Easy Meals: Breakfast Casserole

Eggs, cheese, and bacon! The original recipe is here; I didn't have any croutons on hand, so I just cubed some whole wheat sandwich bread. I also used some pre-cooked Applewood Smoked Bacon from Trader Joe's to save time (and mess).

Punishment

As I was getting my son dressed after his bath tonight, he kept kicking wildly, as he often does during clothes and diaper changes. I gave him a stern warning stop. KICK KICK KICK. I warned him that if he continues to kick, he will go to straight to bed without storytime. KICK KICK KICK.

I finished getting him dressed, then took him to the bathroom to brush his teeth, all the while reminding him that he is going to bed without storytime.

I placed him in his crib without all our usual bedtime routines. No books. No saying goodnight to Mr. Penguin (nightlight) and Dolly (stuffed sheep). No checking the body parts to make sure they're there before bed, no last guffaw, no "night-night".

As I closed the door behind me and headed downstairs, I expected to hear him scream and kick his crib. I expected at least a half hour of pained crying. But did any of that happen? No. So as "punishment" my son just went straight to sleep.

This kid will never understand consequences.

Speech Therapy - Day One

Today was my son's first day in speech therapy. He did "well," I suppose, though I guess I didn't really have any idea of what to expect. I knew that the sessions would revolve around play, and I'm just glad we avoided any major tantrums.

Observations

• Repetitiveness: he definitely has a thing for doing things over and over again, especially opening and closing things. This was already very clear to us while traveling recently, and he must have opened and closed the window shutters on the airplane hundreds of times.
• Determination/stubbornness: similar to his penchant for opening and closing things, he tends to work on things over and over again until he gets it right, or what happens more often, until he gets frustrated.
• One-track mind: along with his stubbornness, once he sets his sight on a particular toy that he's interested in, it can be pretty difficult to pull him away to do something else. Thankfully, we were able to move him to different activities without too much drama.
  
• Pretend play: I was surprised at how well he did at pretend play. He knew how to give a baby doll a bottle, how to feed her with a spoon, and he understood when she was going to sleep. It was funny to watch him lay on the floor beside the doll and go "night-night" with her.

Mean

How many parents can and do admit that they've thought to themselves, "My kid just isn't very nice."

Guide to Understanding My Toddler

With my son's speech therapy sessions starting next week, I figured it would be a good idea to list down what words he actually knows and tries to say:

aahys = eyes
appuh = apple
bohl = ball
buhs = bus/buttons
bee = bee
bye = (good) bye
cahr = car
caht = cat
cock = clock
doohr = door
duwn = down
gog = dog
guck = duck
eehrs = ears
haht = heart
hayr = hair
hao = hello
hi = hi
hinds = hands
hoht = hot
hohse = horse
ipuhd = iPod
moon = moon
mouse = mouth
nah = banana
nohse = nose
opin = open
pweas = please
sohks = socks
suhn = sun
syoos = shoes
tarhs = stars
teehs = teeth
uhp = up