O.K. reality check. This little boy I call my "little monster" that runs around the house leaving a trail of popcorn and blankets will be a two year old in exactly one month from tomorrow.
The birthday invites have been sent out. And if you didn't receive one, don't feel bad. I sent out about a quarter of invites that I sent out last year. It will be a more low-key party this year mostly family and very few friends. Harrison never went through a "stranger" phase until most recently, which I am not sure is an actual "stranger" phase or just a reaction to a new place/situation. This is what prompted us for a smaller party with people he knows well so it won't be overwhelming for him.
But cheer up if you are still sad you didn't get an invite... I have attached the invite below, simply because it's too cute not to share. I credit Doug for taking the photo as I was running around in circles and jumping up and down like a crazy women to get him to smile for this photo. We didn't get a big grin, but going back to the paragraph above, this was a new environment that Harrison was "unsure" of. When we left the fire station, we had to pry him out of the fire trucks.
Oh...and I had a super cute personalized fireman hat for him to wear, but with two-two year old sessions under my belt, he is yet to wear it for one photo. Yesterday evening he wore it all around the house. I am pretty sure he enjoys being the hardest two year old to photograph.
Is he not the cutest fire fighter you have ever seen?
I just gave away his Halloween costume as well. The only flaw to his costume is that his fireman boots are 3 sizes too big for him. They were the smallest fireman boots I could find anywhere. Thank you Target, I can count on you for everything; including emptying my bank account.
So what is new at the Kelley household? Well, if you have noticed, I have been a HORRIBLE blogger lately. Over the past week, Doug and I have been doing some touch up painting around the house and cleaning things you clean...well, when you think about it. We finally went to an open house over this past weekend and was pleased with the home. It was one of the first homes in a LONG time we could actually picture ourselves in. We have decided to have a Realtor come look at our house in a few weeks to get a price value for our home if we were to put it up on the market. We are looking more at placing our home for sale (if we do) in the spring. Living without a garage and a yard is near impossible.
These days Harrison is doing fairly well health-wise. Tonight was the first time in two months Harrison made a trip to urgent care. Doug was informed when he picked up Harrison at daycare this evening that his ear had been draining today and lot of "icky" stuff had came out. Doug and I had been debating whether or not his tubes were still in place because he had been pulling at his ears for the last several nights and has been running a low grade fever in the evenings. It turns out there was a huge wax build up way inside of his ear. After removing the wax the doctor could see the tubes and they both and clear and in proper placement. Good news! The only thing we are waiting on is his strep test. The doctor said he has seen an alarming amount of strep in the last week and Harrison's throat was very red. I am not concerned for the strep as every time Harrison is seen by a doctor they always comment on how red his throat is. Overall...his health has improved in the last couple of months. He has a constant runny nose and cough we have learned to live with and he still vomits time to time, but we figure this is just him. As long as we don't have to make trips to urgent care for serious respiratory infections or ear infections I take this time as a much needed relief form sickness. It feels weird to even be typing this. He has always been sick---this is such a turning point in his life and us as a family.
Since we have a healthier child, Harrison's language is picking up. His teacher at daycare commented the other day how much he is talking since she returned from her maternity leave. For a two year old, he is markedly behind, but within the next year hopefully this will be something of the past. Some of Harrison's favorite words include, "car," "bus," "slide," "acorn," Elmo," "nana," (for banana) and "apple." He can imitate a cow, horse, monkey, lion and kitty sound. He can say about 7-10 more words depending on his mood.
Seems these days the boy has mind of his own. This is where time outs come in. I can only hope that they continue to go as well as they are going. From the show "Super Nanny," we use the two minute time out rule (a minute for whatever the age of the child). I set the timer in the kitchen and let Harrison kick and scream and when the timer goes off, I ask him if he is done and 99 percent of the time he says yes and we go about whatever we are doing. I use timeouts for when he won't help clean up his toys or he makes a huge mess and shakes his head no when I tell him that I need help cleaning it up. After a time out, he quickly picks up whatever the mess and is back to himself. I am actually beginning to think he likes time outs, or likes to be in them because it gives him time to vent out his frustrations.
A new behavior I am seeing and somehow Doug is escaping is hitting and kicking me. During these times I now get up and leave the room. Harrison usually comes chasing after me, upset I left him. This mostly occurs when he has to have his diaper or clothes changed. Perhaps Doug doesn't help out with these tasks as much?
For communication Harrison is still signing, but it's becoming more infrequent as he can now say "please," " more" and hums "thank you." He is doing a better are directing you to what he wants, but when it comes to needing help opening something up or reaching something he becomes easily frustrated and melts down.
Eating is going about the same for Harrison. Some days he eats a lot and other days he doesn't each much of anything, a typical toddler. He doesn't like when you feed him anymore. His skills have improved immensely with feeding himself with utensils, but from time to time he will just use his hands and dig in. I won't have a weight/height update for you until after his two year appt. December 2. I am guessing somewhere between 24-26 lbs and for height...I haven't got the vaguest idea.
Right now Harrison loves books. They are all over everywhere. His favorite book is "Going on a Bear Hunt." He can't wait to ROAR like a bear at the end. Sometimes he will sit for the whole story and sometimes he will get up half way through and do whatever. You have to love his attention span! We also play with puzzles and Harrison is obsessed with a row of round candles I have in bathroom. He will take them out and put them back in up to 4 times in a row. Harrison is also getting good and shape sorting. He has two shape sorters and with some direction from me he can get the proper shapes in their holes. Telephones continue to be a pretty cool toy in Harrison's eyes. He has about 5-6 phones and this is one of the toys you can count on seeing him place with aside from books on a daily basis. He also likes to help do things, he helps with the laundry, dusting, dishes, feeding Whitney and mixing up cookies or treats.
Scared? Yeah...most recently Harrison has become scared of toys that move or make noise. Yes, this is so weird and not seemly normal, but look at his parents, we are far from normal! We actually got video of Harrison trying to hide tickle me Elmo and crying when the on switch is on, but he looks so sad to post it with Doug and I in the background laughing---feel like we look like horrible parents. I also bought him a super cool fire truck as a early birthday present that he wants nothing to do with because if you hit one of the buttons the fire truck will move forward on it's own. He is also terrified of those little hamster toys with wheels that roll on the ground. This is all on top of being scared of his musical maracas and musical puppy dog Scout. But he will gladly play with his big musical house, musical cookie jar and 3 of his 6 phones and vacuum cleaner. Seems he is kind of picking and choosing what he is fearful of which made it incredibly hard this year to create a birthday list. Hopefully this is a just another one of those weird phases like when he screamed every time he took a bath for 3 months about this time last year. Like I said, look at his parents...This is normal as any kid could get!
Over the past month daycare drop offs have gotten much, much, much better. Rather than crying each and every single day we leave him there is gotten down to about once a week, which is a huge improvement. There are kids in his room that are older than him that still have less successful drop offs than we do. So we are definitely moving forward in a positive direction--yeah!
Sleep on the other hand needs some improvement. By the time Harrison was 4 months old he was sleeping through the night without any feedings etc. At 23 months, that's a different story. Sleep has been our biggest battle in the last couple of months. Sleeping through an entire for Harrison is about 1 time weekly, two at the max. Going to sleep is a bigger struggle. I refuse to lay on the floor next to his bed until he falls asleep. Doug on the other hand will. Some nights I admit it, we do need to do it, especially when he is congested because there would be vomit everywhere...but I personally have gone to the cry yourself to sleep stuff. Is it working? I don't know. I feel bad sometimes, but I don't want have to lay in the same room as him 2-3 years down the road to get him to go to sleep. I grew up like that and bless my mom for loving me, but I think I needed a little bit of tough love, because at 5 or 6 I still needed my mom to stay in the room until I fell asleep.
Becoming a parent is one of the best things in life. And if you make that decision to never have children, you have missed out on the best form of exercise, patience, determination and love. No one said it was going to be easy... But you take what life hands you and you do the best you can do. I feel so blessed to have this little boy. Sure he causes me stress, sure he is messy/sticky, sure he tests me EVERYDAY, but I wouldn't change one thing about this little boy...
He is perfect the way he is. Momma loves you BIG GUY.
