Toddler Talk Thursdays and Adventures of a SAHD

I've been debating on whether or not to share some information with you, my lovely blog readers. On one hand it seems slightly too personal to share online because it deals with a family dispute but on the other hand it is about a major change in my family's life, thus should probably be documented. As you can tell, this debate has held me back from posting these past few days, its given me somewhat of a writer's block. And this I apologize for.

I have come to the conclusion to let you know what you "Need to know" as the military says lol. I will not share the family dispute with you, because that is uneccessary and unfair to the other members involved. So I will share with you this: For his personal mental health, Lon has quit the Village Inn. He felt that he could not work there any longer in the mental state he was in and could not wait to find another job first, so he quit last Friday.

Our plan for him right now is to take a break from the work world for a month, and focus on being a stay at home dad and bettering himself mentally. His therapist fully supports us in our choice and agrees to help him recover from his mental ailments. This will happen until mid-June early-July, when he we look for another job. We all just feel that this will be the best for him and his Bipolar Mania right now.

This makes things very tight on the finances end. I only ever took my job as a secondary job, not a main supporting job. So I have already been needing to figure out a way to save. We will probably struggle and go without for a while, but I am really to make the sacrafice for my husband's health. We will keep chugging along and keep pulling through, because we're the Andersens! :D

On a different note, I do want my husband to come on and do a guest post about being a SAHD and the differences between a SAHD and a SAHM, but that is all for later. For now, please enjoy this week's edition of Toddler Talk Thursdays!

This Week’s Topic: 

How do you teach your child the alphabet or numbers?

We are not your average parents, and Alan is not your average child. At 20 months, he can count to ten by himself, say over one hundred words and almost sing the whole alphabet. He is a VERY smart little boy, but I attribute a lot of that to us and how we treat him. I am the daughter of an elementary school teacher and am an art teacher myself. Learning is important to this family, and my son feels the same way. My son has wanted to be a "big boy" since he was about... four months old lol, so we have been treating him that way for a while now.

We basically treat him like a two or three year old child, unless its disciplining (we still discipline Alan like a toddler with the distraction technique). But he uses the potty at home, eats the same meals we do, is allowed to play with us or in another room, and only takes an hour nap each day. We also talk to him like a big boy, instead of using baby talk.

I honestly hate baby talk. It brings the kid down, and teaches them mispronounciation. Baby talk should only be for babies. But not even babies that are starting to talk themselves. I have never baby-talked to Alan. Even when he was a newborn, my voice stayed normal and I prounounced everything right.

Anyways back to the learning (I went off on a tangent lol), we do lots of different things to teach Alan his letters, numbers and words. I read to him several times a day and have been reading everyday to him since he was six weeks old. Nowadays, I ask him to help me. If he knows a character's name or an easy word (like ball) I'll ask him what it is before reading it. He normally answers right away. :) We also sing lots of songs, including the alphabet. Alan really likes to sing the alphabet, I've heard him sing it even with no one else in the room!

I have him also count everything. Whether its snacks on his tray, or his clothing (one sock, two socks), or toys we're picking up, or even food I'm making, we count how many they're are of everything. He even can count by himself now. Lon and I have heard him counting his toy cars in the living room while we're not even around! Smart boy!

Idea for next week's topic:
How does your toddler's bathtime routine usually go?