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Monday, April 11, 2011

Two and a Half Men Boy

Another 3 months has flown by! I should be getting used to this, but I'm not! This was a good quarter though. Austin just keeps getting more fun and more fun. Granted, he's also getting louder and louder, but either I am getting used to that or my hearing is going, cuz it doesn't seem to affect me as much anymore!



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New this quarter...

He hops! He hops everywhere. He hops over everything! He hops down every step, through every doorway, over every crack and line he can find! I didn't know there could be so much hopping!

He's becoming so conversational and so much easier to understand. I think my days as an interpreter are close to being over! At least I don't have to interpret for Brian anymore. Other people, though, still need some help, but less and less. And he wants to learn about everything - Commonly uttered phrase is "Mommy, what you doing?" and "What's this?".

My favorite word of the quarter - Osabpeder. He LOVES to ride the osabpeders at the mall!

He has now started referring to himself as "Austin". So we went from me to you to Austin. I guess that's fairly normal? Actually he still uses "you" a lot too. But since he never calls me "you" anymore, there's less confusion this time around! I'm just Mommy. But about 1/2 the time I can't figure out if he's referring to himself or Aus (McKenna). Still working that out.

He calls McKenna by her name too, sometimes. But mostly she's still "Aus", sometimes "sister", often "Aus sister" and sometimes "Peanut", cuz that's what I call her a lot! It's really cute to hear him say "Hi Peanut!" when we go to get her up from her naps.

He went binkie free shortly after his last update. Actually, until I read the update just now, I would have thought it was longer ago. Just seems like it's been such a non-issue for so long! At the beginning of the year, Austin started having a hard time staying in bed for naps. He realized that our bedroom door doesn't latch and there wasn't anything actually keeping him in there. We tried everything - punishments, spankings, lost toys, etc. One day, I noticed one of his binkies was cracked and needed to be thrown away anyway, so I threatened to do so if he got out of bed...which he did. So I made him get up and throw it away! It didn't go over well, but he went eventually fell asleep without and we never went back. He only asked about it for maybe the 1st week and then after that was totally fine. I really thought it would be worse!

Potty training is going fairly well! He asks at least once a day to use the potty but sometimes he asks several times. We even had a completely dry morning the other day! I can see a light at the end of the diaper tunnel! Although I just bought him some Handy Manny & some McQueen underwear and thought that would be good motivation, but given the choice today, he chose diapers. We'll get there though!

He's got the alphabet down pat! He finds "alphabets" everywhere we go. He particularly likes to spell "STOP" but usually spells it backwards. "P-O-T-S Stop!!!" Nothing like fighting with a 2.5 year old on which ways the letters go! He is just like his momma - always has to be right! We just recently moved onto letter sounds and I would say he knows about 1/4 of them.

Along with stop signs, he also really likes traffic lights. While driving I constantly hear "Red means STOP!, Green go!" whenever we come to a light.

He's getting really good at his computer games. Right now he is playing all by himself! He needs no help with the mouse at all! It's really nice to get to do something else while he's working on the other computer.

It is really fun to see the change in how Austin watches and understands movies now. He loved watching them before he could understand what was happening but now he gets a lot more. He really likes watching Tarzan in the car and I constantly hear "Oh no, Cat! Watch out Monkey!" Funny unless McKenna is sleeping in the seat next to him! He is constantly cracking up too now that he gets a lot of the jokes. It's just to entertaining to watch him be entertained!

He is so good with his sister! Still steals toys and could always stand to be a little more gentle, but I've learned that that will be a constant struggle. But he loves her so much! He loves to make her laugh. He always wants her awake to play with him and gets impatient for her to get up from naps. And when she does get up, he gets really upset if I go get her without him.

Eating has been a challenge these last couple months. We have been implementing a "Try something new every day" rule. Doing our best to broaden his horizons. I dunno if it's been successful or not. There's nothing new on his "will eat anytime" list, but he puts up less of a struggle when we make him take at least 2 bites. Brian taught him to answer "meatballs" when asked what his favorite food is, in hopes that it might help change his opinion of meatballs. It did not. We've also been trying to get him to eat food on his own. He just sits there forever if he's not excited about whatever he's been served or if he gets distracted. He'll eat if you feed him but at 2.5 we're ready for him to feed himself, since he can! He is really very good with forks and spoons. It's just a power struggle and has nothing to do with hunger, we've discovered. Still working on nipping that in the bud, but making progress with the help of sticker rewards.

He is loving books right now! He loves to be read to, but also just loves to read to himself. I love hearing him interpret the pictures and try to mimic what I've read. Three favorites are "Are You My Mother?", "Go Dogs Go" and "Green Eggs & Ham". About 1/2 the time I'll offer to read with him and I get shut down! Another favorite at my mom's house is the alphabet book. I have video of him reading it with her. He goes through the letter and what the picture is and it is so cute to listen to. Each time he does it, he gets better and better with his enunciation.


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