The Buente Family: 34 Months

Our big boy is 34 months old now. What's new this month?

Naps have improved this past week. Since daylight savings a few months back, Chase started dropping his nap. I still placed him in his crib for quiet/rest time, but 9 times out of 10 he wouldn't sleep. This past week I am happy to report that he has napped all days except one. Hopefully it stays this way because although an early bedtime is nice, he isn't himself during the evenings and doesn't get to spend as much time with Daddy when there's no nap!

We've regressed from our few potty triumphs and I have now officially "backed off" from reminders, big boy underwear etc. I tried for a few weeks so I just didn't want to press it after he clearly wasn't getting it fully. No biggie. We will get there. My pediatrician sent me some literature on toilet training and it appears we have a power struggle on our hands. So the literature said to drop it, and let him decide. So he isn't getting the constant reminding, asking if he has to potty, etc - we will see what happens. I plan to get through the new year and give it a go again. Wish us luck, and if you have any advice, I'm all ears! I love my strong-willed child!

Chase loved all things Christmas. He was excited about Santa but we think he believed he would actually SEE him in the house on Christmas. He likes to play with his Christmas nativity and knows all the Christmas story characters. He recently started saying big boy words from the story like innkeeper, Bethlehem, Nazareth and "gold, frankincense and myrrh" and it's super cute to hear him talk about it. His favorite Christmas carols are Noel, Jingle Bell Rock and Little Drummer Boy.

He loves to sing. Row, Row, Row Your Boat, ABC's (His version lately is "ABCDEFG, Next time won't you sing with me?" - forget the other letters, they aren't important!), Twinkle Twinkle, and this cute little song from the library "12345, I caught a fish alive! 678910, I threw him back again. Why did I let him go? 'Cause he bit my finger so!" Chase gets so animated when singing this one.

Chase's vocabulary continues to grow and he picks up on things everywhere he goes. Some of his favorite phrases lately have been, "one...more...book" or "just FIIIVE more minutes" when reading and playing. He also likes to comment that he was "just pretending" when you catch him doing something he probably shouldn't be doing. Another phrase he says a lot is "I'm just doing this!"

Chase still loves to do crafts (yay!) and LOVES My Gym, where we take him for his "gymnastics." He really loves his teacher there and also at the library where we go weekly.

Here are some recent pictures!