My little boy is growing up fast. He is not so little anymore - all I have to do is to check out my blog entries & photos from 2008 or 2009. Gerritt's favorite sentence now is "I can do it!" And he does - getting & putting on his coat & shoes, programming & starting washer (I just add the soap), taking off & putting on his diaper, opening tricky candy wrappers & packages of milk & juice, getting into the car seat, propping the doors open for me while I push Sophia in the stroller, returning books to the library, etc. The list goes on & on. He really prides himself on his independence, & I support him as much as I can.
I don't know if it's related to being the firstborn, but he is a disciplinarian as well. He is often the first one to reinforce the rules. I often hear him yelling, "Mommy, put Sophia in the naughty chair! She spilled the juice (or ripped a book, or threw the markers/playdough containers/puzzle pieces all over the floor)." Of course, Sophia is not old enough to understand that she must stay in the naughty chair, so usually 5 seconds later I hear, "Mommy, Sophia got up from the naughty chair!" Sometimes Gerritt takes matters into his own hands, "I am going to punch Sophia!" & then I have to run really fast to save her from Gerritt's justice. :-)
One of Gerritt's favorite games is called "going to sleep." It involves putting all of his stuffed animals under the covers & convincing Sophia or his friend Madison to get under the covers too. He turns off the lights & shuts the door. When I attempt to walk into the room to check on them, he declares, "We are going to sleep, Mommy. Shut the door!!!" Sometimes he'll get a tiny flashlight to make interesting shadows on the ceiling or to show Sophia the glow-in-the-dark insects under the covers. They can be busy playing this game for up to 45" at a time. A little quiet time when no one is needing Mommy "right now" is just fine by me!
Gerritt is also fascinated with the Transformer toys. Transformers are robots that can reshape themselves into cars, trucks, hellicoptors or airplanes. Gerritt used to sleep with them, but now he mostly drives Daddy crazy asking him to turn a robot into something else (which takes a while). Then with one push of a button, Gerritt transforms the car or airplane into a robot again & then the whining starts, "Daddy, can you fix it?"
It warms my heart to watch Gerritt playing with Sophia. She is about 2 months away from turning 2 years old, & Gerritt is enjoying his little sister more & more every day. She is not a bothersome baby anymore, but a playmate. He shares toys & food with her & comforts her when she cries. He often wants to do things together with her & even gets upset if she doesn't come when he calls.
Gerritt talks constantly & I often catch myself laughing. I forced myself to write down a couple of his phrases this week:
"I don't like this, Mommy. It makes creepy sounds!" (Gerritt spitting out chocolate with crunchy bits of almonds when trying it for the first time).
My husband was putting Sophia to sleep. I see Gerritt laying on the floor in front of Sophia's bedroom & waving his fairy wand enthusiastically. I asked him what he was doing & he replied, "I want all of Daddy & Sophia's wishes to come true." I inquired further, "What do they want?" Gerritt declared, "Well... Yellow boney for Spikey (our dog), yummy salad for you. Sophia is wishing for a toy airplane & Daddy is wishing for a nice newspaper!" :-) A toddler's thought process is so amusing!
No comments:
Post a Comment