Sleepy Monday / B Update

(Aka, what's up with B?  We missed his 3.5 year updates so below is some about today and some about him generally)

So our little hero has been missing a bit from blog action due to our separation and then the birthday madness.  He is doing quite well, thanks for asking.  This morning he got a bit more targeted (if sleepy) mommy time.  Lady M demanded her nap early around 8:45 and didn't wake up until 11!  B and I spent the intervening time playing Legos, reading books in his snuggle spot, hiding under the covers, (snoozing????), making a tent in his bed for more books, then back to the snuggle spot (He decided to video some of this, but it is mostly black as he refused to turn on any lights during most of these adventures-- his father's boy still.  You can hear him quietly counting down backwards to "blast off" so I am tempted to save the video anyway).  I will admit that I was super sleepy during most of this as once the adrenaline is gone the sleepiness usually arrives. I did hang tight though and we had a great snuggle fest full of secrets, blankets, books, flashlights and fun!

Otherwise, he is a growing boy now up to 42lbs, 42 inches.  We are now solidly in the 5T /XS (boys) size for clothes.  Today, we bought his first pair of size 11 shoes--- they are Spiderman shoes that light up, obviously. In a surprising move, he chose these over the Toy Story ones despite never having seen Spiderman anything that I know of other than the puzzles, one toy and one kids book. We will have some fun professional pictures including him soon as we are taking family pictures along with the one year pictures of Maggie tomorrow.  B was excited to pick out new clothes for the occasion.  Here's hoping they fit!

He is currently obsessed with M&Ms Yogurt and gives me ongoing status updates about the state of our yogurt stash.  The ongoing is a key thing as he now never seems to cease talking.  To my amazement at least one day of late I was ready for a small reprieve even though it is usually one of my favorite things.  The issue is that if he doesn't have anything new to say he will continue to say what he just said, but perhaps rephrasing it. If you repeat your response he gets annoyed because you already said that.  Uggh.

There is another alarming (to me) change in that naptime is growing less predictable.  My work world is built on the assumption that he naps every day from about 1-5pm. The start time seems to be pushing later and the length shorter although many times I'm still lucky.  Some days he doesn't nap at all --- still relatively rare.  It just seems like the frequency of "issues" around naps is increasing, which I guess is easy as we've never had any...  It has its good moments as we can sometimes do afternoon activities without having to worry that he will melt without a nap.

In related good news, MDO is starting up next week and I think will be three days. I think the kid interaction will be good for him and it will fix some of my work hour issues. I can work when he is awake and here, but he is prone to checking on me.  Some days when he wakes up early he will come in, say "Hi", tell me he is going to play his Toy Story 3 game and close the door informing me that I need to work for "Just a little bit longer." Apparently he has heard that before -- cue Mommy guilt.  I love though that he appears fine with it and is used to it.  He knows just what the rules are for when I'm working/on the phone and is usually very good about them with little or no protest.  A sweetheart from my perspective.

Most days, he is my champion helper.  He clears the table, give Maggie food/drink, reports on her whereabouts, gets himself dressed, puts his shoes on, goes potty when the need arises and does a good job communicating his needs.  Of course occasionally he isn't and revert so grunts/mumbles or being uncooperative.  I feel like we have much fewer tears and temper bouts, but they still exist (of course).  We continue to work on sharing and how to response when another kid hits you, takes a toy or is otherwise mean to you-- my tolerance for these behaviors is increasingly low as I feel they are getting old enough to know better. Sadly, at least for meanness I know some people don't outgrow it. I so want him to be a fan of and to be around gentleness and kindness as much as is humanely possible for I love him so very much.

He continues to love Toy Story anything, Legos, cars, trains, books, Wii games - Toy Story, Wii Fit, Wii Sport, Mario Kart, among others, playing in the sprinkler, snow cones, Sonic, cooking with me, and anything with Daddy.  Today, he was quite fascinated by Lady M's new  Tea Set and served all of us tea repeatedly.  He even took it to OSSM with us for lunch and served Brent some tea while we ate.  He continues to generally not talk on the telephone to his aunt and uncles dismay, but as M is more than willing to talk they have a good alternative--- albeit one that doesn't really know many words. His eczema has flared up again and he had a bit of a fall at the airport the other day and was a bit scuffed up, but is otherwise good.  There has been no recurrence of the breathing issues thus far.

So that's my little guy.  A conundrum of sweet, loving, secrets, fears, triumph, excitement and adventure as always.  He continues to surprise me and fill me with love and joy (along with plenty of challenges).  I am really liking three so far and am so happy to share this time with him.