Who knew having a kid would be so cool!

A new level of maturity seems to be emerging in Leif. It is hard to explain these sometimes seemingly subtle changes that we observe. It is almost like Leif wakes up and gets the point we have been trying to make for weeks and sometimes months. AB said it started Tuesday night. They had the best night together with very few battles or challenges. Leif wanted to play. He was hungry and wanted to sit and eat dinner, so they did and listened to the Sundays. And not only that, he tried foods he hadn’t tried before. This is a vast change (in our view) from recent actions where it is nearly impossible to get him to sit to eat for longer than 5 minutes when he announces “all done” and struggles to run free. Oh and did I mention that his appetite is comparable to a horse? He eats more than I do for dinner lately. Daycare keeps telling us to send more food. The child needs a larger lunchbox.

There is only one explanation for this recent change… my little boy is growing up and maturing. He is understanding more and more everyday as well as becoming more capable at expressing his needs and wants.

This morning I dropped him off at daycare. The drop offs have been far better lately and I am pleased to report that we get a hello every single day when we walk in the door now. Leif has his routine whereby he goes to the fridge and empties his lunchbox into the blue and red bins. Blue for stays cold (yogurt, lunchmeat, sandwiches, fruit) and hot for “to be heated” (pasta, veggies, etc). We are still working on which foods get heated and which stay cold, and the fact that his two little oatmeal cookies for dessert are neither of these and stay in the lunchbox. To minimize meltdowns the cookies have been going into the blue container.

Leif walked in today and his friend Atticus’ eyes lit up. Here came Atticus with his arms open wide. But Leif didn’t want a hug from Atticus and kept turning to me for “mo kissies” and “hogs”. I kept trying to convince him to go play with Atti. Finally Leif looked at me, waved and walked up to Atti where he was greeted with the biggest bearhug from a 2 year old. Leif put his arms around Atti and hugged him back. They embraced for about 30 seconds (I watched through the door) and then they ran off together to play. Awww! Tears!! My little boy has a friend he made on his own. And wow are they cute!

Every age is the best. I have heard that the terrible two’s are approaching. Leif’s doctor has stated that with her boys, it wasn’t the terrible two’s, it’s the “terrible 18 month olds”. So far I think she is right. And I think Leif is just emerging from this phase. I know, he isn’t yet two, who knows what is waiting out there for me on the other side. I may come back to this post and laugh at my naïve self.

Then again a lot of the things that I hear as complaints about two year olds may not bother me so much. I have heard that their striving for independence as well as dawdling be it perceived dawdling because of the desire for independence and doing things themselves or dawdling for no real apparent reason. I am actually a pretty laid back person and I enjoy seeing Leif attempt things by himself. Most mornings being late in, isn’t an issue. I am rarely really in a hurry. So maybe it is more how easily one gets annoyed by the slow toddler pace? Oh I am sure I will reach my limit.

But for now I see that things have improved this past week as compared to the last six months. For the most part Leif can convey what he wants, he is very verbal. He cracks me up the way he chatters away about random things. He loves to “read” and has recently taken to reading to me, which really just slays me. Last night he wanted to see Cookie on TV. So I put on a Sesame Street we have recorded to Tivo. We watched the couple of Cookie Monster parts, fast forwarding through the others. Then I asked him if he wanted to read. He leapt off the couch with such gusto and ran full speed to his room. By the time I got there he had a few books picked out. No more reading the same book over and over and over (crossing my fingers, knocking on wood…). Nope we read one and he says “all done” and finds another.

Last night I asked Leif to read “Open the Barn Door” to me. This was a gift from Rockergirrl and her family for Leif. It is one of his favorites and has been for awhile. If you haven’t seen it, the book asks the question “Who says [insert animal sound]?” Then you open the barn door or other flap to find the animal standing there. Leif obviously knows this book well.

The book’s version:

“Who says neigh?”
Open the corral flap to find a horse.
“A horse!”

Leif’s version:

“Who say horse?”
Open the corral flap to find a horse.
“E-I-E-I-O! NEIGHHHHH!!”

Apparently any book about farm animals has to have E-I-E-I-O inserted in ad nauseum. They MUST sing Old MacDonald at least 15 times a day at daycare.

Wow am I lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. I am pleased that he doesn’t seem to be a bully, yet he doesn’t appear to be bullied. He makes friends and loves to make people laugh. He has an infectious laugh and an addictive smile. Who knew having a kid would be so cool?