Alex at 28 Months

• Aug 21, 2007
• Aug 30, 2007
• Sep 6, 2007

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Aug 21, 2007

Some updates on previous observations:

• Sleeping is going much better now. Bedtimes are easier, and Alex generally does not need subsequent visits after "goodnight". He is back to sleeping until 7 or 7:30. Well, the truth is, I don't know what time he wakes up, because he now stays and plays in his room until I wake up and come get him. Scott and I unfortunately have not been sleeping that well. This morning, following a restless night and pre-dawn trash trucks, we all (I assume) got back to sleep and didn't get up until nearly 9:00.
• Now, instead of, "Do you want something, yeah?" it's "I'm going to do something, okay?" The OK is very enunciated, like, oh-kay-e.
• Narration continues, but now it seems more of a planning thing than a stalling tactic. Alex's imagination is growing and his list of steps he's doing gets more elaborate.
• Sometimes now instead of a big boy, Alex says he is a baby. I think this may be in reaction to some new, very young toddlers in his daycare, or maybe even to Aaron and Dana's Caleb (born in April). He seems to be regressing along the lines of a toddler with a new sibling, but maybe that's normal with or without a new arrival. It's not helping with potty training, in which he has completely lost interest at home and is in fact becoming a bit resistant. However, at other times Alex says he is big and Mommy and Daddy are little, or he will say he is our daddy, so maybe he is just trying on different roles and trying to sort out his growing self awareness. We just try to play along.

More on the potty -- I got Alex The Potty Book, a story of a boy named Henry who starts in diapers and learns to use the potty. I think it's back-firing though. I was really excited when Alex wanted to read the book again, until he said he wanted to see the part where Henry pees on the floor. Then today he quoted from the book saying his diaper is where he pees and poops. Oh well, add that to the list of good intentions.

Alex's jumping and climbing are getting pretty good. He will jump off a step now without holding onto anything. I really don't worry much about him climbing ladders at the park. I don't think he could start down a ladder (from a platform or bunk bed) without help though.

We had a play date this morning with a boy named Ben who is just a couple months older than Alex. I had intended to leave after about 1.5 hours, but it took about that long for the boys to warm up to each other (or, more likely, for Alex to warm up) and start actually interacting with each other. So we ended up staying through lunch and I really enjoyed the morning. We will probably get together with them more, but Ben starts pre-school in September, and his schedule will be the opposite of Alex's. Scott met Ben's dad Adam at work, so we will probably get together some on weekends anyway.

Aug 30, 2007

Playing the guitar

Alex uses a lot of hand gestures when he speaks. For example, when he says, "I like all those things," he holds both hands palm-up almost in front of his cheeks. Sometimes he will circle his arms a bit, as to encompass all those things. He uses a similar gesture for "I don't know." If he says something fell down, he starts with one hand in about the same position, then swings it down, turning his palm down like he's throwing something down. I remember Paw Paw pointing out very early on (maybe at about 9 months) that Alex moved his eyes a lot (as opposed to turning his head). And he is very expressive with his eyes too. Speaking of "I don't know," we are hearing that a lot these days. We wonder if Alex is just too lazy to recall the words to answer a question. We are trying to downplay or not reinforce it but just letting the conversation drop. Frequently this works, and if we don't respond he will offer the answer. It could also be that he feels he has to respond immediately but hasn't remembered yet. But it's very annoying when the conversation goes like this: Do you remember what this thing is called? Yes What is it? I don't know. But, Alex's language continues to grow. He is at the point now where he will make mistakes by following grammar rules. We get things like "I broked it" or "The fish swimmed." My favorite is "I wake upped."

On Tuesday we had another playdate with Ben, at Grasslawn Park. Alex decided he wanted his snack and sat with me at the picnic table while Ben and his brother Nate played everywhere. Finally Alex decided he was ready to play with Ben. They were going down the slide, then once Ben went before Alex had gotten off the bottom. Alex gave Ben a shove and I had to reprimand him, resulting in a total meltdown. Alex was not recovering so I said we had to go (it was almost time for them to go anyway). I had promised I would take Alex to McD's for lunch though, so I told him if he could calm down I still would. We went, he was great, did a good job eating and then started playing with a little girl (about a year older) at the next table. Her mom was on vacation this week, so we hung out and let the kids play in the play area and chatted a bit. Turns out we had a play date after all! Oh, and no fear about developing a McD's habit -- I got a small fry and Alex didn't eat any. Seems he doesn't really like fries, but he did eat some apple and drink some milk along with his chicken nuggets. We have been having some sleep trouble and some really bad behavior (cranky, defiant, tantrum-y) but I think maybe Alex is having a little trouble with his ears. Today has been better, but if we have another bad night I will run him to the doctor tomorrow. His napping is better since I moved it to 2:00. I am still staying in the room until he sleeps, but it takes about 10 minutes now so I don't mind so much. Sometimes I sleep too!

Alex likes to eat outside on the new patio.

September 6, 2007

Oh, there's a lot to cover in this entry since I have been recalling some things I want to record.

For Labor Day weekend, we drove out to Union, WA on Hood Canal, for Cait and John's wedding. We left on Saturday around 1:00 (both to watch the Va Tech opener against ECU first and to correspond with naptime). Alex was asleep within 10 minutes and slept about 1.5 hours, a reasonable nap. We shared a cabin with Aaron, Dana and Caleb (about 5 mos old) at the Alderbrook Resort, which is where the wedding was to be, so we knew some other folks there too. We stayed 2 nights and came home on Monday at about the same time. For the ride home, Alex was asleep within 5 minutes and slept nearly all the way home. So, we have learned how to travel with him, at least within a 2-hour radius!

Alex did not have as much fun as I thought he would at the resort. There was a picnic on Saturday afternoon, and I think he had a good time, but there wasn't much there in the way of kid food and I hadn't brought anything for his picky appetite. He didn't really want to play with any of the toys I brought (except a piano toy, which of course he couldn't use when Caleb was sleeping) and he didn't want to dig in the (gravely) sand or play with his dump truck. Until 1/2 hour before time to leave; then he wanted to drive the dump truck all over and threw a fit when I packed it in the car. I think this is the usual example of Alex being slow to warm up to something new.

The wedding was lovely. John's father officiated, so we got to see an insider's view of what those two bring to each other, and that was really nice. Cait and John had thoughtfully arranged child care during the reception, so Scott and I got to have our dinner uninterrupted. We retrived Alex for a piece of wedding cake, then I took him back to bed and conked out myself.

Nighttime sleeping was reasonably good, considering we were all in one room. There was no nap on the full day that we were there. I think we had a good enough time but were all glad to be home. Alex spent a lot of time alone with his trucks and trains that evening.

Old news, revisited

When Karen was here, she did a trick of "going downstairs" (a la Mike Myers in Austin Powers -- here's a clip of something similar) behind the kitchen island. This was awhile back. A couple weeks ago, months later, Alex started doing the same thing.

The evolution of Deepadee's name: Deepadee is a velvety soft lovey that my mom got Alex when he was about 6 weeks old (?). Deepadee had always been around, but Alex didn't seem to show any particular attachment. Some nearby neighbors were getting a new roof, and Alex liked to watch out the window. We would make the noise of the staple gun. pi-tchew, pi-tchew, pi-tchew, pi-tcheeew. This turned into the noise Alex would make back, pa-deep, pa-deep, pa-deep, pa-deeee. It was just some sounds he liked, and he would make them anytime, not just when we were watching the roofing. Then, some nap or bed time, Alex wasn't happy and kept making the sounds. I finally caught on that he wanted his lovey and was calling it by name. It's been Deepadee ever since. Now, when Alex sees another child with a lovey (even a fairly decent sized snuggly blanket), he says that child has a deepadee too.

Here are a couple current (as in, repeating) conversations that we have (you can probably figure out who is saying what!):

Video clips:

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