These last few months Oliver has become more aware that he is an individual with his own thoughts and feelings. You can see it in his facial expression, and when he makes his "demands". There were a few very hard days when it seemed that nothing I did was what he had in mind, and he will throw himself to the ground and cry. Simple things that he used to just sign "please" or "more" all of the sudden seem like he never learned it. Everything was upsetting and he had zero patience for anything. I wondered how long it would last and what happened to my sweet little boy who now pushes me away when I try to kiss him.
Then a few days after, it's as if he realized that tactic didn't work...or maybe I just started to tell him "if you say please you'll get what you need right away." that he started to communicate with us again. Not only that, he also signs "Thank you!" He also started to enjoy sitting down then point to the spot next to him for you to sit. Or he will hear music and start dancing and spinning and wants you to join him. He also will pull my hand to take me to where he wants me to go, take the spoon or fork from my hand so he can feed himself. A new purchase of plastic bowls with suction cups on the bottom is a lifesaver for self-feeding. His favorite food now is oatmeal with peaches and blueberries. He also has decided he no longer needs bite sized food, and will take his fruits whole, and prefer taking a bite out of a meatball over smashing it up.
Oliver is still sleeping very well. While he was sick we put him to bed an hour early one night and found that he actually sleeps longer...almost 12 hours. He also takes a 2 hour nap from 1 to 3 most of the time. He sometimes wakes up crying, but I have found that bringing him some water when he wakes up is very helpful. It's funny that we have slowly adjusted our bedtime routine to be a fun family time. Instead of slowing him down we've actually been quite active, run around in circles in his room while clapping our hands, making funny voices while reading the same books (Freight Train,Spoon, and Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear are his favorites now) He no longer relies on the milk or the bottle. He'll drink the milk from a straw cup, play, read, run, then we blow out the 'moon" and he goes to bed. We are slowly introducing a pillow and blanket, but now he is still dressed in layers and socks to keep him warm at night. Lately I've been sneaking in the room to cover him with a blanket which I think helps keeping him sleep through the night. It's funny that he understands what sleep means because he started to sign sleep when he sees the bed. One night after dinner he signed sleep, and I thought "I better get him to bed soon! he is telling me he wants to sleep!" Today we went to the zoo, we saw a brown bear sleeping. So I signed to him that the bear is sleeping. By the time we got to the chimpanzees, Oliver saw a chimp laying down sleeping, he pointed to the chimp then signed "sleep". Wow....
Another huge milestone is our very casual attempt to potty train him. He's had 2 different potties that he played with for months and months. He likes sitting on them, or fill them up with water. Before bath is the perfect time to get him to sit on it without his diaper. In the last few months when he poops his diaper he sometimes will point to it to let me know he needs to be changed. And the doctor said that it was good that he is aware of what his body is doing. So in the last 2 months he has peed in the potty 3 times. Then yesterday he pooped in it! What a big achievement!
And by the way, he also started to give me kisses again.
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