33 Months

Patrick is finally sleeping in his Big Boy Room. We've finished painting and had it carpeted; still some shelves left to complete. One night he said he didn't want to sleep in his Baby Room anymore but jumped at the chance to sleep in his Big Boy Bed, and hasn't looked back. He's still reluctant to go to bed, but a new posted schedule has helped. Now it's not Mommy or Daddy telling him it's time to go to bed; it's the schedule.

He went through a rough patch of waking up at 6:00 or earlier, ready to go downstairs and start the day. Now he often runs into our bed in the pre-dawn hours, but then falls asleep for another hour or two. He's still not napping, so that extra sleep is really important (for us all). He has been good about Quiet Time lately. He loves to listen to CDs (the Mouse Cookies is a current favorite) while he flips through books for an hour in his room after lunch.

Patrick started Soccer Tots again after a hiatus, having not played since February. Although he still misses Coach Katie, he's warming up to Coach Humberto. This session is the first time at a new level, where parents don't participate, and we weren't sure how he'd do without us. Although he usually watches from the bleachers for a little bit at the start, he runs right out to join the other kids before too long. He gets easily distracted, often running in circles instead of racing to the other end of the field, but he does a great job of following Coach's instructions.

It's fun to see Patrick interact with his brother. The other day he said "Hey James, watch this!" as he rolled a toy across the floor. Sometimes he'll sing to him or make faces, and he talks about him all the time. Patrick gets a big grin and runs over to James when we go to pick him up from school.

32 Months

This month, we instituted Family Movie Night. Patrick takes a bath and changes into jammies before dinner, and we break the rules by eating dinner and popcorn on the couch. The first night we watched Cars, then Toy Story a couple of weeks later. The first of many!

Patrick's imagination has really taken off lately, as he loves to pretend. It's fun to overhear full conversations with trains in playroom or dinosaurs in the sandbox. Because he's not allowed to throw baseballs in the house, we play pretend baseball instead -- donning real gloves and batting helmets, we throw and hit a pretend ball.

He's had a hard time adjusting to his new classroom at school. Changes at home together with changes at school make for a difficult drop-off these days. We often talk about it on the way home. "I was sad today. I not know why. But I was happy too."

After a rough couple of weeks, Patrick has adjusted to sleeping in his "Thomas Bed," thanks to a new bedtime routine. After bath, teeth, and jammies, we read a couple of books, then when "the little hand is on the eight and the big hand is pointing straight up," it's lights out for a made-up George the Elephant story mirroring the day. Then we say that as long as he stays in his bed, we'll keep the door open, and he stays put until morning. Unfortunately, morning comes earlier these days. He used to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30; now it's usually 7:00 or earlier.

31 Months

Patrick is settling in nicely to having his brother at home. He loves to kiss James, hold his hand, and help burp him. No real sign of jealousy, except when he wants to do what James is doing, too. "Carry two boys, please!" "I a baby -- I not have teeth!"

With impeccable timing, Patrick climbed out of his crib for the first time two days before James came home. And there was no keeping him in again. While we scurry to finish converting the guest room to his "Big Boy Room," he's sleeping on a cushion on the floor next to his crib. He slept in this "Thomas Bed" well for the first two nights, but once James came home, it's been a nightly battle to put him back in his bed over and over and over until he finally collapses...

And the naps are completely gone. They had been hit-or-miss for a while now, but now that he can't be contained in his crib, he refuses to lie down. "It's awake time!" We've tried to enforce quiet time in his room with books instead, with limited success.

Patrick's obsessed with the color red. He loves to point out red cars, trucks, and "moto-sykers" on the road. He still loves taking Curious George and Thomas books out of the library, but his new favorite is baseball and T-ball books from the "big kids" section.

He also loves nursery rhymes and singing, and is very good at amusing himself. Patrick surprised everyone by lasting the entire 4-hour trips to and from the Cape without any movies -- just singing and reading and playing quietly.

"Whobody's at the door? Somebody? Nobody."

Two and a Half Years

It's been a while since the last monthly snapshot. Patrick has matured quite a bit in the past three months. His language skills have improved considerably. Three months ago, he spoke mostly in phrases. Now he uses complete, sometimes complex, sentences. He uses pronouns and tenses properly for the most part ("I sit in yours lap") and speaks slowly, carefully. "Pappick" has become "Pa-trick," and "buldozozer" has lost its extra syllable. We do still hear "piddow" and "lellow," and Babbick will always be Babbick (except for at school, where he calls it "my blanket").

His memory often surprises us, and it's so much fun to have actual conversations! He still doesn't love talking on the phone, but when he's in the right mood, he'll chat for a little bit. He's started teasing, giving incorrect answers to things he knows. "What color is an apple?" "Orange!" "What does a green light mean?" "Stop, stop, stop!" Always with a knowing smile. The same smile when asked "Who's your favorite baseball team?" "Booyankees!" (He usually answers "Go Red Sox!")

Patrick has been obsessed with baseball for quite a while. Every time he passes anyone on the street wearing a baseball hat, "Mommy, he's a baseball player!" He loves watching Justin next door play catch with his dad. We got him a T-ball tee for the backyard, and he took to it right away. Without any instruction, he picked up the bat (lefty, of course), and hit the ball quite a distance. A yard-sale batting helmet completes the look. When not batting or playing with his glove, he is playing or talking about football, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, or bowling.

He has discovered that people sometimes have two names. One day he walked into the hospital to visit Mommy and said "Hi Robin!" Shortly thereafter, he started asking "Where's Michael?"

Although he's not a huge fan, Patrick's getting a little better about eating vegetables. He'll try corn, carrots, and the occasional pea. His new food quirk is frozen food. As in frozen waffles or raisin bread straight from the freezer. He also prefers his corn chowder cold, and eats leftover "Mac O Cheese" straight from the fridge.

Patrick has adapted remarkably well to the recent upheaval in our lives. He enjoyed visiting Mommy in the "hos-a-pital" and all of the extra time spent with Daddy and extended family. At the tail-end of the string of family visitors, he went through a bad patch. He just wasn't Patrick for about two weeks, and the tantrums were pretty scary. But once we got back into a routine, he bounced back.

He now loves going to visit his brother and talks about him all the time. He'll ask to go visit, and knows the routine of parking in the garage (or with the man in the red shirt), washing up and putting on the purple gown (or blue or light blue), then climbing up on a chair to kiss James hello and hold his hand. Once James is in Mommy or Daddy's lap, he'll spend some time touching and singing to James, then ask to see SuperWhy. This show on Robin's iPhone has been a lifesaver. He's watched the same two episodes over and over and over.

It remains to be seen how he'll react to James actually coming home, but he does seem to understand the concept. He's very interested in pictures and stories of himself as a baby, and sometimes pretends that he is a baby.