The Raffaele update

I was all set to write a post about what a courteous and wonderful little boy Raffaele is, and then we had today. He was cranky. He needed a nap. We went to a local indoor playground, and he pushed a child or two (or three). Ugh. I sternly told him that this was wrong behavior. I escorted him to the other side of the place. He was miserable though. He needed a nap. We got home, read some books, and he fell asleep. Fortunately, Theresa fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I was able to put her in the room while I attended to Raffaele. He then stayed down for a three-hour nap. It was much needed. I should mention that he rarely naps, so it's unexpected when he does.

For the most part, Raffaele has been blossoming into the most beautiful, most affectionate and loving and caring boy. I like to think that it's reflective of our parenting style -- constant nurturing, we've never lost our temper with him, lots of gentleness, and all the baby-wearing and co-sleeping. Actually, Mr. FloridaWife sleeps with him while I sleep with Theresa. I'm not saying that in order to have an affectionate child that you need to sleep with them; I'm just saying that this is what we do as part of the entire package of all the parenting that we do.

Raffaele says "thank you" and "please" and "you're welcome" a lot. He has little jobs here that he's taken upon himself. He likes to shut the door when we come in. He also likes to be responsible for putting things into the garbage can.

He is also a considerate older brother to Theresa. He always desires to know where she is. She was still asleep this morning when we were all awake, and he said, "baby?" I said, "she's still asleep." He comes running with me when she wakes up or needs to be changed. When we go out, he understands that I have to get her, and he will not go running to the playground or wherever. He actually waits while I put her car seat into the stroller. Then he'll even try to help me push the stroller.

He likes to be helpful. He gets mad if I sneak over and try to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. That's his job. (Fortunately, they are both front-loading.) He has also helped me unload the dishwasher (at least the bottom shelf). He hands me each item, and I put it away, then he hands me the next one and so on.

His vocabulary is taking off. He's not quite the linguist compared to those his age. He gets his point across despite the fact that he doesn't put together complex sentences yet and his vocabulary is very limited. I was a late talker, too. I think I've mentioned that he finally said "Daddy" the month he turned two. He just hasn't had much of a need to talk since we've always understood him, but I'm glad that his linguistic abilities are taking off.

Raffaele is great at building. He makes the most amazing structures with his Mega Bloks. I'm thinking of getting him for Christmas an additional bag of these so that he can build even more. He's also really good with the Gears, Gears, Gears.

We got him a train table, used, found on Craig's List. It's in decent shape and has normal wear and tear, but it's great. He likes it very much, but doesn't play long at it.

He continues to love Wow, Wow, Wubbzy, his favorite television program, which was also the theme of his 2nd birthday party. It's also what he's wearing for Halloween. He likes Thomas the Tank Engine and Oswald as well.

He knows all his shapes, he can count to ten, he knows most of his colors, and he can identify most of his letters (upper- and lower-case). That's okay. He is, after all, not even 2 1/2 yet. He has fun with it. We go out, and he sees numbers, shapes, and letters everywhere, and he calls them out. The letters that confuse him are the V, Y, and T. He also doesn't know the J. No rush, though, but I'll work on these with him. Since he loves learning, I know it's something that he'll really like to learn so that he can call out even more letters as he sees them.

I took him to the Children's Museum on Saturday. It's pretty nice. There's lots for the children to do there. I also took him to the Children's Science Explorium; they've changed their exhibit since we were there last. Of course, Theresa come along too. She's still exclusively breast-fed, so I just discreetly find a place to feed her with my nursing cover.

Raffaele climbs ladders and goes up all the big slides at the playground. He's done that for a while now, even in the area which is supposedly for ages 5 -12.

Monday through Friday he spends his days at home with occasional outings. My parents care for the children Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and we have a nanny come on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My father takes Raffaele out to either a local indoor playground or a park when he's here. Mr. FloridaWife takes Raffaele out to lunch on the nanny days. Saturdays I always look for something to do out of the house -- this has been an ongoing project as I'm always looking to see what's going on. I think I've gotten myself on the email list of every local place now (i.e., museums, parks, indoor playgrounds, etc.) On Sundays, we go to church in the morning and my afternoon routine has been to take them to another local indoor playground. Raffaele loves these places. We also do a lot of reading at home and puzzles. Raffaele can put together basic 12-piece puzzles now.

Raffaele likes to draw. I've shown his artwork to a few people and they are quite impressed on what he can accomplish at 2 years, 3 months. He draws faces and houses.