How We're Doing

How things are going around here lately:

Winning:
 

 
 
1. Eating.  Oh my gosh, my child is an EATER!  I LOVE it!  I was waiting on pins and needles for the day when terrible twos would strike and Cole would refuse to eat - but that day has not, and I don't think it will, come.  Cole eats everything we put in front of him!  He still has a total sweet tooth, but he eats everything else with gusto too.  Some of his favorite foods?  Cheese, especially strong cheese like blue cheese (seriously, who eats straight blue cheese?  the stuff's too strong even for me!); green olives, crackers, and anything sweet - the kid has a killer sweet tooth just like his mama!

2. Having amazing behavior.  Not to brag, but my child is SO well behaved.  He's a great listener, he's quick to learn from his mistakes, eager to please, and we have never even had to resort to a time out.  Occasionally, he gets a stubborn streak about something ridiculous, but these moments are the rarity, not the normal.

3.  Being frickin' adorable.  Seriously, the things that come out of his mouth are to die for.  The other day, he insisted on wearing his backpack all day long.  It was all I could do to convince him to take it off so I could strap him into his carseat.  Literally the second we got home, he asked to put it back on again, then ran into the bedroom at top speed to "SHOW MIRROR PACK-PACK, MAMA! SHOW MIRROR!"

 

This last weekend, we went to a bagel shop for lunch.  Cole had brought his wallet along, filled with random old receipts.  When we went up to pay, Cole insisted "COLE PAY! COLE WALLET PAY! CASH IN WALLET!" And he very carefully extracted two receipts from his wallet and slid them across the counter to the employee, then proudly zipped his wallet and walked back to the table.  I just about died from the cuteness.

4. Speech.  Cole's speech has just grown by leaps and bounds this past year - it is so gratifying to see all our hard work start to pay off!  He's still extremely shy and very self-conscious about his speech when he's not around familiar people, but he is saying three and four word sentences around us!


Working on:

1. Making decisions and sticking with them.  We've had several issues with this - sometimes, Cole will be eating lunch and ask me for more milk, please.  So I'll get up, pour him more milk, bring him the cup...and he'll say, "NO MILK! WATER PEESE!".  So I'll go get him a cup of water...and he'll say "MILK PEESE MAMA!"  GAH!!!!!!  It drives me BANANAS!  Several times a day I will clarify with him: "Cole, is that your final decision? You may NOT change your mind!"  We've had this issue with talking on the phone, giving a good-bye high five to his BFF Declan, and seeing Santa Claus.  I'm hoping that if I stay consistent with reminding him that there are some things he is not allowed to change his mind on, he will learn to think his decisions through and stick with them.

2.   Being bossy.  My little mister is a bit of a control freak and likes things done a very certain way.  He's only bossy with people he's super familiar with (so, like 5 people), but it can be pretty rude.  We're practicing using manners and asking instead of telling - but I'm also slowly trying to help Cole realize that things don't have to be perfectly HIS way for them to be OK.

3.  Shyness.  Cole is still painfully, cripplingly shy.  This needs to be a whole post in its own, because it is such a tricky issue for me to deal with.  Fortunately, we know we have a lot of time to slowly work with him on overcoming and learning how to deal with his shyness, so we aren't too worried.  We're just glad we all have understanding friends and family who don't take it personally when Cole refuses to make eye contact or say goodbye.