The "BOOGY MONSTER"!!

YIKES! I haven't blogged in awhile and things have changed on blogger. It's going to take me a bit to get used to it. I have a bunch more pictures and topics to blog about, but my time is really limited having 3 little ones at home (one of them being an infant who is still nursing). One of the topics I'd love to blog more about is the "schooling" we're doing at home. It's not officially homeschooling at this point, but it's been fun to do some structured things with the boys. This week the book we were reading was "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans. It just so happened that on Thursday we were scheduled to talk about health (in the story Madeline gets her appendix taken out) and Micah also came down with a bad cold. It was a great opportunity to talk about hygiene as cold and flu season is just around the corner. Here is the visual lesson we did on spreading germs. The original lesson plan used cooking spray and glitter, but I didn't have glitter and I wasn't able to get out to buy it seeing as I had a crabby and sick child at home. So, I borrowed some green washable finger paint from my neighbor and I think it worked just the same. I put some clean objects on a tray.

Then I put GERMS (green finger paint) all over Jackson's hands. I figured Micah already had germs on his that he could keep for himself.

I had Micah leave the room and had Jackson touch several of the items. Micah then came back in and had to tell me which items had germs on them. I then asked Micah to pick up one of the objects with "germs" on it. He refused. (Perhaps that means he grasped the lesson a little). I picked up one of the objects to show how the germs then got on my hands.

We read a couple of books: "Germs Are Not For Sharing" by Elizabeth Verdick. There were a couple of other books on health that I found at our local library as well. We've also checked out this great book in the past: "Felicity Floo Visits the Zoo" by E.S. Redmond We colored signs to hang in the bathroom. The first one tells when to wash your hands and the other one tells you how to wash them.

Then later this week I found a project on Pinterst that we like to call "Boogy Monster Boxes" basically it's a discard box for used tissues with "boogies" in them. The boys had a blast, but ended up just wanting to play with the box instead of using it for it's intended purpose. Oh well.

Micah demonstrated how to use it once and then just played with it. :)

If only you could hear him saying "I LOVE BOOGIES!!!" in his monster voice.

Well ... gotta go feed the kiddos lunch and attend to my sick little baby. I'm hoping when they're all healthy again I'll have a few minutes to post some of the other fun things we've been up to lately.

Disneyland & Ridemax Review

We don't normally do huge, extravagant and eventful things to celebrate a birthday, BUUUUT ... This past August when Colin's parents were out here visiting we planned a trip to Disneyland.

However, Micah got sick with Roseolla and had high fevers off and on and the temperature was supposed to be in the hundreds, so I was planning on staying home with him. I got online the day Colin, Jackson and his parents were heading out for L.A. and bought 1 child and 3 adult tickets to Disneyland.

Minutes after I printed them out Colin's dad hurt his back somethin' fierce and we all ended up staying home. Instead of a wonderful and memorable trip to Disneyland, my in-laws got a wonderful and memorable trip to the local chiropractor.

Of course time with family is still precious time with family whether you're at Disneyland or not and we made the most of it. But, the tickets are non-refundable.

So, our next trip down to L.A. was planned for Micah's birthday and that's why we decided to go to Disneyland then. We had one extra adult ticket, so we invited my sister and her husband along too. It was a special time seeing as our families won't be geographically close for much longer. (Side note: we'll be staying in California until this coming summer. I'm hoping our little girl will be around 3 months old when we move ... or at least sleeping through the night.)

Anyway, while I was planning the trip to Disneyland in August I knew that it was going to be crowded (1. because it was the last weekend before school started and 2. we were going on a Saturday) and I began researching tips on making the most of your Disneyland trip. That's when I came across Ridemax (a download-able software program that helps you make an itinerary for your Disneyland and/or Disney World trip so that you avoid long lines, most large crowds and spending an exuberant amount of money). I want to say it was about $15.00 for a 90 day software download and I think it was well worth it.

Although we ended up going on a day when it was not very crowded at all (it being the Friday after Halloween weekend) the tips from Ridemax were still very helpful. We arrived at the park around 9:30am and left a little before 8pm. Even with a 2 year old, a 4 year old and two pregnant ladies we were able to hit at least half a dozen rides (if not more), see the parade and a show. All at a somewhat leisurely pace with plenty of potty breaks and time to sit and eat our meals.

Anyway, enough of the commercial ... I promise Ridemax didn't pay me anything to mention them in my blog ... here are a few pictures from our trip:




Ridemax recommended doing either the "Nemo" ride or "Peter Pan" but not both because they tend to have the longest lines and they recommended riding them first. It was our longest wait in line (about 20 minutes)all day.


The armada of strollers outside of "Peter Pan."


Micah loved all of the rides (with the exception of "Winnie the Pooh"). Here we're on "Casey Jr. Circus Train."




Oh yeah! I forgot to mention above that we were first in line to see Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore and it wasn't even a part of my itinerary ... extra BONUS and the boys LOVED it!!!



Jackson steered the whole way on "Autopia."


We planned "Tom Sawyer's Island" during Micah's nap time because we knew all of the walking may put him to sleep. SUCCESS!



"Tom Sawyer's Island" was definitely one of Jackson's favorite places. So many things to explore including caves. He was very adventurous! However, if he was at all apprehensive about a dark cave he'd say, "Dad, can you go in there and check it out?" As soon as Colin gave the all clear sign he was off to the races.




The two times we've been to Disneyland we've always gotten Mickey ice cream bars, so it's sort of become a tradition.


We didn't have the best seats in the house for the parade, but that was by choice and we didn't have to stand behind anyone either. The boys loved all of the music and dancing.



If you ask the boys what their favorite ride was that we went on they'd say "Buzz Lighyear," hands down. It had a laser gun you could use to shoot Zurg and all of the aliens and it had a joy-stick for moving the car around in circles. Even though it was near the parade route and the parade had just ended so there were crowds headed toward the line we used FAST PASSES to get through the line in about 7 minutes.


Here's the birthday boy at Grandma and Grandpa K's house. Notice the Mickey Mouse cake pop. ;)

Micah at 2 Years Old

2 Year Check Up:
Weight: 27.7lbs 50%
Height: (I can't remember the inches) 50%
HC: 49cm 50% (The doctor made a comment about him growing into his head. Haha.)

All of the questions asked concerning development raised no red flags for autism. Micah is ahead in his verbal and cognitive development. Dr. Macias was impressed that he can already count with little assistance to 10 and knows at least 2 colors and can recognize almost all of the upper case letters in the alphabet. He's also impressed that he's been saying 7 word sentences pretty consistently. He said a 3 word sentence is usually a sign of a 200 word vocabulary so Micah has obviously exceeded that. I just pointed to his big brother as the attributing factor because as much as I would LOVE to take credit for giving Micah one-on-one attention in that area it doesn't always happen.

Potty Training

Micah shows an interest in potty training every once in awhile, but it's definitely on his terms. He has gone pee several times in the potty and poop only twice, but he has to sit there a looooong time. I'm okay with letting him choose when he wants to be trained, but I've also got a few tricks up my sleeve (like a few toys he can only play with while he's on the potty). I know Jackson being potty trained at 2 years old was an anomaly and I'm not going to rush Micah because that could back fire on me big time.

Personality

Micah is my strong willed boy. He can be stubborn when it comes to saying "sorry" and when asked to do something specifically. Discipline takes longer because of that sometimes, but I know it will all pay off later.

A positive spin on the strong will is that he usually knows what he wants and rarely changes his mind about it. That made his birthday and will make Christmas really fun this year. (He's been eyeing a toy guitar in the Toys R Us ad as of late.)

He loves anything with buttons and anything having to do with music. Singing, the piano, the guitar, etc. He regularly makes up songs about random things he plays with or sees and loves it when the rest of the family makes up songs too. Although he can be pretty bossy about what bedtime songs he wants sung to him at night. :) But he also loves to sing along and I think that's adorable!

He is such a goof ball sometimes and gets the giggles right before bed. I love it and probably give in to it too often making it harder for him to settle down for the night, but I just treasure the times we have alone in his dimly lite room giggling about his silliness.

However, he's pretty shy around strangers and it takes him awhile to warm up to even family members, so don't be surprised if you don't hear him singing or even talking when you first meet him.

He ADORES his older brother and wants to do what ever he's doing. Most of the time that makes for a great play situation, but sometimes it can cause conflict over toys or my attention. I've resigned to the fact that I may have to buy multiples of the same toy to keep the peace (cheap toys that is ... I'm not that crazy). For example, one of my smarter purchases lately were two $1 flashlights. They will play in a closet with those together for at least an hour. I love that my two boys are such good buddies.

One of Micah's favorite things to do is find a place to hide and be alone. He loves forts and I think for his sake we might have to have a club house/tree house in the future. I remember doing that myself as a child and even now I tend to be rejuvenated more when I'm by myself than when I'm with other people.

Micah is almost hyper observant at times and catches on to things I would have never thought he would. He is such a little sponge lately ... the other day he was trying to say "hypothesis" and "ominous" because he heard us talking about it. He has a great memory too. That mixed with his strong will may be a challenge for Colin and I as he gets older. We're just praying he uses it for the greater good.

Our Prayer

Dear Father,

Thank you for Micah. Thank you for 2 years of life with him. He belongs to you and is a gift to us. Use him and everything about him for your glory. Help him to desire to know you more and be more like Jesus all the days of his life.

Amen

Potty Training

Okay ... I haven't been actively potty training Jackson for a while now, but I wanted to be sure that I wrote down what we did before my memory got fuzzy about my methods. I know each child is so different when it comes to potty training, but I'm hoping it goes as smoothly with Micah as it did with Jackson when the time comes.

How did we decide when to start?

First of all I want to say that I used to work at a daycare and saw all different kinds of "potty trainees." If there is one thing I learned from that experience it's that it HAS to be the child's idea NOT the parents. If a child does not have a concept of the difference between pee and poop and cannot tell you when they have done either in their diaper than they are most likely NOT ready.

That being said, when Jackson around 18 months old my friend, Rachel, was done using her potty chair with her little girl and graciously passed it on to me.

Of all of the potty chairs that Jackson has used the "Safety First Potty Chair and Step Stool" (pictured above) worked the best. Some of the other potty chairs had splash guards that were too short and if Jackson sat the wrong way pee would end up on the floor. The seat also snapped easily on to just about any toilet without sliding around.

I put the potty chair in the bathroom and whenever I would go potty I'd encourage Jackson to sit on it too. I didn't push it or anything. If he wanted to sit he could if he didn't he didn't have to.

Around the same time Jackson was telling me when he went poop in his diaper. If he came to me saying, "Poopy Mommy! Poopy!" I'd get all excited and encourage him to go and sit on the potty chair (note: I left his diaper and all of his clothes on). Again, I did NOT force him. Most the time he'd sit on it for a second or two and then get off. After I changed his diaper, if the poop was solid enough, I'd dump the poop into the potty and let Jackson flush it down.

Then around 20 months Jackson started telling me that he was poopy and there was no poop in his diaper. Again, I'd encourage him to sit on the potty chair in his clothes and diaper. After a few times of him pooping in his diaper immediately after sitting on the potty chair we started attempting to sit on the potty without clothes or a diaper. Thus officially starting potty training.

To be honest I didn't really want to start potty training Jackson so young. It was February or March and it was still cold. I was hoping to start potty training in June around his 2nd birthday so that I didn't have to deal with the layers of winter clothes. It was also really early in my pregnancy with Micah and I wasn't looking forward to dumping poop in the potty while feeling sick (although, I'd have to change the poopy diapers, so I'm not sure that was a good argument). BUT, I knew that I had to jump at the chance of potty training if Jackson was interested, and he was.

How did we begin potty training?

Jackson was much more interested in going poop on the potty than pee. He never told me when he went pee in his diaper and rarely went pee in the potty chair. So, we kept him in a diaper. I put him on the potty chair in the morning right after he woke up, right before nap time, when he woke up from nap time and right before bed time regardless if he told me he had to go or not. I, of course, also put him on the potty whenever he said he had to go.

The key for Jackson was to get him to stay on the potty as long as his little attention span could handle it and he would eventually go poop (especially in the morning). We read A LOT of books!!!!

I'm also not ashamed to admit that there were times that we ate meals on the toilet too. I know that sounds gross, but we especially did this when Jackson had to go potty in the middle of a meal and we needed to be somewhere or it was too close to nap time or bed time.

As long as I stayed in the bathroom with Jackson while he was on the potty he had no qualms about staying on as long as it took to go poop (I know this may be a problem with Micah seeing as my attention will be divided).

When did we switch to underpants?

Another lesson that I picked up from the daycare was that pull ups are a waste of money for most children. Let's face it, they're diapers and the children know that they are diapers and they are more likely to poop and pee in them like a diaper. It's DEFINITELY more convenient for a parent to clean up since you just throw them away, but I'm not certain they helped any of the kids I potty trained at the daycare.

Around 22 months we moved to Santa Maria, California and Jackson was pooping consistently in the potty seat snapped on the regular toilet (that was REALLY nice for the still slightly nauseous mommy). So, we decided to switch to underpants during the day and diapers during naps and at night. We even went shopping for new underpants together. I was hoping that he'd have a few peeing accidents in his underpants, hate being wet and decide he would just use the potty. WISHFUL THINKING!!

Did we use bribery?

Jackson could care less if he had wet his pants and I was determined not to go back to diapers. SO, I started using incentives ... okay I'll just call it what it is .... bribery. We made a chart with the days of the week listed on it in rows, nothing fancy, and he got a sticker on the chart if he sat on the potty. He also got one fruit snack for peeing and one for pooping.

Once Jackson understood the chart I took him to the potty about every hour to two hours. The point of that was not to train Jackson, but to train me. By taking him every hour or so for about five days I was able to pick up on his routine of when he really needed to go to the bathroom. Once I had an idea of when Jackson needed to use the bathroom I started taking him only during those times.

Note: I wanted to create an incentive that I could keep up with and that I could easily wean him from eventually. That's why we didn't do toys as an incentive. Fruit snacks were cheap and once I felt like he got the hang of going potty the fruit snacks "ran out."

When did we start using underpants at night and for naps?

When Jackson started to consistently wake up in the morning and from naps with a dry diaper we put him in underpants. He did have a few accidents, but only a handful. HOWEVER, I will note that that was also the time when Jackson started waking up in the middle of the night crying.

After doing some research I discovered that that was Jackson's body's way of telling him he needed to use the bathroom, but he was too young to understand the message. So, when he'd wake up crying we'd taking him to the bathroom in the dark and then he'd go back to sleep for the rest of the night without a peep.

He cried out in the middle of the night for several weeks (not every night though) and as he got older and his bladder got larger and stronger he stopped waking up in the night to go to the bathroom.

When did we stop using the potty chair on the potty?

For awhile Jackson was scared to go on the potty if the little potty chair was not on the big potty. I don't really blame him. He hadn't gotten the hang of holding himself up and he really liked to look at books while he was on the potty. We even traveled with the potty seat. We slowly taught him how to hold himself up on the toilet and eventually he even came up with his own way of getting on the potty by himself. That's when we decided he didn't need the potty seat anymore.

How long did it take to not have any accidents?

Accidents happen! Sometimes they happen because Jackson is too busy playing and doesn't want to stop to go to the bathroom. Sometimes they happen because we're in a public place and he picks up my vibe of being grossed out by the bathrooms (I sanitize the toilet like CRAZY when I take him in a public restroom). Sometimes they happen because he's sick and I'm pumping him full of fluids to help him get better. Sometimes they happen because I forget to remind him to go to the bathroom. Sometimes they happen because he's still 2 (almost 3) and doesn't have the bladder control of an adult.

When I know that we may encounter one of the above scenarios I try to nip it in the bud and I do my best to make sure Jackson goes to the bathroom.

HOWEVER, I NEVER make a big deal about accidents. We sit on the potty, change his clothes and go back to playing. In my opinion, accidents are not a reason to discipline a child. If Jackson LIES to me about not needing to go to the bathroom when he really does THAT'S a different story, but then he's not being disciplined for the accident, but rather for lying.

I ALWAYS make a big deal about when he uses the potty. When he first started potty training the praises were for sitting on the potty chair clothed and now they are for taking the initiative to go potty all by himself.

Keeping Toddlers in Their Beds

When Jackson switched from a crib to a toddler bed we wanted a way for him to know when it was okay to get out of bed both in the morning and after naps. Our fear was that he'd wake up at 3am and get out of bed on his own thinking it was morning.

So, I did a google search and found a good website www.drgreene.com written by a pediatrician. I've used his website several times. He had some GREAT advice on potty training (maybe I'll write another blog about that later).

Anyway, in one article he wrote that, as adults, when we wake up in the middle of the night we look at the clock and know that it's not time to wake up yet and go back to sleep. Children obviously can't tell time (mine can't anyway), so he suggested plugging a night light into a timer (you can get them at home improvement stores like Home Depot), so that the night light will turn on and off automatically. Then if the child wakes up in the middle of the night they can see that the night light is on and go back to sleep. Then in the morning, when the night light is off, they know it's time to wake up.

Well, we tried it with Jackson and it works wonders!! We played a little game with the night light on the day we initiated it. When the night light was on he'd jump into bed and when it was off he'd jump out of bed. Now he knows that when the night light is on he needs to at LEAST be getting ready for bed (i.e. brushing teeth, going potty, etc.)or stay in bed unless he asks permission to get out.

His night light also travels with us when we go on trips. I recommend getting a timer that has a built in rechargeable battery, so that you don't have to keep reprogramming it every time you unplug it.

His night light goes off in the morning at around 7:45am. Most of the time he wakes up around 7:15am and as long as he wakes up with a "happy heart" (NOT crying), I'll go into his room and let him look at books until his night light goes off.

It's the same for his nap. The night light goes on at 1:00pm for his nap (which gives us time to go potty and read books before he actually goes to sleep around 1:30pm) and turns off again around 4:30pm (although I'm considering changing it because he's been sleeping until 3:30 on a regular basis now ... I guess I had to give up those 3 hour naps some time right?)

The night light goes on again for bed at 7:30pm (which gives us time for potty, pjs, brushing teeth, Bible stories, prayer, books ... a bedtime routine)and he's alone in his bed by 8:15pm, but doesn't fall asleep until 8:30pm or sometimes even 9pm. BUT he stays in bed thanks to the trusty night light. We used to let him look at books by himself before he fell asleep, but he's now at the age where he'd look at books all night if we'd let him.

We were probably a little too legalistic about the night light in the beginning (he was disciplined a couple of times for getting out of bed with the night light on), but if there's one thing I learned from my mom (who has been a 3rd grade teacher for over a decade) it's that "it's easier to hold the reins too tight and let them loose later on than it is to hold them too loose and rein them in later." We are a little more relaxed about the night light now, but he's also older and understands when he should stay in bed and when it's appropriate to get out.