Saturday, February 4, 2012

The Terrible Ones

I haven't blogged in a few weeks because I've been really busy. People have asked, "what have you been busy with" and I don't really have an answer, ha ha. I think "the terrible ones" should be my answer, if there is one. Barrett is such a good boy...really, he is. He's just in a funk lately and it's taking a toll on the whole house. For the past two weeks, he's whined and cried pretty much 24/7. He literally has this monotone whine that he does all the time now and it has just about driven Ty and I insane. Ty has always been so patient and handles stressful times with Barrett so well. I can tell that he's even getting impatient at this point. Unfortunately, I wasn't blessed with ANY patience so I'm struggling with this one bad.

Barrett's cutting a few teeth and has an ear infection so I know he's not feeling well. That along with his newly defiant attitude has made for some unpleasant times lately. I guess I just didn't expect this until he was two. You know, you hear, "the terrible twos," not "the terrible ones". He wants what he can't have. He wants to do anything other than what he's currently doing. He wants to be held one second and not the next. He refuses to eat certain foods. He's constantly sleepy, which is a new one. He goes to the doctor for his fifteen month checkup in a couple of weeks so I'm going to ask about it then. He sleeps twelve hours a night and takes around a two hour nap a day. We probably need to adjust his sleep schedule and break it up in a way that he's getting two naps a day. I'm dreading that process though :/.

When Barrett turned a year old, we cut down his bottles to just one eight ounce bottle in the morning and one eight ounce bottle at bedtime and he did fine with that. But here lately, he's become obsessed with his bottles. He'll walk around the house crying for his "ba-ba" and it's just pitiful. I don't want to take steps backwards though, so I'm sticking to my guns and only giving him two a day. In the next few months, we have to cut back to one and then none so this is just the beginning. It's just been difficult lately because I feel like I'm spending more time disciplining him than I am having fun with him. I'm hoping that we'll at least get a little break after he cuts these teeth and gets rid of this ear infection.

As far as his development goes, he's still not walking on his own. He walks behind things like his Mickey truck and dinosaur walker and knows how to turn them to make circles through our kitchen, living room, and hallway. He says a lot of words now. He knows how to color with crayons. He can operate the TV remote and light switches. He weighs 28 pounds.

He's moving up rooms again at daycare this Monday, which I'm really excited about. Supposedly, there's a mother dying to get her child into his old class because she starts work Monday and there wasn't a spot open. They said that they felt developmentally, it was time for Barrett to move up anyways. At first, I was hesitant but after meeting the teachers, I'm beyond thrilled. They seem like what he needs, to boost him to the next level. They do art in his new classroom which I'm excited about. They also no longer eat in highchairs. I visited Friday and was beyond surprised to see how well-behaved the children were, while eating lunch. There were about eight 14-24 month old kids sitting at this long, short table with little bitty chairs. Each child was sitting straight-forward in their chair and eating their food with such good manners. I'm nervous to see how Barrett tolerates this on Monday but I'm sure he'll get adjusted. I think it will be good for him and might help with the problems we're having right now. In the class he was in, they didn't do a whole lot of interacting with the children as far as activities go. They were there to feed the children, give them their naps, change their diapers, and keep them safe. The children played together but that was the most interaction they got. In his new class, they teach them sign language and do crafts every day. My little boy is growing up so fast :*(.

Anyways, I'm going to get off of this computer and watch Courageous with Ty. We are in desperate need of alone time since all of this stuff with Barrett, so we take advantage of the time when he's sleeping. Just say a prayer for us, please! I have got to learn how to be patient. Everyone have a great week!

***I appreciate no drama becoming from this post. Please and thank you ;)***