Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Good times

Yesterday was our third anniversary.  It feels like we've been married much longer than that - not in a bad way, but in a "wow, so much has happened in only three years" way.  We celebrated a little early by sending the kids to Hubby's parents house for a long weekend and enjoying four days and four nights all to ourselves.  We thought about going away somewhere, but decided to just stay at home because of budgetting reasons.  I honestly think it was way more relaxing that way.  We did some yard work on the first day and errands/cleaning on the last, but spent most of the time having fun together - yummy dinners on the grill, cajun festival (that cost way too much for nothing at all), wine tasting (again, too much money for a disappointing experience), golfing, spoiling Brady (who celebrated his 4th birthday on Sunday).  This was our first time apart from the kids together and it was FANTASTIC.  We missed the kids by the end, but we were incredibly thankful for our time together. 

In the meantime, Baby Girl has become a pro at going from laying down to sitting up on her own.  Now when she doesn't want to nap she sits up in her crib and yells.  I wouldn't call it a cry, it's really much more of a yell.  What can I say?  She's a diva already.  She has also pulled herself up to standing on occasion.  Her balance is terrible once she gets up (mostly because her feet are crossed underneath her), but I'm sure that will come quickly. 

Little Man is still Little Man.  He won't talk.  I've decided it's not that he can't talk.  It's that he won't talk.  He is stubborn as they come.  I'm pretty sure he's payback for all of my stubborness.  His new favorite thing is taking off his clothes and diapers.  I know one of these days he's going to do it very quietly after his nap and I'm going to open the door to fingerpainted poop all over his bed and/or wall.  It will be nice when he's potty trained, but I don't foresee that happening anytime too soon.  Until then, I just keep praying he keeps his diaper on if it's a messy one.

Monday, June 13, 2011

And it all falls apart

Well, my last post was all about our parenting style.  At that point in time I felt like we were on the right track.  I mean, we even took our kids out to eat and they were perfect angels!  How much better does it get?  Then suddenly (yesterday) the terrible twos hit.  Or maybe a crazed maniac took over our son's mind and body.  Either way, we're back to feeling like we have no clue what were doing. 

Latest antics with Little Man:

1.  Pushing his sister over.  Baby Girl has FINALLY mastered sitting.  I guess Little Man has taken it upon himself to really put her to the test.  If we aren't right on top of it, he will push her forward.  She doesn't get how to stop herself, so it's nose/face/forehead to the carpet.   Which means screaming by all because she's mad (and when the little princess is mad, she lets you know) and hurt and Little Man goes to time-out which always means screaming by him.  Joys.  I guess there are two good ways to look at it - she'll be tough and hopefully she will quickly learn how to catch herself.  In the meantime, I can no longer turn my back on the two of them, even for a second.  Or to pee.  Or to get someone a bottle.  Or anything else.

2.  Temper tantrums over the most ridiculous things.  UGHHHH.  SO MANY TEMPER TANTRUMS.  It makes me want to throw one.  Instead, I wait until bedtime and enjoy a much deserved/earned beer.  Or two. 

3.  Throwing things - food and juice cups in particular.  One day it was a bowl full of yogurt.  I considered making him skip breakfast.  But I know I can't really do that to a 21 month old.  Instead, it was back to timeout, then a second attempt at breakfast.

4.  Poor afternoon naps.  I feel like this is making the entire situation worse.

I wonder if he's getting his two year molars.  When I tried to check, he tried to bite down on my finger.  So it remains a mystery.  Maybe he's getting sick or something.  Or maybe it's just a passing phase.  Until then, we're keeping the fridge stocked with cold beers.  (jk, sort of.)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

"Parenting" at the Our House

Most days I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.  I just hope and pray that we're not screwing up our kids in some way.  Hubby and I take a more "old school" approach to parenting.  We don't follow any books.  We mostly try to remember what our parents did with us and go with that.  Our families were very similar in parenting style and lifestyle, which makes it easier to be cohesive in our parenting.  We feel like our parents were great parents with expectations, limits, and rules - if we can parent our children as well as they did us, then maybe we'll be on the right path. 

So, what are the expectations right now in our house? 
1.  You sleep through the night.  If our children wake up at during the night, we check on them to make sure they are ok, but there's no getting in our bed.  There's no rocking them back to sleep.  There's no mid-night snacks.  But, if they aren't sick, it's back to sleep you go.  And it works.  They never wake up at night unless something is wrong. 

2.  Bedtime is bedtime and naptime is naptime.  It's when we say it is and it's not open to debate.  Little Man is allowed to "read" in bed, but he usually doesn't last long before he's out like a light.

3.  You eat what's served for dinner or you don't eat at all.  This does not yet apply to Baby Girl, she's only 7 months old and we're still introducing foods.  But since the time that Little Man began eating "people" food for dinner, he's eaten what we eat.  Result?  He eats everything.  He loves fruits and veggies.  He tries new things.  He's not a picky eater.  He has gone to bed without eating much on occasion, but he has yet to starve to death and he will usually eat that meal the next time around.

4.  If you get down from the table you're finished eating.  There is no coming and going, playing and eating at the same time.

5.  You DO NOT color/write on anything but paper.  Not the table, not the floor, not the walls, not your sister.  This lesson was learned yesterday.  Little Man wrote on the wall.  He spent some time in time-out and had to "help" clean it off the wall.  This "rule" was added yesterday.

6.  No standing on the furniture.  No climbing on the back of the couches.  No going on Brady's bed.  This is for Brady's sake.  He needs his own space.  Right now our living room furniture is crappy, but someday we will replace it with nicer stuff and I want my children to already know how to respect things.

That's about it right now.  It's going to be interesting to see how things develop as our children get older.  We are trying very hard to be consistent.  It can be so difficult when we're busy with Baby Girl or making dinner to stop what we're doing to show Little Man that he can't get away with things (i.e. This is his favorite time to test the limits - climb on things, get into things he shouldn't.)  But we're trying and we know we're not perfect.  We just hope our children will grow up to be respectful, considerate, independent adults.  And we know we're going to need lots of help along the way!  :)