Steven at 3 years 8 months
Steven is always our crazy man. He is curious, energetic, unpredictable and FUN. It always amazes me the depths of Steven's personality. He can be extremely outgoing. We went to the zoo this weekend and there was a worker there checking up on one of the animals and Steven walked right up to her and asked what she was doing, does she work here, etc. etc. I say all the time that he doesn't know a stranger, everyone is a potential friend. Also, he is a performer! He loves to sing and dance and be the center of attention. We were having dinner recently at Steve's parents with about 10 people sitting around the table and having several conversations. Out of nowhere Steven jumps up on his chair and starts singing and preforming. But there are also times where Steven can be really shy. When we get into a new situation where there's a lot of people or its an unfamiliar place he will cling to me, not want to talk to anyone, etc. It's so funny!
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| My little ham! |
He has a lot of dichotomy to his personality these days. Another example is that he is equal parts independent and dependent, usually depending on his mood that day. We will hear all the time "I can do it on my own." There are times when he will go into his room and come out fully dressed with shirt, pants, socks, shoes, etc. often without us even prompting him. But sometimes, he will demand we dress him. Which is really frustrating because we know he can do it on his own and aren't really sure why he wants us to do it.
Another split is in his interests. Steven just loves everything! He loves to try new things, check things out, etc. He's always been rough and tumble liking to wrestle, run around, play guns/pirates/bad guys, etc. But he also really loves to pick out his outfits, have his toenails painted, talk about my outfits and try on my jewelry, etc. He likes to watch super hero shoes and barbie shows. He just loves it all!
Steven's temperament is also definitely variable depending on his mood. He can be the most cuddly, loving boy. He will randomly give kisses and hugs, say "I love you mommy" "You're my sweetie.", etc. He gets upset if I start to leave the house without a hug and kiss. Those things just melt my heart when he does them. But then also he can be stubborn, inconsiderate, opinionated and just mean when he wants to be. He will definitely tell you if you've broken a rule. He's taken to yelling at us when he doesn't get his way, which I'm really trying to work hard on extinguishing. Sometimes he digs his heals in on the strangest things, (I think to try to assert some kind of control). When we don't give in or bend to his will or whatever request he has at that moment he can get really upset.
I will say that it seems that we have turned a corner in regards to Steven's behavior. We are able to talk to him a lot more about good choices to make and better ways to behave. Timeouts and epic meltdowns have greatly decreased at our house, which is a big step in the right direction. I don't know if its just a product of his age and gaining more knowledge about controlling his emotions or if we are actually doing pretty well at parenting right now (maybe its both :).
My biggest joy lately has been seeing Steven and Logan developing a relationship. Steven has been turning into a protective big brother and I LOVE it. If anyone poses a threat to his brother, Steven is right there on the scene to tell them to back off. But at the same time, Steven will enforce his own brand of justice on Logan if he breaks a rule. Sort of a "nobody can hurt my brother but me" relationship. Steven is a great helper, though. He will go get a binky, pick up Logan's cup, put crackers on the table for him, etc. I really love it.
Logan at 1 year 4 months
In great contrast to his brother, Logan has always been a cool customer. He is a really chill personality, mostly playing it cool, going with the flow. He spends a lot of time observing his crazy brother's behavior (I like to say he watches the Steven show). Even when he falls down, Logan rarely cries unless it's a really bad injury. He usually just gets up and keeps on going (probably trying to keep up with his big brother). Even when kids take toys from him he usually just stares at them and walks away to play with something else. It's crazy! At that age, Steven would absolutely freak out if someone took a toy of his.
Speaking of falling down though, Logan has been our accident-prone boy. He has been to the ER 3 times in his short life. Recently he was playing and just feel down and hit his face just the right way on the corner of a toy and got a bad cut. Luckily he didn't require stitches but geez man! That's a lot of ER trips for 1 year old boy! Especially one who is so low maintenance usually.
There are 3 things that get Logan going though and they are wanting his binky, being hungry and being tired. If any of these occur, Logan can get really, really fussy and whiny. We usually know its gotta be one of those 3 things otherwise he wouldn't be crying! Speaking of his binky, man he is really attached to it! That is so weird for us because Steven couldn't care less about his binky by this age. But Logan would have it 100% of the time if we let him. We have cut it down to nighttime and in the car but I am dreading cutting it out completely. It's gonna be tough.
I really am enjoying seeing Logan grow into his own personality. I am also loving watching him learn about his environment and master new skills. He's at a really fun age right now!
So those are my boys at this age! Like I said not sure how frequent these posts will be but I wanted to make sure to capture how fun life is right now with those two loons.
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| 3 Loons if you count daddy ;) |
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