Linnaeus 2.6

Bouncing at Trout Lake.

Sprout is officially two & a half as of yesterday. In the last month I kinda overwhelmed him (& me, too) with some big changes.

1. We started toilet training. This has been one of the most frustrating things ever because he's not really ready. The trouble is, I'm tired of diapers & he'd been getting rashes again. I also thought if we could get him trained before going to daycare it would be awesome. So now we're in this awkward phase where he's using the toilet when we're at home, but usually only when I tell him to. He sometimes knows when he has to pee & will use the toilet or potty in time IF he's not wearing any pants or underpants.
2. We took the front off his crib over a month ago because I had this idea that he'd be waking up at night to go pee by himself soon. Pretty sure that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. In the past month he's fully realized the freedom that being in a bed gives him to not sleep. When we put him to bed he gets out constantly. However, it is handy when he wakes too early (4-5am is common) because rather than having to wake up & go get him, he just runs into our room, climbs into our bed & goes back to sleep.
3. I completely weaned him. I don't know how much longer he would have breastfed if I left it entirely up to him. He was at once every other day around Christmas. He hasn't had any 'noms' for about a month now. He was asking every once in a while when we were having morning cuddles in bed, but I decided to just say that no, there isn't any more milk left. I feel really good about the timing of this big change, for both of us. I'm proud that I made it past two years & though I wasn't sick of breastfeeding, I was ready to give it up. I think I would have been more emotional about it had I weaned him a year or even half a year sooner. At least one out of these three big changes was a success.

I bet he ate his weight in oatmeal this month. I'm not complaining.

A few other changes I've noticed in the last month:

1. Sprout singing a lot more & knowing more of the words to songs. Favourites are 'The Wheels on the Bus' & 'Baby Beluga'. He also recites longer bits of his favourite books--mostly Dr. Seuss stuff like 'The Lorax' & 'One Fish, Two Fish'.
2. His pronunciation continues to get clearer & I'm fairly sure most people could understand him when he says things like 'Chocolate', 'ukulele' or 'peanut butter toast'. 
3. He's definitely getting to know his colours & describing things with the correct one fairly often. "I want the gween ukulele, mama!" 
4. He's gliding a lot more on his runner bike. I think he'll actually be pretty fast on that thing by this summer. Perhaps we'll be able to go places, stroller-free, at my normal walking speed soon.
5. The squeaky shoes are finally too small & he's wearing his 'star shoes' (black Converse low-tops with white stars on them) most of the time.
6. He still doesn't really like frozen foods like ice cream, though he'll eat it. Slowly.
7. Sprout still continues to be the least picky kid I know when it comes to food. He doesn't always eat everything, but there's no food (except leafy stuff) that he won't ever touch. I thought he finally had found a fruit he didn't like--pineapple--but then he went on a pineapple binge, asking for it daily for about a week.
8. He started saying "I love you" a lot. I already think he's the most adorable thing ever & get oxytocin rushes multiple times a day when I see him doing something cute, but when he looks at me & says, "I love you, mama!" it just slays me.

The coming month he'll be starting full time daycare, where he'll be encouraged to start napping again. Who knows how the potty training will be affected by that? I'm both looking forward to going to school full-time & dreading the workload. It's been over three years since I worked full time & I wasn't a parent back then. The commute is something I think might be a bit of a drag too--I'll be in transit for a full two hours a day, five days a week.



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