Milestones

We've had a lot of milestones in the last week or so.

Sleeping. We decided to pull his mattress out of the crib and try to get him to sleep on the floor at night. He doesn't like going to bed, and I half expected him to spend a couple hours playing with his toys and finally conking out around 11 pm or so. Surprisingly, he did pretty well. He cried for a bit, cried for a little longer, and was actually asleep about an hour after we put him down. He has kept waking up in the middle of the night, some nights several times. One night I just slept next to him, and every so often, he'd reach over and pat my face. To make sure I was still there, I suppose. The next night, Daniel took his turn. He's waking less often, so it's encouraging. I think in the next week or so, we'll get a twin mattress for him and dismantle the crib. Guess we can rearrange his rooms, too.

Potty. Maybe not the most interesting of topics, but we actually had a success with the potty this weekend! Yay! But only once.

Speaking. He's really taking off. He wants me to read a book to him, and he'll repeat my words a couple of seconds after I say them. He did the same thing to a couple of Thomas movies this weekend. He'd repeat about every 5th word. It's amazing how much he's talking now.

Property. He's recently gained an understanding of the concept of "mine." He wants his trucks or his blankets.

I do it. Just the other day, when I was putting on his shoes, he said that he wanted to put his shoes on himself. He couldn't manage it, but I helped him and and had him do as many things as he could. We've also recently started letting him watch us cook and help as much as possible. Like stirring or putting the ingredients in a recipe.

Chores. It's now his job (although he doesn't realize it yet) to fill the cats' food dish. He just thinks it's fun to scoop food out of the bin and put it in their dish.

Social. He's a little social butterfly. He charms everyone, everywhere he goes. The farmers' market, the grocery, the garden store. He's never shy or scared of strangers. If he wants company, he has no problem going up to a stranger, grabbing their hand and pulling them along to show them something he finds fascinating. One of the things we've worked hard with him is saying please and thank you, and it's worked wonders. It's part of his charm. There's something about a tiny tot saying "please" while asking for a balloon or sucker, and then saying "thank you" that makes everyone smile. He'll hug folks too, if you give him some encouragement. He'll even deign to give mommy and daddy a hug and kiss now.

Dressing. He will pick out his own shirt a lot of days. Of course, just as many days, he'd prefer to wear no shirt, and he'll announce it loudly and frequently. "No shirt! No shirt!!!" Sometimes, we have battles over wearing a shirt, and mommy always wins, but it's not easy.

Of course, he's also testing the waters of independence. When he's put into time out on the couch, he'll see if he can put a foot on the floor, or hang an arm over the edge. Testing to see how far he can get away with not staying on the couch before we make him go back to the couch. Sometimes, it's annoying, and sometimes it's so funny and obvious that it's really hard not to laugh when you're disciplining him.

Lots of fun.

Cute pictures

I had my canning pot outdoors to cool off, and we had a brief, rare shower, which filled it up. Declan saw it and insisted on taking his bath in it. I figured..."why not?". Take a look and laugh. At the farmer's market.

Vacation Pictures

Finally got my pictures uploaded. (Of course, now my kitchen is in disarray due to a remodeling project and I've misplaced my camera. Thankfully, I got most of my pictures off of it before now.) Grandmommy's (Meme's) shoes are a little big, still. This is cute. Declan was crawling around and under his cousin, Devon. Chillin' on the front porch. Awww. So sweet of Devon. We encouraged Declan to run up and down the sidewalk, yelling at the top of his lung, as much as possible all week long. Boating. He did not really enjoy his time on the boat. Maybe that will change over time. Declan and Meme Do you think he looks like me? Last day. He still wanted to run around, not go get in the car.