Happy in the car!

Fiona has just turned 5 months old and I have recently decided that she has begun to cry for 'things.'  

One of those 'things' would be to get out of the car seat during a long drive.  So, when we drove home from PA last weekend and she woke up crying to get out, I hushed her, and knowing nothing was wrong, I insisted she go back to sleep without stopping the truck.  She cried 20 minutes and huffed a bit and then went to sleep again.  

She seems to be competent enough now to hear my voice, know I'm there, and sooth herself back to sleep.  This was not the case when she was a few months younger.  I have always felt it to be a bit cruel to let a newborn cry alone in a car seat without the touch of a caregiver. Breaks my heart every time.  

Since she is older and we let her sooth herself in the truck last weekend, Fiona is a different baby in the vehicles.  She road to Indiana and back last week, four hours both ways, with NO crying at all.  She was content to play with her toys, watch Toben, or munch on cheerios.  :)

I am so pleased with Fiona's ability to finally be calm in the car.  Today, I drove to the library and the store and home again without a peep out of her.  Just a couple yawns and a sleeping baby when we got back home.  :) 

Happy 25th Zachie!

Zach turned a quarter century old yesterday.  We were fortunate enough to be back in Carlisle and were able to spend a large portion of the day with the Weyant family.  Jens brought a watermellon icecream cake and we all enjoyed the dessert. 

We used two pink candles for the twenty portion and were lucky to find a big purple number 5 for the other.  115?    Yep.

Ice cream cake.  Dont mind if I do. 

I think the entire cake was consumed in less than 24 hours.  :)

Hide n Seek

Oh, the joy of being able to play  all day!  Thats my job.  (aside for caring for their hunger needs and such)  I play!  My favorite game since Fiona has arrived is Hide-n-Seek. 

Toben has learned to count to 20 because he hears me do it a few times every day.  He has finally, in the last couple weeks, started hiding in new spots throughout the house.  Typically, he would hide under a cover on a bed or under a cover on the couch.  Now he is hiding under tables, in closets or behind furniture. 

He will request the game often.  "Mom, you count.  Iiii hiiiide."  He still gets nervous when I hide.  So, normally he just hides. 

It is especially nice to play because I can carry Fiona around to find Toben.  "Do you see him, Fiona?  Is he behind there?  Under that?  No?"  What a nice time I have with both kids. 

Life is good.  :)



Toben hiding in Tina's livingroom during on of our many games of hide-n-seek

Similar to the movie 'Matilda'...

Today my son made me so proud!  Heres how our trip to the library went.
We went to the library with the intentions of using the Early Literacy Station. (a computer designed for preschoolers equipped with a touch screen) He trotted to it with excitment.  This would be the second time I ever let him try to use the library's computer.
"First, we'll need to tell the librarian that you want a turn on the computer.  You'll have to tell her your name."
He walked beside me and we approached the check out counter.  I stood back a couple steps and watched him barely peer over the counter to see the librarian.  I was quiet. 
"I'd like a turn on the computer, too."  The librarian's eyes twinkled with curiousity.  She smiled and as she opened the check in book and said, " Sure you can. What's your name?"
A moment passed.  Then he clearly and surely said, "Toben Weyant."
" Go right ahead young man."
I beamed with pride.  I grinned ear to ear.  He is confident enough to look at a stranger, address them with a thought, and answer their questions.  He'll be three in three months time. 
Growing up fast, just doesnt quite capture what I see here.  He's going to be old enough to go to school in a couple years.  I have no doubt he'll be ready.  He'll do great. 
For a moment today, I was able to see my baby boy as the kid he is turning into... It was lovely. 

Speaking of absorbing like a sponge...

Last week I went to the library with the kids to beat the heat. As I searched for books, it occurred to me that although Toben likes a simple board book like any other kid; perhaps he needed a book with more substance.  I decided to get Fiona some simple, bold colored board books and Toben some books on the digestive system.

Ok, laugh if you must, but hear me out.  Toben is and has been potty trained for a while.  He had a fairly basic understanding that the food he eats ends up as that smelly stuff in the toilet; but, I wanted him to understand it a bit more. 

We disgusted salvia and chewing your food properly.  We looked at very helpful diagrams of the mouth, air pipe, & food pipe.  I showed him that the food actually goes through the intestines before it comes out.  (the pictures helped)  He listened and asked questions...he even asked me to read the books again later in the day.  Zach said nothing negative;however I could tell by his silence he thought I was a little crazy. Whatever.  So, was any of that info actually absorbed? (digestive punn intended) You bet it was!

He has already started using the new vocabulary throughout the day. Once he came up to me and said, "Mommy, my intestines hurt." "Do ya need to poop?" "yeah."
Another time, when he choked a bit on some broccolli, he said, "It went down the air pipe. It went down the wrong one, not the food pipe"(we'll work on saying esophagase soon)

So, what should Toben tackle next?  I'm thinking days of the week...or the family tree.  Maybe we will talk about farms, tractors & implements.  I think Ill let him decide what he wants to learn and talk about next. :)

Good times.

Hot hot hot

It is important to me that my children get fresh air everyday.  That may mean playing outside, or if its raining, sitting on the porch. On very cold days with wind or snow, it might just be the few moments outside as we head to the vehicle.

Today it hit triple digits and yet we still spend a couple minutes outside. Toben, who never has a problem running in the sunshine, walked in this blistering heat and agreed that we should sit in the shade of the garage.  Fiona just looked at me all grumpy-like. Her expression seemed to say,"why, mommy, why have we left the AC?"

We went inside directly after I snapped these shots.

Crying... because she wants something

"Fiona, I'm coming.  Help her!"  My son is a sweet and concerned big brother.  However there is nothing wrong with his sister.  She simply has reached an exciting developmental milestone.  She is crying out to convey a desire of hers.

This has really just started.  Yeah, yeah, she has always cried out to relay a message like, 'I hate the feeling of pee in my diaper' or 'the sun is in my eyes and I'm not happy about it.'  Now she is relaying a message of a desire.  For example today she was sucking on a board book when it fell beside her.  She screamed out and her face looked like someone was physically hurting her.  A screaming wail with no breathing and tightly squinted eyes that hold back tears; this sort of scream.  (This is when Toben chimes in with his concern)  As soon as I handed her the book again, immediately her eyes opened, and she took a breath of relief and went back to sucking on a page.

Another example from today:  I let the little girl sip the straw of my homemade strawberry, blueberry, and banana smoothie.  She loved it!  She cried out until I placed the straw in her mouth again. Yum!  Note:  She did not need to nurse.

I am excited for Fiona.  She is growing up.  And as she develops I will have more to think about.  Wish me luck.  :)

I just wanted chocolate, I got a teaching opportunity

I have found M&M candies to be such a great learning/teaching tool for Toben.  I have used this fantastic snack in a few different situations and I am always pleasantly surprised with the outcome it has on my son.  This will be the first of a small series of posts I will write about this tasty snack. 


(Warning:  Parents that insist on doing things by the books need not read... because my M&M post may go against the Rules that you cling to for raising your children and most likely upset or offend.  But hey, its my blog, moreover, my son is doing just fine!)

Yesterday, I had a hankering for some chocolate.  I was in luck  A small Ziplock bag full of M&Ms had been out on the kitchen table for nearly two weeks.  I retrieved the delicious goodness and returned to Toben and Fiona playing in the living room.  


I put a hand full down and Toben asked me what my favorite color was...I said, "blue." and "Can I have a blue M&M, please?"  He handed me one and it hardly satisfied my desire, so I instantly requested three more blue M&Ms.  Much to my surprise, he scooped up some M&Ms into his hand, and dumped the contents into my hand.  Yes, three blue M&Ms. Alright Toben!  We played like this for a while.


So, to recap and expand.  


1.  I left chocolate in my sons reach for two weeks and he did not sneak it. Turns out, if you do not set limits on food a child will never become sneaky or greedy with it.  As shown by him giving me the M&Ms before he had any at all. 


We've all heard that mom with good intentions say, "Just one cookie" or the dad say, "Only a hand full of M&Ms and no more!"  I would suggest allowing the child to eat what he or she wants, from the beginning, and you will be surprised when they only eat one or two cookies and stop after 7 M&Ms.  They are satisfied and have no need to sneak the snack the next time the parent has left the room.  I hate making generalized go to rules, however, I would suggest not placing boundaries on your kid's food intake.(Perhaps I will write a comprehensive post on this topic later)   


2.  Not only does he know blue he knows many colors (more than 10). And he can differentiate between light and dark colors to boot.  


3.  He can count.  M&Ms are a fun way to support and motivate counting. He counts to over ten regularly.(Sometimes counting to 20...thank you also to 'Hide n Seek') 


4.  Putting it together, is a big developmental step for a two year old. He counts to three blue M&Ms among all the colors available.  He does it silently in his head.  


Back to the story.  
I tell him to eat two yellow, he does.  Can I have four green?  I get them.  Can I have five orange?  I get them.  This goes on for a while.  I am super impressed.  
Then I ask for three yellow.  I get four.  I say, "Do I have three yellow?"  He silently points to all four one at a time and then says, "no."  "Well I only need three," I say.  He instantly removes one and looks at me.  "Are you sure I have three now?"  He gives me this look like, 'duh Mom I just took one away from four; of course you have three.'  He quickly says, "yeah."


When he had enough M&M counting/eating fun, he went to get a toy car.  Before he started playing, he turned to me and said, "Mommy, you eat the rest," and commenced pushing his car and zoomed into the next room.  Yay, SUGAR!!!


(P.S. Just last month, I was telling Zach that I was concerned that Toben didn't have much interest in talking numbers with me.  In contrast he always wants ABC books read, sings the alphabet song, plays with the alphabet magnets, or just points out letters as we do things through the day.  I was worried because when I would talk numbers to him or count, he didn't seem too interested.  Looks like it was going in his brain despite the seeming lack of interest.)




    

Fireworks!

Yesterday Zach & I took the kids to the Mount Vernon fireworks. Much to my delight, both were happy & seemed to enjoy themselves.
Toben stayed with Zach the whole time & all I heard over & over were happy comment like,"wow, thats a big one" "thats a big boom again" "wow, those ones spin & spin." I held Fiona & she watched the fireworks almost with out blinking. Her wide eyes took in all the bright colors. No distress or tention in her body at all.
I tried to snap a family pic, however this is allI got. Happy 4th everyone!