Saturday, September 26, 2015

Luke's syringe

Most kids have a special doll, teddy, or blanket, Luke loves his toy syringe!

Caroline's Cozy Coupe

My FREE rummage sale find yesterday!

Luke likes to drive too!

A good big sister!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

In other news

This little boy slept through the night last night! It was second night in a row of not eating, but this time he didn't even need tucking back in, or comforting at all.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Trip to the park

It was a beautiful day so I suggested going to the park after I got home from grocery shopping between Luke's naps. We had a great time. Caroline said, "I love this park. I having so much fun!" :-)

Friday, September 18, 2015

Luke is 10 months old now! He can very quickly scoot his way all over the house, and is far more adventurous than Caroline was at this age. He's just started pulling up on furniture and his bed, but doesn't do it much yet. We're starting to work on a little sleep training, and some chiropractor visits since someone likes to get up every hour or two and prefers to sleep in Mama's lap. So far he's doing quite well and has been sleeping better with very little crying.

Luke now nurses three times a day before each time he sleeps. The room must be empty and quiet or he will be too distracted to eat. He eats solid food at lunch and dinner and seems to really enjoy it. Another thing he has learned quite well now is picking something up with his thumb and forefinger. He loves to play ball and actually throws it pretty well, and loves Caroline's doctor set. He may have to get his own for his birthday!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

First hair cut

Caroline had her hair trimmed for the first time today.

All done! She didn't like it much, but was very good and got a treat.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Some days....

Study: Children Are 800% Worse When Their Mothers Are In The Room

This is so true.

Study: Children Are 800% Worse When Their Mothers Are In The Room

A study out of the University of Washington Department of Psychology has revealed that children are 800% worse when their mothers are in the room. If the children are under ten, the percentage doubles to 1,600%.

The study followed 500 families and measured Neediness, Whine Crying, Shriek Screaming, Attempted Slapping, Forgetting How To Walk/Use Words, and Acting The Fool.

Professor of Marriage and Family Psychology, Dr. K.P Leibowitz gave us insight into the study. “What we found was that children as young as eight months-old could be playing happily but upon seeing their mother enter a room were 99.9% more likely to begin crying, release their bowels, and need her immediate attention. The .1% was a vision-impaired child but once he heard his mother’s voice he began throwing things and asked for a snack despite having just eaten. Truly fascinating.”

Paul Olsen, a father of three and study participant, was shocked by the study’s outcome. “I always wondered why she couldn’t get anything done. She’s literally their kryptonite and magnet at the same time. They’re pretty good for me, though.”

The research found that despite using the same disciplinary methods, 100% of the children were more responsive to instructions spoken at a normal voice level if they came from someone other than their mother. To receive similar behavioral results, the women in the group had to raise their voices to that of someone being attacked by several large animals.

“I didn’t need a study to tell me this,” said study participant and mother of four Lisa Powell in a sit-down home interview. “My kids act half their age the second they catch my scent. It’s why I’m now a high functioning alcoholic,” she slurred while pinning sensory tables and first day of school picture ideas.

Dr. Leibowitz is working on a spray that masks a mother’s natural pheromones to offer some relief but in the meantime recommends families invest in a bathroom with a working lock.

***

Monday, September 14, 2015

S'mores, potty training, etc

Life with toddlers can be crazy as all parents know. Here's a story of just one crazy evening with our almost two and a half year old. Saturday evening we decided to build a fire and make s'mores. Fun, yummy, all went well till things were winding down and John went to pick Caroline a couple raspberries from the garden. Our girl LOVES any kind of berries. So while he was in the garden he decided to pull some weeds. One of the weeds had purple berries on it, and yes, before she could be stopped Caroline ate one. Immediate panic, concern....get on the phone try to identify the weed. Realize that is taking a long time, we're not figuring it out, and our little girl possibly has eaten poison. Call poison control.....be told by the lady that "the rule of 5" applies. If she ate less than 5, and is showing no symptoms then it is probably nothing to worry about. I decide to start baths while John continues trying to identify the plant because we want to know what she ate! While the kids are playing in the tub I step out of the bathroom for a minute to see if John has had any luck (he hadn't). I'm called back by a shrieking Caroline telling me, "I'm pooping!" I've already experienced one poop in the tub incident and had no desire to repeat it, so grab a naked wet Caroline and plop her on the toilet where she poops. I'd been promising her chocolate for whenever this happened for months now as I've been trying to encourage the idea of potty training. So John left his plant search to get into my chocolate stash. Hopefully, hopefully this will encourage her to want to potty train soon.......:-)

After we got the kids settled for the night (with no signs of any problems from Caroline), John and I got on the laptop and searched and it didn't take us long to find out it was Eastern Black Nightshade.As it turns out only the unripe berries are poisonous, and even then you would have to eat a lot, not just one.. Most importantly the ripe berry she ate was NOT poisonous. It's funny, I hadn't thought I was that worried about it after what poison control said, but once we knew for sure it was ok I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. So we are thankful that all ended well, and will be careful about Caroline going in the garden from now on.

This week's project

This week I'm taking apart all the windows, pulling out screens and washing them, cleaning all the crevices with a toothbrush, and in general getting them all clean and shiny. Clean windows make me happy!

Friday, September 11, 2015

Caroline said and did...

Caroline and I spent a good part of the morning working on the playroom. We moved all the toys and a rocking chair in there, then cleaned the rest of the downstairs. Caroline swept and dusted with me! I'm excited about having this extra space for the kids to play, and the fact that they can have a place to be loud and crazy, play ball indoors etc, this winter. They all love to play in there. I want to add a table and chairs at some point for coloring, puzzles, games, play dough, etc. I also plan to get Luke some sort of ride on toy for his birthday and to let Caroline ride her tricycle in there this winter.

Poor Caroline is having a hard time with her OCD self this fall. Every time we take a walk she stresses over the leaves all over the road. "I think Daddy needs to clean it up. I think I probably need to talk to Daddy about it."

Caroline loves to play downstairs and asks, "To go down the stairs."

When we are done we go, "Up down the stairs."

Caroline's favorite toy is Baby of course, but a close second is her doctor kit (found on the Waupaca bst page for $2). She plays with it every day and her favorite Daniel episode that we watch everrrrrry single day is the one where Daniel and Miss Elaina get hurt and go to the dr. Yesterday she had a fun adventure when we took her along to Luke's chiro appointment. "I like going Dr, Mama. it really fun!" :-)

Yes, our little girl is a character :-)