Month 17: Our Son the Parrot

Our son is a parrot. He will mimic just about anything that comes out of our mouth, and he seems to delight himself in doing so! He'll recite the alphabet, letter by letter, following our lead. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't entertaining to get him to say all kinds of funny things ... what up ... peace out ... dude ... and whatever else comes to mind.

This week has been full of daycare adventures. Daniel experienced his first allergic reaction during snack time. The culprit? Cinnamon! Everywhere cinnamon touched his face, he turned BRIGHT red. That was the only symptom, so we're just keeping an eye on him now. (Although yesterday at Costco, we almost gave him a bite of our cinnamon churro before we realized the error of our ways...!)

Also at daycare, the biting has started back up. This time, it's a different kid. I happen to know which one it is (a mother knows!) and it's hard not to back that pipsqueak into a corner and show him what a real bite feels like!

Ok, so I'm not quite THAT aggressive... but it was definitely fun to role play there for a minute. The biter is changing rooms on Monday, so Daniel will be temporarily safe. This whole world of toddler-biting makes me wonder if teaching Daniel to be gentle is really the best philosophy ... he is big, so we work hard to teach him not to use his size aggressively. But I hate to think that it' might be turning him into a victim, or at least a target.

Daniel's budding vocabulary now includes "movie" "music" and "tv" ... can you tell what his favorite hobby is?! He now says all the body part names (I can't remember if I already wrote this!) ... ear, nose, teeth, eye, etc.

We did buy him a training toilet for fun ... I know it's early, but our theory is that he should be comfortable with it before we ask him to bear all for this little plastic seat! We are toilet readers (TMI, I know) so while we are camped out reading the latest "Entertainment Weekly", Daniel gets one of his books and camps out on his kiddie toilet. Priceless! (Fernando won't let me get a picture though! Can't imagine why not!)

Something I'm noticing more and more is how our parenting style is constantly adjusting. Our original approach to Daniel's tantrums or mini fits of frustration was to discipline, or at least reprimand him. Best to teach him not to act out, right?

Well, now I'm not so sure. After way too much reading on the subject, I'm thinking that we should tone down the discipline a little ... when he does act out with us, at this age anyway, it's usually out of frustration in not being able to communicate, or express a need. He's trusting us in expressing his feelings. Sounds hokey, but as soon as we started letting him vent instead of cutting off the drama, things improved. Fits were shorter. We're still working it out, but it seems like the slower we are to discipline, the better.

Additionally, we are discovering that typically he isn't TRYING to do something wrong. If we catch him with cat food in his hand, better to observe for a minute before scolding - 9 times out of 10, he's "cleaning up" and moving it from the floor to the cat bowl. (My heart broke the first time I scolded prematurely - his little face just crumbled in tears!)

As always, it's a never ending lesson. We'll get it right. Probably just about a week before he moves out of the house!