He has his dad's polite manners! He wouldn't dive in to the cake at all. Probably because it wasn't chocolate. Yesterday was a different story. We let him have a piece of the leftover sheet cake and he was smeared face to foot in chocolate cake and frosting. Figures!
So here is what else is new: Aiden must have decided that one year is a big milestone and he suddenly had some things to do. Before Friday he was still crawling/standling/cruising and occasionally surprising us with new words he had picked up. Now he's making our mouths drop about every four hours!
Right after his birthday we had family over for another birthday party so everyone could see Aiden & Brian and wish them a happy b-day. We had just finished doing gifts when Aiden wanted to get over to the sand & water playtable Bri & I had given him. There were too many people & packages in his way to crawl so he just got up and WALKED over to it! (I had been telling Brian Aiden could walk and was just too cautious to ever let go.) It was pretty cool to have everyone there when Aiden took his first "real" steps and walked right across the living room!
The next morning when he woke up we noticed that instead of everything being da-da, it was ma-ma again. (The da-da thing lasted a full three months. I was wondering when it would wear off!) In fact, everything is not just ma-ma but "n-n-no, ma-ma!" Perhaps I tell him no-no too much?!! LOL! The n-n-no is really cute and he's still surprising us with new words. He said dog on Sunday, which is impressive because I thought for sure he'd say "bad" before he got the dog part after hearing me scold Major so much!
He's also surprised me with how much he understands. As ridiculous as I sound, I have started using Dr. Harvey Karp's toddlerese with him to try and curb his frustrated screaming. You can order the book online to get all the details but basically you break everything down into small, short phrases your toddler understands and you say it with lots of feeling when your child begins to scream to show him you understand how he feels and that you are going to help. "Juice NOW!" is one we use frequently. Aiden screams from his high chair and I say "Juice NOW!" as I get out his sippy cup and follow it with "Aiden wants juice now!" as I mix the juice & water and then repeat "juice, thank you" when I give it to him. Eventually he'll say "juice" instead of incoherent, ear drum-busting screams or so all the newest parenting books tell me. For now, it honestly is working well for us and it's been less than a week in practice. I can stop him mid-yell by naming the correct thing that he wants. Sure, I sound like a stark raving mad neanderthal urgently asking "Juice NOW?" "Go NOW?" "Hungry NOW?" but I would look like an idiot any ways, completely emptying the contents of my diaper bag trying to find something to calm my screaming kiddo in the middle of HEB so what's the difference? ;)
I can't believe how much my precious little boy has grown in a year! I have to admit that even when things get tough and I don't quite know what to do (like with the CONSTANT SCREAMING), I actually enjoy the challenge of digging back through my parenting books and even some of my psychology coursework to find a solution to try. Funny, some things are even coming in handy with Brian! ("Clean house with cookies and video games NOW!") I can't wait to see what the next year holds for us!
2 comments:
Your party was fabulous. Thanks for letting us be apart of it.
I'm trying out Toddlerese with Luke too. I feel like such an idiot when I do it, but it seems to work. At least the tantrums have stopped for the most part, but I'm still hesitant to do it in front of anyone else.
Sorry we missed the party, I'm officially a moron and completely forgot what day it was. I realized what I did later that afternoon and I couldn't believe I was such an idiot. We do have something for Aiden though, I'll have to stop by sometime or bring it to church.
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