Night Time Routine & New Words

Let me start with the exciting news that the night time routine that I'm getting ready to describe was WITHOUT the paci last night for the first time EVER!!! :) I am super excited.

Last night, around 8:00pm, Luke and I began the normal night time routine....(sometimes his routine includes a bath, but his bath was finished before dinner because I gave one immediately after returning from the pool)....so, after the bath, the routine begins with the pjs....I put Luke in his overnight diaper and then his pajamas (my favorite are his Thomas the train pjs). While I put on his pjs, I remind Luke to finish his milk. Then, I tell him to go get his toothbrush and toothpaste and he does just that and brings them to me. We, together, brush his teeth - he wants to do more of the work than me so I brush his teeth the best I possibly can with the little, tiny hands in the way. After the teeth brushing, I tell him to give "Daddy" a kiss and a hug. Landis is usually stationed in the recliner at this point so Luke climbs into the chair and then gives daddy a hug and a kiss.

Before last night, the next phase was Luke getting his pacis. He knew which drawer they were in so he would walk to the drawer and remind me of where to find them. For the longest time, Luke was actually addicted to 2 pacis each night while rocking - one in his mouth and one to hold. I am hoping this is DONE!

Finally - my favorite part - the rocking and reading. We shut his door, close his blinds, turn on the lamp and begin rocking. At first, I talk to him about his day and we say a prayer thanking God for all the things that happened during our day. I can't wait until he can begin telling me exactly what he is thankful for.

Next, we read A TON of books - each night he seems to pick different ones....some of his favorites include: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Snuggle Puppy, Moo, Baa, La, La, La, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon, Five Little Ladybugs, the Numbers book, and a cute book called Tuck Me In. If Luke doesn't want a certain book read, he lets me know it by pushing it away. He also lets me know when he is ready to turn out the light...he turns around and reaches to put his arms around my neck....I love that part! :) So....from his cue, I turn out the light and begin singing a variety of songs (a different one each night) - some of my favorites include Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and I Love You Lord. Luke will toss and turn several times while I'm singing....he will lay facing the window and then he will turn and lay his head on my shoulder....he goes back and forth between these two positions until he finally passes out. I usually rock him for about 10 more minutes - just because I love holding him and then I gently lay him in his crib, cover him up, kiss his tiny head, tell him I love him and then out the door I go. Our whole rocking routine usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes.

I know the doctor would like for me to put him in his crib and then let him fall asleep on his own and I know deep down that I should listen....however, I really enjoy that night time quiet time and I'm just not giving that up right now. :)

Here are a few pictures of Luke before bedtime....

This is Luke and Landis before the PJs one night - this was taken last week so you still see the paci....

And, here he is in his PJs (not Thomas, but the sharks PJs)....in this first picture (which was taken last week), Luke is getting the pacis from the drawer....last night, he didn't even attempt to go to the drawer....I was very proud!

Brushing his teeth...

And, now before I get to the final video....I wanted to make a list of all the words Luke has added to his vocabulary in the last week. We took his paci away (except for the car and crib) exactly 1 week ago. It's amazing how much he talks now! He jabbers all day and says at least one new word each day! Here are some words that I have heard him say and can understand....

ball, water, pool, hi, hello, bye-bye, thank you, slide, Silas, Lexi, Max, bird, dog, milk, sky, mailman, truck, duck, quack, shark (when pointing to his pjs and his bathing suit with the sharks), outside, back, bath, stick, mommy, daddy, poppy (for papaw), maw (for mamaw), up, out, and probably a few more...pretty much, he tries to repeat all of the words that I say to him, but I can't understand all of them.

He also makes several animal noises - barking, monkey sound, baaaa, roar, and quack (when he quacks, he does the cutest little hand motion with his fingers like a duck's beak - I taught him that.) :)

A few of the words are especially cute and popular in his vocabulary....for instance, he now says, "no, no" to us when he sees things or thinks about touching or getting into things that he knows is off limits. For example, when he sees the remote control, he will look at it and say, "no, no" and then sometimes still touch it, which doesn't result in a happy mommy.

Other words that he says all the time are "bicycle" and "bus"-in the car, he calls every big vehicle a bus and every motorcycle, scooter, bike a bicycle - as we drive, he says these two words over and over. When we are driving, I have also taught him that a red light means stop and I hold out my hands as I say stop. He now does this when I stop at red lights - it's quite cute! He will also say "go" at green lights.

I'm very proud of the way Luke is progressing with his language. I always knew he had the ability, but the paci was in the way.

Luke puts an EEEE sound at the end of a lot of his words....like Ma-MEE, Da-DEEE....About 2 weeks ago, I was able to catch him on video saying these words....I hope to post more video of him saying other words later in the summer...until then, check out this video...

Have a great week! I hope to post again on Friday!

Toddy