So yeah, the star of our show hasn't had much press on here lately, huh? I know that's why most of you read, if anyone is actually still reading this thing. I post so infrequently these days, and for that I apologize, but the balance in life just really hasn't been there. As I say all the time, we all do what we can. I hope we can still be friends. Marc posted recently about how much time it takes to prepare a post...I concur, and honestly that's one of the reasons I usually just don't post anything. At any rate.
Finally got around to planting my kitchen herbs
(they seem to be doing well, despite our Hades-like temps recently)
Here's what MKM has been up to of late:
Verbal Skills: the vocabulary continues to mushroom. At last count, in March, he was well over 100 words and now he is able to speak in sentences. The funniest thing about him though is his recall. He will remember something that was said or explained to him long after the memory of the instance has left my addled brain. Sometimes I have to have him repeat himself a few times before I can even figure out what he is talking about. He also mimics frighteningly well. We have to really watch ourselves now. He can sing the full ABC song as well as Twinkle Twinkle (convenient that they are the same tune). He also loves to be sung "Little Bunny Foo Foo (which he adds several extra 'foo' sounds onto) and the Shoo Fly song. Still very into who people are, saying names of all his/our friends and we talk about Daddy being at the 'tadium a lot.
"Mewon" is one of his favorite snacks
Some of his favorite phrases
"I hold you" - obviously, when he wants one of us to hold him
"I ____ (verb)" - he is big into the statement of the obvious, saying things to me like "I waffing (laughing), I color, I walking, etc.
"Mitchell do it" - anyone who has ever met a 2 year old will identify with this
"Wook, mama, big truck" - he likes to point out every.single.truck we pass, which can get a bit exhausting when we are in the car for a long time. There are only so many times to sound excited about an 18-wheeler.
"That right there" - this one gets used constantly while playing & eating; big fan of arranging and re-arranging things.
- Dump It - without fail, if I give him something liquid, he will look at me with a hopeful look and ask if he can dump it out. I guess he expects that one day I will respond in the affirmative. Other than the random bucket of water I put out on the deck for him to play in, he's going to have to keep waiting on that one!
- "Wike dat" - for the longest time, he would say "like that" if he liked it, or if he didn't. He has started learning to put a no in front of things he doesn't like but it's still sporadically applied.
- " 'sat?" - as in who or what is that - he asks this 80 jillion times a day
- And everyone's perennial favorite, "why" has crept into our vocab. Cue the tearing of my hair.
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Whyyyyyy, won't my pictures display correctly? I tried rotating this one 3 times.
He hates hates hates getting his nails cut. It's like way past fussing and onto tortured sobs. My mom kept him for me last month while I had to be out of town for work and the Lookouts were in town, meaning John was chained to the stadium. Unless our magical nail cutter is around and then he's semi-OK with it. Who might that be, you ask? Erin. If she is involved, he seems to be fine with it, so we have to schedule our mani/pedi sessions each time we are Birmingham. Please do not ask my why this is. He has just latched on to her as being the one who cuts his nails. Last time we were headed down there, I was talking to him about it beforehand and I asked him who all we were going to see, and we were saying everyone's name. All of a sudden he blurts out "Erin - nails." I asked him if he wanted Erin to cut his nails and he said yes. When I then asked if she could cut his toenails (which he truly hates having done) he exclaimed with a very enthusiastic "yeah!". When I told Erin this story she said she loved the way his mind works. So true, sister, so true. From the looks of this photo it's a good thing we're coming for a visit...
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Playing with a pull & peel Twizzler (didn't care a thing about eating them, but enjoyed pulling them apart); contents under nails at present include playground dirt and blue icing from a classmate's bday party. He's a real catch.
We've been experiencing some novel behavioral issues in our household. Mitchell continue to remind us that he's nearing the age of 2. Some days even getting shoes on is a battle, becuase of the "I do it" factor. We try to find ways for him to participate in the process, but sometimes you just cannot predict what is going to set them off. So I've caved into letting him watch a few minutes of one of his little shows in the a.m. becuase I can dress him in 2 minutes flat that was, as opposed to chasing him around the room when he's not otherwise engaged. It's not probably my finest parenting choice to date, but when you're getting yourself, a toddler and sometimes a husband out the door (and taking the dog out somewhere in there too), you do what you gotta do.
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Mitchell has had some less than glowing reports from school of late, but we're hoping part of that is growing pains from moving up to a new classroom right after Memorial Day. He had grown very tired of his old classroom (although we LOVE LOVE LOVE his teacher from that room, she is our most favorite babysitter) becuase he was well past the age where he should have moved up and was just stuck where he was due to space issues at daycare. They had a bit of a logjam in one of the older classrooms, which meant quite a few children had to stay where they were for longer than usual. M's old room was 12-18 months (approximately) and he moved just before his 22nd month. When you are talking about the developmental span between a 12 month old and a 22 month old (who is pretty advanced, at least when it comes to language) that is a huge difference and we were able to tell that he was feeling a bit stunted. Plus, I think he was just getting tired of some of the kiddos in his class. He's very happy to be back with his 2 buddies that have been there since he started at 3 months old.
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Here they are (upside down) playing at a birthday party. What is the deal, Blogger?
Those others will be in his new room soon enough, but it was clear M needed a change of scenery. Still, he's been a bit mischevious since he's moved up, but I'm praying that is just a factor of excitement and getting used to new routines (they walk up stairs to eat, sit at a little table where as before they had been in chairs with trays to limit movement). They enforce the "walking feet" rule indoors, and Mitchell is the walking feet police. He likes to remind me to use walking feet all the time (not that I run around a lot, but he tells me just the same) and points them out anytime we see anyone walking or gasp, running (as in for excersize).
And yet, here he is running with popsicle in hand. At least he doesn't have it in his mouth, right?
I really do count my lucky stars all the time at how inquisitive and intelligent he is. He has always just seemed to be in a hurry - he was huge when he was born, sat up at 4.5 months, crawled at 6 months and was walking by 10 months. He's still that way...he just whizzes through life. Please understand that I say none of this in a boastful way...it's our reality and that's where I'm coming from. I say this becuase for me, it's hard many days to sit down and appreciate the little moments, but I do try. He's still so sweet and loves to hug and kiss (and invents lots of boo-boos that he commands me to kiss) but those baby traits are just melting away and he's becoming a big boy before our eyes. It's fun, but I see why people talk about how much they miss thier children being babies. I couldn't have appreciated it even this time last year because we were still in the throes of it, but even this short time later I really can identify.
Focusing really hard on some eye-cweam
He's 100% boy and we still call him Pig Pen with good reason. He is very into climbing, being chased and general rough-housing. Every time we are outside with Dixie he'll look at me with a gleam in his eye and ask if he can go running. He loves to "dig-dig" in the dirt and is getting more into sports. His daddy has been very deliberate about teaching him to go "boom" and swing his arm like he would a baseball bat, but by the looks of this it continues to be more likely to me, that he will be a catcher. He's always been a squatter.
Again with the orientation - sorry.
In closing, this boy makes life so interesting and often, challenging. But we usually have fun too. My house is not very clean, my yard has been sorely neglected, and the dog has been walked far too seldom these days, but that is the life of 2 working parents I suppose. I struggle every day with juggling it all, and I'll be honest that of late I've not done a great job, but I'll end with this little gem I plan to order for self-affirmational purposes very soon. It's so true, at least in my world, which is what matters. You know, to me. Happy Friday, ya'll!
