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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Summer is almost over...

The end of summer is SO CLOSE! It went WAY too fast!

Josh had a great week! He has learned a few knew things that have surprised Jim and I. The other night I came home to see him walking around the kitchen with his mouth open and tongue out panting. I looked at Jim and he said, "Josh is copying Hilo". So I naturally said, "Josh, what does Hilo do?". He looked up at me like it was the greatest thing in the world, stuck out his tongue and started panting. HILARIOUS!

Other random things he is mastering:
  • Saying "HI". He drags it out for like 5 seconds and says it all sincere.
  • Shaking his head yes when he agrees with what we ask.
  • Shaking his head no when he doesn't.
  • Putting his toys away when we ask him to.
  • Giving Hilo a treat and locking up the kennel when we are ready to leave. No lie.
  • Going down the stairs the right way. Jim and I caught him practicing on the bottom 5 stairs... over and over for about 5 minutes. I had shown him the night before... and there he was practicing all by himself.
  • Saying Moo, Heee, and roar (complete with clawing motions) for cow, horse, and lion.
  • The cap to my night facial cream. On, off, on, off... forever.
  • The buckles on everything stroller/carseat/seatbelts/highchair
  • Eating with a spoon and out of a real bowl

It is crazy to look back at pictures from a year ago... because he doesn't even look the same to me. He has got this thick/wavy strawberry blonde hair, big huge blue eyes with long lashes, and a mouthful of teeth. Everytime I read to him or get him to sit long enough on my lap, I realize just how quickly he is growing up. TEAR!

Recommendation: I just read the book, "Love and Logic Magic for Early Parenthood". It was a little cheesy at first with the examples, but it gets better. It is a somewhat common sense approach to discipline. But we tried it on Josh this week and it worked ridiculously well. He is usually pretty crabby when we get home from daycare and wants to be held non-stop. So when it gets to the point that he starts throwing things he asks for, we say "Looks like some room time" and bring him up to his crib. He cries for a little bit but then settles down and just hangs out. After a few minutes one of us will go up there and ask if he would like to come out and have some fun. He shakes his head yes, we give him tons of high fives/hugs, and he is fine the rest of the night. Still hasn't become a habit... but rather than counting to 3 which never worked, or timeout chairs which he would never stay in... this seems much more promising.

5 comments:

Michelle said...

Sounds like Josh is doing great! I can't believe that he can shut Hilo in his kennel -- that is amazing!

I am going to have to get that book -- you are probably the third person that recommended it.

AJ said...

Nice job wit the 10K, I was hoping to run one yet this summer, but I just don't feel ready for it yet. I can do 5 miles without walking, but not 6.

We have the same problem at church, only with 2 kids, it's like twice the problem! I haven't found any magic cures yet, other than books and quiet toys, which they get sick of by about 10 minute into mass.

The book sounds like a good idea, Noah is the same wa when we get home from day care. He wants to be held all night and gets really whiny.

Melissa said...

I might pick up that book - discipline is a constant battle. He definetly got my personality (stubborn!!).

Kara said...

I highly recommend that book too. The other book is Love and Logic Parenting (it is orange). I am still reading it and it is really good. I struggle a bit with the approach. I use the "uh oh" empathatic approach because that is more us...but it is difficult. The girls are slowly getting the hang of uh oh (stopping what they are doing and listenin) and understand that it usually means a bit of alone time, but it doesn't always work.

As for picking up the toys...we are still working with the girls on that one. They do it sometimes and I know the L&L approach recommends putting the toys up, but my girls just don't understand that. They have so many toys that they would just play with the other ones.

Liz said...

Dee! So happy to connect with you! Such a cute little guy!! And, great job with the race!! Hugs!