02/01/2000, Tuesday - Awful Taste, Good Reaction. Priorities.
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 12 days)
Yesterday I gave Christopher some cough medicine before bed. He has a big of a cold. He drank it down without
any problems. I didn't even have a drink to give him afterwards. Then we went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
When I layed him back in my arms to begin brushing he calmly asked, "Why do I have to take that awful tasting
medicine?". Nicole would elicite a much more colorful reaction to bad tasting medicine. Christopher just asks
a simple question.
Christopher has had some trouble staying in bed at night. Over the course of an evening he'll come out numerous
times with the same number of excuses. Last night, after having come out a couple times, I informed him that the
next time he came out I would have to take his Woody doll away for the night (he's been sleeping with it). Well,
a while later Tina and I were in the livingroom. Christopher walked in and, with tears in his eyes, he handed me
Woody and went over and hugged Mommy. It was actually very touching. He wanted to get up and get a hug so badly,
he was willing to give up his precious Woody doll.
02/03/2000, Thursday - Bike Mystery Solved!
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 14 days)
A couple months ago we got Christopher a bike for his birthday. He's been on it a little more lately, but
at first he refused to get on it saying "I have to practice". (See last November's
Journal) We didn't know how he was going to practice if he didn't get on the bike. Well, yesterday we found
out. At his pre-school, they have a play time where they can ride all kinds of different bikes and trikes. Christopher's
teacher, Miss Kathy, tells them they need to practice peddling to get better. All this time, he has been practicing
at school to learn to ride his bike at home. His teacher told us that he was very proud yesterday, being able to
peddle clear across the "big room". He'd peddle saying, "Look, Miss Kathy, I'm
doing it! I'm doing it!"
Christopher got a new Buzz Lightyear book yesterday. He's showing it off in the picture. See Nicole's
journal for a picture of them reading it together.
Today is Christopher's first dental appointment. We'll see how it goes.
02/04/2000, Friday - January School Report
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 15 days)
Christopher's teacher, Miss Kathy, turned in this report about what they did in January.
Miss Kathy's Class
January 2000
"We had a lot of fun in January. Our color was white and our shape was a circle. We had our Winter Unit and
had a great time making snowmen, using spools to make snowflakes, touching ice and watching it melt.
The Dinosaur unit is always a lot of fun. The children loved all the dinosaur songs, stories,
games and playing with our toy dinosaurs.
Everyone is doing great!
Love, Miss Kathy"
02/07/2000, Monday - Riding His Bike
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 18 days)
Yesterday, Tina took Christopher out to ride his bike. He did a great job. He peddled clear down the block,
several times, by himself. He has training wheels, of course. It seems all that practicing at school has really
paid off.
02/08/2000, Tuesday - More ... Riding His Bike
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 19 days)
Christopher is now going to town on his bike. Last night we went clear around the block. We have a nice
big block too. It's actually three square blocks with two culdesacs. It looks like the letter 'E'. Daddy helped
very little and Christopher loved it. He even took some corners by himself. Nicole went along on her bike as well.
Since she's faster, she went first. The only problem was Nicole likes to stop for things like leaves, dandelions,
the occational rock, etc. She would slam on her brakes right in the middle of the sidewalk. Christopher can't stop
well, but he was amazingly good at steering into the grass.
02/15/2000, Tuesday - Valentine's
(age: 3 years, 2 months, 19 days)
For Valentine's Day, yesterday, Tina and I had collected all kinds of trinkets and candies for the kids
and the grandparents had sent things as well. After supper we announced that it was time to open the presents.
When Christopher heard that he yelled out "Presents??!!" and started jumping around. Until that point,
he hadn't really noticed Valentine's Day.
02/22/2000, Tuesday - Playing at Night
(age: 3 years, 3 months, 2 days)
Christopher has a cold. He really starts coughing when he lays down to sleep. Last night after being in
bed for a while he had a bad bought that caused him to throw up. After getting that all taken care of he brightly
asked "Can I get up and run around now?"
02/29/2000, Tuesday - Slinky Dog
(age: 3 years, 3 months, 9 days)
We're still working to potty train Christopher. He is just too busy to use the potty. So we've started an
incentive program. Each day he gets a sticker when he goes potty and his underwear/pull-ups are dry. Tina found
a "Mr. Potato Head" toy that has lots of parts. Each day that Christopher gets five stickers, he gets
one part. If he's dry for seven days then his prize is a "Slinky Dog" toy. Yesterday was the day and
he is now the proud owner of a "Slinky Dog". We still have a lot of work to do, but the incentives really
seem to be helping.
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