I Just Go On and On

So what's new with us?

Skyler seems to think he's in the terrible two stage already and it doesn't help that he's cutting 3 new teeth. He's been furious about everything, and he's getting violent. He keeps hitting and scratching and screaming, even though we do the gentle but firm "we don't hit/scratch, it hurts." etc. I know it's just a phase and it will pass and I love him so much, I just hope to keep a thread of my sanity through it.

There have been many positive things too though. The reason they call it the terrible twos is because the child begins to assert independence. Which to me is really awesome. He's saying more words, including "up" which he uses every morning when I come into the room and he's standing in the crib. He knows that when he wants to be picked up he just needs to tell us "up" and we'll oblige. He recognizes things, like his rubber duck. I handed it to him in the bath the other day without a word and he said "duck!" He's climbing all over the place, and using everything he can find as a push toy to walk with. He's able to point out where mommy and daddy's noses are when asked. All these things make me swell with happiness, children with septo-optic dysplasia often have intellectual disabilities ranging from mild to severe. His ability to recognize objects and point to things when asked and even name some of them gives me so much hope. I know I will love him for who he is no matter what, but it makes my heart dance with joy when he says new words and does new things.

I haven't been online much because Skyler and I have started our "preschool home school curriculum" or whatever you want to call it. We start off each afternoon with a little rhyme, followed by some songs and sometimes a story, and then I provide him with different activities to choose from or he can choose his own. I don't make him do anything, but I do bring out different toys or activities that he normally wouldn't have. Like crayons or paint and paper (we don't leave those lying around for him, for obvious reasons) or a piece of string to play with (it's good for his fine motor/pincer grasp). Things that might normally be "forbidden" for safety reasons. I like this time because he gets to try something different under close supervision while I talk to him and tell him what's going on and make sure he's not going to choke or get hurt. The lesson plan I made also gives me an idea of what to do for each day, otherwise I'd sit there staring at him, because most of the time I haven't had enough sleep the night before to form a coherent thought let alone come up with an idea for an activity or song to sing.

He loves the "circle time" we do at the beginning when I sing to him, and he dances and sometimes will sing along. This is usually followed by a story where he likes to turn the pages for me. We have our little routine worked out. It starts usually with lunch, then a bath if lunch was particularly messy as it sometimes is (and he now refuses to eat at the kitchen table, more on that in a minute) and then a bottle while I put on his eye patch. We do his preschool stuff, he wears the patch for two hours (which now goes on without a fuss and he manages the full two hours like a pro) and I will sometimes let him watch half an hour of tv, while standing so close that any normal mother would say "move back you're gonna wreck your eyes". Of course I say no such thing as I know that letting him watch tv for a little bit while wearing the patch will help strengthen his weaker eye because it gives him something to focus on and makes his eye work a bit more.

After we take the patch off it's usually about 5 or 5:30 and time for dinner. The last few days he has screamed bloody murder every time I try to put him in the booster seat/chair (and the stroller..) and it's quite obvious to me that it's because he is just far too busy to be tied down to a chair to eat. So we've begun taking meals on the floor. So much for sitting together at the table. But you have to make sacrifices when you have a toddler. Feeding him on the floor works as he's able to wander away after a few bites and then come back to it. It's a pain though because most meals require some sort of cooked meat or dairy and I don't want it to spoil while he is off wandering around and then there's the whole choking hazard thing. I'm just trying to work through this phase while we look for the right toddler sized table and chair set for him. I'm hoping we can get him his own table for eating and crafts so that he might not have to eat off the floor.

We did buy him a small desk/easel today. It's not quite appropriate for eating off of, but it is cute and it has a clip for his paper and he's shown an interest in it already. I'm thinking it will be ideal for finger painting, and maybe colouring with markers when he's a bit older. Lately he's been very interested in my keyboard (musical one not computer, though he likes that too) and we've been working on playing music together. I love that the keys on my keyboard light up. And it has an option to teach you how to play different songs. It will light up each key as you're supposed to press it and wait for you to do so. Skyler will actually on occassion follow the lit up keys and try to play a song. It's so cute.

Anyway I'm sure there's more to say but as of late Skyler doesn't remember what "bed time" means and he's screaming again in his crib. So I'd better go and figure out what to do.