July 16, 2003. Yeah, okay, it's been two months -- I've been busy :)
We're on Big Boy territory now -- though he still doesn't show any real interest in using the potty, Stephen sleeps through the night in his own bed now. We have a little cuddle in my bed before he goes to sleep, then I say, "It's time to go to sleep in your own bed," and he says, "Okay!" and tucks himself in. If he has a bad dream, sometimes he comes back into bed with me, but never before dawn, and those occasions have been fewer and fewer lately. It was really a remarkably easy transition -- nuts to all the people who said, "If he sleeps with you as a baby, you'll never get him into his own bed!" And we never had to resort to cry-it-out, and he is very good about going to sleep. So there :) We're still working on the potty training field, but I read through the American Academy of Pediatrics book on the subject, and it sounds like Stephen is not abnormal in not showing an interest at this age. Their advice pretty much boils down to: let the child take the lead. Don't make it a struggle. So that's what we're doing. I'm leery about pushing it right now, anyway, seeing as we'll have a major transition in a couple of months, and everything I've heard and read suggests that major transitions nearly always disrupt toilet learning. I'm thinking we can get some mileage out of "the new baby is wearing diapers, but you don't need to because you're a big boy" and whatnot, anyway :)
On the food front, he's still as picky as ever, but his weight jumped from off-the-charts-low at his 2-year appointment to 25th percentile at this one. He's also 25th percentile for height, so it looks like he's right on track for weight now. So much for all my worrying! He loves peas and beans (edamame [unprocessed soybeans] is the newest find -- high in protein, fiber, and vitamins, and he loves them!), soy milk, pasta, rice, corn-on-the-cob, bread, crackers, broccoli, carrots, grapes, cherries, apples, and sometimes, fish sticks and chicken nuggets, though those are less and less reliable. He won't eat red meat at all -- even hamburgers are "No!" now -- or pork, or chicken in non-nugget format. Guess we have a self-styled vegetarian on our hands! Of course, he won't touch eggs, either. Ah well. Pretty common for kids his age, anyway, and I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon.
He's got more and more complex sentences, though we are hoping to get a speech evaluation done on him soon (they are really, really busy). My favorites are: "Mommy, wake up! I need your help!" in the morning and of course, "I yuff you, Mommy!" David pretends to eat his brain (munching at his head and saying "Brains! Brains!"), so we've lately gotten, "Eat my brain!" and if we comply, "Ah! My brains!" Very silly, and very funny. He says and recognizes the numerals 1-9, and is learning the alphabet (loves his letters), and is getting more interested in the words in his books, rather than just the pictures. I bet he'll be reading in a few months.
Trains are still the number one attraction. We've started weeding out some of his toys, which has helped a lot with the cleanup issues I mentioned last time -- it seems that he had so many, it was just overwhelming to put them all away. So now he has a select set of train tracks (the Thomas set from Dad and Ann) and some alphabet and number blocks, and he has become 100% better at putting them away when he's done. On the days we can get to the park (that is, when it's not boilingly hot outside!), he has a great time playing with the other kids, running around, riding the swings and slides, etc. We'll be joining a homeschool playgroup in the fall, so he'll have some regular playmates his own age. (The local non-daycare preschools all close during the summer here, and are unbelievably expensive during the school year -- just not feasible for us.) Until then, he has a friend who is about 22 months younger than him; it's not exactly an even match, but they have fun together.
Think that's about it for now. Hugs and kisses (yep, big, wet, Stephen kisses) to all, and enjoy the new pictures!
Previous Stephen updates: May 2003, April 2003, February 2003; November 2002, August 2002, May 2002; April 2002; March 2002; February 2002; November 2001.