Verbally: Well three months ago he was only saying a few words and Dr. W told us if that list had not tripled in three months to maybe, possibly consider speech therapy if we were concerned, which he was 100% not worried about his speech development - but we knew we weren't going to even consider it until he was at least 2. Boy, has this changed! I didn't even realize it but every day he is just saying more and more new words - including "yea" YEA! Finally! I cannot tell you how my heart leaps when he says yes... you have to remember we had a solid 6 months where the only word this kid uttered was "no." Which is still one of his favorites - but it's nice to get a yes every now and then! :) I feel like he understands pretty much every thing I say, too which is just fun. He tries to repeat me a lot of times... and if I give him an option like, "Want to wear the blue shirt or the yellow one?" He will say "lellow" or "boo" It's pretty awesome. The words we hear most often are "bite" "no" "mommy" "dada" "choo choo" "Elmo" "walk" and "yea" :)
Socially: Little mister is a social butterfly! Whenever we go anywhere he always says "hi" or "heyyo" and "bye bye" to everyone we come across. He's gotten a teensy bit better at sharing whenever we have play dates - but we still have miles to go with that. He is more interested in playing with other kids now and it is just so fun watching him interact with other kids. He also has improved tremendously in the nursery... so much so I think I had about a dozen people talk to me about how good he's been doing in there over the past few weeks. He's like a different kid. I volunteered in the nursery one week so I stayed with him pretty much the entire time, he did great. He didn't even need to be near him. So decided I'd go to second service and leave him in the nursery - he did great! The next week I stayed about 10 minutes, then just a few minutes before church. I think that one week of me staying the whole time just really made him feel more comfortable. It gave me so much hope that preschool is a good call!
Sleep: With the time change he goes to bed around 8:30 or 9. Which I actually love - it's nice to be able to go out as a family after Michael gets off sometimes... and it's just nice knowing that he and his daddy are getting good play time in every day. Michael and I are getting less alone time together - but it's just opened our eyes to the fact that now we're going to really have to prioritize date nights and things. Anyway, he wakes up usually before 7. Lately he's actually been waking up around 5, Michael will bring him into our bed with his sippy cup, and then he'll fall back asleep until 7. It's really sweet. I like that he wants to cuddle with me in the mornings but I've got to be honest - I don't get much sleep from 5-7. Little mister is a wiggle worm and kicks and rolls around in between us making it impossible to sleep. But waking up as a family is pretty awesome... so it's worth it (so long as it's never an all-night thing, except for special occasions). He's still in his crib and I've decided to not switch to a big bed until he's crawling out of his crib or he's asking to move to a big boy bed. With the new baby coming soon and him doing so well in his crib - I see 0 reasons for trying to rush it. (I'm approaching potty training the same way!)
Struggles: The biggest struggle we're facing is just discipline. Not knowing where to start, really. We have some friends with a son just a few months older and time out has proven to be very effective for them. We tried it the other day because he was throwing a tantrum because of some silly reason so Michael set him on the couch, screaming. He got down and Michael put him back calmly about 6 more times. Finally he sat still for a second and he told him we loved him but it's not okay to act that way. I know it will take a lot of patience to master the time-out thing... but I think it will be worth it. In stores when he's acting up or he doesn't want to go where I want him to (the other day it was because I didn't want him pushing a buggy) I still don't know how to handle those situations. But for now I'm just praying for wisdom and discernment and observing fellow mommies to learn what methods I think will work best for our family.
An encouraging verse for me:
He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11
No doubt, parenting is tough. and exhausting. and extremely trying on your patience. But it's so unbelievably awesome at the exact same time. Having a toddler is seriously the greatest... I can't imagine my life without him! And I'm learning to live in the moment more. Like today, instead of feeling guilty about letting Caedmon watch Thomas the train (little mister was up so much last night with a cough and woke up wanting to watch choo choos... how could I refuse?) but I got us a bowl of strawberries, cuddled on the couch with him and put a blanket over us. It was a wonderful morning... and whenever tough situations arise I just hope that the Lord will gently lead me into the right decision/action and I won't regret my decisions then either. Make that a prayer for any mother you know... I think we could all use it! :)
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