January:
Today I think Strider tried to discipline himself! I started trying to punish him by taking him over to the living room and putting him in his chair whenever he touched the dishes in the dishwasher after I told him not to. The first time he cried, but then he started to take it as matter of fact, and would just wait in the chair until I told him he could come back. Then a little later when I wasn’t really paying attention, I heard some rattling by the dishwasher, and next thing I knew he was running over and getting in his chair! He sat there until I told him he could come back! So I guess he was just testing out the whole system… touch a dish, get in the chair, come back… all on his own!
Today I think Strider tried to discipline himself! I started trying to punish him by taking him over to the living room and putting him in his chair whenever he touched the dishes in the dishwasher after I told him not to. The first time he cried, but then he started to take it as matter of fact, and would just wait in the chair until I told him he could come back. Then a little later when I wasn’t really paying attention, I heard some rattling by the dishwasher, and next thing I knew he was running over and getting in his chair! He sat there until I told him he could come back! So I guess he was just testing out the whole system… touch a dish, get in the chair, come back… all on his own!
Tonight Strider is lying up in his bed, still
not sleeping. A little while ago,
someone rang the doorbell to try and sell us something. A few minutes later Pete went up to check on
Strider and he was just lying there… knocking his hand on his head (his code
for “someone is at the door!”) Still
talking, even if no one is listening…
The word for this month has been “HUG.” He loves to run up to one of us and say “hug”
– especially if it means he can get out of doing whatever it was he was
supposed to be doing. And he also loves
getting one of his toys – a stuffed animal, a book, a measuring cup, whatever!
– and saying “hug” as he holds it to his chest and pats it on the back. The best, though, is when one of us is
leaving and we start to say “Ok, I need to get ready to go now” – he comes
running over with both arms up, saying “hug!
hug!” Who can resist???
February:
Yesterday when we were in Strider's room, he suddenly pointed at a wall and said “no.” I looked where he was pointing and it was place where he had apparently started ripping the wallpaper border, while standing in his crib. He knew it was wrong though! So I told him he was right and he shouldn’t do it – and he didn’t continue with it during the next nap time… We’ll see if he can keep his hands off!
He knows all of his letters now, the capital ones anyway, and on the way home from our ski trip a couple weeks ago, he started saying “O” over and over. We looked outside and he was pointing to the Office Max sign he saw!
March:
Tonight at dinner he was suddenly fascinated with praying by himself. He folded his hands (not sure where he learned that) and then got a very serious face and muttered in a low, quiet voice. In the middle, he said "Nonna, Poppa, Delly (Chelsie) Woof-Woof", and then ended with a triumphant Amen! He kept doing this over and over, after telling me I was supposed to pray too (fold my hands and close my eyes)... and it was always the same prayer. Except sometimes he would say "Yay" at the end by mistake -- and then quickly correct himself with a serious "Amen."
Strider’s best friend this month has been one of my big pots. He carries it around by both handles everywhere he goes! He even wants to take it with him when he goes upstairs or to the basement – I had to even bring it to my prayer group meeting last week. He loves to pretend he’s making popcorn (“kopka”) when he puts his crayons in it, and has to say goodbye to it whenever we tell him he can’t take it somewhere (like to his bed). We think he needs a sibling.
Strider asked Pete to change his diaper this morning, saying “bopper” over and over again. Pete said “Strider, can you say ‘D – d- d- d- diaper?” So Strider said “D –d-d-d- bopper!” Then he was walking around saying that several times later today…
April:
Ever since he was a few months old, Strider has always liked to put his head on my shoulder for a hug—but it always has to be the right shoulder. Until this month. Now whenever I pick him up he goes to the right shoulder, but only for a second. Then he takes his little index finger and points at my left shoulder repeatedly until I say “ok” and then he switches over to that side. Every time!!
His favorite bedtime song for the last few months has been “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Sometimes I let him sing the last word of each line, and whenever we get to the last “are,” he always follows it up with “S!!” And sometimes he then says “T! O! P!…”
Life with a toddler sure makes our house interesting. Just now I paused for a second and looked around. This is what I saw: a shoe (2 sizes too big for Strider) on our dresser, 2 plastic tubes on our floor, a coat hanger perched on the window sill, his socks and a balloon in a kitchen cupboard, an oatmeal container and 3 pots on our coffee table, a leg from a Lego character on his booster seat, the plastic stick broken off some window blinds “put away” next to the basement door, a 3-foot big bouncy purple ball in our foyer, a horse’s head on a stick lying in the main path through the living room, a plastic top to an ice cream maker on the couch, and I could go on and on and on…
When we’re putting Strider down for a nap sometimes I try singing a different song besides “Twinkle Twinkle.” Today I started to sing the alphabet song, and from his position with his head on my shoulder, he flails his arm out and makes his sign for “star” indicating that he wanted the star song instead. When I didn’t switch songs mid-phrase, the arm got wilder and wilder—all without his head even moving from his “hug” position! Finally I switched to the right song and he was happy. I started chuckling as I was singing, thinking about what a little boss-man he is, and he started laughing too—just because I was laughing. So we ended up having this total laugh-fest, and far as I know he didn’t even think anything was funny! Never one to pass up a good laugh though…
This morning Pete was sitting at the table eating some cereal and reading his Bible. So Strider wanted to sit in the chair next to him and eat some cereal too. Then he suddenly got down and went over to the basket behind the couch and pulled out MY Bible and brought it up to his spot at the table! I don’t know how he knew that they were both Bibles – we’ve never told him that word, and they look nothing alike! Pete’s is small and leather, mind is huge and paper-back! Weird.
February:
Yesterday when we were in Strider's room, he suddenly pointed at a wall and said “no.” I looked where he was pointing and it was place where he had apparently started ripping the wallpaper border, while standing in his crib. He knew it was wrong though! So I told him he was right and he shouldn’t do it – and he didn’t continue with it during the next nap time… We’ll see if he can keep his hands off!
He knows all of his letters now, the capital ones anyway, and on the way home from our ski trip a couple weeks ago, he started saying “O” over and over. We looked outside and he was pointing to the Office Max sign he saw!
 |
| With next-door neighbor Aryanna |
Tonight at dinner he was suddenly fascinated with praying by himself. He folded his hands (not sure where he learned that) and then got a very serious face and muttered in a low, quiet voice. In the middle, he said "Nonna, Poppa, Delly (Chelsie) Woof-Woof", and then ended with a triumphant Amen! He kept doing this over and over, after telling me I was supposed to pray too (fold my hands and close my eyes)... and it was always the same prayer. Except sometimes he would say "Yay" at the end by mistake -- and then quickly correct himself with a serious "Amen."
Strider’s best friend this month has been one of my big pots. He carries it around by both handles everywhere he goes! He even wants to take it with him when he goes upstairs or to the basement – I had to even bring it to my prayer group meeting last week. He loves to pretend he’s making popcorn (“kopka”) when he puts his crayons in it, and has to say goodbye to it whenever we tell him he can’t take it somewhere (like to his bed). We think he needs a sibling.
April:
 |
| "Carrying a cross" just like Mr. Duckett at church |
 |
| Trying to lie just like Daddy |
 |
| In his prayer pose |
When we’re putting Strider down for a nap sometimes I try singing a different song besides “Twinkle Twinkle.” Today I started to sing the alphabet song, and from his position with his head on my shoulder, he flails his arm out and makes his sign for “star” indicating that he wanted the star song instead. When I didn’t switch songs mid-phrase, the arm got wilder and wilder—all without his head even moving from his “hug” position! Finally I switched to the right song and he was happy. I started chuckling as I was singing, thinking about what a little boss-man he is, and he started laughing too—just because I was laughing. So we ended up having this total laugh-fest, and far as I know he didn’t even think anything was funny! Never one to pass up a good laugh though…
This morning Pete was sitting at the table eating some cereal and reading his Bible. So Strider wanted to sit in the chair next to him and eat some cereal too. Then he suddenly got down and went over to the basket behind the couch and pulled out MY Bible and brought it up to his spot at the table! I don’t know how he knew that they were both Bibles – we’ve never told him that word, and they look nothing alike! Pete’s is small and leather, mind is huge and paper-back! Weird.
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