Zach has been a bit challenging since we returned from vacation. I suppose most people would look at him and say he’s just being a two-year-old, but his two-year-old attitude is wearing me out.
Somehow while we were on vacation, Zach’s sleep schedule got completely out of whack. We’ve never really had that problem before. Even when we went to Hawaii for a week, he didn’t get that off. My little angel who normally goes right to bed at 8:00 is now turning into a monster who screams and throws a fit until about 11:00 before he will finally give in and goes to sleep. Getting him to go to sleep also involves me having to lay down in his bed with him until he nods off. Not only that, but the little monster doesn’t want to wake up in the mornings either so we struggle all morning, resulting in many tears and lots of stress.
The other struggle we’ve had since vacation is with the pacifier. Before vacation, he was only using it to go to bed at night. He rarely ever asked for it at other times. However, while riding in the car for hours upon hours, he asked for his "noonie" and I gave in and let him have it. It was difficult to say no when he was crying and watching his baby cousin suck away on his own pacifier. Now he wants it all the time. Every time he gets the least bit upset (which seems to be about every 2 seconds) he is begging for his "noonie" and gets really angry when I tell him no.
It’s not all bad though. In between the tantrums and melt-downs some good things are happening with him too.
Potty training is still going well, although I haven’t seen a lot of progression over the last couple of weeks. He is staying dry for longer periods of time and telling me when he has to go occasionally, but we’re nowhere near getting rid of the pull-ups yet. I wish I had a way to stay home with him and really work with him for a week or so, but that isn’t an option.
Zach’s language skills are really developing right now too. He’s gone from saying 2-3 word phrases to trying to put sentences together. One of his favorite things to ask right now is "What happened?" The first time I caught on to what he was saying he asked me, "What happened hot dog?" I had thrown away the stick from the corn dog he was eating and he wanted to know where it was. Now every time he can’t find something it is "What happened _____?" He is learning how to carry on conversations with other people and has also learned to tell his first joke. He keeps coming up to me saying, "Mom, mom, mom" until I respond with "What?" Then he says "Dapada" (whatever that means) and starts laughing. It is quite funny because he gets such a kick out of it.
The other big change right now is that he started his new school/day care on Monday. He handled the first day pretty well, but I’m guessing it won’t go as well the rest of the week. His teacher said that he did really well. He joined in with the other kids during play times and was helpful at lunch and snack times. She said he had a couple of times that he looked really sad and cried once, but overall it was a good day. It is a really big change for him going from a home day care to more of a preschool type setting. I am hoping that he adjusts easily. I really think that he will be much more stimulated and challenged in that type of environment. The whole thing is a little scary even for Mom though, so I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling.
