Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! Of course, I've always enjoyed Mother's Day, but as a daughter appreciating her own wonderful mother. It's so amazing to now experience this special day as a Mother myself. I received two very sweet cards today, one from Reshen, complete with his scribbles and handprints, and one from Alan. We went out to ice cream (my choice) and spent some time playing at the park. It was a nice, relaxed day and I got to spend it with my two favorite guys. Could I ask for anything more? :-)

I guess what I *could* ask for is for Reshen to start sleeping later in the morning. The little guy has been such an early bird lately. He woke up *before* 5:30 a.m. both mornings this weekend, and this has been the trend for the past few weeks now. We've tried putting him to bed later, but that doesn't make any difference- he'll still wake up early and then be extra crabby because he didn't get enough sleep. We've tried making him stay in his crib, but he never goes back to sleep. We do keep him in there for awhile, but he usually just plays for awhile and then begins crying and calling for us. Occasionally I can rock him back to sleep, but more often than not he is awake for the morning. On top of that, I think he has dropped the morning nap for the most part. During the week, I am able to keep him awake and happy until we come home from work at 1 p.m.. Although, on the weekends he sometimes will take a 30 minute morning nap. I suppose because we are not as exciting as Luke and Lucy and he doesn't fight it as much here ;-)

Reshen now loves to dig with his little shovel and then push around the dirt piles with a broom. It keeps him busy for a long time. He also figured out how to turn on the hose and had a good, messy time the other evening. He was so proud of himself, I couldn't make him turn it off until he made a nice muddy puddle to play in. It was close to bathtime anyway :-)



He's been getting very frustrated lately when something doesn't happen just like he thinks it should. The other night, for example, he was trying to fit himself into a small box. He was just too big for it, but he didn't know this. He tried to fit in every-which-way, but it wasn't working and he began crying and saying "in, in, in." I couldn't do anything to please him and he didn't understand that he couldn't fit in it. I tried redirecting him, but he didn't want that either. He just kept getting increasing frustrated and crying harder. Poor kid. But I guess you can't shield them from everything. Frustration is a part of life, and I guess we are supposed to learn from it. I know it's harder for little ones who also can't communicate exactly what they want/need. He was coloring yesterday and kept crying and getting mad about something, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I do think some of his irritability has to do with tiredness and teething, as he is not always like this. But I also think he has such a clear idea now of what he wants that he expects things to happen just so, and when they don't he sometimes gets upset about it.

I swear our kid is going to have an affinity for music someday. Not only does he sing all the time, but now he imitates instruments. He was playing with his Leapfrog Music Table and would imitate the trumpet, violin, etc. when he played those sounds. Really neat! I have a video of him singing that I need to put up on You Tube. I'll let you all know when it is there.

He can say pretty much anything now. He doesn't speak in sentences or anything, but repeats pretty much every noun and verb we say. He also uses *a lot* of them. He touched my hair today after I got out of the shower and then shook his hand and said "wet!" I hadn't realized I even taught him that one, but he must have picked it up. He loves to run outside and exclaim "running!" and when we're out at the store he always tells us he wants to "walk." He listens closely to what Alan and I say to eachother. We stopped at the store to pick up some diaper doublers and as Alan got out of the car, I told Reshen that daddy was going into the store to buy something for him. Reshen said "bi-per" (diaper). I"m like "yeah!" We didn't tell him anything, I just mentioned it to Alan as he was getting out of the car. It's so neat how he listens and learns when we're not watching :-) He has said a couple of things we're not proud of though, so will have to be more careful of the occasional swearing around him. We don't curse like sailors, but when I drop something, get hurt, etc., I sometimes utter some phrases the little man should not be saying. Alan too. We need to be more careful.

Reshen still loves his panda bear. He asks for it out of nowhere sometimes and we have to go looking for it. It is so cute when they are reunited. He gets all giddy and hugs it and says "ahhh" in a cute, sweet little voice. I guess he finally has a lovey!

Reshen *really* loves trucks. He is mesmerized by big machinery. I was carrying him to the car the other day and he saw some construction trucks working across the parking lot. He began shouting "Truck! Truck!" I held him for awhile, letting him watch them, but eventually I grew tired of it, as were my arms, so I told him to tell the trucks bye-bye and that we had to get in the car. He said "no!" More Trucks!" and then braced his hands against the door so that I couldn't get him in! I tried to get him in anyways and he started crying and calling for the trucks in a pathetic little voice. I felt bad, so explained that I would drive over to the trucks and let him watch them some more, but that we had to *drive* over there and that he needed to get in his car seat. To my surprise he actually stopped crying and said "kay." So I buckled him in, all the while telling him that we would drive to the trucks. He looked worried, but kept saying "truck" "kay." So we drove over there, I let him watch them a little while longer from his car seat, then we told the trucks "bye-bye" and drove home. He is *such* the little boy. :-)