Fun outside

We had a lot of fun outside yesterday evening. The weather has been perfect. The grass is dry. The sun doesn't set until pretty late. So we spend a lot of time outside. Boo loves to ride around in his wagon. We go to the park and he likes to see the big kids play. The cats follow us to the park. Usually about 4-5 cats follow us. Kitty train. He plays with sticks and dirt and grass.

Boo is still cutting in some of his big teeth. He has 11 teeth! He has been sleeping really bad at night, waking up 100 times crying, even in our bed. He won't sleep in his bed for even one minute. I am going to be off Thursday to extend the Easter holiday. So that will be nice.

I have a date

I have a date with a little boy and a little red wagon after work. He really loves riding around the neighborhood in his wagon. He loves bumps and going on the grass. So I'm looking forward to getting out of work and going on an adventure.

Chesley at the park

 

 

 

 

Babywearing/Toddlerwearing

Just a normal Monday so far. Boo wasn't too upset when I left him with babysitter this morning. We were running very late, but that is sort of normal for a Monday for us. He didn't sleep well, again, normal. I'm tired, normal. But I will be happy when I get to pick him up and go home and play. I do have some things to blog about, but I haven't had much time. I've found a new interest, babywearing. I haven't used my baby carriers too much, but I found some different ways to wear my child that shouldn't hurt my back so much. I normally carry him around everywhere on my hip, causing back and hip pain. I bought a Moby wrap, and I made two wraps out of fabric from JoAnn's. I have tried to use the wrap every day to get my back stronger, and so far, I like it. Boo seems to like being wrapped up with me. He hugs me and plays with my hair. I think it will really be helpful on work day evenings when he missed me all day and wants to be carried around. I am tempted to buy an Ergo carrier, but I am going to keep using my wraps for another week or so before I decide if I want one. I don't think I will use the carrier or wrap for hours on end, just for a walk to the park, or to do a few things in the house.

I do suggest anyone doing babywearing (especially a newborn) read the instructions carefully and understand any risks. There have been some incidents recently that are tragic. BUT babywearing can be done safely and has many benefits.

Funnies

Boo and I just went for a walk around the neighborhood. There was a man working in one of the front yards of a big house around the block. His work truck was parked on the road. There was a sticker with a little boy peeing. It read "Gone Drinkin" and showed the little boy peeing on the word "work." Nice. Right next to that sticker was Jesus's face and read "Prince of Peace." Not across the truck. Not on the bumper, on the back glass, right next to each other.

Boo's new tricks

So Boo has some new tricks these days I wanted to share!

He has started doing a few new signs. He does "milk" when I say the word "milk." He gets all excited and sometimes mad because I am taking up his valuable time with communication when I could be taking my clothes off so he can get some milk. He does "up" when I ask if he wants to get up with the high chair. Both of these signs are typically done with one hand, but he does them with both hands, and it's super cute.

He says "Poppa" for Nathan's dad and for my dad. My dad babysat yesterday. Boo got really excited to see him. Pawpaw does things a little differently and did some things I wasn't happy about... But Boo survived. When Nathan talks about "Poppa" Boo goes to the window and starts looking for him, so we really think he knows what he is saying. Boo says "ball," "duck" pretty well too.

So he is on his way to talking. Nathan really wants him to talk more, but I'm ok with baby talk for now.

Funny baby

I realize that children behave differently for people other than thier parents. But I still find it funny to witness this. Paulina and I met at Walmart yesterday after work. It's much easier to meet up at the store rather than meet at moms, get Boo in his car seat, go to the store, then get out and back in the carseat. So we all went in together, then we went our separate ways to get what we needed. Boo and I went to the baby section to get a few things. I found some nice looking low cut socks that we needed. Boo saw them and got excited, so I gave him the package. He decided he needed to take out each sock, play with it, and then throw them on the floor. Obviously, this is not going to work for me. So I took the socks. He started screaming. Loud. Paulina wasn't too far away and recognized his scream and came right over asking what is wrong. Nothing I said. She very calmly told him to stop screaming and give momma the socks. He immediately puckered up his face and did exactly as she said. I thought it was so funny. This isn't the first time he has listened to her and not to me, but it was funny. I can tell him no 100 times, and he just looks at me and keeps doing what he is doing. She says no, and he cries and stops what he is doing. I'm sure he is not always perfect for her, but he definitely acts different.

Sometimes we see Mya act good for me and horrible for Paulina, but sometimes she knows she can get away with murder when she is with me. Case of going to the grocery store last Friday. She was so B A D. "I want two balloons." and "I want to ride in the buggy." Mostly "I want" this, that, and everything. She saw a princess birthday card and cried for it. And the evil grocery store has tons of toys and junk right where kids can see it.

Repeating my mantra...

Take everything one day at a time.
We are blessed, have a very happy life, and are all healthy.

Ok. I feel a little better. I just can't help it. I always feel sorry for myself and depressed on Mondays when I have to go back to work. It doesn't help when I hear that Boo is sad and depressed too. He really has a hard time when I go to work on Mondays. He hugs me so tight and then cries when I put him in his carseat. And he is depressed all day. I hate leaving him. It has not gotten any easier for us.

I know that SAHMs get bored. I know that they must feel depressed sometimes from being home all day with kids. But leaving a crying baby every day sucks bad.

There has been some progress on the house lately. Nathan and his dad hav replaced rotten siding and window trim and window sills. There is some minor inside work left, more trim and siding work on the outside, having the house painted, and the back door needs to be replaced. So it does feel more real that we really are gearing up to sell our house. Our next house is going to be small and simple! And I will be a SAHM! One day...

Take everything one day at a time.
We are blessed, have a very happy life, and we are all healthy.

Radical Parenting Part 3

Ok Part 3 - Gender Neutral Parenting. Ok I will hold off on my comments and keep to the plan for telling you about this. This family has two young boys, 4 years and 10 months. They are raising their boys in a "gender neutral environment." In their house, the wife and husband do not follow normal societal gender roles. The wife does home improvement projects, and the man does laundry and cleaning. If the boys decide they want to walk around in mommy's shoes, that is perfectly acceptable. The older boy has many young female friends. If they want to come over and play princess dress-up, that is also perfectly acceptable. The wife writes a blog about her children. She is hoping to raise boys who will be better partners and better understand women. On the show, drs comment on the family. The dr said that sexuality is determined before birth, and that the family's actions will not promote homosexuality.

My take - I think that the actions that are taking are fine, but pushing it as "gender neutral" and making a big deal out of it is strange. I think it's fine that the boy plays dress up and wears his mom's shoes. At his age, it's fine. But soon he will learn traditional male/female boundaries, and if he goes outside of those, he will be cruelly ridiculed by his friends. So we'll have to see how things change as the kids get older. I think it's GREAT that the mom can operate a drill and hang shelves. And it's GREAT that dad does laundry. Let's just let the kids think that it's normal, and raise them to respect mom and respect dad.

Radical Parenting Part 2

Attachment Parenting: This family had 3-4 children, youngest being 18 months. I related to this family the most. The family, as typical with attachment parenting style, continued to breastfeed. One of the children was breastfed till age 4. They also continued babywearing for the 18 month old. They practice elimination communication, which is going with no diaper most of the time for them. The mom also hosts EC meetings in their home, showing other families some EC tips. Co-sleeping is a normal part of the family life, with the youngest two children in the bed. The youngest was very often seen in a baby carrier on the mom or dad's back. They practice babywearing most of the time through age 2-3. So the child is most often on the parent, not on the floor.

Ok, I personally related to this family a lot. I think they are doing a great job raising these kids. I really can't argue with anything that they do. I still breastfeed and think that it's great. EC is a great idea, but I'm too lazy to try and take my baby to the potty all day. We do cloth diaper, which is slightly off the mainstream parenting track. Babywearing is a great idea, but dang! It hurt my back a lot to wear my heavy baby around. I did it some, but not a lot. Those people are seriously strong. We co-sleep also. It's just what works for us. So we had a lot in common here.

What we can learn: This mom mentioned that when she was open and honest about her extended breastfeeding, that a lot of other moms "came out of the closet" with it. So maybe I'm not as alone as I believe in nursing past one year. We can all research babywearing and EC and consider if it's right for us.

A teaser for tomorrow... Radical Parenting Part 3 Gender Neutral Parenting (not as crazy as it sounds, but very interesting!)

Radical Parenting Part 1

I watched a show the other night called "Radical Parenting" that I wanted to share about. There were three families that the show followed. I will share what the family does, then my take on this, then what we can learn from this. The first was "Un-schooling".

This family of four had one boy, about 5, and one girl, about 4. They have decided not to put their children in school and not to home school. The children will learn through experience. There is no discipline in the home, and no one is put in a place of authority. The children can eat, sleep, bathe, and play when and where they choose to. Surprisingly, the children seemed well behaved. So there must be some gentle instruction going on there. The parents want the children to enjoy life as much as possible, and they believe that the children will have the same potential in life as schooled children.

OK... my take? This would be wonderful to keep your child home from school and play all day every day. But is that preparing your child for the real world? Where things don't always go their way? Where discipline and rules are a part of everyday life? I don't think so!! Children need to learn how to follow rules. I have to follow rules every day at work. I think these children are in for some hard times in the future when they go either to college or to work.

What we can learn: I do think that schools push kids too hard sometimes. Do kindergarteners really need to read, write, and do math? Do preschoolers need to be pushed so hard into learning to read? I say no. I've thought about not putting Boo in preschool if I am a SAHM at that time and letting him have that year to play and learn at home. I think there are cases where home schooling may be a good option, if a child needs more attention or is not getting what they need in school. I personally think that children should all have to go at least to high school. If you can deal with high school, you can deal with the real world!

He is a walker

Boo is officially a walker now. He walks around almost all of the time and only crawls if he falls down and is almost to where he wants to be. His walk is so precious. He always picks up the right foot really high and scoots the left foot along. Arms are flailing around, chest is out. It's so fun to watch. This morning Boo was cranky, so he was sitting in my lap while I was putting on makeup. He grabbed my face powder brush and started "putting on his makeup." It was so funny that he knew how to do it. I never thought he watched me put on makeup. Too cute! Nathan thought it was funny too.

Mr. Personality

Boo really has a strong personality and a strong will. I have my work cut out for me for sure. I just think he was a strong will now, and he can't even talk yet. I predict some trouble in the future. But it will be met with love and discipline and it will be ok. He is babbling 24/7 and using vocal patterns as if he is really saying something. His babbling usually sounds like a question, so I think he really wants to know something. But I obviously have no clue what he is asking. We went to a birthday party yesterday for a co-workers 3 year old son. We really had a good time, both of us. There were only a few people there, as the rest of the family lives out of state, so we all really got to just relax and visit. My friend had a wagon hooked up to a lawn mower and rode the boys around the yard. (Special wagon with high sides, so it looked very safe.) Boo really enjoyed that. He crawled around the yard, ate dirt, and played with the kids. Then we went home, and he finally took a nap at 4:00. I think we are officially down to one nap a day. So goodbye morning nap. We miss you...

I am Mom

I am Mom.

I delight in my child's joy.
I sorrow at his pain.
I marvel when there is quiet in my house.
In this moment of quiet, I try to think what I need to do.
How can I get enough done during his nap to only have to play and care for him when he wakes?
My back aches, I'm exhausted, he is sleeping, I could sleep.
But no!
I am Mom.
I put on a pot of coffee.
I wash the dishes. I wash the clothes.
I am Mom.
I wouldn't want it any other way.

He really loves jammies

 

 

 

 

This child really loves his jammies. I was folding clothes, he saw the jammies, and we had to put them on, even though it's only 4:00 pm. And now you can see the nasty cut on his face. So sad. And he also had a mild reaction to the antiobiotics he is on. Bumps on his head and then on his back. Poor itchy baby. So we are stopping those meds and getting a new prescription.

Boo is fine

Sorry for the suspense. No stitches. The cut looked much better when I picked up Boo yesterday afternoon, but we went ahead to the dr. Dr said the cut and bump are superficial. But he does have an ear infection. So hopefully we can get that better and get Boo happier. He has been pretty cranky lately, and I know ear pain is not fun.

Boo had a fall

Boo has had plenty of falls, but this was one big. He's ok, but he has a nasty cut on his forehead. Of course I feel like the worst mother in the world. I had just changed his diaper on my bed, and I was about to put his clothes on. He was sitting on the bed, and I was standing right next to him. I must have blinked my eyes or looked away for one second, and the next thing I knew, he was tumbling to the floor, super fast. He hit his head on my nightstand and then fell to the floor. The floor part wasn't so bad, as he caught himself. But he cut his forehead, right between his eyes on the corner of the nightstand. It bled a lot, he cried, then he went to sleep. The bleeding mostly stopped, so we decided not to go to the ER. This morning the cut bled some more, and it's just so deep. So I called the nurse at his dr's office, and of course they want to check him out. So I am taking him this afternoon. He seems fine, is happy and acting normal, so I'm not worried about anything major, but I don't want the cut to not heal, and then have to get stitches. Probably, the dr will say that it's fine and to come back if it gets worse. But I will feel horrible if he has a scar right in between his eyes and I could have prevented it. So to the dr we will go. If the dr thinks we should get stitches, we will have to go to the ER for that, or maybe he will admit us to the hospital. I think they will have to put Boo under anesthesia for stitches. That will not be fun. But he also has been pulling on his ears and had a fever yesterday, so a trip to the dr may have been in store anyways. I will certainly feel like the worst mother in the world explaining to the dr how Boo got hurt.

What Boo is doing

He loves to play "Patty Cake" and sometimes just claps his hands slowly and looks at me and waits for me to recite it. Over and over. He also loves doing "Little Piggies". He laughs every time. And he likes to show off his tummy and to see everybody else's tummy. I figured out that he really likes wearing one pice footie pajamas. For a while he wore wool longies and t shirts, but he just gets super excited when he sees the jammies. So we have been wearing the jammies. I mean really excited. It's so cute. And he likes splashing in the bathtub. It doesn't bother him at all to get tons of water in his eyes. He really is a fun little boy.

Maybe we just have so much fun together, that he doesn't want to go to sleep or stay asleep. Last night was really rough.

Boo really likes his big boy car seat better. He gets really excited to sit in it. The only thing I don't like about the seat is that it is hard to tighten the straps. I pull really hard and only get a little tighter. So I may not buy the same one again.