Jared Stories

Jared is becoming quite the smeller. He is often the one to let me know when Spencer has a stinky. "Mom Spencer stinks! Change him." I often use him to be my test smeller to check Spencer. If I think Spencer is stinky then I ask Jared, "Is Spencer stinky?" Jared will then go smell Spencer's bum and either say, "Yeah, he's stinky." or "No, just pee." What a great helper!

One day I made cookies during his nap and as he's walking up the stairs he starts sniffing the air exclaiming, "What's that smell?" He is really learning how to use that nose:)

Today Jared came out of the bathroom and announced, "My teeth are moving!!!" Before we came out to Chicago Chris, Jared and I went to the dentist. The dentist told me we need to try really hard to get Jared to stop sucking his thumb because his front teeth are already starting to move. We've always been trying but the kid's got a habit that's hard to break. We've even tried buying the yucking tasting polish that's suppose to last for two days. He doesn't like it but it doesn't stop him either. I thought maybe he sucked it off really quick and that it really didn't last very long. Nope I tried his thumb and it was still nasty. We've been trying to explain why he shouldn't suck his thumb saying he's moving his teeth and that it's not good for them ect. So today he "realized" his teeth were moving. He came to me and opened his mouth wide and said, "See!" Then he asked me to open my mouth. "You're teeth aren't moving." He determined. Then he gave me his thumb. I gave him a quizical look and he said, "Suck it." I put it in my mouth, he took it out and had me say aww. "Your teeth are moving!" And so you have it. The mind of Jared.

Besides trying to get Jared to stop sucking his thumb we've attempted night time potty training. When browsing through the books at the library I happened upon a book entitled, All By Myself! It's about a little girl that wants to do things on her own. She's already potty trained but still wearing diapers at night. In the book she says, "I hate diapers!" It's a pretty good little book and really inspired Jared. He hated diapers after that but he didn't follow the part to wake up and yell for mom when you felt you had to go to the bathroom. I attempted it for three or four nights and tonight he's back in diapers. After he was first potty trained he kept his diapers dry through the night but I kept putting him in diapers just in case and I think he's got the mindset it's okay to wet the diaper. One time I put him down for a nap and he never went to sleep. After an hour of staying down in his room I finally let him come up and his diaper was wet. Grrrr. He is totally okay with wetting his diaper. It's a mindset I don't know how to break!

Today we went downtown to hang out with a friend Beth to go swimming and to a park. Afterwards we went to Chris' office to ride the El home with him. Chris ended up getting some assignments at the end of the day with time restraints so wasn't ready to leave until about an hour later than what he usually does. To kill time Jared, Spencer, and I went to Nordstrom and looked at shoes, purses, and hats. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I think Jared did too:)! We didn't last long in the shoes cause Jared wanted to try on the knee high boots. At the purse department Jared loved slinging purses over his shoulder and when I put my hands on my hips and leaned from side to side he would too. He looked so cute. Then when we went to the hats we tried hat after hat on checking ourselves out in the mirror. They were the hats with the little rims and the painter looking hats and others. That was my favorite by far. He's so fun to take shopping when he's not screaming and running away from you (most of the time).

Tonight Jared was watching a movie on TV with Chris when a guy with a mask came on. He asked, "Is that a bad guy?" I said, "Yes." Then he asked, "What's a bad guy?" and he kept asking it over and over again. We didn't answer though because we didn't want him to get frightened and we were just about ready to lay him down. The way he kept asking though was so cute.

For bedtime we read two to three stories to him and he keeps asking for one more. The last book he asks for I always tell him when he wakes up (for naptime) or tomorrow (for bedtime). So now when he asks for the one more I look at him and he says, "tomorrow". After I read to him then I tuck him in, sing one song, and put on music. Right now I have a CD in there that my freshman roommate made me for my 19th birthday. The first song in there is Celine Dion's "I'm Alive" He loves it! At the beginning there's a strong beat when she's not humming or singing and he bangs along with it saying, "don, don, don, don,..." So cute. I often turn the music on and wait outside his room and just listen for awhile before going upstairs.

What a sweet boy. He sure tries my patience and this week I've had to put myself in time out a lot (he hates it when I'm in time out) but he gives me so many paydays that I'm proud to be his mom!