A Senior Toddler Update
I guess I should technically be calling him a preschooler now, but that just seems too old! I’m holding on to every bit of babyness I can at this point, even as he repeatedly tells me that he’s a big kid now. Which he mostly is, but he does still sleep in a crib…
Speaking of which, he doesn’t want to go to bed at night or go down for naps lately, so his crib is filled with books for him to read. He always falls asleep (and usually pretty quick), but I’m not minding raising a kid who reads himself to sleep every night. The other day he had his little trailblazers book and he told me he read the whole thing, but he couldn’t remember the word “trailblazer” so he used “trail mix” instead.
It’s awesome to watch him discover the world lately. It’s like he’s looked up from his toys and realized that there are so many things he could learn. He suddenly wants to read and be able to write his name and run the dishwasher and understand how lawnmowers work, and it’s always amazing to see what’s going to come out of his mind.
He’s still obsessed with trucks, and is always on the lookout for the next cool piece of machinery. When driving in the car the other day, I heard him call out “G! You need to look out your window and if you see a truck, you let me know, okay?” He often talks about getting bigger and having his own orange lawnmower or orange car (but with only one seat in it!), because his love for orange is also still very strong.
I put on a shirt recently that had some yellow on it, knowing that a certain younger toddler would enjoy it. E was the first one to notice. “G! Mama’s shirt has yellow and blue on it! Look! It’s a heart! Why did you wear it?” I told him that I thought it was pretty, so I wanted to wear it. “It’s not pretty,” he told me. When I asked him why not, he said “It would be more pretty if it were orange!”
He also loves being outside still, but maybe not as much as he used to. The other day we went out to play, though, and there was a ride-on, orange tractor toy. Just sitting there waiting for him. Some neighbors up the hill had dropped it off, knowing that we had two small kids who might like to play with it. Sometimes I’m sad we don’t live in more of a neighborhood with sidewalks and visible neighbors, but we really did luck out with the people around us. While we haven’t met them all, the ones we know are the best we could have ever asked for.
As E gets older, the things he says makes me laugh more and more. They’re always completely random, and I have no idea what led to the thought. For instance “Yesterday when I was a baby, I was supposed to like hot dogs! Pepaw likes hot dogs…”
We’ve also been trying to teach him to listen to how his body feels, and will often ask him questions about what his body is feeling - is it hungry? Full? Thirsty? The other day he said “My body is telling me I need a cake pop.” To be fair, my body often tells me the same thing…
Which means we end up making a lot of cake and other sweets here. Tom and I were having a nature vs nurture conversation the other day. Sure, my nurture of E’s love of cooking has definitely helped encourage it, but there is a lot of nature in play. Case in point, G’s lack of interest. I assumed that he would be as into it as E is, since he LOVES to eat, and we’re cooking every day almost, so he’s been exposed to it for a while.
G has his own spatula and will sometimes join us at the counter to pour something in or stir for a second, but he really has no interest. All he wants to do is stick his finger in the bowl and try to eat whatever we’re making. He really does not want to be part of the process. All that does is reinforce how cool it is that E loves to cook and bake, and how much he enjoys it.
Overall E is a very happy and goofy kid, but he is also super emotional. He has days when he’s just sad, or needs some space from us to go and recharge. He loves daycare and plays with his friends, listens to his teachers and behaves all day. But by the end of the day he is so drained that he often has nothing left to give. Our evenings involve a lot of emotional release, cuddling, and exhaustion. He now has a blankie in his car seat, which has seemed to help a bit. He gets a bit of comfort on the ride home as he processes the day.
His nickname sweetness is still so perfect for him. Because he is so emotional, he is in tune with other’s and how they’re feeling. He loves to do things to cheer up his little brother, a friend, or even our cat. I can’t wait to see him interact with the kittens a bit more as they grow!