Another Update...2 1/4 years old!

Declan continues to be a very active boy but I am feeling that he is settling down a little.
Things he likes to Eat:
Declan will generally eat anything we give him. There are some foods however that he will like to eat sometimes. For instance, if we go to McDonalds he will only sometimes eat a hamburger. We never will know. He is just now becoming more of a french fry eater. He has never much like potatoes -- from the beginning. He LOVES any types of fruit. He is still a fairly big eater. One thing I am very happy about is that eating is never a stressful time with Declan. We give him whatever we are eating and that is what he gets. Generally he eats a lot but sometimes he doesn't and we don't worry about it. There have been no problems in this territory. He is doing well with using a spoon and fork. Sometimes he still throws things off his tray...but he is improving in this area. He loves his sweets but we dont' give him a lot unless we are at a family reunion or party...and that goes out the window but I really dont' worry about it too much. I've learned that with Declan and toilet training, he can't handle juice. He has been drinking just milk and water for the last several months.
Things he likes to say:
Declan is talking quite well, but not yet in proper sentences all the time. Here are a few little phrases that he says a lot: 'Pee bad', 'See that!', 'Morn please', 'Big loader, big excavator, big port truck', He has longer sentences as well I just can't think of them...but he does say a lot of two word sentences but they get the point across. He was singing happy birthday to his grandma doney today. He was like 'Happy Birthday to Daddy, Grandma, Happy Birthday to Grandma,' I'll have to write more once I hear him talk.
Things he likes to do:
Declan loves playing with tractors, trucks, construction machinery, boats etc. He loves talking about his sea doo and LOVES playing with his truck, boat and trailer that he aunt and uncle torrie gave him. He loves his John deere tractor which he calls 'John tractor'. He is really into Thomas trains and he loves the library because they have a Thomas train set there. He will now sit through a whole book and listen. Then he will spend some time reading/looking at it afterwards. Declan likes building things in the sand but he hasn't really settled in and play a ton in the sand (at least at the beach). He is really getting into playing the Gary's micro machines lately. He spends half the time trying to break things apart though.
Bed/Sleep Routines:
Declan has slept in his own bed for quite some time and has only fallen out of bed twice. He has been getting better with staying in bed and going to sleep. We have really had to figure out what his sleep needs are. I always liked to get a good solid nap in for Declan and so I had a nice break but then he wasn't settling in at night well. So....I finally had to admit that he probably didn't need a two hour nap in the afternoon. We started talking away his naps (in July) and now he falls asleep much easier in the evenings. We have substituted his nap for a quiet time if we are home. This involves playing in his room. We have only been home to have quiet times a handful of times but half the time he seemed to be so tired that he crawled in his bed and fell asleep. I guess he is really tired but then I have to wake him up so that he doesn't go to bed too late. Declan has been sleeping in until about 7:30 ish.
Toilet Training:
Declan goes on his own to the bathroom to pee or poo. He senses it and just goes on his own. This is good progress! We are finding he is dribbling a little before peeing. Sometimes he doesn't pull his pant down enough and then pees on them or he sprits up and pees on the seat. Other than that he is doing quite well. He stays dry when he does have his naps now. He has stayed dry about 3 times in the last two weeks at night. We have implemented the idea that if he stays dry at night he gets gummy bears in the morning.
Behaviour
Declan is quite a good listener but I don't think he would be if we haven't been working towards good behaviour by using time-outs. He will go a week or so without any but then a bad day comes and he might have two or three in one day. He has been quite cooperative. He loves going out and about. On days when we are just home he doesn't do as well...he may get more whiney. He doesn't have the dreaded temper tantrums that much. I don't know if it is because of his personality or because he has never gotten his way if he spazes out a little. He is a very happy boy and loves to laugh and smile. He is fairly outgoing and friendly to other kids. He will talk to people he doesn't know easily. I think I will need to work with Declan on sharing...he does okay sometimes but he finds it hard to give up a toy that he is playing with and another kid wants it. The whole sharing thing is sometimes stupid because if you are playing with something, why should he have to share it right then? Maybe I need lessons on sharing too. Like at the wading pool Declan brings a few toys to play with in the water. Right away kids come up to borrow all his toys. Am I supposed to dish out al of his toys to everyone else and leave Declan with only one? Urgh...I brought them for Declan to play with --Is that selfish?

Declan is two years old!!!!

Declan is now a two year old! I've missed several months of blogging so I think I'll do an update. We continue to have a very active son. We've heard things like 'wow, does he ever stop?', 'if there is something to take apart, he'll do it', 'does he ever climb well!', 'how old is he?...my son wouldn't have dared climb up to the high slides in McDonalds playland at that age!'. My mom said 'There are kids who will gently walk hand and hand down the street, and then there is Declan'. Declan sure is active but we loves his energy and excitement! 'Rough and tumble'

He loves to explore. We've been having more and more 'Curious George' incidents with Declan. Here is a list:
-Mrs. Enns (babysitter) says he takes off all of the tires on her toy cars
-She also said that when she has her pool set up the kids usually play in the pool or the grass. Declan plays in the pool and the flower garden
-Declan has flooded the bathroom while pouring half a bottle of handsoap all over the floor
-He has dumped half a bottle of baby shampoo in the bathtub
-He dumped almost a full bottle of sunscreen on his sheets and on his head and eyes
-he rubbed cream into his carpet
-he played with vaseline and rubbed it on clothes

Declan is starting to talk quite a lot
-he talks a lot about cars, trucks, tractors, loaders, Paul (uncle Paul), George (curious george), Wolfie, Grandpa (Pup ups)
-He saw an ipod commercial and he says 'mommy gots a podpod, daddy gots a podpod'. That was June 1st.
-he says 'opsie days'
-'dad's pop', 'well okay', 'no way --is a favourite', 'thanks' 'pee bad'
-he is very polite as he often says 'peas', 'thanks', 'no thank you'

-we are still toilet training Declan -- He wears underwear all day and cloth diapers at nap (often waking up dry) and once he woke up dry in the morning. We have to tell him to go most of the time. Though in the last couple of days I have noticed that he is telling us more.

-food -- eats anything (normally we offer milk at breakfast and supper and then water the rest of the day). He eats basically anything and he is a BIG eater! He isn't too fond of potatoes.

-I'll add more later

Christmas has come and gone

Well, we are now into January and things are slowing down. The Christmas season is over....we just had our last Christmas party (Gary's Work)....well we have one more party that we were supposed to fit into the christmas season...but no one had any extra time so we'll meet in January.

One major thing that I have noticed is that Declan loves being busy during the day. He likes getting up and going somewhere. When we are home all day, he becomes anxious to get into everything. It is just too long in our small house. I didn't work at all this week, and I think that when I start getting supply teaching jobs, it will help. I think I need to make it part of my weekly plan to have play dates with other kids. I keep making excuses when I think of getting together with friends and their kids during the day....but when I think of it....I have at least 4 different moms and kids that I could easily get together with.

Today is a lazy Saturday. We were out last night late and now we just want to take it easy. We are still finding it hard to balance
'taking it easy' with a one year old running around. We've always done sleeping in switches. Today Gary gets to sleep in. So basically I get up with Declan and feed him breakfast...and then he watches t.v. (Saturday morning Cartoons:)) and then I put him into his play pen for play pen time....and then I go back to bed. Either Gary gets up with him when Declan is done having play pen time, or if I don't fall back to sleep, I'll get up with him. Then we switch the next sleep in day. It works fairly well except that we end up wasting a lot of the day. Normally by about 10:00 I am ready for the day and the house is all tidy. On a sleep in day, I may not be ready for the day until after 1. It just makes me feel groggy.

Declan has been able to watch t.v. for a longer period of time without him crying out for one of us. However...I hear him right now (he must be finished munching away on his cheerios). I'll make this a wrap. I'll post pictures next time.