Henry has 2 teeth now and is working on a 3rd and possibly a 4th. He's pulling up (yes, I believe he beat John Dickson... considering how lazy Hen was his first 3-4 months, I am floored by this...), he's drinking from sippy cups (2 a day - and he kills em!!), and he's eating puffs. His teacher suggested we go ahead and try them - she said everytime they get puffs out for the other babies, Henry starts squealing and flapping his arms like he is going to take off. Apparently he has been seriously wanting to try him some puffs. So last night we tried, and he tore it up. When I went to pick him up today he had just finished his snack of puffs and I found one stuck to his face, one clenched in his fist, 2 in his lap and 1 stuck to his shirt. Precious.
And John Dickson. Oh, John Dickson. See, a few months ago I thought we were in the terrible twos. And then things got better, and I was impressed that we managed to survive the difficult phase. And then I later found out that that wasn't the terrible twos at all. The terrible twos, turns out, are much worse :-)
When I picked John Dickson up today, he refused to leave daycare. As I went to go get his jacket and his blanket, he stood outside the tech center with his face pressed up against the glass, trying to watch a movie. He said "leave me." I told him I wasn't going to leave him. So I went to go get Henry's car seat, which was by the front door. And then I heard blood curdling screams for Mommy. Poor dude actually thought I did leave him. We were not off to a good start. Then he refused to put his jacket on and kept trying to thrash his way out of it as I kept trying to put it on (did I mention its supposed to snow tonight?). He then goes rag doll on me and the assistant director finally carries Henry out to the car for me so that I can carry the rag doll, who then decided he wanted to walk. He cried because he didn't want to hold my hand. He cried because he didn't want to get in his car seat. He cried because the radio was on when I turned on the car and he wanted to listen to his CD. He cried because he wanted me to turn the car off. When we got home, he cried because the radio turned off. And then the kicker - he cried because he wanted "a treat." Then he cried because he had to go potty (no, I wasn't prohibiting him from using the bathroom). Then he cried because the light was off. He pulled it together long enough to eat 2 helpings of breakfast casserole, blueberries, and 3 helpings of grapes. And then he went to bed.
The past few weeks have been off the charts for whining. I seriously do not know where it comes from - we don't give in and we do our absolute best to ignore him. But when you get to the 45 minute to an hour mark, that becomes increasingly difficult.
But of course my little boy isn't all whine and rag doll. As usual, he has been an amazing big brother. Quite frankly he can be more intuitive when it comes to Henry than we are. Exhibit A - we were in the car and Henry started crying - John Dickson told us the sun was in Henry's eyes and instructed us to pull his canopy down. Henry immediately stopped crying. Exhibit B - we were in the car again and Henry was crying again. John Dickson says, exasperated, "Henry! The sun is NOT in your eyes!" And then he says to us - "Henry needs his blanket. Give him his blanket." Well we couldn't reach Henry's blanket, so John Dickson offered up his, and immediately, Henry stops crying. Exhibit C - Henry was crying yet again in the car, and John Dickson says "I gonna make Henry laugh." He then leans over and makes funny noises and faces, and I kid you not, Henry, mid cry, immediately switches to hysterical laughter. The kid is good. And in case you are wondering what happened to sweet easy going Hen, he's still here, but the car ride home from daycare is when he is tired and getting hungry.
At dinner the other night John Dickson said "you're my best friend." And then he pointed to Adam and me and said "You, and you." Melt. My. Heart.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention... when I went to pick up John Dickson the other day, his teacher told me she wanted to show me his igloo. They used upside down styrofoam bowls with little openings cut out of them and glued sugar cubes to them. John Dickson was not impressed. I'll let you decide which one is his.
We get excellent reports on John Dickson and he seems to be handling the 3 year old class very well. He comes home every day singing a new song or talking about what he learned that day, and sometimes we even catch him talking about exercises and we see him practice and hear him say "turn around... feet together." I don't know why, but this tickles me to death. There's no other way to put it.
Oh, and Mom, this is for you. This was all him and I knew you'd get a kick out of it. Ignore the runny nose.
That's the toy box my dad made for me and my sister when we were kids, and we have many pictures of us doing this exact same thing. In fact, it almost looks like the same picture, except John Dickson has hair. I did not...
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