Kiddo Update: Summer 2014

I'll just come out and say it, I'm a major slacker when it comes to blogging. Life seems to have a way of getting in the way. A kiddo update is overdue so here you go:

I'll go in birth order. Sean. He has finished his first year of homeschooling. His testing supplies should be here soon so that he can do his test next week. I don't know exactly what to expect but I have no worries that he'll do just fine. We're still schooling throughout the summer but just a lighter load. Right now he's working on a Summer Bridge workbook that's for bridging 1st-2nd grade. It's not easy enough for him to breeze through it but it gives him a little bit of a challenge. Last week he got his summer haircut. He at first wanted his head shaved but ended up just getting it buzzed. And lastly, this weekend we made a purchase that I didn't think we'd be making already. We bought Sean a booster seat. He still has plenty of growing room in his 5 point harness. However, Maddy is nearing outgrowing her's b/c of her height. Sean is a bit sensitive to the fact that his younger sister is so much taller than he is so we thought that it might be a good idea to switch Sean to a booster before Maddy. He meets the size requirement, the belt fits correctly, and he's mature enough to sit properly so I'm ok with it. He's super excited!

Above: freshly cut hair and our neighborhood spy

Below: the big boy in his new booster

Ms Maddy...She's also doing a bit of summer school as she prepares for her first official year of homeschooling next year as a kindergartener. The big milestone that she's hit is she has given up naps....for the most part. Bedtime was getting to be a huge hassle. Giving up naps has helped a ton. Though there are still some afternoons that at the end of naptime for the younger kids she crawls onto the couch and is out like a light. This summer Maddy is working on a preschool workbook to review the past year. I have a daycare child that has also given up naps so her and Maddy have the same workbook and they work together, Maddy teaching her some. Maddy's growing like a weed! She's already outgrown some of the clothes she got for her birthday in April!! It's insane! She's 5 and about the average height of a 6 year old. This past year she took dance again. Earlier this month she had her second dance recital. Oh my, does she love being on the stage!! She danced beautifully on stage once again. Too bad she only gets to do that part once a year. I really do enjoy watching her dance at her recitals. It's not just that she's following my footsteps but just watching the enjoyment she gets out of it. And the way she just glows when you tell her that you were watching. She loves having an audience.

Above: on stage at dress rehearsal

Below: before the big show! Can you see the excitement!?

Emily: the baby. Well, she's not much of a baby any more. I've been slowly night and nap weaning her and she kinda took the lead and started cutting back during the day as well. We've been at once a day (first thing in the morning) for a little while now and today, Monday, I realized that she has not nursed since Saturday morning. She hasn't even asked! We've also started potty training today. Last week one of my daycare kids started telling Em when he needed to go potty and asking if she needed to go. She would then tell me that she needed to go and they'd both get a try. I decided to run with that idea. Today she was dressed in a dress (then a shirt after she tucked the dress under her while on the potty) and a pull up. I set toilet paper next to her little potty in the bathroom. This made it so that she could do the entire process by herself. I got Sean and Maddy in on it too. Whenever any of us went to the bathroom we'd tell her and ask if she wanted to try. She went potty a lot today! There were a few times that she actually asked on her own to go and the only accidents were a pee accident during pick up time/dinner prep time and a poopy pull up. Not bad for her first official day! My baby's growing up...

Above: baby's first "ony"tail

Below: Cinderella needed a nursing break

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Emily's 17 month Update

Little Emily is no longer a baby. She's a walking, talking, climbing, on-the-go toddler. She will be 17 months on Weds. At her last check up she weighed in at 19lbs 3oz (16th percentile) and 31in (36th percentile). Her check up went well but since I mentioned that I still notice her eyes looking crossed (more her left eye turning in), the doctor sent Em to an eye doctor. Poor thing got her eyes dilated for that one. Though it really didn't phase her.. Good news is everything checked out fine. She does not have strabismus (eye misalignment). She has pseudostrabismus (false appearance of strabismus) b/c the folds of skin in the corners of the eyes makes it look like her left eye turns in at times. That peace of mind is priceless.

Em's a little peanut like her brother but that doesn't stop her. She has really started sticking up for herself but on the flip side that means she has developed a bit of a temper. Her vocabulary has taken off lately. She's up to at least 25 words. Her current favorites are "shoes", "chicken", "guys!" (usually yelled at her siblings), "see dat?", and of course "nana" (her word for nursing). Sean and Maddy find it funny when Emily calls things the wrong name..like our rabbits are kitty cats and many things are called chickens, especially small dogs and babies (??). She can say baby except it comes out as "daydies" because she replaces "b"s with "d"s. I'm not quite sure why she calls babies chickens except for the fact that we laugh when she does it. She knows what chickens are. She loves our chickens. The first time we let the hens free range a little Emily got mad and tried to chase them back in the run while yelling "chicken, chicken" at them. Her latest accomplishment is she has started the potty training process. It started with her bringing diapers to us when she was wet and then turned into her grunting and pointing down the hall and then walking to the bathroom and pointing at the potty. We've decided to run with it and she's now peeing in the potty more than in her diapers. She hasn't figured out pooping in the potty yet but she demands to be changed as soon as she does it in her diaper. I've ordered her trainers. I can't wait to get them; they will make this much easier.

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Week in Review: Week 9

This week Emily recovered from her first ear infection and had her 2 month check up. She also laughed for the first time! What a wonderful sound!! Maddy's doing wonderfully with potty training. I don't hesitate to take her out in underwear. The only thing is she does not poop in the potty. ..and I don't know why. Sean, he's his normal crazy self but he's back to taking naps daily. It's wonderful and he's less moody. Just don't tell him he naps. He thinks he just lays in bed waiting for the music on the alarm clock to come on.

Walking to Grandma's after a lazy day at home.

They dressed themselves..

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Week in Review: Week 6

I was beginning to think I wouldn't have much to write about this week then Maddy decided she wanted to be a big girl. First, let me go off on a little side note. A few months ago hubby was working his first night at his second job. It meant I had to get both kids to bed by myself. At that point Sean was in his own room and Maddy was still in our room on the little bed. Both had to have hubby or I in the room while they fell asleep. I can't be in two rooms at the same time so I asked if they wanted to have a sleep over in Sean's room. They agreed and both went to bed very easily. That's been the sleeping arrangement since then. At the beginning of this week they started fighting each other in bed and Maddy said she wanted to sleep in her room like a big girl - her words. And with that, they are sleeping in separate rooms.

The idea of being a big girl must have got the ball rolling because Wednesday afternoon Maddy informed me that she was a big girl and she wanted princess underwear. I had been thinking of starting potty training but I didn't want to start too close to introducing Emily to the family. Maddy had other plans. After nap I gave her some underwear and told her that she needed to keep them dry and go potty in the potty. She had a few accidents that night but the next couple of days went great. She woke up in the mornings dry, woke up from nap dry and only had a few accidents each day...each day getting a little better.

This week's pictures:

Maddy's after nap bed head

One of my favorite pictures of Emily

Brother and sister..He absolutely loves her, and vice versa

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Thursday Thoughts: Potty Training, Butterflies and more

Image: suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There's no theme for today's post. I just had an urge to write so bare with my rambling.

Last Sunday I was thinking about how Maddy was doing well with potty training awhile back and how we put that on hold when she started holding in her poop. Sean was also potty trained but started not catching it in time. He'd do a very small spot in his underwear and then go to the bathroom. This lead to a lot of laundry and me getting frustrated. He went into pull-ups and got lazy about going potty. So I decided that this week that we will be done pull-ups and diapers except for at night and when we're out of the house because as long as they were in diapers and pull-ups, they were not going to potty train. Sean adjusted very quickly and is back to where we left off. Monday, Maddy peed on the floor about a million times. Now would be the time that I'm the most thankful for pulling up all the carpet in the house! The good think about Monday was every time she peed on the floor she yelled "I peed!" and ran to the potty. She's making the connection! Tuesday was an awesome day! She only had one accident! Yesterday she had 3 and is at 3 for today. Not too bad though! I may be doing a small load of laundry everyday but I'm not wasting money on pull-ups and diapers and they are making progress!!

A cute moment today: Maddy had just woken up from nap and Sean walks over to her and puts his arm around her, "Hi there baby! Did you have a good nap?" *swoon*

This afternoon we had one of our Black Swallowtail butterflies emerge. He was so pretty!! We have 5 more that should emerge in the next day or two. Once they do, I'll get started on my post about raising Black Swallowtails. Not sure about you, but I'm looking forward to that post. They are not only pretty butterflies but pretty caterpillars too.

Sean got two more tomatoes from his garden today. They're suppose to be big tomatoes but instead he grew cute tiny tomatoes. It doesn't phase him though.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow. I'm hosting a weekly blog hog (Flutter By Fridays) for the first time!!

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End of January update

silly photo summary of the month

January started out good but ended even better than it started. Daycare girl is a great fit. Sean and Maddy love having a playmate almost everyday. When she's not here, they ask me about her at least a few times a day. We started going to a weekly story time and the kids love it. It's also helping Sean tremendously with his independence. And speaking of independence, Sean is doing wonderful in dance! Just a couple weeks ago he wouldn't let me go to the other side of the room without him. Yesterday he did tap all by himself without me in the room!! sn:the class is half an hour of ballet followed by half an hour of tap. I could seriously jump for joy!

And Maddy..wow, where did my baby go? I would like to say I've only been potty training her for about 2 weeks but in all reality, I've been slowly doing it since she was born almost 22 months ago. BUT, about 2 weeks ago we said goodbye to diapers except for when we were not at home and for bedtime. A few days ago she told me she had to go for the first time and as the days go by, she tells me more and more. Most of her accidents are right after she tells me and we're not close enough to the potty. Accidents are now at about 2 a day. Yesterday we made the jump and said good bye to diapers except for bedtime. We were out of the house for 7 hours and it wasn't until an hour before we got home that she had an accident. She told me she had to go but we didn't get there fast enough. I'm very pleased with her progress and it's nice having no kids in diapers when I don't have the young daycare kids!

A look toward next month:
February will bring yet another playmate!! Our cousin Zach will is now enrolled in my daycare and starts Tuesday!

Potty

For the past week Sean has been using the potty sometimes. No, I'm not potty training him...I'm just listening to his cues and doing something about it. I've noticed there are times I know he's about to pee or poo and I started thinking.."why not put him on the potty and save a diaper". Well, it worked. He now stays in a dry diaper for hours. He even will get fussy right before he has to go and if I get him to the potty in time he goes in the potty not his diaper. Sometimes I swear he holds it for a little while hoping for me to put him on the potty. He wakes up from naps dry so I put him on the potty as soon as he gets up and he goes! Same thing with right after he nurses. The other times it's almost a guessing game but I'm learning his cues. It's very exciting and he seems happier when he goes in the potty because he's not wet...which he HATES being wet!!!

Pee peeing in his new potty...he looks so proud!


He even pee peed on a tree while camping with the boy scouts