Three Year Old Logic

After the mess yesterday I put both of Lucas' train sets in timeout and he has been begging for them back. Yesterday he tried to talk me into giving them back by saying "I'm not your messer anymore. PROMISE." I told him he needed to show us that he could behave and earn them back. This of course led to crying and Lucas yelling ,"I AM BEHAVING! GIVE ME MY TRAIN NOW MOMMY!" I still wouldn't budge.
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Today we got home from church and I told Lucas is he took a nap he could earn one train set back. He immediately ran to his bedroom, laid down in bed, and closed his eyes. Not two seconds later he was standing in front of me saying "Ok, I napped. TRAINS please!" This went on a few times until I explained to him that he had to go to sleep for real. He finally gave up and crawled into bed and went to sleep. About two hours later he bolted awake and started yelling "Did I real sleep? Did I real sleep?" as he ran out of his room and was happily reunited with one train set.

Dear Lucas (31 Months),

You have kept my on my toes this month for sure. Everyday you are getting a little sneakier and a little better at getting away with things. If this is what you are like at 2 we are in TROUBLE when you hit your teen years! Sometime between last month and this month you are learning how to use your pronouns. You now say "me" when you are talking about yourself which is impressive but now we have to teach you your name! For so long I guess we drilled you on how old you are that if someone asks you what your name is you proudly yell "I'm two!"

I am still waiting for my extra pair of mom eyes to come in because you are in EVERYTHING! Yesterday you managed to get into oil, kids shaving cream soap, my face powder, and my blush. Even after all of that I decided to leave you home alone with your Dad while I quickly went to Wal-mart to get a few things that we needed. I wasn't even gone 20 minutes before I got a call from your Dad telling me you got into my makeup AGAIN! It isn't like I just leave it laying out, I keep putting it out of what I think is your reach and then you prove me wrong! When I got home I found you covered in mascara and most of my makeup had little Lucas mascara fingerprints on the containers. When I called you for lunch you crawled up in your chair and as I set your food on the table you started puking EVERYWHERE! Turns out you also ate my lipstick. You could literally see pink chunks of lipstick in your puke! After you took a bath and got cleaned up you were ready to eat.

During nap time you can no longer be trusted to go to sleep with the door open. If there is ANY type of light in your room then you will get out of your bed and play. In order to get you to take a nap I have to leave your door open and do something where I can watch you to make sure you stay in bed. If I happen to walk in the back of the house to do something you will get out of your bed and close the door so that you can play. When I open the door back up I always catch you running to jump in bed so that you can pretend you were there the WHOLE time. At night we don't have a problem because it is dark and even if you got out of bed you couldn't see to play so you give up quickly and go to sleep.

We are still doing the whole time out thing and it is working great. If we tell you "go to time out" you usually take yourself there and sit there until we tell you that you can come out. Sometimes you tell us "no time out!" while you are walking yourself there. You think that if you say sorry that means that everything is instantly okay. Sometimes you will yell "SORRY!" from your timeout chair thinking that means we will let you up and you will keep yelling "I said sorry!" over and over because you think that we are ignoring you. If you were not crying before you got sent to time out chances are good that the second your little tush touches the seat that you will have big crocodile tears flowing down your cheeks. Those tears magically disappear as soon as we come in to talk to you about why you got in trouble because you know you are about to get out.

You are still a pretty good eater. You are so funny, you will be messy everywhere but the second that one little drop of food gets on your hands you freak out! You think the world must stop to clean your hands! You still eat your daily banana as soon as you wake up and some of your favorite things to eat right now are pickles, black olives, and cereal with milk. You still love eggs, oatmeal, and of course chicken nuggets.

We've been sick a lot these past few weeks and you have spent way too much time inside the house (which I am sure has contributed in your getting into things.) I've been trying to take you outside at least for a few minutes everyday. Tonight we went for a short walk around the block after dinner. I think we need to make this more of a habit because you and Jadie both LOVED it and it helped you get some extra energy out before bed.

Your Dad has been home this week because he has hurt his back. It has been hard for you to understand that he can't pick you up and you can't jump and climb on him like you usually do. He can't even tuck you in to bed like he usually does. To make sure you get in your Dad time before bed you've started taking the bedtime stories to him. I know he loves the extra cuddle time just as much as you do.

Bugga, I love you to the moon and back and I wouldn't trade a minute of our crazy toddler life for anything else!

Mommy

Lazy Friday

My Little Jumping Bean

I just found out today that there is a new inflatable play center near us. I'm trying to decide if it would be a good idea or a VERY VERY bad one to take Lucas there. He is already obsessed with jumping and most of his days are spent trying to find new ways to sneak and jump off things. I think I say "Don't Jump Off that!" more in one day than any other phrase in my entire life (well maybe not as much as "Lucas Owen!!!!" or "I SAID NO!" but it IS up there pretty close.) This kid will find ANYTHING to jump off of furniture, toys, random containers, unsuspecting people or a stacking of things he puts together.

All the jumping has even made nap time a challenge again. You would think Cirque de Soleil was practicing in his room from the sounds that I hear when he is SUPPOSED to be asleep. If we open the door to see what he is doing he will drop to the floor from where ever he is and close his eyes and sometimes he even fake a snore!!! During days like these (today) I have to leave his bedroom door open just to make sure he stays in bed. He usually falls asleep within a few minutes. I guess watching me check my email and do laundry is pretty boring. I know we are creating a habit that I don't really want but I'm not ready for Lucas to give up his naps just yet either.