Dexter's moving up in preschool!

Hi! I'm 4 1/2today, and it is my first day of full-day preschool! I picked out this awesome short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt even though it's 41 degrees, and my pants are on backwards. I am ready. BRING IT!

Desmo drew a triangle!

And Dexter drew a really cool thing!

(A thing with six legs that doesn't eat food but gets its energy to run from that thing on the right.)

This from a kid who, six months ago, all but refused to pick up any writing instrument of any kind. YAY!

Bye bye, Emmett. :(

Tonight at bedtime, Desmond was improvising a little dialogue between himself and Biggest Bear. He gave Biggest Bear a kiss, and Biggest Bear said, "That was a really nice kiss, Desmond."

::record scratch::

Who?

So I asked Desmond what his name was. For a year or so, the answer has been "Emmen" or "Emment." But not tonight. He said quite clearly, "Desmond. Desmond Cooey."

Between this and his asking me to "open" something instead of "opum" it two weeks ago, I think our cute toddlerisms are slowly but surely on their way to being replaced with properly-pronounced words.

He still says "biiiiikggcshchk" and "frokggschchk" and "bookggschchk," though, so I guess we'll be enjoying that while it lasts.

"I poop potty, I get donut!"

Almost!

Dexter: I did it! (put his underwear on without getting it backwards)

Mom: You sure did. Good job!

Dexter: Yeah. I think I'm starting to turn into a grown up!

Mom: You are?

Dexter: Yeah! Don't you see how big I am getting? (stands up) Look!

....

Mom: Give me a hug, you almost-grown-up!

Dexter: No! I'm not grown up yet! Stand up.

Mom: (stands up)

Dexter: See? I am not grown up yet.

Mom: But you're getting bigger.

Dexter: Yes.



Glad we got that cleared up. :)

No more Pafowahs!

Today is Wednesday, February 29, and I'm finally ready to say that Wednesday, February 15, 2012 was Desmond's last night sleeping with a pacifier! He was 2 years, 2 months,  3 weeks, and 1 day old.

I was honestly beginning to wonder if we'd ever manage to get rid of it. He was VERY attached to his pacifiers. They have been crib-only since he was about 5 or 6 months old, and he would eagerly go in there to nap or sleep because he knew it meant he could have his pacifiers. He usually had one in his mouth and 2 in each hand. Even though 4 of the 5 were identical, he could tell by mouth feel which was which. In the dark, if you gave him one, he would turn around and tell you, "No. Blue pafowah." (There were 2 blue ones. He could tell them apart. We still can't figure out the differences between them.)

In the end, it was a trip to Tootsie and Pop's house that did it. (That also worked to get Dexter using the potty last summer. I am OK with this trend.)

The first night there, he asked for the pacifiers. I told him, "Tootsie doesn't have any pacifiers." The little negotiator held up his empty hands and said, "Only 2 pafawahs." There was more negotiating, but he ended up going to sleep without them without much fuss, probably because he was so exhausted from being awake and pretty much constantly running around from 7am until 9pm.

The second night, he slept in the big bed at Tootsie's house. He knows there are no pacifiers in big boy beds. Again, his exhaustion helped us along a little.

There were a couple of HORRIBLE nights in there that probably would have been remedied with a pacifier, but by then, we weren't going back.

We decided that he would come home to a big boy bed and that would be the end of it. (I feel like this post should be more about his graduation to a big boy bed. But the pacifier thing is really much more exciting.) He hasn't asked for a pacifier since the weekend.

The big boy bed.
Yes, it's a mattress on the floor. Falling out is still an issue.

The downside is that Dexter and Desmond both LOVED hiding under that crib. It was a source of much entertainment. Eventually, their beds will be off the floor, and they'll be able to have fun like that again. Hopefully they won't have outgrown such things (physically or intellectually) by then.

Overall, I think we're all still adjusting. He's only been in his own big boy bed for 4 nights. Last night, he went to sleep at about 10:00, woke up at 11:45 to get himself some milk from the fridge, then woke up again at 1:30 to get more milk from the fridge, then again at 4:30 - more milk and then settled in our bed.

Hopefully multiple nighttime wakings will phase out quickly, and we'll all finally be on the road to more and better sleep. It's been more than 3 years since we've done that consistently, so it really is time.

YAY for big boy beds and YAY for no more pacifiers and hopefully a big YAY for less orthodontia in the future. So proud of my big boy.

School Pictures!

This year's school pictures are back, and they.are.great!

Not really a loser in the bunch, and pose 46 is positively irresistible! I am dying to know how they managed to get 2 natural smiles for both poses 54 and 48. Or, heck, how they got a natural smile out of Desmond at all, since he's usually very excited to give you his big "Cheese!" smile whenever he sees a camera.

I do wish they would retire that ugly wicker chair, but it's been around a long time, so I'm not holding my breath.

We spent a ridiculous amount of money on prints, but these were too good not to. 

Desmond's Panda Party!

Desmond is TWO!

I admit we phoned it in a little when choosing his party theme, but he was such a big fan of Kung Fu Panda that we just decided to go with it.

Here is his fun day in pictures:


First, the invitation. As usual, I spent entirely too much time on this. In all of his recent pictures, he is dirty or has food on his face or has boogers, so we tried to get him to pose for a suitable invite photo. 76 pictures later, this was the best we could do.

As usual, Anita Schmitt made a gorgeous and delicious cake. (Always my favorite part of the party.)

Kung Fu Panda stuff proved surprisingly difficult to find, and 99% of it was for Kung Fu Panda 2, which came out earlier this year. But since I couldn't find much from the original movie, and because I knew I would be the only one who knew (until now), we got Kung Fu Panda 2 stuff. The banner is one. Plates & napkins were also technically from the wrong movie. Oh well.

Happy Birthday banner, which was hung in Desmond's

bedroom (long) after the party.

Bulk Chinese takeout boxes 

+ Kung Fu Panda (the orignal movie!) stickers 

= great party favor holders.

 

Plenty of people came to celebrate with us.

And of course, the movie played a couple of times during the party.

Patronized a local Chinese restaurant for our party fare. It was good, as usual.

Kung Fu Panda (2) plates. 

And more takeout containers for people to bring home leftovers. Which no one did.

The birthday boy ended up eating alone in the corner, but he was cool with that. 

Note the Thomas the Tank Engine pajama top, which he would NOT take off. Grandma had made him a really cute t-shirt with pandas embroidered on it, which he liked very much and wore several times - just not for his panda party. I guess that's being 2 for ya.

He eventually got some company. 

Presents!!

This guitar ended up being perhaps the best present of all. Who knew?

Panda Pillow (from Grandma & Granddad) immediately became Desmond's actual bed pillow.

Cake!

The aftermath.

Hey, look! It's Dexter! In pajamas! 

Note his absence from all previous pictures. He had a high fever for the whole party. He tried to tough it out for a bit, but instead threw up on the couch in the middle of the party. He spent the rest of the time in his room watching a movie on the laptop. Dad and Mom and Tootsie took turns keeping him company. His fever broke right as the party was ending, and he was good as new.

What a mess.

But the birthday boy sure is happy. :)

He looks sick, doesn't he?

Post-party cake? Don't mind if I do!

Finally, a simple thank-you note:

Desmond is 2!

TWO! It feels like he's been 2 for a long time, probably because he's so brilliant and polite and big and strong and generally very advanced for a two-year-old. (I might be just a little bit biased

I've also been noticing lately what an even-keeled kid he is, especially considering his age. He certainly still gets upset sometimes - if you take away a toy, or if you put him in the bathtub before he's ready - but overall, he doesn't tend to get upset over nothing. He only hits back (and rarely even does that, not that it's ever okay, but, you know, he's 2). He (usually) eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's tired. He is pretty good about "please" and "thank you."

He's not a big snuggler. Never has been, really, but it's getting a little more obvious now. Sometimes at night he'll ask to be rocked, but he won't snuggle against your chest. He turns around and faces out and says "Like DAT!" He'll lie back against you, but that's as good as it gets. BUT, while he will very rarely snuggle, he is very free with his kisses. They are really sweet kisses, too.

This year, his birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving. So Grandma made him a cake. A PANDA CAKE!!!

He tried really hard to blow out the candles, but his aim just isn't quite there, yet.


Teeth: Still no new teeth. I'd kindof like to get this over with, already. (Hellooooo molars! They call you two-year-molars for a reason! Chop chop.)

Height: Unofficial height: 36.75" Per the wall chart, he's grown 2.25" in six months.


Weight: Unofficial weight: ~32.5 pounds.
Still thinning out a bit, but those chubby little baby cheeks are stubbornly and very cutely sticking around. Like every toddler, his appetite waxes and wanes. In the last couple of days, he has been eating a LOT. Like, full dinners, plus snacks. Then he'll call you into his room a little while after lights out:
Us: You want to rock rock?
Desmo: No. Dinner.
Us: Dinner?
Desmo: Eat... dinner.

So far, we've managed to convince him to wait patiently while we get him a banana, which he devours before heading back to bed, usually for the night.


Sleep: He's pretty consistently good for about 10 hours at night with a 2 hour nap (give or take) during the day. Getting out of the crib on his own is pretty much his routine now, but he's still very willing to sleep and/or stay in the crib. Sometimes he practically sells his soul to do so, since that's the only place he's allowed to have his pacifier. If he drops the pacifier, or wants a book or something, Independent Boy will climb out and get it, then call you to put him back into the crib, since he can't quite make it back in by himself just yet.

Still, the kid knows when he's tired and (with incredibly few exceptions) doesn't fight it too hard. (If he is even remotely tired, he is no match for a moving car. We don't go for drives just to make him sleep, but if we happen to be in the car around naptime, he is out.)


Food: WAFFLES! Good god. I didn't think we would be eating food by the box until they hit puberty. But I'm starting to wish for industrial-size home delivery of frozen waffles. And eggs (one dozen per family breakfast). And milk (2+ gallons per week). I'm sure when they are 13, I will laugh and laugh at how I thought this was us going through a lot of food.

He's still good on variety, willingly eating many kinds of meats, vegetables, dairy, and fruits. So we don't worry too much about the disproportionate amount of frozen waffles in his diet.


Words: I've been forgetting to mention his funny and adorable language pattern with predicates. He's almost Yoda-like. Instead of "Eat yogurt," it's "Eat it, yogurt." (Well, "yoyurt," but you get it.) He is very consistent, no matter what "it" is.
"Drop(ped) it, fork."
"Read it, book?"
"Watch it, Yo Yo Gabba."
"Get it, toothpaste?"
"Wash it, hands."
"Get 'im, Dehtah" (The only real variation on "it" is "him," and only in this context.)

Books: Good Morning, Sun and its creepy humanoid sun face is still heavy in the rotation, but now he doesn't bother with those other animals. It's just "Good Morning, Sun?" and then, "Find it, cow." Then he goes immediately to the page with the cow, opens the barn door to see the cow, and says, "Mooooooo." It's pretty cute and almost makes the creepy humanoid sun face bearable.

Dennis just got him a new book about dinosaurs - a *real* educational book about *real* dinosaurs. So far, he just likes putting his finger on the dinosaurs' teeth, saying "ow!" and pulling his finger away. Surely some of the (presumably) scientifcally accurate dinosaur info is filtering through, though, and will continue to do so as he is more willing to explore the book's pages instead of just finding dinosaurs with teeth.


TV: Still loving TV. Favorites are Yo Gabba Gabba ("Yo Yo Gabba"), Dinosaur Train, and anything Elmo. Panda is still acceptable, as is Fish (Finding Nemo), Thomas, Bob the Builder, and a few others. He's not as willing as he once was to sit still for a longer show or movie, though. I'll take this as a good sign that he won't be a couch potato suffering from obesity at age 6. I'm happy to say that, while he still asks for TV a lot - and the phone. My god, don't even try to use a phone in front of the kid unless you are willing to surrender it or listen to a very upset kid - he is (mostly) just as willing to quit watching TV to go outside, or ride bikes in the basement, or play with trains, or just run around the house.

TV time is the only time you can trick him into snuggling with you, though, so I'm selfishly OK with some TV time for him. :)


Smarts: Colors are just about there. FINALLY!!! He'll still sometimes mix up pink and purple. Occasionally red and green are still confused. Black and white, too. But he's right about 95% of the time now, so I'm going to call that good.

He also counts - 1, 2, 3! The first time I heard him do this, there actually were 3 things he was counting, so I was pretty impressed. Since then, he's shown that everything countable has 3 things. And don't try to convince him otherwise. Once, mention of "4" sent him to sad little tears. Poor baby.  I think he'll change his mind about 4 really soon.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Have I mentioned his dinosaur pajamas? These are his favorite pajamas. He isn't upset when they are not there, but they are always the first choice if they're available, never lasting overnight in the pajama drawer. Unfortunately, they are size 24m, and they are getting a little tight. . That isn't stopping him yet, and I don't have the heart to take them away, either, so I won't until the situation gets pretty dire. I even tried to find them in a bigger size, but of course they haven't been made for about 2+ years, so they don't exist anymore. I guess it's a lesson he'd have to learn eventually, but he just has so few things that he (and only he) really likes that I wanted him to have that for a while longer.

Also, guess which boy genius can now pedal his tricycle just like a big boy?! He is so smart. :)

Desmond is 23 Months Old!

So big!

And happy! Most of the time, anyway. Being almost 2 still has its inherent challenges.

Teeth: Still 16. No sign of those last 4 molars yet.

Height: Tall. Judging from the way he fits into the clothes we've pulled out for winter, he's considerably taller than Dexter was at 23m. He's also the tallest in his class (and the oldest, so maybe that's not so surprising).

Weight: If anything, he's lost a few ounces this month, thanks to what we hope is just a standard toddler-esque finicky appetite. (see below)

Sleep: Much better than last month, maybe because that last canine is mostly through now. He has now realized, though, that he is able to climb out of the crib. Mostly, he only does this in the morning when it really is time to get up. On two occasions (so far), he has gotten out because he didn't want to nap. The most recent time, I put him back in his crib, and he just stayed there, upset, until he fell asleep. Please, if there is a god, let her keep the boy in his crib longer. A lot longer.

Food: Still hit or miss. He eats a good variety of food, just not too much of it, and not on our timetable. He will wander the house while the rest of us eat dinner, and be fine for the rest of the night. The next morning, though, the first thing we hear when he wakes up is"Behfist?" in his cute little squeaky voice. Waffles are still a favorite. He will pull them out of the freezer himself and eat them cold. (We do offer to toast them, but he apparently prefers them cold.) French fries ("Foo Fize") are also a big draw. We try to limit these and/or do baked ones at home so his arteries aren't completely clogged before kindergarten. But if he hasn't eaten much in a few meals, Foo Fize are a good bet to get him to the table.

Words: Desmond is dazzling us with his exploding vocabulary. He throws around 3-word sentences like there's no tomorow, often with very clear subjects, verbs, and objects. ("Alligator... bite... yooooouu" or "Not nice, Dehter!" or "Mow waffuh peese?")  "No!" is still very common, now often accompanied by a sincere stomp of his right foot. Interestingly, he isn't much on saying, "yes," even when the answer is yes. He'll just repeat what you say in a little high-pitched squeak and smile. ("Do you want more milk?" "Mouh meelgh?")

Books: Books are falling out of favor slightly, in that he isn't much interested in reading them during the day, and now he's so tired at night that he jumps at the chance to go to bed even if we've only done one book. Also? He likes to sleep with some books. Doesn't even really look at them, but he just wants them in the crib with him. If there are no books, he might climb out of the bed, get one, put it in the crib, then ask you to put him back in his crib (since he can climb out, but not back in). Fascinating.

TV: Yep. Still loves TV. "Watch... panda?" "Watch... fish?" "Watch... Yo Yo Gabba?" <-- that last one should be "Yo Gabba Gabba." Fun.  We'll just throw his love for iPhone games and videos on the computer in here, too. ("Mommy phoam?" "Daddy... phoam?") And yes, these things usually need to be fought over with his big brother.

Colors: Refuses to learn pink vs. purple and has regressed on white. (Black things are now "white.") Red and green are getting better, though.  We've tried to do some sorting by color, but he won't even sit still long enough for a demonstration. Stubborn.

Bikes: He still LOVES his tricycle! He and Dexter take turns on the big wheel and tricycle. Desmond still refuses to pedal with his feet. Apparently this is developmentally appropriate, but it's still frustrating because I really think he could do it if he would just listen to us for 10 seconds while we show him how. There was a lot of outdoor biking this month, and the basement is perfect for it on bad-weather days. I hope that continues to be a worthwhile activity as we go into winter.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Making messes, mostly. If he sees a neat pile of something, he can't resist scattering it about with whatever force necessary. He likes playing with the wooden trains and train tracks. So much so that he and Dexter sometimes get their own mini-loops, since taking turns is excruciating for both of them. He also loves driving cars around on the furniture and flying airplanes around the room. Very cute. :)

Jumping on Dexter's bed before bath and running around in his hooded towel after bath are both also seriously fun. He has a favorite bath towel - an alligator taking a shower. (Apparently it's actually a crocodile. We aren't going to correct him.) It's pretty sad when it's dirty, because flashing it will get him to cooperatively get out of the tub every time. And when you DO show it to him, his little face lights right up.

Another long-favorite? The penguin bath toy from this set. He's loved it for a loooooong time, but the toys are starting to get icky. It's going to be sad when we have to say goodbye to penguin.

Dislikes? Nothing specific. Hates everything when he chooses to (bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes, whatever) and loves them when he chooses to (again, bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes.)  Sometimes we actually work up a sweat wrestling a diaper onto the kid because he's trying so hard to get away. Other times, he says, "New diapuh?" in that squeaky little smiley voice and lies perfectly still while we do the change.  It's the same for bath, food, various toys, getting dressed, everything. Part of being (almost. ALMOST!) 2, I guess.

New Shoes!

If that title sounds familiar, it should.  It was just 31 short days ago that we bought Dexter some new shoes, since he had worn holes in the last pair.

Today, that pair looked like this:

Yep. 31 days, and there's already a hole.  Cheap shoes aren't so cheap if you have to replace them every month.

So we went to the real mall, to (unnecessarily expensive) Stride Rite, where they actually tried shoes on and will (one would hope) refund or replace the shoes if they get a hole in one month.

The new pair (Stride Rite "Walker") seem a bit more durable, though they aren't waterproof (a desirable quality, since we are hoping these last at least a little bit into winter).

Desmond *also* had holes in his shoes. He got more than 31 days out of them, though, and he was going to need new ones soon anyway because he's growing so fast. 

He did manage to snag something that should be better in winter's slush and snow. Sadly, these did not come in Dexter's size.

So yes, we hope we are done with shoe-buying for a little while, though Dex might still need something to keep his feet extra warm this winter.  They both have room to grow in there, so as long as the shoes actually hold up (please!), we should be good for at least a few months. (I hope.)


Bonus: They were both pretty good (That's a relative term - it was a kids' shoe store, after all, so their usual shenanigans were more acceptable than usual.), so they got treated to some "m cookies!" afterward.

Serious shoes...

... call for serious cookie eating.