Three New Skills

In the space of five days Linus developed three new skills: riding his tricycle, dressing himself, and completing 25-piece puzzles. Last Thursday he was starting to get the hang of pedaling his tricycle in the backyard, so I suggested going out front and riding it on the sidewalk. He pedaled backwards quite a bit when trying to go forward after a stop, but he was so focused on the task. The next day Matthew stayed home with him while I volunteered for the Denver Public Schools' Shakespeare Festival and when I pulled up in front of the house that evening I saw Linus pedaling like a pro down the block. Now when we go for a walk I actually get a bit of exercise because he keeps pedaling and doesn't mosey along examining every little thing he sees. He does stop for ant hills and gets down on his knees to watch the ants. He's my sweet, little pacifist and takes great care to make sure he doesn't run over any of the ants.

Some fun things he has said to me recently:
"When we go to the library I want a book about monkeys drinking something. Water or juice."

Referring to a baby at the playground, "She is cute to my eyes."

When I went running out the back door to put out the recycling and I was freaking out that I might have remembered too late, he told me, "That's okay. Accidents happen sometimes."

Sliding Quickly Into Three

So, yeah. I'm worn out. Keeping up with Linus requires a lot of energy. We've been busy with the usual stuff: laundry, playing trains, pretending we're snakes, reading about meerkats, baking bread, playing in the yard, etc. The biggest thing to happen since my last post is that Linus is in bink recovery. After telling him for several months now that he is nearly three and needs to give up bink, we pulled the plug (pun intended) on March 1. The picture here is the one I took before I hid away his two binks. I didn't just throw them away because I wanted to honestly say that they were put away in a safe place. He cried the first night and I teared up a bit too. I think this is the first time we were pushing him to grow up. He has gotten over it quite quickly and I shouldn't have underestimated him. He asked about it each night at bedtime for about a week, but now it is as though he never used a bink.

One person advised me to cut the tip off of the pacifier and tell him it was falling apart. Then over a couple of weeks cut it smaller and smaller until it isn't satisfying for him any more. Neither Matthew nor I felt comfortable with deceiving Linus, so we went the cold turkey route.

Some things Linus has said recently:

He asked me what grape starts with. After I told him he paused for a bit and then asked, "Do all grapes start with G?"

Matthew worked late one night and Linus offered to help me do the dishes. When we let the water out of the sink he asked if the water was going into the recycling. (We keep our recycling under there.) I couldn't believe we hadn't addressed this yet because he asked about the bathroom plumbing a while ago and seems to understand that. We crawled under the sink together and I showed him how one sink drains into the garbage disposal and then joins the water from the other drain to go down through the basement, etc. When we finished he said, "That's fascinating! I'm so happy you showed me. "

While putting honey on his bread he said, "The honey smells like the bees that made it."

While eating lunch together he said, "I'm so proud of you and Matthew for things you do for me. Like drive the car and go places with me. And plant things with me. I love you." Okay, that earned him a few points back that he lost for throwing some tantrums lately.

(Other pictures are of Linus insisting that his stuffed animals get to have cookies with us and of Matthew and I as we got ready to go on a date to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary.)

Favorites

Linus' favorite undies, the Thomas ones, photographed because as I folded the laundry I was musing over how cute little kid underwear is.




Linus has been telling me that a number of things are his favorite. When he tells me this he says "favorite" in that intense, drawn-out way that is mostly used by kids. I must admit that I still use it now and then.

Tonight he came into my office* and heard the Wisconsin Public Radio classical station streaming on my computer. He said that the music was lovely. I told him it was piano music and he said, "Pianos are my favorite." "They are?" I asked. "Yes. And bass drums, horns, and fifes."

Over breakfast we were discussing what to buy his friend Lena for her birthday and he thought she would like Thomas trains. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said, "Morning glories. I like morning glories best."

He also said, "Candles are my favorite part of a birthday cake."

*As a stay-at-home mom who has always had a craft room, I'm finding that I need to clearly define whether I'm going downstairs to craft or to do work on my business. I'm trying out referring to the room as my office when I'm doing work. I showed Linus the logo concepts I got back from the designer and his favorite was the one everyone I've showed it to liked least. It has a lighthouse in it. It is pleasant to look at but has nothing to do with the business.

Sunshine and Clouds

It was a rough week in some ways. Linus threw so many tantrums this week. I think it is just a developmental phase coming with turning three soon.

We had a few really warm days and we played outside a lot. Linus found the first ladybug of the year and one day he played with a friend. They stacked rocks and grass in his wagon to make a giraffe habitat. He also had fun helping me water bushes and trees. He played a lot with the garden hose. He usually pretends he is watering zoo animals.

We were out in the car and drove by a CBS affiliate. He saw the logo and told me, "They sell eyes." When I asked, "They do?" He said, "Yes, to put on your face. And eyebrows to put above your eyes."

Over breakfast this morning we talked with Linus about giving up his pacifier. I told him that sometimes when a kid outgrows their bink, they give it to a baby. He quickly came back with, "The baby would tell me to keep it, its yours." The dentist told me he can see where sucking on the pacifier is starting to impact Linus' mouth. Linus won't hear any of it.

In the first picture, if you look closely, you'll see the very first letter Linus has ever written. He wrote an L. It is hard to see because he continued writing around it and the train shows through from the other side. Look near the train's eyes. Linus was using my mechanical pencil and he told me he wrote a letter. When I asked which one, he said an L. I went to look and was amazed that he had, indeed, written an L. Sure, it is backwards. It is still very exciting, especially since I haven't tried to teach him how to write yet.

In the second picture he is eating candy with the birthday girl. Barrett turned three and had a princess/knight-themed party. The kids all got dress up clothes to wear. Linus didn't know what a knight was. I said that knights protect the realm, help people in need, and get to ride horses.

The third picture shows him playing with sidewalk chalk on our patio.