Been a good couple of days. Spencer was a terror on Sunday, I yelled more than I've ever yelled before (probably more than all time combined). I really try hard not to lose my patience and stay calm. I was a teacher for too many years to not understand the 'my mood greatly affects their mood' concept. But I was trying to get out Christmas decorations and such and they were pushing boundaries like crazy. After that very long day, Spencer slept in yesterday, took a long nap and still went to bed on time without a fuss. So I guess I know what the problem was. I did order a discipline book that was recommended by a friend. I feel like I have no consistent way of dealing with discipline and Mike has none at all (other than following my lead). Hopefully this will give us both a consistent method and one that we are both using, so there's no running from one parent to the other. Spencer has already done this a couple of times.
Yesterday was much better. I cleaned most of the day and the house is looking better and better. I'll get it into maintainence mode eventually. I've still got a long road to go down though. I did find it funny yesterday that when I put Spencer to bed for a nap, my first thought was 'Ahh, finally I'll have time to clean the bedroom in peace." It wasn't that long ago that I had to use all my will power to do any cleaning at all during naptime. And I spent all of naptime cleaning, and even more than that. But behind the fridge and stove have never sparkled so brightly lol.
Spencer's speech continues to improve. His bad days now are better than his good days before. I'm still concerned about what he understands, so I'm working on explaining words. It's hard to explain verbs though. We had a big go around last night becuase I kept asking him where we were going and he kept saying 'no'. Translation: I don't know what you are asking, I'm frustrated and I want you to stop asking it. So I started singing the question and answer to eliminate the pressure on him and he calmed quickly and actually listened. A few minutes later when I asked him where we were going, he answered correctly. But it bothers me that at almost three he doesn't get the concept of 'where'.
As we were leaving the the gym last night, I gave his juice to Rachel and he rang out a chorus of "Spencer's juice? Spencer's juice? Spencer's JUICE!!!!" with absolutely perfect clarity. That was nice to hear.
Rachel is doing great. She seems to be a little less needy lately, I think her teeth are all done for the moment. They are coming in the wrong order and I'm not sure whether that's a problem or not. I guess I could ask the doctor, but since she's not getting her shots I haven't been doing the well-baby visits like I should. I guess I should make an 18 month appt just to get her height and weight and the like.
Oh well, we are off to some fun stuff today. I think we are all going to have a great time. Later.