I'm not sure what happened. At some point over the last couple of weeks, my sweet little angel Dane has been replaced by a screaming, crying, tantrum throwing, snot bubble blowing, bad-attitude-having toddler. He glares at me and others, hits people and things, throws things and throws himself on the ground. And yes, I have that child. The one who screams. The kind of child that, before I had children, I would roll my eyes at, plug my ears and ask "why is that baby's mom letting it scream like that! Ugh. How annoying." He screams for fun, sometimes looking very proud of himself. I've tried everything - ignoring, sternly telling him "NO Dane! We don't scream" giving him a little pops on the mouth. I've certainly not resorted to locking myself in my closet for a few moments of sweet muffled silence, screaming that I might go crazy if he doesn't stop while on the verge of tears, or indulging in a glass of wine or two. No, definitely not.
I don't know what happened. Looking back I wondered if maybe this change in behavior was directly correlated to the paci weaning. After pondering it for a couple of days I decided that giving my sweet baby back his paci (or is it the paci giving me back my sweet baby - anyway) I decided it was worth a try. So out came the paci right back into Dane's waiting mouth. He quickly picked back up his finely tuned skills of fully operating with paci intact.
I dropped him off at his babysitters this morning - paci in mouth. Chas looked horrified when she opened the door, pointed at Dane asking "what's that!?" Before I could answer she informed me that Dane didn't take a paci at her house and hadn't cried for one in, well, she couldn't even remember when. (she also claims he doesn't scream at her house) hmmm, very interesting. I was *sure* he would be crying for his paci today, probably letting out continuous ear piercing screams until she texted me and admitted she wished she would have kept it. She would see. And nope, she didn't want to keep it on the counter "just in case."
I picked up the little darlings and Dane came running "mommy! mommy!" And the minute he rounded the corner toddling over as fast as he could with outstretched arms he began chanting PACI PACI PACI PACI over and over. Wide-eyed I looked at Chas and said "See! Do you hear what he's saying!" "Yes" she said "he didn't ask for it one time today! Did he, Will?" Will then confirmed with a shake of the head that nope, he hadn't asked for it. I think my little angel might be playing his Momma.
Oh, and all this didn't change his screaming or his tantrums. I guess the moral of the story is that we've entered the terrible twos at 18 months. Woo Hoo.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Word
Will has been asking me in the mornings: "Where will I be going today?" and often in the evenings: "What will I be having for dinner?" I think it's so funny to hear that kind of language come out of my 4 year old's mouth. And because sometimes improper grammar sounds a little like nails on a chalkboard to me, this sounds like music to my ears. We've long joked that Will's accent can vary from the deep south, to Chicago to New York, depending on the day - and now he's adding this.
And speaking of grammar, Dane's vocabulary is literally exploding. It seems like everything I say, he repeats part of it. I won't even list things he's saying because it's so much I wouldn't even know where to start. It is so cute. And the best part about it is that he's beginning to be able to communicate with me. He's known "blanket" and "paci" for a while now, so those two are easy. And a few times when he's been fussy he's brought my drink to me, which gets the point across. But he is beginning to say "milk" (which he doesn't even particularly like) or "juice" when he's thirsty. That's a huge milestone, when he can actually let me know what he wants rather than him cry and me guess. And guess. And guess. One that pushes him further away from being my baby and closer to being a little person. So it's very exciting for Daddy - who very much prefers the little people who can communicate to the babies who make him panic when they cry. :)
And speaking of grammar, Dane's vocabulary is literally exploding. It seems like everything I say, he repeats part of it. I won't even list things he's saying because it's so much I wouldn't even know where to start. It is so cute. And the best part about it is that he's beginning to be able to communicate with me. He's known "blanket" and "paci" for a while now, so those two are easy. And a few times when he's been fussy he's brought my drink to me, which gets the point across. But he is beginning to say "milk" (which he doesn't even particularly like) or "juice" when he's thirsty. That's a huge milestone, when he can actually let me know what he wants rather than him cry and me guess. And guess. And guess. One that pushes him further away from being my baby and closer to being a little person. So it's very exciting for Daddy - who very much prefers the little people who can communicate to the babies who make him panic when they cry. :)
Friday, October 21, 2011
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Will is aaaall boy. He loves being outside, getting dirty, playing rough, all that good stuff. He's never been a big fan of sitting down to color, do work books, games, etc. He'll occasionally like to work a puzzle, and of course we read lots, but other than that he'd rather be digging a hole in our yard or stalking his brother with a nerf gun. Recently he's shown an interest in painting. Not coloring, painting. So I've encouraged him quite a bit and we even have a painting station permanently set up on our bar so he can do a "paint-by" (similar to a drive-by, but where he can run past with his truck and stop for a minute to do a quick painting) This morning he painted me a bird. My expectations may be low, since I'm just now beginning to witness his talent, but I think we may have a budding painter on our hands. This is good!
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
This is the 2nd time I've heard Dane say "Hi Daddy!" and I am thrilled that I actually caught it on video! My little angel is notorious for doing something cute so I run to grab my phone/the camera, do my best to nonchalantly encourage him to do it again, then lets out a screech and "NO!" (which he sometimes combines into one very unpleasant sound).
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Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Couple of updates.
Dane is doing really great without his beloved paci! The first couple of days had some rough patches, but that's all they were - patches. At night he gets a little bit fussy, but overall you can hardly tell he is missing it. I'm so proud of my little guy!!!
Cleanse... I made it 3 days. Far cry from my initial goal of 5. But I really stuck to it for 3. It was hard; much harder than I thought it would be. I lost about 3 lbs when I didn't even intend to. I ate more food than was suggested, but I stuck to the correct meals and foods. For example, between meals I would have a snack of an approved hard boiled egg (or 2) so I didn't go into a shaking rage because I was so hungry. I did learn a few lessons from this experience:
I don't miss cheese on my salads.
I actually like a salad with all spinach (no reg. lettuce needed)
I like balsamic vinaigrette
I don't need much salt
I really like almond butter!
I need to use a lot more cinnamon - fantastic spice and powerful antioxidant
I still don't care for raspberries
The biggest lesson that I learned is to listen to my body. My body didn't like this cleanse, and it didn't like it from day 1. The whole 3 days I was nauseous, had very low energy and overall I didn't feel good. I do however feel very motivated to continue making the effort to switch to an organic and natural diet. So motivated, in fact, that I spent $137 at Kroger today stocking up...
Overall: Mission Accomplished!
Dane is doing really great without his beloved paci! The first couple of days had some rough patches, but that's all they were - patches. At night he gets a little bit fussy, but overall you can hardly tell he is missing it. I'm so proud of my little guy!!!
Cleanse... I made it 3 days. Far cry from my initial goal of 5. But I really stuck to it for 3. It was hard; much harder than I thought it would be. I lost about 3 lbs when I didn't even intend to. I ate more food than was suggested, but I stuck to the correct meals and foods. For example, between meals I would have a snack of an approved hard boiled egg (or 2) so I didn't go into a shaking rage because I was so hungry. I did learn a few lessons from this experience:
I don't miss cheese on my salads.
I actually like a salad with all spinach (no reg. lettuce needed)
I like balsamic vinaigrette
I don't need much salt
I really like almond butter!
I need to use a lot more cinnamon - fantastic spice and powerful antioxidant
I still don't care for raspberries
The biggest lesson that I learned is to listen to my body. My body didn't like this cleanse, and it didn't like it from day 1. The whole 3 days I was nauseous, had very low energy and overall I didn't feel good. I do however feel very motivated to continue making the effort to switch to an organic and natural diet. So motivated, in fact, that I spent $137 at Kroger today stocking up...
Overall: Mission Accomplished!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Love the Paci
Dane has mastered the art of speaking, crying and even sneezing all while keeping his Paci intact. Therefore, I decided it was about time to start weaning him off of it. ...which... I wasn't all too excited about. I think it's cute. He's my baby, and I don't mind one bit if he sucks on that thing until he's 3. ...but... I know that's not the right thing to do, and helping him break the habit now will be easier on him than doing it when he's older.
We are on day 3 of no Paci except for naps and bedtime. It's going okay, if you don't mind crying fits, aggression, and major grumpiness. All in all he's doing well I think.
We are on day 3 of no Paci except for naps and bedtime. It's going okay, if you don't mind crying fits, aggression, and major grumpiness. All in all he's doing well I think.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The CLEANSE
I have decided to do a cleanse. I've been wanting to do one for years. In fact, I bought a cleanse "kit" from GNC just before I got pregnant with Will and it's still sitting in my closet, untouched and expired. I have a few different reasons for wanting to do this....
1. I do think it's important to eat good foods and although I don't always do that, I think that ridding my body of the bad things occasionally is a good thing. I'm hoping this cleanse will do that.
2. I've been wanting to (and have begun to) eat organic and get rid of artificial sweeteners altogether. This means no diet cokes (pops, etc) no splenda in my coffee, no "light" drinks, no crystal light. All things I've been terrible about over the past few years. I figured a cleanse (the right one) would help me jump start into my new eating habits. Plus I need to stop some bad eating habits that I currently have (putting the boys to bed and grabbing the cookie dough/cottage cheese/ice cream tub and going to town) I'm hoping this "re-set" of my eating habits will help with that as well.
3. And finally, as I get older and especially since my boys were born I'm becoming very aware of how precious life is and how important it is to take care of ourselves. My body is not only mine now, it's the body of my boys' mother. Cancer runs rampant in my family, and the thought of getting cancer or some other illness and thinking back, wishing I had eaten better, avoided processed and artificial foods and sweeteners, wondering if that contributed at all, wishing I had made different choices, well, I can't even imagine.
Recently my sister in law started The Cinch diet. It has a 5 Day Fast Forward eating plan, which is my new cleanse. Among other things, it: "promotes "clean eating" of healthy, natural foods without artificial ingredients, additives, or artificial sweeteners........eating only organic eggs, spinach, almonds, raspberries, and yogurt or vegan alternatives........It may also help reduce cravings and encourage an appreciation of the natural flavors of whole foods..........The purpose of the five-day plan is to help you to detox from unhealthy foods without feeling deprived."
Basically you are supposed to eat different combinations of the 5 foods, 4 times a day. They have the recipes figured out for you. It's very simple. When I ran across this I thought "perfect!" I love all these foods (minus the raspberries - don't like the seeds) and I already eat them often. How hard can this be? Well, I'll tell you. At the end of day 1 I'm feeling sick and can. not. believe. I have 4 more days of this. I'm not sure why because every meal tastes good to me. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the mass, bulk amounts of these foods staring at me every time I open the refrigerator makes me ill. Blech. I seriously want to stop right now. ....but..... I think at this point I'm going to push through for a bit longer. If for no other reason than I have so much of all of these foods, and I don't want to be wasteful. I know that if I can get through this week I'll feel better, I'll feel a sense of accomplishment and I may have even lost a couple of pounds. I thought it would be really easy since I do enjoy these foods, but ugh. At this point it's going to take some serious self motivation to get through it. We'll see....
1. I do think it's important to eat good foods and although I don't always do that, I think that ridding my body of the bad things occasionally is a good thing. I'm hoping this cleanse will do that.
2. I've been wanting to (and have begun to) eat organic and get rid of artificial sweeteners altogether. This means no diet cokes (pops, etc) no splenda in my coffee, no "light" drinks, no crystal light. All things I've been terrible about over the past few years. I figured a cleanse (the right one) would help me jump start into my new eating habits. Plus I need to stop some bad eating habits that I currently have (putting the boys to bed and grabbing the cookie dough/cottage cheese/ice cream tub and going to town) I'm hoping this "re-set" of my eating habits will help with that as well.
3. And finally, as I get older and especially since my boys were born I'm becoming very aware of how precious life is and how important it is to take care of ourselves. My body is not only mine now, it's the body of my boys' mother. Cancer runs rampant in my family, and the thought of getting cancer or some other illness and thinking back, wishing I had eaten better, avoided processed and artificial foods and sweeteners, wondering if that contributed at all, wishing I had made different choices, well, I can't even imagine.
Recently my sister in law started The Cinch diet. It has a 5 Day Fast Forward eating plan, which is my new cleanse. Among other things, it: "promotes "clean eating" of healthy, natural foods without artificial ingredients, additives, or artificial sweeteners........eating only organic eggs, spinach, almonds, raspberries, and yogurt or vegan alternatives........It may also help reduce cravings and encourage an appreciation of the natural flavors of whole foods..........The purpose of the five-day plan is to help you to detox from unhealthy foods without feeling deprived."
Basically you are supposed to eat different combinations of the 5 foods, 4 times a day. They have the recipes figured out for you. It's very simple. When I ran across this I thought "perfect!" I love all these foods (minus the raspberries - don't like the seeds) and I already eat them often. How hard can this be? Well, I'll tell you. At the end of day 1 I'm feeling sick and can. not. believe. I have 4 more days of this. I'm not sure why because every meal tastes good to me. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe the mass, bulk amounts of these foods staring at me every time I open the refrigerator makes me ill. Blech. I seriously want to stop right now. ....but..... I think at this point I'm going to push through for a bit longer. If for no other reason than I have so much of all of these foods, and I don't want to be wasteful. I know that if I can get through this week I'll feel better, I'll feel a sense of accomplishment and I may have even lost a couple of pounds. I thought it would be really easy since I do enjoy these foods, but ugh. At this point it's going to take some serious self motivation to get through it. We'll see....
This weekend I got a new phone (the new Droid Bionic!!). I was clearing out my old phone and realized that some of the apps that I had for Will still worked, even though there was no service to the phone. I was so excited to give Will the old phone with working apps that he could play whenever he wants! So I cleared out my main page and moved over the apps that I had installed for him. I was so excited to show him his very own phone with the puzzle, paint, matching and piano games! I called him over and explained he could have it, all his own, with the games to play whenever his little heart desired. He was so precious, grateful, and excited about it. I was showing him how to start up the phone, where the "home" button was for when he wanted to switch games, etc.... But then he said, what about Angry Birds? I explained that I didn't think Angry Birds was going to work, but all the other apps were there. He said "no, Angry Birds can work too." I said no honey, I don't think it will, but..... He interrupted "no, let me see it.." He took the phone, pressed the menu button which took him to all of my apps, found Angry Birds, opened it up and started playing.
Well then.
Well then.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Will has been full of them tonight..
- Will: "Mom, can I play Angry Birds on your phone?"
Me: "Just a minute."
Will: "Can I play angry birds? ... Can I play angry birds? .... Can I play angry birds on your phone!?"
Me: "Yes, Will, just a minute!"
Will: "Mom. I'll give you ten dollars if you let me play angry birds on your phone."
- From a little boy who normally doesn't like his little brother going in his room.... Me: "Will, where's Dane's new truck?"
Will: "I put it in my room .......in case he wanted to play in here."
- and finally, I had asked him to put his dirty clothes from today in the dirty clothes hampers. I noticed he forgot a sock on the floor so I pointed it out and he responded "Mom, I parked that sock there!"
- Will: "Mom, can I play Angry Birds on your phone?"
Me: "Just a minute."
Will: "Can I play angry birds? ... Can I play angry birds? .... Can I play angry birds on your phone!?"
Me: "Yes, Will, just a minute!"
Will: "Mom. I'll give you ten dollars if you let me play angry birds on your phone."
- From a little boy who normally doesn't like his little brother going in his room.... Me: "Will, where's Dane's new truck?"
Will: "I put it in my room .......in case he wanted to play in here."
- and finally, I had asked him to put his dirty clothes from today in the dirty clothes hampers. I noticed he forgot a sock on the floor so I pointed it out and he responded "Mom, I parked that sock there!"
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