Terrible 2's!!!

Last weekend we went out to eat on Sunday. We had a lazy morning and Lil M ate a big breakfast, which is typical for him. Then we went to Cheddar's around noon because I really wanted a Monte Cristo and google said Cheddar's was the closest restaurant with one on their menu. If you have never had one it is a ham and cheese sandwich dipped in a funnel cake batter and fried. Then served with a raspberry dip and sometimes powdered sugar. They are a-maz-ing! Highly worth the multiple days worth of calories in one meal. Anyways, Lil M got a pasta and proceeded to grab both hands full and cram as much in his mouth as possible. He has always been an aggressive eater, but this was over the top. We tried to slow him down and scold him, but basically gave up and just tried to contain the mess.

 Later in the day he was all about testing his boundaries. I'm pretty sure his thought process was similar to this: Can I pull Moby's paw, yes, how long can I pull it, how hard can I pull it, why is he growling at me, oh that makes it more fun! and the day proceeded from there. His big stuff is annoying the dogs, climbing on things he knows he shouldn't instead of things he can, like the couch, and throwing EVERYTHING! He isn't really listening when I say no, he just smiles, maintaining eye contact while continuing the activity. He still responds to distraction, but I don't know how much longer that will last. We have always planned on using time outs and have started those this week. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda lost on how to start time outs with a toddler. They immediately became a game of get away. I have read some online tricks for his age, like keeping the time short, ignoring him, etc. But when I put him in the designated time out spot, he just looks at me and laughs, then proceeds to try to get away. He has no idea he is in trouble. I think that is the most frustrating part at this point. He hasn't made the connection that he did something wrong. I don't know if we are starting these to early or if persistence is the key. I think only time will tell, or we will find the true limit of Moby's patience. :)

Since he has recently picked up on puzzles and how they work I bought some stickers for him to play with. He loves Cars so naturally we got Cars stickers. He loved them, but was constantly trying to take them off the paper to move around. At first it was only to put back on the paper, but then he became interested in other places. Luckily there aren't a lot of sticker friendly surfaces in our living room, but he found one good place, his belly! Later, after he went to bed, I found one stuck on my leg too, apparently I wasn't paying very close attention.

We also had our first scrapped up knee this weekend. We were walking the dogs and Lil M got excited and tried to run on the sidewalk. He fell and slid a little bit. He cried and I was surprised to see he actually drew blood, but he was running around after a minute like nothing happened. I even had to wrestle him down to get this picture. Such a boy!

Friday Night

This post I wrote 2 weeks ago, but I had trouble with the video so I am just now getting it posted. Hopefully I have all the kinks worked out and can share more videos now!

Thursdays are "Boy's Day" because Mario has the day off so Lil M stays home from school with him. But Friday nights are all about mom. I am usually to tired from the whole week to do anything productive so Lil M and I sit on the floor and play till bedtime. Tonight we did puzzles. We have had these puzzles for a while, but tonight is the first time I have seen him actually putting pieces together. We have puzzles that are pictures of cars, planes etc that have a board with a matching picture underneath. He usually just puts the pieces on top of the board and I match them up, but tonight he took his time, really looked at the pieces, and then matched them! I was so excited and tried to make a big deal out of it with 'Yay' and clapping and high fives. He was super excited at first, then he just wanted to pick the board up so he could dump the pieces again. I tried to get some pictures, but puzzle pictures are apparently action shots, so he's blurry, but you can tell the pieces match up!

I also try to read to him a lot and he loves books. I will read him one or two, then give him the option to 'read' to me. Tonight he brought me a book and proceeded to read to me. I had the flip close so I actually got it on video! I'm super excited to share this since these moments are so hard to capture on film. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

A Month of Firsts

I haven't posted in a few weeks and so much has happened that I will try to keep it short. I'll only share the firsts that have happened lately. I'll save the rest for another post.
The first is the funniest, in my opinion. If you don't like poop you'll want to skip to the second item. We have been lucky because Mario has never been a big random pee-er or pooper. He only peed once when we were changing his diaper and only a few poops. He has peed a few times when we left him out of the diaper for a while with a rash etc. Well, when he was bathing this week he got that look. The holding-breath-face-turning-red-while-he-stares-into-space look. I knew what was coming but I was too late. He then got as still as a statue and stared at me while trying to decide if he should cry or play with it. He poked it a few times then decided it was not cool to have poop in his bath and proceeded to stay as still as a statue until it could be removed. Unfortunately it spread everywhere so I had to drain the tub. I didn't want to refill the whole tub so I moved him to the back end and washed him with water from the faucet in his cup. You would have thought I was washing him with tar. He was so mad at me! He hated every minute and got some good practice at his 'death' stare. It was cute and shows how sometimes he hates getting dirty.
The second is cute now, but could get annoying real quick. He has started tap dancing. He will stand there and repeatedly stamp his feet as fast as he can. He does it now for fun and we mimic him and dance to keep it fun. At first I had to watch him close because I couldn't tell if he was having fun or throwing a fit. Hopefully this won't become part of his fits. Now he just stops what he's doing, bends forward placing his face as close to the floor as possible, and has the red-face delayed cry. Other mothers know what I'm talking about. It is also super cute, for now. :)
We recently bought our training potty. I have been wanting to get it for awhile, but never pulled the trigger. We aren't potty training, but I want to have it around so he is familiar with it. We put him on it in the morning and at night. He will sit there for a few minutes, but he hasn't gone in it yet. I try to give him something to distract him so he will sit there a little longer, ie a book, toy, etc. He has put his toys and his cup in it multiple times, so I don't think he is ready yet. We'll keep trying! :)
I mentioned to Mario that we needed to make sure we are working with Lil M on words. The next day they were home together I came home from work and he could say "shoe", "car", and "outside". Ok, maybe outside is a stretch, but he points outside and I can hear it. :) Within the last few days he has added "Hi" and "Bye" both with a wave. When I pick him up from school he turns and waves to his teacher right away. It is making me feel better that he wants to come home.
Along the "Bye" story line, Mario "stole" a thing 1 and thing 2 (Dr Suese sp?)  bag from Target. I gave it to him to play with while we shopped. I was going to put it up, but since it is red and his whole outfit was red, I forgot about it until I picked him up to put him in his car seat. Anyways, it was worth the potential felony because he loves it! He carries it everywhere, over a bent arm just like a little old lady! He will pick up his bag, wave to me, say "bye" and walk into the hall. He will repeat this until something else steals his attention.
Well this is all of the "Firsts" I can think of for now. I'm sure there are tons I'm missing, but I'll catch up soon. Maybe in another month! :)

 Playing at the splash pad

 I love this picture because it shows all his teeth!

He's actually using a fork for a few bites at each meal!