* You are doing great drinking from a cup and it’s been quite a while since you’ve used a sippy cup. I’m keeping a few for your little brother, but I’ve done some purging of cups recently to make more cabinet space. You drink mostly milk and water. You love my sodas {when you sneak sips of them when I’m not looking} and juice is like dessert to you.
* You are not the worst eater in the world, but you certainly are pickier than what we were used to with you sister when she was your age. We’ve decided that we are not going to allow your picky eating to be a battle. We serve you what we are all eating and it’s your choice whether or not to eat it. I try to serve things that you like {you like almost all fruits and quite a few veggies}, but I also don’t shy away from things I know you will likely not eat that are healthy for you and that we are eating. We do have a rule that you must eat a little bit of everything on your plate if you want any treats for dessert. We don’t have dessert every night, but you have missed out on many a treat because of your unwillingness to try what it on your plate {who doesn’t like baked ziti?}.
* Your sleeping habits have been a challenge recently. You have always been a lighter sleeper, but a few months ago is when you started to not sleep as well. It started out that you would wake up in the middle of the night and we would just go in your room and put you back down {you were still in your crib}. You would go right back to sleep, so it wasn’t overly concerning. Once you were able to climb out of your crib, things got worse. This is when you started to boycott sleep, sometimes throwing huge tantrums. We sped up the process of switching you over to a twin bed because you were bruising yourself with all the climbing out of your crib. Now you are in a twin bed and we are in the midst of “Bedtime Boot Camp.” We put you down at 7:30pm, but sometimes it’s an hour or so later before you are actually in bed asleep {sometimes you pop up at 10pm or 1 am}. We have always done a night time routine to help you settle for the night and I’m convinced at this point that this is you exercising your will.
* You are still napping for about 1.5-2 hours during the day – usually from 1:30-3:00pm. You sometimes try to get out of bed at nap time, but it’s nothing terrible most days {maybe once or twice before you get the hint}.
* You are still wearing size 5 diapers, but I’m hoping to potty train you at the end of the summer after vacation in July. I’m not going to even consider potty training you though until we have bedtime figured out. There is no way my nerves can handle both – that would be cray-zee!
* You are wearing a mixture of sizes – both 2T and 3T. You still wear 2T for most of your shorts, but some of your t-shirts are looking a little short, so you’ll probably need some 3T t-shirts to get you through summer. You are still wearing lots of hand-me-downs, which is great! I just have to add here and there since you mostly have what you need. You are wearing a size 8.5 shoe.
* You have all 20 teeth. Your final 2 year molar took it’s time, but it finally emerged a couple of months ago. You like brushing your teeth and we are trying to work with you on rinsing and spitting.
* You have officially tested out of speech therapy. It was bittersweet since we have loved your therapist, but it means that you’re progressing, which is what it’s all about!
* You are a busy boy and love to be active! You love to be outside and climb on anything and everything. You love playgrounds and surprise me with your lack of fear on some of the tall slides and swings. You are really enjoying our sandbox in the backyard. It’s been covered all winter and you ask to go play in it a lot during the day.
* You also love to play quietly by yourself sometimes. When Savannah is at school, you love to play with your toys, figurines, or trains. It’s funny to watch you line up your cars in a straight line. You also love puzzles and have impressed me quite a bit with your ability to put them together so quickly. For a while there, you would sit at the kitchen table to do the same puzzles over and over again.
* You also like to color with markers and crayons. You don’t stay in the lines much, but you do enjoy “scribbling.” You enjoy painting with watercolors too.
* You love being silly and dancing to music. I don’t hear it a ton, but you have the sweetest little voice that I love hearing sing to songs. We often will sing a song together before nap time and bedtime and it’s so precious.
* You and your sister continue to have a love/hate relationship and it’s been tough for me to figure out how to encourage you to both get along with one another. I have to remind myself that we are teaching big concepts and that it can take years to grasp them! Parenting is not for the faint of heart, right? At least there are sweet moments on occasion when I see you kissing and hugging, so I know there is hope!
* You are becoming quite a helper around the house. When prompted, you will help put your dishes on the counter or your cup in the sink. You also do a good job of cleaning up when you have someone to help keep your from getting distracted. It’s so nice to have helpers around!
* You visited the cleft clinic in the fall and everything seems to be going just fine. Your ear tubes are still in, so we were told to keep an eye out for any possible issues with puss or draining. Apparently, problems can arise when they are in for 2 years or more so we will keep an eye on that but all seems to be okay so far.
