Nakita Grinie

Truman 2 5

That's it! I have to stop being a slacker mom for my first born when it comes to documenting his life. The fact that Erin has blogged about her first-born not once, but twice since I first started thinking about a 2.5 post for Truman is the final straw. I am going for it, so watch out internets! I have a list of 'things to mention' drafted in my phone that was started in August, since Truman turned 2.5 on September 1. We'll see if any of those things even apply anymore!

Remember this guy?



My buddy Truman. I love him so. I'm going to try and give you a little glimpse into the life of a not-really-a-toddler-but-not-quite-preschooler. I'm sure it will fall short of the real-life awesomeness of Truman but whatever. It's still important to try and get a bloggy snapshot, right?

(daddy's 31st birthday)




I suppose the biggest accomplishment Truman has made since his second birthday is totally nailing potty training. The month before he turned two-and-a-half it just sort of happened, way before I was actually ready to tackle this milestone. We used the 3 day method and Truman honestly did better than I could have thought possible. We've never bought a single pull up and he's never worn a diaper from that first day of potty training (August 3, just in case I want to remember). Even for every nap and every bedtime he's always worn underwear and has had about 4 total accidents while asleep. Isn't that pretty insane and not normal?? He requested to wear undies that first day during his nap and at night, so we went for it and he did great. There was a string of three nights in a row, about 3 weeks ago, when he did pee in the bed and called us in there in the middle of the night after already wetting himself. That really sucked and I almost put him in diapers at night but then he was over that phase as fast as it started. He's only had one accident at daycare EVER and I cannot remember the last mess we've had to clean up (please, God, don't let me jinx it!) besides those three nights. He definitely 'got it' really fast and I attribute that only to trains. I will discuss his utter obsession with choo-choos in a bit, but the kid is totally driven by positive rewards....and bribery.



(of course)


So yeah, my big boy is potty trained. Still can't believe it. I'm so proud and so happy not to change nasty adult-like poops anymore! Although having to wipe his butt is still pretty gross but much better than doing it in a diaper.





Now that potty training is out of the way, our new current thing to work on is teaching Truman to get himself dressed and undressed. He's really not into this task, though, and whenever I ask him to pull down his pants (because it would be SO nice if he could take himself in and out of the bathroom without any assistance!) he usually says, 'No, you can do it, mommy.' In fact, whenever Lori asks him to do it at daycare he just tells her, 'My mommy can come and do it instead.' Sigh. We are working on it though and he's getting better at the pants thing, plus coats, shoes, and socks. I just don't have much patience to keep on him about getting himself FULLY dressed in the morning, mostly because we always seem to be in a rush to get out the door and I can't allow 30 minutes for him to do it himself. I still think he's pretty young to fully dress himself though, but the pants on/off thing is a priority at this point. It's never fun to have Cecelia hanging off my boob nursing while I'm bending down to pull up Truman's pants after he pees on the potty. But still 100x better than changing his diaper:)

(someone found his nipples!)


(and showing me his 'sparkly' teeth after brushing with daddy!)


Truman's other big 'accomplishment' in the past few months is obviously becoming a big brother. And this, too, has just blown me away with how great he's done. I've sort of touched on this in Cecelia's posts already but big brother is super proud of little sister. Just this morning when I came downstairs without Cecelia in my arms (because she wanted to snooze alone for a few minutes) Truman said, 'Mommy, I want my brother. ' Meaning his sister, obviously:) Then when she did come down he ran over to her and said, 'Hi, sissy! Brother's here!' (got it right this time!) and then he demanded that Nate come into the room to say hi to CC. If a stranger stops to talk to us, Truman will automatically get really close to Cecelia, point at her, and inform the stranger that this is his sister. And, 'she get big and play trains with me.' Can't handle it. Never once has he acted out against her or me for that matter, and I'm sure this will change once she can grab at those beloved trains but he just seems to love the crap out of her. He asks to help with her baths, tells her, 'It's okay, baby, almost there' when she is crying in the car, and thoroughly enjoys piling every single toy onto her belly. He'll ask her to 'grab that' over and over again as if she will actually play with him right now. I just love watching Truman as a big brother. I hope he's always this loving and protective over his little sis.

(the game of piling toys on sister)




TWINS!








(first dual bath! Truman said, 'Mommy, Cece's eyes are black.' Maybe her big pupils?)



In that same vein, Truman has the most tender heart and is super sensitive at times. When CC and I were both sick with the flu (after Truman gave it to us and then got better before us girls got hit hard), he continually asked me, 'You sick, mommy? You no feel good? Monkey make it all better,' and then he would give me his favorite lovey, monkey.



(Truman's take on nursing....monkey)



Truman's personality description paragraph: Hmmm. Still a laid back little man. He's not overly shy around new people but he can be such an observer, and never jumps right into anything without really thinking through it first. He's cautious and not much of a risk taker which is totally fine by me. He just loves to watch bigger kids play and will eagerly go up to them and sort of chase them around as if they invited him to tag along. But he is never very talkative in a big group unless he's really familiar with everyone present. He likes going to Lori's now (although it can vary by the week!) and I'm grateful for that chance at socialization. I definitely think the daycare setting is a good one for Truman and it sort of helps him come out of his shell a bit, learning to share with others and respect other adults' authorities. Have I ever mentioned that Nate was painfully shy as a kid; like, hide under tables at preschool and cry for his mom all the time type of shy. Occasionally I can see this side of Truman but for the most part he's fairly outgoing. One time at the playground he jumped into a group of bigger kids and they were all talking to me about old they were. Truman piped in randomly, 'I'm a big boy, I'm five.' Um, no, buddy. Nice try. I never know what random things he'll proclaim to strangers, which is something I'm sure will only become more intense with time:)

(best buddy, Charlotte!)




As far as his 'smarts' or what he's learning, I'm constantly blown away with every new thing he knows and I think this is one of the most fun parts about raising a 2.5 year old (aside from the hilarious note-worthy things they say!). Truman can count to 20, although he repeats '14, 15, 14, 15' a few times before continuing on:) He's learning his letters, can sing you the ABCs until you simply request him to stop, and he can accurately point out a lot of letters now (thanks, Super Why!). The first time he said, 'Mommy, there's a stop sign, S-T-O-P.' I about crapped myself. Then there was the time that we were at Starbucks (big surprise) and his favorite apple juice is by 'Tree Top'. He looked at the box and pointed to each letter, spelling it out perfectly. What? My car is a Mazda Tribute and he pointed to the lettering on the bumper, spelling it out at the top of his lungs, then saying, 'CAR!'. As in, 'Tribute' spells 'car'. HA! Nate also claims that Truman once pointed to the lettering on Nate's shirt and correctly identified almost every single letter in 'UWM Physical Therapy.' Not so sure about that claim, but he definitely knows what an o, t, h, p, y, k, r, e and l look like.





(ABC song video)




(hilarious counting video)



The other amazing 'brain' thing Truman has going on right now is his colors. Maybe the kid will be an artist someday because he has really latched on to colors....probably because of the different colors of Thomas' friends (are you sick of me talking about trains yet? Cause this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg/engine). Earlier this year I was pretty impressed with how quickly he caught onto naming colors and now he can honestly tell me every single color of each train, and also of real-life objects. I mean, he's not able to distinguish the inbetween colors, like a maroon (is it brown or red?) or a tan (yellow or brown?). But the main colors of the rainbow? Totally has it figured out. One day we were driving home from daycare and he saw a city bus (ie 'see-tee busssss') and said, 'Look, mommy! City bus! It blue, green, and yellow. Just like my shirt--we match.' And sure enough, the kid was wearing this shirt. And our city buses? Pretty close match!





(a video on his colors)



Sleeping and eating are always hot topics for kids in general, right? Tru is a champion napper, and is down like clockwork at noon and doesn't usually wake until 3pm for his naps. I love it. I cherish it. Promise. But bedtime has been a freaking chore lately and mornings are a bit earlier than we'd like, too. We were doing GREAT with a 8pm bedtime for a few months and now we are back to his old ways of stalling, asking us to come upstairs because 'I need to poop' (he knows that will always get us!), or 'I thirsty', or 'please sing me a song' for the 156th time. So most nights he isn't actually asleep until 9 but we start bedtime by 7:30 or so. Ugh. Nate and I split it up so that Nate does the first part of bedtime (brush teeth, jammies, potty, books) while I'm putting Cecelia down, then I get to sing Truman a few songs and tuck him in after that. Lately he has been requesting that I 'tell him a story' that I make up. His favorite two? One about Truman the conductor, and one about a butterfly. Love it. Although bedtime can be annoyingly long and strung out, it's still one of my favorite times of the day with little man. Can't get over him saying, 'I love you, too, mommy,' when I shut his door at night. For the sixth time in 30 minutes:)

And although his Tot Clock still works miracles for our early riser, and is set for an acceptable 6 am wake up, the past month he's been waking around 5 ready to rip for the day. He knows he can't get down off his bed (and he has never once tried to get out alone, thank the lord!) until his clock is yellow at 6. So he'll just yell for us and ask us to lay with him, or request to come lay in our bed until that clock clicks to yellow. And then he is ALL about getting down to play. Yeah. Sleeping from 9pm until 5am isn't that much, right? I'm sure the 3 hour nap probably throws off bedtime but on the days he gets a shorter nap because we are out running around all day, he STILL won't go down any earlier. So I'm not altering that nap any time soon because it's glorious. Hoping it doesn't stop for at least 2 more years:)

(found them like this on a Sunday morning, listening to music together)


(loves having a task!)


As for eating, Truman is your typical picky toddler. If it were up to him he'd only consume fruit snacks, graham crackers, and granola bars. But lucky for him I'm really mean and 'make' him eat horrible things like fruit and protein and things other than empty carbs. He will oblige me with a waffle and peanut butter, pears, apples, blueberries, grapes, cheese, yogurt, raisins, chicken nuggets (dinosaur shaped only, thanks), pizza, and hot dogs. Everything else that is remotely healthy is a battle. Totally down for bribery here, meaning 'if you eat 3 more bites of your dinner you can have a popsicle for dessert.' The kid loves freaking popsicles even though it's bordering on wintertime in Wisconsin. Apparently he eats everything for Lori, though, including all vegetables and crazy-adult-like things such as chicken salad sandwiches and beef stew. At first I didn't believe Lori when she was telling me such things but I guess it's all about peer pressure or something. His friends are housing carrots and peas, so he will, too. Weird. But awesome:)









Physically Truman is really into jumping on one leg, doing wild and weird semi-yoga poses for no reason, fake falling on the couch, and running all over the house, usually chasing poor Henry. He's super active and seemingly pretty coordinated. Therefore, Nate is already envisioning a star athlete and the boys love hitting golf balls into the back yard woods while us gals shop online (stereotypes, yes. But I'm definitely a has-been athlete myself so I hope my girlie girl is a bit of a jock, too). He loves having a physical task, like pulling our wagon home from the playground or pushing the stroller back into it's place in the garage.

(balance beam with Po Po!)


(jumping for leaves on our nature walk)


(art class we are taking for a month on Thursday mornings!)


He loves puzzles, coloring, digging in the dirt, and TV. Ah yes, TV. I remember when he was not at all interested in sitting still longer than 10 seconds and I WANTED him to figure out how to entertain himself with the boob tube a bit longer. That's not really a problem now, although he rarely focuses his attention solely on TV without taking a break every few minutes to play trains or run into the other room for some unknown reason. The child obviously loves to watch Thomas, but now Dinosaur Train, Super Why!, Calliou (ugh, shoot me now), and still some Sesame Street are his faves. He used to like Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a few months ago but now not so much anymore. And what is this business about 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood', that seems to be a cartoon based on Mister Rogers? Weird. But he likes it. I will DVR a lot of these episodes for him and then we will limit him to a few choices per day---not really sure if there is a set amount of time I'll allow each day, but I can just tell when we are approaching 'brain rot' stage with too much TV. After about two 30 minute episodes he's just sort of cranky and whiny and ready to DO something. Which is great because that's about the time that I have nursed, changed, and cooed at my baby enough to be ready to leave the house:)





So then there are trains. Ahem. The kid is obsessed, like a lot of boys (and girls!) his age. I think the main attraction is that they hook together or something---and he loves the idea of the wheels staying on the track. Not really sure what that says about his mind, but he likes the mechanics of them. Loves to make them push and pull things. And magnets? Pretty much the best thing in his life right now. Cranky Crane has a big fat magnet and he can lift up most of the magnetic trains (but not all, some are too heavy, duh!) and I'm not kidding---the kid could spend all day long hooking things together with magnets and pulling them around. Recently he's gotten into imaginary play with the trains and can entertain himself (and me) by saying things like, 'Watch out, coming through!' or 'NO, Percy. Not like that. Do this instead.' I love his creative mind and pretend play.

Even at Lori's he is *that* kid who is so obsessed with trains that he gets mad if Lori says it's time to put the tracks away for a bit so they can play outside/eat/nap/just be. Funny story about Lori's and trains: she had to leave the room for a bit and Truman had a sheet of train stickers he wanted to put on some paper. Well, apparently Lori didn't get back into the room in time because when she returned Truman had put 13 train stickers on the front of her TV screen. Whoops. His explanation? 'It looks REALLY pretty now.' HA! My little artist.

Any old item in the world could become a train track at any given moment (cardboard scraps? Align perfectly into tracks! Wood chips at a playground? Totally tracks. Our coasters are usually lined up end to end as well) and I love watching his wheels turn, no pun intended. I can't help but wonder when this phase will end but I'm guessing it might be awhile. I think his love for Thomas, and therefore all trains, started right before he turned two. It might be a long few years ahead of us when it comes to having a house overrun with plastic/wooden trains and tracks. I think the only thing worse than stepping on a hidden train with bare feet might be stepping on pure glass, btw. Horrible. It's our own fault for buying that amazing mother lode of trains and associated paraphernalia on Craigslist, but I don't regret having 134 trains strewn across my house, really. Because those bad boys are the reason he's potty trained, for sure. And he loves them and there could be way worse obsessions at some point.







(the day he let me arrange his trains in a rainbow! He loved it almost as much as I did)














Let's talk about tantrums, shall we? If had I written this post even remotely on time, I could have claimed that Truman had never had a full blown tantrum. I mean, he has meltdowns and cries or protests when we ask him to do something that doesn't suit him. But that's not really a 'tantrum', right? Truman had never ever acted out in public, past the point of just whining and crying and forcing me to be pretty stern to get my way. Then, about 2 weeks ago, he really lost his freaking mind when it was time to go home from a playground at nap time. As in, I was sweating and INSANELY angry at him because it was embarrassing and out of control and awful. I had Cecelia in the Ergo and Truman would NOT come to the car with me, so I had to keep trying to pick him up but there was really no room for him to go with CC on my chest. I kept walking away from him to let him just cry it out but he was just too upset. It was a nightmare. I think I strained my bicep and my frowny face that day. I guess the entire episode of getting him into the car actually lasted maybe 5-10 minutes but it seemed like 30. We were all emotionally spent after that nonsense and he did apologize later, after he woke from his nap. Pretty sure Nate asked him to say sorry to me because he knew I was totally traumatized by the first real tantrum he threw IN PUBLIC. And ever.





But yeah, aside from that awful day he's a real angel! The little whines and fits he will throw at home aren't too bad. Time outs seem to work pretty well for discipline at this point and we are definitely VERY blessed that he's not too naughty or testy. Yet. I know there is a lot of time for that to happen someday.

(creepy half-underwater shot)


Other favorite sayings not yet included in this post:

'You little punk, mommy and daddy!' -he loves to call us punks, a phrase he got from daddy and it just won't go away.

(video to show you)



'Accidents happen, mommy.' -got this one from a train video on You Tube. Catchy little tune that goes along with it---any other moms know it besides us?

'Dat be?' (what is that, or 'that be?')

'Yike dat?' (do you like that? Usually asking this question while getting in your face about something)

'I not sure' -the answer to most of my questions when he's not really paying attention to me

'I all busy today, mommy. I can't' -when I ask him to please help me do something (pick up trains, grab himself a kleenex, etc)

'My hands aaaaaaall full' -he says as he's holding monkey with both hands, when I ask him to please help me carry various child-related crap from the car into the house. Really? Pretty sure I'm the one carrying a baby, a pump bag, a work bag, daycare bag, and possibly some other random junk. But his hands are too full with one toy monkey. Yep.

'You are really cross, Cece' -said complete with a scowl and furrowed brow as Cecelia cried in the car. Oh, Thomas.

And Truman's stats at a little over 2.5 years:
32 pounds, 38.5 inches, size 3T pants and 4T top, and size 9 shoes. I cannot believe how tall he is--he grew 3 inches in the past 7 months!






My favorite moments with mister T are when he's kind of cuddly with me and super sweet. Love when he asks me to sit with him on the couch, or color with him, or even hook together his freaking train tracks. Although he seems SO old and mature to us know that CC is here, he's still just a little dude who really needs his parents. And most days I'm totally down with that idea unless he's being overly needy---then of course it seems like a bit much. A lot of times he will request that we carry him 'like a baby' up the stairs to his room and we'll oblige him while reminding him that he's such a big boy.



We love you so much, big boy Truman. Thank you for being you. Can't wait to watch you grow up even more!