Flip Diapers

Flip disposable insert in a Thirsties Duo Wrap

I love cloth diapers...well, mostly. I love that they are cute. I love that they are better for the environment and baby. And I love that they save me money. But I hate the laundry. Because of that, I always fall into a slump and go back to disposables. I love the ease of sposies but hate the cost, waste and smell. I think I've found a solution: Flip disposable inserts. They work in the cute covers we already have. They are dye and fragrance free. They a compostable (only just wet diapers). And the best part, they are cheaper than the sposies we were using! They are also as trim as sposies. I'm beginning to think that the fragrances in the sposies was reacting to Maddy's urine and creating a not so pleasant smell. The worst was in the mornings. Oh how I dread those diapers. She slept in a Flip last night and not only woke up not stinking but the diaper wasn't sagging...no leaks either. I'm wondering if Sean would be willing to wear them at night too b/c a overnight pull-up is as bad, if not worst than a overnight diaper. I think I've finally found diapers that I can actually say I love. The true test will be if we're still using them in a month. lol

Time for change

We have a 3 bedroom house. It was originally thought the kids would share a room (once Maddy moved out of our room), hubby and I have a room and the other room would be a playroom/homeschooling room. Homeschooling quickly got moved to the kitchen table and the playroom is a huge chaotic headache even after downsizing on the toys. I started thinking about changing things around and giving the kids their own rooms. Sean will get what's now the playroom and Maddy would get the room they were going to split. Sean has a trundle bed that takes up a good amount of room and the playroom is a little bigger. The other room is closer to our room so that'll be easier with her waking at night still.

I'll admit, I'm really looking forward to making the rooms the girl and boy rooms. I didn't want to push stereotypes on my children and have tried not to(remember, my son is in ballet lol) but it seems they have chosen some of them. All the toys have been in one room and the toys have really been both of their toys. Sean does have a baby doll and Maddy does play with cars and tools. However, Maddy is mostly seen carrying her baby around and wearing pocketbooks and Sean is always going to work to fix things or making cars out of anything and everything. Maddy's room is going to have more baby doll stuff than Sean's and Sean's room will have more tools than Maddy's. BUT that doesn't mean that Sean won't have his doll (he's getting a ring sling for Christmas) and Maddy won't have boy toys (you better believe those millions of cars will be spit up!).

The plan was to paint the playroom this week and move furniture this weekend. Like I said, that WAS the plan... We got paint samples last weekend and painted a little on the wall. Sean picked his color and we thought we were go to go. Then it became very obvious the old paint was peeling horribly. Dad thinks the walls weren't prepped right the last time it was painted. Now we get to scrap as much of the old paint off the walls as we can. Then sand down the edges of the old paint and wash the walls really well. Then we finally get to paint! Ugh! I'm just ready for it to be done! Our house is a chaotic mess. Half of the stuff from the playroom is in the kids' room, some are in the livingroom. Because of that, Sean's sleeping in our room.

The color Sean picked and the peeling...

This can't be comfortable!!

Maddy normally nurses to sleep. She had already nursed a couple of times but was still restless. So, I did what sometimes works. I told her night night and rolled over so my back was to her and pretended to sleep. It's hard to ignore the flopping she does but if I ignore it, she eventually calms down and falls asleep. If I try to get her to lay still, the tears start and it's a fight to get her to sleep. So...I ignored her even when she started to use my side as a pillow. She slowly scooted until her head was on her bed and her body was on me...complete with her leg in the air! And she was out! Silly girl!!



Note that Sean's in Maddy's bed. We're in the middle of redoing the other rooms. That's a whole nother post! But long story short, his room is storage at the moment.

Fall Back

It's that time again...day light savings time! I love fall day light savings time because we gain an hour but I hate it because it gets dark earlier. This year, we're using it to our advantage. Our kids have always been night owls. It's very normal for them to go to bed at 10:00 and wake up at 8:00. Bedtime is now at 9:00. They can't tell time so for all they know, it's not 9:00, it's 10:00. Tonight was a success with Sean. Maddy, however, was still going around say "arr matey" at 10:00...

3 Year Old

What!? I have a 3 year old!? When did that happen!? My little peanut turned 3 today. It just doesn't seem possible. Wasn't this just taken yesterday?



Happy birthday little one! Mommy loves you so much. You amaze me everyday. You are so smart and what a personality!

We had Sean's birthday dinner last night b/c I had to work tonight. It was the perfect opportunity to do a trial run of his birthday cake. There will be more to it for his party but the treasure chest was the part that I wanted to make sure would work right. His big party will be this Saturday. I have so much to do before then.







Just a small gift from mommy, daddy and sissy...Imagination Movers CD.

Sean and Maddy's check ups

Sean had his 3 year (bad mommy for taking him on his bday) and Maddy had her 18 month (a month late) check ups today.



Stats:
Sean- 33.25 in 23 lbs...grew about 2in and 4lbs
Maddy- 34.25 in 22lbs 15oz...grew about 3in and 2lbs
Sean was measured standing up and Maddy was measured laying down. Since the spine compresses when standing up, Sean really isn't shorter than Maddy. Sean weight was taken with the big boy scale so no ounces. Maddy's was with the baby scale.

They both got fingers pricked (iron and lead levels check). Maddy's iron is still a tad low so we'll need to do better at remembering her vitamins. Sean's iron is fine. Both are good with their lead levels.

Sean got his last Pneumococcal vaccine. Maddy got a combo vaccine: DTAP, Polio and Hib (the most she's ever gotten at once). They also offered the Pneumococcal, chicken pox and MMR for her. Holy moly vaccines!!! I declined the chicken pox. I pushed back the MMR until 5 years and Pneumococcal until 2.5. I just can't see how putting 9 vaccines into her system at once would be ok. We didn't start the Dr Sear's schedule with Sean like we're doing with Maddy and the most he ever got was 7. I also got a copy of Sean's vaccine record so I can see what he has left and make plans for what he'll get and when.

I stopped after work tonight and picked up a new multi vitamin for the kids. Maddy was too young for the kind Sean was taking and it didn't have iron in it anyways. I also picked up some omega-3 and some Elderberry (w/vitamin C).

Halloween

Halloween week! What a fun and busy week. I had a couple crafts lined up for this week but Sean wasn't interested. So, we just enjoyed the week. We had a few Halloween books checked out from the library and then the Halloween festivities.

We carved pumpkins. Maddy got into it more than Sean. Sean told us "It's too yucky".






Poor Maddy dropped a slippery seed and spent a good 15 minutes trying to pick it up.


The finished products:


We had a Halloween party Friday night and then Sean got to wear his costume to dance on Saturday morning.


And we can't forget Trick-or-Treating!! This was the first year Sean actually got into it. Maddy took right to it. She went running, trying to drag me down the street.








This week's reading:
Boo! It's Halloween -Wendy Watson
Dinosaur dreams -Allan Ahlberg
The three little witches storybook -Georgie Adams

Phonics

There are many theories on learning to read. I will admit that at this point, I'm just going with my experiences and my gut feeling. Growing up, I wasn't taught phonics in school and therefore had a really hard time with new words and spelling. I still have problems to this day but I've become much better after years of tutoring. Mom, dad...I don't think I've ever said it: Thank you! I realize that not every word follows the rules of phonics and they will have to be memorized but I think learning phonics is the foundation of learning to read. You can only memorize so much.

So, that's where we're beginning. I am presenting letter sounds at the same time I'm presenting letter names. Just like with the letter names, he may not get it right away but he will get it and it will become second nature. Here's a game we like to play. It's a letter matching game. Since Sean is still in the beginnings of learning to identify letters, he has a guide (the letter line pieces). Eventually, we'll play without them. We use alphabet flash cards with the letters up. I ask him to pick a card. Then I ask him what letter and what sound. If he doesn't know or gets it wrong, I simply tell him and ask him to repeat. We then find the matching letter (upper case to lower case). Once matched, we repeat the letter name and sound and start over until they are all matched. He LOVES it. He made me smile today by picking up the "A" and saying the soft A sound. Later he picked up the lower case "e" and said the soft E sound without me even asking. There are still times he tells me that "D" says the soft A sound but there are also times he tells me a "F" is a "B". He'll get it eventually.



So, this is what we are doing at the moment. I will continue to change things up depending on how Sean responds to the methods and what I learn as I continue to read. I'm currently reading The Between the Lions Book for Parents : Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Child Learn to Read.

School Days: Harvest Time

Fall is in the air! This week we extended our prior lesson on autumn with a lesson on harvest time. It was perfect timing because we ended the week with Autumn Fest at the arboretum.

Sean's scarecrow:


And tractor:


Autumn Fest
The kids had fun at Autumn Fest but might enjoy it better next year. They had many crafts for kids to do, including making a scarecrow, but Sean wasn't interested. They really enjoyed the tractor and hay bale maze though. And as always, kids love to make their parents liars and make us scratch our heads in confusion. Shy guy Sean who didn't want to do crafts b/c of the other people around had no problems with Woodsy Owl (mascot type thing who's motto is “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute”). He actually asked to meet him, walked up to him, said hi and gave him a high five.










*A little note; I'm going to start adding our week's reading list at the end of bloggings so I've gone back and edited past posts with the books I can remember.

This week's reading:
The Little Red Hen -Byron Barton
Strega Nona's Harvest -Tomie DePaola
The Scarecrow's Dance -Jane Yolen
Hello, Harvest Moon -Ralph J. Fletcher

School Days: Fire Safety

October 3-9 was Fire Prevention Week so that was our theme. We started this week with talking about what fire was and why it was dangerous. We did an experiment with a candle and water. Sean watched how the water put the fire out; like a fire fighter uses a hose to spray water on a fire. I tried to teach Sean stop drop and roll but he just laughed at me. We talked about what would happen if there was a fire in the house....smoke alarm, fire fighters... So I went to let him hear the smoke alarm. I pressed the button, nothing happened. Ooops. We got new batteries. Still nothing! Uh oh! Time to go shopping. We are now owners of brand new smoke alarm and carbon dioxide detector. And you better believe we'll check them often! We ended the week with a walk to the fire station a few blocks away. The bay doors were open so Sean got to see the trucks. There were a couple of fire fighters outside washing a truck but Sean didn't want to go say hi. Maybe next year.

This week's craft was making a fire with paint. I placed dabs of red, orange and yellow paint on the paper and Sean used a straw to blow the paint into shape.


This week's reading:
The Little Fire Engine -Lois Lenski
The Fire Station -Robert N Munsch


This past week was a no theme week. Sean just wanted to work with numbers and letters so that's what we did.

Follow Up Endo Appointment

Sean had his follow up endo appointment this morning. (If you don't know about the first appointment read this: first endo appointment ) Today's appointment was so much better. We saw Dr Gyuricsko this time. First of all, the man has bedside manners!! He had Sean smiling and laughing in no time. Sean even gave him a high five at the end. This is big! Our last visit ended with 2 screaming kids and 2 frustrated parents. Dr G also did a very good job explaining things instead of assuming I understood why. He explained the bone age scan that was done a few months ago. He disagreed with the radiologist...but also said that it's b/c the radiologist doesn't read these as much as they read xrays for fractures and such. Sean's bone age is between 2 years 8 months and 3 years. Right on track. Dr G also mention how it's really not easy to pick up on things on the bone age scan at this age. At this age, there are still some bones in the wrist that haven't formed. It's more reliable at 5 years. So, if he's still having growth issues at 5 years old, they'll reorder the bone age.

As things would have it, Sean has had a big growth spurt. In the last 3 months he has grown 4 lbs and 1 1/4 in! That's the most he's ever grown! He's almost at the 5th percentile! The doctor is speculating that he may be trying to catch up because in the last 3 months he has grown faster than normal kids grow. On the growth rate chart, he's at the 90% mark for the past 3 months. This is a wonderful sign. Because he has no other problems right now and he has had this growth spurt, Dr G is not ordering any more tests for now. We are going to wait and see. We go back in 6 months.

Next week Sean has a follow up appointment with the G.I.

School Days: Week 4: Autumn

This we continued working on the letters A,B and C. Our theme was Autumn. Unfortunately, it rained all week so we couldn't do as much outside as I had hoped. We did manage to get out and collect leaves for leaf rubbings. We may revisit this theme a little b/c it's just now getting cool and the leaves aren't really changing colors yet.

Leaf rubbing:


Sean's art work this week. He loved making the hand print autumn tree.


He also loves his abacus. Right now we're just using it to count with.


This week's reading:
By the Light of the Harvest Moon -Harriet Ziefert
Fall is Not Easy -Marty Kelley
Fall -Ron Hirschi

Monarch Butterflies

We raised Monarchs last year (2009) and this year (2010). So far, we haven't been lucky enough to find them in our yard but our friend, Amara, finds a ton. So much in fact, that she doesn't have enough food for them. So we've adopt some.

Monarch host plants:

• Milkweed

Monarchs are really interesting butterflies. In one year there are four generations. The forth generation migrates and hibernates in Mexico. When they awaken, they mate and then fly back to lay their eggs. Except for the generation that migrates to Mexico, the total life cycle of a Monarch is only 6-8 weeks.

Monarchs are an egg for only 3-4 days and they start out really small. Here you can see an egg, a newborn Monarch and a Monarch that is maybe a day or so old.


Then they grow...


And grow..


We've had the best luck with making "trees" for them. We put Milkweed clippings in water with the opening covered -- they can drown. This keeps the Milkweed fresher longer. But as they grow, it still doesn't last long.




In different instars:


Finally they get about this big (about 2 weeks after hatching from it's egg) before they make their chrysalis:


You know they are about to make their chrysalis when they hang in a "J":


They make a little spot of silk and then turn to stick their back feet to it.


Then as their chrysalis forms, their skin splits and falls off.










Monarchs spend about 10 days in their chrysalis before emerging as a butterfly. You will know that they are about to emerge when their chrysalis starts to turn clear (about a day before they emerge).




Finally, the day they will emerge, you can see the butterfly's markings through it's chrysalis.


They emerge from their chrysalis very quickly.












Then they must hang to inflate and dry their wings before being able to fly.






Once they finally open their wings, you can can tell if they are male or female.
Males have dots on the hindwings.


Females do not.


And they are ready to be released.