Yes or No

Owen seems to be going through a phase where he wants very specific directions about things. He has no problems making decisions about some things; he'll pick out what he wants to eat, or what he wants to do if given a choice. But if we're putting stickers on something, he wants us to tell him exactly where to put the sticker. "No, YOU tell me!!" is something we hear a lot if we try to get him to decide. If we're doing a "scene" from Cars, he gets upset if we don't show or tell him exactly where to put the cars; if we say next to Sally he'll say "On this side or this side?", even if there is really only one open side. And lately, he'll add "Yes or No!" after a pointed question. "This side? Yes or No!" And if we answer with anything other than a direct yes or no, he gets upset. Answers such as "I think", "maybe", or even "yep" leads to an even more emphatic "YES OR NO??!!!". And if we don't answer that? He stomps off crying. I blame his Daddy, cause, well, everyone knows he's the picky one. As he would say, look who he married, and look who I married!

The good news is that Owen is doing really well with potty training. He's been wearing only underpants except at night. He even went to the zoo in underpants. His star chart really seems to be working. He gets 5 stars if he asks to go potty then goes, and when he gets 10 stars, he gets a toy car. Other things are worth 1 or 2 stars. The only thing that it hasn't helped with is staying in bed all night (worth 10 stars!). We've been very lax in trying to break him of the habit of coming to get us at night. We just don't have enough motivation to lock him in in some way (which is likely the only way to nip it in the bud). I guess we're hoping he'll out grow it (or maybe get over it once Sophie is out of our room). Or maybe we secretly don't mind waking up and finding him in our bed (as long as he's sleeping and not fidgety). See reason #1 of Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party. :-)

Sophie has her first cold, but seems to be handling it pretty well. I figured that would happen as soon as I quit pumping breast milk for her, which I recently have. Never would I have thought that I would make it 9 months, but I did! Now I can finally say goodbye to my pump, which is kind of bittersweet. It was definitely a hassle, but in a way it's kind of sad; it's a reminder that I'm done with breastfeeding forever, and once Sophie turns a year old, I'm done with babies! Yikes! I felt old when I became a parent, but I really feel old now that I'm done having kids. We've always said we'd like 2 or 3 kids, but given the fact that my body apparently produces premies, we definitely have to stop at 2. I don't really want more than two kids, and do look forward to getting out of the baby phase, but it still is sad to think about.

It's been a while since I've posted. In the last month Sophie has rolled over, is doing great at holding bigger toys, and is doing better at sitting up. Her therapists are very happy with how engaged she is becoming with her surroundings. Just a few short weeks ago she didn't like being on her tummy for very long, but now she rolls over like it's nothing, and is even trying to scoot to reach things. Before long, she'll be crawling!

Are we ready for that? Sorry, Owen, but my answer would have to be yes AND no! :-)

From O So April 2011

From O So April 2011