2 Year Old Dragon Chatter

Last week Jayce got up from his nap and wanted to wear this dragon costume. While he was eating his animal crackers, he was balancing them on the edge and they eventually started jumping into the water. At first I tried to stop him from doing it, but my warning tones just amused him, and he eventually started completely cracking up over his deviousness. Which made for some funny pictures.

I've been meaning to "officially" note some of the cute things that Jayce has been saying lately, so sprinkled in among some dragon pictures seems like a pretty good option.

Regarding the baby, we haven't really talked with Jayce about it a lot yet. He knows that there is a baby in mom's belly, but I'm trying not to supply him with information because I'm really interested to see with what he comes up with on his own.

That said, when I was in the first trimester and I was trying to co-erce Jayce into going to sleep, I would tell him that EVERYONE was taking a nap right then: Mom, Dad, a few of his friends, he would supply names of people who might be taking a nap then, and I would sometimes say that the baby was going to take a nap too. He always stopped me to say, "No Mom, baby not going na-night, baby wake up."

Since then, he will periodically interject something about the baby, typically that she has something that is "little tiny."

"The baby has a little tiny pillow."

"Baby eating a little tiny sandwich."

"Baby play with little tiny toy."

Even though we haven't really talked with Jayce about the baby, we did get him a book about being a big brother, and Chris has read it with him a few times before bed. I read it with him for the first time the other night. Earlier that day Jayce had said something about babies drinking milk, and it surprised me a little. When we were reading the book, it made a comment about that, and I had a little "ooooh, that's where he got it" moment, and turned to the next page without finishing reading the current page. Jayce promptly turned back to the previous page, and said "No Mom, baby stays cozy and warm," which was the exact next line in the book. Oops. So there are no skipping pages or lines in the books in our house now.

We picked up a Dora book the other day that Jayce had gotten from his cousin, and since I don't let him watch Dora (because I can't tolerate her voice and he doesn't know what he's missing), he didn't know who she was. He pointed to her picture and said, "What's this Mom?" I said, "Oh, that's Dora." And he replied, "No, Mom. Not door. Book."

Jayce likes to play basketball in our bedroom. He closes the door, turns on the radio that's on my alarm clock and run around the room shooting the ball, getting his rebounds, and generally just running. He likes a specific type of music for an activity like this, seemingly to get him all pumped up or to give him the option to stop and dance in the middle, because he always wants dance-type music and rap. If a commercial or a slower song comes on, he'll tell me that he doesn't like that song and request that I find a new song. The other day I flipped through the stations, landed on one, and asked him if he liked that song. He looked up and replied, "Perfect." And went back to shooting.

We introduced him to saying "excuse me" to stop him from barging on conversations a few months ago. It's sweet and he's doing really well with it, but now I need to teach him that after he says excuse me, that he needs to wait for us to prompt him to go on, not to just keep saying "Excuse me Mom, excuse me" over and over.

Yesterday while we were all at the table eating, Jayce asked for a sip of my orange juice and I knew what he was up to. (He thinks it's really hilarious to ask for a sip of my drink, then drink the whole thing, and giggle as I pretend to be surprised and exasperated.) Not surprisingly, he drank the whole thing, and when I was being "upset," Chris grabbed my cup to get me more. Jayce looked at me and said, "Don't worry Mom, Dad get you more." Don't worry Mom?! I wasn't expecting consolation from my 2 year old.

When I get in the morning or when I get him up from his nap, I'll often tell him how I missed him, among other things. Today when I was carrying him downstairs he put his head on my shoulder and said,

"I miss you Mom."

"What? You go with me?"

"I miss you Mom."

"You missed me?" (He's never said this before.)

"Yes. I love you Mom."

This was my favorite one yet. And it's not even Valentines Day. :)

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Video Love

I haven't posted videos of Jayce in a while and I think it is definitely time. He's become a little singing machine these past few months, often bursting into songs that we didn't even know that he knew! Last week Jayce was in a particularly sassy mood and was actually performing on demand, so I was able to catch some of my favorites in full (for the most part) and on video!

My favorites are Jesus Loves Me (particularly sweet), and Twinkle Twinkle, in which the star shines "like a dino."

Enjoy!

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Silhouette Love

Before I had children, I never really understood why some people have cut outs done of their children's silhouettes. I never really thought there was that much that was distinct about a child, that an all black profile cut out would capture better than a picture. Until now.

Now I know that a profile shot can really capture your child. For Jayce, it's the tiny flips in his hair, his long eye lashes, round cheeks, button nose and little bird mouth. In fact, often when I catch sight of his profile when he is doing something that keeps him stationary, like playing in the kitchen, reading a book, or watching tv, I will be so overcome by these sweet little traits that I'll have to stop whatever I'm doing and rush over to bury kisses into those plump cheeks.

And now there are 2 profiles that I'm completely in love with.

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Oh Baby!

Oh baby.  It's a little lady.

And we couldn't be happier. :)

 

 

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On Sonograms and Pregnancy

Since my last post about pregnancy, things have been going a little bit better for me physically. I have felt a lot less miserable than I was previously, and I started saying to Chris when he gets home from work, "I actually felt pretty good almost all day today!" which is something. :)

I realized that I have been really disappointed, (in myself, I guess?) because the last few months I had been constantly waiting for the sickness to subside and my energy to come back. I had big plans for all of the things that I was going to accomplish with that 2nd trimester energy: getting ahead with my posts on Lemon Tree so that I can give myself a break around the time of the baby's arrival, tearing down the craft room and turning it into a nursery, finally listing several things on Etsy that I've been putting off, getting Jayce potty trained, into a big boy bed, packing up/shifting around his clothes that are too small, toys that are too young, etc.

People sometimes ask me how I have time to make things every week for the blog in addition to normal everyday stuff that needs to be done, and the answer is that, like many people, I am a crazy multi-tasker. I eat lunch with one hand while I'm putting something together with the other. When paint is drying, I work on editing my photos. When my photos are being uploaded to the computer or exported to a file, I work on the blog. If I'm using my sewing machine, I only do it right after I've put Jayce down to bed otherwise it will wake him up, after which I work on a quieter task to maximize nap time.

But I've had to remind myself that when I'm pregnant, it's all multi-tasking. Being pregnant and taking care of Jayce is multi-tasking. Being pregnant and making dinner is multi-tasking. Etc, etc.

Also, I've decided that I have to treat myself like I'm a very needy newborn. I need to eat every hour and rest more than seems necessary. If either of these things are neglected, it will take about 24 hours before I am back to normal again. Right now the best way for me to take care of the baby is to make taking care of myself a higher priority, something that I am typically not very good at doing. But I'm getting better, Chris is helping me, and Jayce has conceded to a lot more stories and snuggling. Also, I have been taking care of myself/getting lots of calcium for the baby with large cups of hot chocolate, occasionally with large homemade marshmallows. (I did not make them, but I am enjoying them.)

Also, in less than a week we will have "The Sonogram." Aka, the one where we see the organs, the profile, and the gender.

I am really excited about this one, because I can't wait to see the baby looking like a baby! It was cute that it looked like a teddy graham last time, but now I'm ready for more. With Jayce we had a 13 week ultrasound, and he was completely baby-looking by that point, so I feel like I'm overdue to see a cute little profile, a little nose, hands, legs, fingers and toes. (I 'm aware that that sentence rhymed. I actually sat here for a half a minute trying to re-word that in my head so that it wouldn't rhyme, but I decided to write this disclaimer instead of re-writing the sentence.)

Regarding the gender, a lot of people have been asking me what we'd/I'd like and I've been truthfully replying, "Oh, I don't care." Which they often followed up with, "Well, yes, of course, so long as the baby's healthy..." This is true, obviously everyone wants a healthy baby. But I do feel like it waters down my response a little bit. The honest answer is that I will be thrilled to have a boy or thrilled to have a girl. Jayce is such a great kid and is just so much fun, previous potty training discussions excluded. Every time that he enters a new stage, a big part of me is sad that my little boy will no longer do the thing that he used to do. So if we have a boy, I'll get to do it all over again and I'm really excited about that!! But then again, I like the idea of having a boy and a girl: it's nice and balanced, he can look out for her, etc. I've never had a daughter before, obviously, and I'd like to see the ways that it is different for Chris and I. But if we have a boy, he will be born at the same time of year as Jayce was, so I'm all set with little boy clothes. But if we have a girl then I'll get to get the bedding that I really like, and get some of those sweet girl clothes that I've been passing by for the past few years. Listing the reasons why I'd want one or the other seems silly, and truly, I'm just glad to have another little snuggle bug.

Also, I'm ready to know. I'm a big planner, and I know that the planning is just a manifestation of my excitement. I had a full (mini) notebook when I was pregnant with Jayce, and so far this kid only has a short list. I'm ready to move forward from some of the planning into some doing, because I'd like to make a few things for this baby and the nursery before my energy completely runs out! :)

Stay tuned for our fun news on Monday!

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Enough With the Potty Training

I told you last week how we were starting to potty train Jayce. We dove headfirst into it, with timers, M&Ms, big boy pants, and high aspirations, but it just wasn't working. Our first day was a nightmare, compounded by the fact that Jayce was incredibly tired and grumpy that morning, and nothing was going tohappen without some protest. But we pushed on.

Over the next few days we kept up the timer and M&Ms, but also added "cool Elmo potty doll" and "cool Elmo potty video." I brought his potty out into the living room and let him watch the video from the potty. I let him watch a few of his favorite shows from the potty as well, and let him run around bare bottomed in between. He was pants-less for over an hour, and though he didn't do anything to the floor or furniture, he also didn't do anything in the actual potty itself.

By the end of the week, we had made no progress at all. Not a single drop of liquid had made it into the little potty, and he had stopped telling me when he was wet. Even worse was that the battles were still in full force, with Jayce crying and saying "I no want to sit on the potty!"screaming, running from me, refusing to sit, slouching when I tried to get him out of his wet clothes, smacking me, yelling, etc. This was not my kid.

I was not at my best either. Though I obviously wouldn't discipline him for having an accident or something like that, I was going to discipline him for the other stuff above. It was a week full of power struggles, tantrums, yelling and everyone being fed up.

On Friday I called both of the women who lead the parenting classes that we've attended to see if they had any suggestions. I almost cried (both times) as I described our days and said, "This is just not Jayce, he's not like this, and neither am I. I'm not one of those moms who is constantly yelling at her kids and stressed out by them. This is not what I want for my home. It's just not working..."

I was relieved, and thrilled, when the most veteran of the ladies stopped me pretty quickly into the description of our day, and said, "Oh honey, it sounds like he's just not ready." She let me go on and would interject encouragement here and there, "Yes, that's the right thing to do." "I'm sure you felt that way and that's fine." "No, it's not okay for him to act like that, and you responded appropriately."

Both women questioned why we were trying to get him trained right now, and since there was no real urgency in doing it now in January, they both suggested that we put everything away for a few months and try again when it was warmer. Both admitted that training boys is a much more difficult battle than girls for some reason, and also assured me that he would get it. Chris and I had both assumed that it was time mostly just because Jayce is a smart kid and so aware of everything that is going on, and we assumed that he would pick this up pretty quickly too. But apparently we were wrong. It was nice to have an outside source re-inforce what had been at the backs of our minds all week, and to do so in a non-judgemental way.

So the potty is put away, along with Elmo, his video, and those cute big boy pants. We spent Friday afternoon playing with trains, cars, blocks, letters and books. We read, danced, snuggled and giggled, unencumbered by the timer that we had all grown to hate. We had a perfect weekend hanging out as a family and the battles of last week are now a faint memory.

On a side note, after I hung up the phone with the ladies from the parenting classes, I couldn't help but feeling like they were parenting me a little bit. Like, when they hung up the phone, they weren't thinking, "Oh, Jayce is having trouble with the potty," but, "Oh, Erin is having trouble potty training Jayce." All of that positive re-inforcement and talking me off of the cliff. Hmm...

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Jayce in January

I haven't really written much about just Jayce in a little bit, other than his potty stuff, so I thought it was about time he got his own post.

1.) He brought home this maze from church a few weeks ago. The lady showed it to me and told me that he just sat down at the table and did it without any assistance, and was pretty impressed. I am too. Granted, it's not a very involved maze, but we've never worked on mazes with him before so I was pretty surprised that he did it with so little difficulty. Definitely fridge worthy.

2.) His genius does seem to have it's limits. He did this at the store the other day. Chris and I were looking at coats at Kohl's and the women's under ware section was just across the aisle. Jayce wandered off for a second and came back with under ware on his head, like it was nothing. We cracked up until a lady walked by, stopped, and then said to us, "Boy, some times you really need a camera, huh?" and then went on.

When we first pulled out the big boy pants, I could hear Chris and Jayce having a conversation like this in the other room.

"Jayce, that's not a hat buddy, it's under ware."

"No Dad. A hat."

After coaxing him into wearing these for a few days, now he knows what they are.

3.) He likes things to be in order. I would like to claim this, but this is just like both Chris and I. I walked by these piles of block books the other day and had to snap a picture. Notice they are stacked by color and in order by height. Is this perhaps a little too OCD for a 2 year old? I don't know, maybe. Our whole house isn't like this and his toys certainly aren't, so I think a little bit here and there is okay.

4.) In addition to the many other things that he likes or does now and we wonder if he'll continue to like in the future, such as golf, basketball, baseball, dancing and singing, we'll now add cooking. There is no way that someone in our house can make anything involving adding ingredients or using a mixer without his assistance. He's not the tidiest helper, but he is very enthusiastic.

Also, he likes competitive cooking shows. I turned on Cupcake Wars the other night for the first time when there was nothing on, honestly thinking to myself, "How could this show possibly be entertaining?" Surprisingly, it was. Very entertaining. Jayce wandered in while I was watching and snuggled up on the couch with me, and stayed there watching the whole show. (I mean, there were cupcakes on it!) He also likes Kitchen Impossible (also could be called Cooking Impossible...Something Impossible anyway). He saw some of it once with me, and has requested it several times since, asking for the "cooking man show."

5.) We got all of the little kids together for a Christmas tree picture for Christmas, which I shared originally here. Jayce had chapped lips that he was messing with while we were taking the pictures, and I kept telling him, "Jayce, put your hand down." At one point he did actually leave his lips alone, looked at his hand, and then did this for the rest of the pictures. I wasn't really sure what this was at first. 2? Peace? Until I remembered this at home.

Funny kid.

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