Friday, November 23, 2012

Words seem to be failing me

 
Seems that the larger and more complex Micah's vocabulary and conversation ability grows, the less I'm able to capture who he is in words.  Does that mean it is time for me to give up blogging?  Probably not yet because I find it very useful for my scrapbooking. 
 
He is turning into such a fun little companion, almost always cheerful, curious, and wanting to participate.  He makes us smile many times over each day.  I love having conversations with him in the car -- he always asks good questions about what he sees around us, and loves watching out for certain landmarks, like the "funny car" -- an old truck rigged up to look like a train engine parked outside a VFW post.  When I bring him a snack for the car ride home from daycare he tells me I'm a "nice mommy", and he is very affectionate with both of us.  He still has that adorable toddler speech, saying "weely" instead of "really" and "twee" instead of "tree," and it is cute to hear him trying to get out more complicated thoughts or questions.
 
He loves to pretend Daddy is a monster and run away from him, but also loves to get caught and have a ticklefest.  Hates when any other friend at daycare tries to talk to me -- will loudly announce "No! That's MY mommy!"  Loves doing art projects at school and home, although his art still looks mostly like scribbles, he will identify it as being something specific.  {interestingly, the girls seem far advanced of the boys in terms of creating representational art.}.  He has a new set of drawers at home for art, and recently he snuck out of bed one night after I tucked him in to nab some paper to draw on in his room -- I came up to find his bare chest covered in blue marker, but so far we haven't had any more writing on the wall incidents in this new house.
 
After being officially out of diapers 3 months, he's just hit a major milestone where he seems to get with the potty program.  It has been a long stretch of many loads of laundry a week until now. He just didn't really care at all, but this week it seems that a lightbulb has gone off and he understands.  We still have to watch for the tell-tale crotch grab to steer him to a bathroom when he's immersed in something else, but he has been taking himself to the bathroom pretty often too.   
 
October was a fun month, with pumpkin festivals and a weekend that we spent in an 1880's cabin, updated with a few electrical outlets for lights, electric blankets, and a small vcr player, but no indoor plumbing or running water.  We brought my nephew and the boys loved peeing on trees, playing with deer bones that they found lying around, and exploring the weird relics of the 1880s that made up most of the village.  For halloween, Micah inexplicably decided he wanted to be a ghost -- was it from reading Clifford's Halloween book dozens of times?  Regardless, he was a very cute ghost several times, including a party at school where his fleece costume was way too hot, and a few other outings. With Halloween, we've had a big influx of new topics to discuss, such as mummys, vampires, goblins, and witches. It has been a challenge to explain these things in ways that are appropriate for a 3 year old! And every time we cross a bridge he wants to know where the troll is.
 
Favorite playthings recently include a playmobil -- can't wait to see all the imaginative play that comes out of these cool toys -- and big-sized legos and blocks.  He also adores books and has progressed to books with more words in them -- loves to be read to but will occassionally "read" them himself. And his CD player in his room gets a lot of use -- he will often put on a CD to listen to at bedtime or when he's having some quiet time in his room.  Speaking of that, perhaps as an adjunct to potty learning, he seems to be outgrowing his nap, and has trouble falling asleep before nine if he's had a long afternoon nap. Looks like we'll be transitioning out of the nap soon as we'd really like him to be in bed before we are!
 
We're enjoying the long Thanksgiving weekend now -- had 14 people for dinner yesterday, with Micah swiping the candy turkeys from the table and playing contentedly with his cousins instead of eating a real dinner, a nice day of playgrounds and leftovers today, with family movie night after dinner, and plans to go to a wildlife sanctuary tomorrow.  All in all, our family is very content right now and we feel so very luckly.
 
 
 
 New playmobil toys ... the house hasn't been that popular but I don't think it is because it is pink....

 Spending time at the Guffy jail with cousin Ben. A cold weekend in the 1880s!

 At an inflatable haunted house for halloween.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving with Grandma.  Micah has decided that it is grandma's "job" to tickle him under the chin, and will loudly demand that she do her job as soon as he sees her.