a theo update
I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, and my list of things to remember to record is getting longer and longer, so I'd better write it down now! These past few weeks have been tough, and to be honest I want to remember some positive things about Theo before we snap and ship him off to the circus.
So most recently Theo has discovered the dreaded word of 'mine'. Everything is 'mine' or 'my this and my that' and if you should interfere with anything that is his, then all hell will break loose. I don't know whether it's because he is currently cutting his back molars (I hope this is the reason) or whether it's because he's now a fully fledged two year old but we've seen some pretty spectacular tantrums as of late. Irrational and ridiculous don't really touch it. If I dare to cut some food up for him, or try to put his shoes on or do something the wrong way then hysterics will ensue. It's split second as well, one second he'll be fine and the next it's like the world has well and truly ended. He wants to be so independent, but lacks the skills to be so, such as dressing himself or doing up his car seat buckle, but if you attempt to help him then game over. I guess this is similar to other stages such as learning to crawl or walk, he's at the point where he knows he wants to do it but just lacks the strength and coordination to do so, so he's frustrated. But I can tell you, dear Theo I'm frustrated too, and it's wearing me down! But hopefully like all things to do with childhood, it will pass. But when you're in the moment it's hard to remember what they are usually like and you sort of resign yourself to the fact that you are raising a devil child and this is how it will be for eternity...
So anyway, lets move onto some more positive attributes of Theos personality and development shall we?!
He's getting pretty good at this whole talking thing, we now have quite a few sentences and has a few catch phrases. These include: "you alright, mmm nice ... (cake/tea/dinner/ice cream...) mummy, see you later, are you ok, close eyes mummy, stop it, hello everyone, goodbye everyone".
At the end of the day we like to have a conversation about what we did that day, he' pretty good at recalling most of the events or the people we saw with little prompting. Sometimes he surprises us at the things he remembers and he likes to tell us little stories.
He is still completely train obsessed, and will in fact throughout the day find things that resemble anything train related. If we see a bridge, or a bridge like shape he will insist that there is a "train coming". If there is a pattern on something that is vaguely track shaped he will inform us that it is in fact a train track. His use of his imagination is clearly getting so much stronger, the other day he was eating some porridge and with each spoonful he would tell me what animal it was in the shape of: rhino, dolphin, cow, dinosaur...He also likes spiders at the moment and likes to spot them everywhere we go! (Thankfully these too are in his imagination, otherwise I would be a slightly uncomfortable at the amount we see)
His favourite food at the moment is sausages, or hot dogs as he likes to call them. I'm not really sure where this obsession started, maybe it was Rob's little Saturday routine after football, stopping by the bakers and butchers to get bread and sausages to make sandwiches when they get home, or maybe it is our obsession with Ikea? (He doesn't even eat the hotdogs at Ikea, he just knows that's the hotdog homeland perhaps?!) Other favourite foods include: crumpets, melon, apples, pears, cheerios, ice cream and carrots.
Theo has grasped the concept of friends and if you ask them who his friends are he'll give you a long list of names. We try and see our friends at least once a week, and Theo will ask after them if we haven't seen them in a while! When we do see them they are most likely met with a hug and a huge hello! There are two girls who live next door who like to have little chats with Theo over the fence, when the weather was warmer last week Theo joined them for a paddle in their paddling pool.
If Theo goes out into the garden he will yell their names until they appear or he gives up when I tell him they're not home, it's pretty sweet!
In terms of learning Theo can now recognise all the numbers, but sometimes getting 6 and 9 muddled up! He gets that they go in order, but can't quite get it right: 3,2,1, 3,4,8,6,7,5 etc. Same with the alphabet. His colours are good, as are his shapes. We have been attempting to show him what letters put together sound like, and what letters his name is made up from so he can perhaps start recognising words. I'm not even sure what the next step in learning is, but hey I've made it up this far!
So there we have it. Apart from being a bit of a monster at the moment Theo does show flashes of being a lovely sweet child; he constantly wants cuddles and kisses from us, to be played with and show us everything that he finds interesting. I just hope these past few weeks have been because he's not been feeling 100% and it is just a phase that will pass (quickly!)
So most recently Theo has discovered the dreaded word of 'mine'. Everything is 'mine' or 'my this and my that' and if you should interfere with anything that is his, then all hell will break loose. I don't know whether it's because he is currently cutting his back molars (I hope this is the reason) or whether it's because he's now a fully fledged two year old but we've seen some pretty spectacular tantrums as of late. Irrational and ridiculous don't really touch it. If I dare to cut some food up for him, or try to put his shoes on or do something the wrong way then hysterics will ensue. It's split second as well, one second he'll be fine and the next it's like the world has well and truly ended. He wants to be so independent, but lacks the skills to be so, such as dressing himself or doing up his car seat buckle, but if you attempt to help him then game over. I guess this is similar to other stages such as learning to crawl or walk, he's at the point where he knows he wants to do it but just lacks the strength and coordination to do so, so he's frustrated. But I can tell you, dear Theo I'm frustrated too, and it's wearing me down! But hopefully like all things to do with childhood, it will pass. But when you're in the moment it's hard to remember what they are usually like and you sort of resign yourself to the fact that you are raising a devil child and this is how it will be for eternity...
So anyway, lets move onto some more positive attributes of Theos personality and development shall we?!
He's getting pretty good at this whole talking thing, we now have quite a few sentences and has a few catch phrases. These include: "you alright, mmm nice ... (cake/tea/dinner/ice cream...) mummy, see you later, are you ok, close eyes mummy, stop it, hello everyone, goodbye everyone".
At the end of the day we like to have a conversation about what we did that day, he' pretty good at recalling most of the events or the people we saw with little prompting. Sometimes he surprises us at the things he remembers and he likes to tell us little stories.
He is still completely train obsessed, and will in fact throughout the day find things that resemble anything train related. If we see a bridge, or a bridge like shape he will insist that there is a "train coming". If there is a pattern on something that is vaguely track shaped he will inform us that it is in fact a train track. His use of his imagination is clearly getting so much stronger, the other day he was eating some porridge and with each spoonful he would tell me what animal it was in the shape of: rhino, dolphin, cow, dinosaur...He also likes spiders at the moment and likes to spot them everywhere we go! (Thankfully these too are in his imagination, otherwise I would be a slightly uncomfortable at the amount we see)
His favourite food at the moment is sausages, or hot dogs as he likes to call them. I'm not really sure where this obsession started, maybe it was Rob's little Saturday routine after football, stopping by the bakers and butchers to get bread and sausages to make sandwiches when they get home, or maybe it is our obsession with Ikea? (He doesn't even eat the hotdogs at Ikea, he just knows that's the hotdog homeland perhaps?!) Other favourite foods include: crumpets, melon, apples, pears, cheerios, ice cream and carrots.
Theo has grasped the concept of friends and if you ask them who his friends are he'll give you a long list of names. We try and see our friends at least once a week, and Theo will ask after them if we haven't seen them in a while! When we do see them they are most likely met with a hug and a huge hello! There are two girls who live next door who like to have little chats with Theo over the fence, when the weather was warmer last week Theo joined them for a paddle in their paddling pool.
If Theo goes out into the garden he will yell their names until they appear or he gives up when I tell him they're not home, it's pretty sweet!
In terms of learning Theo can now recognise all the numbers, but sometimes getting 6 and 9 muddled up! He gets that they go in order, but can't quite get it right: 3,2,1, 3,4,8,6,7,5 etc. Same with the alphabet. His colours are good, as are his shapes. We have been attempting to show him what letters put together sound like, and what letters his name is made up from so he can perhaps start recognising words. I'm not even sure what the next step in learning is, but hey I've made it up this far!
So there we have it. Apart from being a bit of a monster at the moment Theo does show flashes of being a lovely sweet child; he constantly wants cuddles and kisses from us, to be played with and show us everything that he finds interesting. I just hope these past few weeks have been because he's not been feeling 100% and it is just a phase that will pass (quickly!)
I chuckled at the line about his discovery of the word 'mine'. Pretty damn cute that.
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