Someday Soon

So I was sitting here at midnight (why am I still up at midnight, you ask, it's the only time I'm alone..including taking a dump, which by the way is apparently the MOST interesting thing for my toddler to watch) anyway, where was I...oh yes, I was sitting here, at midnight, updating myself in the lives of my sisters and their kids (or soon to be born as the case may be) and realizing that I am absolutely TERRIBLE at keeping this thing updated! I mean, We've got pictures and video from Easter, pictures from the 3d sonogram we had done, we've named the bun in the oven...no longer is "he" just "him" he's Joash Levi (Joe for short if you like), I have pictures from Solomon learning to lick the beaters. I have just oodles and oodles of stuff...but is any of it on here? Nope. The most recent is his haircut, which as you can see turned out to be way less traumatic for him than for me. Poor kid is getting over an ear infection, a pretty bad one too, from what the RN said. They put him on Amoxicillin for 10 days...4.5 mls twice a day....That's a bunch of freaking medicine for a little guy. Does he throw a fit about it? No, he takes it with a smile and asks for more! (Are we sure this is my kid? I hate medicine, and this isn't even the flavored kind, this is the thick pink crap that smells like poo mixed with syrup!) He has also started this thing where he mimics whatever it is you're doing. I was sitting on the couch reading one of the new books my husband just bought me and I look up to see that he's grabbed a book from the bookshelf, and not just any book...it's a book called "Wedded Bliss" it's one of those christian romance 4 in 1 books. He has it right side up, open to somehwere in the middle and is laying in the exact position I am on the other end of the couch. As I lowered my book, he lowered his and laughed for like 10 minutes! I thought,"Wow that's so cute!" and then I thought," Oh crap what else is he going to mimic!" Thankfully he can't see it when mommy gives bad drivers the finger...he's in the backseat! We also have now transitioned him into a toddler bed and he is taking it like a champ. He loves his big boy bed! We bought Cat in the Hat sheets for him and a stuffed cat in the hat I found at a garage sale. And if I am putting away laundry he will randomly come in the room and lay down in his bed, toss and turn for a little bit and then giggle. We are also learning how to better control ourselves when we're upset. David and I have been reading Boundaries with Kids by Henry Cloud and John Townsend...or maybe it's John Cloud and Henry Townsend...anyway...they talk all about setting boundaries with your kids so they grow up to be responsible adults. And it starts during toddlerhood. ish. So when he throws a temper tantrum I kneel down to his level, grab both hands and wait till he looks me in the eye, then I say very calmly but firmly,"Solomon, it's ok that you're upset, but we don't behave this way, this is not gentlemanly behavior, you need to get yourself under control." It sounds like big words for a one year old, but it works...nearly every time. A few times he's had a particularly bad tantrum and we've had to take him out of the room and tell him that he can't be around other people until he can behave like a gentleman. And after a minute or so of thinking that over he's ok again.

So needless to say, lots of milestones recently. We have also started teaching him to self soothe. We rock and read a book till he's drowsy, but not asleep, and then David lays him down in bed and reads to him a little more while patting his back or chest. And off to sleep he goes, until about 6 am when he almost falls out of bed and wakes himself up to climb into our bed. And at this point in time I don't really mind. That's when david get out of bed anyway and it's nice to wake up to a snuggly, smiley little boy.

He has been learning sounds...we're working on words more than the signs we'd been doing...but he loves to make sounds...He can do a car-Vroom, vroom, a train- toot, toot, a monkey-ooh ooh ooh, a cat-meow, a dog- woof, a duck-quack, and a lion-roar and he actually makes the noise, he doesn't say the word. He's learned the word "Ball" and uses it for anything that's round ish shaped that he can throw. He's learning to jump, and loves to practice it, and he's learning to kick and throw a ball. (he got a bright green ball at Easter) And one of his favorite past times (besides causing massive wrecks with his cars) is to put pennies in his piggy bank, which he gets to do if he lays still while mommy changes his diaper. So, now that we're kind of caught up with what he's doing I'll go to bed and try to sleep with the other little one in my ribs... Aahhh the bliss of motherhood.