The past few weeks I've been trying to do fun Christmas activities with the boys but not be too-TOO about it, wanting to enjoy the season, trying to fit in regular workouts again, dealing with behavior/discipline issues that are inherent in life with a three year old, trying to keep my finger on the pulse of where I want to take (or follow) Levi educationally (I say that very loosely) in the next year so that I'm keeping up with teaching him fun things but following his lead. And trying to fit in fun ways to get out of the house and burn energy when it's just too cold to play outside.
Oh, but when it ISN'T too cold to play outside....!!! Woot woot!!
Getting outside with even one person under the age of...four? Five? is the ultimate test in grace, patience, and dignity. Two things I have learned:
1. What is worse that getting *EVERYTHING* on and smelling the Whiff of Death? Stripping it all off and FINDING OUT IT'S A FALSE ALARM.
2. Mittens. Mittens on toddlers. Putting mittens on toddlers nearly induces a fit of rage in me. It most definitely induces a fit of rage in them. Put your thumb in the hole. No, in the hole. Okay, stick out your thumb and put it here. No, HERE. DUDE, stickoutyourthumb. Give it to me. It goes HERE. *HERE.* Nevermind. Thirty degrees is warm enough to go without mittens.
Let's seeee....what else.....Levi loves candy canes - thank you Mrs. Koets for sending us home with some the other day. :)
Frankly, my dear....
Luke turned 15 months last week!! I was pregnant by the time Levi was 15 months. Heh. Not this time!! LOL
Luke is utterly hilarious. He is going to be the family clown and will probably try to charm his way out of every troublesome situation. He's alternately very sweet and very loud. We're trying to curb the loud sooner rather than later. He's fast, he runs, he climbs everything, 'helps' me clean, loves tackling Levi, initiates play with him, is trying so hard to ride the tricycle downstairs, eats with a spoon, throws his sippy with frustrating regularity, tackles the dog, loves his little stuffed monkey with fierce loyalty, dies laughing, sings, loves to play with any toys, and is just getting over his stranger danger.
But he will not utter a word. An occasional ma-ma and pa-pa, he's said "Nana" once or twice, and a handful of other words once or twice, but other than that, a point and grunt works for him. We do all the speech therapy things you're supposed to do - repeat a word three times in a sentence, give him two choices and try to get him to say which he wants, talk-talk-talk through everything we do, talk in regular grown-up terms and in full sentences, reeeeaaadddd...enh, it'll come out at some point.
Nevertheless, he just wants to be a big boy. He loves wearing the construction vest and fire chief jacket like Levi.
Levi loves to read to him every morning.
He's very hands-on...he likes to play with paint and crayons and dot markers and all that. Levi wouldn't do any of that until the past several months. Luke is a lot more sensory.
This was this morning. Levi was putting construction hats on himself and me, and Luke was putting the fire chief hat on himself.
We've noticed lately that Levi's face is filling out and his body is more solid and heavy when we pick him up, and it's like...what the heck? He's changed overnight from a toddler to a preschooler and it's just incredible.
He had been so into gluing and doing little worksheets for a spree, and now he's totally moved on. A few weeks ago we did the letter M and I found some fun little activities that involved sorting - which he was never interested in - and he totally loved it. He did some money sorting activities, we baked M&M cookies and he sorted the colors, etc.
Every morning he still asks for his morning project, but then he wants nothing to do with it - even if it's a project he requested. So I've scrapped for the time being the things that we had been doing and am just engaging him in other ways to see what he likes to do or wants to learn. He's VERY into books, and just in the past couple of days he's been very into painting, which is kind of new. He loves to tell stories - usually a mix of anecdotes he's heard me and Matt tell, and he mixes himself into the scenario and retells it. :)
This morning he requested a project with frogs. Random. I drew a frog last night and set out his paints. It was the most vibrant painting he's ever done.
He already requested a project about birthday cakes for tomorrow. :)
