Terrible Twos and Midnight Blues

Last week I took Preston to the doctor for his 6 month shots. He is 27.5 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighs 17.7 pounds (50th percentile). He has had a rash for a month now, on his arms mainly and his cheeks. I took him in two weeks ago for that. The doctor said it was a combination of eczema and an allergy to something. We had to stop feeding him baby food, change his bath soap to Aveeno, and switch to soy formula. (I have been having to supplement since I am not producing enough to fill him up.) Right away the soap seemed to clear up his body. He did not like the soy, and it actually seemed to make his face worse, so we got regular Enfamil since that worked for Hallister and he likes it. At least we know he does not have a milk allergy. His cheeks are now back to normal. Now if we could just get him to sleep thru the night. He goes to bed around 7pm, wakes up around 10:30pm, then 2am, then 6:30am. Now we are adding back in baby food and he has had a 5 hour stretch. He must be growing because he usually takes three 30 minute naps and the past two days they have been hour long naps. I know things will get better.

As for our 2 year old.....where to begin.....there is no denying he is in the terrible two's. He has been this way about a month before Preston came home. He tells us no, does not like to share, he will wipe all the toys off the coffee table if we tell him something he doesn't want to hear. When we tell him no he will hit the wall or high chair or whatever is around him. Eating is getting better. We make him stay in the high chair until he at least tries what is in front of him. Jonathan is very good about patiently sitting there as we make him eat the whole PB&J, not just lick off the jelly. We finally figured out that he likes to have a job to do. He loves being involved in any way he can. We were cleaning the other day and Jonathan dumped out our piggy bank on the coffee table and gave Hallister the task of putting all the money back in, and he did it without whining or complaining. Jonathan has been taking stuff out to our shed and Hallister followed pushing his lawn mower right behind dad, opening and closing doors for him. He brings me the remote when I ask him to. Hallister is so smart. He can even take my cup to the refrigerator, get water, and bring it back to me. He has even done this without me asking on occasion - sweet boy! He has had a vocabulary explosion. There are so many words he knows now. We are concentrating on him learning colors. He does love Preston and likes to sit in the chair in Preston's room for picture time. I bet Hallister will be the one to teach Preston sign language.

Despite all the frustration and times of insanity (having two boys so close in age) we are very, very blessed!