Linnaeus 3.6

"I'm a baby"

This past month I've really noticed Linnaeus' social skills maturing. He's been sharing really well, at least intermittently. He's still very gentle with his sister most of the time. The best one though is that he's becoming more empathetic, asking what's wrong & if kids are okay when they cry, for example. I think this is in large part because of preschool & the way the teachers deal with conflicts between the children.

He also tells me what to do when the baby cries or fusses "Mama, pick up my baby!" or "Mama, baby wants noms." While slightly annoying to receive parenting advice from a three-year-old, I'll take it as a positive thing that he's thinking about what's behind his sister's crying.

There's been less hitting & fewer tantrums in general too, especially if I make an effort to get out of the house in the afternoons every day. Even when I'm really tired or it's awful weather, it's better for both of us to go out. We're hitting a routine with afternoons at the Mount Pleasant Family Centre a couple days a week, Sweetsalt Bakery Cafe another day & the occasional drop-in play gym at one of the community centres nearby.

Linnaeus has become a little more interested in letters again. His imagination is getting more & more active. He pretends he's various types of vehicles, including acting them out more concretely (putting his arm behind his back & pulling me along because he's a tow truck, two arms behind his back to be the trolley wires of the electric bus, holding his arms out front, bent from the elbows to pick things up as a forklift.

One of the more annoying things is that he's rarely quiet anymore when playing on his own, repeating the same word over & over, or singing constantly, making up songs or repeating parts of those he knows. Though irritating to hear a constant stream of nonsense all day, it can be really funny when he sings misheard song lyrics: "All awound the toddler's bench, the monkeys chased the weasels, that's the ways the moneys goes, pops goes the weasels!"

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