Journals, errrr...blogs

I've discovered that when my life gets busy my journals end up with lots of blank pages because I'm simply too busy to write about what's going on. Conversely, when I'm bored and have nothing to write about is when I write the most. However busy or bored I am, though, I DO make an effort to journal regularly (at least once a week, even at my busiest) not necessarily because the writing relaxes me or allows me to vent (it does both) but because I know how much I will LOVE going back and reading those entries later on! Reading to laugh, cry, commiserate, or whatever, it is so interesting to re-read! Well, the same goes for blogs. Fewer entries when I'm busy, but I make that effort so there's still plenty of stuff to go back and enjoy, which I've been doing lately since most of the blogs I follow also seem to be in a slow spot (meaning I might not have something new to read every single day, just most days) but I refuse to give up checking blogger twice a day anyway. I'm addicted. So I've been reading these old blogs, and it's really great to see what was going on! First, the pictures are fun because I don't keep up with pictures in my journal and I only print decent pictures to scrapbook, not the silly ones where Patrick was drooling all over himself or covered in cookie dough or something. Second, the blog is a lot more random than my journal (which is consistently a weekend update), so you never know what you'll get. Third, since I created the blog for our moms (and our siblings) to keep up with Patrick's day-to-day I have done a pretty good job of writing about him! That's something I don't do in my weekend update OR his baby book (groooooaaaan! sooooo.... faaaarrr.... behiiiiiind!). I just wanted to catch up on what he's doing (or not doing) these days, so basically that was a long-winded justification for this long-winded entry.

20 months is awesome! He's been in nursery for 2 months now at church and he is great the whole time, every time, even though it's right when lunch and naps should be. He's very compassionate with the other kids in nursery (so I'm told) and is very concerned when they cry. By the end of the 2 hours, when he is tired, he simply turns into the world's neediest snuggler, to which the nursery workers happily oblige. With 3 Sundays maximum left with Patrick taken care of and no new baby, I'm enjoying every precious second of it!

Singing has become his new favorite activity, and he has quite the repertoire... though he doesn't actually sing a single note. He doesn't even try for a meandering tune or some gibberish words, but he's great with actions so he signs along. This has led me to create actions for songs that had none, like "twinkle, twinkle" and "the ants go marching." It's pretty obvious why these songs don't have actions, and it's because they have BORING LYRICS that don't lend themselves to much action at all, but they're unfortunately some of his favorites. Songs with lots of actions, though, like the church song "popcorn popping," he can follow along with like a pro. I'm hoping to get a video of him signing along because I am VERY impressed at how well he can do all the motions!

He still takes one nap a day and is getting much better at taking it by himself without much struggle, but he hoards toys to keep him company since I'm not there. It's pretty standard to have one matchbox car in each hand and his three favorite stuffed animals encircled in his arms. This is fine and dandy unless he wakes up mid-nap in need of a napping buddy (hey, the tired pregnant lady is happy to oblige!) and I get some matchbox car stuck under me - ouch! Bedtime is like buttah - no struggles, no whining, no waking up, and he's even been toughing it out by himself when he wakes up coughing. What a stud!

He's turned into a bit of a picky eater and avoids vegetables like the plague. I've been trying to sneak veggies into our meals by dicing them up really small and mixing them in with, say, spaghetti sauce, but Patrick can take a man-sized bite, chew and swallow what you think was the whole thing, then spit out a perfectly preserved chunk of carrot. It's unreal! Fortunately, fruit remains high on his list of favorite foods, so I figure I haven't failed as a parent (yet).

Is he talking? No, not really. He says mama and dada (boring), but these words can mean other words when combined with various sounds or actions. For example, "mama brrrrrm brrrrrrm" means "mom's car," and "dada" often means the color red because Joe's car is red and Patrick is infatuated with it. He says "hot" for fire trucks, fire extinguishers, the fireplace (you get the idea) or anything that appears to be creating smoke, like exhaust from cars on a cold day. "Brrrrrr" means cold, and he sometimes gets it mixed up with "hot," which is funny. "Wa-wa" means fish because fish live in water. "Duck" means - you guessed it! - a duck. "Mine" means a seagull, though (thanks, Finding Nemo!). "Ba-bye" means bath time, a bedtime ritual he refuses to skip, no matter how late it is. He finally pronounces "bye" instead of "die" when people leave - it was a little sad that he wished everyone to their deaths when they left! That's about it for vocabulary, though - he knows how to get what he wants using signs and sounds. Fortunately, his life is still pretty simple; it'll get tough if he's not using words and he wants his grilled cheese sandwich to have TWO slices of cheese instead of one. He'd better learn the word "two!"

Finally, he loves hiding things and pretending to look for them, which is very funny as it's an exact pantomime of how I pretend to look for them. Slowly pick up a blanket, look under it, and say "nooooooo....." and then check the next spot, say "noooooo..." Patrick always makes sure to check underneath me. Makes me laugh every time!

I know both our moms (and some siblings) will be here soon for some longer help-out-the-crazy-tired-new-mom visits, so this was as much for my benefit as it was theirs. Now I can procrastinate writing in his baby book a little longer because hey! I wrote it down somewhere! Speaking of crazy tired, it's 11:00, time to get off blogger!