I made a promise exactly a month ago today that I will continue to keep updating the blog monthly about this amazing little boy. Looking back over the months to see all the accomplishments is so rewarding---he is such a miracle.
You know a lot of people told me that babies are fun, but when they become toddlers they are REALLY fun. I honestly couldn't imagine things getter any better, (he was already so much fun and the love of our lives). But, just when you think, life couldn't get any better, it does. The country star Brad Paisley sings a song about this and it couldn't ring any truer.
It's awesome to have two year old.
Our weekends are spent dancing, playing with play-dough, cooking in the kitchen, watching train movies (Polar Express & Thomas the Train), "fixing things" doing peg puzzles and reading books. His favorites book are "Little Blue Truck" and Llama, llama books." We bought him the sequel to blue truck for Christmas. He also loves the author Sandra Boynton--we have several of her books.
Harrison's communication continues to grow steadily. He uses a lot of signs at the same time as he talks. He is doing a good job repeating words if we ask him. We have yet to hear any -W-T-words. I know there are a few more, but of coarse I can't think of them right now. His closest W word would be Whitney. He regularly uses some newer words and phases such as "all clean," "open," "close" "brrrrr," "stuck," "fishy," "Santa," "Whoa," "Oh, no," "Up," "poop," "airplane" and "on/off." He also starting signing "drink" instead of standing by the fridge whining. His vocabulary may be limited, but he can understand almost everything you ask him to do. Over the last few weeks we have also taught Harrison to take our hands when he wants something and take us to it---this has cut his melt downs in half. Such cuteness the other day...He came and got me and took me to the window and pointed out the window at our neighbors porch where there is a giant blow up Santa and he enthusically says, "Santa, Santa." Minutes later he came and got Doug and did the same thing. We have also been working on our ABCs and numbers. He doesn't have a lot of interest right now, but it's not too early to start. In fact the other day I said, "A," B," and Harrison said, "C," "D." So I guess maybe he is paying attention when I feel like I am getting ignored.
Health wise---Harrison couldn't be doing better. I can't remember the last cold he had---SERIOUSLY, not joking! He did have a stomach bug a couple of weeks ago as did practically the whole daycare center. He missed a day of daycare and was back to himself the next day---he even escaped the diarrhea most kids got with it as well.
Grazing. The greatest struggle we have come across is Harrison's constant grazing of food all day long. His primary doctor said that many toddler's fall into this habit. Obviously this isn't something we run into to at daycare, but nights and weekends he is constantly asking for food, and not eating proper meals. This is really our faults---we allowed the grazer to form. In the past week we made snack time, only at the table, he isn't allowed to bring around the house, which would be his preference. He has also got in the habit of constantly having something when we are at the grocery store/shopping. We replaced that constant grazing with a sucker, which he gladly accepts. The greatest challenge will be sticking to our guns on this.
Lovey, lovey. I would say in the past month Harrison's loviness have grown. He is constantly hugging Whitney. He wraps his blanket around her and lays his head down on her. The boy is smitten with his dog. At daycare pick ups I am greeted by more hugs and always get my goodnight kisses.
Patience. I never thought I would say this, but I am impressed with Harrison's patience as opposed to where it was just a couple of months ago. He does a good job listening.
Testing. Harrison continues to test us often, daily in fact to see what he can get a way with. Harrison reads like a text book if you open it up to a toddler section. With testing comes time outs, but he has been able to avoid some of the time outs by straightening out his behavior/actions with the threat of a "time out."This is also another nice relief. As far as physical, his biting has improved, and his kicking has increased.
Potty training. Potty training is nowhere where I would like it to be. It's a fact that most boys are not potty trained completely until the age of 3 1/2. I don't want Harrison to be a part of that fact, but I know if we push him to use the potty when he isn't ready can prolong the potty training process. The problem is, he doesn't like to sit on the potty and when he does sit on it, it's not for more than 10 to 15 seconds and he is back up again. To try to convince him that he needs to sit down is like asking pigs to fly---not going to happen. Though he has refusal to use the potty---he still shows signs of readiness. Tonight he said, "I pooped." So signs are promising. For now, I guess we wait. We are however, going to have him start sitting on the toilet at diaper change times at daycare. He does things for them, that he won't for us, so I am hoping this will be a jump forward for at home.
Separation anxiety. I am only going to mention that it's still in full swing---I just devoted and entire post to it last week. The positive thing is, since that post, he has slept through 2 whole nights (not in a row). Maybe we can make two in a row tonight? I would like to say I am optimistic, but I am not.
I know I am leaving out a ton of details and updates---I went in to this entry prepared and have slowly dwindled away. I guess that's because it's nearly midnight.
Expect more updates throughout the month and another big update next month this time. Harrison is 25 months today---a full fleged two year old.
If you haven't checked out the Christmas, Water Painting, Laser or Christmas Even post/videos, you should or you will be missing out.
And here is a shout out (if you have made it through this whole post)---comment on this thread on FB or comment on this entry or even become a follower. Harrison loves his fans.
Goodnight.
