C'mere Mommy, C'mere

Once again it is time to jot down a few things Marco is doing and include a few random pictures. First of all, he is much better about sleeping in his bed. At night, we read stories, I tuck him in, lay with him for a few minutes and then say good night and leave the room. Occasionally he will bang on the door, but for the most part he just goes to sleep. Naps are still not easy. He either destroys his room during nap time (more on this later) or I have to lay with him until he falls asleep. The car always works, but I am not going to do that on a regular basis.

I will tell the nap story now since I am on the subject. Last week I stuck him in his room for a nap. He wouldn't lay down, so I left. Usually at some point he starts calling for me and I go back and see if I can get him to sleep. Otherwise, he gets quiet time in his room for approximately two hours. This particular day he didn't call for me for the full two hours. I just let him be. Now for some back story, the previous weekend, Alessandro had switched out the night stand in Marco's room for the one he had been using. The new one in Marco's room was significantly shorter than the old one. The nightstand is next to Marco's dresser. Anyway, around four o'clock, Marco calls for me, so I go to let him out of his room. The chaos of what was inside is almost indescribable. Neither Alessandro or I had thought, hey, he might be able to climb on top of this nightstand and then climb on top of his dresser! Marco on the other hand, had thought of this. There is a top drawer on the dresser that previously had been unreachable to Marco. This is where we keep things like the thermometer, finger nail clippers, finger nail scissors, diaper rash cream, lotions, some little garbage bags to toss in the diaper bag, all kinds of things we DON'T want Marco to have. Also, on top of the dresser is a lamp, a piggy bank, and a heater. What I saw in his room when I let him out included the piggy bank on the floor (with a dime sized hole broken in the top), the thermometer and some other items in his bed, the finger nail clippers in a little bag under the dresser, the lamp shade was broken off the lamp, all the baggies were unraveled (they are connected together in a roll), diaper wipes were pulled out of the container and all over the floor,but I save the best for last. He had broken the lid off of a jar of diaper cream, used a finger nail file to scoop it up and who knows what he did with it at that point, but he did smell a little weird. I hope he didn't eat it, but at least it was the kind that was made out of olive oil. No wonder he was so quiet that afternoon! We have since rectified the situation and hopefully it won't happen again. (I have this image of him sitting on top of his dresser, I am just glad I didn't actually see it!)

He is learning new words daily it seems. His brain truly is a sponge. The other day he was telling me something was an iguana and I didn't understand because I didn't fathom that word in his vocabulary, but sure enough it was an iguana. He knows sign language for colors and is starting to sign letters of the alphabet. He sings sometimes, but seems to get embarrassed if you point it out.

He has figured out that in the morning I wear my slippers, so if he is trying to get me out of bed he gives me my slippers. One Friday morning he woke up when Alessandro was getting ready for work. I tried to get him to sleep more with me by laying down with him in his room. He got up, left the room, shut the door. A minute later he came back with my slippers.

Last week, I put on my jacket to go to work and he started to cry. He took my hand and took me to his room. Alessandro came with us. Marco opened the door, pushed Alessandro out and then closed the door.

Current favorite books are "What a Mess Little Puppies" and "Where's Chip?", both Disney books. He also likes "Where's Maisy?" The common thread in all the books is you have to find something on each page.

Marco can be very selfish with foods he likes. For example, today he had some popcorn and he refused to give me any. (So I had some oreos and didn't let him know it!) He will start crying if you take a bite of his food and try to take it out of your mouth.

He remembers people and places. About a week ago I was taking care of Laura and Jeff's cats. One morning I had to take Marco with me. I asked him if he wanted to see a dog and mentioned Sunny by name. He said "Jeff." I had to explain that Laura and Jeff weren't home. He still walked in and said "Hi" looking around for them. Yesterday evening we dropped by to say hi and he was so excited to see them. He kept saying Sunny and Jeff (won't say Laura). At one point he said "I'll be right back" and climbed up the stairs where he kept calling Sunny. When we were leaving he yelled "Bye Bye Jeff" over and over. He did throw in one "Bye Bye Laura."

He drags people around by the finger and tells people c'mere all the time (I am very sick of the phrase c'mere). Mommy c'mere, c'mere mommy, c'mere, c'mere mommy. Over and over. If I don't come he pulls me by my finger until I am where he wants me, which is often sitting with him coloring. He now actually tells me to draw kitties (perhaps because it is one of the few recognizable things I can draw.)

Oh, I almost forgot, he now includes one when he counts.

In other big news, he is going to start preschool in April. As soon as we get back from Italy and he is two, he will start. I can't wait. Alessandro and I will both go back to normal work schedules and then we can have dinner together again and lead a semi-normal life once again.