My Incredible Growing Toddler
This has been a week of changes and firsts for Alexander. I'm hoping I don't forget something as I try to jot them down:
- Monday morning, as his Daddy was preparing to leave on business trip, we heard Lex laughing in the living room. He was "reading" to himself, holding his Blue Hat, Green Hat book, pointing at the turkey (who in the story, gets everything wrong) and laughing. They he brought the book with him to the door when it was time to say goodbye, still chuckling, and pointing at the turkey for Daddy to see.
- After Daddy left, I sat down to check email, when a little person appeared at my elbow holding the bottle of apple juice. He had opened the fridge himself, gotten the juice out, closed the door and brought it to me.
- He's also been very insistent about clearing the table after meals and bringing his bowl or plate and utensils over to the counter by the sink.
- (This started last week, but I'll mention it:) He likes to wash his hands. He pushes his stool up to the sink, calls for me to turn on the water and then happily get his hands wet, holds one out for soap, rubs them together and then under the water until Mommy decides enough water has gone down the drain. He's pretty good about drying them afterwards, too.
- He's been playing "going to sleep" all week. He goes and lies down in bed (either his own, or ours), pulls the covers up to his armpits and makes exaggerated snoring noises with his eyes closed.
- Tuesday (I think it was), he discovered my old doll, Baby Beans. He immediately took her and put her to bed, laying her down, pulling the covers up and telling her "hush, hush."
- Potty training is hit and miss. For whatever reason, Mondays seem particularly good (willing to sit on the potty, dry most of the day) and Wednesdays are tending to be particularly full of fail (absolute refusal to sit, going through six or so changes of pants). One day this week, he went completely of his own volition, without any prompting. I was very proud of him.
- I'm conflicted about letting him watch TV. I know some experts say children under two shouldn't have any screen time. The particular horse has already left the barn. He loves "Dinosaur Train" and his two favourite DVDs are Disney's "Robin Hood" (the one with the fox) and Veggie Tales "Lord of the Beans". Last week was the end of tax season and Jay & I were swamped. I think we let him watch a bit too much; he watched Robin Hood - the entire 81 minutes of it - at least once each day, and couple times, twice though.
- It's probably not surprising he wants to watch the same thing over and over. He also wants to read the same story over and over. One day, I think I read What's Wrong Little Pookie? 8 or 10 times in a row.
- New this week on the reading front is an extended attention span. He sat attentively though an entire Dr. Seuss book (Horton Hatches An Egg). I used to read him Dr. Seuss and other longer storybooks when we was an infant, but since late last summer (since he became mobile) he wouldn't sit for longer stories, so we'd been pretty much limited to Sandra Boynton, Jan Brett and some short adaptations of Pooh stories (the exceptions were the "Bear" books and "If you give ..." books).
- He likes to sing and dance; and stomp and march. Thursday, I took him downtown for the Cinco de Mayo activities. He liked the Mariachi band and danced up a storm, much to the amusement of those around us.
- He also likes to play with his sword and shield. This week, he's started "fighting" himself in the mirror. The funniest part is when he stabs his reflection and then falls down dramatically.
- Also, on Thursday, we had enough sun for me to hang clothes out on the line. Lex was very intent on helping me, pulling wet things out the basket and handing them to me, then getting a couple clothespins and handing those to me, too.
- Last night, he wanted to wash his own hair. I put the shampoo on, but then he rubbed it around on his scalp for several minutes. He even tried to dump his bath boat full of water over his head when he was done (but he missed. I had to do the rinsing, of course.)
There's probably more I'm forgetting. I've just been amazed this week with the sheer number of new and newly mastered activities.
- Monday morning, as his Daddy was preparing to leave on business trip, we heard Lex laughing in the living room. He was "reading" to himself, holding his Blue Hat, Green Hat book, pointing at the turkey (who in the story, gets everything wrong) and laughing. They he brought the book with him to the door when it was time to say goodbye, still chuckling, and pointing at the turkey for Daddy to see.
- After Daddy left, I sat down to check email, when a little person appeared at my elbow holding the bottle of apple juice. He had opened the fridge himself, gotten the juice out, closed the door and brought it to me.
- He's also been very insistent about clearing the table after meals and bringing his bowl or plate and utensils over to the counter by the sink.
- (This started last week, but I'll mention it:) He likes to wash his hands. He pushes his stool up to the sink, calls for me to turn on the water and then happily get his hands wet, holds one out for soap, rubs them together and then under the water until Mommy decides enough water has gone down the drain. He's pretty good about drying them afterwards, too.
- He's been playing "going to sleep" all week. He goes and lies down in bed (either his own, or ours), pulls the covers up to his armpits and makes exaggerated snoring noises with his eyes closed.
- Tuesday (I think it was), he discovered my old doll, Baby Beans. He immediately took her and put her to bed, laying her down, pulling the covers up and telling her "hush, hush."
- Potty training is hit and miss. For whatever reason, Mondays seem particularly good (willing to sit on the potty, dry most of the day) and Wednesdays are tending to be particularly full of fail (absolute refusal to sit, going through six or so changes of pants). One day this week, he went completely of his own volition, without any prompting. I was very proud of him.
- I'm conflicted about letting him watch TV. I know some experts say children under two shouldn't have any screen time. The particular horse has already left the barn. He loves "Dinosaur Train" and his two favourite DVDs are Disney's "Robin Hood" (the one with the fox) and Veggie Tales "Lord of the Beans". Last week was the end of tax season and Jay & I were swamped. I think we let him watch a bit too much; he watched Robin Hood - the entire 81 minutes of it - at least once each day, and couple times, twice though.
- It's probably not surprising he wants to watch the same thing over and over. He also wants to read the same story over and over. One day, I think I read What's Wrong Little Pookie? 8 or 10 times in a row.
- New this week on the reading front is an extended attention span. He sat attentively though an entire Dr. Seuss book (Horton Hatches An Egg). I used to read him Dr. Seuss and other longer storybooks when we was an infant, but since late last summer (since he became mobile) he wouldn't sit for longer stories, so we'd been pretty much limited to Sandra Boynton, Jan Brett and some short adaptations of Pooh stories (the exceptions were the "Bear" books and "If you give ..." books).
- He likes to sing and dance; and stomp and march. Thursday, I took him downtown for the Cinco de Mayo activities. He liked the Mariachi band and danced up a storm, much to the amusement of those around us.
- He also likes to play with his sword and shield. This week, he's started "fighting" himself in the mirror. The funniest part is when he stabs his reflection and then falls down dramatically.
- Also, on Thursday, we had enough sun for me to hang clothes out on the line. Lex was very intent on helping me, pulling wet things out the basket and handing them to me, then getting a couple clothespins and handing those to me, too.
- Last night, he wanted to wash his own hair. I put the shampoo on, but then he rubbed it around on his scalp for several minutes. He even tried to dump his bath boat full of water over his head when he was done (but he missed. I had to do the rinsing, of course.)
There's probably more I'm forgetting. I've just been amazed this week with the sheer number of new and newly mastered activities.