Independent Thinker & Directed Play

Yesterday I noticed two really cool things starting to really flourish with Liam & it kind of blows my mind a little to see it all happening at such a rapid pace.

Thing the First: Directed Play

More often than not these days, Liam has a plan in mind when we play together & I use the term together loosely. I have to sit in particular seats/bed/area of floor & do nothing else but watch him play. Normally, I am not even allowed to join in but I can react & praise him when it is fitting; I tried reading my book while sitting on our bed but had none of that & came over to close it for me; I tried watching the news while still sitting on our bed & he went over to the TV and said "Mama, no!no!" so I had to turn it off lest my ears starting bleeding from the orders being barked from my miniature Director of Play. I have to sit in a certain deck chair outside while he plays with his bubbles or rummages through the recycling (something I am sure has a double intention since I am sitting I am also not able to get after him about the recycling!). At Tumbles yesterday, I had to sit on the floor in the specific area he marked when he ran through his Log Forest. I don't necessarily mind the direction it's just kind of annoying that I'm not allowed to do anything else during that time period. I suppose I have a lot of tea parties in my future, eh? (And yes, for the record, my son has tea parties and he LOVES them) I think it's amazing that he's assigning roles to me; that he's come to these conclusions on his own & knows how to make his mind known. He's known what he's wanted & is pretty good about letting us know which ever way he can but now it's moved onto something different, a little switch has been flipped in his head & instead of just knowing he wants to "play" he now knows that he wants to play in a specific way and how in the players in his world all need to be arranged and he's able to do that!

Thing the Second: Independent Thinker

Also since yesterday, I have noticed a huge leap in his independent thinking. We've been practicing jumping with him and he's just about got it. He's moved from the incorrect notion of going up first then down & is now on the right track with down first then up so he's real close to doing it correctly. Normally, we practice with him and have to ask him to "jump" and then he does but yesterday when we were upstairs engaged in Directed Play, I found him in the hallway practicing jumping on his own!. I had not said anything to him about it but he had obviously thought to himself "I think I want to practice my jumping now" and then completed that thought with action! It's one of the first times I've seen him do this that is not involved with some sort of play; sure he does it while playing in the his kitchen or with his stacking toys and Legos - he's got the whole Cause & Effect thing going on - but this was the first time that he had taken real action to do something completely on his own & I was left a little awestruck. Then he had to go do it again this morning...I've mentioned before that Matias usually has him pick me a flower when they go out on their adventures but it's always a prompted act of Matias telling him to pick a flower for Mama. This morning while he was free to play with the hose in the backyard, he came up the stairs (where I was watching from a safe distance) calling my name. He came over to me & handed me a clover he had picked for me, gave me a hug & said "flower, Mama"! It was so cool that he did that for me all on his own, with no direction or prompting, just a simple thought ran through his mind when he saw the flowers & it was like "I should pick a flower for Mama and go give it to her upstairs!" and he DID IT!

It so totally cool to see these things emerging in him & I know it's run of mill stuff for every single person out there but for me I am really blown away by it & I am really truly enjoying watching it happen in front of me! Like I said, he's had the whole A+B=C thing down for a while but it seems that it is reaching a whole new level of ability and skill and forethought and it's just so freaking cool.

It sounds silly to say (and to think it) but I never thought I could be continually amazed by the evolution of a little boy. We're hitting that 2 Year Explosion Point rapidly & I'm watching my Little Big Boy fade faster & faster daily into just, simply & wonderfully, my Big Boy.

Dance & Jump!

Liam has really started to break into a little boogie whenever he hears his music now & I think it's because he really enjoys the music from the Charlie Brown movies! He's trying to snap his fingers but while attempting that he clicks his tongue to simulate the sound. He dances to Ring Around the Rosies also and sometimes likes me to sing for him & sometimes he just spins and drops all on his own accord! He finds it very amusing when Mama dances like the Charlie Brown characters & gets up to do it with me - so very cute, indeed.

I've been trying to teach him how to jump & he's trying very hard to do so but ends up stomping with one foot more than trying to launch himself off the ground :) We practiced our jumping on the little trampoline (with handle bar) at Toddlin' Time today & he had a great time jumping with assistance! He thought it was really funny yesterday when Matias & I were hugging & I told him to jump on the count of 3 - he laughed really hard when he saw us jumping together & asked for us to do it multiple times. He's getting braver jumping with two feet off of things & is taking the opportunity to jump off just about anything; it doesn't matter how high it is or to be honest how low the jump is, he just bends his knees and takes the leap!

We're having a lot of fun here lately; going on a ton of outdoor adventures, learning new things, practicing to perfect other things & just generally enjoying our time together!

I'm in the midst of planning/designing his 2nd Birthday Celebration (!) & I cannot believe where the time has gone...it's so tough to keep up with his present & future without forgetting the wonderful past that we have come from together - now THAT'S something to Dance & Jump about!