10.15.2009
Cool stuff Kent is doing
I love the window into language development that Kent is giving me. Lately, I've been noticing the hilariously cute way he puts words together as he's starting to express more complex thoughts and comparisons. He's using "because" more. He still says "you" when he means "I" or "me," except in a few phrases like "Mommy I'm coming Mommy!" Note the repeated "Mommy." Very sweet. He also repeats "please" at the beginning and end of a request when we ask him to ask for something in a nice way, so he'll say, "Please Daddy I can have some more milk, please." His preposition usage is all over the place and makes me smile every day; yesterday, when he was up in his bed and I was sitting on the floor, he said, "K is high from Mommy!" and then crouched down and said, "K is LOOOWWWWWW from Mommy." When he's walking around with a shirt but no pants (usually after he runs out of the bathroom after using the potty), he remarks that he is "nakey of a bottom." I'm not sure if he means his actual bottom or just his bottom half, but he says it with a smile in a very amused voice, as if he knows exactly how funny he is without pants on. Nakedness in general makes him smile, no matter who's naked. When we were in North Carolina a few weeks ago and he went to help wake up my uncle one morning, he saw that my uncle wasn't wearing a shirt and said with a giggle, "Gruncle Mark is a little bit nakey!"
We're going to try out a free music class at Gymboree this morning, a class that's geared toward kids his age and older. I'm in a position right now where there are so many activities I think he'd be interested in, and so many different kinds of new toys I want to get him, that I really have to prioritize because we can't afford everything. Nor do I want to smother him with toys and keep him running from one activity to the next all week. But I have thought about how much he'd enjoy a tumbling class, or a swimming class... and of course music is fun for any kid, though I feel like music is the one thing I'm capable of teaching him myself, so a music class might get cut from the list.
Nesting for me is having a happy consequence for Kent: my renewed sense of artistic creativity. We're going to try fabric crayons today on a onesie and a bib for Dean — Kent will use the crayons to draw on a piece of regular paper, and then I'll iron the paper onto the fabric to leave the design behind. I'm excited to see how it turns out. The only problem is that I could only find Crayola fabric crayons, which don't work on 100% cotton, so I had to get a synthetic blend for my little babe. Poo. Luckily, the dollar store was happy to help me out.
I'm also feeling fall-y, wanting to bake some pumpkin bread with the pumpkin I cooked a couple of Sundays ago, and we need some decorations in our house besides the little gourds that I placed on top of some Halloween fabric on our dining room table. I've been thinking that it would be fun to try crayon shavings on wax paper to make stained "glass," and I realized last night that we could just use fall colors, then cut out leaf shapes from the wax paper after I iron it. I'll post pictures if any of these activities turn out well.
It's becoming more and more essential for me to figure out ways for Kent to help with things around the house, because I've noticed that he pushes his boundaries much harder if I'm occupied, and I in turn react with not-nice words and voice if I feel like he's interrupting something I'm trying to accomplish. It's a little bit him and a little bit me, exacerbated by pregnancy hormones. Even just letting him help for a minute makes a huge difference. Last night, he was restless and bored before dinner, so I asked him to count out three ears of corn from a bag and put them into the pot. Well, he thought he was hot stuff. He splashed water everywhere, but it so did not matter. He even told Jack when he got home that he had put the corn in the pot, like the old Shake 'n' Bake commercial where the little girl says, "It's Shake 'n' Bake, and I helped!!" I've tried getting him to help me sort the laundry, like asking him to find all the socks, but he usually ends up tossing stuff all over the floor or waving things around like flags. That's okay.
Dean is accumulating quite a little pile of clothes already, thanks to my mom, who loves to shop for tiny things. I think we actually have enough newborn-sized stuff now, and after a couple of months, it'll be warm enough here that Dean can wear the short-sleeved stuff Kent lived in for the beginning of his life. I might knit a couple more pairs of booties, a hat, etc., but I'm feeling less urgent about that stuff now that we have a stack in our "nest room" (formerly the guest room). We'll still need to get a couple of other things, like an extra base for the infant carseat; we didn't need one when Kent was a baby because Jack's car had no A/C and I wasn't going to put Kent in there, but now we actually have two comfortable cars. Radical concept.
I will now amaze myself and take a shower before 10 a.m. so that we can get our music on. Look at me go.
We're going to try out a free music class at Gymboree this morning, a class that's geared toward kids his age and older. I'm in a position right now where there are so many activities I think he'd be interested in, and so many different kinds of new toys I want to get him, that I really have to prioritize because we can't afford everything. Nor do I want to smother him with toys and keep him running from one activity to the next all week. But I have thought about how much he'd enjoy a tumbling class, or a swimming class... and of course music is fun for any kid, though I feel like music is the one thing I'm capable of teaching him myself, so a music class might get cut from the list.
Nesting for me is having a happy consequence for Kent: my renewed sense of artistic creativity. We're going to try fabric crayons today on a onesie and a bib for Dean — Kent will use the crayons to draw on a piece of regular paper, and then I'll iron the paper onto the fabric to leave the design behind. I'm excited to see how it turns out. The only problem is that I could only find Crayola fabric crayons, which don't work on 100% cotton, so I had to get a synthetic blend for my little babe. Poo. Luckily, the dollar store was happy to help me out.
I'm also feeling fall-y, wanting to bake some pumpkin bread with the pumpkin I cooked a couple of Sundays ago, and we need some decorations in our house besides the little gourds that I placed on top of some Halloween fabric on our dining room table. I've been thinking that it would be fun to try crayon shavings on wax paper to make stained "glass," and I realized last night that we could just use fall colors, then cut out leaf shapes from the wax paper after I iron it. I'll post pictures if any of these activities turn out well.
It's becoming more and more essential for me to figure out ways for Kent to help with things around the house, because I've noticed that he pushes his boundaries much harder if I'm occupied, and I in turn react with not-nice words and voice if I feel like he's interrupting something I'm trying to accomplish. It's a little bit him and a little bit me, exacerbated by pregnancy hormones. Even just letting him help for a minute makes a huge difference. Last night, he was restless and bored before dinner, so I asked him to count out three ears of corn from a bag and put them into the pot. Well, he thought he was hot stuff. He splashed water everywhere, but it so did not matter. He even told Jack when he got home that he had put the corn in the pot, like the old Shake 'n' Bake commercial where the little girl says, "It's Shake 'n' Bake, and I helped!!" I've tried getting him to help me sort the laundry, like asking him to find all the socks, but he usually ends up tossing stuff all over the floor or waving things around like flags. That's okay.
Dean is accumulating quite a little pile of clothes already, thanks to my mom, who loves to shop for tiny things. I think we actually have enough newborn-sized stuff now, and after a couple of months, it'll be warm enough here that Dean can wear the short-sleeved stuff Kent lived in for the beginning of his life. I might knit a couple more pairs of booties, a hat, etc., but I'm feeling less urgent about that stuff now that we have a stack in our "nest room" (formerly the guest room). We'll still need to get a couple of other things, like an extra base for the infant carseat; we didn't need one when Kent was a baby because Jack's car had no A/C and I wasn't going to put Kent in there, but now we actually have two comfortable cars. Radical concept.
I will now amaze myself and take a shower before 10 a.m. so that we can get our music on. Look at me go.
Labels: belly, craftiness, Kent, language, nesting
- posted by erica 10/15/2009 09:51:00 AM
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Comments:
Sounds like so much fun. Are you telling me you don't need the things I have been accumulating for you??
I love hearing about all the activities you do with Kent. I hope that when I eventually become a mom I'll find creative ways to play with my kids too! Have a good day.
What a great post! I love the "nakey of a bottom" - I might have to adopt that Kent saying just like we have adopted things like "La. see. shark. in. WATER!":-)
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