Monkey at 34 mths

I can’t believe my little Monkey is only a couple of months away from being 3! It feels so grown up and impossible for my baby boy to be that age… but at the same time it makes sense as he has grown up so much lately and is such a lovely little lad, he melts my heart daily (as well as driving me crazy multiple times a day πŸ˜‰ !

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So what is he up to? Well lots and lots he is always on the go! You may have read the recent updates about him – Monkey Says and Learning to Read but there is lots more going on too.

Playgroup report

We got his first update from Playgroup recently and it was lovely to read such sweet things about him. I think it is amazingly good for him and great for me but it is still a bit weird to leave his care in the hands of other people after it being my responsibility for the last 2 1/2 years, so it nice to get an update about how he is doing. Our favourite snippets of the update were “He is polite and friendly with both adults and his peers” and “When he has achieved what he has set out to do he will tell an adult what he has done with pride and smiles.” It’s lovely to know that he is getting on so well and he absolutely loves it. We constantly get told “got that at traygroup (playgroup)” and “did that at traygroup!”

Making friends

One of the things they have mentioned to work on is his playing with other children. He talks to them and plays alongside them but doesn’t really play with them yet or have any firm friends as far as I can tell. That’s why it was lovely when some friends came to visit recently and he and their little girl got on so well and played together really nicely. He did the same when I met a friend with a son a little older than Monkey, they had great fun together! Maybe he is better one on one than a group setting? Or maybe he needs more encouragement? I’m not sure. We are off to a birthday party for 2 of the boys from playgroup today so we will see for ourselves how he interacts with them all I think!

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I can do it!

WP_20150329_15_26_13_ProHe is growing in independence and wants to be able to do everything. Although “I don’t want to” is also very frequently uttered. usually in conjunction which is frustrating! We are going with his desire for independence and using it to encourage him to get dressed and undressed by himself. He has been really reluctant to do this until now and always just says “Mummy do it” Daddy do it” and to be honest as it is just quicker we have got on with it. It is nice now that he wants to do it and actually says “let’s get dressed!” in the mornings too rather than fighting us over getting his clothes on. This is thaks in no small part to a Bing Bunny book (still one of his faves) about Bing getting dressed.

Preparing to Potty Train

We are also using this to gear up towards potty training. As I mentioned the other day, as much as I would love him to be trained, we are not going to rush headlong into this as I fear that could make it worse, so we are laying the foundations. We tried once after Christmas and he was nowhere near ready, but we do feel he is getting there now. We are using pull ups so he can get to grips with pulling his pants up and down himself. We are also trying to change his attitude towards his private area. He has never liked being naked and doesn’t like looking at or touching his privates at all, which won’t help with potty training (Not really sure where this has come from tbh as we aren’t exactly prudes).

So we are encouraging him to see it as just another normal part of his body. We are also helping recognise the difference in being wet and dry. For a long time he hasn’t cared about having a huge wet nappy, and if that doesn’t bother him, how can he be ready for potty training? So we have been encouraging him to dry himself after each nappy change and so far it is working pretty well. He now tells us every time he has done a wee wee, helps pull his nappy down, dries himself and puts a nappy back on. Which over just a few weeks is a huge improvement. We are going through a lot more nappies but it is a means to an end!

I want to make sure we potty train him when he has a good spell away from playgroup. I know what he is like and he won’t want them to help him go to the toilet so I want to start potty training near the beginning of the summer holidays so that by the time he goes back (or on to pre-school) going to the toilet instead of using nappies will be second nature and this will hopefully mean less accidents there. That’s the theory anyway! I also have a plan to use Bing Bunny to help him through the process. We shall see how that goes but am trying to think about what works with him and revolve our methods around him rather than what works for other kids, if that makes sense?

Dressing up

For a long time I have been looking forward to the day when we would play dressing up, but our little strong willed boy was not ready, until now! He got a great dinosaur costume from his uncle for Christmas and he will finally wear it now! He looks so cute! Don’t ask me why he has to wear glasses with it though lol.

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He also got a lovely pirate costume from his auntie recently and he loves being a pirate. He even went to a fancy dress day at his playgroup in his pirate costume, which I was dead proud of. Was so cute walking him there with his pirate hat on and looking through his telescope πŸ™‚

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His little ways

Lining things up

Our little Monkey has his ways and likes things to be just so. His cars get lined up neatly and there are so many times when hubs and I ask each other if the other has done something, and we never have, it’s always Monkey! Of course this doesn’t mean he is always tidy, no just when he wants to be! For the most part the house still looks like a tip πŸ™‚

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Β “All of them!”

He has this really cute habit at the moment of gesticulating wildly when describing something. When he is talking about “all of them” he waves his ars over his head. So on the way home from playgroup he says “I didΒ alll the gluing andΒ alll the sticking” with his arms going in big circles around his head. So cute πŸ™‚

“I not a good looker”

As much as he is growing up so fast in so many ways, there is still tonnes of evidence of how little h is really. I mentioned recently that Monkey by his own admission is “not a good looker” and he really is useless. Trying to get him to pick something up that is right next to him is a ridiculous palava. “It’s next to you, no the other side, no there, on the floor, by your foot, the other foot, behind you, no the other way, near the table, no the table you were standing next to not the table in the other room…” and so it goes on. By which time he is chuckling away as he thinks it is a great game and Daddy and I are rolling our eyes and he either finally sees it or we give up and get it anyway!

“Don’t like the light”

This isn’t a new habit, it is one that has been around for ages but Monkey hates bright lights. The sun, the light on the extractor fan in the kitchen, the dining room light. Any of them can reduce him to a full on meltdown. We daren’t leave the house without the sunglasses (and there has been manya stressfest trying to find them while also trying to get us all out the door) for fear of a meltdown. Our living room gets a lot of sun so on days he doesn’t nap we generally have to have the curtains closed all afternoon until the sun has gone down. We eat meals in semi-darkness because the light is “too bright.” Honestly it drives me crazy. It’s all psychological and sometimes you can win him round with a joke or just by saying your eyes will get used to it, you will be ok… but other times that just doesn’t cut it and the only way to stop the meltdown is to produce sunglasses, get out of the sun, or turn the light off. Drives us bonkers to be honest!

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20 thoughts on “Monkey at 34 mths

  1. Lovely update. So glad that Monkey is doing well at playgroup and I love the dinosaur costume! Good luck with the potty training – we’ll be embarking on that in the next few weeks!

  2. I’ve always loved reading your updates on monkey he truly does sound like such a wonderful little guy and so full of character!!
    Its great that he’s getting dressed by himself now too I bet that makes mornings a lot less stressful!! Xx

  3. How is he almost 3? I remember your scan!! He’s grown up loads and really nice to get to know him and his little quirks. Good luck with the potty training!! xx #maternitymondays

  4. Such a sweet little boy! Love that he calls nursery Traygroup tee hee. Good luck for preparing for the potty hon, there’s never a perfect time, but I agree a spell when they’re at home is best xx #ftmob

  5. Aww bless him I love, love, love the pirate outfit. They grow up so fast. I wish Boo would be more independent it would help so much more with the baby but she’s a stubborn/lazy one πŸ˜‰ #MaternityMondays

  6. Lovely update, it’s always nice to read about Monkey as he is only a little bit younger than the wee girl. We have just about cracked potty training, but it has been tricky… I can’t bring myself to write about it until it’s over πŸ™‚ Good luck, you sound like you’re approaching it in exactly the right way. Love the dinosaur outfit! #ftmob

  7. Great update. I’ve been stressing a bit about potty training and when’s the right time to start so I like your approach to do what’s best for H. It’s obvious really! Tin Box Tot has been showing some signs that she’s ready, but has totally gone off having her bum changed. She’ll throw a tantrum rather than admit she is wet or dirty. Now is clearly not the time! #MaternityMondays

  8. Lovely update, and it seems Monkey is doing really well:).
    I am sure the mixing in with other peers at playgroup will come, my Monkey was exactly the same at that age too. It just came natural and he made friends easily then onwards.

    It made me smile with the “looking for something” oh Monkey used to do this too, I used to feel like a Sat Nav trying to direct him to the dropped object hehe!.
    I enjoyed reading x #ftmob

  9. What a great update, and it sounds like he is doing really well at Playgroup =)
    I love the dinosaur outfit – it looks amazing with the glasses hehe

    I hope potty training goes ok for everyone (it’s something I must admit I am not looking forward to it, though as Boo is only 15 months we have a long while to go yet – I am planning on leaving it until I know she is definitely ready. )

  10. It sounds like he is doing really well and becoming more grown up and independent all the time. No wonder you’re proud of him.
    I wouldn’t worry about the friend thing as he is still very young and many children don’t form strong bonds with others until they are older.
    Good luck with the potty training! Thanks for linking up with Loud ‘n’ Proud.

  11. Great update. It’s lovely when someone independent validates for you that your child is doing well, isn’t it? We’re always glowing with pride whenever we get positive reports about our kids.

  12. You are so good to not rush the potty training I did that with Buba when MM was born and it blew up in my face completely. He is growing up so fast. Lovely photos. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me. Happy Easter! #sharewithme

  13. What a lovely update, I love that dinosaur costume even the glasses are cute! We love Bing, I didn’t know you could get books. I think you are doing the right thing with potty training and it sounds like he is starting to get ready for it x

  14. Always enjoy reading your updates,can’t quite believe Monkey is nearly 3!
    You’re going at his pace with potty training and that will benefit in the long run, no point in stressing him or yourselves out before he’s ready.
    Those dress up costumes are very cute, the glasses def add to rhr dinosaur costume!
    Thanks for linking up with #SSAmazingAchievements

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