fairness and puzzles

Shannon has not yet used the word "fair," but he is beginning to be exposed to the concept. Shannon was never a thumb-sucker, but he occassionally puts his fingers in his mouth--all of them. At this point, we are trying to discourage this behavior, so he is often instructed to get his hand out of his mouth.

Today, Jack was merrily sucking his thumb while lying on his little play mat. Shannon was on the opposite side of the room playing with his train puzzle. At one point, Shannon got up, walked to Jack, pulled Jack's hand from his mouth and said, "hand out of mouth." Then, he went back to his train.

So, it appears that Sean and I will now be navigating a more complicated terrain of parenting.

A little more on Shannon's train puzzle. Shannon has not been very exposed to puzzles in his two and half years. But this summer, I purchased at a garage sale a five-foot floor puzzle in the shape of a train. The box indicated that the recommended age range was 4+. I know that these are generalizations, and that many children will enjoy the item sooner than the recommended age. But, I was guessing that it would be a good six months before Shannon really got into this puzzle.

Given that assumption, we had gotten the puzzle out only a few times. Shannon would just play with the individual pieces and occassionally try to put pieces together. But, he didn't really seem to be trying to put like pieces together--just any pieces. Then I put the puzzle together for him a couple times with him watching. The next thing I know, Shannon is sorting the puzzle by train cars and putting it together. Now, he hasn't actually put the whole thing together, but he has put a couple of the cars nearly together in one sitting. This after having been exposed to this particular puzzle only a handful of times and puzzling in general only occassionally over the last couple months!

What a smart boy! I'm really enjoying this age of learning and discovery where he so often surprises me with how quickly he picks up on things I didn't even realize he was learning.

a few of shannon's faces

I've captured a few of Shannon's expressions. There are a few more I'm hoping to get before he stops making them, but I thought I would share these for now.
Laughing:

Smiling:

Concentrating/reading a book. Believe it or not, we saw Shannon's furrowed brow while he was still in the womb. When I was 36 weeks pregnant, we had an ultrasound. At one point, they changed the view of the ultrasound so it was more 3-D--like you were actually looking at the baby in the womb. Anyway, he furrowed his brow several times--a trait he inherited from his father.

Raised-eyebrows-silly-face:

Smiling-for-the-camera face:

a happy boy in the bath

Here are a couple short clips of Jack in the bath.

a child of habit

Sean and I have determined that Shannon is a child of habit. It isn't necessarily order he needs, just for things to happen the same way all the time. The first time we noticed this truth was when Shannon was about four months old. Every time I breast-fed Shannon, his fingers would fly up to my mouth. If he was receiving a bottle, the same would not be true--only breastfeeding. Here are a few more recent examples of patterns that Shannon has instituted and must follow:

--When Shannon says "Thank you," you must respond with "You're welcome." He will continue to say "thank you" until he hears "you're welcome."

--When Shannon points something out while we are driving (like going "over a bridge," "beeg truck," or "red light"), you must affirm that he has spoken correctly. Or, he will continue to repeat himself with increasing urgency.

--After a bath, Shannon enjoys running around naked. I'm sure this is true of most kids his age, but Shannon has added something that I'm not quite sure all kids would be drawn to. He sits, with his naked butt, on a pile of shoes by the front door. Can't quite explain that one.

--Shannon insists on sleeping sideways and at the foot of the bed. He must have his head on a pillow, and be covered with blankets (except his arms and head).

--Shannon has learned that if you hear someone fall or drop something, you should ask, "are you okay." So, earlier when I nearly dropped a jar of applesauce, Shannon from the other room called out, "you otay?" Yes, it's adorable and I gave him a hug and kiss, but I'm not completely convinced that Shannon was concerned with my well-being, so much as he knew someone was supposed to ask. :)

a day with thomas

For those of you not familiar with little boy heroes, Thomas is the name of a train-character from the show "Thomas and Friends." Shannon, being a two-year-old boy, loves Thomas and his friends. So, when we heard that Thomas was coming to the local railroad, we decided to take Shannon on the excursion. He loved the trains! The train-ride itself was fun, but nothing like the train-ride I remember from my childhood trip to the Northeast. Of course, that trip was probably closer to 2 hours, and this one was only about 20 minutes--which is the right length for a two-year-old confined to a seat. :)

Now, before I share the pictures, let me explain something about Shannon. He is a very . . . contemplative little boy. So, when his face appears . . . expressionless or disinterested, it is because he is absorbing the experience in his head. He can be very animated; but in a new experience, he is very reserved--just drinking in his surroundings.

Shannon petting a goat at the petting zoo:

All of us on the train:



And, posing with Thomas:

yes, we're sure they're brothers

Since Jack was born, Sean and I (and other members of our family) have marveled at how much Jack and Shannon DON'T look alike. So, I decided to find a picture of Shannon at about this age (4months) to compare. Here are the results. Shannon is the top photo; Jack is the bottom photo. Would you ever guess they're brothers?

And, here they were at birth. Of each set, Shannon is the top photo, and Jack is the bottom photo.

more fun with pronunciations

When Shannon says "grasshopper" it sounds like "supper"--however, I'm not sure it's a supper he would want to eat.

I also play a little game called "snap snap" with Shannon. My hands become the mouths of alligators, and he "tries" not to get eaten. He loves this game, and when he wants to play, he calls the game "sump sump." I love it!

heavy sigh

Shannon had finished his breakfast, and had said "all done." Sean was reading the paper, and I was writing the last entry--basically, we were ignoring him. He had apparently said "all done" a few times. The next thing I hear is a heavy sigh. We both look up at Shannon. He has is head in his hand and a rather forlorn look on his face. We both laughed.

pronunciation & discoveries

At two and a half, Shannon, of course, is still learning how to pronounce various sounds in our language and doesn't always get it right. One of my favorite "mis-pronunciations" is "p" if it occurs other than at the beginning of a word. So, "nope" is "note" and "poopin'" is "pootin'"--either that or he is very musical and highly interested in Russian politics.

As for the discovery, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I have lived in my house for nearly five years and only last night discovered that I live within about 15 blocks of an awesome bike trail. When I have visited my sister in the past, I have been jealous of the trail she runs on at a park about a half mile from her house. I thought I would have to drive clear to West Des Moines to find such a treasure--a path that wanders through woods and by little creeks. Well, a few months back, I stumbled upon this trail head while looking for a park for Shannon. But, I just figured it was either short or not that great.

Well, last night I took the boys for a walk down this trail and discovered how wrong I was. It is a very well kept bike path, complete with woods, train tracks, a river, wandering paths through open fields, and even a horse barn. I was so inspired, I even did a little running behind my non-jogging stroller. Shannon loved going fast. He enjoyed watching the horses having "num-nums" for supper. He also got to see a 5-car train go by, standing only about 30 feet away. We waved at the engineers, and they blew the horn just for him. Of course, as soon as the horn sounded, Shannon's arms flung around my neck. I asked him if he wanted to ride the train, and he said no. But, by the time we got back to the van, he decided that he did want to ride a train. That's good, because we bought tickets to the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad's Thomas excursion.

a particular boy

Shannon is a very particular little boy. Here's an example. Just now, he threw one of his vehicles, so he was sent to time out. When he had situated himself in the time out chair, I said, "Shannon, we don't throw trucks." Shannon tilts his head, leans forward and says with his eyebrows raised for emphasis, "tractors." He had thrown a tractor--not a truck!

an animated boy

I occasionally take little video clips of the boys with our camera. There have been times when I have thought that I will always remember a unique expression or mannerism of Shannon's. For example, the fact that when Shannon first started shaking his head yes, it appeared the action was entirely driven by his eyebrows. Or when he started shaking his head no, he did it by tilting his head to each side instead of turning it. While I can remember that he did those things, the image in my mind's eye is fading. So, I like these little videos because they capture how his personality manifests itself at a given age. Enjoy!

dennis the menace?

I was out mowing with Shannon. He is kind of a sweaty little boy and his hair is getting long, so I pushed it to the side. He reminded me of Dennis the Menace--the little boy from newer movie with Walter Mathau. Nothing in his behavior, at that particular moment, was reminding me of Dennis--just the hair. Anyway, you can see what you think.