Speaking in Sentences

The bubble machine has provided hours (well, minutes) of fun in our house! 

“Roll it” was Dominic’s first sentence!  Brian and I debated about whether this is a true sentence.  I maintain that it’s a command with the subject being implied (you, roll it) and the verb obviously being roll.  Brian disagreed, but when we looked it up, we found that it is in fact considered a sentence…always trust the [former] teacher. J  Anyway, I mentioned in my last post how Dominic had started making the rolling gesture and then saying roll to go along with it in regards to the line of “Pat-a-Cake.”  Well, he then expanded that to “roll it.”  This was Dominic’s first multiword phrase/sentence!    

And as I was writing this post, Dominic said another phrase: “Thank you!”  It sounds a little more like “tank you” (if we're lucky), but he’s saying it.  Dominic started off as repeating me saying it, but now when I tell him no, he’ll say “tank you” in response.  I’m guessing he’s getting it from all of the “no, thank you’s” I’ve been saying for all of these months.  How cute is that?  As a Southerner who thinks being politeness is a huge deal, not to mention as someone who was a teacher, I’ve been pretty obsessed with having Dominic start saying please and thank you.  I was literally just telling someone a few days ago that I couldn’t wait till he could say that phrase and he did it! 

On top of Dominic's developments this week, he's become big into sharing (at times).  He holds things out for me and before would refuse to hand them over.  I started forcefully pulling them out of his hand - not sure if this was correct but I did it - and now he willingly gives them to me.  Brian started doing the same thing and now Dominic shares with him too.  It's very sweet.  He still has a case of Mine-itis at times but he's improving which is huge!  Dominic is also being SO much better about holding my hand when we walk places.  Now I end up getting dragged around by my index finger, but it's a nice relief from carrying 26 pounds around everywhere!  

Another discovery that Dominic made this week was his belly button.  He saw one of his friends being changed and noticed her belly button, started looking at his, and is now fascinated.  He's had an interest in mine since my belly started expanding rapidly in the last couple of months, but now Dominic has connected that he has a belly button too.  

Not all good news here though.  Of course, immediately after posting my last blog entry about how great Dominic was behaving, he started not doing as well.  Although he continues to not hit, bite, or end up in timeout, he has started a new thing where he stomps his feet and fusses…not a fun “thing” to witness.  I’m trying to ignore it, but it seems to be when he gets frustrated, so I’m really trying to get him to “use his words” to let me know what I can do to help instead of getting so frustrated.  Easier said than done.

Recently, Dominic started giving me lots of "presents" during the day…and these aren’t the kind of gifts that moms like to receive.  I’m talking about dirty diapers!  4 to 7 a day when he used to only have 2 a day.  At first I figured it was just because he had been eating TONS of fruit lately.  So I immediately eliminated that from his diet to see if that alleviated the problem.  The only fruits he was given were bananas and apples/applesauce, which are both constipating.  Did that help?  Nope.  My next step was to stop giving him milk – not a popular decision with Dominic who LOVES milk.  That didn’t help either.  In fact, it just made him wake up fussier from his naps (which stopped once I returned the milk to his diet).  Who knew milk would affect Dominic’s sleep that way.  Milk really “does a body good!”  So I had Dominic on the BRATY Diet (Bananas, Rice, Apples, Toast, and Yogurt), but still he continued to have way too many dirty diapers.  I read that returning him to his regular diet can help, so I’ve now done that. 

I also took him to the pediatrician on Monday to rule out an ear infection or anything else they could.  Of course, what did she tell me but that it was probably a virus and his intestines are just still getting back to normal, but she said a week and a half is a little longer than normal for that.  Because of that, she told me that I would have to do something that I never imagined I would possibly do…provide them with not just 1 but 3 stool samples from Dominic.  I must love this boy more than anything to suffer through collecting stool samples.  And of course, as soon as I took Dominic to the doctor and started collecting the samples, Dominic started returning to his regular number of diapers.  

Speaking of all of those diapers, a few weeks ago I pulled out Dominic’s little potty to put next to the toilet in the downstairs bathroom.  No, I’m definitely not starting potty training yet…Dominic is far from being ready for that.  However, I did start thinking and planning out the next few months.  I still have the teacher’s tendencies in me and love to look ahead and plan, but more to the point it’s necessary for me to do a lot of planning and organizing as we get closer to BCM’s due date. 

Although potty training isn't something I plan to think about for awhile, we set up Dominic's little potty (a shower gift back when I was pregnant with him) in the downstairs bathroom, so it'll be there whenever he's ready.  Dominic won’t actually sit on his potty for more than 2 seconds.  The only thing that Dominic will actually do with the potty is…put the seat down!  Yes, my little boy is actually OCD about putting the potty’s seat down.  I feel like that’s at least one victory for me since I’m deathly afraid of living in a house full of boys who don’t put the toilet seat down.  This fear is the result of sharing a bathroom with 2 older brothers growing up, who never put the seat down, causing far too many falls into the toilet for me.  Now I love to put Dominic’s potty seat up just to mess with him. J

Helping Mommy clean (the mess he made)

I bought Dominic a broom set this week (against his dad’s wishes as he thought it was too girly), but my thinking is that 99% of what I sweep or vacuum up is Cheerios that Dominic has dropped on the floor.  So isn’t it logical that I need to teach him how to clean up his mess?  So far, Dominic loves his broom and loves attempting to sweep.  He seems to understand that the broom slides across the floor but doesn’t quite get the specifics of how to do it.  Something to work on, but until then Dominic looks adorable trying to help me sweep!   

Playing in his tent/playhut

Trying to play with Play-Doh again

Dominic loves his inflatable pool! 

This week we continued really limiting the TV watching for Dominic, which means we have to reduce the TV watching that Brian and I do.  It can make for some boring days, so I’ve learned that we have to stay busy.  The highlights of our busy week were having lunch with Brian at his office, letting Dominic swim in his inflatable pool out in the backyard, and hosting 2 different playgroups at our house.  The bubble machine has allowed for a lot of fun too…until Dominic decided to pick up the machine and dump the bubble liquid out.  Dominic has started enjoying his tent much more as well.  

Swimming! 

Swimming from Nonna to Papa

Pulling up on the wall by himself

Of course swimming at the real pool continues to be something we try to do especially before the end of the pool season.  Dominic is seriously improving each day.  He kicks and even pulls some with his arms, and now I'm trying to get him to swim to the wall.  He's been independently swimming several feet between two people, but I would like him to be able to swim a few feet, grab the wall, and pull his head up.  He knows to pull his head up out of the water when he swims to a person, which is a good start.  Dominic also loves hanging onto the wall, but trying to get him to grab the wall from the water is the challenge here.  

a work in progress

Over the weekend, Brian had our handy man help him paint Dominic’s new room!  It’s the same blue color as the nursery.  Now we’re going to start moving his stuff into the new room, but I’m thinking of waiting until we get back from our beach trip in a couple of weeks to have Dominic start sleeping in there.  I don’t want to make it too close to when he starts going to PMO though.  I’m very nervous about the move, but I know time is important because we need to get Dominic settled in, used to, and happy in his new room months before BCM arrives.  I don’t want Dominic to feel like he was kicked out of his room because of the baby.   

I’m 23 weeks pregnant now…17 more to go!  Same pregnancy symptoms, different week.  I’m getting so excited for our family to become the "Fantastic Four" and most of all to meet BCM!  I'm actually feeling better about how Dominic will adjust to no longer being the center of our universe.  I know it will be a huge adjustment, but it's the best thing for him and he really does adore other kids, so he'll end up being fine. 

However, I’m getting more nervous about leaving Dominic while I’m in the hospital.  Brian and I want him to come to visit us in the hospital, but I feel badly for leaving him for a few days.  Brian will be staying with me while I’m in the hospital, so the plan is for my sister Stephanie (Dominic’s godmother) to sleep over at our house while we’re gone and for my mom to babysit during the day.  By then the rest of the members of both sides of our family should be working, so my mom who just works part-time for my dad has volunteered to watch Dominic during the day.  Stephanie sleeps over sometimes anyway, has nannied and babysat kids for years, and just moved back to Dunwoody now that she graduated from college.  Plus Dominic loves her and feels very comfortable around her, so we figured she would be a good one to stay the nights with him, but while she’s (hopefully) working during the day my mom can watch him at our house.   Brian and I really want Dominic to stay at home as much as possible not being shuffled around between houses or anything like that, so things are familiar and consistent for him while we’re not here.  I think it would be harder for him to stay at someone else’s house while his mommy and daddy are gone.  

There's so much that I need to plan for and do before BCM gets here, so things will run smoothly that I'm a little stressed thinking about it.  I remember feeling the same way (times 100) when I was pregnant with Dominic and preparing for maternity leave.  Getting things checked off my "to do list" definitely helps, but I think it makes Brian more stressed if anything.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that I get to see my tiny baby boy is fewer than 4 months!!   This pregnancy is flying by!