patting the pooklet

For the past few weeks, in the early post-binky era, we've seen how easy it is to get a crying pooklet resisting bedtime to submit to quiet, stillness, and sleep. All it takes is patting his side, draping his duck blanky over his face, and singing "Come Ye Sinners," and it seems only one or two verses is all that's required.

One day when we were playing in the afternoon, the pooklet tried to get me from sitting to laying down, and then patted me on the chest while humming melodically.

He's also patted his stuffed ducky and sung to it.

The wifey tells me that when his duck blanky was in the wash and she'd substituted a stuffed ducky, he put stuffed ducky on his face.

sweet pooklet moments.

I was tired this afternoon, but pooklet was up, so I locked us in his room and tried to nap while he "read" his books. Lately, I've been patting him on his side at night to help him get to sleep, because he's fresh off his binky and consequently whinier.
Today, he responded in kind by patting my chest as I lay on the futon in his room.

He stood next to me as I lay there, and gave the ASL sign for book, so I encouraged him to get a book from the shelf. He'd get one, flip through it, and dump it on the floor and make the sign to me again, as if asking for permission (because each time, I simply told him to get another book).

Some Progress, Some Regress - The Days of Pooklet

pooklet news...

The Pooklet has had a bad habit of pressing the green, lit button on our printer, and has been consequently spanked on occasion for his unrepentant persistence in this disobedience, but today the wifey saw him out of the corner of her eye reach for it, and then quickly withdraw his hand, wincing, as if by a phantom admonition.
Good job, timid pookling!

This has been a week of binky withdrawal, as we've denied him his cherished binky at night in his crib. He's been a bit fragile as a result so we've resumed the old days of patting his side to avoid screaming and cries for Dad-dy (the one who puts him down usually). It did the trick last night, and tonight I patted him briefly. But when I stopped, he patted his side as if to beg me to continue. After two minutes of patting, and with a duck blanky over his face, he went quiet, and I left the room.

bye-bye, poo.

The Pooklet is very good about saying "Bye-Bye." Last night, leaving the Christmas Eve service, he heard a nearby dog barking and shook his hands with fear of the "whoa-whoa (dog)" but when we explained that we were leaving, and ushered him into the car, he said, "Bye-bye, whoa-whoa."
Today, after he went to the toilet, he waved as I flushed his morning poo: "Bye-bye, poo."
He's also been saying "Bye-bye," as I lower him into his crib each night, but then he'll start crying as if he didn't associate his polite farewell with me actually leaving him there.

the mobile nummies

princess nummies began crawling today on our front room area rug, motivated by a red car we kept out of her reach. First, I gave her my feet to push off of, but soon, she was dragging her tummy by her own arm strength.

Dad-dy, Hi!

The wife has called me at work a few times over the past week to let pooklet try out the phrase a father longs to hear, "Hi, Daddy!" He's still a little unclear on sentence structure, but he knows the key words, repeating them often in his gentle, singsong voice.
Pookie the Wife has been coaching him, for which I'm grateful. Lately he's also broken his habit of apparent indifference when I see him after work, and has been greeting me with a big smile and a wave from his car seat when they pick me up.
"He's been saying 'Dad-dy' all the way here," Pookie will usually tell me.

Pooklet News

Saturday, pooklet grabbed an empty milk bottle off our bedroom desk and eagerly walked it over to the bathroom sink, where we amass the day's spent bottles. he scurried back with a subtle proud smile, and we praised him. so often he demonstrates the same good-natured initiative, but usually fails with the execution. this time, it was pure joy to observe.

i caught myself today making a parenting no-no. i tarried in giving my wailing boy a consoling hug, simply, i realized after the fact, because i didn't understand his previous whining (and was thereby frustrated by it), and let it crescendo. when i did pick him up and hug him, he immediately became calm, and in no time, he was happily playing with me again. I need to remember to keep the toddler's perspective at the ready.