Interview Your Child - #2

Last year I started a new tradition of interviewing my children around their birthdays.  I gave it a go again the other day and this is what they had to say:

AL was up first.

Favorites:

cereal - "Raisin cereal" (Raisin Bran)
vegetable - "Cucumbers" (2 years in a row)
drink - "Grape Juice"
toy - "Strawberry Shortcake" (2 years in a row)
TV Show - "Polar Express" (she was watching it at the time so I would argue this one!)
game - "Pop Goes the Pig"
book - "Strawberry Shortcake's Valentine's Day"
restaurant - "Dairy Queen"
holiday - "Christmas" (2 years in a row)
animal - "Horses, cats and bunnies"
color - "red"

If you could change your name, what would you choose? "Rock Star AL"

What do you love about each person in our family?
Mom - "When I give you hugs"
Dad - "He always gives nose kisses"
JA - "When he gives me birthday presents"
Baby W - " He holds my finger and smiles at us"


Where would you like to go on vacation this year? "The beach, the mountains and Disneyland"


What are some of your wishes for this year? "a train ride"

Who is your best friend? "E ___ " (2 years in a row)

What does Daddy do at work? "Works at paying a lot of money"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A rock star and a fireman girl"

**********************************************************************************

JA's answers:

Favorites:

cereal - "hot cereal" (oatmeal)
vegetable - "apples"  (2 years in a row.....I guess we need to work on the whole fruits and veggie thing)
drink - "Chocolate milk" (2 years in a row)
toy - "Lightening McQueen and Finn Mcmissle"
TV Show - "Max and Ruby"
game - "Spiderman game"
book - "McQueen Book that talks"  (Grandma recorded a book for him)
restaurant - "one with cheeseburgers at it"
holiday - "when I get to go in the elevator at the hotel"
animal - "hamsters" (totally random)
color - "blue"

If you could change your name, what would you choose? "J.T.H" (his full name)

What do you love about each person in our family?
Mom - "Parties"
Dad -"he chases me"
AL - "she eats food"

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? "The blue waterslide" (we had just gotten back from a little trip and the poor boy was about an inch too short to go on the waterslide!)

What are some of your wishes for this year? "a bouncy house"

Who is your best friend? "AL"  (melt my heart)

What does Daddy do at work? "Drives his car"  What does he do after he gets there in his car?  "nothing"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A Policeman"

I love seeing how my children change each year.  So fun!  We will be doing this for years to come for sure.

My Favorite Time of the Day

Without fail my absolute favorite, melt my heart moment of the day is when I head to bed and check on the kids. I think every Mom should have that sweet moment when she sees her children looking so peaceful and angelic! (Especially after the days that try your patience)
My children are opposite in the way they go to sleep. JA pretty much crashes the moment his head hits the pillow and so when I go to close his door he is still all tucked in the way I left him at bed time. So adorable and sweet.
AL on the other hand loves to play for an hour in her bed before she falls asleep. Most nights I get a pretty good laugh out of how I find her positioned in her bed, often surrounded by a mountain of toys or books. She may have added to her attire and be wearing socks on her hands like a pair of gloves and every light in her room may be a blaze. Over the last month she has insisted that she sleep horizontally across her bed. Last night when I went to "de-clutter" her sleeping area I couldn't resist grabbing the camera even at the risk of waking her up.

Yup, that fish is a mat from her bathroom floor! Love these moments.

A day

It is always amazing the difference a day can make.

On Wednesday afternoon we were out enjoying the warm (8 above)sunshine. T raked the grass and the kids played in the sandbox.

On Thursday the snow began to fly and boy did it come down in buckets. We spent Thursday afternoon and then evening making snow angels, building snow mountains to climb and going for a sled ride. As much as I crave summer time this snow was seriously so fun. We rarely get snow through the winter that is combined with mild enough temps to get out and play and sticky enough to build anything with it. Fun!

In other news JA and I have entered into an official Potty Training mission this week. What a difference a day can make during this parental torture ;)

My Buddy has given me a run for my money and really fought the potty training for the last 8-10 months. He is a very routine kid and change really takes him time to adjust to. He loves his diapers (is even pretty particular about what character should be on them). He will never be caught without being fully clothed at all times (going bare bottom or pantless is not in the cards for him). BUT he has made some serious progress in the last 2 1/2 days.
I had been planning for the past month or so to just get it done next week over Spring Break when we wouldn't have a million things pulling us out the door but on Wednesday when AL came down with the stomach flu I saw the opportunity and went for it. By noon on Wednesday I was ready to quit, between accidents and another child with the flu I was DONE!

JA now has over 20 stickers on his chart (working towards a Finn McMissle toy)and has eaten at least that many little treats, including several for #2's.........hooray! He is seriously so proud of himself. He has been waking up with dry pull ups too (that is a good 12 hours of being dry)and hasn't had an accident since Wednesday morning. I am one pleased Momma.

Decisions

My little Buddy has been going for speech therapy over the last year. Two is the magical age to get any sort of speech assistance BUT it is focused on helping the parents assist their child in building a good base of words. The past year I have gone to seminars on this topic and then we have attended a monthly play and say group where speech therapists and assistants work with 2 or 3 kids and their parents in a play setting and model tactics for parents and take notes on the children.
Now that JA is finally at the magical age of 3 he can be more formally assessed to see which funding and programs he qualifies for. JA and I headed to the health centre this morning for his formal assessment. I must admit that I was stressed and praying hard for it to go well. JA is sooooo shy and I always feel like every time we have gone to the play group he must be in pain being so quiet and shy; literally the moment we would walk out of the door he would talk and talk and talk but would barely say a word while there.
He was for sure shy today and really didn't string an entire sentence together as often as he can but he did warm up and give simple answers. It was a long tough process of testing via flip charts, pictures, having him complete sentences, etc with small breaks to play or treats as bribes to keep going! It was painful for him and for me. It was so hard to watch and see him not answer something correctly because it was too complex for him or just because he was tired and really does know the answers. (ie one of the more extreme examples, Point to the smallest cat that is closest to the turtle? Not one cat was located next to the turtle and there were several small cats in the pic. When he points to a small cat that isn't closest to the turtle he is scored a zero. Complex.) It is always hard to see your child not understand something.
He was assessed as having a severe speech delay in the 1st percentile and 15th percentile for understanding. I know that it isn't a completely accurate assessment of where he is at but I know that he is behind for sure.
I got in the van, called T and had a little cry and then resolved to get him the help he needs.
He qualifies for ECS programs that are located in elementary schools at various locations, 4 times a week for 3 hours with bus service provided. I was immediately discouraged after calling all of the schools anywhere close to our house and finding out that they don't take children that aren't in their neighborhood. There is no school in our neighborhood with this program. I called schools as far as a half hour drive away to find all are full. One school that is about 20 mins away put him on their wait list (#33 with 18 accepted). Discouraging.
I finally got in touch with two organizations that will partner with your child and the community preschool that you have him registerd in and that you pay for. They will send him an educational assistant to work with him each and every day he is in preschool and then monthly visits for an assortment of speech, OT, behavior experts. Both organizations are meeting with me next week to discuss their program. They both stressed how valuable it is to place a child in their community program with "normal" children that don't have speech delays or other delays and can model the language they want him to learn. One program in particular really struck a cord with me (and my teaching background) on the plans and goals they put in place. I am feeling much more hopeful now.
With a new baby this summer and one child starting kindergarten at the school down the road keeping JA in the neighborhood preschool seems so much more appealing then shipping him off on the bus half way across town.
Now to start applying to the provincial education program to get him qualified for all of this funding now that the assessment is complete.
Anyone who has some local insight and advice on the subject please pass it on to me.

Interview Your Child

I came across this idea today to interview your child yearly. So fun.
I figured I might as well try to interview our new 4 year old. These are AL's questions and answers.

Favorites:

cereal - "Big Squares (aka Mini Wheats) and Cheerios"
vegetable - "Cucumbers"
drink - "Apple Juice"
toy - "Strawberry Shortcake"
TV Show - "George" (Curious George)
game - "Elephant" (Elefun)
book - "Worms for Lunch; actually no, all the books"
restaurant - "Uncle Donalds" (McDonalds)
holiday - "Christmas"
animal - "Cats and dogs"
color - "Pink and purple"

If you could change your name, what would you choose? "What? My name is AL"


What do you love about each person in our family? (this one was a bit tricky)
Mom - "You cut up the cantaloupe" (I think this was a hint that she wanted me to cut up the cantaloupe that was sitting on the counter)
Dad - "He plays horsey ride and elevator with me"
James - "Cars"


Where would you like to go on vacation this year? "The Mountains" (she is always asking to do this)


What are some of your wishes for this year? "Money, Money, Money" (Oh dear!)

Who is your best friend? "E ___ & M ____"

What does Daddy do at work? "Works. Then he gets changed when he comes home"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A Princess"

It will be fun to ask her the same questions in the years to come.

I tried to ask JA a few of the questions but didn't get as far with him! Some of his favorites:

Cereal - "Bread"
Vegetable - "Apples"
Drink - "Milk" (chocolate milk)
Toy - "Cars"
TV Show - "Mum-as" (Thomas the Train)
Game - "Trucks"

Sure love this guy and look forward to interviewing him next year when I know his communication skills will have increased that much more.

Out into the World

Yesterday was AL's first preschool class on her own. She of course had a fantastic time; she walked in the classroom door and never looked back.
Rewind to 4am when I awoke in a panic. I was startled awake with the realization that I still have so much to teach her before she goes out into the world on her own. I started to question why I had ever placed a step stool in our bathroom; does my little girl actually know how to hop up onto a toilet without a step? (of course she can) Would she be fine at school in the bathroom? (of course she was) My mind started spinning, had I taught her to say "please" and "thank you" well enough? If another child in the class was crying or upset would she know to go and be a friend? Would she ask the teacher for help when she needs it?
My mind raced in a million different directions and I spent many moments this morning trying to reinforce the things that I had hoped I had already taught her.
As we knelt and said a little prayer before we headed out the door, I realized that perhaps the thing I hope she has learned the most is to turn to the Lord when she needs Him.
My job is far from over and today gave me a glimpse into the heavy load that comes with being a mother but I am still excited (and a little overwhelmed) with the task to teach and mould little ones in to wonderful little people. I too will be praying for extra help with this one!

Busy Busy Week

This past week was just plain busy......trying to get my head around my new calling, an afternoon of the worst stomach flu, meetings, running, dance pictures, preschool, planning sharing time, 8 out of town guests for the night, a SIL that moved in at the last moment, a baptism to attend, errands, tons of cleaning, a night with only 2 hrs of sleep, etc etc etc!
Most of my week isn't too blog worthy and the truth is that I have hardly had a moment to think about blogging BUT I just glanced at my camera to see if I had even take a single pic to share and I knew I just had to share these ones.
For preschool this week the girls went to my friend's house and they made just the sweetest bouquet of flowers for their mothers.

Now the flowers were adorable but the card is what really caught me off guard with emotion! (I will treasure it forever)


*click on pic to enlarge*

I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to be a mother.

small moments

My son's small, two year old, hand grasps tightly onto my finger on my left side and my three year old daughter follows closely, on my right side. The sun is shining, the snow is melting and spring is in the air. As we round the corner to where the sidewalk meets the walking trail, a squeal of delight escapes my sons mouth as he catches a glimpse of the neighborhood pond. His tiny hand releases his grasp and he takes off running down the path with his sister by his side.
Little yellow rubber boots stop to jump in the melting snow puddles. Bare hands splash in the icy cold, trickles of water that flow in all directions along the path. Giggles and smiles warm my heart.


I am struck with a sudden wish to just slow down time; a desire to tell my children not to grow up so fast. It is so strong that it takes me a minute to catch my breath and carry on running after them.

Redirecting the energy

On any given day in our house there is a lot of this

possibly some of this

and this

and hand washing that leaves the bathroom dripping from floor to ceiling and dog food that just can't seem to stay out of the dog water.

In an attempt to redirect some of that energy after both kids got off a time out, I pulled out the vacuum and let them go at it.

They did a surprisingly decent job. I was doing dishes and found them heading towards the living room like this.....


Gotta love it!

"No TV Time"

I have a little confession (don't judge me too harshly). Here it is: My kids watch too much TV during the winter!
During the summer months our TV hardly gets turned on; we are just too busy playing and having fun outside. Sadly the winter has been an entirely different story. My kids go off and play, we bake, do crafts, play games, etc but I often notice the TV is still on regardless.
I have been trying to make an effort to limit TV time but finally came up with a concrete way that the kids understand. I made a little sign to hang by the TV when it is our "No TV Time". During these set hours the TV can not be turned on (it doesn't however mean that we watch TV the entire time when the sign is not up; it is just an option at this time). By setting a time frame it has made me be a better Mom and actively find ways to fill this time with the kids.

Today during our "No TV Time" this morning we made St.Patrick's Day decorations to get us in the spirit of March. We played hide in seek, did laundry, got a few things ready for preschool, played with toys, read library books, had a few squabbles, and ran a few laps around the kitchen island!


I can tell that this is going to be a real positive thing in our house. What do you do to fill these endless winter days indoors?

Cabin Fever Reliever

We had just the best morning. After spending so much time indoors with sick kids we were all going a little bit stir crazy! Yesterday was an all time low when my JA had a 25 min temper tantrum in the lobby of AL's dance studio (it only ended when I left the building and took him for a drive). I have been racking my brain for an idea of what to do with the kids that a.)Doesn't cost much (especially in case my little Buddy has a melt down and we need to leave in a rush) AND b.)A place that isn't crawling with toddler germs (ie.indoor play grounds) because I can't handle another week of sickness for a while.
In the middle of the night the perfect idea came to me. We headed out to the grocery store this morning and survived with minimal incidence. We then drove across the parking lot to our awaiting adventure at this place.

We practically had the place to ourselves and had so much fun. We looked at the fish, the hamsters, gerbils,birds,lizards and snakes. The kids filled the store with squeals of delight. We admired the kittens and watched a puppy having his hair cut. We visited with a fellow customer that had their dog in the store. To top off our trip we came home with 4 lovely gold fish for a grand total of $1.26. When we got home we took the old aquarium out of the basement and set up a new home for our golden friends in AL's room.
The kids have spent the majority of the day like this:

They even ate their lunch in this very spot. I have found them reading stories to their fish, showing them their toys and watching their every move.


We will for sure be stopping back at the pet shop again!

Success

I woke up one happy Momma this morning.
If I said I haven't had a full night of sleep in months (possibly 3 years) I wouldn't be exaggerating. My little boy has given me a run for my money in the sleep department. He was the perfect newborn and slept so well through the night that I started sub teaching when he was 4 months old BUT at some point things changed big time. We have done lots of days of crying it out but eventually it becomes easier to just get up and give him a cup of milk and be back in bed in 2 mins over listening to the crying all night and waking the entire household.
Out of pure exhaustion I decided that he can no longer have a cup of milk at bed so he learns to get to sleep on his own (I know, I am a slow learner). Anyway, last night he cried a bit BUT the boy who hasn't let me get 2 whole hours of sleep this past week slept 13 hours last night! Amazing.
We have been potty training AL the past 12 days and she has AMAZED me! The kids ended up with strep throat this week so it gave us even more time at home. She has gone from a few days of bare bottom training to panties to being fully clothed. She hasn't had an accident in a week and I never have to ask her to go to the bathroom she just runs off on her own and does it. She has filled her sticker chart (which has now become a two sided sticker chart because she loves it that much). She has not only put a sticker in each square of the chart but most have 3 stickers per square and she doesn't seem to clue in that it is full..........I love it!
She sleeps in a pull up at night and after she slept an amazing 13 hours last night she came and got me with a very DRY pull up on and ran to the potty!! Success.
We are still working on getting comfortable with the large sized toilet so she wears a pull up when we are out (which hasn't been much this week) but I know it will just be a matter of time.
I am so proud of my kidlets.

**Sorry no cute pics.....the responsible Daddy of the house mentioned he didn't want to see any pics of his little lady in her adorable panties to surface on my blog.....at least one parent is on the ball!****

He's growing up!

At 22 months old this little guy weighed in at 22lbs this morning! He may still be little but he is growing up slowly but surely.

JA had a big moment this morning. He had his first hair cut! He really doesn't have much hair in the front but it has been growing in the back. He has adorable curls when it is wet but the rest of the time it is a mess. (I tried to take a before pic but this was the best I could get with a man on the move)

My friend cut it for him and he did really well but i had to hold him since all he wanted to do was go play with the toys and the rest of the kids. He doesn't look too much different from the front but he sure is handsome in the back!



I have been working on some serious sleep training with JA these past couple nights after months and months of him not sleeping through the night. He did used to sleep through the night but it seems he always has an upset tummy, a cold or teething or bowel movements, etc that keep cause him to wake. Well, I NEED my sleep so we have had a couple nights of crying it out when he goes to bed. The first night he woke once in the night and then last night he slept the WHOLE night through! I am feeling pretty hopeful now. He is lactose intolerant too which always adds to the problem of tummy issues in the night but he can now take Lactaid which I can tell is making a difference as well (it seems everything always has a bit of dairy in it)
Every day he learns new words and does new things. JA keeps life exciting and busy but I wouldn't trade him for anything.

One of those days

Today was one of those days where nothing seems to run smoothly. I was up every 1-2 hours with the little man all night (he has a bad cold) and I don't think he has slept through the night in weeks....maybe months leading up to this. Exhaustion and myself don't get along well!
Anyway, we headed out to the grocery store first thing in the morning and I realized half way there that I had forgotten my grocery list for my meal plan for the week .....strike one. When we rolled into the store the little lady started crying as per usual. I feel bad admitting this but my daughter is a bit of a "racist" and I don't know what to do about it.
In the middle of the summer I was out shopping with her in the cart. She has never been a fan of strange men smiling at her or talking to her when we are in public, anyway, when I turned my back an old East Indian Man with a full turban and long beard had come up to her and was tickling her chin (she lost it 2 seconds later). Ever since this she has freaked out every time she sees a similar looking man. AND where we live it happens everywhere we go. I would love any advice on what to do about this one!
Back to our day; after we ran through the store to avoid further crying, we stopped at one more store and then headed to the library. The little man was beyond grouchy at this point and I was the Mom with the kid loosing it in the library. The noise level of the other patrons at the library sure does help to draw all attention your way when you have a screaming child. I unloaded all the books on the self check out only to scan my card and find out it had expired.....oh good. I then reloaded our stash and headed to the line up at the main desk. It was a painful, long and noisy wait.
When we got home I promptly put the grouchy boy to bed but moments later the door bell was ringing and the dog was howling......and inevitably the boy was crying!
It was my friendly monthly visit from a neighbor lady doing door to door messages for her own church. I always admire her for being brave enough to spread her message to her neighbors so I always take the time to chat with her, but today was BAD timing! I eventually got the boy to sleep.
The little lady some how managed to get a "Wiggles" video into the library bag so we of course watched that during down time today. All I have to say is that if I hear the "Wiggles" one more time today my head might explode. Funny how one has little or no patience when they are lacking some serious sleep.
The rest of the day flew by with lots of crying and a husband that was caught in late meeting at work and topped off with a hot dog dinner (because I of course forgot a few of the ingredients I needed for what I had planned since I didn't have a list and was trying to quiet my crying girl).
I know that this day wasn't really that bad but it sure does help me appreciate the well rested nights and smooth days. Oh that and it sure does make sitting back and watching Vampire Diaries right now that much more enjoyable!!
Tomorrow is a new day.

These Two

I had one of those moments that just melted my heart this morning. JA and AL had been busy playing in JA's room. They love to play in there and forbid me to open the door. I can hear them chatting away and laughing over the baby monitor. I often hear AL "reading" books to her brother. Anyway, they finally came out and I said to AL, "It sure is nice to have a friend to play with" to which she replied "Mom, James he is my best friend". I seriously had to choke back the tears. I hope they always feel that way!







I just love moments like these.

A Privilege

I took JA to the Health Centre yesterday to get his 18 month immunizations. (He is actually almost 20 months but we were a bit behind schedule!) Anyway, my little guy is just that, LITTLE. He weighed in at 21 1/2 pounds (1/2 a pound heavier than in January) and 32 1/2 inches. That put him in the 3rd percentile for his age! They weren't too stressed about it though so that was good.
JA did well yesterday but he woke up in the middle of the night with a high fever and crying in pain. It just breaks my heart to see my children that way. After hooking him up with Advil and a blessing from his Daddy I spent the next hour with him in his room rocking him in the rocking chair as he whimpered and eventually fell back asleep.
As I was rocking him I was over whelmed with the thought to just enjoy this moment rocking my baby. It was a privilege to be there with him at that moment. They really grow up so fast and I was struck with the realization that there won't be that many more moments of rocking my "baby" to sleep.
As I rocked him the words to an old familiar Robert Munch book kept going through my mind;
"she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be. "

(Love You Forever by Robert Munsch)

13 and a 1/2 Months

It is hard to believe that my little guy is 13 and a half months already. He has grown so much and this week it seems as though he has finally decided to start walking because he is walking every where and just so proud of himself!

I don't usually even notice half month age marks for my kids but this one is significant. JA is now the same age that AL was when he was born. He still seems like such a little baby to me. I can't even imagine bringing home another baby at this stage (and honestly so thankful not to be!).

Having our kids born so close in age sure has had its challenges. I can't say that I would recommend it to anyone but I wouldn't trade our little man for anything!

Better Blogging

I just picked up my copy of the October 2009 Ensign from the mail while I was out for a walk with the kids this afternoon. I don't know about you but the first thing I do is flip through the entire Ensign front to back to see what jumps out at me. I was surprised to find a few articles dealing with blogging. The article entitled "Better blogging" really grabbed my attention. It gave some safety type tips for blogging. The thing that really hit me was the need to ensure my children's safety by not using their actual names (they suggested using an initial instead) and making sure not to write anything that would make it easy to locate you (ie. town, address, etc.). They had several other suggestions but those are the ones that I really want to adapt TODAY! I am going to go back through old posts and take my children's names out and make sure I haven't said much about our location.
Better safe then sorry :)