Vincent Update – Fall/Winter 2013
Vincent is slowly starting to say more words. After many many months, this month, he finally starting calling me “nanaw” which eventually turned into “mama”! YES! Well, see how long this lasts, hopefully it sticks. He can now also say “cup”, “up”, “duck”, “truck” “eat”, “milk”, “car”, “cheese” (for when smiling at the camera) and “cheese” for “please” when he wants something.
It is so cute when he says his “please” because he cups his hands together like he’s begging/praying.
He has recently really fell in love with Curious George movie. We have it on DVD and when he wants to watch it he takes us by the hand to the TV and points to DVD in the cabinet through the glass and says “CHEESE!!!” He mostly likes the song in the beginning but he can sit through the entire movie. He also can open the DVD player on the XBOX and stick the DVD in/close it. He likes to shove the DVDs under the TV as well.
Vincent is starting to recognize colors, like yellow, red, blue.He can play with his shape sorter ball toy now too.
We taught him how to hop like a frog “ribbit” — he likes to jump from the bathroom to his bedroom this way after bathtime.
He has entered terrible twos. Some mornings he is just so grumpy! He gets mad for no reason it seems, stomps his feet and cries, or puts up a fit in the carseat – doesnt want any toys or any snacks. Just wants to cry!
Being silly on his couch!
Suddenly he doesn’t mind wearing the headphone we initially got him for his Hawaii trip back in March.
He is getting a lot more brave at the park – loves to climb up on the different ladders and structures.
When we make his breakfast in the morning, i let him help scoop the dry oatmeal into the bowl, measure the water, put in the raisins and the sugar and pop it in the microwave. He also now uses the ladder a lot so he can be at counter height to help make his meals.
One morning i was letting his oatmeal cool on the counter, and he couldn’t wait to eat it so he took it down all by himself and was eating it sitting down in the living room floor. I had no idea until he was halfway done.
Recently, Vincent’s become a bit better at playing the “matching” game on one of his iPhone apps. He also likes to line things up and when he is playing with his blocks he gets very mad when it falls.
Daddy took vinny to see “Frozen” the Disney movie. Jeff said he liked the songs (clapped after the first one) and was munching on popcorn throughout the whole movie. They stayed almost till the end. Jeff tried taking him in July to see Monsters University but that time they only made it through the previews and 1/2 hr of the movie.
He likes to go over to the water dispenser and full up cups and bottles. He also will take bathroom cups and pour from one to the other. He is learning to “rinse” after brushing his teeth but still not great at it.
A long while ago he used to try to lift the toilet lid and play, but he seem to forget about it until recently. If we forget to close the lid, he will play with the water, and he will “tell” on himself but running up to me with his wet hands saying “oh no!” He gets a timeout for that!
Yes, we’ve finally starting trying timeouts for discipline. Probably should have started earlier. We basically just tell him to sit down – usually in the hallway where there is no toys or distractions. We sit there with him as he balls his eyes out. A couple minutes will do it, then we explain to him why he was in timeout, and to give us a hug. Then he goes on with his day!
As i mentioned in my earlier post, we’ve finally ditched the old whale tub and he’s taking big boy baths now. So much more room to play, but also more water usage! We tried out the big boy bath several months ago, but he seem to not do too well so we went back to the whale. He defiantly better now in the bigger space and really looks forward to playing in the tub every night. Some nights he will put up a fit because he didnt have enough time to play with all his toys. He loves watching his little people go down the slide in his bathtub.
Vincent has quite the collection of stickers now! We help him unstick it and then he will usually place them on a piece of paper, all on top of one another.
We also bought him a new desk that is his height and comes with two chairs and storage on the bottom.
Going outside and playing with chalk is another fun activity daddy has been doing with Vincent. We also let him scratch on the indoor chalkboard that i use for my “belly shot” pictures.
We bought Vincent a “I’m a Big Brother” book to introduce the concept to him. He knows the difference between big brother, baby, mom and dad, but still not sure he knows he will get a baby brother or sister here very soon!
On New Years, we let Vinny sleep in his new race car bed. It was rough for naps for the first couple of days. Previous to this, he had not quite learned to open a door yet. But give him enough time/willpower and he learned to open it first day in his new room. He came out, but we put him back in. He also spent the time in his room carefully peeling off all the stickers we had worked so hard to put on!! He would peel them, then stick them under ht door. There was a huge pile.
The second day he did that, he had the most sorry look on his face, like he knew he should not be coming out of his room. I put him right back in and told him he needed to take a nap. I sang the nap time song, he started balling crying, and i left him in there. He cried himself to sleep and when he woke up, he was crying, and had fallen asleep on the wood floor next to the door! It was sad. but ever since then he has been pretty good with taking naps in the bed.
Our night time routine has changed slightly now that he is in his new room. We still use the nursery to get his diaper and PJs on, but we don’t use the glider to read to him, we just sit on the floor in his room and read, and sing songs. He runs around a bit after we leave him in there, but eventually he goes to sleep. I’d say he transitioned pretty well and pretty quickly.
Here are some recent videos:
Vinny playing with his puzzle game, saying some words.. or trying to.
Playing with his trainset. He is getting really good at placing the tracks by himself, but he does get frustrated if it takes him too many tries to get it right.
Trying to catch and through a rubber ball with Dad.