Books and Tooshie Time

B still can't get enough of his books and reading...which makes this mama very happy and proud!  He would happily trade going outside for sitting in my lap and reading book after book (well most of the time, sometimes those parks do win over!)  We read 3-4 books at each nap time (morning and afternoon)  and then 5 books at bedtime and he just loves it and looks forward to it each time!  If he's struggling to get PJ's on or during a diaper change, we just need to mention books (I wish that worked for every tantrum!) and reading them...it's cute.

Some of his favorites at the moment (mainly anything involving babies and animals, he's happy)

Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton (Actually, anything by Sandra Boynton he loves--especially Snuggle Puppy and The Belly Button Book
(he can now "read" the book himself, his favorite part is saying "lalala" and "no no")

Ten in the Bed by Penny Dale
(good ol' repetition!)

Wake Up, Big Barn by Suzanne Chitwood

(the pictures in this book are beyond cool, that's why I like it so much, she used different materials/items to collage together to make the big picture, I'm sure there is a name for this, but I don't know it...)

And of course he loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Oops!, and a million others...but these are his current go-to books...

We let him choose the last book at bedtime and it's the cutest (and longest) process in the world.  He gets off our lap and pulls a book slightly off the shelf so he can see which one it is and then says "noo" (in a way that makes him sound like he's just saying, "nah, not this one right now"), he repeats this a few times, and occasionally pulls a book completely off the shelf flips through a few pages, then says "noo" and puts it back on the shelf.  When he finally finds the book he'd like to read, he hands it to me and climbs back into my lap.  Sometimes I find myself saying, "if you don't pick a book now, I'll pick one for you!"...as if that works.

The time-out chair has been getting more tooshie time lately.  B loves to whip around and play with the vertical blinds on our patio door, he makes it so they all go out of place, which is driving me nuts!  He has all of these great toys and books and he's playing with the blinds...probably because he knows it drives me nuts!  So I've been very consistent about telling him no and then if he continues, 2 minutes in the chair.  He really hates the chair after about 45 seconds...so he doesn't go near the blinds again until too many hours have passed that he doesn't really remember the wrath of the chair.  A few times he has gotten out of the chair and run over to the blinds, reached out to "touch them", looked over at me and smirked, then pulled back his hand and runs away...  He pretends that he is going to touch them!  Really?!  At 17 months...good gosh, what's in store when he's two?!

B is saying more words, but do animal noises count?  His newest acquisition is "Baaaaa" for sheep and anytime there is a sheep on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or in a book or he sees his toy sheep, we hear Baaaa for minutes and minutes.  For some reason, for zebra, he says "z z z z z"...what sound does a zebra make?!

B seems to be getting pickier and pickier with his food, *sigh*.  He will eat the following with no problems...packaged fruit cup (pears, peaches, cherries combo), string cheese, Gerber cheetos, hot dogs, sausage, sandwich (grilled cheese or jelly), and yogurt.  He'll eat the following most of the time:  banana, green beans, crackers, pasta.  I'm starting to lose patience with this whole eating thing!  It'll be interesting to see how he continues on the eating path and how a sibling will be compared to him.

The amount of tantrums has increased, but somehow he knows how to balance out my frustration with giving me a random hug and kiss...he's already working the system...

Take it to the limit, one more time

My life has become this very Eagles song, at least the title is my life.  Brendan is taking it to the limit ALL day long, every day!  How, at 16 1/2 months, does he know how to push my buttons so well?  Why does he test every LITTLE thing?  B and I are too similar it's scary and it's going to be a battle of the wills all the way.  I'm stubborn (which, when sticking to my punishing guns, is a great thing) and he's stubborn (he makes it through punishments unscathed).

Brendan is a really bright boy, I mean really bright, and not in that "oh my son is so fantastic because he's my son" mentality.  He's too bright for his own good (or at least my sanity).  I have never been so flummoxed by something that I love so much.  And when B pushes the limits, I can't take it.  My patience can only be spread so thin.  He is "naughty" all day long and he KNOWS IT!  That's the part that gets me every time; he just looks at me with this smirk as he throws every piece of pizza on the floor from his high chair tray, or as he throws every lotion bottle of his changing table/dresser, or as he rams the high chair into the painted wall repeatedly.  Our house is safe for Brendan to roam around, but what do you do when he uses safe things to be Mr. Destructor?  Toys, chairs, high chairs all become his next victim.

B finally learned how to climb onto the couches and onto a bench we have in our entryway.  Fun developmental step for him!  He stands on the couches and tries to STEP down and then leans over the back of it because he's trying to find a way down.  We have been practicing how to get off the couch (turn to tummy and slide down) since he started crawling and now that he can climb up, he seems to have forgotten this.  The other day he climbed up on the bench and was "stuck".  I was tired of him climbing up and not being able to get down, so I decided to engage in a battle of wills.  It wasn't wise that it was 10 min. to bedtime, but oh well.  I sat on the floor (with my camera that takes video) in front of the bench to monitor the situation and waited until he got down the correct way.  He kept wanting my "ha" (hand) to help him step down.  I refused.  I waited.  I cheered.  I motivated (do you want to play with the laptop sitting right here?).  I explained.  I demonstrated.  I did not give in.  30 minutes later I figure we should really get his bedtime started.  He's crying at this point.  My heart is breaking.  I must be strong though.  I finally had to help him sit down, turn him onto his tummy, and then get him sliding backwards.  He didn't seem to hate me too much, since the rest of the evening went smoothly, if you don't count him trying to get up from the changing table every 2 seconds in order to reach the bottles just so he could throw them on the floor (and as I struggled with lotion and PJ's and got more and more frustrated, he just laughed hysterically---like a mad scientist).  I have some classic video of this endeavor, but probably shouldn't post it, since someone might think it's toddler torture and call DCFS.  I am happy to say that he hasn't climbed on the bench since, but he has climbed on the couches and 80% of the time he gets down by himself just fine.  I'm not sure what to make of the other 20% when he "forgets" how to get down and just stands on the couch dancing...

It has been a very rough few days.  There have been many tantrums, including the one today.  He was upset (I believe due to being overtired) and didn't want to sit still for some books on his great-grandma's lap (mind you, he's the one who climbed up to her with the book in the first place).  So he got down and started throwing the books.  We don't treat books that way, so I started to collect them and put them in his toy bag.  He QUICKLY grabbed the last book before I could get to it and bent the cover backwards and then threw it at my head.  All the while he had this look on his face...I can't quite describe it.   Regardless, he's a handful.  I know that toddlers are known for their tantrums, their hi-jinx, and button-pushing, but I really think I have trouble here.  He's obviously also very "advanced" when it comes to these types of things as well...wonderful.