A tough month, lots of changes and a few words to sum up our little Noah: defiant, testing and independent. Sound familiar? It’s almost like he has learnt to say the word “no” properly and complete with actions – so it must mean more now. Bedtime is just not the same anymore either…
Defiance
Despite my comments above Noah is a lovely little boy (when he wants to be) and a pleasure to have around and be with, just that now he is learning new language and body language, of course, he is using it. “Noah, can you get your pyjamas on please?” a once normal request from Mummy and Noah would happily put his pyjamas on and feel satisfied that he had done it. Usually followed with a “Done it Mummy!” Now we have a response of “NO!” and folded arms across his chest with a definite humph in the process. Where did he learn this from? I think it’s amazing how they pick up these new tricks.
Delay Tactics
Bedtime used to be a pleasant occurrence, he would go to bed really easily and he would get snuggled up and be asleep by 7pm. Now we use every tactic we could think of to avoid getting into bed delaying the process as much as possible. He needs a wee, he wants a different set of pyjamas on or he just doesn’t want to go to bed. Sometimes tears and tears and a sobbing voice saying “I’m not tired Mummy, I don’t want to go to bed”. As cute as it sounds, he very clearly is tired and needs his sleep. We get to the point some days where he is just so tired around about 5pm he turns into a monster, quite literally. But he stopped napping, he doesn’t want a nap in the daytime anymore and if you try to coax one and he sleeps for an hour or so – he will not be going to bed at 7pm. I need to think of some activities to do after dinner time, before bath time, that are calm and that he enjoys. Maybe it should be puzzle time. Or read a book time. Then maybe the monster will be calmed also.
Mealtimes
These are interesting at the moment- “I’m not hungry” exclaimed before the majority of mealtimes and he then sits and eats what he wants. Some days he would eat a carrot and then say he’s finished. Other times you could blink and his meal has gone! I guess it’s all about him learning that he has a choice, learning he can say no to things and testing the boundaries. We have started a new dinnertime rule, to help him – this rule is that we all must stay up at the table until we are all finished. So now Noah sits and eats his meals a little better and when Mummy & Daddy have finished he says “you wait for Noah to finish”. Which is quite funny as Daddy gets impatient too 🙂
Noah Sentences
The sentence structure is getting better and better, he can tell us what he wants a lot better and easier. He is THE most polite person I know, always a please and thank you with every request. If you do not acknowledge his thank you he will soon let you know with a “Mummy are you listening?”, which makes me giggle. I often get told I am a clever mummy, when I do his shoes up or put a puzzle piece together with him. It just shows what he is picking up from his surroundings, I am always telling him he is clever and praising him for doing things that are new or clever. He is copying me and doing the same back. He is starting to talk about love now, the other day Rocky (our cat) came up to him and brushed up against him like cats do and he said “Ah Rocky loves me”. Which I thought was just so cute. Some things they say just makes you melt.
Playtime
My little man is such a creative little player I love it – he plays shops and we play imaginative games all the time. Our favourites are imagination shopping which involves Noah asking me for money, which I pretend to put in his hands and then he tells me what he is going to get from the shop. He zooms off and gets these pretend items and then comes back and tells me what we have. I have noticed that sometimes he comes back and says “I’m sorry Mummy but the milkshakes are not in the shop, they will be back later”, which is probably something I have said to him on occasion when he’s asked for sweeties. Our other favourite family imaginative game at the moment is where is Noah’s nose? Daddy takes Noah’s nose and throws it around the family members until Noah finally gets it and asks for it back, when he gets it back he puts it back on his face. Then Noah takes Daddy’s nose and you get the idea. It’s all pretend, but he loves it and seems to understand that it’s all pretend. Its quite a difference from last month.
Sibling Love
At the start of the month there were still episodes of biting, fighting and rivalry – amongst the loving, cuddling and generosity. Noah used to bite Isla a lot when she touched his toys or he was feeling frustrated, that was until the other week when Noah bit one of his best friends, Joseph, and poor Joseph had to go to the doctors as his finger got poorly. After explaining to Noah that Joseph had to go to the doctors and that his finger was really poorly because Noah bit it, he hasn’t done it since. I even hear him playing with his toys and explaining to his toys how bad it was that Joseph’s finger was poorly. I felt terrible about poor Joseph though, it’s sad when you know they don’t mean any harm, but they do cause harm. Joseph is fine now and no major harm done, so I am very grateful for that. Poor Joseph! As Noah keeps saying. So Isla is the one now that has started to bite Noah, she has learnt from him so it didn’t surprise me. I just have to explain to Noah that she doesn’t mean to hurt him and that it is what she has learnt from him. Fingers crossed it won’t last until she is 3 too!
