Language Development

Will was an early talker. He was using sentences the summer before he turned 2 and I remember my brother and sister in law were so impressed that he knew how to use the word “too” appropriately at the end of some of his sentences. He is developing an excellent vocabulary but is going through the phase that I think every 3 year old goes through – adding “ed” to many past tense words. Sometimes it’s right, but sometimes it’s so wrong – like, “Mommy! You lost-ed!” I guess we are supposed to reinforce the correct tense when this happens and he will eventually learn the appropriate times to add the “ed.” So I say, Yes, Will, you won again and I lost. This is getting better, so it appears to be working.

The other thing Jeff and I giggle about is his use of the word, “proud.” I guess Jeff and I have been using this word a lot. Such as, “Will, I am so proud of you for being a good boy at Miss Jo’s house. It makes me so happy when you don’t have any time outs!” Will has been adding this word to his vocabulary but doesn’t quite have the proper use down yet. The other day he said, “Mommy, I’m proud when I can have ice cream after dinner.” I think he is processing the “it makes me happy” part that we add when we sometimes tell Will how proud we are of him. So we discuss the feeling of being proud and the feeling of being happy. He has used it correctly while warming my heart, telling me he’s proud of Wyatt in his latest accomplishment. But he still tells me he’s proud when we raise the shades and it’s a sunny morning!

Wyatt started his rapid vocab pickup around 14 mos. He’s 17 mos now and knows a few hundred words. I’ve started to pickup on some short sentences, like “close the door” or “Where’s E?” “E” is what he calls Willy. He has really picked up “I Do!” However, like Will and the word “proud,” Wyatt doesn’t have the appropriate use down yet. Wyatt learns a lot from Will. He learned “I do!” from Will. When I ask, “who wants some blueberries?” Will comes running saying “I do!” or if he’s seated at the table, he’ll raise his hands saying “I do!”

Wyatt never misses an opportunity to eat so he picked this up quickly and now he raises his hand and clearly says “I do!” whenever I’m offering food. However, he seems to use it whenever he’s hungry. He’ll bring me a box of crackers he can reach in the pantry and hand it to me saying, “I do, I do, I do.” Or, if he’s in the other room and he hears me in the pantry, he’ll come running saying “I do! I do! I do!”

We really enjoy this age where he is picking up on so many new things each day and can better communicate back to us. And Will is learning a lot of things, mainly patience and allowing Wyatt to be his “helper” when he’s doing projects or playing.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is the start of our camping season. We love to camp! Even with the little kids. Yes, it’s more work than play when you have a little ones, but it’s all worth it to see the fun they have. This year, we were joined by my parents, and Ed and his two eldest, Sophie (4) and Sawyer (2). The kids all had a ton of fun and we had just as much fun watching them! One of the funnier things to watch were all 3 older kids in the tent by themselves. They had the lantern and about 3 flashlights on. We were outside at the campfire and the kids were running and jumping around the tent. Their shadows were about 5 times their actual size and they had no idea their parents were watching them run wild in the tent! They had total freedom.

This trip also marked the end of the bottle for Wyatt. He has been down to one bottle a day for months but I was worried it would be hard to wean him from his bedtime bottle. Will was weaned before he could say the word “bottle” and it was very easy to move him to the sippy cup before bed. However, for some reason, I just wanted to keep the bottle a little longer with Wyatt. Time goes so fast now that we have 2 kids and it is a special bonding moment to hold Wyatt in my arms and give him that bottle while the world stops for 5-10 minutes.  I didn't want to give up that peaceful time while we quietyly talked to each other, sang lullabyes, or just gazed into eachother's eyes. Wyatt LOVED his bottle every night and would start saying “bottle bottle bottle” as soon as we started putting his pajamas on. Once we got to the kitchen, it was hard to distract him during the quick 40 second warm up in the microwave, and forget about walking to the living room to sit down before it got to his mouth. This kid had to have his bottle NOW!  I knew I had to cut him off the bottle before it got really hard.
Memorial Day weekend was the weekend I would try the sippy cup. Some of you may think I was crazy to try this while camping in a tent where all the other campers were within earshot of a screaming baby, and I thought so, too – so I hid the bottle in a backpack just in case. However, I also thought the distraction of camping, campfires, and an abnormal routine would be the perfect time to remove the bottle from the bedtime routine. So, around 7pm, we got his pajamas on, put some milk in a sippy cup, and sat by the fire with a book. I’m not sure there was much reading going on, he just enjoyed the mesmerizing fire like we all did. And, after that, down he went, without a peep or mention of the B word! Same thing happened the next 2 nights.

We returned home and haven’t brought the bottles out since! I guess it's time to pack up all the bottles and infant feeding supplies and dream about using them again for baby #3 someday.
Wyatt is a full time toddler and is awaiting his next big boy accomplishment – moving to the bottom bunk or potty training. Judging by his character, I think potty training will be easier than keeping him in a bed without 3 foot bars all around it!

Some pictures from our camping trip:

Popper and Sophie

                           

Will and Sawyer - Scooter Races

Sawyer and Will

Mom feeling like a kid

Will, Sawyer and Sophie

Ed setting good examples for the preschoolers

Jeff improving his use for the water bottle holder

The gang