This Year is Already Going by Fast!!

February 24, 2015

Well let’s see what has been going on here? The second week of January I had an Ultrasound. Hubby wasn’t able to come with me this time as we didn’t have a babysitter at the last minute due to health issues. My sister was going to come up, but a few days before that she got chicken pox. L She had a tough time with them as they were even in her throat. Anyway, I called a friend about watching them. She agreed, but the night before the ultrasound she called to say that her kids had been exposed to the flu and one of them was acting like he didn’t feel well. We agreed that it was best for her to stay home. Therefore, Hubby had to stay home (many of our friends from Church also had sick kids that week) and not be there for the gender reveal. Later when I got home he was excited to find out that he had been right this time (in the past he always thought the opposite of what we were having). We are having another BOY!! So Buddy will have some help around here. J Princess wasn’t too disappointed about not getting a sister. Later that day Hubby told her that she has two brothers…one named Buddy, and the other Baby-we-don’t know. Off and on for the next few days she would repeat a version of this.

Buddy has been climbing/crawling up the stairs for a couple months, really since before he could walk. But he couldn’t come down them by himself. He tried going down on his bottom but his legs were so short that he couldn’t reach the next step so he’d try standing, but again his short legs hindered him. He loves to go up to the top and then put out his arms to be carried to the bottom. J In the last few weeks he has been able to come down them on his own. Though I haven’t seen him do more than a few, I have heard him upstairs with his sister (she is always letting him through the gates so he can play on the steps with her), then a few minutes later they are both back down and playing with other things.

One of Princess’s favorite things to do is teach Buddy Bible School. She directs him to the steps and has him sit there while she tells him about things she has learned in Sunday School.

They both love getting books out (especially some of mine with NO PICTURES) and sitting next to each other turning pages. I’ve tried to get them to read their own and am sometimes successful, but they always return to mine. Another thing they like to look at is magazines, any magazines. They do especially enjoy their own though. For Christmas my Grandma got them each a subscription to Highlights for their different age groups. They like their sibs magazine as much as their own! J

Buddy isn’t talking much but has a way of making himself understood. J Usually through pointing and grunting! He has been doing better in the sleep department (his doctor thinks his skin issues are a major factor in how he sleeps) but rarely sleeps through the night for more than 3-5 days. Then he’ll do 3-5 days of waking up, wanting to drink some milk, before going back to sleep. Then he’ll repeat the process. He has always been fairly easy to get to sleep he just doesn’t stay asleep most nights until recently. (Princess was hard to get to sleep when she was little but usually stayed asleep—except between 12-15 months.) But I guess I shouldn’t complain since I do get to sleep some nights without getting up. That is IF Princess doesn’t have a bad dream or lose her paci. Yes, she still has it at night. I want so much to get rid of it the rest of the way (we never intended it to still be here) but we are in the process of potty training and that is hard enough without adding this. (She seems to be clinging to it more lately.) We’ve been really trying this time for about 6-7 weeks now. There are days when it seems like progress is being made and then the next day she acts like she has never heard on a toilet. Her doctor told us that the biggest obstacle for Princess and us would be Princess’s will and that seems to be true. Princess CAN do it (often completely by herself), she just often says she doesn’t WANT to!!! ARGG!!! I know this will pass but some days it is really hard. I know that there are people who potty train in a few days and there are also those who take forever, but eventually they all get there…or this is what I tell myself.

A couple weeks ago, Princess and Daddy went on a date for donuts and to pick out a bday present for me. When she walked in the door she announced “Mommy, I got you a necklace, want to see?” She then pulled it out and gave it to me. So I got a present about a week early. J She loved that I put it on and wore it the rest of the day. It’s not really something I would have picked out but I will wear it sometimes because she got it for me. Hubby said he had to steer her away from some more outrageous choices! On my birthday, Hubby came home early to pick Princess up to help him pick things out for a party. It was very important to her that I have a cake, so Hubby was trying to figure out how to work that since Buddy can’t have store-bought cakes. He looked into ice cream cakes but wasn’t sure Buddy would be able to eat them either as they probably have soy in them too. Anyway, I don’t really care for cake, but it was important to Princess and I knew Buddy would like it so, we decided I’d make a cake from scratch while they were at the store and Hubby and Princess would decorate it later. While they were out they bought heavy cream, to make whip cream frosting, and plates and napkins, as well as balloons. Princess was so excited to show them to me. J They also picked up a pizza. Buddy couldn’t have the pizza, but I made him something else and he was fine with that that night. (He has started noticing and protesting if he is eating something different than we are.) When he saw the cake he said “Yummm”. We’ve only had one two times in the last few months but he remembered!!

A few days before my birthday, my sister came up to watch the kids and we were able to go out. For the first time when she watched them, Buddy didn’t throw a big fit when we left. (He hadn’t done it a couple weeks before when my parents watched them either!)  He often displays separation anxiety when we leave, hopefully he is starting to understand that we’ll be back.

Of course he also loves his food. He tries to put everything we put on his tray in his mouth all at once as if he thinks we are going to take it from him. If we put too much on his tray he gets overwhelmed and starts scrapping it unto the floor until the is a reasonable amount in front of him. He is getting better about this, so maybe he won’t do this long. He does really well with most things and LOVES his vegetables, especially peas, corn and carrots. Lately, he hasn’t been eating many green beans, I’m not sure why. If we have a meal without veggies, he is okay, but if the next one doesn’t have them he is unhappy. (This sometimes happens on the weekend.) He’ll just eat a few bites and then makes sad noises. If we have them available I’ll zap them in the microwave and he’ll eat A LOT of them. Sometimes as much as a cup!! Glad they are good for him. J

From Hubby’s FB

January 19, 2015

This morning I was holding Buddy, and I was trying to get him to go to mommy. First, I say "Mommy will give you hugs and kisses" (I pause, no response, still clings to me), "and some breakfast." Buddy utters a grunting affirmation and lunges towards mommy. I guess we know what he really loves.

Lately Princess has been making up words and wanting me to repeat them. Most of the time, I can’t understand what she is talking about when she does this. She has always been very clear when she speaks so this can be a bit frustrating. One Sunday, while getting lunch ready, she started up again. I said something like “speak normally; I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Hubby said “should we get someone to teach you Chinese, Princess, so that even if we don’t know what you are saying at least it would be real words?”

Princess looked over at her daddy and said “Are you insane?”

It was so hard not to laugh when she said that. We couldn’t figure out where she would have heard something like that. Somehow, kids pick up on things that we wish they wouldn’t. It’s such a responsibility and we need to remember to be careful.

A couple weeks ago Princess was supposed to be picking up some of her toys, when she realized that a few of the pieces of play food she was picking up were under the loveseat. She became focused on those pieces. She wanted me to get them out so she could put them in the bucket. I explained that I couldn’t right now and that she needed to pick the others up and not worry about the ones under the loveseat. After talking about them for several minutes and continuing to order me to get them, she just walked away and didn’t pick up anything else. After putting the kids to bed Hubby and I were talking about it when I realized that part of her problem with this (and some other things we’ve been dealing with) is that she gets tunnel vision and so focused on something to the exclusion of all else. Later that evening Hubby told me that he’d been thinking about what I said and that he thought I was right. Not only that but he thinks she gets it from him (true!). Then he said “why do our children have to inherit those things we wish they wouldn’t?” It’s all Adam’s fault!!