Jocelyn is learning about manners at daycare. It's pretty great. We have been working on please and thank you at home for a few months, but honestly she was probably a bit too young. Now that they are reinforcing the lesson at daycare, Jocelyn gives lots of unprompted pleases, thank yous and you're welcomes. Except that her please is "PWEEEZ", which is super duper adorable. And her thank you is "tank you" with a pitch increase on the 'you'/ Not in a question sort of way, just an increased pitch on the whole word.
She has also learned about apologizing, which we have not worked on explicitly at home. There's not much sweeter than her saying, "I sowwy Mommy" in her tiny voice. Except for maybe, "I sowwy Donovan." Sometimes it's used appropriately (like she accidentally bumps her baby brother while they are playing), other times it's not (she didn't do anything wrong that I can tell). It's very sweet.
In addition to that, she parrots instructions from daycare when she feels as though the rest of us are not following proper manners. Last night, for example, upon my tickling her tummy, she instructed me to keep my hands to myself. Yeah, I had to stifle a laugh on that one (it was effective, though, I totally respected her request for no physical contact at that time).
Now, I am not trying to paint Jocelyn as a perfect little angel. Don't get me wrong, she's still 2. She doesn't practice good manners all the time. But she's doing great with the lessons!
In other cute Jocelyn news, she has finally mastered saying "Donovan". For a while there she didn't call him anything (well, she was just shy of 19 months when he was born, after all). Then it was "Do-van". Then it was "Dovovan". But over the past two weeks she has mastered that n sound in there. It's really, really sweet.
She does love her baby brother. She loves to play with him. She calls to him, and wants him to crawl after her. He is usually happy to oblige. He loves her right back, and he thinks that she is absolutely the funniest person that he has ever met. Watching the two of them play together and giggle is one of my favorite activities. She even sometimes give him big hugs while saying, "My baby buzzer."
Tantrums have gotten far less frequent (thank goodness), but far more intense (boo!). It' must be really hard to be two. These days they come on without a warning. If you do something that you do all the time, but today she wanted to do it (like tear off the back page of the daycare daily sheet, for example), you might get a crazy, out of control tantrum. If you suggest something (for example, a shirt to wear) that she does not agree with, it's sometimes met with an outburst. And if she doesn't get something that she wants (for example, dessert after breakfast, because somehow THAT's a thing), forget about it. It doesn't mean she gets what she wants, of course. It means that she spends a lot of time in time out when she wants ridiculous things and won't take no for an answer.
Potty training is at a standstill, though. She did so well for a while, and it was totally motivated by her. But she has lost interest - except at bedtime, when you tell her, "okay, one more song and then it's night-night time," she always has to use the potty (yeah, she's a master staller!). Sometimes she goes, but not usually. They use the potty at daycare, and she has not actually done anything in the potty at any time there (despite being sent to it several times a day). I'm not concerned. I want her to do it on her own time. I was just so excited when she was interested, and it's sort of a bummer that her interest has waned a bit. But it's no problem. I don't think I am emotionally ready for her to be in big girl undies yet anyway.
Jocelyn is still crazy smart. Her daycare teacher is always telling us stories of her cleverness. And when drive places, she points out landmarks, and also knows when we turn onto our street (and says its name). A few weeks ago my Mother in law was in town. Jocelyn asked her grandmother to take her to the grocery store. My MIL told her that she didn't have any money, and asked Jocelyn if she had money to go to the store. She went to her car (one of those sit and propel yourself with your feet things), opened up the trunk, and pulled out $30 cash! She had recently been playing with Mike's wallet and took out all of the money. We had just assumed that she returned it all when she brought Mike back the wallet and its contents. Nope, she took some for herself, and evidently was saving it for a shopping trip with her grandmother. Too funny!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Mama???
Yeah, I know it's Jocelyn's 27 month birthday, so I really owe a post about her. And I will get to it. But first I wanted to capture that I believe that Donovan is saying "Mama". It's hard to say if he is saying an actual word, or just making sounds. He randomly let out a "Dada" a few weeks ago, but not in Mike's direction at all, and among his other sounds. When he said Mama, he was looking right at me.
It has happened twice since then - once the next day during a bit of a crying fit when Mike was holding him. He handed Donovan to me, and he stopped crying. Then tonight, when he had a bit of a night waking, and I tried to avoid nursing him back to sleep. I put him down, rubbed his shoulder a bit and tried to help him relax. He pulled back up to standing, and gave another Mama. Which worked, because it got me to pick him back up and nurse him again.
In other milestone-y news, he is starting to maybe, sort of, express an interest in self-feeding. Yesterday I had put the bowl of food on his tray and went to grab something for Jocelyn. In the 10 seconds I had turned around, Donovan managed to grab the spoon with one hand, and a handful of puree in the other. He didn't quite know what to do with any of it, but it was adorable nonetheless. Messy, but adorable.
Then tonight, as I was feeding him bits of cheese, I turned to say something to Mike. Donovan grabbed my hand and pulled it to his mouth. He was like, 'come on mom, I'm a hungry boy!' I put a few balls of cheese on his tray to try to get him to rake them up (we always put puffs on his tray for this, but he usually just bats them around). He got a few cheese bits in his hands, and he looked like he was trying to get them into his mouth. But since he found pulling my hand to be more efficient, that is how he wanted to do it.
His crawling is just out of control. He moves really fast now! You look down for a minute, and when you look back up he is GONE! He loves to follow Jocelyn around. So wherever she wandered to is probably where he wandered off to. It's adorable, but it means that we have to work that much harder :-P.
Anyway, I had to share a bit more about Donovan tonight.
It has happened twice since then - once the next day during a bit of a crying fit when Mike was holding him. He handed Donovan to me, and he stopped crying. Then tonight, when he had a bit of a night waking, and I tried to avoid nursing him back to sleep. I put him down, rubbed his shoulder a bit and tried to help him relax. He pulled back up to standing, and gave another Mama. Which worked, because it got me to pick him back up and nurse him again.
In other milestone-y news, he is starting to maybe, sort of, express an interest in self-feeding. Yesterday I had put the bowl of food on his tray and went to grab something for Jocelyn. In the 10 seconds I had turned around, Donovan managed to grab the spoon with one hand, and a handful of puree in the other. He didn't quite know what to do with any of it, but it was adorable nonetheless. Messy, but adorable.
Then tonight, as I was feeding him bits of cheese, I turned to say something to Mike. Donovan grabbed my hand and pulled it to his mouth. He was like, 'come on mom, I'm a hungry boy!' I put a few balls of cheese on his tray to try to get him to rake them up (we always put puffs on his tray for this, but he usually just bats them around). He got a few cheese bits in his hands, and he looked like he was trying to get them into his mouth. But since he found pulling my hand to be more efficient, that is how he wanted to do it.
His crawling is just out of control. He moves really fast now! You look down for a minute, and when you look back up he is GONE! He loves to follow Jocelyn around. So wherever she wandered to is probably where he wandered off to. It's adorable, but it means that we have to work that much harder :-P.
Anyway, I had to share a bit more about Donovan tonight.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Baby let's cruise.. away....
Yup, my big boy is cruising! It was just over 2 weeks ago where I posted about how he isn't really doing that yet. But over the course of the past week, he really got good at it! He pulls up like it's no big thing and just moves. He can sort of move from the coffee table to the couch and back again. He cruises all the way around his Exersaucer. He cruises on the inside of his pack 'n' play.
He is still figuring out how to get down once he is up. Sometimes he does a nice job of easing down to his tushie. And sometimes he just plops right down on his tushie. It kind of just depends. He doesn't like when he crashes down, though. Big, dramatic tears. It's funny. Of course, who knows how much he hurts vs. how much he wants mommy cuddles.
Speaking of, Donovan does super love me. It's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. When I'm in the other room and he is on the floor playing with Mike, he's fine. But as soon as I walk in, he crawls right to me and climbs right up my legs. And if he is being held, he bounces at me when I walk in. And if I walk through without stopping to give him love, he gets pretty peeved. But I don't think that I'm his favorite person - I think that Jocelyn is. He super-duper loves Jocelyn! He watches her, crawls after her, wants to play with her, etc. He thinks she is really funny, and laughs at her all the time.
She loves him, too. Sometimes she wants him to follow her around. And she thinks he is hilarious. But only sometimes. Other times she finds him annoying. Ah, baby brothers :-).
It's so amazing to watch Donovan grow, and to see what kind of person he will become. Over the past few weeks he started to really develop favorite toys. And when he wants something, he GOES for it. And when he has something, he wants to hang onto it until he is done with it. Don't you dare try to take his toy away! It's super cute. He is very curious about everything, especially electronics and felines. Neither category is suitable for him, of course. We try to keep him away from the electronics (as he bats at the computer as I am typing) and the cats, well, they can take care of themselves.
He is a little lover. He just loves to cuddle. He grabs your neck and just holds on, and melts right into your body. It's really amazing. And so sweet. He giggles a ton, he has the best sense of humor. He loves to stick his fingers in your mouth and grab your nose, and he laughs his head off when he does it. He also 'chats' a ton, lots of 'ya ya' 'la la' sort of sounds. And grunts. And his signature 'bbbbbbbbb'.
He is still a champion eater. I recently introduced turkey into his diet and, while he doesn't love it, he will eat it. I also recently made a batch of ginger pears and carrots and he gobbles that right up. It might be his favorite thing. He also digs butternut squash. Oh, and I started giving him cheese on occasion. He *loves* it. He dives for it. It's super adorable! Of course, he also dives for things that he has never had, but somehow knows are delicious. Like cookies. I was eating a frosted sugar cookie the other day and he kept on diving for it. It was pretty awesome!
Donovan also just got his first ear infection. Which means that he is having his first bout of antibiotics. Which sucks. He *hates* them. He is a terrible medicine taker! It took until more than halfway through the stupid medicine to figure out how to get him to swallow more than half of it. He started getting really good at spitting it out. And, of course, it's the uber-sweet, sticky, pink kind. So it gets everywhere. And he needs a whole teaspoon, which is a TON of medicine! Of course, even getting him to take 1/4 tsp. of ibuprofen is torture. I hate that they got rid of concentrated infant Tylenol, and now he has to get a bigger dose of the weaker stuff. He has many years of liquid medicine, so he better get used to it.
The fact is that, in these past 8 months, I have fallen more and more in love with this little guy. He amazes me every single day.
He is still figuring out how to get down once he is up. Sometimes he does a nice job of easing down to his tushie. And sometimes he just plops right down on his tushie. It kind of just depends. He doesn't like when he crashes down, though. Big, dramatic tears. It's funny. Of course, who knows how much he hurts vs. how much he wants mommy cuddles.
Speaking of, Donovan does super love me. It's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. When I'm in the other room and he is on the floor playing with Mike, he's fine. But as soon as I walk in, he crawls right to me and climbs right up my legs. And if he is being held, he bounces at me when I walk in. And if I walk through without stopping to give him love, he gets pretty peeved. But I don't think that I'm his favorite person - I think that Jocelyn is. He super-duper loves Jocelyn! He watches her, crawls after her, wants to play with her, etc. He thinks she is really funny, and laughs at her all the time.
She loves him, too. Sometimes she wants him to follow her around. And she thinks he is hilarious. But only sometimes. Other times she finds him annoying. Ah, baby brothers :-).
It's so amazing to watch Donovan grow, and to see what kind of person he will become. Over the past few weeks he started to really develop favorite toys. And when he wants something, he GOES for it. And when he has something, he wants to hang onto it until he is done with it. Don't you dare try to take his toy away! It's super cute. He is very curious about everything, especially electronics and felines. Neither category is suitable for him, of course. We try to keep him away from the electronics (as he bats at the computer as I am typing) and the cats, well, they can take care of themselves.
He is a little lover. He just loves to cuddle. He grabs your neck and just holds on, and melts right into your body. It's really amazing. And so sweet. He giggles a ton, he has the best sense of humor. He loves to stick his fingers in your mouth and grab your nose, and he laughs his head off when he does it. He also 'chats' a ton, lots of 'ya ya' 'la la' sort of sounds. And grunts. And his signature 'bbbbbbbbb'.
He is still a champion eater. I recently introduced turkey into his diet and, while he doesn't love it, he will eat it. I also recently made a batch of ginger pears and carrots and he gobbles that right up. It might be his favorite thing. He also digs butternut squash. Oh, and I started giving him cheese on occasion. He *loves* it. He dives for it. It's super adorable! Of course, he also dives for things that he has never had, but somehow knows are delicious. Like cookies. I was eating a frosted sugar cookie the other day and he kept on diving for it. It was pretty awesome!
Donovan also just got his first ear infection. Which means that he is having his first bout of antibiotics. Which sucks. He *hates* them. He is a terrible medicine taker! It took until more than halfway through the stupid medicine to figure out how to get him to swallow more than half of it. He started getting really good at spitting it out. And, of course, it's the uber-sweet, sticky, pink kind. So it gets everywhere. And he needs a whole teaspoon, which is a TON of medicine! Of course, even getting him to take 1/4 tsp. of ibuprofen is torture. I hate that they got rid of concentrated infant Tylenol, and now he has to get a bigger dose of the weaker stuff. He has many years of liquid medicine, so he better get used to it.
The fact is that, in these past 8 months, I have fallen more and more in love with this little guy. He amazes me every single day.
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