Tuesday: may I know what I'm talking about

Last Thursday my first class only went ok.  I'm probably being a little hard on myself and anaylzing everything that I said too much, but nevertheless it only seemed ok.  It turns out that it is hard to think, do, and talk all at the same time.

So I was really hoping for a better day today.  And it was.  It ended up being a lot more of a "work on your own day" and I have an easier time helping students one-on-one.  Phew.

Monday: home

Ben's home! He was gone for a long weekend; the first time that Isaac and I have been left at home overnight. (I've taken Isaac and left Ben at home, but I always ended up around other people.)

Happily, Isaac and I survived. It was a pretty busy weekend, do it wasn't very hard to do. But it's nice to have him back.

Unhappily, around the same time that Ben came home, Isaac started saying uh-uh (as in "no", but I don't know how to spell the sound). Isaac, will you eat some chicken? Uh-uh. Isaac, will you bring your shoes to me. Uh-uh. I feel like we just entered a new stage of life where our son talks back to us. Bother.

Saturday: advice

I went to a wedding shower today...it was nice.  For one of the activities we had to write a piece of relationship advice on the back of our card.

The bride's grandma-to-be said to not go to bed angry.
I said it's ok to go to bed mad.  (Reference this post for details on my thoughts.)

I think there are occasions where both of them can be correct.  But it was funny to have both of them come up.

Thursday: best game ever

Amanda, in the kitchen: hey Isaac!  I need you to give something to Dad.
Amanda gives Isaac some high fives.
Isaac runs to Ben in the bedroom.
Ben receives the fives.
Isaac runs back to Amanda
Amanda: Isaac, can you give these to Dad?
Isaac brings more fives to Dad.

Rinse and repeat.

20 months!

Isaac turned 20 months several days ago.  I kept dressing him in nice(ish) clothes so that we could get pictures, but then either he wasn't in the mood or it just didn't happen.  But I finally got some.

As always, he continues to become more and more fun.  Lately he's been saying "ready,set,go!" and then taking off running.  Of course, if I say it he'll take off running while crying at the same time.

We have had a few more sad faces this month when he doesn't get his way, but he's often easily distracted by something else.

He's finally started to say "dog" when you point to a dog and ask what it is.  (Before it was always a "woof".)  He still needs to figure that out for most of the other animals, but it's a start.  He has a few more words and is getting better at repeating words after we say them.

He has started to bring in all the dishes after dinner.  Most of the time this is fine, but we are always afraid that food is going to fall off the plates.  He hasn't quite mastered holding things flat.  He really is a pretty good helper...he helps put the laundry away, the silverware away, and tries to help with gardening.  Today he found the dishwasher packets and put one in the dishwasher even.

Daycare is going well.  He eats everything at lunch time (even things I can't get him to eat at home).  The helpers say that he's always smiling and he seems to enjoy it there.

I know; this is almost the same picture.  I couldn't decide which face I liked better.

What else am I missing?  Sleep?  He's doing very well with sleep, even sleeping until 6:45-7:15 most days.  Eating?  He loves breakfast.  Lunch and dinner are a little more hit and miss.  I think he recently went through a growth spurt as he seems taller.

Tuesday: bus

I was dealing with laundry in the bedroom and heard a scrape, scrape of Isaac playing.  It wasn't a sound I recognized, but it seemed to be a toy and it didn't seem as though it was hurting anything.  So I let it go.

A few minutes later Isaac comes into the bedroom, riding the bus.  I think he felt left out with all the first day of school activities and tried to get in on the action.  

Sunday: helping