Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

Today, Jack used the potty all by himself without any help from an adult! I never thought this day would come, but with great pride he/we have made yet another milestone.  This includes, pulling his pants down, going to the bathroom, pulling his pants up, flushing the toilet and washing his hands.  I can’t express enough how happy I am about this goal we have finally reached.  With school — where he has to be “fully” potty trained — starting in just four days, my nerves have calmed down. I have been a nervous wreck all summer about it.

I have written a few posts on this blog about Jack and his potty training updates.  I’m hoping this will be the last post I have to write.  It’s been months since we started this adventure, and it has slowly ended with success (as most training does).  All the bribing with candy, stickers and Thomas underwear really paid off. Let’s just hope I am not jinxing it as I write this.

There are dozens of ways to potty train your child. I have friends who used books, videos and methods from their friends. For us, putting him in underwear right away and letting him learn by accidents and accomplishments is what worked.  As a side note, Jack is still wearing a pull up at nap and bedtime. We are working on getting rid of the pull up all together.  Having another baby in diapers now isn’t easy on the bank account.

To everyone out there struggling with potty training: it WILL happen eventually.  I never believed it, but today I am boasting loudly that it’s finally my son’s turn!

There seem to be various opinions on using technology (television, computers, DVD players, etc..) with young children. I have seen people in cars driving down Main Street with three DVD players showing different movies on the back of each seat. I have seen parents handing over their cell phones so their young child could watch a TV show online and be entertained while at a restaurant. You see the portable DVD players on airplanes and even in hair salons. Is this a bad thing?

As both an educator and a mother, I have to defend technology. Have I seen it misused? Yes. Have I seen young children learn from technology? Yes. In my opinion, the real issue is how you use the technology. In my own situation, Brady does watch television for an average of 30 minutes per day. I will be honest, as a work-at-home mom; there are times that I sit with him and use those 30 minutes to work. I do try to make the 30 minutes of TV time educational, but sometimes he just wants to watch Thomas (which does teach some good life skills on friendship, teamwork, and more). Now I have never handed over my Blackberry to Brady (and I doubt I ever will).

I don’t have a DVD player in my car. However, if we travel more than two hours in the car, I do take the portable DVD player along and some favorite DVDs. I have also used it during flights. (I am sure that the other passengers on the planes were thankful). And the web is FULL of resources for Brady to try independently or explore with me. We don’t spend nearly the amount of time that I would like exploring all of the amazing resources. If only the days were 30 hours, instead of 24 hours! We even have a computer program that hooks up to your computer and has kid-friendly CDs (like Scooby Doo) all that teach letters, numbers, beginning reading, math, and more. Now I will be honest, we don’t have that connected yet. But it is on “the list” for August. So, yes I do use technology.

We have all seen the parents who keep the television on all day as a babysitter. Is that child learning anything? Well…. maybe. Still, I feel we would be doing all of our children a disservice if we didn’t introduce them to various forms of technology at a young age. We live in a technological world, and our children often adapt to this world more quickly than we do. Let’s be honest, there are fourth grade students who are teaching their teachers how to use certain technologies. So as parents, it is important that we keep up with the changing times and prepare our children for the future, which will definitely include various forms of technology, most of which probably hasn’t even been invented yet.

Greetings from somewhere between Jersey and Nevada.

Right now we’re on our way out to Las Vegas. I realize it’s the middle of summer and we’re heading to the desert. But it’s fun, and we’ve been doing it every year.

Some years Andrew does better with the trip than others. We try to time the flights around nap time so there’s less time on the plane where he’s awake and we’re trying to keep him occupied while strapped into the seat. Sometimes that works better than others, but it is really hard to keep an active 2 year old in his seat for 5+ hours.

The time change definitely throws him. By around 7, he’s ready to go to bed. And, unfortunately, that also means that by 5 AM, he’s rip roaring ready to go. I can handle going to bed early…but waking up that early is brutal. Especially since there is NOTHING to do in Vegas that early except gamble, and you can’t exactly do that with a little one.

The other interesting part of this trip will be whether Andrew actually sleeps in his own bed. He usually doesn’t sleep so well in hotels and wants to be in bed with us. I’ll have my fingers crossed for at least a couple nights of sleeping in a munchkin-free bed.

Andrew has been looking forward to getting on the airplane and seeing his Vegas girlfriend. (My friend from college has a little girl Andrew’s age. Last year they bonded over taking turns riding Andrew’s stuffed horse “Neigh” and jumping up and down in his crib.) He’ll have fun swimming, eating ice cream, and cruising around the strip watching all the people. It’ll be good to get away for a couple days.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Over the last month my life has changed in many ways.  Baby Tate entered the world and has brought us much joy.  I was lucky enough to have my mother spend an entire month with us.  With her help, she made things seem pretty manageable and gave me hope that I could be a wonderful mother of two.  Unfortunately, she had to return to PA a few days ago and go on about her life.

I have been dreading the day/night when I’m by myself and my husband is at work.  Thinking about tending to the two children all alone makes me a bit uneasy.  Jack has been having a rough time getting to bed at night, and Tate’s feeding schedule is about every 2 hours.  Making sure dinner is cooked and fed, bath time, brushing teeth, reading, telling stories and convincing Jack that there are NO ghosts in our house seems to take up my entire night.  Trying to squeeze in a feeding can get a little tricky to say the least.  To my amazement, I have been able to juggle everything the past few nights.  Jack has been such a great big brother.  He seems to find something to do when I have to tend to Tate.  Sometimes it’s playing with the breast pump, which makes me chuckle, but to him it’s some kind of cool machine that makes funny noises.

I know that within weeks I’ll be on a routine and getting more sleep.  Before my mother left, her advice to me was to take it day by day and things will go smoothly.  So far, her advice is working and keeping me sane.  It’s funny to think that I felt this way with one child (and a high maintenance dog) and now I have two.  Despite all the stress and panic, our kids mean the world to us and we couldn’t be any happier.

Our church recently had VBS, Mega Sports Camp. And although Brady is now exhausted from five nights of fun, he had a blast. I was worried that he would be nervous leaving me. Even though many of the kids there were kids from his Sunday school and Wednesday night classes, most of the kids were visiting from other churches and just there for VBS. Brady walked in the first evening and “announced” his arrival as at least ten other 4-year olds came running over to him to say hi. I guess I have a little social butterfly on my hands. He definitely wasn’t scared – AT ALL. So, I left and headed off to a free two hours to work.

I now realize that Brady has been going through a tough time (behaviorally) lately. The doctor told me it was known as the “frustrating fours” and very normal. Although I am still having difficulties dealing with Brady at times, without getting frustrated myself! But that is for another week’s blog.

So when I arrived to pick up Brady on the first night of VBS, I was a little afraid that I might get a bad report. (I have the past two Wednesday nights.) Much to my surprise, the teacher handed me an award, the nightly MVP award for the student who behaved well and helped out the most. To say I was a proud mama is putting it mildly. I made a HUGE deal about the award and hoped it meant we had turned a corner in his behavior.

Well, throughout the week I got several other great reports from his teacher. His behavior at home still is “frustrating,” but it is a first step on the road to recovery from frustration. I hope to get many more great reports on his behavior in other classes. But for now, I am very proud of my little MVP.

Andrew was invited to a birthday party. It’s one of his friends from day care, who he loves. For about a month now, Andrew has been talking about going to Landon’s party. Mr. Scott the Music Man is going to make a special guest appearance. (This is a very exciting thing…Mr. Scott wears a lot of tie dye, dances and plays fun music for kids. Andrew loves him.)

But seeing how this is our first birthday party for someone who isn’t family…

I have absolutely no idea what to get the birthday boy. If he’s anything like Andrew, he’s into Thomas the Tank Engine and Cars. But if he’s anything like Andrew, he owns virtually every Thomas and Cars character on the market.

So what do you get a three year old boy that he doesn’t already own far too many of? And how much do you spend on a friend from school?

I have no idea, but hopefully I figure it out before Saturday!

My fellow blogger, “Monday Mom,” and I both have children who fear the dark.  Jack is frightened at night as well. He must have his night and dresser light on when he goes to bed.  If it isn’t bright enough, a ghost will come out of his closet and get him.

I remember as a child I had a fear of the dark, too. In fact, I think I still do when I’m home alone at times. I Googled this issue to see how other parents handle this or what the pros have studied.  I learned that these fears are a healthily developing imagination and growing knowledge that the world does not revolve around them.

One of the best things to help treat this issue is to have a good lighthearted chat with your child. I have had many chats with Jack about this, and it’s usually long after the bedtime process begins. I don’t want to dismiss his fears in any way, but want to get the point across that no ghosts live in our house. Most nights it’s an hour evolution getting Jack to sleep. If he doesn’t fall asleep on his own while we are reading books, storytelling, singing, or me rubbing his back, I know it’s going to be a long night. Having a newborn in the house to care for already has me sleep deprived, so finding the patience gets a little challenging.

Another point the article made was playtime during the day while using their imagination can sometimes backfire since those “characters” can fuel inventions of demons during the night.  To me, that makes perfect sense.  For example, Jack loves to play with his trains and create different problems for them.  The Diesel engines are the bad guys and seem to cause a lot of problems and heartaches with the other trains.  When Jack doesn’t like someone or something he calls them a Diesel 10 which is the scary train. Perhaps, the diesel engine is one of the contributing factors to his fears.

All of these fears have started over the last few weeks, specifically, when baby Tate arrived.  I don’t know if this is Jack’s way of getting extra attention, one on one, or if he really has these fears cooped up in his head at night.  Maybe it’s a little of both, but all we can really do as parents is comfort them with the reassurance of safety and hope that will help their fears disappear.

Brady went over FOUR years without the traditional fears of monsters or “ghostis.” I must admit I love how Brady pronounces ghosts as “ghostis.” Now at four and a half, he has started to see “ghostis” in the bedroom.

I must admit I was kind of surprised, since he has rarely seen a TV show that even speaks of either. I am sure other kids have talked about monsters and such during playtimes. So now I am perplexed and trying to figure out how to handle this fear. I don’t want to minimize his fears, but I don’t want him to worry about such things either. I will admit at times I handle it calmly and we talk it out (when it isn’t 30 minutes past bedtime). But there are those few times, which I am not so proud of, when I say “Brady, you are fine – just go to sleep.” Of course, when I walk away on those evenings, I feel guilty that I didn’t really help him through his fears.

Typically we sit down and talk about how monsters and “ghostis” aren’t real. He lives with three adults that will protect him, our house has a security system so no “real” bad guys can get in, and God is always watching over him. I allow him to express his concerns, explain where he might have seen a ghost, etc..

So far, this is working pretty well. But the “ghostis” continue to scare my little man. I am hoping this phase will soon end. As his mother, I really need to learn patience with him during these scary moments (even at 10pm). Because I am sure there will be new fears and frustrations with every age. And the main goal is for Brady to know that I am there to listen to him and help him through any fears that he may be facing – regardless if they are fact or fiction, preschool fears or teenage worries, whatever it is, he can count on me to be there as a support and offer him the best guidance and listening ear that I have available.

Have you ever noticed that the little things become more difficult after you have kids? The first obvious difference is that there’s no such thing as traveling light (if you were ever capable of it in the first place). Suddenly, a quick day trip half an hour away requires not just your purse. You have to have the diaper bag. And the activity bag for the car. And the bag of snacks. And…whatever else you shove into a bag, realistically NEVER actually needing it, but now you have it JUST IN CASE.

Without fail, at least once a week, I’ll leave the house and leave something I need inside. Whether it’s a file, a bag, my lunch or something even less significant, pre-baby I could just run back inside and reclaim what I needed.

The difficulty factor increases when you throw a kid into the mix. If you’ve already wrestled your child into his car seat, do you unstrap him and run back into the house together? Do you turn the car on and let him sit in the air conditioning for the 30 seconds you’re away? Will you end up getting a call from DYFS if you do? (The lawyer in me feels the need to clarify that I don’t leave Andrew in the car unattended. I do actually run him back into the house with me and make myself even later for work in the morning)

Right now hubby and I are undertaking the oh-so-enjoyable task of looking for a house. We’ve been in a townhouse we outgrew before Andrew was born and we had to somehow fit all his stuff into our house too. Andrew needs a yard to play in and a swing set, more room to run around. It provides the motivation to look, but I’m not looking forward to it.

It took us 9+ months to find our townhouse. I could have had a kid in that time! And, even with the morning sickness, it would have been more enjoyable than the house hunting!

The first house we looked at, Andrew came with us. It was a beautiful place. At least, I think it was. I probably spent more time chasing after Andrew and making sure he didn’t wreck the place than I spent paying attention to what I was seeing.

Fortunately, my parents have offered to watch Andrew so we can concentrate at looking at houses. That will make things easier. If nothing else, we can look at the hot pink walls and teal carpeting of a basement, wondering what the heck those people were thinking, without fear of Andrew taking a header down the stairs.

So, wish us luck. I’m hoping this little task is easier the second time around.

Have a great weekend everyone.

After several weeks of rescheduling, I was finally able to get Jack a dentist appointment last week.  This was his first visit, and I wasn’t sure exactly how he would do with someone poking and prodding around in his mouth.  At home, he does pretty well with brushing.  His daddy and I still help a little, but he has learned to brush around every tooth, rinse (and spit out) with water and he has graduated to “big boy” toothpaste.  He thinks big boy toothpaste is very “spicy.”

We arrived at the dentist and had to wait a few minutes in the waiting room.  There was a kid corner with toys and books.  One of the books was the Berenstain Bear book about a visit to the dentist.  We quickly read it to give him an idea of what the dentist will do in his mouth.  Kudos to the office for supplying this book, because I am pretty sure it made him relaxed and excited to get his teeth cleaned.  We walked back to the chair and met the hygienist.  She was extremely nice and had her own method, or should I say tricks, on how to clean a preschooler’s teeth.  She explained every tool she used in his mouth and what it was for as well as complementing him every time he listened to what she asked of him.

Jack ended up doing a great job. I had positive thoughts, but was prepared to hold him down in the chair if I had to.  Sometimes I think he does better with strangers than with me… kind of scary.  The dentist came in and took a final look and said his teeth looked great and had lots of space for his permanent teeth.  To that I said Yippee, no braces in the future?!  Unfortunately, if his permanent teeth are anything like his mommy and daddy’s were, I think we are out of luck and he’ll need a lot of orthodontia.

We are set to go back in six months for another visit.  We’ll see if he is just as successful then as he was last week.