Bryce is almost two and I cannot believe it. His party is this weekend (Dec. 12th) and will be at the house. Thomas the Train is the theme and we are going to have a Thomas the Train bounce house set up in the backyard. We are ordering pizza and will play games and I have gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate and take home. Noni and Big Yiayia and Big Papou will be able to come this year which will make it very special (his first birthday party was at a park and would have been uncomfortable/difficult for them.)
Let's review here:
-He can say more words than I can count and can group up to 5 words together. "Mommy, Bryce do dat (that) pwease." "No way Jose." "Hey guys."
-Some of his more commonly used words include "No way," "don't," & "thanks."
-His imagination is developing and usually has a food or eating theme or involves sharks getting ready to bite our toes. At night when I am rocking him, he will make a pb&j sandwich for me by rubbing his hands together and then feeds it to me. Of course I have to take a bite and then act like it is really chewy and then make a throwing up gesture and he laughs. He also likes to feed me his apples that have worms in them which I have to pull out of my mouth and put in his (boys are so gross...)
-He knows what he wants, when he wants it and will fight tooth and nail until he gets it. That is why time outs are numerous and take up most of our days (okay, not most of the day but a good 20-30 minutes at 2 minutes per time out.) He is finally "getting it" though. Some days he is just better at "getting it" than others.
-When we go out and people find out that he isn't even two yet, they are shocked. Not only because he looks older (he's tall) but also because of his mannerisms and the way he speaks and interacts with us. He has always been bright and I think because we talk to him like a human and not a "baby," that helped develop his verbal skills.
We were at the park with Grandma this week and a little girl that was eight years old sort of adopted him (translation: Bryce started following her and her sister around so they had no choice...she was nice to him though and took him under her wing) asked how old he was. I told her he was going to be two in a couple weeks. She said she thought he was four.
I always like to ask parents' how old their kids are if we are at the park or the store or wherever just so I can compare. Bryce just isn't "babyish" and hasn't been for awhile. He is such a little boy.
-Thomas the Train and pals are on his fave list. The train that runs by our house is always "Thomas da Train" and he can name most of them. They all look the same to me.....they are either blue, red or green but he knows who is who.
-I have been trying to explain Christmas to him. I told him that it was Jesus' birthday. He knows who Santa is and loves the lights and decorations. He asks me to sing 'Jingles Bells' and likes to yell "Hey" when appropriate. I tried to name all eight of the reindeer tonight but could only come up with six and I think I made up two of them...When asked where Santa lives he will first say "Florida" and then when asked again, will say "Nort Pole." He will tell you that we will leave cookies and milk for Santa and raisins for the reindeer (I don't know where Mike got raisins from...when I was little, we always left carrots.)
-Eating is a battle, some days worse than others. He's not starving and, I hate to admit it, but he does better with the tv on. I let him eat at his table and rarely make him sit in his high chair unless he is eating blueberry muffins (completely destroys them and gets muffin everywhere.) He really does well with breakfast food, won't let me cut up his pancake ("BIG") and absolutely LOVES popcorn. Sweet potatoes and corn on the cob are the only veggies he'll eat without coersion and carrots in soup and apple fries (apples cut in strips) are his favorite snack. CANDY- UGH. Halloween has ruined our very-rarely-eating-candy/sugar child and turned him into a maniac who must have candy when he sees it. Or else. Maybe that's when the time outs increased...
-He was sick for almost a month. Basically most of November. All of us were actually, but little man had it the worst. He had a stuffy/runny nose, sneezing, cranky, no fever. I have never seen so much snot in my life and was lucky enough to have most of it eventually end up on my sleeve, pants, fingers...joys of mother-dom. The pharmacist at CVS said to disregard the age recommendation for the cold medicines so we gave him Sudafed and something else (can't remember). I called the doctor's office and the nurse said not to worry and that it was probably just a virus. She said to stop the over-the-counter meds because he was under the age of four (thanks damn CVS pharmacist) and since he wasn't pulling on his ears or bleeding and did not have a fever, she said there wasn't anything we could do. So, we bought Kleenex and tried to control his nose and keep him eating and hydrated. Aunt Tonya said to buy a Vicks Vaporless machine/do-hicky and that seemed to help at night. We gave him Motrin and discovered Vicks tissues. By the third week, the coughing and drainage was ridiculous and it was so hard to listen to him cough his little guts out, that I called the nurse back. She said "it" was lasting at least three weeks and there was nothing really to do for "it." I told Mike that if he wasn't better by the next morning that I was going to take him to the doctor. Not better, went to the doctor, screamed most of the visit. Diagnosis: DOUBLE EAR INFECTION. AGAIN.
Next time I will not listen to the nurse or the pharmacist or anyone else but my motherly instincts and take him to the doctor as soon as he is behaving differently or if he is obviously sick. He didn't show any signs of his ears bothering him the first time he had a double ear infection (before Halloween) except for a fever. No fever this time.
So, we got Amoxycilin, in orange flavor this time, and he's feeling much better. Giving him his medicine is not fun but the orange flavor vs. the bubble gum flavor is much better.
-He gets shy when asked to dance or repeat something cute he did. He knows he's shy too. Very cute. He'll dance for me but not for an audience.
-Likes to play the drums in Rockband and decided to jam a drumstick down his throat the other night. Visit #1 million to the doctor this month. Throat was fine.
-He can spell his name (we practice typing it on the laptop) and can count consistently to 3 and with minimal prompting to 10. Says "18, 19, 20" when jumping off of the couch or off of the changing table into my arms.
-We still read books before he goes to bed. He will pick out three books and sit in my lap and we will rock and read. One of his favorites is a simple book about trucks and diggers and bulldozers. I will read it in an English accent, high pitched, which makes him giggle. The funniest part is that he will repeat what I say, the same way i say it!! "Digger" becomes "Digga" and "Bulldozer" becomes "Bulldoza"...high, church lady voice with accent and very exaggerated. It's so funny that he "gets it" and mimics me. :)
-Potty training: We don't practice all day everyday. BUT, he will let us know if he is peeing and prefers to be without a diaper. He has pooped on the potty three times and would not let us flush the first little one until after Yiayia and Grandma were called and told about his amazing new talent. We do make him potty before he takes a bath and then if he is "naked boy," we ask him every five or ten minutes if he needs to go.
-The boy will sleep FOREVER if we let him. No, this is not a complaint, just rare/strange for a toddler. He has a late bedtime, 10:00 p.m. or later, and doesn't wake up until 10:30 a.m. or 11ish and usually has to be woken up. He still takes 2 hour naps and will sometimes sleep longer if we don't wake him up.
-We discovered that the wagon can double as a roller coaster. Bryce and I "rode" it down the hill into the empty retention pond across the street. I hope Mike can straighten out the front wheels again.....oops.
-He wipes away kisses. He will also give kisses if he gives you a "boo boo."
-Loves to color and draw. None of his crayons have paper on them because one of his hobbies is peeling the paper off of them.
-Will test you and can frustrate me more than most adults with his determination/stubbornness.
-Loves to give "big hugs."
-He is sweet, smart, creative, energetic, inquisitive, ticklish, determined, loving, sneaky, goofy and is going to be two!!!!!!! Ugh.
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