Adam is like a two-year old in his social development (he interacts and talks with other children his age instead of ignoring them and only doing side-by-side play), his speech development, his manual dexterity -- he's doing really well with the fork and spoon and yesterday I saw him pick up four grapes off the floor using only one hand and put them on the coffee table --his curiosity/exploration/inquisitiveness is extremely advanced, his testing boundaries and temper tantrums is about on par with a two-year old's, and he's even physically the size of about a 22 month old and is wearing 2T size clothing now.
It seems the only thing Adam is not advanced in is in the teeth department. He still has the jaws of a 6 month old. In fact I saw a 6 month old the other day who had more teeth than Adam... but that's not too hard to do. Those lonely two little teeth are still holding down the fort. It doesn't stop him from being able to handle a whole chicken nugget on his own, though. In fact, I figured out that he wasn't eating chicken nuggets at home because I was cutting them up for him. I ruined the fun part for him.
Two days ago I gave Adam a big 'ole blueberry muffin for breakfast and he was thrilled. He touched every centimeter of the giant muffin, planning his attack. Before he could dive into it, Shannon came by and broke it in two to help him out. He was devistated and cried and threw a fit... he wanted to do it himself. But, in the end, they were still two very large halves of a muffin, so he ate them, of course. And speaking of independence... he's on allergy medicine every day, which is helping keep him from the sinus infections, but when you bring him the syringe of medicine, the only way you can get him to take it is if you let him hold it. He'll put it in his mouth and I'll push the syringe. If you lie him down and try to force it in, he'll either throw up on you (sensitive gag reflex) or spit it back out.
I realized that Adam was advanced in some areas but was actually astounded at how impressed and amazed our pediatrician was as she watched him do his thing. She asked about his words and what he says, and I told her he nearly had 30 words and phrases. She said that was impressive and that it was 2 year old levels... and then she sat and watched him as he opened every single drawer and cabinet, touched every chair, looked in the trashcan, picked up every toy and tried to climb the table. All in about 20 seconds. She mused that he acts like a 2 year old too. Oh good, so I'm not going crazy. I do feel like I sorta lost a year though.
I'm not at all complaining - I mean, of course the kid is a genius! I put him down in the elevator because he is getting HEAVY, and he ran around from wall to wall, not even caring that there was someone else riding along with us. The elevator got to the ground floor, the doors opened, and he bolted, giggling. I let him go and followed him as he went into every nook and cranny of the mail room, tried to ride a mail cart, went up to the maintenance room doors and got down on the floor to try and look under the crack of the door... and just as he did, two maintenance guys opened the door and came out. Adam shouted "UH OH!" then grinned and took off running in the opposite direction, laughing. Is there a word for the opposite of low-key? If there is, that would describe Adam perfectly. But man, is he fun.
Apparently at daycare Adam has been napping without a pacifier for a while now, which I actually find pretty funny, especially since he insists that he absolutely cannot, in no way even attempt to sleep without one at home. I hadn't realized that he didn't have a pacifier at school, and not that it matters... if he doesn't need it, that's great. We'll ween him slowly. But at home I've tried a few times to just lie him down to sleep without giving it to him and he looks at me like, "Uh, you forgot something." If I pretend I don't know what he's talking about, he loses it. But oh well -- he has no teeth to ruin anyway, and he now he truly only gets it at home when he's in his crib. When he wakes up from naps or in the mornings, Shannon and I can just hold out our hand and he'll pull the paci out and hand it to us. Then he'll grin really big and stomp excitedly in his crib, ready to get up and tear through the house. If you have noticed the lack of pictures lately, it's because he's usually running, which make for blurry pictures.
Adam's favorite toys are his books and the shape ball... and if it's not toys or books, it's anything that has a container and some balls, or it's some kind of active play. He loves the bath and cries when you take him out, no matter how long he's been in it. The other day I splurged and bought Adam some brand new books (Half Price Books is fantastic... but most of the time they don't have the classic children's books. People tend to hang on to those). I bought 4 books -- all board books so Adam can actually use them himself and not rip the pages out (althought he's gotten into a terrible habit of bending them backwards and breaking the spine). I bought Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel (because that was one of my favorites), The Rainbow Fish (because I've been told it's a great hit), That's Not My Dragon (because Adam loves that series), and The Going to Bed Book (because I thought, "What the hell, I'll give it a shot.)
Well, Mike Mulligan was not received well - I open the first page and Adam gets up immediately to go do something else or bring back a different book. I opened The Rainbow Fish once and Adam took one look and left. He loves the That's Not My Dragon book, especially the dragon with the "slimy spots" . . . but, wouldn't you know, The Going to Bed Book is Adam's absolute favorite. So now our night time reading rotation includes The Going to Bed Book (at least twice), Are You My Mother? (he now squeals when he sees the kitten and takes the book from me, still squealing... I just recite the rest of it from memory while he holds the book and talks to the cat), That's Not My Dragon, and Good Morning, Good Night.
Adam has been waking up crying uncontrollably every night for the last 3 weeks or so, and I'm starting to believe he's having nightmares or is getting scared in the middle of the night. It used to be that he had to have no lights and the door closed to be able to sleep, but now I'm about to invest in a night light to see if that helps.
Shannon and I discussed the other day how surprised we are that Adam has yet to attempt to climb out of his crib. He easily could, if he tried, so I know it's only a matter of time. It's looking like we're getting closer and closer to converting his crib to the toddler bed... and that is a day I am NOT looking forward to. For someone who can't even keep her child off the coffee table, the images of the long, hard battles of keeping Adam in a bed that he doesn't have to stay in makes me cringe. But maybe when he's truly ready, it won't be like that... (oh, who am I kidding?)
1 comment:
He is way too grown up! I love that he loves books so much! He is going to be the smartest kid in class! And the coolest!
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