Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Answer Me This

Today we woke up to this:


Luckily 33* in Spring (what it was when I took Mav for his morning walk) isn't quite the same as 33* in the dead of Winter. We woke up late today. Ayden had his first good night in quite a while so I soaked up every moment of sleep that I could. He woke up snuggly, which he also hasn't done in a while so I soaked up very moment of that I could too. By the time we got out of bed, fed Mav and had breakfast, it was going on 11:00. I thought the day had gotten away from me but I looked over my list, made a plan and seized the day!

I put Ayden on my back while I put dinner in the crock pot:

Crock Pot Honey Apple Pork Loin
(recipe)
Then worked out while he took his nap. He only slept for about 40 minutes today (I got half of the P90X chest and back workout done).  He woke sitting up, bright eyed and smiling so I didn't worry about trying to get him back down. We had lunch and then I worked on some projects for his Easter basket and cleaned up the basement.

Any guesses?
I'll share the finished products in a post soon!
When David got home, dinner was ready and the kitchen was already cleaned up. After we ate we had time for a family walk and plenty of play time. I usually reserve crock pot meals for Wednesdays but the fun we had time for this evening makes me want to do it more often. Our evenings are usually consumed by kitchen clean up and such but tonight was super chill and fun. Something in our usual routine needs to change so we can enjoy that every night. Back to the drawing board!

Off roading in the City Mini.
We witnessed some pretty awesome changes in Ayden today. First of all, this morning, my mom started talking to me while she was looking at a book with him. He reached his little hand up, turned her face back to the book and pointed to it. It was as if he was trying to say, "Focus, Naunie!". She got a big kick out of it which of course he loved. Ayden has also completely grasped the context of saying please. It is to the point where he will catch himself fussing or whining for something and then stop and start signing/saying please in the sweetest voice ever. He is also nodding his head yes or shaking his head no to answer yes/no questions. Today I had read his current favorite book to him several times on a particular spot on the basement floor. He wanted me to read it again so, book in hand, he grabbed my pant leg and signed/said please when I looked down. Then he walked over and sat in the spot from before and patted the ground next to him. I said, "Ayden, do you want me to read that book to you again?" And he nodded his head yes. It was so cute and amazing to me that he had accomplished that many steps for expressing his wants.  Here is a little clip of his version of, "Please":


I feel like he has made it over a communication obstacle and is really understanding the power of requests or getting to answer questions. It was such a pleasant day and I had so much fun marveling about these new developments. An added bonus is that my parents and David are just as excited about everything as I am and it has been fun to all be proud of him together.

Maverick is a good listener.

I have heard people say that 18 months is "the perfect age" because they are starting to talk and communicate but aren't in the "terrible twos" stage. Here at 14 months we are almost there and I can say two way communication really has opened another dimension to our relationship and it is just going to keep getting better.

~Sarah

1 comment:

  1. My son is 23 months and since about 20 months we've been raving about how much more enjoyable this stage is than any other. He was a late teether so now that he's done and his communication skills are so strong it's the best. Especially because the baby elements of wanting to be held or snuggled are still there. It's the best of both worlds! Good communication skills are key!

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