Gus

Gus and I have had a rough few months together. He knows exactly what do to push my buttons and what specific time he should do the thing he's not supposed to do to magnify my response. When I ask him what he's doing, he knows just what face to make so my heart melts, and I'm not nearly as frustrated. It's not good. He's into everything and we literally cannot leave him alone for more than a minute. He loves toilet water, climbing anything to turn on a light switch or faucet, opening cabinets. Really, he loves doing anything that he's not supposed to be doing. If Lucy is playing with something, that's the exact thing he HAS to have. And the little guy has quite the temper. Who knew? He was such a sweet, laid back little baby. Gus has been very interested in intentionally testing our boundaries the past four months. It's been exhausting!

I think our Gussler has turned a corner, though. On Saturday, I kept walking around the house saying "I really like Gus." He's funny, he's witty, he's starting to obey with some consistency. Lately the fun with Gus has outweighed the frustration. I like that! I knew it was just a phase and it was a normal part of his development, but it was very hard. I don't think being pregnant helped my patience with him, and most likely magnified all of my emotions.

Gus is talking so much more now. He loves wearing his hats, sometimes even two at a time. We were all in the car the other day and he looked out the window, pointed, and yelled at least ten times, "HAT!" I finally figured out that he was pointing to the lights on the railroad crossing sign. There's a "bill" over the light to shade the sun. It really did look like a hat. Gus is communicating when and what he wants to eat. He does highs and lows with us every night at dinner. Sometimes, we actually understand both, and they really were highs and lows in his day.

On Sunday at church he got moved up to the older class, because there weren't enough kids in his class. Gus figured out the baby gate and got out three separate times. Dave and I both volunteer in that classroom and have never seen a kid figure out the gate, let alone do it three different times! Adults have a hard time with the gates. It made me feel so much better, in an odd way. We debated putting child-proof locks and gates up, but decided against it. We have one lock and Gus figured it out immediately. It lured him in more than anything, like he was timing himself to see how fast he could get it undone. The whole thing on Sunday proved to me that it would have been a huge waste of time to put up locks. It's turning out to be more effective for all of us if we tell him no and he just obeys.