Last Sunday, we went to my parent's house for Sunday dinner. Grandma got an iPad for Christmas, and the boys are still excited about it. The rule is the boys can play on it, but only when they are sitting down (and not getting up with it) near someone big (i.e. an adult). The two bigger boys had a turn and Peewee-pint wanted his iPad time. I told him to go sit with Grandma so he could play. He sat there happily in Grandma's lap for quite some time. When we got home later that night, he recounted the whole adventure to me at bed time:
"Me, me play iPad...Danma (grandma) house...me sit Danma lap...play dames (games) Danma lap...motorcycle dames...wweeee...Danma house...play dames me...iPad...Danma lap...FUN! Me!"
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After I (we, Peewee-pint and I) dropped the bigger boys off at Daddy's office so they could go to an NBA game, Peewee-pint was pretty hacked off being the only kiddo not invited. He screamed in the car during rush hour traffic on the drive home. Trying to distract him, I asked what he wanted to eat for dinner...the answer was quick and decisive: "Take (cake)-birfday take...happy birfday Daddy...take!" When we got home I tried to convince him to have something a little more healthy first and suggested a cheese stick for starters. His answer: "no cheese stick! Me want eat take, ice team, tookie dough! Eat take!!!"
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He is really enjoying saying his prayers, especially at bed time. He's gotten the hang of it and needs fewer and fewer prompts. In the middle of Sacrament meeting last week (it was ward conference) the Stake President said "Jesus Christ" and Peewee-pint piped in "Name Jesus Christ, AMEN!"
When we help him pray, we generally try to keep it pretty strait forward. The prompts are typically something like "thank you" or "bless us". He has started filling in the blanks before we have the chance to supply a thank you or blessing. My favorite is when he quickly and definitively says "bless us be HAPPY!" in every prayer. The other night, he was filling in all the blanks, starting with the "thank yous" with things like his brother's names and happy; then when he wasn't sure what to say next, he opened his little eyes, looked at me in his darkened bed room and said "what else?" I was a little surprised to realize that he was actually thinking about what to say next and not just waiting for me to tell him something to say.
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When we were thankful for Jesus in his prayer the other night, that sparked a memory from Nursery, and in the middle of his prayer he excitedly started telling me "Me play, choochoo track...nusy (nursery)...fun...choochoo...nusy...play...me." After he was finished telling me what a fun time he had playing with trains in nursery, we finished his prayer and he fell right to sleep.
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Peewee-pint has a little bit of a temper. And when things don't go his way, he's quick to scream at the top of his lungs. I deal with this by giving him a couple of warnings, then place him in his "baby-jail" room. We have the doorway double gated (two pressure gates...one on top of the other) because he climbs over if there's only one. He knows this is the consequence for screaming and I always hear his pleading for mercy as we head up the stairs. "I be nice... you...I be nice...I be HAPPY!" I usually say something like "Good, I'm glad you will be nice to me, but you still need to go to your room." He doesn't like that answer, but grudgingly goes to his room for a few minutes. When I go to release him, he always says "I be nice now Momma...I be nice you."
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The baby-jail gates also prevent Peewee-pint from getting out of his room when he's awake in the morning or from his nap. We've learned our parental lesson when we found him rummaging in the bottom drawer of the fridge for cheese sticks in the middle of the night-more than once (those were a one gate night...hence the double gates). Whenever he wakes up...even in the middle of the night...he typically goes to the gated door and says "I all done... I sleep all night long!"
