Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
I had a very fun but very tiring weekend. My family decided to take a road trip and spend the night in Providence, Rhode Island. I had never been there before—what a cute city!

We left first thing in the morning on Saturday and arrived in time to have an early lunch at a very kid-friendly restaurant. My brother lives in New England, so he drove in to meet us, which thrilled the kids. We did some shopping, but Haley completely freaked out when we told her it was time to meet Santa. Oh well! I don’t know if we’ll get a picture this year. For the first time, it sort of occurred to met what a strange ritual it is to make crying children sit on the lap of a strange old man and take pictures. Which is not to say I will stop doing it!

The highlight of the weekend for Haley may have swimming in the pool and even lounging in the hot tub! Hudson had fun, too, but unfortunately was battling a cold. Between his cough and the unfamiliar crib, he had a rough night. But he hung in there like the trooper he is.

Now it’s back to the grind of a busy week. There’s so much going on between now and the end of the year. No rest for the weary! Such is the life of Mom. Hopefully I’ll be able to rest in January.

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Charlotte is officially stealing Rory’s stuff.  All. The. Time.  Despite being reasonably tolerant, Rory’s patience is has started to wear thin lately.  Generally speaking, he’s fine with sharing his toys, but when she interferes with the activity of the moment, that’s when the battles begin.  For example, Charlotte has a habit of pulling train cars out of the middle of the train that Rory is pulling around the playroom.  Likewise, she enjoys pulling pieces of track out of the loop that her brother is building.  You see where I’m going. . .

Our pediatrician actually suggested “fake scolding” to help ease Rory’s frustrations and keep Charlotte safe by minimizing the likelihood that he’d take a swing at her out of frustration.  Unfortunately, baby girl is quite persistent.  Usually, if we do try to scold her, she ignores us (as one might expect), and Rory starts screaming at her, asking her to listen, and informing her that “You have to listen, Charlotte.”

I know this is the very tippy top of the sibling iceberg.  So far, redirection (for Charlotte) and a little food-based bribery (for Rory) have minimized the number of wrestling matches and full-fledged hits that they’ve engaged in, but I know that there are many, many days to come of this.  Fortunately, so far Rory seems reasonably understanding.  Let’s hope he stays that way.

From Wednesday Mom – Janelle:
It’s December, yet our high temperatures have been nearly 80 degrees, and that makes it hard to get in the holiday spirit. It just doesn’t feel right wearing shorts and T-shirts over the Thanksgiving holiday, even in Mississippi.

Despite the temps, we kicked off the Christmas season by opening up the attic door and bringing down boxes of Christmas decorations over the weekend. Jack insisted on playing his favorite Christmas music. Tate made sure to wear his Santa hat. Both boys reminisced about the ornaments they made in years past. They’re at the age now where they are great helpers “rigging up the lights” and hanging their special ornaments on the perfect branch. They hung most ornaments at the very bottom of the tree, in random groups, but their excitement kept my ornament OCD at bay. After a few hours, we had our house decorated and ready for the season. It’s definitely beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas.

We plan to keep up with our traditions of driving around looking at Christmas lights, meeting Santa at the Navy base for a special visit, watching holiday TV specials, and attending our small town Christmas parade. The most important thing is to teach our kids what Christmas is all about.  I love that we can share in all the joy together.