Thursday, July 3, 2008

Staying Busy


Overall, we are having a great summer in terms of progress...G. is using phrases, and repeating a lot of what he hears. B. is using more and more single words to make requests, and singing snatches of songs. Both of them have been more engaged than they had been six months ago (this always comes and go...the going still has the power to put me in a tailspin!)

J. can pedal his bike, has new friends next door and is learning by leaps and bounds.

This may go along with the language progress, but we are having more problems with kids "getting into things". It's mostly B., and it's mostly getting into the bathroom, to be specific. In the last three days I have found him sitting on the edge of the toilet with his feet in the water, another time on the counter with his feet in the sink, and (this is a new one), standing in the bathroom sink, looking in the mirror. Of course, the simple answer is to keep the bathroom closed, but in our house we don't always manage it (think four year old brother, and forty-something scatter-brained mom).

He is also very interested in toothpaste, toothbrushes, markers, pens, and crayons, and any container of liquid he can get his hands on. I was chatting with a neighbor the other day, and B. lay down on his tummy to drink out of a puddle.

In the blogs I read, I don't notice a lot of descriptions of these kinds of escapades. I'm sure they must be going on in many homes, but maybe those moms have trouble getting to the computer to blog.

Most of the time, B. is just so darned cute that these things seem funny (although the germiness factor is troubling). If any of the three or so people who read this blog have been through this stage and come out the other side, I'd love to hear about it!

4 comments:

Niksmom said...

"In the blogs I read, I don't notice a lot of descriptions of these kinds of escapades. I'm sure they must be going on in many homes, but maybe those moms have trouble getting to the computer to blog."
Yup...you nailed it right there! LOL

Nik is fascinated with liquids, too. It's a total sensory thing. I give him a plastic bottle filled with water and ice adn he will shake it and carry it around with him for a long time. Sinks, toilets...yeah. We haven't quite figured out the answer other than making sure he gets lots of "squishy" smooshy stuff that's sort of moist. And I encourage handwashing, too. Every time we come back from an outing (therapy, grocery store, etc.) we go straight into the powder room (right inside the house from the garage) and wash hands. I make a really big deal of it and make sure he knows when we are "all done."

If I come up with any good ideas I'll let you know! :-) You are so NOT alone in this!

burgiboogie said...

Okay lets see.. um.. today.. well Cotton again made his own breakfast.. uh pancakes in the micro for 10 min:0 Found it absolutely fascinating to drink the yucky pool water in our kiddie pool, and spit it down the slide, of course we had guests!! Peed on the back porch (my fault I locked the door to keep him from slamming the door open and shut, because he busted the blinds yesterday)..

I could go on but you get the point. ALL of our toys are kept in clear closed containers, locked in a closet!! It is the only way I can keep my sanity. I am not sure I am on the other side of it, but I keep finding ways to keep him out of things, and he keeps finding ways to make me pull out my hair.. oh yeah, did I mention he threw an entire roll of toilet paper down the toilet this week, and closed the garage door on my open trunk twice.....

Hope you feel better:)
Alison

mjsuperfan said...

Actually, this does make me feel better. I guess because no one mentions it much in their blogs, I feel I'm the only one fishing their child out of the toilet several times daily. Although having been a special ed teacher, I know deep down that lots of parents are going through the same thing.

It's probably hardest on J. (the big brother) because his stuff gets wrecked up a lot, and he's held to a much higher standard of behavior.

Sounds like being proactive is the key, so I have a big trip to Home Depot ahead of me soon.
Thank you so much for your comments. It really helps to hear from other moms in the same boat.

Christine said...

When Oliver asks for water I make him drink it right there and hand the cup back to me so I can dump it in the sink. I learned the hard way about that. I was forever finding puddles of water in places where you don't want to find puddles of water. He also loves to play with all of the various flour-type things in the kitchen (sugar, oatmeal, couscous, you name it) I keep a mini-vac in there for just that reason. Check out these pictures: http://daysixtyseven.blogspot.com/2008/01/it-all-started-out-simply-enough.html
And remember this post: http://daysixtyseven.blogspot.com/2008/01/surprising.html

Never fear: you are not alone :-)