Wednesday: 45 months

Isaac turned 45 months today.  He was rather stubborn about not letting me take a picture of him, so this one is the only one I got.  Well, I took another that I wasn't supposed to, but it isn't very good.

Favorites: Isaac seems to have lots of favorites lately...
*color: black, hands down
*stuffed animal: Giraffe.  Giraffe is still full of sad emotions, especially when Isaac leaves him.  The other day his first name (Giraffe) was taken by some clouds, but no one had told giraffe what his new first name was yet.
*dinner: chicken and tots...it's his "very best favorite"
*meal: peanut butter 'tella
*sweet food: donuts.  (Hooray!  He helps my donut addiction.)
*mom: Me.  I'm told several times a day that I'm the best mom in the whole world.
*dad: Ben.  Ben regularly gets emails that have videos saying "I love you Dad" because Isaac is so sad that Ben had to leave.

He still has some pretty strong emotions, but I feel like they're more under control than they were last month.  He isn't crying every day and time out has again become more rare.  However, his crying now includes some screaming...the good part?  He's usually calm soon after the scream gets out.

I also wanted to mention that I feel he is trust-worthy.  (Or at least as much as can be expected with a 45 month old.)  The other day I asked him to put himself in bed for rest time.  And he did!  He doesn't always do what we ask him to do right away, but he will at least tell us that he doesn't want to do it.  When we convince him that he does have to do it, I can leave the area and know that he will do it.  (Although, I'll admit, not always as fast as I was expecting him to do it.)

We had about a week where he said "poop"  all the time.  I think we got rid of it.  It was a combination of a lot of people telling him it wasn't nice to say and the threat of a bad taste in his mouth.

He rarely has toilet accidents anymore, even at night.

School seems to be going well.  He goes right into his classroom without a backwards glance.  (He is also super excited to see me when I come to pick him up, so it works well both ways.)  He can spell and write his name.  (Not very neatly, but he can.)  He can color inside lines, trace objects, and understands how to do simple math.

Several people have mentioned this month that he suddenly seems older.  The toddler is all gone, replaced by a very fun preschooler.

Late Monday: 14 months

Joshua turned 14 months yesterday.

Attitude: He's been pretty happy lately, except when he's not.  When he's not happy he calms down if you pick him up.  If you don't pick him up (or put him back down on the floor), he expresses his displeasure by throwing himself backwards.  Luckily, we now know the habit and cushion his fall.

Playing: He plays well by himself.  He's starting to bring books over to me to read.  Usually it is Little Blue Truck or Pout-pout fish.  I think he likes the kisses in pout-pout fish because he always puts his head close to mine when it's time for them in the book.

Motor skills: He is rapidly learning to walk.  At the rate he's going he might be walking all the time within a week, but I'm sure that by next month he will be.  He uses the walker sometimes.  He is starting to try and use a spoon, although I still put the food on it and he isn't very good with it yet.

Food: he's pretty good with whatever we're eating, but seems to like bread and meat the best.  Fruit sometimes works.  Vegetables are hard and there's no way to give him any incentive to eat them yet.  He nurses about four times a day.

Sleep: He naps for about 1.5 hours in the middle of the day.  Sometimes he'll take a short nap in the car in the morning if we're out and about.  He sleeps from 8pm until 5ish, eats, and goes back to sleep until 7am.  I'd really like to get rid of that feeding, but am afraid it'll mean that we're up at 6 or 6:30.

Attachment: he alternates preferring Ben or me better, although often either of us will do.  He's not a huge fan of going with other people, but calms down soon after we leave.

Talking: he definitely has a sign for all done.  He waves bye-bye and good night on cue.  He still doesn't have many more verbal words since last month, but there is a da he uses as a command type word in several situations.

update: he also folds his hands when you say the word "pray" and likes to turn light switches on and off.

Monday: baby day

Today we went to baby day at Hope College.  I think I've mentioned doing this with Isaac several times...they always were pretty low on guessing his age.

Anyway, I went, not really sure how it would go.  Isaac came with us, which always adds interest, and Joshua is always a bit more clingy than Isaac was.  Isaac would go to nursery, care at the gym, day care, whatever without a backwards glance but was always pretty shy during baby day, not really showing off his skills very well.

Joshua, who hates the separation part, was a social butterfly for almost the whole hour!  He played with me.  He played with the other parents.  He played with some of the students.  He played really well with the teacher, asking that she play peek-a-boo with him over and over.  He even let the teacher pick him up and carry him around.  The students were a bit low on his age (guessing 10-12 months), but not too far off.  It probably didn't help that I couldn't remember his length and he is just starting to walk.

Sunday: house, moon, walking

I worked really hard to get the house cleaned up over the weekend.  And I was mostly successful!  Not completely successful, but I also managed to get some other random things done.  One random thing was a art spot for Isaac.  He's been coming home with some really cool art from school, but I didn't have a great spot for it.  He didn't care too much when I was putting it in the recycle (as long as he didn't see it), but that's a bit boring.  So I put two ribbons in his room.  This gives plenty of space to hang art from, but also will help us get rid of some when the ribbon gets full.

Moon...the clouds cleared just in time!  Ben and I went out as the full eclipse started and at the mid point.  (I'm hoping to go out once near the end too.)  Very pretty in it's red color.

Joshua started walking a lot more today.  He's still not great at it, but maybe 50% of the time started walking towards something.  He often fell after a few steps and would continue scooting there.  But once in a while he made it all the way to his goal.

Saturday: the day

Isaac's new use for the scooter.  Normally he wouldn't fall off.

Friday: joke

Q: Why was the ink drop sad?
A: It's mother was in the pen and didn't know when the sentence would end.

Thursday: today

Today happened.  Nothing really of note.  I dropped off the kids, had an eye doctor's appointment, did some work, taught, picked up the kids, made dinner, ate, gave the kids baths and put them to bed, and then quilted and played warcraft.

It was a pleasant day though.  I was wearing a new outfit.  Isaac's teacher said he had no problems not saying "poop" during class.  My contacts for the next year were completely covered by insurance.  Joshua enjoyed his bath.