Aunt Dani's House

This evening AJ and I came over to Aunt Dani's house to do her hair for a wedding. I had tried to prep him for his cousin Kobe, telling him that he was a kitty, but not necessarily a kitty AJ should TOUCH! haahahahah!!!! I even went as far as to tell him...Kobe thinks he's a PUPPY!!! I don't think AJ realized I was sorta being serious about him thinking he was a puppy. So we got here and they both FREAKED. AJ was doing his normal nervous/spastic behavior and Kobe was doing his spastic fluttering...it was AWESOME. At one point, Kobe was STALKING his PREY...and his prey would notice right in time to not become what we call 'kitty snacks' hahahhah

Bonding

This afternoon was an especially significant moment of bonding for me. AJ and I had the house to ourselves, and were both feeling rather lazy. We were covered in blankets and cushioned by pillows as we sat on the couch, side-by-side and watched a show on the laptop. He was right there next to me, whispering nonsense in a gentle, kind voice (most of you who know AJ, know gentle and kind are the most unlikely adjectives to describe his voice). He was so happy to be sitting there, just sitting. I was so filled with joy by the moment we were sharing...I must have said 'I love you' a million times in my head. I looked right into his eyes and said it, he responded 'I love you too Mommie'...with a HUGE grin. This is true HAPPINESS.

Getting Bigger and Smarter...and Pushier

AJ is growing up so quickly, everyday brings something new. As I've recently grown to accept, he is a SPUNGE. Luckily for me, my Aunti Meani watches him while we are at work. She plays the closest role as a 'teacher' he can have right now. She reads to him, enforces right from wrong, and gives him the TLC he needs while we are away.

Thanks to the intelligent people AJ is surrounded by...he is already far ahead of what is expected of an 18-month-old little boy. He doesn't just use a few simple words of communication...he is now developing phrases of communication. His first phrase was 'I DONT WANT TO', (anyone who disagrees about this being my KARMA, is CRAZY) and 'I don't know'. He can already associate people with places or things. He sees a red truck and says 'Papa truck', he goes to the salon his Aunti Brookie works at and says 'Brookie, Sally, Anna' (I credit his being at the salon since Day 3 for that), he knows that Nikki is Grammie's dog....it AMAZES me.

Along with all these wonderful words of communication comes his ability to be defiant. Refer back to previous statement --- 'I DONT WANT TO'. Not only does he verbally protest, somewhere along the lines he has learned to PHYSICALLY protest. How he acquired this is so far beyond me, I'm BAFFLED. We don't spank, smack, hit or even flick him. We are very cautious to teach him manners. His form of punishment started with THE CORNER and will REMAIN the corner. So where he picked this up is so far beyond me, I spend hours trying to figure it out. He pushes, he punches and he smacks in protest of not getting his way. This is a learned behavior. I am on the hunt for the 'SOURCE' so I can correct the problem.

In the meantime, I get tougher and he gets a lot of one-on-one time with 'THE CORNER' (this too, MY KARMA)...