Sheesh! So much to tell you!!
I will start off by saying that Dane has been walking more than crawling lately! It's awesome! He does so well, and is so happy with himself! He holds his arms way up in front of him and laughs the whole time he is walking. When he falls (basically just sits down) he claps and laughs, and then crawls to a place where he can stand up again and start walking! Its awesome! I am so glad he is walking because now we can play outside and I don't have to worry about making sure the deck is brushed off and whatnot (dirty hands and knees from crawling).
And yes, he finally learned to clap and play patty cake! Mema (my mom) flew out from PA to visit for a few days and taught him. It was such a great visit, and she got plenty of Dane time. She even did the laundry for me and cooked and cleaned! She can visit anytime....haha!
While mema was here, Darren and I decided to take advantage of having a "live in babysitter" and took on some projects around the house - we rented a dingo and ripped up all the bushes and plants around our house (and even the neighbors house), built a 4 foot tall retaining wall, removed all the rocks around the house and re purposed them to a little patio thing on the side of the house for the garbage cans, dug a hole for a new patio (we have to flatten out the dirt yet and fill it in with a ton of lime stone pebbles which are sitting in our yard waiting for us) and planted new trees and bushes and layed mulch down. We moved almost 10 tons of dirt and rock by ourselves....my muscles are so sore! Mema has most of the pics (which she will be emailing me soon), but here are a few that i took with my cell phone. Enjoy.
Monkey has entered a new stage in his life - separation anxiety :( Its really hard on me, but I am being strong (well, trying to be anyway). When mema was here, I couldn't leave the room without him freaking out. I would have to sneak out so he wouldn't see me leave and then he was fine. I even had to whisper so he wouldn't hear me talk. If he saw me or heard me all hell broke loose and he was a crying screaming mess. He usually is fine too when Darren drops him off at daycare, but he is starting to freak out now. His teachers swoop in and grap him and divert his attention, so hopefully this stage is quick and painless. Even though this is really tough, it's a milestone. He is learning that he has emotions and it's a good thing!
For some reason it never dawned on me to be teaching monkey to be eating with a fork or spoon. I would just dump his food on his tray and he would feed himself with his hands. It's how they do it at daycare, so I figured it was all right. But, mema questioned why i feed him that way and it got me thinking.....so, i went out and bought him some toddler forks and spoons and suction cup bowls and didn't even have to teach him anything! He speared the pineapple chunks with his fork and ate them! What the heck?!?!? I thought this was going to be a tough thing to teach him, but boy was i wrong. They don't use silverware at daycare, so I guess he just knew how to use them by watching me eat. What a guy! Yesterday I put his mac and cheese in a bowl and he used his fork. He doesn't get as messy and it's so fun to watch him eat! Yay! Poor dogs though, not as much food falls on the floor anymore. Maybe they will start to lose some weight....haha!
4 comments:
I'm sure there are a hundred suggestions, but from the research and feedback I've gotten, it is worse to "sneak" out of a room because then they feel like you'll leave at any time and have to keep an eye on you. It is better to let them see you leave, be upset and get over it (although this is obviously harder on mom!). It will help him get over this stage faster and develop a secure attachment. Although, I'd be lying to say I haven't sneaked out a few times myself!
LOVE the retaining wall. Can't believe you did it all by yourselfs. Are you for hire? Ha, ha.
Wow, that wall looks so great!! We're getting ready to do some major yardwork this weekend (had dirt delivered yesterday), so I'm not looking forward to the sore muscles.
That is SO AWESOME about Dane eating with utensils like that. I keep forgetting (still) to give Jesse utensils with his meal, but he reminds me..."poon, poon". He gets tired of his plates and bowls, though, and usually ends up dumping them out.
You need to get some video of Dane walking!!!
Wow I cant believe all the work you guys did. It looks great! I'm sure you'll be enjoying it after your muscles stop screaming!
and Go Dane GO!!
thanks for the kind words about the wall! it was a lot of hard work, but Darren and I make a great team and got the job done. We have a ton of more work to do, but it will get done some day.
I talked to monkey's teachers today about his SA and they both said that whats best (in their opinion of course) is to say to Dane "good bye, i love you and will be back" and then leave. If he freaks, dont come back because that is just teaching him that crying will make mommy come back. It's hard, and I know I will get through it, but I just hate it!
I HAD to sneak out and whisper when my mom was in town, I was just going outside to work on the landscaping and if i would say goodbye and hello every 10 minutes when I would walk in the house for something he would get so confused and be crying the whole entire day!
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