Big boy things

My little boy has been doing big boy things these days.

He decided that Cah (Carla) needed his highchair (even though she won't fit in it for a few months), and he could use his booster seat at the table when we eat. He likes to climb up and click himself in and requests a fowk (fork) like mine instead of his plastic one. 

But that's not all.....

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you've read about the saga of my non-napping toddler. Last month, I switched things up in an attempt to get him excited about naptime again. The hour long wailfests in his crib followed by a walk in the stroller was not on my top 10 list of "ways to spend an afternoon". I spurred his interest in it by offering him the chance to read and rest in my room on the "big bed". 

There were two rules. 

No jumping.

No getting off the bed. 

He doesn't have to sleep, but he can't get off the bed. I set a mental timer for an hour. I figured that would be enough downtime for both of us to recharge. 

The first few days he chattered the hour away. BUT..and this is a big BUT....he did NOT get out of bed. By the end of the week I had a sleeping son again. 

Halle-freaking-lujah. 

It's been a month now, and although he doesn't fall asleep every time, we've managed to avoid the meltdowns and I think we are all happier for it. When he sleeps--it's usually 2+ hours. 

When we went to Australia, I used a hire company to rent a pack and play and stroller. I figured we would try the bed at night time for him, and if it failed, I'd stuff him in the portable crib and have Carla sleep on the floor (on the floor?!, I know...but have I mentioned how easy going she is?). I didn't really want to rent two portable cribs. Anyways...absolutely no problem. He went to bed and stayed in bed every single night. 

But, would it continue once we got home? Should we take the rails off his crib? Is he ready?

On Monday night, the Eve of his 28th month, NZ took the rails off Sal's crib.

With baited breath, we put him to bed.

Would he get up? Would we hear his Buzz Lightyear "to infinity and beyoooond!" going off at all hours? Would we need to install a baby gate in his door to keep him in? 

He slept. 

Like a baby.

A baby who's doing big boy things.

I'm pretty sure if we blink he will be driving a car next.

Sal, lately.

Age: 27 months

Stats: 13.5 kg, not sure how tall.

Clothes: 2T pants, 2-3T shirts. His favorite shorts are basketball shorts handed down to him from our friend, Aiden. He refers to them as Aiden shorts. He also loves his Mickey ringer tee and his new "muscle shirt". 

Food: Does juice count? He would drink diluted juice 24/7 if allowed. He loves "ficey Pisa" (spicy pizza), " fickles" (pickles), nuts, "waisins" (raisins), toast, chips, nachos, green beans, cucumber and tomatoes. He's not much of a meat eater, unless it is steak. 

Verbal ability: Who let my kid swallow a parrot? He repeats EVERYTHING, and I mean, EVERYTHING..especially the things we let slip from our tongues. Some of our favorites are, "for EVER!!" said with mucho gusto, "what a bummer", "no big deal", "fix it", "put the water in it", "clean it up" & " not too much". I can hear these words coming out my own mouth every time he says them. There's definitely a theme there. He's shy when others talk to him, but is very vocal when it comes time to say goodbye. He says quite audibly, "bye guys!", and "see you next time". I've been trying to teach him how to greet people with a handshake, but the only person he has tried it on is his sister. He grabs her hand and shakes it forcibly, saying "nice to meet you."  When people cough or sneeze, he says, "salud!". It's darling. 

Activities: Sal's go-to toys are definitely Duplo blocks and his wooden blocks. He sits and organizes his wood blocks by shape, and stacks same shape duplos into tall towers. Pretend play has begun a little bit, with him often talking to his stuffed yellow lab, Pluto (formerly known as Tess), and his beanie baby bull "fuh-da-nan"(Ferdinand) at nap time. I love this age and watching his little mind wrap itself around ideas. 

Things he does: Sal still loves the song "Whistle" by FloRida, and will hijack my iPad to play it in the dining room where he proceeds to stand on top of his Duplo box, while holding a table leg and getting his groove on. He does the same with Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem". I credit his love for J.A. to the fact that I had that song on repeat while he was in utero. It's engrained in him. He HAS to love it. 

He has mastered a mean somersault now, and is really good at jumping with both feet off the ground. His valley girl-esque way of saying "forEV-er!" makes us laugh every time, and he gives some really good kisses goodnight. 

Our elevator has a no smoking sign posted--the kind with a red circle and slash over a cigarette. One day he asked, "whassit?" So I explained what it meant. Ever since then, when we see a no smoking sign, he yells " no smokeen". He loves finding the "don't " signs wherever we go now and is constantly asking, " whassit?". 

Proudest mom moment: He does so many things each day that make me proud of him. I think my favorite moment lately came when the phone rang as I was nursing his sister and couldn't answer it-- by the time I got in the room where our landline is, he had already answered "HehWhoa, hehwhoaaaa? Wong numba. Bye guys." And hung up. The phone rang again. This time I answered and he was in fact right--the caller had the wrong number. I just loved his little voice and was surprised he knew the correct phone etiquette of answering a call. 

                             

Proudest dad moment: NZ says one of the things that makes him proudest, is when we are getting ready to go, and Sal comes running out saying, " dada, hat?" wanting to wear a Dodger cap like his.

Naptime 'round here

And so goes the saga of naptime woes. 

I've been fighting back against my nap resistant two year old since the end of November. The little guy who at one time was cool with a couple of songs and a goodnight kiss has been screaming, crying, kicking and trying to negotiate a way out of naps for four whole months now. 

I refuse to give in. He's two. Two year olds need naps. 

Admittedly, I have reached the point where I don't expect him to sleep anymore. I have tried letting him "sleep" in our bed the past week and although he no longer screams bloody murder at the mention of "resting time", I'm convinced he will make the Olympic team for trampolining in 2028 if the tricks he pulls on our bed during naptime are any indication. 

If he is caught trampolining (which is every single day), he's moved back into his crib and given a book and a stuffed toy to cuddle with. I tell him he needs to lie quietly with his buddy and help the stuffed animal fall asleep. This has been successful twice in the last three weeks. That's a terrible average. 

And now what do I do now that I'm really desperate?

Once naptime fails  (we're usually at least 90 minutes into the battle at this point ), I've been loading the kids in the stroller for a walk. I face his seat towards me and underneath his sister so all he can see is pavement passing and hear my flip flops flipping. 

And this my friends has been a home run for us seven days in a row. 

I hate that he's not an easy napper anymore, but on the bright side, I'm getting some exercise and sunshine while he sleeps. I can already picture summer time. Over one hundred degrees with equal humidity--sweating buckets in an attempt to get my handsome little man to catch a few zzzz's. 

What have I gotten myself into? 

Toddler tales: the very hungry caterpillar

With all this time cooped up inside, I've started reading more to Sal. We've always read daily, but now that I'm trying to assemble some sort of order after the chaos of bringing a new baby home, I have set aside time each day to read a book to Sal and include an activity related to the book. 

Today we read, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. I love Eric Carle books. They were my favorite books as a teacher because there are so many lessons that can be created from the stories. 

Today I got my usually unenthusiastic artist (he is not a fan of coloring or painting) to play with a stamp pad to create colorful butterflies just like the one at the end of the story by  stomping on the stamp pad and pressing his feet on the paper. I later added the body and antennae. 

He love it and insisted we make more...we made so many we wore the stamp pad out!

The cold hard truth

It's been coming for a while.

I think I've been in denial.

My once awesome napper, has been resisting his only nap since end of November. I originally found the solution of rocking him to sleep (hello 26 lbs!) worked, and swore I would only do it for a week, and then it would be back to our routine of two songs, a hug, kiss and bed. Well, that didn't happen. 

I rocked him well into my 38th week of pregnancy. Big belly and all. 

He needed sleep. Hell, I needed sleep.

And now, since the arrival of his little sister, we've had a grand total of five naps in ten days. That's not a very good average. Those naps came at the price of listening to a child scream like he's on fire for over an hour. Both NZ and I have attempted to go calm him down (NZ was successful, I was not) enough to sleep. 

I'm beside myself. I feel like two is too young to give up naptime. Everything I read says that two year olds need naps (or at least benefit from them). He is still in a crib, but from the looks of things today, he is one leg away from getting over it (I found him straddled and perched on top this afternoon). 

I succeeded in giving him a book and telling him he didn't need to sleep but did need to sit quiet in his crib and read until I come to get him. It seems to be working. Ten minutes so far and not a peep, but I do hear pages turning. 

The tough part is knowing if he is just going through a phase because the family dynamic has changed, or if he is legitimately not tired. He seems to operate okay on his napless days, although evenings get a bit sloppy and delirious. 

I'm tending to think he is just growing out of them, and that's the cold hard truth.

Anyone have any tips, advice, magic potions?