Theo at 22 months

Doesn't everyone walk with their hand in their pocket

This month has been a challenging month.  Mason was still away in Alabama for training and Theo and I returned home to Minot after a month with family.  Theo quickly discovered (finally realized) when we got home from our trip, that he could climb out of his bed.  I'm grateful that he's been in a big bed for so long and didn't want to climb out of it, but now that's sort of a pain.  He's definitely tested the waters of how many times he can climb out of bed at both nap time and bedtime.  Sometimes he stays put, but other times he just wants out.  I have tried to teach him to come right to our room, so he doesn't escape from the house, and we also try to monitor him carefully on our video monitor- which is a blessing (we see his actions) and a curse (I watch a little too much).

Chasing bubbles

After we adjusted to being home and on a different schedule, and after much persuading from Mason, I saw an opportunity to take away Theo's pacifiers and did so.  He was sleeping at night and naps with 3 wub-a-nub pacifiers, which are pacifiers with little animals on them.  The big reason I got these for him was so that when they are done with the pacifier part, you can cut that piece off and they still have the animal part to snuggle.  He had one that was like that, because he chewed through the pacifier part early on, but one morning he brought me all three pacifiers and they disappeared.  I was honestly too afraid that he'd just FREAK OUT with them gone so I was too afraid to cut them, because I honestly thought I'd be giving them right back.  I cried a lot that day.  Mostly because I felt like I was traumatizing Theo by telling him one more thing was "bye bye."  That day at nap and bed he asked for his "ah ah ah" (monkey) and I told him they went bye bye because he's a big boy.  He did have the one that was missing the pacifier and looked at me and kept saying mouth.  He did pretty well and only woke up once or twice looking for them in his bed.  I still haven't had the guts to cut off the pacifiers off and have the animals reappear. 

cooling off

The downside to the pacifiers disappearing, is that it seems to have coincided with Theo's sleep getting all out of whack.  There have been MANY, MANY moments in the past three weeks where I have just wanted to fold and give them back, hoping they will resolve the sleep problem.  Up until this point, we've been very lucky that Theo's been an amazing sleeper (12 hours at night and 304 hour naps).  This has all gone out the window in the past few weeks.  His sleeping is very sporadic.  He sometimes wakes up now at 5:30 in the morning and doesn't want to go back to sleep, he is very inconsistent, which has led to a very grouchy and impatient mommy, and a mommy who is getting bad sleep when I do sleep.  We're still trying different methods to get him to sleep later and stay in bed, but I haven't found a magic trick yet.  My fear is with Baby 2 due any day, that this pattern is going to get worse- but I've been praying and looking for solutions and trying to get to bed earlier myself and try to really be more patient.  Thank God Mason is home now, I really needed him!

play doh

So with all that aside, Theo is super cute most of the time.  We've spent more time than usual at home lately because I'm just tired so easily these days, and really, if it's more than 70 degrees I'm just uncomfortable.  So, he'd gotten extra tv time (and what else do you do at 6am), and we've played a lot in the backyard.  I did manage to take him to the zoo, we go play with the train table at Barnes and Noble, we went to the State Fair when Mason returned home, we've had a few playdates, we go to the park several times a week, and we went to the big Minot State Fair Parade.  I also took him for a little train ride through the park which he enjoyed, and I got to sit, so double bonus!

swimming

Theo's really a chatty boy these days!  He talks a lot!  And he's finally talking to other people, outside the house.  He's working hard to put sentences and thoughts together, which is pretty adorable.  I think Mason was a little overwhelmed by the chattiness when he got home, but we also get daily laughs out of it too. 

Some new words/phrases are: I see, other side, potty, hello, down, exercise, oh man, purple, flush, helicopter, missle, kiss, clothes, oh my.

signing "more" giraffes

Some funny Theoisms/Milestones:

*  July 2nd Theo peed on the potty for the first time!  Yay!  I was letting him sit on his car potty seat a lot, and we talked a lot about going potty, but he was starting to get really obsessive (waking up a lot) anytime he had the tiniest bit of moisture in his diaper, so I actually cut back on this, because while he was enjoying sitting on the potty, reading books, and getting animal "cookies", I don't think he's quite physically ready to be potty trained 100%, so I decided to ease off a bit.  He still sits on it occasionally, and is very interested in Mommy and Daddy's potty time.

*  Theo likes to do "cheers" with his drink cup.  He'll ask to clink glasses with us sometimes.

train ride

*He can (sometimes) count to 3, but mostly everything is "2".  If you ask him how many of something he sees, it's always "2".

*  For awhile he was calling everyone either a daddy, mommy, or baby (dady).  This included animals and people.  I tried explaining that not all boys are daddys and not all girls are mommys, so we started talking about ladies and men (man).  Now he goes around the store with me pointing and saying LOUDLY, man!  lady!  His favorite is to point out TWO LADIES!   

*Sleeps with a cover in the bed now, just a little fleece one

gluing our count down chains

*  July 10th we took the pacifiers away

*Theo is keeping a close eye on where Daddy is.  He still thinks he goes to Alabama when I say he's at work, and always wants to know when "Daddy back, I see daddy." 

attempting to fly a kite

*  He's a great cleaner-upper and he's helped me a lot around the house. 

vegging out

*Theo's very interested in the baby...we'll see how he feels next week when the baby arrives

*  When you ask Theo a question, he'll usually respond with "noooooo" or "okaaaaaaaay". 

party at the parade

*After storytime at night, I'll say, "We had a good day today Theo" and then he'll list off things we did or played with.  He's actually pretty good with remembering a lot that we saw and did. 

Daddy is coming home!

T-H-E-O

This is about as close as I get to "sewing" these days.  Iron on patches.  I bought these a few months back, and were saving them for a rainy day activity.  I guess it was drizzling, but it was just something for us to do in the evening the other day.  

I've been trying to teach Theo his name, and how to spell it.  Right now he pretty much says, T (mumble, mumble) O!  He likes having letters he recognizes on his shirt, PLUS animals! 

Getting a Little Perspective

Last week I was really, really grouchy!  Theo and I had several rough days in a row, and to be perfectly honest, he wasn't even doing anything "wrong."  It was me and my bad attitude.  I woke up several mornings just already in tears, and by lunchtime was a complete mess.  I felt like a terrible mom to Theo for being so grouchy, and yelling at him which would just make him cry.  I felt like a terrible wife for venting a lot to Mason, who's not here and can't really help the situation. 

So, by Sunday afternoon, I really just sat, prayed, and tried to think about things, and how I could make them better.  The key was pretty much that I needed to change, because Theo wasn't going to.  A large part of the "problem" was that Theo decided to start waking up at 7:00am.  I know for a lot of you reading this, you're thinking, I wish my kid would sleep until 7am!  I know that we've been very lucky with Theo's sleep schedule (usually 9pm-9am or sometimes later), so this 2 hour shift was tough for us.  It made for a loooong morning before nap (1pm) and then even his naps were fluctuating between an hour and two hours (where it was a pretty constant 3 hours before).  I'm a night person, so going to bed at 1 or 2am and then being awoken by a little guy bursting into my room at 7am was not making me a happy mommy.

This new sleep pattern seemed to coincide with me taking away Theo's pacifiers, so I thought maybe he was hearing revillre which is played at 7am, and he'd wake looking for the pacifiers and not be able to find them, so he'd decide to wake-up instead.  Also, since we returned home from vacation, he's learned how to climb in and out of his bed, which means, he doesn't really stay in his bed to play.  He was getting up and coming to find me.  After a few mornings of him waking up early and him getting out of his bed, I was sleeping really poorly because I was convinced he'd escape while I was sleeping and I wouldn't hear him.  Anyways...I figured that as much as I tried to tell Theo it was still night time and he needed to stay asleep or stay in his bed, he was going to be waking up early.  I needed to start going to bed earlier so that if 7am was the new wake-up time, I'd be getting a decent night of sleep.  The past two nights, I've been asleep/in bed between 11am and midnight, and Theo's slept in until 8:30ish.  Thank God!  His naps have also gotten longer again, so we'll see if this lasts...at least until I have some back up!

I was also down in the dumps because I miss Mason.  He's been gone two months, and Theo and I both miss him.  Theo asks for him all the time, and it's draining to constantly explain where Daddy is.  Fortunately we have a week left until Mason returns!  It's a faint light at the end of the tunnel.  So looking forward to having him home!  But again, I have a friend who has two little ones and her husband is gone for a year to a much more dangerous place than Montgomery, AL.

Things have gotten a lot better this week!  I feel like a functioning person because I've been getting some sleep.  I've been trying to take Theo to the park at least once a day when it's cooler temperatures in the morning, and then we play in our backyard in the afternoons.  He usually plays trains everyday while I try to do somethings around the house or on the computer, and then we'll read books, color, or do some "project."  By doing more with him, I've felt like a little bit of a better mom, it helps the days go by, and we aren't just being sitting and watching Sesame Street and Thomas & Friends.

I've been trying hard to put life in perspective.  I'm happily married, I have a healthy kid, and a growing baby.  I have several friends right now with severely sick children, and know families who have lost their teenagers, so I'm trying to gain perspective and realize my life is pretty amazing!

 

Pancakes

"Cook Mom"

Theo decided about a week ago that his new wake-up time was going to be between 7:00-7:30am!  Woah!  This has been a major shock to my system, since he was sleeping until 9-10am, and I'm a late night person.  So, we're I'm readjusting my schedule, or trying to.  The mornings are pretty long these days so today we made pancakes to pass some of the time. 

Putting away the box

"Hot"

"Coooooold"

Enjoying his pancake and watching Thomas

Theo at 21 months

This post has been ready to write since before Theo turned 21 months, but again, I'm a great procrastinator.

This month was an incredible month of change for Theo.  It's like he began the month as a baby and just developed into full on little boy.  He's talking so much and making many connections- it's wonderful to see how his brain is processing information lately.

Weight: 26 lbs.            Height:  ~33 inches

New Words:  home, coffee, bagel (gay gul), go, hot, cold, macaroni, blue, green (neen), yellow, money, peach (teach), home, cook, Bert (T), Mickey Mouse (mo mo), balloon, ding, Grover, Big Bird (DD), bus, Donna, Noah, Chelsea, QUentin, Griffin, animal, noodle, two, T, M, sun, sad, happy, airplane, ding, fruit, vroom vroom, woah, rain, mail main, fire truck, oy vey, treat, shadow (da doh), please, hurry, naughty, chalk, swimming, ohhhh noooo, dough, Barney, Sesame, Katie, people, train, choo choo, turtle, tunnel (nunnel).

One of the coolest experiences for me this month was seeing how his language developed, and I think a huge part of that was being around other people and environments.  We spent a month at home with my family and Mason's family and Theo was exposed to other adults vocabulary and things we just don't really see in Minot.  Theo is now IN LOVE with anything transportation- cars, choo choos, busses, taxis, and fire engines, which he got to see daily in Evanston.  We've now got choo choos around the house and our entire ride from base to town consists of Theo giving the play by play of EIOs (farms), to animals, the Dada's (airplanes), tunnel, and choo choos.

*  Theo calls all farms and zoos, or basically anywhere with animals EIO's.  Some animals he calls by thier sound (moos, baas, neighs, ahh ahhs, etc) and other animals by their actual names (turtles, elephants, zebras).      

*  When he's playing alone or we're driving in the car, there is CONSTANT chatter and sometimes he sings.  It's pretty cute, but can also be exhausting, especially while I'm the only parent here to listen to the chatter.  He even talked a lot in his sleep while we were sharing a room at my parent's house.

*  "no no no" is a favorite expression, but he usually uses it when he doesn't want something, and not just refusing to do something. If you say, "do you want a jelly sandwich?" he might respond with no, no, no.

*  Peanut Butter and Jelly is a new favorite for him at lunchtime, he likes fruit, and loves treats!  He's pretty funny because he asks for "treats" all the time.  We had lots of treats in Chicago (cookies, smoothies, and milkshakes), so when we got home I had to cut us (or him) off.  He gets an occasional treat here, but he's decided things like bread is a "treat", so he will tell Mason I gave him lots of treats, but really, just normal food.  :)

*When he counts, he points and says "ah ah ah" just like the Count from Sesame Street.  So he'll say, one, two, ah ah ah.

*Theo likes to have his snacks in two.  He'll ask for two crackers, one for each hand.

*He's an ipad wizard!  He knows where all of his games are, how to access Skype and find Mason (even though there's no picture next to his name, he just remembers Mason's spot).

*He's using the sign for "more" all the time.  He uses it to mean he wants more food, or to see more of something.  I also taught him the sign please, and he has caught on really well with that sign.

*Theo started to do puzzles, and enjoys them, although he sometimes struggles with him.

*  He has a WONDERFUL imagination that I LOVE!!!  He pretends to pour coffee, he feeds his stuffed animals food, he'll fly his toy airplanes.

*  He enjoys parks and slides after a slight falling out with a slide.

*  We went to visit Evanston, IL.  We spent about 5 days there with Mason and then he left for training in Alabama, while Theo and I stayed a month.  We had a BLAST, and it was so hard to leave.

*  Theo likes to take attendance.  He'll wake up in the morning, and when we were home visiting my family he would walk around and say, grandma/grandpa/doggie/mama and dada, who he now says is "bye bye in Alabama."   

*  He can hop with two feet off the ground

*He likes to take different toys with us in the car.  He always chooses carefully and then has different conversations with them while we drive. 

*  He is OBSESSED with EIOs, Trains, and Sesame Street.  It's pretty much ALL we talk about.

*  He knows the difference between hot and cold.

*  He pretends to exercise by doing push-ups and a downward dog looking position.

 

Grins and Giggles

What a cutie pie!

Theo has taken an interest in playing with playdoh this week, which means I've had to attempt to "make things."  I tried my best, but just kept telling him and myself that with so many artists in the family he was getting robbed of someone's great sculpting abilities.  Only 3 weeks until Daddy gets home, so hopefully Mason can help sculpt some better masterpieces. 

Hmm, what do I do with this?

Oh no!  I tore up all the playdoh.

Oink Oink- Theo later removed the head and decided my curly tail was a better elephant nose. 

A horse drinking water, of course!

Ockey (Oscar the Grouch)

Turtle

Making a great sculpture

Big Bird is so funny

Ockey #2, getting a hat from Theo

Night, night Ockey