R-O-O-N-E-Y

(Super Rooney with Power Ranger Sword)

Now that Rooney is almost an official big guy (he's 3 next Friday!) his maturity is really becoming evident. He has entered the stage where he really wants to be independent. We are constantly hearing "I wanna do it!". Sometimes this is great and makes life easier like when he can climb into his own carseat and booster seat at the table or that he can also comfortably traverse the stairs by himself. Of course with the good there is bad and Roonster is now wanting to push the grocery cart instead of ride in it, he wants to walk everywhere including parking lots and he has started the dreaded talking back. So far it hasn't been bad. We are very lucky because he is a pretty sweet kid. Most of the time, although it seems almost counter instinctive, if I get down to his level, speak in a softer tone and explain to him:

a. he is too little for cars to see him when walking in a parking lot then he will hold my hand.
b. that we consider him an "official big boy" once he is potty trained. That means he will have a big boy bed, he will no longer have to sit in highchairs at restaurants, he will be able to walk in stores (not the cart) and finally he an go into the ball room at Ikea.
c. I am the boss and I do the bossing

Point B normally covers most areas and he gets it. He will list all the things that will happen once he's a big boy and potty trained (which he is definitely in the process of). If Point A or C don't cover the rest we rarely, but sometimes have to, resort to dreaded Point Z...timeout. Ugh!

Also now that Rooney is getting older it's time to start learning even more things like spelling his name. I came up with this little song awhile ago- maybe even a year ago where I spelled out Rooney's name! This kid has a great memory (and I know that will come back to bite me) and he remembered it. So this is a short clip of Rooney singing the spelling of his name and letting everyone know its Rooneytime!