Our Son, The Singer

You never know what to expect on any given day when you have a toddler running around the house.  Every day is different with unique challenges popping up but also amazing little incidents that randomly occur.  If you couldn't guess by the way I am starting this post today, yesterday was a pretty cool day when it came to our son.  It all started in the morning with our decision to start weaning him off of his morning breast milk.  Neither my wife or I knew what to expect so we decided the best way to go about it would be for me to get our son up while she was in the shower.  It made sense to both of us that if she wasn't around, the desire wouldn't be as great to run over and get his milk straight from the source.  So we got some regular cow's milk ready for him in his sippy cup and after I was done changing his diaper and getting him into his clothes, I grabbed his milk and we went over the couch where he usually gets his "other" milk.  We sat down, I tried handing him the cup, and he started crying and wanted to get off.  So I let him off, he ran away, and I tried one more time.  The reaction was the same with the slight difference of him running over the refrigerator and grabbing the handle.  That could only mean one thing, he wanted some sort of food from the refrigerator.  So, giving up on the milk, I opened the fridge, asked him if he wanted some cheese, and got the response of him nodding his head vigorously in affirmation.  So cheese it was.  It turned out that weaning him off his morning feeding wouldn't be nearly as hard as we anticipated, or at least I anticipated.  My wife had a feeling before we even tried that it wouldn't be that hard, and it turns out she was correct.  So our son walked around eating cheese after which he decided to go entertain himself by playing with his blocks in the living room.  Its so much fun as they get older and don't need you every second they are awake.  The self entertaining in the morning is perhaps the biggest advance as most days he just wants to be held and see what is going on in the kitchen as we get ready for the day, make breakfast, and pack lunches.  He still wants to be held on occasion, but it is diminishing as he gets older.  Now, it is enough if we place him on the counter so he can hand us things we need while making breakfast or packing lunches.  It is so much fun to have a little helper, even if some things take a little bit longer. 

 

I know my blog post title mentioned that our son was singing, but I am not there yet, so you will just have to wait another paragraph.  I mentioned that it is fun to just watch our son entertain himself.  All we have to do is be nearby and watching and most times he is content with that.  Yesterday afternoon, as I try do everyday but don't always succeed, I managed to get home before he went to bed.  He was outside playing when I got home and without even going inside, I just hung out with him and played in the back yard.  He wanted to be held a little at first as he was really tired, but then he got a second or third wind and wanted to get down and play.  I left our hand truck outside as I had to move something over the weekend and he went right for it.  Having seen it before, he knew that if he sat down on the base, I could pull him around the yard.  So that's what I did, with him sitting, his feet hanging off and dragging on the ground, I pulled him around our yard on the hand truck.  We made it around the yard a few times before he wanted to get off and pull and push the hand truck himself.  So for the next half hour, I watched our son roam around the yard with the hand truck, pushing it forward, then pulling it backwards, pushing it forwards, then pushing it backwards.  Over and over and over again.  It almost looked like he was trying to mow the yard with the hand truck based on his movements.  Periodically as he would be pushing or pulling, he would look in my direction and wave.  He then moved over the sidewalk and driveway where he proceeded to go back and forth with the hand truck.  He was incredibly intent on what he was doing.  It is times like those that I wish I could read his mind and see what he was thinking as he was going through the motions with the hand truck.  In reality, he was getting quite good at maneuvering the hand truck around.  He now has a greater understanding of how to move it to avoid objects and how to maneuver it around different obstacles.  Then came perhaps the cutest part of that portion of the afternoon, he laid the hand truck down, sat near the base of it, and tried to drive it like a car.  The only problem was, it didn't go anywhere as it only had two wheels and I couldn't pull or push him with the way he was sitting on it.  That was about it for the afternoon as we had to go inside and start getting him ready for bed. 

Once inside, we started getting him ready for bed.  We took his clothes off, got the wipes ready to change his diaper, and got to the final process where we lay him down in his changing table, change his diaper, and put on his pajamas.  Normally as he is laying there, I start singing the alphabet song which he absolutely loves to hear and watch my lips as I sing it.  Last night however, he started singing a song.  At first, it was really quiet and I wasn't quite sure what he as singing.  By the end of it, I figured out that he was singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star".  So I asked him to sing it again.  It was by far the cutest thing I have seen him do so far.  Here is what it sounded like, at least the first part of it.  "kinkle, kinkle, ille ar, how I oner a u ar..."  If you actually heard him sing it, it definitely sounded like twinkle twinkle, just his version of it.  By the end, as he finished, he would crinkle up his face, smile and giggle a little.  Needless to say, my wife and I asked him to sing it about 5 more times just because it was so adorable.  That was the first time he has actually put words to a song besides singing ee eye ee eye oh from old macdonald had a farm.  Its amazing to watch the development of words progress.  There are definitely more distinguishable words being uttered by him although to most people it would probably sound like gibberish.  One thing is for certain, in order to understand what he is saying, we need to be in tune with him, watching what he is looking at and attempting to hear every syllable of what he is saying.  In time, what he says becomes more understandable, if only in an early speaking sort of way.  Oh well, he is our amazing little boy and every day brings something new.  I wouldn't trade any of it for the world, despite how trying it may be at times.  Its not the patience that I lack in terms of how long it takes him to do somethings, its more the patience when it comes to pushing the boundaries that I need to work on as he loves to push the limits on anything he can at this point.  Oh well, such is the life of a parent, amazing, trying, fun, and rewarding.