The Schuchards: 26 months for John

John is now 26 months old!

The past month was pretty rough for John, since he was sick for nearly two weeks straight. He caught a virus mid-February and just when he was starting to recover from that, he got an ear infection in his left ear. I tried to keep him home as much as I could while he was sick so he wouldn't get other people sick, so it was a very long and trying month for Mommy too. Fortunately, the doctor said John is no longer contagious, so he gave us the go-ahead to resume our normal activities. John is still taking amoxicillin twice a day -- he thinks it's a big treat.

When John was sick with the virus, he had a really high fever and was extremely lethargic. He didn't want to eat or drink much of anything. When the Tylenol would kick in, he'd have brief spurts of energy, but he mainly just wanted to lie on the couch and read stories. A bunch of his toys and stuffed animals kept him company -- his Hund and Schaf, his Curious George monkey, his car transporter and his Daddy doll are pictured with him below.

Being sick for so long really messed up his daily schedule for a while. He was waking up way too early in the morning (before 6), which meant he needed a nap around 11 or 11:30. However, since he wasn't sleeping longer than an hour and a half for his nap, I had to put him to bed much, much earlier than normal. One evening when John had a complete meltdown over a hotdog, I put him to bed at 6. (I'm pretty sure that I benefited just as much as John did from the super early bedtime that evening.) I am now slowly trying to get him back to where he was before with a naptime at 12:15 and bedtime at 7:15. As soon as I accomplish that, the end of Daylight Savings Time will mess it all up again!

German update! The Muzzy German program came in the mail in the middle of those two weeks that John was sick, thank goodness, since that gave us something to do at the house. We began watching the first few episodes together right away. I was AMAZED at how quickly he started picking up new words. The day after we started, I went in his room to get him out of his crib and he said, "Guten Morgen!" (Good morning). Haha! He doesn't even say "Good morning" in English! Other words he likes to say are lecker (delicious), hungrig (hungry), heiss (hot), gross (big) and klein (little).

We usually watch an episode or two every morning before we head to the gym (or school/church, depending on the day). There are six 10-minute episodes altogether in Level I, which is the only level we ordered in the free 30-day trial. Sometimes we'll watch one in the afternoon if we are waiting for Lila to wake up from her second nap and we've already exhausted all the other inside activities available to us. John gets very excited when it's time to watch Muzzy and always wants to hold his Muzzy stuffed doll.

In the car, we listen to the Muzzy CD with all the songs from the episodes. He asks to listen to it over and over again! I have every song completely memorized already, haha. At night, John usually wants to read the Muzzy book. There are also several interactive CD-ROMs with language games and exercises, but I haven't looked at them yet to see if they are worthwhile. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by how much John likes the program so far and am thinking we will keep it. I do want to order some more German language materials, though - more books and music CDs, for sure.

Potty training update I ordered John a Baby Bjorn potty in mid-February. He was really excited to take it out of the box and immediately wanted to put it in the basement bathroom and sit on it. The day after it came in the mail, he went potty on it for the first time (February 17th)! I had been changing his diaper in the family room and I asked him if he needed to use the potty. He said he had to poop, so I took him downstairs and sat him down. He didn't poop, but he did pee - twice! He was so shocked when it happened that he started laughing! Was I ever a proud Mama :)

Right after that is when John started getting sick for the second time with the bacterial infection, so we kind of forgot about practicing on the potty. I did end up moving the potty up to the hallway bathroom on the ground floor so it would be easier to access. I have also started asking John if he needs to use the potty before I put him in the bathtub at night -- he has gone pee on the "big boy" toilet several times. I think I'll start asking him if he needs to use the potty every time I change his diaper just to get into a routine (assuming Lila is o.k. being put down for that long).

Swim lessons! There is a huge indoor pool at the gym I go to, Lifetime Fitness, and John always asks to go swimming when we pass through the lobby on the way to the child care center. I figured he would enjoy taking swim "lessons" (as much as you can call them "lessons" at this age), so I signed him up for the half-hour 2-3-year old class, affectionately called "Splash 201."

He had his first lesson last Saturday. The instructor, Miss Rachel, had all the parents come in the pool with their children to help them feel at ease in the water. John looked very cute in his new swim trunks. The lessons started with Miss Rachel having the kids sit on a little bench on the side of the pool and practice kicking their legs in the water. John was more interested in the toy bucket he found than in kicking. Then, when it was time to get on his tummy while holding onto this floating bar thing, John started giggling and acting silly, haha. I think he thought it was genuinely funny! His favorite part of the entire lesson was getting to play with this plastic squirting crab toy.

I will try to take some photos of John in his new swim trunks at our next lesson. He looks so grown up!

Here are a few photos from the end of February.....not very many, though, since he wasn't feeling well and had dark circles under his eyes most of the time.

Playing "Puss in Boots" in the laundry room: