The Threes: Coming to a close

As I sent out Tyler’s birthday invitations yesterday, I thought about how much Tyler has changed developmentally this past year. 

Potty Training

I always thought by 3, Tyler would be potty trained or at least showing interest in the potty.  But this was a lesson I learned being a first time parent.  Even now, close to 4, Tyler still has accidents.  And, Josh and I have had to figure out how to respond to them appropriately.  It’s hard not to be annoyed when 10 minutes after asking him to use the potty and he refuses, he goes in his pants.  But we’ve learned that by scolding him, it makes the issue worse.  Sometimes I wonder when the accidents will end, but I know that it’s another area that we will wait for Tyler’s readiness. 

Speech

It hasn’t been but a few months since Tyler’s starting speech.  I have to say I really haven’t noticed a change at all since beginning speech with the therapist which is frustrating.  However, when I look at where he is now versus 6 months ago, I can tell a huge difference.  We still struggle to understand him at times.  And sometimes I wonder if I’m so used to figuring his speech out that I overlook some things.  His vocabulary has definitely increased.  His articulation has improved in time, but he still needs work.  Sometimes I wonder if I’m expecting too much at his age, but then I hear other children in his class and am reminded that I’m likely not.  But, we are getting there and luckily have resources to help us.

Independence

We have always taught Tyler to do things on his own—maybe more so than we should.  In my early months of pregnancy, I taught Tyler while lying on the couch to pull up a chair in the kitchen, climb on the counter, grab a plastic cup, climb down, and fill it with water from the fridge.  Luckily, there were no injuries :)  So, to this day when he wants water he gets it himself.  However, we make sure the cup is already down for him.  Literally in the past months there has been a boost of independence in Tyler.  He has to do EVERYTHING.  Yes, he wanted to help out before, but now it must be done by Tyler alone.  If I walk out of the room and turn the light off, he gets upset saying he wanted to do it.  If I open the front door to walk outside, he argues that he wanted to do it.  The lights, the doors, the carseat, getting dressed, brushing teeth, you name it.  It all comes in handy at times especially now that I’m 7 months pregnant and the fact that he can get dressed completely by himself (underwear, pants, shirt, socks) is a big help to me.  Last night after bath time, we left him to get dressed by himself.

And he knows the times he is allowed to watch TV so he takes it upon himself to turn it on himself.  Amazingly, he has not completely screwed up our TV programming yet.  He also will put DVDs in the DVD player by himself though we’ve had several talks about how this is not acceptable.  The other night I was putting a DVD in for him and he felt the need to instruct me on which buttons to push. 

Never Forgets a Thing

I’m not sure if this is uncommon but this kid doesn’t forget a thing.  I can count on two hands how many times he’s hung around my friends Taylor and Chris, yet he will remember everything in their house.  He will randomly talk about them in conversation.  Last week at school, the letter of the week was “P” so on Wednesday they had Pajama day.  Unfortunately for Tyler, I forgot completely.  I walked in, saw the kids in pajamas, looked at Tyler and apologized.  He looked at me not mad or sad but a look that said “Mom, seriously.  Get it together.”  When I picked him up from school and asked him how his day was, he told me that he didn’t get to wear pajamas.  He told Josh the same at home.  He also told my Mother in Law on the phone that evening.  In fact, I’m pretty sure he won’t forget that one for a while. 

Pretend Play

Honestly, I think this child has always done this but it wasn’t until the last six months that I could actually understand what he was saying.  This evening in the car, he was playing with two little figurines and the conversation between them went like this:

“Oh no, where are you?”

“No!  You are in the bathroom?”

“You’re supposed to be eating dinner.”

“Guess you need a time out.” 

Loving

I think one of my favorite parts of having a little boy is how much they love their mommies.  However, Tyler is just an incredibly loving child in general.  I think part of this is due to his teachers at school.  They are extremely loving with their kids and very big on hugs, kisses, and “i love yous.” Tyler will come up to me out of nowhere and tell me he loves me or give me a hug. 

I can’t believe he will turn 4 so soon, but I’m really enjoying this developmental age!