It has been a big week for Holden. We decided it was time to say bye-bye to Woobie (pacifier). We asked Holden if he wanted to send all of his Woobies to Alex in heaven. He said "yeah" and then he helped Mommy collect them from all of the places he had hoarded them. I think we ended up with 14 in total. I have to admit, he's handled it way better than I thought he would. He hasn't asked for it once. During the day, we stay so busy, I really don't think he's missed it much. It has been harder to get him to nap without it. And the first 4 or 5 nights, he woke up every 2-3 hours crying. Even though the nights were rough, I'm still glad we did it. I'm already noticing Holden being more vocal and attempting new words. It really hit me this week, that my little guy is growing up.And while I'm so glad we are where we are today, I have to admit, I was not completely prepared for the "terrible twos" (and yes, I think Holden got there a couple of months early!). Some days I wonder what happened to my sweet easy-going little Monkey! But I know this is a normal phase and I'm ready to take it on!! I have no doubt we'll have lots of good blogging material the next year or so:)
So lately Holden has a very strong opinion on nearly everything. It starts each morning with breakfast. If he doesn't like what Mommy makes, he makes his way to the pantry and makes his own selection. And getting dressed has been hysterical, as Holden wants to select his outfits. His favorite outfit seems to be a Gator Jersey (good taste on this one), camo pants, and sandals with socks (this one drives me crazy, it has been 40 degrees out, so if we are going to wear sandals, I'm glad he's being sensible about the socks!
He is also obsessed with all electronic gadgets. We just purchased a media armoire so we can lock him out of touching the TV, DVD, Stereo, etc. It is less about watching TV and more about touching all the buttons. He especially likes putting in and taking out DVDs from the DVD player. So while we are trying to protect our equipment from the little Monkey, we are also looking for other ways to encourage his curiosity and need for exploring anything with buttons, lights and sound. He does well (when supervised) on the computer and we got him a Leapster 2, which is an educational electronic hand held game.
Holden was recently evaluated by a speech, occupational and physical therapist. We were so happy to hear that they think he's pretty much caught up to where he should be developmentally. It is always nice to have someone (unbiased) tell you that your child is intelligent. He scored in the mid-high 90s on the series of tests. So our biggest challenge now is getting the little guy eating/drinking more. Doctors are looking for slow and steady growth. The therapist is confident that he knows how to eat. She thinks he's doing the typical toddler thing and just eating when HE feels like it. So for now, we will have to continue giving him milk at night with his feeding pump. Not ideal, but you do what you gotta do!All of these recent changes have me reflecting on where we were 1 year ago. Of course all babies change so much between the ages of 1 and 2. But we also have the improved health and catching up on milestones we were behind on, to also be grateful for. I remind myself of this each time I clean up crushed cereal from between the slats of our hardwood floors!! What a blessing. And what a journey!!
