long as I keep snacks to a minimum, he happily comes to the table ready to sit and eat with us. He has also taken to calling people (myself included), "mister sir" when he is requesting something and "come on/lets go, boys!" whenever he is talking to a group of people.
We finally brought over the crib from my inlaws house and I set it up in my room. I was a little worried little d (who was terribly attached to his crib) would regress and want to go in it since he only made the switch to his new bed not even three months ago, but he has done wonderfully. He happily shows guests his sister's new bed when they come to visit, and even told me how much he liked the new chevron bedding I got for her ("dat's nice, mom. good job. looks great." with a thumbs up).
"I can't know." This is his way of saying I don't know or remember and he uses this phrase frequently. Mr. D always corrects him, but I think it's adorable, just a phase, and probably won't last till next month. I really find it fascinating how he puts phrases together and tries to figure out tenses.
One of my favorite parts of the day (which if I am lucky happens more than once a day) is when little d decides to play with Kevs on the stairs, the only carpeted area of our home. This usually involves him throwing a cat toy up the stairs and Kevs batting it back down to him. Little d is not always nice to Kevs (and will still kick him in the face or push him at random, which I still don't get) so to see this little playfulness is really endearing.
I was making some little bookmark-style things for valentines the other day and had a little extra paper so I made an extra one for little d. Upon receiving it, he replied, "Awwww! That's so nice! Thank you mom!" and proceeded to put it up on the fridge and give me a hug. There are so many moments in my day where my heart feels like it's going to explode and that was certainly one of them.
He's a total show-off. It's not enough for me to watch him dance or kick a balloon around, though. He has me expose my belly so his sister can watch and will intermittently rush over, mid-play, and say to my belly "did you see that, A? yeah? You want me to do it again? 'Kay." and rush off, as if I didn't even exist.
After that stint at the Celtics game last month, everyone has to have a name that plays with him in sports. Basketball he is KG and I am usually Rondo while Mr. D is Paul Pierce. He also likes us to chant "DE-FENSE!" as he is trying to make a basket and will occasionally call for a "time out, wait a minute" where he sits on the floor and catches his breath. Baseball he is usually Dustin Pedroia and doesn't care who I am so long as he gets to be pitched to. He went to a high school game with the inlaws on vday and hated it because the buzzer was too loud. Let it be noted he didn't complain about the noise volume at the Garden, so maybe he just knew that KG wasn't about to show up.
He can put on and take off his clothes now. This is a pretty big accomplishment because he has been ragdolling clothes changes for awhile and with a sister on the way, it is nice, albeit bittersweet that he is able to be more independent. We also gave him his own little dresser next to his bed and moved his closet clothes to eye level, so he knows where everything is and can select accordingly.
Little d is fascinated by girl things, which I try to explain to him. Bobby pins, makeup, hair ties, headbands, nail polish, jewelry and the like are met with awe and a little bit of disappointment as he realizes they are not for him because he is a boy. But he does a pretty good job in finding those things and knowing to hand them to me. I also occasionally let him pick out a necklace for me or a color of nail polish, which he loves doing. The kid likes making decisions, and I think it makes him feel important that he is helping me make them.
Being sick the last few weeks has led to a regression in the learning stuff vs. watching too much tv (leaning heavily towards the latter), but now that we are all feeling a bit better (and the snow is slowly melting enough so short little legs can get through the backyard without faceplanting) we can hopefully find a better balance. In his defense, I did put on Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Warerabbit while we were in my bed one morning, fell asleep, and woke up over an hour later to find out he not only sat through the entire movie but really liked it and retold me the entire story I missed.
The boy loves to (re-)tell stories. This would probably drive me crazy if I was working and did not know where these stories were coming from, but at least I know that george, marco, and super why are all characters of tv shows, even if little d tells me about their adventures like they are his best friends. We need more playdates to be sure.
Potty training has never seemed so far away. We have had a little problem with lying the last month. whereas before he would tell me as soon as he went to the bathroom, lately I will ask him if he needs a diaper change and he will deny, deny, deny. Thankfully he is understanding the difference between truth and a lie, and if I ask him if he is telling the truth, he will admit to telling a lie. Thank you Super Why and the story of Pinnochio (although it took some convincing to inform little d that just because his nose wasn't growing didn't mean he was necessarily telling the truth). The boy would rather play than get a diaper change, and that is probably the biggest obstacle to his play so he ignores it. Potty training in another year it is.
Someone once told me that toddlers only work on two modes: "GO!" and "mosey along." Mosey along always occurs when we have someplace to be or when I am requesting something of him, and GO! is always only when he wants to do something that usually has no time commitment whatsoever.
Add laundry to the list of things little d likes to do with me, along with dishes and cooking. The latter two are a bit of a challenge but laundry is pretty perfect for him: throwing (sorting) clothes from one place to another is really his forte.
Running and sliding into "home" are pretty much how he gets around anywhere. Mostly because it makes people laugh.
He is enamoured with the idea of a birthday and every time I light a candle requests the birthday song so he can blow it out. He kept asking where his presents were last week when it was Mr. D's birthday, so I'm not sure he quite gets that every birthday is not his own.
Can recognize and point out diamonds, squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, stars and the letters D, R, A, B, C and the number 1. I am sure there are more he could do but he hasn't shown much interest in them lately. He likes being a doctor with his new doctor kit, and banging things with a hammer. Kid loves to make noise, especially drumming things. He's still a dance machine and comes up with all kinds of crazy dance moves that keep us entertained.
He can recite just about the entire story of the Grinch in his own words and we don't even own the book. We found the audio version that he listens to all the time on Spotify.
Mr. D is trying to get him into the Wii and I think it's working. I can't say I can complain since wiibowling is much cheaper than taking him out to bowl, and at least in the wintertime wii baseball is a little safer and easier to do indoors.
He responds to stuff he cannot believe with "WHAAAT." and it is hilarious every time.
Also his songs literally never end... I call them the "and thennnn" songs because that is how he connects his thoughts when he is singing.
I know these pictures are old but lets be honest, they are adorable and I can't believe I just found them on our camera the other day. Summertime never looked so adorable.
I bought a butternut squash last week with the intent of recreating the delicious seasonal soup panera has going on right now (autumn butternut squash soup?) but looking up recipes I found something from this random blog that sidetracked me...and may just be the best thing I've ever made. We put ours in tortillas with guacamole, sour cream and salsa and its supposed to be vegan so that daiya cheese we subbed with good old regular cheese. The best part about this recipe is there are so many things you can sub in for most main ingredients... I am making it again for the second time this week, but replacing the black beans with great northern and red pepper with an orange one (i know, all kinds of craziness but you work with what you have, right?). Both husband and child liked it (even with all the veggies!!) burrito style, and I like mine on a salad.
