Y4 - 42/365: Before Our Very Eyes

The first thing Ryan wanted to do tonight on his return from the childminder was grab his 'choo-choos' and catch up on today's episode of Raa Raa!

I had to message the childminder this morning and ask that she keep an eye out for any unkind behaviours like kicking and pushing. He's been doing this a bit with the cat and his cousin, and while we know he really isn't doing it to be spiteful and mean (he thinks he's playing), we still don't want to allow him to think it's acceptable behaviour. He's had a few time-outs off us and although he may not understand what remorse is, we thought it would be better to set ground rules and be consistent with our expectations from now so we won't have a struggle when he gets older.

I was over the moon when I read the following in his purple book:

• Ryan appeared really glad to see all his friends today and couldn't stop smiling in the car this morning.
• He has played lovely with Taylor this morning with the trains and has really been kind to the baby Thomas giving him the baby toys.
• Ryan has not displayed any pushing or spiteful behaviour at all.

Everything else indicated he had a good day overall, playing with the toys at the children's centre, and being his otherwise happy/joyful self. This led Matt and I to wonder if it's maybe just the familiarity of our cat and his cousin, but still, we plan to carry on teaching him that his actions are unkind and not how we're meant to treat other people and animals.

We've also implemented a change in the bedtime routine. Starting tonight, Ryan will no longer get a bottle of milk just before bed. Instead, he will get milk in his sippy during dinner and will go to bed just after brushing his teeth or having a bath, but without the bottle. The reason for this is that we want to disassociate having a bottle of milk with sleeping and he will go to bed with clean teeth and not milk coating them. This way, when it comes time to wean him off the bottle entirely (something we're hoping to do sometime between 2.5-3 years) he will transition easily.

He did sign for milk when we went into his room (and I had a bottle in the fridge in case he wasn't having any of this new change) but he seemed content enough when I said simply, "You had your milk with dinner tonight." His response was, "Okay." After some cuddles...a little bit longer than usual...he was fast asleep in his bed. He did wake once just before midnight, but went back down without a problem, so while it may take a bit to get used to, it is for the best and all part of our little man growing up.