Friday, September 10, 2010

Our Sweet Maddox

Oh sweet Maddox. On the 8th of this month you turned 32 months old. Goodness, you are way to close to being 3 years old and it kind of freaks me out a little!!
What are you up to these days Mr. Maddox!?!
You weigh 32 Pounds
You are wearing 3T shirts and jeans (although, length wise the 2T pants fit better, but just barely...you are so close to being too tall for them)
You are 100% potty trained and we have not had a single accident since we started this entire process and you had your first "taking care of business outside" experience with your daddy the other day. (they were riding the 4 wheeler and he had to "go" so outdoor peeing was experienced for the first time...luckily you have not asked me to do this again yet)
You love your little brother and are so sweet to him. The other day we had to use that nasty nose sucker on him to help him breath and it obviously made him very upset....YOU started crying with him because you didn't like to see him so sad
You are so kind and smart!!!

Fun things about Maddox at 32 months old:
Maddox is such a big helper. He loves to help. Loves to be in the middle of everything I am doing and longs to fix ANYTHING. He is  most certain that all things can be fixed with a hammer and a screwdriver and he is even more certain that anything broken can be fixed by his daddy! In fact, there have been several toys that I thought were long gone because the plastic was broken off of it, but daddy came to the rescue and fixed it again.  Maddox had a very hard time understanding that daddy could not in fact fix a cracker that was broken into several pieces, but can you blame him...Brad is one handy man and if it is fixable, he can most certainly fix it!
Maddox also loves to help me clean. He likes to wipe things off with a wet rag and would spray the entire house with something if I would let him use the cleaning spray. However, I have come up with a compromise and he now gets his own spray bottle of water while I am cleaning and he is allowed to spray every square inch of the shower/bath tub and inside the toilet. He has a blast spraying and "cleaning" with me and I can only hope when he is big enough to really help me he will be as enthusiastic about it....hahah...yeah right!!! But for now, I will cherish the time I have with Maddox cleaning spraying the crap out of everything he can get his hands on!!
Maddox also likes to help me cook. When there are things he can help me with I let him. He gets to stir, pour the seasonings and sit on the cabinet while I cook. However, lately, the easiest way to keep him occupied while I am cooking is to fill the kitchen sink with soapy water, give him a cup or two and a brush and he is in little boy bubble, water, filling and pouring heaven!
When he is finished with the "dishes" we often play with the magnetic letters on the dishwasher. He has gotten so good at knowing what all the letters look like (even upside down). I am trying to utilize the time I have when Paxton is napping or content playing to soak up as much time with the Madd man as possible!! I am constantly praying for more and more patience and a gentle and understanding spirit as I raise this super smart, spirited, spunky and sweet little boy.
I am trying to encourage all the wonderful things he does during the day. He is such a great boy most of the time and I realize it is my job to guide him and his little boy energy in the right direction. We have sticker charts in his room that help encourage the things he is already good at and praise him for doing some things he is not so enthusiastic about. There are six charts:
"Helping Mommy with Paxton"
"Eating my Meal without Complaining"
"Being Kind with my Words"
"Going to bed without Fits"
"Going to School without Crying"
"Picking up My toys"

He gets a sticker every time he does any of these acts and he really gets a kick out of it. It has seemed to help encourage him and it is a great reminder for me throughout the day to point out when he does some super amazing things!! He has several stickers on every chart and when he finally gets 10 stickers on any one chart, he will get a prize! When he gets 10 on ALL the charts, he will get a HUGE prize!
He is doing a fantastic job and we are so proud of him!!

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