Stick a Fork in It

Davey is in a new phase where he wants to use utensils to eat everything, and I mean everything. This can make meal time a rather slow affair, but I admire his tenacity as he tries to three, four, five times to spear a raspberry and then is very proud to finally succeed at it. Half the time the raspberry then somehow doesn't make it all the way from the fork to his mouth (typically it rolls off onto the floor as he attempts the transfer), but he is making good progress.

I thought I had a great picture of one morning when he speared a muffin whole and was trying to cram it in his mouth, but the battery on my camera was low and it unfortunately turned out too dark to see. So I will show you instead a picture from my new camera, which I am hoping will be faster on the trigger and better able to capture toddlers' quick movements.

There's Just One Problem

My little AJ has started to figure out delay tactics at bedtime. As soon as his teeth are brushed and the last story is read, for the last week without fail he has uttered this phrase: "Mommy, there's just one problem..." You can then see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to come up with the "problem" that needs to be solved before--definitely before--he can go to bed. Usually it is that he needs a drink of water. Once it was that he needed a different pair of socks "that would be more comfy and cozy on my feet." I am going to have to start putting my thinking cap on before the bedtime routine begins so that I can anticipate his "problems" and head this one off at the pass!

t.v.! t.v.!

We are starting on a little boy t.v. diet at our house. Our first indication that they were getting too obsessed with it came when one of Davey's first words was "t.v.! t.v.!" said while clapping his little hands on his thighs in gleeful anticipation of watching t.v. Our next indication that they were getting too obsessed with t.v. came when AJ started throwing a major fit when the t.v. was turned off and kept whining for the rest of the night about how he wanted to watch more of it.

We have come up with a new plan to give AJ two tickets that are good for 30 minutes of tv each per day. He can use them whenever he wants--first thing in the morning, later in the day--but once they are gone, that's it--no more t.v., no whining. If he whines for t.v. after his tickets are gone, the rule is that he loses one ticket for the next day. We'll see how this goes. We just implemented Monday, and so far he liked the idea of "paying" for t.v. with tickets, but we still have a bit of lingering requests when he get to the end of the day and doesn't have any tickets left. Joe thinks the volume of requests to watch t.v. has decreased dramatically in a week, though.

I have spotted two potential problems with this system--(1) Sesame Street, the only show on t.v. that I think is worth a two-year old watching, costs two tickets instead of one because it is an hour long, which may make him less inclined to choose it and (2) there can be no exceptions, ever, for any reason, or the whole rules system will fail when he realizes that we can make exceptions. We'll see how it goes.

Pah-ject=Trains for Davey!

Another weekend, another "pah-ject" at our house. AJ and Dada started this one on Saturday morning early, so by the time I came down, they were in the thick of using the electric screwdriver. AJ started his obsession with tools when he was 12 months old as we moved into this house and started all of the projects that come with a new house. David so far is not showing the same interest in tools. He will scoot over to where AJ and Dada are working on a project and check things out, but he quickly scoots off for some uninterrupted time at the train table. David stands at the train table furtively checking over his shoulder to see when AJ is going to notice him and come give him a whack for playing with the one of the long trains that AJ is into stringing together lately. AJ was engrossed in his pah-ject on Saturday and didn't notice Davey for several minutes until Davey got so carried away in his glee of being able to play with a long train that he smashed it in two and held the pieces up over his head screeching with delight. AJ could not ignore this direct threat to his supremacy of the train table and quickly came charging over to re-establish the train table pecking order. Little brothers get one coal car to play with and big brothers get everything else.

400 teeth

David is getting his canine teeth now, and it seems like he has been constantly teething since his first two teeth popped through at 3 months. He is fussy quite a bit when his teeth are about to come through, and I am wondering whether this is because red heads feel more pain than the rest of us. I read an article on this when I was pregnant with David, and I guess they have scientifically proven what dentists have informally known for years, which is that red heads feel more pain than the rest of us. Apparently dentists know to give red heads more pain medication to achieve the same numbing that the rest of us feel when we go to the dentist.

With the recent warnings about not giving people too much Tylenol because it can cause liver damage, I try to give him just motrin and only that even when he is really cranky. The rest of the time we are trying popsicles and letting him hang on to the pacifier past when the pediatrician thinks it is a good idea.

The other day Joe explained to his dad that Davey was fussy because he is getting more teeth. Having been through much of Davey's teething angst with us, Papa asked "How many teeth does that kid have?!?" Joe's reply was "At this point, it feels like about 400."

Ride Along with Me

Davey has fallen in love with all toys that have wheels and a seat for him to ride on. One of his newest phrases is "Go-go!" which he says when he is climbing up the steps, when you are carrying him and he wants to go somewhere and when you put his jacket on and he realizes that he is getting ready to go on an outing. He also says it occasionally when he is sitting on a ride-on toy, but he has not quite yet figured out how to make them go with his feet. His focus instead is to climb on-climb off-climb on-climb off over and over and over again. He is definitely becoming a master of mounting and dismounting. Perhaps a future horse rider, Grandma and Grandpa?

In Like a Lion

You know that old saying about March that goes "In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb?" Well, I am hoping that we are going to get treated to some lovely lambykins weather here at the end of March to make up for the rain, rain, rain and cold winds that we are having this weekend.

I bought this puppet-making kit at one of my favorite children's stores, The Land of Nod, and AJ is really enjoying it. All of the pieces come pre-made and his job is just to use the glue stick liberally to stick them all over the paper bag, so this is the kind of art project that he loves. In AJ's mind, adhesives=a good art project.

The boys' great-grandma who lives in Florida celebrated her birthday last week, so as a birthday tribute to Gram, we are going to have a new post every day this week. Happy Birthday, Great-Grandma! We love you.

Never Skipping a Nap Again

Today was another day when I vowed that I will never let AJ skip a nap again. I keep thinking he is getting to that age when he will be phasing out of his nap, so when it takes him over an hour to fall asleep in the afternoon and it gets to be 3:00 while he is still dancing around his room singing "I'm not tired! I'm not tired!" I start to think that maybe he doesn't need a nap that day. So I will let him come downstairs to make it through the afternoon with the idea that there will be an early bedtime. Then 4:00 hits and I regret whatever crazy thoughts I had in my head that he is ready to drop the nap. Today by 3:45 he was sobbing about various injustices, throwing toys across the room and laying on the floor in the kitchen like he might just take a nap there, if only I hadn't made the suggestion--horrors!--that he might be tired. But mark my words, after this afternoon, he's going to be napping until he is at least 10.