Christmas at 3 1/2

Noah still didn't really get the whole Christmas thing this year.  He watched Mickey Mouse Christmas specials and Curious George Christmas specials, but that's about it.  He loves snowmen.  I think he might still be more into pumpkins from Fall/Thanksgiving.  He does really enjoy all the lights and decorations on the houses!

So, we kept things pretty small again this year.  We hung the stockings, put some lights around the tree outside.  I've had my stocking my entire life.  My Mom made the ones for Ching and Noah.  I'm happy we have a fireplace to hang them over! 

About two months ago, Noah decided he was really, really into fire trucks.  That made deciding what to get him for Christmas easy.  It also made waiting to give it to him until Christmas really hard!  We also got him a little Match Box motorcycle. 

The other thing he's really into is Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Granny and Pa were great and got him some jammies and t-shirt!  His aunt Jennifer also sent him some really cool clothes.  

The lady who's been walking Ramen for over a year now was also really nice and got Noah a little car for Christmas.  We let him start by opening it and it took some convincing to get him to move on and open other things.  

Next year I'm sure will be a bigger event.  We'll decorate a Christmas tree and actually wrap the presents and put them under it. 

The Dentist, Literally, and Other Thoughts

Noah had his first dentist appointment the other day.  About seven weeks ago we noticed that one of his front teeth was starting to turn a little grey.  The internets said that as long as the gums were ok, it was nothing to worry about.  We figured getting it checked out couldn't hurt.

At the dentist, he went right back with the lady and got up on the chair and began his usual stoic, good response.  They did a quick check of everything and a cleaning.  Towards the end he got a little upset, but we didn't even have the silent tears!  The dentist said everything looked good.  I told him I was really proud of him and thanked him for being such a good kid, but I'm not sure how much he gets that.

One thing that's caught my attention lately is how Noah is completely literal.  So far, there's no sign of imagination or pretend.  His speech is coming along.  He's talking more and in longer phrases, his vocabulary continues to grow.  One of his most used phrases is still "what's that?"  We have no idea when he'll change to why instead of what.  He's also still very undeterred, once he says he wants something, he is relentless until he gets it - or we sometimes succeed in changing the subject.  I was talking with Ching about the literalness, and how it seems that once we lose that, we're never that literal again.  I don't know how to explain it better.  I just find it interesting.

In other news, I put on facebook the other day that everything Noah knows about Christmas, he's learned from Curious George and Mickey Mouse Christmas specials.  We did a little decorating this year, but we'll do more next year.  I also said that I'm more impatient and excited to give Noah his present than I was a kid waiting for mine.  A few weeks ago he started really getting into firetrucks, so we got him a nice Tonka one.  We really can't wait to see his reaction!

My boss away from work

Since I'm pretty much a pushover when it comes to just about everyone, I knew that once Noah had popped out I'd get a new boss.

It started with the normal everyday affairs of bringing up baby, the feedings, washings and keeping him healthy.  Then as he grew older, gotten more active and now more verbal, he now makes sure that he doesn't make me feel left out when I am not at work.

He wants me to do everything for and with him, gets me to drive him to Starbucks for fruit and cheese (not a everyday occurrence), marches me around like a little drill sergeant, makes me click countless times to get to the Youtube videos that he wants to watch, and just in general, finding and pushing my buttons.

What can I do?  Because of my crazy work commute, I might get to spend maybe 3 hours with him after work before his bedtime (Probably typical with parents who work in this area.)  So that is kind of like an effort to make the time spent with him mostly quality time, even if it means being bossed around.  Even though he can get a bit crazy when I'm around (picture being hyped up on something) his sweetness and spontaneity make it all worthwhile!  (Unless I'm dog-tired.)

Winter Blues

I love the weather here in Northern Virginia.  I love having four seasons.  But... last winter was really long and cold and mostly dry.  Over the summer, I told Ching that this winter would be a wet one.  I was hoping it wouldn't be quite so cold though.  So far, really cold and wet. 

This is not good for an outdoors boy.  Or his Mom.  Noah doesn't like to sit and color, or play with a train set, or sit and do much of anything - other than watch Curious George or Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and play semi-educational apps on the kindle.  (They at least go over the alphabet and shapes and colors.) 

We did get to go to the park one day last week.  I realized how much I miss sitting outside in the sunshine and looking at all the trees. 

We would bundle up and try going to the park more often, but it's up on a hill so the winds are unbearable.  In the summer it makes for a nice breeze, in the winter it goes through your bones.  And also, there's that wet snow and ice we've had lately. 

There is one decent indoor place to go play and we go sometimes.  Almost all of the rec center stuff is for four year olds.  School was supposed to be a good place to go, but man, they've been out of school more than in it since the first of November.  And the two week Christmas break is coming.  The other moms are looking forward to some play dates, too!

Anyway.  Just gotta keep at it and find things to do until Spring. 

Noah Just Lost His Mind

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving here at home this year.  We cooked all our favorites for the day and are enjoying the leftovers.  Who needs scented candles when there's a pot of soup simmering on the stove all day with the turkey bones in it? 

It's also been really cold again so far this winter.  We went to the park with Noah Thursday, but it was 34 outside with a cold wind blowing, we made it about ten minutes.  Friday, it was 44 and we were there about forty minutes. 

I'm not a fan of this holiday weekend because of all the traffic and the crazy people out at the malls and restaurants.  It makes it hard to just get out of the house and do something. 

So, we've been inside a lot.  Noah's been watching Curious George episodes on amazon prime for a while now.  I found the Curious George 2 movie on netflix for him.  He's watched it twice a day, at least, for five days now. He wakes up and asks for "George - elephant!"  The good thing is it allows us time to relax, make our coffee, figure out breakfast while he watches it. 

It's also made it tempting to buy a cheap tv for him so we don't have to watch all of that George with him.  But, no.  Some people would say it's bad enough he's watching so much tv.  At least we can use it as a time for being together, quietly, and snuggling. 

In the past week or two, Noah has really started using the word STOP.  If we're talking to each other and not him - STOP.  Or just doing whatever it is he'd rather we didn't - STOP!  He never really got into the typical toddler NO phase, I guess this is what he's doing instead.  I guess I use "stop" with him more than I use "no".  This morning, Ching was going to head upstairs, and Noah was all "stop, stop, stop" until she said "what?" He wanted her to get his vitamin for him.  Heh. 

Noah's also lost his damn mind a couple of times lately. 

The other night we were watching George and I asked him if I could light the fire in the fireplace.  He said "ok!"  Then, I did, and he started shouting "STOP, turn it off!!  Stop!  No!  HOT!" and running around the room.  WTF?  We'd had a fire in the fireplace the week before and it was fine.  I can only guess that the fire starts off bigger than he'd seen before and it worried him.  He wouldn't go upstairs to get away from it though.  About ten minutes later, it was all fine. 

Yesterday, he amazingly slept until 9 a.m.  Woohoo!  We finally went to the park and got a late lunch, so we decided that instead of a late nap and staying up until 11 pm or so with him, we'd skip the nap and put him to bed early.  This doesn't happen often, but it happens.  About 7 pm we tell him it's bath time.  We get him in the bathroom and on his little potty - and then he loses his mind.  He won't get off the potty, won't get in the bathtub.  Nothing.  I finally have to carry him to his room, but on his diaper and pajamas and put him in bed.  I think it took him 15 minutes to fall asleep.  Poor boy.  He slept until 8 this morning.  No more skipping naps!

I put on FB that parenting would be much easier of the rules didn't change all the time.  But they do, just like Noah does.  And, really, I guess that's a good thing. 

Noah These Days

Let's see.  What to say about Noah these days.

His most annoying habit these days is closing any door in the house he passes that's open.

The flip side of this is that in the past week he's also started knocking on doors and saying "who's there?" or "who's home?"  I assume he picked this up at school.

Something he's been doing for a while, that I assume - and hope - is common for his age is having his favorite little things that he sleeps with and/or takes in the car with him.  It can be this little airplane toy or his glow worm or two long, blue duplos stuck together, or his Jake book.  The one good thing is that he is willing and able to go find/get them most of the time.  But, it does also mean we have to sort of at least have an idea of where they are to tell him to go look.

Remember about four to six weeks ago when we tried to put new shoes on his feet and he reacted as if we'd set his feet on fire.  Fun times.  Well, Saturday he got his shoes wet and they weren't dry by the time we wanted to go somewhere.  So, we got the new shoes, put them on his feet, and he's been happy to wear them ever since.  Woohoo.  I guess he realized they were more comfy than the old ones.

We're also fond of remembering the days when he was a nice, quiet little boy.  We listened when people said that probably wouldn't last.  It didn't.  Boy does he jabber a lot.  I'd say we're up to understanding about 40% or so.  He's constantly learning new words and phrases.  I still think part of his problem could be his brain working faster than his mouth.

He still watches quite a bit of Curious George, and a little Sofia, but now he's in love with Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Last week I was eating a little cheese pizza for lunch and he ended up eating about 1/4 of it.  Tonight, Ching had some steam bag corn and he helped himself to a few bites.  So there is hope that he will expand his list of foods beyond 20 things.  His absolute favorite food right now is Jello.  Thankfully, he didn't mind all that much when we were out of it.

Oh yeah.  Potty training.  We have NO idea how it works.  Thanks to pre-school, he's started using his potty chair several times a day.  Mostly we have him use it in the morning before getting dressed, before and after his nap, and then before his bath.  He's getting better at pulling down his pants and pull-ups.  He's not to the point where he says, "hey, let's go potty" yet.  But, he's doing better at this point than we thought he'd be.  We just don't really know how to "move the process forward".

Our Special Ed Boy

Last Friday we finally met with Noah's special ed teacher and his new speech therapist to go over a new IEP (individualized education plan).  His special ed teacher has been working with him at his pre-school and has been giving us weekly written reports of how he's doing.  The speech therapist did a 45 minute evaluations of him a couple of weeks ago.  We feel that both of them have a pretty good handle on who Noah is and where he's at.  Now in addition to the help at school, he'll be doing 30 minutes a week of regular speech therapy. 

One funny thing he did with the speech therapist was when he was no longer interested in the task she wanted him to do, he put his head down, said "sleep" and pretended to be asleep.  Heh.  His special ed person said one time during a book reading he just very, very slowly turned around until his back was to her.  We think it's amusing how he finds nice ways to protest. 

When we started all of this before the last school year, Noah was about a year behind on speaking.  He's made tons of progress, but he's still about a year behind.  He's excellent at labeling things - saying what things are, and at repeating certain phrases we use with him a lot, and at repeating just about anything we say.  But when it comes to spontaneously speaking, it still comes out mostly in jargon we don't understand. 

Ching and I think he's better at understanding us and at following directions than his teacher might.  She said he's not so good when he's asked to "point at..." or "show me..."  but those are two phrases I don't think we've ever used with him, so I understand why he doesn't know them. 

Sometimes it's odd to realize things we don't do with Noah that I guess are common - like the point at or show me. 

He knows his colors, numbers, shapes and alphabet - but we've never actively taught any of it to him.  He's learned it 90% through videos.  We know he has a great memory.

On that front, last night we drove past the place he went to a swim birthday party last summer.  He saw it and said "water, water" and really wanted to go in there.  We had an errand to run first, but let him go in and see the other kids.  He was so upset he couldn't get in the water.  We wouldn't have guessed he remembered it, or would want to do it again.

His regular teacher says he is one of the kids in his class who really seems to want to learn things and takes interest in new things. 

I have a feeling that his language delay might be masking just how smart he is.  (Or not, it's hard to really know.) 

Of course, the biggest question we have is why.  Why is this seemingly specific part of language so hard for him.  I'm not sure there's an answer.