Putting the boys down for bed is mostly a delight. Most nights Max is asleep almost before his head hits the pillow. Cooper is another story. Although the goal is to get him to sleep, one can have a pretty interesting conversation with him. . .
The boys sleep with music on. Last night we switched cd's and put in the Christmas Lullabies in. It's a lovely cd. The first song is Away in a Manger. This prompted a conversation about Jesus.
C: When Jesus a baby?
Me: Jesus was born on Christmas Day. Christmas is Jesus' birthday! That is why we
give gifts on Christmas, to celebrate his birthday.
C: I want to get Jesus a present.
Me: That's nice of you. What would you like to get for Jesus.
C: A horsie.
Me: That is really nice of you, but we aren't going to see Jesus.
C: When can I see Jesus? Where is Jesus?
Me: Jesus is in Heaven.
C: Jesus in YaCoss (city where we live) Heaven? dere one, two, fee, four, five Heavens?
Me: Nope, there is just one heaven for the whole world.
C: Jesus in world Heaven?
Me: Yes.
C: Jesus is the Yord? Why Jesus in Heaven?
Me: Remember that Jesus was a very special person. He was born so that he could teach us about God, and he gave his life for us. After he died he rose again, and then, he went up to heaven. But he promised that he will come again.
C: When he comes back, I'm going to give him a present.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
I think it's official
Ruby's a walker! Still a little shaky, and still will stop, drop and crawl, but she's walking more and more.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Is this really bloggable?
So last night, on my way home, I thought to myself, should I blog this? And my answer is, yes. I am going to call this, "a night in the life."
Left work after 4:30. Trucked it to the parking ramp to leave. Got to school to pick up Max. Had to sign a sheet and answer questions because of an "incident" in the morning. Peeked at his calendar to see that he had earned a sad face for the day. Take a look at Max and realize he has had a close call at somepoint in the day making it to the bathroom. We leave and head to pick up Cooper and Ruby. All seems well at this point. Get to the Y, and race to the front door (Max and I occasionally will race to the front door of the Y or his school) Max selects a "human body" book from the books they are selling and sits in the lobby of the childcare center to peruse. I go in to pick up Ruby. She walks to me!(very shaky but probably 15+ steps!) She seems tired. Get her in her jacket and ready to go. Walk down to pick up Cooper. Ben, one of the part-timer's tells me that Cooper had a great day. (Awesome, I think to myself!) But, then, he quickly turns. I do manage to get his coat and hat on, but he is very set on playing with the cash register in his classroom. I use all my "tricks" to try and get him moving along, but it's not going well. He comes into the hallway and instead of taking a left to leave, he took a right. So now I'm standing in front of Cooper's room with both boys at opposite ends of the hallway. Lovely. After a while of trying to talk through it, I went down towards Max and left Ruby with him--still both in my eyesight, walked down to Cooper and gave him the choice to walk or be carried. Carrying Cooper down the hallway I gave him one more opportunity to change his mind and walk (thank goodness he said yes. There have been times when I have carried them both out.) Now he is walking but also whining the whole way out to the car. we all get to the car. I get all three buckled in. Need gas. Make it to the gas station, Ruby fell asleep and Max wants to go in to the gas station to get something to eat. Sorry buddy, not tonight. "NO Fair!" Back in the car on our way home. Hop back on the highway and call Mommy to give her the lowdown. Hang up quickly because Cooper's having a loud meltdown (right next to sleeping child) about his seatbelt being too tight. Stop in the Famous Dave's parking lot. "Are we eating at a restonk?" asks Cooper. No, I just stopped to fix your seatbelt. As I'm fixing his buckle. Max, "I have to go potty really bad." I've learned, that when he says that, he means it. So, I try to hide the fact that my kid is going pee in the parking lot. We get back on the road and Cooper starts using his pen as a gun. Not in a nice way. I personally have really had enough of the gun phase, but realize that we're probably only beginning. . . I start talking about how guns hurt people or kill people and that Mommy and I really don't like guns. Good thing we've been reading lots of Thanksgiving books that talk about hunting for fish and food. Cooper piped in about them shot-ing the deer. So, that prompted a conversation about hunting. I told them that we know some people who hunt, and some that don't. I also described that when you hunt, you sit and wait, quietly, you can't talk or eat or move, and if a deer comes close enough, you get maybe one chance to shoot it, that you don't go there and shoot and shoot. Hopefully, it sobered them a little on the gun/hunting/killing. We also talked about Max's homework. He had to count how many doors we have in our house. We're now home and in the house. Eating dinner Max told Cooper he wasn't acting "appropriately." (secretly I was wowed that he used that word) After dinner we read 3-4 books and headed upstairs. Got pj's on, brushed teeth, and jumped on our bed for bedtime books. Then, Mommy came home. . . .ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
I think I'll post a night in the life from time to time, just for posterity.
Left work after 4:30. Trucked it to the parking ramp to leave. Got to school to pick up Max. Had to sign a sheet and answer questions because of an "incident" in the morning. Peeked at his calendar to see that he had earned a sad face for the day. Take a look at Max and realize he has had a close call at somepoint in the day making it to the bathroom. We leave and head to pick up Cooper and Ruby. All seems well at this point. Get to the Y, and race to the front door (Max and I occasionally will race to the front door of the Y or his school) Max selects a "human body" book from the books they are selling and sits in the lobby of the childcare center to peruse. I go in to pick up Ruby. She walks to me!(very shaky but probably 15+ steps!) She seems tired. Get her in her jacket and ready to go. Walk down to pick up Cooper. Ben, one of the part-timer's tells me that Cooper had a great day. (Awesome, I think to myself!) But, then, he quickly turns. I do manage to get his coat and hat on, but he is very set on playing with the cash register in his classroom. I use all my "tricks" to try and get him moving along, but it's not going well. He comes into the hallway and instead of taking a left to leave, he took a right. So now I'm standing in front of Cooper's room with both boys at opposite ends of the hallway. Lovely. After a while of trying to talk through it, I went down towards Max and left Ruby with him--still both in my eyesight, walked down to Cooper and gave him the choice to walk or be carried. Carrying Cooper down the hallway I gave him one more opportunity to change his mind and walk (thank goodness he said yes. There have been times when I have carried them both out.) Now he is walking but also whining the whole way out to the car. we all get to the car. I get all three buckled in. Need gas. Make it to the gas station, Ruby fell asleep and Max wants to go in to the gas station to get something to eat. Sorry buddy, not tonight. "NO Fair!" Back in the car on our way home. Hop back on the highway and call Mommy to give her the lowdown. Hang up quickly because Cooper's having a loud meltdown (right next to sleeping child) about his seatbelt being too tight. Stop in the Famous Dave's parking lot. "Are we eating at a restonk?" asks Cooper. No, I just stopped to fix your seatbelt. As I'm fixing his buckle. Max, "I have to go potty really bad." I've learned, that when he says that, he means it. So, I try to hide the fact that my kid is going pee in the parking lot. We get back on the road and Cooper starts using his pen as a gun. Not in a nice way. I personally have really had enough of the gun phase, but realize that we're probably only beginning. . . I start talking about how guns hurt people or kill people and that Mommy and I really don't like guns. Good thing we've been reading lots of Thanksgiving books that talk about hunting for fish and food. Cooper piped in about them shot-ing the deer. So, that prompted a conversation about hunting. I told them that we know some people who hunt, and some that don't. I also described that when you hunt, you sit and wait, quietly, you can't talk or eat or move, and if a deer comes close enough, you get maybe one chance to shoot it, that you don't go there and shoot and shoot. Hopefully, it sobered them a little on the gun/hunting/killing. We also talked about Max's homework. He had to count how many doors we have in our house. We're now home and in the house. Eating dinner Max told Cooper he wasn't acting "appropriately." (secretly I was wowed that he used that word) After dinner we read 3-4 books and headed upstairs. Got pj's on, brushed teeth, and jumped on our bed for bedtime books. Then, Mommy came home. . . .ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
I think I'll post a night in the life from time to time, just for posterity.
Monday, November 16, 2009
gifting. . .
We've decided to adopt a new gift-giving approach for our kids and are really looking forward to the discussions it will bring. 
One tag we'll be adding to this will be "give."
And of course, provided they've been good, Santa might also stop by. . .
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
On being 1
Our beauty. . . little Ruby.
Just last weekend in church, we saw this little baby become a little toddler. All of a sudden, it's fun to play around with her brothers. Patting them on the back. Talking to them. Shrieking at them. And of course, following them around the house.
Growth: You've got 5 official teeth. 3 on top, 2 on bottom. Half of your top one year molars are through, and you have two other teeth that are itchin' to come out. You're not quite 30 inches and have just eeked over 20 lbs. We've decided that it's time for you to move on up to the next step in car seats. You seem to go into this car seat better than your bucket(for about the last 2 months you've been arching your back and seriously objecting to it.)
Development: You still only say a few recognizable words, best are MaMa and mo' (more), however you talk and sing a lot. You also screech. You like books. You like music--you dance and rock to music. Your favorite toy at school is a maraca. Seriously, you have laid claim to that toy.At home you like to play with the stacking cups, the musical instruments(you've been drumming with drumsticks for months), you also like balls. You can point to noses, but won't always do so on command. You have taken more steps on your own but I still would not consider you to be a "walker." You can drink from a sippy cup with ease, although sometimes you protest. You have your own opinion!!
Pictures taken on and around her birthday. . .Friday, November 6, 2009
In tears. . . .
I know I have so much to catch up on, but this needs to be out there right away. At this moment, I couldn't be happier. Max has had a good day every day this week. This exerpt is part of a dialogue I had with his teacher today:
"
Yes, this has been his best week yet. I hope he can make it today with another smile too! I am so proud of him! Our occupational therapist says the "tackling" is done when a child is seeking sensory input. She suggested having him do some yoga poses, wall pushing, carrying "heavy things" etc. I got out a weighted vest out for him and he "loves" to wear it..... it seems to help him too. He knows several of the yoga poses that we have learned.....the seal, turtle, tree etc."
and then this:
"
I also am glad we have turned the corner with Max. I could see his good side before too but now it is even more obvious. He is really a very bright kid. The other day we went on a walking field trip to look at houses. Max was the child who noticed the the address numbers were close to each other or almost the same. Wow, no one has ever noticed that and I have done the walk for several years. We see him using manners, polite words etc and "teaching" other kids by telling kids how others will feel etc. if they do something wrong. Thanks to the two of you for helping me, help Max."
Wow.
"
Yes, this has been his best week yet. I hope he can make it today with another smile too! I am so proud of him! Our occupational therapist says the "tackling" is done when a child is seeking sensory input. She suggested having him do some yoga poses, wall pushing, carrying "heavy things" etc. I got out a weighted vest out for him and he "loves" to wear it..... it seems to help him too. He knows several of the yoga poses that we have learned.....the seal, turtle, tree etc."
and then this:
"
I also am glad we have turned the corner with Max. I could see his good side before too but now it is even more obvious. He is really a very bright kid. The other day we went on a walking field trip to look at houses. Max was the child who noticed the the address numbers were close to each other or almost the same. Wow, no one has ever noticed that and I have done the walk for several years. We see him using manners, polite words etc and "teaching" other kids by telling kids how others will feel etc. if they do something wrong. Thanks to the two of you for helping me, help Max."
Wow.
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