Callen Update at nearly 20 Months...

Monkey boy!

Oooh, boy.  The closer we get to the "Terrible Two's," the more he worries me.  Don't get me wrong, he is sooooo stinkin' sweet.  And smart and cute and funny and sometimes I just wanna nibble on his cheeks all day long. But, my word.  He keeps me on my toes!

He is a healthy boy, but still considered low in the weight division.  I've been giving him PediaSure, calling it his "shakey shakey."  Lol.  I usually give him half of one in the morning, mixed with milk (hence the shaking) and do that again at bedtime.  He loves it!  He loves snacks... crackers, chips, etc., but usually ends up throwing most of his breakfast, lunch and dinner on the floor.  I am nearing my wit's end with this little antic.  Soooo frustrating.  It's not so much the 'not eating.'  It's the having to throw everything off of his plate/tray EVERY STINKIN' MEAL.  I don't really know what to do to keep it from happening.  He won't even consider letting me hold the plate and feed him a bite at a time... throws a fit.  He always starts out great, behaving and acting like THIS TIME he's gonna cooperate.  I try to time it and watch carefully for the moment he's done, so I can snatch the plate away before he had a chance to start flinging.  I usually fail at this, of course.  It's just frustrating that he's not eating as he should and he's making a giant mess every meal.  And it's not just food, he throws EVERYTHING he gets his hands on pretty much.  So many broken toys because he throws it as hard as he can on our tile floor... and crack!  He has a great arm when he's throwing a ball, that's for sure... unfortunately he's practicing throwing everything that he shouldn't!

He also still bonks his head on purpose when he gets mad.  He'll throw himself down in the floor and purposely hit his head on the hard tile floor.  It's scary.  He's got some pretty good dents in his head from this. It's gotten better, and it isn't nearly as often... but it still happens before I have time to react and keep him from it most of the time.

Good sleeper!

On some positive notes, he is being a total sleep rock star lately!  His latest routine requires PJs, kisses from us, me reading him a book, him looking through the book to make sure he hasn't missed anything, then I put him in his crib, tuck in his Stitch guy and then tuck him in.  He actually lays down beside stitch and STAYS down.  Now, he's been doing this for a little over a week only, but he's done it like that EVERY NITE since Halloween - I pray it sticks!  Because it's so much better than him standing there, crying, as a I close the door and leave him!  He does sleep through the nite too, I usually have to go wake him up in the morning!  So, that's going well, woo hoo!

He's also saying more words.  And the past few days, we've taught him "please" and "thank you" in sign language.  He seems to refuse to say it in words, but sometimes he'll do in SL... so there's something at least.  And this evening, he came into the living room, pointing out the window and said "wah wah!"  It was raining, but the blinds were mostly closed and it was dark, he couldn't have SEEN the rain.  He must have heard it.  It was just cute to see him picking up concepts like that.  He follows and does pretty much anything Preston does.  Which, isn't always a good thing... but that's life for a little brother, right?

Anyway, just thought I better do a Callen update, since Preston gets so much bloggy love here with all of our homeschool updates and whatnot.  I love my little "Calico" so much - and I know the throwing phase will pass (please, Lord, let it pass and soon!) and maybe my patience will stretch a little farther then.