big changes!

gabe has been growing in leaps and bounds lately! preschool has definitely had a positive impact on him. he comes home and tells us about his day (with a lot of questions from us of course) - who he plays with (remo and sofia - he can't remember anyone else), what activities he did (water table, sand table), sings songs he learns (including the "clean-up" song!), and talks about his teacher (marina and 'tina - he can't say christina).

more impressive is his imagination! recently he's been"pretend" playing at home, making phone calls on his "phone" (it's actually a flip alarm clock); pointing out the "spiders" in his bed, and just being creative in general...i love it! now that it's dark, cold, and wet outside we spend a lot of time playing indoors and gabe is really enjoying his boardgames.

we've made a successful transition to the big boy bed. and quite literally it's big...a double! but that's how our crib converted, and it actually gives gabe the freedom to roll around and sleep however he likes, which is often diagnal (like his mom)! since we're not using a boxspring, we skipped the bedrails altogether and after 5 nights, we haven't had a single problem. the only irritant is that he refused his thomas comforter (could've saved myself some $!). i think the trains all over it scare the bejeezus out of him, so he sleeps with a sheet and fleece blanket.

to coincide with the big boy bed transition, i've decided to let gabe skip his afternoon naps...unless we're in the car and he happens to fall asleep. it's definitely helped at night because now he falls alseep within 20 minutes of going to bed versus the 1+ hour he'd be yelling and screaming from his crib.

helping disassemble his crib

the bedframe is in place!

the final product!

the trade-off of no-nap is more tantrums during the day - between 12 and 2 p.m. are his witching hours and anything can set him off :P it'll last about 60-90 minutes and then he'll come to his senses, apologize, and tell me that he wants to be a good boy. taking away privileges hasn't worked for us - gabe will just watch us take things away and sometimes suggest toys to take away, so it's not exactly punishment. i haven't quite figured out the time-out situation - i don't have the patience for it, so i have to figure out something that works for our household. i think one of the biggest challenges i have is keeping gabe busy and occupied...when there's a lull, he starts acting out. we might try some baking activities this week, and we have the added intrigue of packing our suitcases for hawaii!

3 years old!

ok, so i've been drafting this for 3 weeks, and i'm finally posting gabe's 3 year update. it's been a work in progress - it seems i'm never in the right frame of mind to write on my blog...whether it's a headache, a busy day and i need "me" time, or if gabe's driven me up the wall and i don't have a positive thought in my head...just gotta suck it up and get it written, otherwise he'll be 7 when i get to it :P

where do i begin? like i said, it's the terrible 3's...and even my parents have had their own tantrum incidents with gabe. for me though, it's a daily ritual - something sets gabe off, and it's off to battle. whether he didn't get enough warning about something, or i made him get off the toilet too soon after doing his business, or i pushed the elevator button instead of him, or if i told him we were going to eat cheeseburgers at the mall but he wanted to eat rice, or if i just looked at him wrong...it's never-ending. i'm really trying to be more patient with gabe, but it's definitely an uphill battle.

preschool has been going well. whether it's me or chris doing drop-off, gabe likes us to stay for circle time on the mat until he feels comfortable (we're the only parents there :P) . but once we're gone, at least there aren't any tears...phew! i had my first duty day so we could celebrate gabe's birthday with a special snack! i tried to observe from afar and interact with the other kids and not hover around gabe, and i was a little sad to see that he preferred to play solo...he doesn't like it when other kids crowd him, so he just leaves and will go to the messaging centre or just wander aimlessly until something catches his attention. for awhile he just stood on the ladder until the teacher talked him down. funny guy.

gabe continues to chat up a storm...it's hard to believe only 6 months ago we were struggling to understand him and encourage him to speak clearly. now he doesn't stop...whether he's yelling at us from his crib, or whining that we drove the wrong way home from grandma/grandpa's house, or asking for mcdonald's for dinner, or demanding to watch kai-lan...we definitely have a louder household :P we're still working on enunciation...he has a hard time with some of the consonants like f and k. i still get a kick out of the abc's - you never know when gabe'll just burst into song and dance. he did it today at the bank. good times.

thanks to living social, i bought a 1-month pass for gymboree, and gabe's really enjoyed it. circle time isn't his best time (either at gymboree or preschool), but once the activities start and he can run around, he's in his element! this is gabe's only activity outside of preschool - i know how he hates new things, and he's really turned into a homebody lately, so i'm careful about picking my battles. i'll have to decide whether to continue gymboree or return to music together next year.

we celebrated gabe's 3rd birthday at confed park train - it made the most sense - easy and somewhat low-effort on my part, gabe still loves trains, and it was a compromise between no party (my choice) or party (chris' choice). we could make this an annual event, especially since everything in our house is train/thomas-related :P hopefully gabe loves trains for a REALLY long time! i took him to toys r us on the weekend and they had a hot wheels demo which gabe was intrigued by. looks like i know what santa's buying gabe for xmas :)