Hello all - I've been sorely neglecting this blog, my apologies. I have really not gotten the camera out much this month - work has been insanely busy for me, but its about to slow down some so I should have more time to take pictures, and post them!
Here are a few things that have been going on around here lately. We've been in somewhat of better routines with Gregory - he is maturing so nicely and able to a lot of things more independently. He also has discovered the power to refuse our requests, and uses that quite frequently! He is really quite the spirited toddler, and he's not even two yet! But I'd say he is absolutely delightful and fun at least 80% of the time, so that's really not too bad. We've also had a major breakthrough with the nap/bedtime process, which really takes the stress off... he will now basically go to sleep on his own! We have our little routine getting ready, then if its me putting him down I will lay and nurse him for a few minutes, or if its Dan he will rock him a little, and once he's sort of mellowed out, we tuck him in with his little lullaby glow worm and kiss him goodnight and leave! He will often talk to himself a little bit and then drift off without much fuss. Sometimes he calls us and we go back in and comfort him a little more, and all this goes for naps too - so we think he is really doing so great! He is getting closer to sleeping through the night too - I still nurse him once in the middle of the night, but other than that, he usually doesn't wake up much, and more and more he is able to go back to sleep himself too. Wow, its amazing to be getting better sleep now, and when we look back on all the effort we have spent on it, we are glad that we didn't force him into a rigid sleep schedule before he was ready. Here he is, not even two yet, and doing it on his own, without trauma! It reinforces the tough choices we made and all those times we wondered if it would be worth it, well, the answer is yes!
And yes, we are still nursing and still loving it. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until at least 2 years old, and I have no intention of forcing him to stop - I can't even imagine how traumatized he would be! As it is, I do have my limits and will tell him "later" sometimes, and its hard for him to accept it, but he does. I think it is a fabulous opportunity to teach him about limits and boundaries in a most loving context. I am also so grateful to have it as a tool in my parenting toolbox! For example, last week we were all sick and he didn't want to eat or drink anything except "milkies." He nursed like a newborn, but at least I didn't have to worry about him getting dehydrated or malnourished! And I didn't have to go out and buy some Pedialyte or any other ridiculous high-fructose corn syrup filled nonsense, either!
He is also coming along beautifully with his language skills - often he puts 3 or 4 or even 5 words together! He is learning new words and also new signs every day...its so much fun to hear his thoughts! Of course, a lot of the time, we are the only people who can understand him, but his pronunciation gets better all the time too... He loves reading books, so we go to the library and check out new ones all the time - he asks me to read the same thing over and over and over again! He loves to sing, and when Hannah was here, she taught him the solfege scale, Do Re Mi, etc, so he sings that all the time... He can count to 8, but not exactly in the right order! He is starting to work on singing the ABC's too - he can go up to D by himself... he is so funny!
OK, well I think that's a pretty good update for now. I will work on getting more pics and videos to share soon!
These are from lunch today - he was pretty tired as it was right before nap, but its easy to film him in the highchair because he can't run away!
"More Water"
"More 'Dilla"
"La de dum - Gregory sings a song"
And this was from Inauguration Day
