Catch Up- Early February Note

Ugh.. I'm so behind on this! Ok, here's a note I found on my computer that I started writing in early February. It will have to suffice for now. I'll catch up on the rest of the month later. Enjoy :-)

Feb 2, 2009:

Reshen is doing great with potty training. I don't know what clicked for him, as he has been flirting with the potty off and on for over a year now, but hasn't been consistent about it and he even declared a month ago that he only wanted diapers. We haven't pushed, hoping he would warm up to the idea in his own time. And he did. On Jan 18th (a Saturday morning), he wanted to read books in the bathroom while I took my shower. About 5 minutes into it, he declared he needed to go "pee-pee" and proceeded to push his stool up to the toilet, put the potty insert onto the seat, pulled down his pants, took off his diaper and went- all by himself! I was shocked. I was even more shocked when he said he wanted to wear underwear afterwards. Of course we let him and he did great. He didn't have any accidents that day until later in the evening. He even went potty at restaurants and at the museum when we were out and about that day. He's been "training" for a couple of weeks now and is still doing great. He has been wearing those disposable "pull-ups" at daycare, but we like to use underwear at home when he agrees to them. We find he has less accidents in them... he tends to treat "pull-ups" like a diaper. Tomorrow we're bringing underwear to daycare and are hoping he can keep them dry. He's so proud of himself :-) ***Update, as of Feb 28th, he's now in underwear all the time (except for when he's sleeping). He's doing so great! ***

Reshen loves to order his own meals at restaurants, using kid's menus that have pictures of the food choices. This weekend at Red Robin, he proudly ordered "Chicken Nuggets" and "Salad". We were shocked that he ordered salad, as he's normally very against eating "leaves". But we didn't discourage and he actually did eat some of it. Wow. That (veggies) has been another thing we haven't pushed, yet gently encouraged. ***Update as of Feb 28, he voluntarily ate a raw tomato during dinner. Yay!***

Reshen asked for his first "big boy" toy this weekend. Well, at least it's big boy toy in my book. He wanted a Matchbox cars race track. He got some money from his Auntie and Uncle for Chinese New Year and that's what he picked at the toy store. He loves it. But I'm still happy to see him playing with his Thomas Trains as well :-) **Update, as of Feb 28th he's now lost all interest in the race track. In fact, it's in pieces at the moment because he decided to climb in the middle of it and pretend it was a bullet train. That didn't work out very well...*

He's very much into independence and helping. He can put on his shoes, zip up his jacket, and get almost completely dressed by himself (except for his shirts which he hasn't quite mastered yet). He likes to help push grocery carts and put the groceries onto the belt at the check out. The other day I accidentally dropped his sippy cup and it rolled under the car. He pleaded with me to let him out of his car seat so he could help me retrieve it. So I let him (we used the long ice scraper to drag it back towards us). His constant refrain these days is either "Oh, I'll help you!" or "I want to do it myself!", followed with "I don't need any help".

He may be fiercely independent at times, but is still a Mommy's boy. We still snuggle while he drinks his sippy cup of warm milk in the morning and sometimes in the evening too. He's very affectionate and generous with his hugs and kisses, although sometimes when I kiss him too much he laughs and says "That's enough, mommy!" He says "I love you" often, though. He's such a sweet little guy.

Stay tuned for more!