Monday, July 26, 2010

15 months old!

I'm still adjusting to the fact that I have two children. It seems like Dio's birth just happened. But then I see this little boy running around. He's losing his baby fat and his face and limbs are getting longer and leaner.

After spending a few weeks with his cousins, he's started to interact more with other children. He wants to be in the middle of the action at all times.
Like me, Dio's default look is serious and a bit somber. But as I tell people, "If he's not crying, he's happy. Even if he doesn't look like it."
We still get big smiles out of him sometimes.
Dio has 7 teeth and 3 more halfway in. He can walk and climb and throw balls and say or sign lots of words. I'm so glad that we do sign language--nothing hardcore, just a few Signing Time videos--because his words are fairly indistinguishable. But he usually signs at the same time he's speaking, so we usually know exactly what he's trying to say. We've been working on signing "please" because his usual way of asking for something is with a deafening shriek. Now he shrieks, then signs "milk, please" or "nurse, please." I'd like to keep track of all the words he knows or says, but it's getting to the point that I probably couldn't get caught up. Every day it seems there's a new word or phrase that he understands. Like the other day, I told Zari to sit down, and he plopped down right away and looked at me expectantly.

EC: He's doing pretty well going pee in the toilet or on the grass, if we're outside. He usually stands on the toilet seat, facing the bowl. Poops have been more elusive, since he gives very little advanced warning. And he poops all the time, at least twice a day and sometimes 5-6 times! He is really fascinated with pee and poop and loves to watch it be flushed away.

Sleep: Dio naps once in the early afternoon. He sleeps from 8pm-6:45am and rarely wakes up at night. If he does, he fusses for a minute or two and then goes back to sleep. He nurses before he goes to sleep, although he usually isn't totally out when I lay him down. He loves snuggling with his sock monkey. I'm glad I introduced it to him as a sleep aid. He hugs and cuddles it whenever he sees it during the day, and I imagine in the future it will help him bridge going to sleep without me (for example, when we have another baby and I can't always be the one putting him down for naps or bedtime). Now if I could just get Zari to sleep that well...she's been on a long streak of waking up 1-2 times a night and needing us to come into her room and help her back to sleep.

Siblings: Dio and Zari have good times together. Like blowing on each others' stomachs. He also likes to nuzzle his head between my breasts and blow bubbles. (Or farts? What are they called anyway?)

Don't get me wrong--life isn't always giggles and smiles. More often than not Zari is tormenting Dio and he is shrieking to be let go. She likes to tackle him and pin him to the ground. She will walk up to him out of the blue and push him over, and then watch him cry. She takes things away from him just because. And I get the feeling that she's doing these things on purpose to get a reaction from Dio--and from me. It drives me a bit crazy, because Dio is miserable and I feel like a broken record explaining that we don't hit people and Dio doesn't like that-- it makes him sad and please be nice to your brother. Sometimes I just have to remover her from the situation. We call it "taking a break." It entails sitting in a separate room--usually a nearby bedroom--until a) a few minutes have elapsed or b) she can show me that she's ready to get out and play nicely. I'm not sure of a better way to deal with deliberately mean behavior towards a sibling. She's 3, after all, and so I don't want to be making a huge issue out of normal 3-year-old behavior. In any case, I'm open to suggestions...

Vive le Canadian swim diaper. 

8 comments:

  1. Oh, love the pics and updates on the kids. As for parenting resources, my fave book is 'how to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk' and I believe they have a book 'siblings w/o rivalry.' I also like many of the Love & Logic ideas. Good luck!

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  2. At her age a little time away from the situation is probably the best way to handle it. If you aren't seeing the results you want from "taking a break" you could make it a more formal time out with a timer and a time out spot.

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  3. they are called raspberries, tummy razberries, or zerberts :)
    he's a cutie

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  4. We deal with this issue as well. I'd say a lot of it is normal. It's not like you aren't dealing with the situation. You are trying to teach them to go on a right path.

    When i see it's done deliberately, i pull the aggressor aside and say "LOOK at your brother!! He is crying because you were mean. He is sad because you were not nice to him. We don't want to make our brother cry and be sad. We want to play nice with our brother, and love on our brother. We love our brother because he's the only one we have!!"
    lol BUT they do get a sad face when I point out how sad their brother is.
    I always make the aggressor apologize. Which sometimes doesn't want to be done, but if they don't want to say sorry (the words), I go another route and say "okay then you need to give hugs and kisses because he's so sad."

    I also always have the upset one say "don't (whatever action: hit, take toys from..) me. That's not nice, I do not like it. Play NICE with me and we can be friends." I want them to learn to stick up for themselves if I'm not there. At times if they come up to "tattle" or whatever because one or the other hit or threw sand, before I handle it (unless they are REALLY upset) I tell them "well, go tell him to stop it! say 'don't do that to me!!'" They more often then not, run off to go do just that. Like they just needed confidence or a reminder. I don't hear about it again, unless the other wasn't receptive to it. Then I step in and repeat.

    What was interesting was when I heard Willem say that to a friend's son. He tried to take something and Willem told him not to in the wording above. I was so proud.

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  5. I have to laugh because my daughter is 3 and my son is 16 months...they remind me a lot of yours. We get the same behaviors, and usually quickly correcting her and having her apologize is enough. If they fight over a toy, they lose it for the rest of the day. And hitting means we go sit on the stairs until we can calm down and apologize. But I keep telling her she'd better be nice to him now because though she's almost 2 full years older, he's mere ounces and inches from being bigger than her.

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  6. Your children are beautiful and we call them zerberts or foofers.

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  7. Glad to know I'm not the only one who calls tummy-raspberries "zerberts." I doubt Bill Cosby knew what he was starting when he had that on The Cosby Show that one time. [Vanessa was practicing for a spelling test and Rudy asked, "What does ZRBRT spell?" Dr. Huxtable responded, "This!" and blew a huge raspberry on her face.] We've called them "zerberts" ever since... and apparently, so have a lot of other people. :-)

    -Kathy

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  8. I love reading your blog. As a mother of 6 children under the age of 10 I have experienced every form of sibling squabble. One thought to ponder the one that is screaming isn't always the victim. They are often the attacker just receiving a little payback.

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