A James Younger Update

This little man is keeping us on our toes lately.  He is kind and compassionate and thoughtful, and so fierce and stubborn. We are seeing all the extremes, and often from one minute to the next.  I know part of it is developmental, but I think he also has his mama's personality and sees some of these traits modeled (fiercely loyal, yet fiercely stubborn...), so I have been much more mindful lately about my own actions, and especially the heart behind my actions.  Because it's his little heart that we are hoping to shape, and his behavior only secondarily.  Parenting is so hard and good.

I love to hear his little voice. He has so much to say! Sometimes he just needs to sing a song, or sometimes he needs to narrate the activity occurring around our bird feeder, or sometimes he needs to remind me that we went to visit daddy at the hospital last night, or saw Ms. Patty at the library a few days ago, or recall his favorite lines in his favorite book as if he doesn't want to forget these things himself.

He won't do it on command, but I catch him reciting the ABCs and counting to 10 all the time.  I'll have to sneak a video. He can identify all of the letters, though sometimes mixes up A and V.  He has always loved to read, but it's really been one of his favorite activities these days. Sometimes he even wants to be read to while he's playing something else (like his train track), and so we've been reading through A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh chapter book series again (we read them at bedtime when he was around Samuel's age).

We've taken advantage of spring time and spend a lot of the day outside - sometimes at a playground (like these photos from the Durham Farmer's Market - everyone come visit this summer! This is where we will go... it's our favorite!!), but also in our own yard.  We have been walking/jogging a lot in the double stroller, which James seems to tolerate (though he would prefer to walk - hard to get a good cardio workout at his pace, though 😆).  We have picnics either at the park, outside the library, or just on our front porch or deck.  James has always loved being outside, and that passion has only increased. He would stay out from dawn to dusk if we allowed it.  And we've planted our garden, which he is very excited about!  He is truly a good helper in the garden - other chores I let him help so he learns, but it's not that helpful. Outside is another story! He will carry buckets of water around and water all the gardens. Love it.

As far as logistics (mostly for me to remember), he continues to nap once a day around 1:30 or 2pm. He always protests naptime (and bedtime, in fact), but he finally crashes every day and sleeps 2-3 hours. Bedtime is at 7:30pm, though due to protests and requests for water or food or to use the big boy potty (yes, we are toying with the idea...) or another book, it's often 8 before he is down, and sometimes we still hear him chatting to himself an hour later.  But he happily falls asleep on his own and is awake between 6:45-7:45 the next morning (though we get him out of bed at 7:30am).