Apparently Diego Easy Ups are powerful motivation. Charlie went on the potty 3 mornings out of 5 this week. We had told him that if he tried to sit on his potty, we'd let him wear the Easy Ups to school. He was so proud of himself, he had to tell everyone when he got there. He still only sits on the potty about once a day at daycare, and not for very long. But at least he's acting interested. We're letting him go at his own pace.
The other amazing thing that happened this week was that twice in 24 hours Charlie turned down hot dogs to eat-- once for fish sticks, and once for turkey. We're happy to see his interest in better meats and in the variety.
It's been rainy all week long, so we're cooped up again indoors today. Charlie is enjoying some playdough and Lucy is resting from her visit to the vet for her annual checkup this morning. John and I are watching football and relaxing.
I hope to have some new photos to share soon, taken with my new anniversary gift camera.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Terrible/Terrific Twos
This past month has sped by and I have been too distracted to write. Between preparing for baby, busy times at work, and keeping up with Charlie, we've had our hands full.
Charlie is becoming more difficult at times, representative of the typical "terrible two" that he is. Half the time if you raise your voice to reprimand him, he just laughs. Today I tried to punish him by sending him to bed-- but he interpreted it as just being nap time and took a 2 hour nap. I'm not sure he fully understood it was supposed to be a punishment. Some of his independence is not a bad thing-- exclamations of "do it myself" are usually tolerable, and I like seeing him try to do things on his own and progress at being able to actually do them. But other times it can be very frustrating.
At the same time, he still makes us laugh and smile many times a day. One of his common phrases now is "not yet" when he wants to delay doing something we have asked him to do. He also still likes to tell us "two minutes" when he wants just a little more playtime before we go change his diaper or put him down for a nap. I guess we deserve that, since we say the same thing to him when we want him to wait for something.
Charlie has been making a habit of having his stuffed animals kiss their own pictures in books. Big Bird and Brutus are the most common. But he has also asked me to kiss my own picture in his family picture book, and he likes to kiss his own picture that is hanging on the fridge. I'm not sure what to make of that, other than it being an extension of his interest in finding things that match.
Shadows are intriguing to Charlie these days. When he spots a bit of sun on the kitchen floor in the morning, he likes to make shadows with his foot. He's also been commenting on seeing his shadow outside. He loves the nature walks they do at daycare, and recently became enamored with a fuzzy caterpillar that they found on one of the walks. His favorite outdoor pass-time is still to look for "birdies."
We've been pleased to get Charlie involved in helping to take care of Lucy. He loves to carry her food bowl or to give her a treat. We like that Lucy will start to see him as someone to respect as a caregiver. It's also a good sign that Charlie likes to help around the house, which will be handy when baby comes. The other day, as we were leaving the house, Charlie exclaimed "uh oh- Lucy Dog!" Lucy was locked on the other side of the baby gate and he was concerned that she couldn't get through.
Charlie still does not seem to show much of an interest in potty training. He does like to announce when he has just soiled his diaper, but will not yet tell us before he goes. He is thrilled to have his own potty to sit on, but won't sit on it much for us. He sits on one at school, but only for a few seconds at a time. He does seem excited to start wearing pull-up diapers like some of his friends at school, but I'm having a hard time teaching him that he only gets to wear those when he's ready to start sitting on the potty.
Over the past few weeks, we've had some busy times. Grandma Knepper came to visit for Labor Day weekend, and Charlie got used to having her around. It was nice preparation for when baby comes and she'll be here to help with Charlie.
Entertaining Lucy played a party for the Labor Day weekend fireworks, and we were able to go watch them for a while. Charlie participated in his first water balloon toss-- sort of. I think he may have tossed it once. Mostly he just wanted to feel the balloon and watch the other kids. Yesterday we went to Kings Island for the annual P&G outing, and Charlie had a blast on the 3 rides he was able to go on. He's still too short for most of even the kiddie rides, but he surprised us a bit and liked one that was a little rougher than we expected for kids his age. We also had fun running into several of Charlie's friends from daycare. Still, after about 2 hours, he was worn out and asked to go home.
Work has been extremely busy for both of us, and we've had to work at finding time to get stuff done around the house. The weather has been so cool this summer, and we had so much rain, that the lawn is still growing (it's usually brown by this time of year). As a result, John broke down and hired a neighborhood kid to mow it these past few weeks. The nursery is ready for baby, but I still have a lot I'd like to get done before he arrives. We've set November 4 as the date for a scheduled c-section, should he not decide to come any earlier. Just about 6 more weeks of work before the big day!
Charlie is becoming more difficult at times, representative of the typical "terrible two" that he is. Half the time if you raise your voice to reprimand him, he just laughs. Today I tried to punish him by sending him to bed-- but he interpreted it as just being nap time and took a 2 hour nap. I'm not sure he fully understood it was supposed to be a punishment. Some of his independence is not a bad thing-- exclamations of "do it myself" are usually tolerable, and I like seeing him try to do things on his own and progress at being able to actually do them. But other times it can be very frustrating.
At the same time, he still makes us laugh and smile many times a day. One of his common phrases now is "not yet" when he wants to delay doing something we have asked him to do. He also still likes to tell us "two minutes" when he wants just a little more playtime before we go change his diaper or put him down for a nap. I guess we deserve that, since we say the same thing to him when we want him to wait for something.
Charlie has been making a habit of having his stuffed animals kiss their own pictures in books. Big Bird and Brutus are the most common. But he has also asked me to kiss my own picture in his family picture book, and he likes to kiss his own picture that is hanging on the fridge. I'm not sure what to make of that, other than it being an extension of his interest in finding things that match.
Shadows are intriguing to Charlie these days. When he spots a bit of sun on the kitchen floor in the morning, he likes to make shadows with his foot. He's also been commenting on seeing his shadow outside. He loves the nature walks they do at daycare, and recently became enamored with a fuzzy caterpillar that they found on one of the walks. His favorite outdoor pass-time is still to look for "birdies."
We've been pleased to get Charlie involved in helping to take care of Lucy. He loves to carry her food bowl or to give her a treat. We like that Lucy will start to see him as someone to respect as a caregiver. It's also a good sign that Charlie likes to help around the house, which will be handy when baby comes. The other day, as we were leaving the house, Charlie exclaimed "uh oh- Lucy Dog!" Lucy was locked on the other side of the baby gate and he was concerned that she couldn't get through.
Charlie still does not seem to show much of an interest in potty training. He does like to announce when he has just soiled his diaper, but will not yet tell us before he goes. He is thrilled to have his own potty to sit on, but won't sit on it much for us. He sits on one at school, but only for a few seconds at a time. He does seem excited to start wearing pull-up diapers like some of his friends at school, but I'm having a hard time teaching him that he only gets to wear those when he's ready to start sitting on the potty.
Over the past few weeks, we've had some busy times. Grandma Knepper came to visit for Labor Day weekend, and Charlie got used to having her around. It was nice preparation for when baby comes and she'll be here to help with Charlie.
Entertaining Lucy played a party for the Labor Day weekend fireworks, and we were able to go watch them for a while. Charlie participated in his first water balloon toss-- sort of. I think he may have tossed it once. Mostly he just wanted to feel the balloon and watch the other kids. Yesterday we went to Kings Island for the annual P&G outing, and Charlie had a blast on the 3 rides he was able to go on. He's still too short for most of even the kiddie rides, but he surprised us a bit and liked one that was a little rougher than we expected for kids his age. We also had fun running into several of Charlie's friends from daycare. Still, after about 2 hours, he was worn out and asked to go home.
Work has been extremely busy for both of us, and we've had to work at finding time to get stuff done around the house. The weather has been so cool this summer, and we had so much rain, that the lawn is still growing (it's usually brown by this time of year). As a result, John broke down and hired a neighborhood kid to mow it these past few weeks. The nursery is ready for baby, but I still have a lot I'd like to get done before he arrives. We've set November 4 as the date for a scheduled c-section, should he not decide to come any earlier. Just about 6 more weeks of work before the big day!
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