Update from Ms. Christine (April 18 2011)

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This morning, I brought out the Trio blocks which I thought might be a good intermediate material between the large duplo blocks and the small legos.  Holland was very interested and spent a good 20 minutes on it.  It seemed to be a good challenge for him - just the level that will keep interest.  It wasn't super easy to put the blocks and twigs together, but he could do it, so he would get excited when he'd get pieces to "snap" together.  At a certain point, he got very happy and excited, holding up his creation and saying, "airplane!" and showing me what he had built.  He held it up in the air and "flew" it a little before getting back to building again.  We've seen him use specific play objects in representational fashions (ex. cooking with a mini play pan), but I don't think I've seen him create something out of open ended objects and name them.  This is a new level of representational play for him.  He's able to use non-descript items that have no linked function and form them into objects that possess familiar characteristics (ex. an airplane that flies).

I notice that he's paying attention to colors and light more these days as well.  He will name his pee "yellow" and sometimes talk about it being "dark" (which he may have picked up from me commenting on times when it's super dark and he needs to drink more water).  He also talks about his snot being "yellow" sometimes (as I will mention if it's yellow, meaning it's probably an infection).  He talks about his room being "dark" and he pointed out the "blue" with some of the blocks this morning.  He proudly labeled a blue part on his structure "water."

Perhaps he could have worked longer on it, but I told him that we would go to use the bathroom and change to underwear when he was done.  When I said this, he meagerly said, "no," and then said, "go pee."  I told him he could go ahead and get a pair of underwear to change into and pee in the potty.  Although he didn't have any pee when I sent him off, he peed by the time he got to the potty.  If he's on his way, he never seems to be so urgent that he pees before sitting down.  In fact, he's often taking his time doing everything before sitting down without having an accident.  He is really aware of what he's in - underwear vs. pull-ups/diapers and really doesn't mind eliminating in a pull-up/diaper.  He may even prefer it, as that's what he's been used to for almost 2 years.  However, he doesn't seem to be comfortable when he has an accident in underwear (definitely not *as* comfortable) and will complain/tell me immediately if he goes in his underwear.  He seems to be more aware and have less elimination in underwear so I try to keep him in underwear as much as possible - even when we go out these days.  In any case, he changed to underwear, and then asked to go to sleep (around 9am).  Although it was super early, he was looking a little tired, so I let him try... in underwear.  He actually fell asleep.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a dry bed when he wakes up.  He usually is dry when he wakes up if he pees right before he goes to sleep, but we'll see.