My Boy Troy

Troy is more energetic than ever. My Grandpa says, "If you don't keep him busy, he will keep you busy." That is the absolute truth. Except, Troy makes up his own games sometimes, like the picture above. I think it's most similar to Lacrosse. He still loves using kitchen utensils as extensions of his arms. He plays with balls all day long. Anything involving a ball is interesting to Troy. Tonight after dinner Ben was checking on the Jazz game and Troy went and sat on the couch by himself and watched it for like 10 minutes. That's amazing for Troy. Ben was so proud.

One quirk about Troy is that he won't eat any snacks that are broken. For example, he will only eat whole goldfish or whole chex. If they are deformed or broken then he smashes them or just doesn't eat them. I have to filter his crackers before giving them to him.

Some new improvements are his communication skills. Thank goodness. I found this extremely valuable website Teachmetotalk.com. It's run by a speech pathologist and there are articles and videos of helpful ways to teach your child to talk. It helped me wake up to the fact that I need to be fun if I want Troy to pay attention to me. I also learned that Troy was not understanding that he needed to communicate. Signing was the first step and he blossomed from there. He has learned so many words during our "play time." His favorite word is still "go" because it means we throw the ball and he goes and gets it. He thinks it can work for other things too when he doesn't know the word :) He still won't say the word ball. Whenever I try repeatedly to get him to say it he gives me this look as if to say, "Yeah mom, I know, it's a ball, why do you keep saying it?" Ha. I think it's because he associates the ball with the word go. Troy plays with balls so much that he has gotten pretty coordinated with throwing and kicking. Ben is also proud of this.

Troy folds his arms during prayers. If it's a long prayer he will fold his arms, take a bite, then fold his arms again. It makes me laugh every time. Troy is beginning to go down the stairs like adults instead of going backwards. This has resulted in a couple of short falls. He loves his independence and giving him choices is something I am working on. Troy has become a little less clingy to Ben and more clingy to me. Sometimes it's hard because I'm pregnant and I don't want to pick him up but he has finally started to cuddle with us! He hasn't done that since he was strong enough to push us away. I feel like crying when he cuddles because it is such a sweet feeling. He will always give hugs and kisses on demand. He is getting so much better with other adults and family. He loves nursery but hates being away from mom and dad. So, Ben and I have been spending some time in the nursery as of late.

Troy has started to hit a little when he is mad but when I tell him,"No, be soft," he stops and pats me. One blessing is that Troy is pretty obedient. He might be mad, but he will still do what you ask, usually. He has a sweet temperament. I can tell he is going to be a lot like Ben.

I love my boy so much. I am grateful that I get to spend so much time with him. He is guaranteed happiness every day.