J3 is BUSY!!

Recently he told me his smile didn't work.. and it really didn't. I worked at it a little bit and then I was hit with a brain wave and took him over to the mirror. His smile still works in the mirror when Mommy tickles him. He is growing again and the pants Grandma F brought over a while ago that were too long, now fit him. He used to beg to play the computer game he likes but now after a couple minutes he's done. I like that. I like that he can feel free to try it out but still not be tied to it. He no longer asks to do school every 5 minutes either. He's quite contented playing critters with G and helping me with little chores or playing with S or R when she's done school. He's really quite helpful and enjoys being my little helper dude. He's never woke up dry ever so we've quit waiting for him too. The best thing we've found is just to teach them to wake up and go in the middle of the night. J3 will have to learn to wake himself up in the night to go to the bathroom. The 3rd day into it he woke up enough to walk to the bathroom himself instead of me carrying him, the first night, or pulling him along, the second night. It will be awhile before he will wake up and go alone. The scariest thing about this stage is having them wandering around in the middle of the night half asleep so I'm OK with getting them up and making sure they make it there and back. I'm up anyway. 

J3 has recently seem to mature a bit. He no longer needs constant supervision, though I still watch him like a hawk as I'm not used to this new stage yet. He is enjoying crafts and coloring more now and seems to have decided to work on his pronunciation as he's getting tired of repeating himself. He and I work on that here and there during the day. It almost seems like we are seeing the fruits from our constant parenting for the last 3 years and I'm hoping that's so. He still likes to be in the middle of anything that is happening but now he also seems to have the skills to DO many of the things he's been wanting too. I think we will have to modify the chore chart soon as he'll be ready for a bit more 'fun' stuff, as he calls it.

He really loved decorating the tree this year! The kids decorated Grandma's tree too and he was so careful climbing up on the stools so he could reach higher and so responsible and careful with the ornaments, hanging them just so, handling them gently. Quite a change from our little rough housing little man last year!