Progress

So I bet everybody is dying to hear how Little V is doing, right? It's been awhile since I dedicated a post to my sweet little guy. His birthday is in a little less than 3 weeks and he's growing like a weed.

He's almost completely outgrown all of his two-year old clothes. Luckily for me, I've got lots of friends with little boys who had passed things down that I'd stored away. Going through the boxes last week I discovered that a lot of it will be too small already (hate when that happens!) but there were still a lot of things he'll be able to wear now and grow into. I'm not actually sure how tall he is, but since the 3 year old clothes fit well, I'd guess he's somewhere shy of a meter. Just like me, he's all torso. His hair is still bright red and his eyes are still bright blue.. two things I was sure would have changed by now, but that's okay. He'll likely be the only red-headed, blue-eyed kid at his school when he starts next September.

As far as his personality goes, we are well on our way down "NO!" road. From pushing his plate away at meal times to throwing toys on the ground, he's very clear about what he wants. It's frustrating but since his verbal skills are getting better and he's developed some clever little signs, things are getting easier.

Speaking of verbal skills, he's speaking more French than English right now but I'm not concerned in the slightest. He understands everything that I say and does everything that I ask him to do, which is sign enough to me at the moment that he "gets it". I'm encouraging him to repeat after me and I repeat the French words that he does say in English, often making him say the word before he gets what he wants. "Please" is a good example. He automatically says "Merci" any time anybody gives him anything which I think is great, and when I repeat "Thank you" back to him instead, he'll mimick me. I've never heard him say "S'il te plait" but I have heard him say "please". He's still making two-word sentences in both French and English. "Mommy car", "my mommy", "my Mickey", "my McQueen" and "Mommy book" are common things I hear him say. He has a funny sign he does when he wants something that's yours. If I'm eating toast, he'll point at my toast and say "mommy" and then turn his pointer around on himself, tapping his chest with his index finger. If I say "no, it's mommy's toast", he'll say "please", and then maybe I'll share depending on what I'm eating. His food issues seem to be a thing of the past but as a consequence, I now have a very picky eater on my hands. He doesn't want to eat anything except baby food or purées. I'm trying to introduce new things but it's a slow process. He ate yogurt last week with no problems but he doesn't seem to like cheese or milk so I guess we'll see.

The best part of growing up though is learning how to sleep. He has never been a good sleeper when he's with me. I could spend hours with him trying to get him to settle and calm down enough to finally rest, and he won't do it. The second I stood up to leave, he'd be crying and screaming, and it could last for hours. Last week, I finally decided i'd had enough. Two years is a long time to go without a full night's sleep. When I picked him up on Friday, he was really tired so I kept him up a bit later to make sure he was really, really tired. I laid him in bed, turned on his music box, turned out the light, and shut the door. He got up and started crying, but because he was so tired, it didn't even last ten minutes before he was out. Later when I went in to check on him, he had a book open on his lap. Last night, I decided to do the same thing. Three times, he got up and went to the door and cried for about a minute, no more, and I held the door shut. He finally went back to bed and I didn't hear a word from him until 7:30 this morning. Nap time has improved too. He doesn't wake up screaming and crying anymore.

So there are the temper tantrums and there are the moments in public where I just want to bury my head in the sand, but I'm finally starting to get my evenings back. It's been such a long time since I could cook dinner or bake, or take a bath or do laundry in the evenings. It's been all about getting him to bed, which was such an exhausting process that I ended up in bed as soon as he was out. Since we both slept better last night, I also don't "need" to nap at the same time as him today either, freeing me up to think about other possibilities. It's amazing. What's also amazing is that I'm able to fit my backside into a size 36 made out of real denim and not stretch denim again. It's not Victor's fault my backside expanded in the first place, but it is nice to see it shrinking back down.

So there's some mommy progress for you. Things still aren't perfect, but at least they are starting to improve.