W at Three…

Oh little Dubs, you are so much fun and such a challenge at the same time!  You are such a charmer and say the sweetest things to me (thank you to the hubs who teaches him this cuteness!) like:

“mommy, you a gorgeous pretty flower”

“mommy, I lub you THIS MUCH!!”

“don’t leave, hold my hand” (when putting him to bed)

“I want to be mommy’s bear cub (sounds like bear tub)” – which means he wants to snuggle up on the couch and watch TV with us (further postponing bedtime, the sly thing!)

“I need to say sweet dreams daddy”

“oh! I got an idea! Hmmm…(with finger to chin)” Me: What’s your idea??”  W: “I not know”  (this is a favorite thing he says…I not know instead of I don’t know.  I smile every time!)

“I’m spooning mommy” – yes, he knows this!

AND, our little one says his blessing before meals and prayers before bed!  Sometimes with a little encouragement, but sometimes he says the whole thing all by himself and I love it so much.  Most times he says, “keep you hands together….Dear God, thank you for….(usually what’s in front of him, or he says “bless mommy, daddy, wade, drew…)”  Absolutely precious.

He is getting SO independent (“let ME do it”) and really likes to do things on his own and for himself, even if it might entail scaling the refrigerator to get the fruit snacks we stashed on top of it “out of reach.” True story. Just this week!

He loves school and talks about his friends more and more each week.

He is VERY excited to have SANTA come this year and we are looking forward to a visit at the mall hopefully this weekend. 

We are continuing to work on listening and not being too rough or mean to his little brother.  Poor bear gets shoved down multiple times a day, sat on, squeezed, yelled at…but he has started to give it right back and is one tough 1-year-old.  I won’t lie that some days I just don’t know what to do about it all.  I try not to get discouraged by the bad behavior and am working to educate myself on some different approaches and strategies to respond to the behavior a little more effectively so we don’t become broken records, always correcting the. same. things.

We’ll get there…I’m encouraged by what I’ve been reading recently that it’s not an insurmountable behavioral situation we have on our hands and with some adjustments to our own interactions with W, I think we’ll be able to restore the peace and encourage better listening and cooperation skills.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!!