The usual excuses.... I work full time... I have two boys.... I'm pooped by the time they go to bed....
And then I realize I spend enough time each week blog-stalking everyone else that I have enough time to blog. Or at least post some pictures of the world's cutest brothers!!
So now do I go back and post Christmas or start fresh?
How about a random smattering of pics in no particular order!
But first, a quick update:
Carson: Where do I start? The end of December found us at our wit's end again with the tantrums, "poop" talk, "I hate you!", "You're not my friend" and so on.
This is where the former teacher in me struggles. I met with his teachers to find out what was happening in school. I am of the opinion (yes, I know I'm very opinionated), that there is one particular child who is influencing Carson, and not in a good way. I chatted with his teachers and the director about their discipline methods and how to best keep the "poop" talk out of the classroom.
And then I stop myself and ask, "Am I being too strict?"
He is a boy after all. A four year old boy. Poop is cool, right? Poop is gross. Everybody poops. Ugh.
So after being told he's "normal", I ran to the library, checked out books on parenting, re-read my teaching discipline bible (Love and Logic), and discovered a great new book (thanks Laurie!), Little Sugar Addicts.
Now we try really hard to serve a protein with each meal. Less simple carbohydrates, more complex carbohydrates, and feed him (like a zoo animal) on a regular schedule, every 3 hours.
Warning, do NOT miss a feeding, this zoo animal will turn into a raging beast when his blood sugar levels fall!
Bi-Polar is the term we use. Nuts, crazy, insane, Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde, that's Carson.
We were also told it's a 6 month cycle of positive growth and behavior and challenging, negative behaviors. Supposedly we're near the bottom and supposed to be heading back up for the next 6 months! If that's true, drinks are on me tonight!
It's like that 80's movie with the Gremlins. There are 3 rules to raising Carson:
1. Feed him every 3 hours.
2. Do not look him directly in the eye.
3. Walk on eggshells until you know what kind of mood he's in.
It's like the weather in Oregon, wait 5 minutes and it'll change!
LOVE the kid! He is the BEST big brother ever!
Shares 75% of the time.
Encourages his brother to join him at the potty (we don't encourage that one).
Speech therapy is interesting. Again, being the former teacher, I realize now how hard it is to see a specialist once a week for 30 minutes and expect instant results. We are trying much harder now to schedule "homework" time for Carson each night and make it fun. We are seeing better results.... we also implemented chocolate chip rewards. So much for curbing the sugar addiction!
Still wearing a pull-up a night. Can't seem to kick the night habit just yet. He would love to, we would love to! We even spent a small fortune on nightlights to light a very specific path from his room to the bathroom so if he wakes up in the middle of the night to go, he doesn't have to wake us up or turn on any lights. It is about 30% successful :)
Keaton:
Hilarious little bugger. Doesn't seem to be growing much.
But it's hard to grow when you don't eat anything but string cheese, cottage cheese, and watermelon. Pickiest eater in the world!
We recently suffered from (I say we because it's so GROSS) two weeks of diarrhea. Daycare kept trying to kick him out because of the "no more than two runny diapers" rule but I can't afford to take that much time off work for a little soupy poopy!
Doc said gimme a poop sample. Oh ya, for the second time in my fledgling career as a mother, I scraped poop out of a diaper with a tongue depressor and into a vial. All that for nothin' too! No bacteria, just a "long lived virus". He's now on a daily probiotic to "firm things up".
Talking... a whole lotta nuttin' yet. Doc said not to worry. I've given up worrying about his delays in development. I realize he was put on this earth to test my competitive nature. Keaton does things at his own pace. It all happens eventually. He says, Mommy, Daddy, Dog-dog, Moh, and Uh oh.
Swimming is going better. Keaton is a bit timid and a mama's boy so he bawled 70% of the first class. Second class was about 50% crying. And our third class today was much better. He should be having fun by Hawaii in August!
You can tell Keaton is a second child. Carson had the cutest swim trunks for his first class. Keaton is wearing the cheesy blue swim underpants required by the pool... and that's it. He looks ridiculous but when the three of us are all soaking wet, freezing cold, and trying to crowd into the ridiculously small curtained changing room, the less he has on the better!
Have you ever tried to take wet swim trunks AND underpants off while bending over and praying your keister doesn't push open the curtain! Less is better!
This was the first swim class where all of us left in dry clothes! When you're a mom, you count the small victories!
First swim class, Carson and I left with soaking wet jeans because our swim suits dripped water all over the "dry" area. And I did I mention Keaton peed all over the floor. Had to report it to the management, embarrassing!
Second swim class, I thought I had figured it all out! But alas, Keaton somehow ended up in soaking wet jeans. Oh and by the way, it's about 40 degrees out! Wet jeans and cold weather SUCK! This time the pee was contained in the swim underpants and only landed on the used towel.
I NAILED it today! All three of us left in dry clothes! Only a little pee spill to report.
That's it for the updates. Sorry for the long post. One little boy just woke up so my time is limited. Pictures to follow!
