Sage is almost three!
I just realized that I've completely neglected to post anything about Sage lately because I've been too busy feeling sorry for myself. Since he and his dad are out having fun at Magic Mountain, I thought I'd take the time to make a great big Sage Update.
First of all, right now he's very excited about Halloween. We'd bought a few pumpkins at the grocery store that we then tried to paint and decorate, but the paint didn't really want to stay on the pumpkin. Last Sunday Sage and I went to Miller's Farm with my dad (Morfar) and my stepmother-in-law (Farmor). We took a tractor ride out to their fields to pick our own pumpkins and then enjoyed the Fall Festival that was going at their Garden Center and General Store. It was a really, really fun day. We spent the first three evenings of this week carving the pumpkins we bought at the farm. Yesterday, Sage was insisting that the three pumpkins go wherever he went, but now they are sitting outside on the front step. He didn't even ask to light them tonight, but he may have been too excited about going to Magic Mountain to remember.
I think I've posted a little bit about his behavior lately, but I don't know if I've saved any of those posts into my Memories, so I'll sum it up. He was a very grumpy kid for about a month and started to adopt a very angry tone of voice at all times. While most of what he said didn't make much sense, his tone indicated to us that he was back-talking us and that he assumed what he was saying was very rude. We tried ignoring it, we tried timeout, we tried giving him stars every morning that he would lose if he started "talking mean." Nothing really worked, but he finally calmed down last weekend. He still starts with The Tone when he's tired, but I can easily distract him now. Before, he was not distractable and pretty relentless. He was also so oppositional that my days were just one long argument/whine-fest with him. I quickly realized that I just needed to put my foot down when it mattered and give way when it didn't. He's finally stopped throwing tantrums when his irrational demands are met with a "no." He's also stopped demanding such bizarre stuff. He doesn't need constant reminders to not ask for things in a whiny voice or to not scream and yell if he doesn't want to do something. Instead of throwing a tantrum when I ask him if he wants to go to the playground, he can just say "No, I don't want to." He's also stopped digging in his heels when we were going anywhere- he didn't want to go to playgroups, then he didn't want to leave. He didn't want to visit his grandparents, go to playgrounds, or do much of anything at all. As of now, he's still pushing to get his way a lot but at least these battles have more to do with changing his diaper, getting dressed, or eating meals. They aren't these bizarre tantrums when we try to do something fun. I finally feel like I have my little boy back.
Potty training isn't going anywhere, but we've decided not to deal with it until after the baby is born and things settle down. Right now he'll pee in the potty when he wants a piece of candy, which really isn't often. In a week, I think he'll use his potty maybe three times. He talks a lot about being a baby, so I'm pretty sure he's not ready to give up his diaper yet. I'm sure the regression will go even further after his sibling is born. Oh well, we'll try again in December.
Right now Sage loves trains, particularly James and Toby from the Thomas stories. He enjoys Playdoh, but mostly he directs and I create. He loves to "read books" by himself and have books read to him. We read together right after he gets up in the morning, before naptime, and before bed. He really likes the Curious George books that we got from the library. Lucky for me, he's the kind of kid who can amuse himself with anything available. Today he made a road for his Lightning McQueen car out of the dogs' leashes and some playing cards, which then kept him busy long enough for me to get dressed, do my hair, and put on makeup. I've gotten really relaxed about letting him take his Bunbun out of his bed during the day, so that little bunny has become his best friend and goes everywhere with him. Sometimes Bunbun is a "baby puppy" and needs to be taken care of. Sometimes Bunbun is Sage's baby. Most of the time, though, Bunbun's name is Ann. (He actually sleeps with a whole family of bunnies that are named after the family that we went to Lake Placid with- Mike, Ann, Zak, and Max.) Sometimes I am Ann, Ben is Mike, Sage is Zak, and Max is the baby in my belly.
Recently Mike has been working with Ben to finish our backporch. Sage has loved "helping" them a lot. Now that the porch is slowly being painted, he likes to help with that too. Ben built him a little pirate ship out of scrap wood that Sage gets to paint while Ben is working out there. He's very complimentary of their work on the porch. It's "bootifull." Sage can also be very complimentary and enthusiastic when he likes something. The other night when he and his dad came inside for dinner, he said "That smells wonderful, Mommy! Thank you!" He likes for everyone to repeatedly thank whomever cooked dinner that night, which usually means that I hear "Oh, thank you, Mommy!" half a dozen times a night. I'm not complaining! It's adorable.
Sage doesn't really like to go to bed, so our bedtime routine lasts about half an hour. First Daddy gets him into his jammies and then he brushes his teeth. They read two or three books, then Sage gets into bed. Daddy leaves and I come in with a sippy of water. I turn out the light and sing him a few songs before leaving. Usually when I leave the room, he's still asking for another song or yelling at me to come back. The minute I leave, though, he starts singing to his bunnies or humming to himself. He usually does this for half an hour before falling asleep. On nights when he's napped during the day, we can hear him talking and singing to himself for about an hour and a half! He never gets out of bed, though, and never calls for us. I'd say he's pretty easy.
Naptime is a different story. We now call it Rest Time and he knows that all he has to do is be quiet in his room while Mommy rests. Sometimes he'll fall asleep, but most times he won't. Some days he'll get very loud and I'll have to come remind him to be quiet; but again, he never leaves his room. I do wish that he'd nap reliably because he can stay up so much later and have more time with Ben, but I'll take what I can get. I'm just happy that he can amuse himself for so long.
Sage is very inquisitive. Sometimes the number of questions he asks me is exhausting, but usually I'm happy to try to explain things to him. He mostly wants to know why things are the way that they are. Why is the sky blue? Why are the leaves changing color? Why do people poop? Why does it get dark at night? Etc. Etc. Etc. He often asks the meaning of words but then can't really understand the explanation. He also often asks me questions I can't really answer, so I usually make up a silly answer or ask him what he thinks. When he's not satisfied with an answer, he'll ask "Because why?" which drives me nuts. Most of the time, though, he's satisfied with answers to his questions. If he doesn't understand or doesn't want to hear the rest of the explanation, he'll say, "I'm tired of hearing that now." =)
I can't really tell if he's excited about having a sibling. Sometimes when people ask him questions about the new baby, he gets very quiet and sullen. If Ben and I talk about it too much in front of him, he asks that we talk about him instead. Other times he'll pretend that he has a baby in his belly too. Today he pretended that Bunbun was a baby, so I taught him how to put on a diaper and swaddle him up. When we talk about the baby, I make a point to reminisce about when he was my little baby and it seems to work. When he asks why there are tiny clothes hanging in his closet, I tell him that they are for the baby and that he used to wear them. When I taught him how to swaddle his bunny, I told him that he used to love to be swaddled up tight. That got a grin on his face! He likes for me or his daddy to tell him stories about himself, even things that just happened a few hours ago. I think that will be the trick to getting through the first month with a new sibling, but I know it will be rough. Sage loves to hold babies, but he gets bored quickly with newborns and has a low tolerance for crying. He has much more fun with older babies!
Right now Sage's friends are Zak and Max, Fisher, Lily and Baby Ben, Faye, Phoebe, and Autumn. He gets excited about seeing them when it's time to visit, but he doesn't talk about them a lot. He's not going to preschool this winter because I don't want to push potty-training. Instead we're going to take a music class in the winter and a gym class in the spring. I look forward to the fun we're going to have!
First of all, right now he's very excited about Halloween. We'd bought a few pumpkins at the grocery store that we then tried to paint and decorate, but the paint didn't really want to stay on the pumpkin. Last Sunday Sage and I went to Miller's Farm with my dad (Morfar) and my stepmother-in-law (Farmor). We took a tractor ride out to their fields to pick our own pumpkins and then enjoyed the Fall Festival that was going at their Garden Center and General Store. It was a really, really fun day. We spent the first three evenings of this week carving the pumpkins we bought at the farm. Yesterday, Sage was insisting that the three pumpkins go wherever he went, but now they are sitting outside on the front step. He didn't even ask to light them tonight, but he may have been too excited about going to Magic Mountain to remember.
I think I've posted a little bit about his behavior lately, but I don't know if I've saved any of those posts into my Memories, so I'll sum it up. He was a very grumpy kid for about a month and started to adopt a very angry tone of voice at all times. While most of what he said didn't make much sense, his tone indicated to us that he was back-talking us and that he assumed what he was saying was very rude. We tried ignoring it, we tried timeout, we tried giving him stars every morning that he would lose if he started "talking mean." Nothing really worked, but he finally calmed down last weekend. He still starts with The Tone when he's tired, but I can easily distract him now. Before, he was not distractable and pretty relentless. He was also so oppositional that my days were just one long argument/whine-fest with him. I quickly realized that I just needed to put my foot down when it mattered and give way when it didn't. He's finally stopped throwing tantrums when his irrational demands are met with a "no." He's also stopped demanding such bizarre stuff. He doesn't need constant reminders to not ask for things in a whiny voice or to not scream and yell if he doesn't want to do something. Instead of throwing a tantrum when I ask him if he wants to go to the playground, he can just say "No, I don't want to." He's also stopped digging in his heels when we were going anywhere- he didn't want to go to playgroups, then he didn't want to leave. He didn't want to visit his grandparents, go to playgrounds, or do much of anything at all. As of now, he's still pushing to get his way a lot but at least these battles have more to do with changing his diaper, getting dressed, or eating meals. They aren't these bizarre tantrums when we try to do something fun. I finally feel like I have my little boy back.
Potty training isn't going anywhere, but we've decided not to deal with it until after the baby is born and things settle down. Right now he'll pee in the potty when he wants a piece of candy, which really isn't often. In a week, I think he'll use his potty maybe three times. He talks a lot about being a baby, so I'm pretty sure he's not ready to give up his diaper yet. I'm sure the regression will go even further after his sibling is born. Oh well, we'll try again in December.
Right now Sage loves trains, particularly James and Toby from the Thomas stories. He enjoys Playdoh, but mostly he directs and I create. He loves to "read books" by himself and have books read to him. We read together right after he gets up in the morning, before naptime, and before bed. He really likes the Curious George books that we got from the library. Lucky for me, he's the kind of kid who can amuse himself with anything available. Today he made a road for his Lightning McQueen car out of the dogs' leashes and some playing cards, which then kept him busy long enough for me to get dressed, do my hair, and put on makeup. I've gotten really relaxed about letting him take his Bunbun out of his bed during the day, so that little bunny has become his best friend and goes everywhere with him. Sometimes Bunbun is a "baby puppy" and needs to be taken care of. Sometimes Bunbun is Sage's baby. Most of the time, though, Bunbun's name is Ann. (He actually sleeps with a whole family of bunnies that are named after the family that we went to Lake Placid with- Mike, Ann, Zak, and Max.) Sometimes I am Ann, Ben is Mike, Sage is Zak, and Max is the baby in my belly.
Recently Mike has been working with Ben to finish our backporch. Sage has loved "helping" them a lot. Now that the porch is slowly being painted, he likes to help with that too. Ben built him a little pirate ship out of scrap wood that Sage gets to paint while Ben is working out there. He's very complimentary of their work on the porch. It's "bootifull." Sage can also be very complimentary and enthusiastic when he likes something. The other night when he and his dad came inside for dinner, he said "That smells wonderful, Mommy! Thank you!" He likes for everyone to repeatedly thank whomever cooked dinner that night, which usually means that I hear "Oh, thank you, Mommy!" half a dozen times a night. I'm not complaining! It's adorable.
Sage doesn't really like to go to bed, so our bedtime routine lasts about half an hour. First Daddy gets him into his jammies and then he brushes his teeth. They read two or three books, then Sage gets into bed. Daddy leaves and I come in with a sippy of water. I turn out the light and sing him a few songs before leaving. Usually when I leave the room, he's still asking for another song or yelling at me to come back. The minute I leave, though, he starts singing to his bunnies or humming to himself. He usually does this for half an hour before falling asleep. On nights when he's napped during the day, we can hear him talking and singing to himself for about an hour and a half! He never gets out of bed, though, and never calls for us. I'd say he's pretty easy.
Naptime is a different story. We now call it Rest Time and he knows that all he has to do is be quiet in his room while Mommy rests. Sometimes he'll fall asleep, but most times he won't. Some days he'll get very loud and I'll have to come remind him to be quiet; but again, he never leaves his room. I do wish that he'd nap reliably because he can stay up so much later and have more time with Ben, but I'll take what I can get. I'm just happy that he can amuse himself for so long.
Sage is very inquisitive. Sometimes the number of questions he asks me is exhausting, but usually I'm happy to try to explain things to him. He mostly wants to know why things are the way that they are. Why is the sky blue? Why are the leaves changing color? Why do people poop? Why does it get dark at night? Etc. Etc. Etc. He often asks the meaning of words but then can't really understand the explanation. He also often asks me questions I can't really answer, so I usually make up a silly answer or ask him what he thinks. When he's not satisfied with an answer, he'll ask "Because why?" which drives me nuts. Most of the time, though, he's satisfied with answers to his questions. If he doesn't understand or doesn't want to hear the rest of the explanation, he'll say, "I'm tired of hearing that now." =)
I can't really tell if he's excited about having a sibling. Sometimes when people ask him questions about the new baby, he gets very quiet and sullen. If Ben and I talk about it too much in front of him, he asks that we talk about him instead. Other times he'll pretend that he has a baby in his belly too. Today he pretended that Bunbun was a baby, so I taught him how to put on a diaper and swaddle him up. When we talk about the baby, I make a point to reminisce about when he was my little baby and it seems to work. When he asks why there are tiny clothes hanging in his closet, I tell him that they are for the baby and that he used to wear them. When I taught him how to swaddle his bunny, I told him that he used to love to be swaddled up tight. That got a grin on his face! He likes for me or his daddy to tell him stories about himself, even things that just happened a few hours ago. I think that will be the trick to getting through the first month with a new sibling, but I know it will be rough. Sage loves to hold babies, but he gets bored quickly with newborns and has a low tolerance for crying. He has much more fun with older babies!
Right now Sage's friends are Zak and Max, Fisher, Lily and Baby Ben, Faye, Phoebe, and Autumn. He gets excited about seeing them when it's time to visit, but he doesn't talk about them a lot. He's not going to preschool this winter because I don't want to push potty-training. Instead we're going to take a music class in the winter and a gym class in the spring. I look forward to the fun we're going to have!