Tuesday, January 17, 2012

update on the little kids

We have made some more progress and have areas to work on here.

BENJAMIN
He is not peeing in his pants at all any more... I can't really remember when it stopped but it has been a while since he has done it.  He is also out of diapers at nap time, finally.  He still wears them at night and wakes up soaked every morning. 

He is also not licking everything he touches or comes in contact with now.  He does still put A LOT of stuff in his mouth but that has decreased from where it was. 

We have chosen to keep him very close to us over the past 7+ months.  He has always been very quick to want to go home with people that have been at our house or stay with those we visit.  He doesn't cry to go or stay now but he still will say a definite YES if people ask him if he wants to go or stay with them.  I have repeatedly told him that he is mine and that I really need him to be with me so he often says "you mine mama, you mine"... I hope he is getting it.  Benjamin has never shown fear of being without us... he freely walks away in public settings and acts very strong and independent.  BUT we had what I would call a BREAK THROUGH MOMENT... when we were at Toys R Us (the day we went to the zoo) we were shopping and he did not follow us to the next isle and when he looked up and realized we were gone he panicked!  The sound of your child being lost and full of fear usually hurts BUT this time I smiled so big and yelled to Rusty... DO YOU HEAR THAT?  It is hard to put into word what went on there but for the first time he was scared and fearful that he was alone... or that is how we perceived it anyway.  To me this is progress!  I scooped him up when he came around the corner.  As I stated above we have kept him very close, taking care of his needs and for the first time we sent him to class at church... this past Wednesday night.  He loved it and did great.

Benjamin is very affectionate with us and others... we would prefer that the very hands on affection be with us. We encourage him to hug and high five but try to let him love on us (very hands on) and not others in the same way.

He still loves to pray and when he started he always prayed and thanked God for food and water and now he opens every prayer with thank you for my family and then a lot of times lists all of our names.

Benjamin can play with play dough for an hour straight!

He has a huge sweet tooth.  Last night I took Aubrey, Carter, Andrew and Benjamin to a MLK Jr. service in Franklin and on the way home we stopped by Sonic and Benjamin's cone started to drip so I wrapped a receipt around it (he had already used the 3 napkins the lady gave us).  A few minutes later Aubrey screams (very dramatic at times) and then I am told he has eaten part of the receipt and the paper that came on the cone... hey, it was cover with ice cream!  He has done this before but last time ate all of the paper!!

He still refuses to talk about anything from Rwanda.

He definitely knows the color red and that is it in the color department.  He knows some letters and recognizes a B from a mile away and yells B for BENJAMIN.  He also tells people that it is A for Aubrey, Andrew and Alli and H for Hope and R for Daddy (Rusty)... confusing, I know.

He has an imagination like none I have ever seen.  Last night after dinner he was flying in his airplane and shooting and catching all the animals like giraffes, horses and bears!  And he is the king of sound effects!




HOPE
She is now potty trained, no diapers at nap and wakes up dry most mornings (still in diapers then).  She has a very strong will and we think that is why she potty trained early, what we consider early anyway.  We did not instigate this, she did!  It began a few months ago with her saying poo poo and then going in her diaper minutes later.  After a couple of weeks of this routine I began to put her on the potty and she would go.  We did this for about 2 months and then she "accidentally" peed in the potty and we had a celebration and gave her an M&M and then it took off from there.  She seemed so young that I did not buy her underwear.  I did put Benjamin's on her a few days then when my mother-in-law was here before Christmas she went out and bought her some and told me not to miss my opportunity with this so she has been in underwear since the middle of December. 

Hope has also moved up to a twin bed... with a rail.  We did a trial nap in the big bed and then from that point on she cried to get in that bed over her crib so we moved her and took the crib down this past weekend.  She has changed SO MUCH and is not at all the little girl we picked up in Rwanda in May.

She still uses the words mine and no way more than I like.  She is very demanding and is not shy about telling you what she wants when she wants it!  She very defiantly tells us NO when she doesn't want to go to bed, get in her car seat or anything else she doesn't feel like doing!

Hope says a variety of words, some still very hard to decipher.  She is beginning to make 2-3 word sentences like "thank you, Aubrey" and "Daddy's home".

I wrote in an earlier post about her waking up for 2-3 hours at night, she hasn't done that since the week of Christmas.

Hope loves shoes and clothes... I mean LOVES them!!

Hope can tear a room apart in a matter of minutes so I feel like I am constantly picking up after her if she is left unattended for any amount of time... she also loves to get in my bathroom and gets into make-up and anything with a top!  She does spend time on a blanket while we do Bible for school and still has some pack-n-play time... so that helps.  In place of her crib she has a huge doll house that Rusty's dad built years ago for his niece.  After he passed away in 2002 Aubrey was given it as a gift.  Benjamin possibly likes it more than Hope!

Hope comes to me daily with a book in hand and says "lap mama, book".  She LOVES to be read to but her favorite book contains no words, it is the picture book that Becky made of our Rwanda trip!

Tomorrow Hope will be 20 months and she acts like she is going on 13 years!





AS A WHOLE...
Things have been harder with the colder weather, much more time inside and that is hard for me.    Andrew and Benjamin continue to grow closer but Andrew still tries to parent him too much!  Rusty and I are REALLY looking forward to a date night with friends this Thursday night!  We are going to preview the movie October Baby... will let you know how we like it! 







As with most update posts, I am sure I forgot details that I wanted to share but that is how my brain rolls these days:)

3 comments:

Courtney said...

i so enjoy your updates!

rutledgeramblings said...

LOVE, love, love those kids! So glad that Hope is now in a big girl bed - I know you were nervous how that was going to go. I can't believe how much she has changed since you brought her home! Love you all!

Tristen said...

It's great reading this entry. I can relate to some of the things you mentioned (especially the need for a date night!) and probably will write an update now too :) Thanks so much for the pictures too- so cute to see your family!