Roux, 2 years 4 months old

Roux is such a fun kid. He has his own language, it's incredible. His Uncle John, who has worked in pediatrics for 10+ years, has never seen anything like it. He uses a combination of a few words, sign language, and sound effects to communicate. His sound effects are amusing and amazing, but hard to write down. I'll attempt an example.

Recently it was April Fools Day. Now, understand, Roux's favorite thing in the world are things that crash. He wants everything to crash. He doesn't have a concept that crashing can hurt or be bad, it's just fun for him. So, back to April Fools Day, Adam says to Roux (within my hearing) "Roux, let's tell mommy that the kitty got hit by a car!" Roux, excitedly, runs up to me and says "mom! Meow, vroom vroom, pow!" Adam and I about died laughing. He had made a full sentence in just sound effects!

He just recently began speech therapy. The therapist says that his comprehension is above his age level and he has the ability to make all the right noises,but has a hard time putting the sounds together into words. We work with him by motivating him to control his environment by trying new words. He is doing much better, but a large part of me will miss his unique little language. Once it's gone, it will be gone forever. We try to capture it on video, but we always miss the best moments.

His favorite toys are trucks. Of course, he wants them to crash all the time, but he never tires of it. Such a great little boy.

He's also a great big brother. Never had a negative reaction to Finn's arrival. He calls him "Hmmm" and talks about him all the time. Sometimes he'll lie down next to him and hold his hands. Lately he's been giving Finn toys and leaning over him to make him smile and keep him happy. He's good at getting me little things I need for Finn, like his paci or a burp rag. It can be frustrating because Finn will be woken up by Roux shoving Finn's paci in his mouth, but it's hard to be mad when he's trying to be so helpful.

I feel guilty a lot. Roux is so good and obedient and often just wants more mommy time, but I can't give him what he needs all the time because Finn needs me so often. Roux is an amazing kid and I miss being able to give him 100 % of my attention.

He can drive me nuts, though. He's very bossy. Not just with how we do things with him, but things on our own. A classic is that he doesn't let us sing along to music or whistle. He just says loudly "No! Mom mom, No!" (or same to Adam). He just bosses us around! It will be fun to see how Finn handles this as he grows up. Roux just has such a little mind of his own, it's amazing.