He's Our Challenge

I don't remember the last time I sat down to write about or to Dempsey, just Dempsey. I'm not sure I ever have. So, that is what this post will be.

Ah, sweet, smart, button-pushing Dempsey.  I often tell people that "God suckered me so good with Sawyer." That loses something in print when you can't see my face or hear my tone. This statement does NOT mean Sawyer is better or more adored than Dempsey. What is DOES mean is that Dempsey is vastly different than Sawyer and some of those differences pose challenges.

Dempsey often chooses to push boundaries to the point where physical discipline is necessary. Some people will disagree with our discipline style(s) and that's fine. They're not Dempsey's parent(s). Recently Dempsey was not obeying me.  I have no clue why I did it this time but I started that "1....2...." method.  I only got to 2!  This is not something we've ever done with him before.  Jake swears it's the tone I use when I count.  That confuses me because it's the same tone I use for other you need to obey me moments.  Perhaps there is an innate sense Dempsey has where when he hears numbers he quickly adjusts his plan of action because he doesn't want to know what 3 means.  Ha.

I did this yesterday, in front of Jake, during dinner.  He watched Dempsey shift plans at 2 and begin choosing to do what I told/ asked him to do.  Jake's response was "You need to blog about that."  I'm truly glad that the counting is working (for now).  It's a nice break from the traditional sequence of discipline.

When Dempsey is particularly troublesome or stubborn I blame his ginger hair.  I've always grown up hearing that red-heads have a temper and are stubborn.  Thus, when Dempsey is displaying either of those qualities I go "You know what they say about red heads? It's totally true."  People usually chuckle with understanding.  A few have taken slight offense but managed to laugh it off because they sense that I truly don't mean anything derogatory about them or their loved ones.

Dempsey is smart!  He is a good communicator despite not having good articulation or a big vocabulary yet.  I'm sure it's coming.  He has great comprehension  He has recently been able to say "Sow-yuu".



Dempsey is stubborn.  I often refer to him as our "cat" because he does things on "his terms".  For example, we will ask him to say something and his response will be a short "no" (with the cutest little Dempsey voice he can muster).  We will ask him to do something and his response will be a short "no".  Other times he'll be off playing by himself for quite awhile and will only emerge when he needs us.  In those instances he comes out, waves for us to come with him, or he comes out saying "help" and signing it as well.
Just now he climbed up on the piano bench with the intention of playing.  I gently told him "No, no, Dempsey... brother is sleeping. No piano right now."  He kept on with his mission.  I reminded him that Sawyer was sleeping several times.  I even tried distracting him.  Nope.  He defiantly opened the keyboard up and pounded both hands down with gusto. So I closed the keyboard gently.  However, he might have resisted moving all of his fingers in time.  Just sayin.

He is an artist.  How do I know?  Well, he has to be... no non-artist is that fast with any vessel that transports and leaves color behind!  My legs, the walls, the van's upholstery, our bedroom walls, and some places I'm forgetting or haven't found yet have all been Dempsey-fied.

Dempsey is completely content to play on our bed, amid our comforters, with his train (best Ikea purchase ever!), just watching as he moves the train cars in and through the tufts of comforter.  I think he has an engineering mind because of how he is mesmerized by things going around, behind, through, or any number of other prepositions.

He is able to scale Sawyer's bunk bed ladder much quicker these days but still gets stuck on the top bunk because he hasn't figured out how to climb down yet. I bet if I were to work with him for 2 days he'd be a pro and Jake and I would suffer a few heart attacks.

Potty training... the famous obstacle.  Dempsey knows what the potty is, where his is, and how to use it.  I think he's managed a few poop morsels into once but that's it on that score.  He is excellent at using it to go pee- when we prompt him. If we're in the living room and we de-diaper him and tell him to "go pee in the potty" he will run his bare buns down the hall, into the bathroom, and sit on his potty and go pee.  When the pee stream stops he tells us "all done", complete with signs as well.  It really is a cute thing.  Perhaps it would register more strongly, the need for him to ALWAYS pee in his potty, if we were more diligent about making that an every hour thing.  We're just not there yet.  Sawyer was trained perfectly by age three and I'm sure Dempsey will be too... if not sooner.

Dempsey is a good eater.  You can tell I did things different during his pregnancy and as he moved into solid foods.  Sawyer's favorite meal is chicken fingers/ nuggets and french fries.  Can't blame the kid.  I lived on fast food when I was pregnant with him and depressed about it.  It was different with my pregnancy with Dempsey.  I ate better.  I felt better both emotionally and psychologically.  It shows, I think.  Dempsey tries new foods with ease and delight.  He likes a variety of foods that Sawyer is just now getting used to.  I am looking forward to the time when Dempsey realizes he's hungry and will come and tell me instead of me having to watch the clock or read his cues telling me his blood sugar is low- Mr Cranky Pants shows up.  I work to not force food on my kids or use it as punishment or celebration.

Sleep comes pretty easily to Dempsey.  Once asleep he can stay that way usually.  Now, getting him to sleep is often another story.  He likes to be near us while he drifts off.  Co-sleeping happens but not in the sense you would think.  Dempsey has his toddler bed that he sleeps in now.  When we lay him down while he's awake he will resist sleep if we leave the room.  Some nights we know he's tired enough to give in in short order.  Other nights, like tonight, Jake will pull up a pillow and lay beside Dempsey's bed until Dempsey falls asleep.  It won't take too long but it's also not ideal.  We feel it is important that the boys go to sleep in a positive state because we feel they get better quality sleep that way.
Naps are tricksters these days.  Some days they come get Dempsey for 30 minutes and other days it's 2 hours.  We sometimes allow them over but ask them to leave after a certain duration because if they stay too long Dempsey will stay up later which means we will too.  When the don't come to visit that brings a whole different set of pros and cons.  Dempsey will go to bed early and sleep forever BUT it usually costs us some sanity points in the later afternoon or early evening.  The 2's stage is quirky in this area.  It makes for shrugged parental shoulders and several "to hell with it" moments.

Dempsey likes to swing.  At La Mirada Park yesterday he enjoyed that more than any other piece of play equipment.

He passed out during his first movie theater going experience. We went to the cheap La Mirada theater to see Disney's Planes. He was fussy from the moment I took him off the racing game in the lobby he had been enjoying. I'd say it was around 20-25 minutes that he finally fell asleep.  Slept like a log the rest of the movie.