Brian and I officially have a preschooler on our hands! Dominic started in his 2 year old preschool class at the same school he went to Parents' Morning Out last school year. This year it was nice because Brian was able to come along for the first day. Last year, he was out of town, and I was pregnant with Blake, so as soon as Dominic cried, I cried just as hard. This year, Dominic cried for a few seconds and was fine by the time Brian, Blake, and I were out of sight, and I didn't cry at all. Dominic already knows the names of every student in his class thanks to a book the teachers sent home based on the book Brown Bear, but this one has pictures of each child. Dominic knew a couple of girls in his class before school started too, and then there's also a Blake in his class, so we've been talking a lot about how there are "2 Blakes." Dominic doesn't seem to think much of it.
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| Going into his first official day of Preschool! |
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| He does not like carrying his bag himself. |
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| Excited! |
The biggest update about Dominic is that he's off and running with his reading skills! I started giving him a new high frequency word every day or two, and he is able to remember them by sight!! He’s up to "sight reading" 15 words. These include Dolch words, the most common words found in books, as well as his name, Blake’s name, and I intend to add some others. It’s so exciting to see him learn these words! We're also working on sounding out words as we read since he knows all of his letter sounds. He loves rhyming words and reading rhyming books like Dr. Seuss. I’ll say “hook," and he'll say, "Book, look..." It's an amazing process watching your child learn how to read!
Counting is also another skill Dominic is progressing in. He's almost counting to 15 as we count going up and down our 15 stairs each time we go upstairs or downstairs. He skips some over 10 but knows them pretty well. Dominic is also counting pictures of things but does so without pointing. I'm impressed but also want him to point to each object because it'll get tougher for him to count in his head the more objects he sees.
In the last month and a half, Brian and I have noticed a huge difference in Dominic's behavior. We were suffering through his "Terrible Twos" as Dominic would have tantrums, great frustration, and meltdowns multiple times each day. However, about a month ago there was about a 2 week period where he had hardly any tantrums and was simply a happy, well-behaved child. It was great...but very short lived.
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| Dominic's "I'm doing something wrong" face |
Now Dominic, although still having fewer meltdowns, has begun displaying other not-so-fun behaviors. He's pushing buttons and testing boundaries...constantly! At first I was thinking how much easier this is than the tantrums, but the behavior certainly is testing my patience at this point. He does things where he looks at me - usually with the biggest grin in the world - and does something that he knows is wrong, watching for a reaction from me (which typically ends up being going to timeout). He sometimes hums in a particular tune when he's doing something mischievous too. I try not to laugh, but it can be hard.
Although Dominic is only 2 and a half, the "Torturous Threes" have apparently hit in full force! I've always heard that the 3s were MUCH worse than the 2s, something that terrifies me considering how rough his behavior has been during the 2s. Like the Terrible Twos starting early - when Dominic was around 1 and a half, Dominic wanted to be an overachiever I suppose and go through this stage early as well. Yay for me. I've heard that the 4s are much easier and a turning point, so hopefully Dominic will hit those early since he's hit the other stages early (fingers crossed!). However, that will probably be just around the time when Blake starts his "Terrible Twos." Ugh!
The worst thing though is that Dominic has become rougher with Blake, often hugging him and then that turns into something more like wrestling. I think this is partly because Blake is so big now and isn't so much of a "baby' anymore, but I mainly think Dominic is trying to get a response from Brian and me when he does something to Blake like pulling his hair or putting his foot in Blake's face like he's going to kick him. He 99% of the time doesn't actually do whatever it is that he's acting like he's going to do because we remind him that he goes to timeout if he does those things, but I'm still not happy about this behavior at all. Despite doing these things to Blake, Dominic always shows how much he loves Blake and gets the biggest kick out of getting Blake to smile. The feeling seems mutual. I'm hoping this roughness is just a phase like everything else!
As a result of the continuous testing the limits, Dominic is spending a lot of time in timeout. When I tell him to go to timeout, he will walk to his timeout chair in our dining room and sit down perfectly. Timeout has gone from 2 minutes to 3 minutes now that he's over 2 1/2 and the 2 minutes just wasn't working. Dominic typically sits in his timeout chair quietly and then when I come to get him out after the timer goes off, he tells me "No yell," or whatever behavior he did to get in there, hugs me, and says, "I'm sorry." This tells me he knows exactly what he's doing to get into timeout each time.
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| sporty and sweet (at times) |
I think the tantrums have subsided because he now can communicate pretty much better with us and therefore is much less frustrating trying to get his point across to us. He’s speaking in sentences, using verbs, using the pronouns he and she appropriately, and repeating almost any word we say and doing a good job remembering it. Around strangers and people who doesn't feel comfortable around he continues to be timid but does sometimes greet them and always says “bye bye” to them (especially when he wants me to stop talking to them). Dominic likes to repeat phrases we use and typically does so in the correct contexts, but when he parrots phrases like that, he confuses the pronouns me and you in those sentences. For example, he says, “Help you!” instead of “Help me!” when he wants help because we’ve said something similar to him. He uses I correctly however, so it’s pretty interesting.
Dominic continues to be a perfectionist toddler, not a good combination at times. He loves for his toy cars and other vehicles to be lined up like trains, and if he spills something like his yogurt it’s the end of the world as he knows it at least until the “mess” is cleaned up. That works out pretty well for cleaning at least, but it’s a little crazy when he literally cries over spilled milk. The repeated phrase in our house has become “No biggie!” Thankfully, this over-reactions are becoming fewer and farther between.
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| Our smiling 9 month old baby boy! |
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| Blake won't lie down for more than a second! |
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| Getting so big! |
What came with his ability to crawl away from us was Blake's realization that we can move away from him, and recently Blake has been suffering from separation anxiety. His personality is very different from Dominic's. Dominic loved crawling all over the house even when we weren't around, but Blake will only do that for a minute before hurrying back to me. We used to be able to put Blake in his crib for him to go to sleep without crying when we left, but now when we put him in his crib to go to sleep, he cries for a few minutes before he finally calms down. I hate it, but I know that we have to keep on putting him in his crib and that this is just a phase that he'll get over soon enough. The poor baby just doesn't like being left alone. Stranger anxiety has also been setting in. He no longer smiles at strangers as easily as he used to. The smiles continue for people he knows thankfully.
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| Corn has become another food Blake likes. |
It's become louder around the house now that Blake is babbling. His favorite sound at the moment is the /t/ sound, but he always like /f/ and /a/. I keep repeating "Mama" to him with the hope that he'll say that word soon. :) I think that right now Blake would rather concentrate on his physical skills than learning to talk. He is a typical boy after all!
Blake is eating 8 oz of pureed and/or baby food for breakfast, 6 oz for lunch, and 6-8 oz for dinner in addition to his 4 bottles. I've slowed down on introducing new foods because he was a having a reoccurring diaper rash. We believe that was from eating too many blueberries. He is doing better with finger foods but still has a hard time picking up and putting in his mouth smaller foods like Cheerios. It's funny because he eats them fine if I put them in his mouth, it's just picking these small items up with the pincer grip and moving to his mouth is challenging. I often find disintegrated Cheerios in Blake's fists after meals (ew). However, he LOVES Mum-Mums though at the moment (as so does Dominic). Since they're bigger, I think it's much easier for him to eat.
Blake's pretty much a 2 nap a day kid at this point too. Our days have been looking something like this...
8:00 - boys wake up
8:30 - Blake's bottle
8:45 - Dominic and Blake's breakfast
9:30 - Blake’s morning nap
10:30 - morning activity (playgroup, music, etc.)
12:15 - Blake’s bottle
12:30 - Dominic and Blake's lunch
1:45 - Nap time (2 hrs)
5:00 - Blake’s bottle
6:30 - Dinner
7:30 - Bath, get ready for bed, and story time
8:15 - Bedtime
This schedule is constantly changing these days as we try to adjust things. With Dominic waking up early for school, his bedtime was pushed back to 8:00 and then it usually takes him 45 min to an hour to fall asleep at bedtime. In a month or so, I’m also planning on beginning to give Blake his solids before his bottles and give him more solids at each feeding to start dropping bottles. I’m still trying to get him on a straw cup, so he’ll be done with bottles by a year old.
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| Dominic in his car seat/booster seat! |
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| Blake in his new (to him) convertible car seat! |
Both boys had a change with their car seats recently! Since Blake has officially outgrown the car seat carrier height limit (30 inches), we were forced to buy a new car seat. Instead of buying a new convertible car seat for him, we decided to get Dominic a new car seat that becomes a booster aka his “Big Boy Seat” and then giving Blake Dominic’s convertible car set. Blake is still rear-facing and will be until he’s closer to 2 years old. Blake is currently in the middle as this is the safest position in the car and he’s the most fragile. Dominic is currently on the driver’s side (the next safest position), but this will most likely be a problem with carpool coming up.
Now that summer is over, I'm sad that the pool is closed and that Dominic isn't around quite as much, but I'm getting so much more done! I love being able to spend alone time with Blake most of all because he and I never got that one-on-one time together over the summer with Dominic around. Dominic and I, on the other hand, always have our solo time during Blake's naps. While Dominic is at school, typically, I try to run errands with Blake after his morning nap, but until he wakes up from that nap, I've started working on projects around the house. I miss having Dominic around all of the time, but I know he loves school, and it's nice being so much more productive! :)
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