Oh Yeah

So if your child with a speech delay can properly sass you at the ripe age of 2 years and 3 months, can you still consider them speech delayed? This morning I explained to Peanut that the crayon is for paper, not for his ear (which is a post for another day). He turned and looked at me, with the crayon sticking out of his ear, and said "Oh yeah?!" I held in my laughter so as not to encourage his sassing and said "Yeah, the crayon is for paper and coloring books. Please take it out of your ear now". So he removed it from his ear and resumed coloring. Since then I have been privy to 3 more "Oh yeah?!" sasses and a "no think so" sass. I love how much he is talking, but I think we are in for it with each word he learns!

Egotism for the Second Child

Mrs. H, a wonderful teacher a the boy's preschool, loves 2 year olds. Each year she gives a talk about 2 year olds and what they are doing and what you can expect and not expect from them. One of things that struck me most is how egocentric they are supposed to be at 2. The world revolves around them and they can not comprehend activity or life outside of their little bubble. It described Little Man at the time and Peanut as well. Well all except for Peanut's tendency to be LittleMan-centric. His world revolves almost as much around himself as it does around Little Man. This is probably most obvious when Peanut pretends to read words. Any word he sees, especially those in big bold letters, he runs his finger underneath the word and proclaims "JaJa" (his name for Little Man). Even if the word he is trying to read is his own name, he still proclaims and even emphatically insists that it is his brother's name. I love that almost as often as he proclaims something is his, folding his chuby arms close to his chest and saying "mine" he is also proclaiming that any written word is for his brother. A little Little Man -centicity can't hurt anyone.....as long as it doesn't go straight to Little Man's head!

A Firefighting Motorcycle Guy

If you ask Little Man what he wants to be when he grows up the answer varies depending on his latest adventure or activity but it is usually a firefighter, astronaut, motorcycle guy, dinosaur or a papa. This weekend we had some very special company come by and he realized that he doesn't have to pick just one of those really awesome things to be. He could be a firefighting motorcycle guy like this guy....his new hero or G-Pop as Little Man calls him.


G-Pop and G-Mom came rolling up on their motorcycles for a visit already making them the coolest people we know and then Little Man found out that G-Pop is also a firefighter. The light and admiration that I saw in Little Man's eyes at the moment we told him of G-Pop's firefighting skills was adorable and incomparable. G-Pop and G-Mom are close family friends that were like a second set of parents for me and my brother growing up and I always secretly (or not so secretly as the case may be) that G-Pop was my real dad. Seeing my children instantly love these two wonderful people that made my childhood easier and more special made me feel something that I have a hard time putting into words. Little Man, however, isn't short on words when it comes to talking about his time with G-Pop and G-Mom and wants them to come again tomorrow.

Speech Therapy Session

Peanut has the most wonderful speech therapist and she has been using prompt therapy to help him. We video taped todays session so that she could share it with her boss at her speech clinic and get some help/advice on what to focus on with him next. Last night Peanut said "Backhoe" and "Ladder Truck" when reading his truck book with Papa Bear which was music to our ears. My favorite thing that he says now is "love you" and when he tells us his version of a knock knock joke. He is an amazing little boy and we are so very proud of his progress. I thought I would share his video here in case people are interested in what prompt therapy looks like for Peanut. Disclaimer: this is a 12 minute video and only shows 12 minutes of his 1 hour session. There is a lot to it and sometimes he is cooperative and happy about it and other times he just has had enough.

This is a link to his speech therapy video. Enjoy!

Potty Training Peanut

We have taken the plunge and there is just no going back at this point. We started potty training Peanut 2 days ago and when we set out we had decided that if he just wasn't taking to it or if he didn't have the language skills to be able to cue us that he had to go potty we would just call it an experiment and try again in a month or so. I was most concerned that he wouldn't be able to verbally communicate well enough to navigate the process successfully. However, Peanut is full of surprises and we have passed the point of no return!

The first day he had 2 accidents right in a row as he figured out that he didn't have a diaper on and that there was a new way to go pee. After those initial two accidents, he didn't have any more the rest of the day and he was 100% accident free the next day. He successfully pooped in the potty every day and hasn't had a single accident of that kind yet at all. He is waking up with dry pull-ups after nap and initiating having to go without being asked or told. Today is day 3 which is always the hardest day in the process as the newness has worn off and having to take time away from playing to use the potty becomes grating so we had 2 accidents but to be fair he was running to the potty for the second one and was slowed down by his fireman rain boots that he was sporting while in the nude. So I think it is safe to say that Peanut is potty trained but only while having naked booty time. If we put his underwear on he still gets to the potty but he leaves his underwear on instead of pulling them down. So tomorrow is going to be a lesson in taking our pants on and off. The problem is his chunky chunky bum that fills out his little underwear and makes it harder for him to pull them down on their own. But he will get it and I foresee us being able to leave the house by the end of the weekend.

The best part of all of this is that it seems that with this potty training has come a new level of verbal communication. He is talking more and putting more words together to try and tell us what he wants or needs.

He is just such a rockstar. Potty training at just over 2 years old and working so hard to be able to get all of his words. He just such a happy boy. Even when he is telling us that he isn't going to use the potty, he sing songs his "no" and dances away. We are all so proud of him. Little Man is his biggest support, cheering him on every time and even telling him how proud he is. They do hugs and high fives while flushing together. Brotherly love is the best, even while on the potty.

(oh, and yay for only having one child in diapers!)

The New 4's

This afternoon we went to the end of the year picnic at Little Man's preschool and I was hit with a revelation. When he first started attending this school he was in the 2's program and I used to watch the 4 year olds with admiration. They charged head long into the Fun Bus and were first in line to get on the fire truck and as the firefighters a million, if not always relevant, questions. They went and played by themselves without a parent dogging their footsteps or being dragged behind them. I laughed when I saw them sneak extra desserts when their parents were otherwise engaged. It was so hard to imagine Little Man ever achieving this type of independence but that day has come. He is now officially the new 4's class. At today's picnic he was an independent, excited, social 4 year old. He sat with me only long enough to eat and then he was off with his friends. I saw him palling around with each of his buddies on the playground or in the fun bus. Sometimes I would catch a glimpse of him with a drink or a dessert that I know I didn't give him and he would stop by to ask a quick question and then be off again. The firetruck pulled up and he was second in line to get on it and climbed in multiple times and even went and asked the firefighters how heavy the fire hose is and if they wanted to come to his house sometime to play. He walked around like he owned the playground and conversed with the other parents like they were his best friends telling one friend's mom that he even saw 169 dolphins at the beach. This time my admiration was for my own sweaty, excited, social 4 year old and it was amazing.

Not to be left out, Peanut played on the playground very well and independently but due to having to take some benedryl for allergic reactions to his bug bites he was a big on the cranky side and after playing in the 91 degree heat and eating every cookie in sight he went to sit in the air conditioned car for a while.

Sweet Pea slept in my arms/carrier strapped to me happily going from watching everything to zonked out in seconds. She is such a trooper! I hope that time goes very slowly and that I am able to live in the moment as much as possibly between now and when she is the new 4's class at school.

Lawyer In The Making

Today I told Little Man that he could earn 2 videos if he stayed in his room for all of quiet time or 1 video if he took a nap.(videos = youtube videos on Papa Bear's ipod touch usually of the Berenstein Bears) I know this seems counterintuitive but it is a lot easier to get him to bed at night if he doesn't nap but I really need a bit of time to myself in the afternoon when the younger ones are napping. Yesterday he had quiet time for about 45 minutes before he yelled from his room "I'm taking a nap" and then went to bed. Today I was hoping the incentive of the 2 videos would keep him up and playing quietly but when I went to check on him about an hour in and he was sound asleep.

Later we were telling Papa Bear about our day and he proudly announced that he had earned 2 videos. Then he said that actually he had earned 2 videos and 1 video because he had played quietly in his room AND took a nap. So really he should get 3 videos. And the worst part is that I honestly can't argue with that logic. I just wish my 4 year old wasn't more clever than his mama!

Break out the crisco

This morning I looked into the foyer area and I saw Peanut attempting to put his head between the railings of the bannister. I don't know why I didn't stop him other than I remember thinking that his big noggin wouldn't fit through. But alas, it did fit in, but not so much out. Peanut started crying and yelling stuck. Papa Bear and I raced to his rescue while trying not to laugh at his predicament. Papa Bear picked up Peanut's lower body so that he was parallel to the floor and I tried to bow the wooden spindles of the bannister as much as possible to give his large ears room to get through. Papa Bear put it best when he said that it resembled a 3 Stooges skit. We finally freed him from his wooden cage without having to break out the crisco, but it was a close call. The rest of the day he kept walking by the railing and yelling "stuck, stuck". We are hopeful that he learned his lesson but only time will tell. Peanut sometimes has to learn the hard way a couple of times before it sinks in. I just hope that Papa Bear is home if he tries it again because I am not sure I can manage that 3 stooges maneuver without him!

1,2,9 and other beach stories

Peanut loves to do whatever his big brother does and more importantly he must have exactly the amount of whatever it is that his big brother is getting. Now it is important to note that right now Little Man likes to get 9 of something. 9 M&M's, 9 gummies, 9 rocks from the street...well you get the point. It goes without saying that Peanut insists on having 9 too. Luckily for us, Peanut counts like this 1,2,9 so he really just gets three of everything. If you try to get him to say 1,2,3 he will say "No, 1,2,9". So there you have it folks, it isn't quite Little Man's 1,2,5,6 of a few years ago but it is just as adorable.

Please....is Peanut's magic word. Just ask Mee-Mom. We were sitting at the beach house on our last night, eating pizza and relaxing when Peanut turns to me and says "meme?" which is his word for ice cream. We had gone out for ice cream for the past two nights and so now he thought that was how things worked at the beach. I just chuckled and told him that we couldn't go out for ice cream again but he could have an icy pop (which I had brought from home). My little con-artist turned to Mee-Mom and said "Meme, please" in his sweet loving little voice. I literally saw my mom turn into a pile of mush in her seat. She melted and then decided that she had to immediately run out and buy him ice cream because she couldn't resist his "please". So of course now he tries it out on me all the time and I am not quite the sucker for it that my mom is, although it does work a little.

Sleeping arrangements were a bit different than our normal ones. Little Man and Mee-Mom slept in the same room which made our Little Man so happy. He would wake up in the middle of the night and call out to make sure that Mee-Mom was still there. When she would say hi, he would just tell her he loved her and go back to sleep. Peanut had a bit of a tougher time. One night he fell out of bed with a loud thud and another time we found him asleep on the floor with all of his blankets and stuffed animals surrounding him.

We learned some newish words on our beach trip. Little Man kept telling us that he didn't want to get staples but he meant he didn't want to get splinters from our very splintery deck. There is another one like this but I am way to tired to remember it.

More beach stories to come as we remember them...

Aquarium (Take 2)

We went to the NC Aquarium here in OBX this morning because a huge cloud rolled in and we couldn't even see off of our deck. When I said that being here is as close as we get to heaven, I didn't mean we needed to live in the clouds. Anyway, the last time we visited this museum was August of 2009. We sat on a stone turtle and had a stranger take our picture and so we wanted to take the same picture today. My mom got so excited about taking our picture that she forgot to get the turtle in the picture - so it is the invisible turtle - but you get the point. Boy can things change in 2 years.

August 2009

May 2011

Little Man has also changed quite a bit since our last trip down here. I can't believe how big he is now. He is practically swimming on his own, playing in the ocean without holding our hands, taking care of his sister when asked and many other 4 year old things. He wasn't scared of the shark in the tank and I think was a bit disappointed that he couldn't actually touch the shark.

2009

2011

And the baby on this trip went from being Peanut in 2009 at the age of 5 months

to Sweet Pea in 2011 at the age of 7 months. Although Peanut will always be my baby boy, there is a new baby in town and she is taking over!