Do mom's forget...

...that their child was once a toddler? A friend posted a vent on FB about how it was annoying to go shopping while having to listen to a kid scream the entire time & was frustrated because the parent tuned them out while the rest of the store had to listen to the kid, she ended the vent saying "have some consideration and bloody parent!" AHHHH It took EVERYTHING I had not to post a comment. After stewing for a few minutes I asked myself, does she seriously not remember what is was like when her child was a toddler? Then I came to this conclusion... They must have been through what I'm going through, and it was so traumatic that they just eventually blocked it out. ;)

Maybe this post bothers me more because I am IN this phase right now, and deal with this everyday.

Dylan is a screamer, if he doesn't like something or gets bored then he screams as loud & as high as he can. I realize that he's screaming for a reason, and will 99% of the time stop what I'm doing and ask him what's the matter to try and tell me what's wrong. Usually 97% of the time it is because he wanted something & I said no, so when I remind him "No, Sorry Dylan we aren't getting candy today." The screaming continues... if it is convenient I will just leave, usually head straight to check out or if the lines are too long I have also left my cart of stuff. But if I have to get groceries OR I made the 30 minute drive to base just to get these items then I'm going to get those items. I re-assure him that it won't be long. The re-assuring works great with Derek, who gets bored very easily with shopping, not so much with Dylan and so then I just have to grit my teeth, Smile, and bare it!!!! I apologize to everyone who makes eye contact for the screaming and try and get out as fast as I can.

It's a phase that most toddlers go through, they are learning so much at once like patience, controlling & expressing their feelings, and battling boredom!! All problems when shopping with mom.

I am getting better at just gritting my teeth and getting through it but the embarrassment is still there and while I'd like to think people understand and are sympathetic to my situation I then hear a friend blame it on the parents and other people agreeing with her, I'll admit it knocks me down a bit and as unrealistic as it is I do want to just stay home with him and not take him out. Again, I realize how unrealistic this is, especially with Steve in Germany for 4 more weeks.

I can't wait until we are out of this phase, but until then I'll just keep calm and carry on, a common phrase here in the UK that I'm sure was invented by a mom with multiple children in their early years.

Dylan- 2.5 yrs

Is there some rule somewhere that says the baby of the family is supposed to grow up SLOWER than the other siblings? I know, I know it's just the opposite; they see their big brothers & sisters doing things and the "baby" wants to do them also. Sigh... he isn't allowed to grow up, we jokingly call his room neverland. :)

We are ALMOST out of the baby phase, only thing left to do is potty training. The older 2 weren't interested at all until they were 3, so I'm not rushing him, however 6.5 years of diapers I'm about done. He knows what #1 & #2 are, and will tell us when he goes in his diaper, so that's step 1 in the potty training direction, but when we tell him to go on the potty, "No Tank You!"

He has definitely entered the independent stage. "No, I do it!" or the other phrase that I hear 6x a day "No stwower(stroller) I wok(walk)!" He likes to do everything himself, climbing into the car & into his seat, climbing out of the car, putting on his coat and then zipping it down to take it off, he also wants to do a lot of things that he just isn't capable of doing and he gets frustrated.

Dylan is a smart little boy, but everyone calls him a cheeky monkey, because they know he's mischievous & curious. He is talking ALL the time now, some cute things he has said (with translation):

"Dinodaur in tie oww, he eat Wego!" (Dinosaur in time out, he eat Lego!)
"No I not do it, Derdek do it, not Dynan!" -Already putting the blame on his siblings
"Odiber you cuee, Odiber oww my woom!" (Oliver you cute, Oliver out my room!)
"No I no like dat I want chocolate nilk, no I no like dat chicken!" -We've entered the picky foods stage as well.
"I wanna ride on it twactor & a digger!"

TWO!!

I can't believe my baby is 2!! I keep telling him he's not allowed to grow, he has to stay my little baby boy forever, he smiles and says "Noooooo!" Which is his new favorite word, he answers No to everything, even if the answer is yes, he still says No. I don't remember his brother or sister liking that word so much. Another word he likes is Dummy. Yep... that cute little blonde blue eyed boy says it in the right context. He used to call Steve & I that when he'd get upset with us, but after spending numerous 1.5 minute timeouts and explanations that it's ok to be upset but not to call us mean names, he now resorts to calling his cars dummies when he gets frustrated at something. In England, they call their pacifiers, Dummy's. So what I've been doing the past couple of days when he says it is distract him by saying "what you want a dummy?"Then I give him his Binky, he's all confused but it's working!

We had his 2 year check up today at the Dr's and he weighs 24.6 lbs and is 33" tall. How does he go from 6 lbs 10 oz to 24.6!! He's a normal little boy, obsessed with cars & dino's. He loves playing outside and the weather has been gorgeous in the low 60's. He has stopped signing since he is speaking more, he's saying 2-3 word sentences now. Dylan still loves to snuggle & read books, when Elora & Derek are gone to school he wants to read OR watch "HOWWW" aka House. We swear he's going to be a Dr when he grows up he'll sit and watch a good 15 mins of it and then he'll go off and play but when he hears the music for the end of the show he'll come running "Howw ober! OBER!," and grab the remote to try to change it to the next show.

We just had his 2nd Birthday Party and it was a construction theme, he had a great time playing with the stuff, I'll post pics and details in a diff post. :) With all the news about Derek, I felt I had to post something about the other 2 :)

Dylan is such a sweet little boy and I thank God every day for surprising us with such an awesome Blessing :)