What's Going On?

Law School, Work, Preschool, Speech, Laundry, Playing, Cleaning - you know, the usual things.

Banks' speech continues to explode. It's amazing the conversation you can hold with him. He is also potty training. I am hesitant to say this because I'm still in shock. I guess it has to do with having a big brother and seeing him use the potty. He's been wearing underwear for a week now with the exception of when he sleeps. It sure has been nice not having to change diapers!

Hughes is a puzzle maniac! He has a great spatial sense and can complete a puzzle (48pc. in no time). So, now we're on the look out for more 50pc. puzzles and an occasional 100 piece. I have one 100pc. pirate puzzle that will be arriving on the 25th of next month in a red sleigh led by reindeer. He's also really into his legos right now - the small ones! Of course, the rule is you can only play with them at the table but, of course, I find them all over the den rug and those things hurt your feet when you step on them barefoot! I'm always finding them so I guess my rule is not working or at least not being followed. As for speech, Hughes continues to make great strides. We go 3 mornings/week. He loves his speech teacher and I do, too. We're working on the back of the throat sounds still.

On a funny note, yesterday while picking up toys from the den floor I was on my hands and knees and Hughes jumped on my back. I thought he was just playing but then he started oinking. I really didn't know what he was doing. Then, he said "piggy back ride, oink oink, piggy back ride". How Funny! Of course, then Banks jumped on and started oinking as well. I'm just glad it was not a "big butt" joke with the oinking!

I'm so excited for the holidays coming up. I need to do another big "toy weed out" and trip to Goodwill. I keep finding great gift ideas for the boys. I am trying to control myself and for the most part I'm doing a pretty good job. But the temptation is so great - what would Dave Ramsey say?

Progress & Poop

When I pick Hughes up from school I always ask him how his day was and what did he do. I usually get silence. When I ask him if he colored, the answer is always no. When I ask him if he read books, the answer is always no. Even if I ask the teacher before hand about what they did, Hughes always answers no.

So, today when picking him up and buckling his car seat, I asked him what he did today. AND HE ANSWERED! He told me he did a "pirate puzzle with a sea monster" and "he built an airplane". I am still giddy one hour later over this accomplishment. It probably seems so small to most of you. But, you have to understand, I don't have fluid conversations with Hughes. We have question/answer period at best (parents doing the questioning, Hughes doing the answering). So, for Hughes to give me something other than a "no" is quite exciting. We are making progress!

Banks big progress has been the word "yesh" aka yes. He says it at the right time and his "yesh" just makes me smile. Also, this 2 year old teetee'd on the potty by himself. He got out of the tub and sat on the little potty and did his business. I came back into the bathroom only to find teetee in the potty. I asked Hughes if he did and he said "no". Then, I asked Hughes who did. To which I got the response "Banks did". I made a really big deal about it. So, the next day, I went upstairs to do something and there again was teetee in the little potty. I came downstairs and asked Banks if he teetee'd. He answered "yesh". I, again, made a big deal about it. At that point, I also realized that Banks had taken his diaper off. Two minutes later, I hear David yelling from the downstairs bathroom "who pooped on the floor". It was Banks. At least he went to the right room and he did lay toilet paper on top of it.

So, that's my latest poop story. Banks is interested in using the potty but I think we're just going to take it easy on the training. He did just turn 2 in September so I'm not going to push it and make it hard on myself. I did that with Hughes and it backfired.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Well, he finally did it - Hughes, that is. What you may ask did he do? He repeated something! Not anything I'm proud of, I assure you.

To my amazement, my mild road rage has rubbed off on my eldest or is it that his verbal skills are improving without me noticing? (I believe it's the latter) I mean, I am noticing his talking a lot more but just didn't take into account ability to repeat me!

The story goes: As I was driving down 17, I realized I needed to be one lane to the left at the last minute. I said "oh cr*p" (not too bad, hopefully - it could have been a lot worse) Well, to my surprise from the backseat comes the sweetest sounding "oh cr*p" you've ever heard! I knew what he was saying but I don't think anybody else would have understood him. If he had not just repeated it and said it at another time then I don't think I would have understood him but that's not the case here. Bottom line: Momma needs to watch her mouth around the boys!

Okay, okay - I don't always use bad language. There are some things that Hughes has said that are really cute. His latest phrases are:

"that was a close one" - getting into the car as it is starting to rain

"I can't hear you" - to David while David was trying to get him in the bathtub

"think, think, think" - says this while pointing to his head anytime he's trying to make a

decision

"c'mon Banks, chase me" - always wants Banks to chase him

And, of course, I can't leave Banks out of this post. His latest sayings are:

"I do" - when asked if he wants something

"nooooooooo" - (drawn out like that) anytime he says the word no

He's big into naming our bedrooms - "my room, Hughes' room, mama dada room"

"Hi Hughes" - every morning when he sees Hughes

An Experiment

Apparently, David is not the only one in our household that can do experiments - I can!  Lately, when I've asked Hughes if was a boy or girl, he would always respond with girl!  I even changed it up with boy or monkey, boy or turkey.  When he answered he was a monkey or a turkey, I just contributed it to him teasing me.  I wasn't that concerned by it - I kind of thought it was funny.  But the more I thought about it, I did get a little concerned.  So, I spoke to his speech teacher about it and she asked him the same question but with the choices reversed and he answered correctly.  So, we just figured he was repeating whatever the last choice was.  

Yesterday I did my experiment with the help of some jelly beans (thanks mom for the suggestion!).  I sat Hughes down and asked him "are you a girl or a boy", he answered boy, I asked " do you want candy or a kiss", he answered kiss so I gave him a kiss.  I told him if he wanted candy then he needed to say "candy".  We went through boy or girl with him saying the correct answer, we did what's mommy with him saying the correct answer, etc.  

All in all, I would say my experiment was a success and I got the positive results that I was looking for!  I learned that Hughes does know he's a boy and he's just not that interested in answering my questions when candy is not involved.

Stubborn Hughes

Lately, Hughes has been waking up in an awful mood in the morning.  Unfortunately for him, we have places to be on MTW mornings.  Most of the time, I am waking him up - he's like a teenager whom refuses to get out of the bed until I drag him out!  To add to this, his new favorite phrase is "I don't want to" - now, it doesn't sound quite like that but everyone knows what he's trying to say.  Oh, also picture this with his hands folded across his chest!  This phrase doesn't sit too well with me - any time I ask him to do something there is a 50% chance this is the response I'm going to get.  

Yesterday while riding bikes, Hughes decided he didn't want to ride his anymore.  He got off and started playing on a neighbor's joggling board.  Banks, meanwhile, has continued to walk down the sidewalk.  I'm yelling for Hughes to come on and he just ignores me - oh man, I was getting hot!  I continued to yell for him - I know he could hear me because I could see him just doing what he wanted to do.  He would look at me and then continue playing.  After about 5 minutes of giving him plenty of chances, I went down there and told him to get on his bike and come on.  He crossed his arms and said, "i don wunt to".  I did the magical 1,2,3 or you're getting a spanking, and he slowly got on his bike and peddled home at a snail's pace.  I was fuming the entire time.  How can this 3 year old already know how to push my buttons?

I'm just not sure this is what I had in mind when praying for the power of speech!  

Speech and Potty Training Update

We had Hughes' IEP meeting today with the speech pathologist and school.  Hughes is going to be receiving 60 minutes of speech per week.  I will be taking him to the local elementary school once a week.  The pathologist was very encouraging.  I think Hughes will like her - she's young and seems energetic.  He is going to be sharing his time with another 3 year old.  His first session is the 10th.  I'm very curious to see how it goes.  

Also, we started potty training again.  As far as I can tell, Hughes is really good at holding it until I put a diaper on him for nap or bedtime.  He's only had one accident/day for the last three days but he's only really used the potty once in 3 days.  When I sit him on it before nap - nothing.  When I tell him to get back in the bed 10 minutes after putting him down- soaking wet diaper.  It is so frustrating!