- Temper tantrums are becoming more frequent... and lasting longer...
- Bedtime is becoming a little more difficult - Gabe watches a movie in his room, but decides that would be the best time for a #2 diaper.
- We still can't shake that baba... even though it is mostly filled with water, he still wants it, scratch that - needs it.
- Hugs and kisses are becoming more frequent. Especially in the last week. He's been very affectionate! It's been so nice.
- He's started saying new things: "No Way!" when he doesn't want to do something. "Um, cuz..." when you ask him a question. "Why?" when he doesn't like the answer to a question (I thought this was supposed to happen later??)
- His pretend play is SO much fun to watch. I love watching him when he doesn't know I'm watching. It is so neat to watch him play with his toys and to actually hear him say what he is thinking.
- Potty training is going great - especially at daycare. He went 3 days in a row with no accidents AND waking up from his naps dry. At home on the other hand, he doesn't want to use the potty. We haven't been pushing it... we've heard when he's ready, he's ready.
- Gabe's appetite is pretty narrow. Lately, all he wants is hotdogs and "putchet" (ketchup). He loves Special K cereal too.
- He's recently taken an interest in drawing with markers and crayons.
- He knows the shapes hearts, circles, triangles and sometimes squares.
- Sometimes if he's in a bad mood, he tells me to "go away" and sticks his foot out and kicks. This was really, REALLY hard for me the first few times he did it. I found that if I let him see a hurt reaction, he knows he's found a weak spot. So, I just stand my ground and tease him and say, "No, you go away!" and then I tickle him and we laugh about it instead.
All in all, terrible 2's haven't been terrible, they've just brought on a whole new set of challenges. Even though it's a tough stage, I still love it. I love hearing my son talk. I love hearing him say "La Yu too, Mommy" when he goes to bed. I love watching him pray, and peek his eyes open every now and then. It was so cute the first time we saw him bow his head and then lift it up to see if everyone else was. Greg and I both asked each other after the prayer, "Did you see that? Were you watching him too?"Even though this is tough, even though every day brings its challenges, I still find myself tearing up when I stop and think about how much I love this little boy. How when I stop and try and remember a moment without him, I can't. He's changed our lives so much. He's changed our hearts and our thought processes. He's made us a family.
Now that he's much more talkative, we've talked a little bit more about his birth mom. Every night before bed, I ask him:
"Who's tummy did you grow in?"
Gabe says his birthmom's name.
"Where did you grow with Mommy?"
Gabe says, "Mommy's heart."
In preparing for the adoption, we went through a lot of classes. We were taught to teach our children age-appropriate information about their birth parents. So, this is one way I've tried to approach keeping the adoption an open topic of conversation in our house.
One more thing about being two... With the introduction to underpants, Greg thought it would be a good idea to show Gabe how to put them on his head.
2 comments:
I was hoping you'd make a blog post while I was gone. For the record: he taught himself how to put the undies on his head.
Bri-your titles are so creative and so cute. Your blogs are so touching and will mean so much to him when he is older and to you and Greg to look back at all these things and put your self in that moment. When you tell the part about talking to him about his birth mom and how he tells you he grew in your heart, I cry every time, when you told me and when I just read it. You are an amazing mother!
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