Thanksgiving 2010

We had Thanksgiving all by ourselves this year. There are pluses and minuses to that. I personally enjoy having a large gathering for such events, but it's so much lower pressure when it's just us.  We ended up buying a smoked turkey and splitting it in half with a family in our ward. It was cheaper that way. It wasn't quite as good as I had hoped, but it was still really good and made for better leftovers than regular turkey.

Prepping for the feast.

 As I had suspected, the boys basically only wanted the rolls, cranberry sauce, and pie. 

Matt was more adventurous, and had a little bit of everything. And no, he didn't finish this gargantuan plate.

At dinner we had: smoked turkey, homemade overnight rolls, artisan bread dressing, cinnamon craisen cranberry sauce, green bean casserole from scratch, mashed potatoes,  and Matt roasted some chicken thighs we didn't eat so he could make real gravy.

After dinner we played rockband as a family. I don't think we actually made it through one song since we kept failing (it's kind of hard not to when the 3 year old insists on playing the guitar), but that's not the most important thing, now is it? We had fun.


 After our food settled, we went back in for pumpkin and pecan pie and hot apple cider. Walter literally licked his plate clean!! Dean only had a couple of bites, but was sad at bedtime that he hadn't finished his pies. I think the cider is the first "warm" drink Dean's ever had. He said, "Dean LIKES cider. It warms Dean up when Dean is coooold."And boy was it cold on Thanksgiving!! Leading up to Thanksgiving our weather was in the 80's! The day before had a high of 85*. The high on Thanksgiving? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty positive we didn't break 50*. It felt freakishly cold because it was all windy too. It was kind of nice, though, because it felt like it really was the right time of year for this holiday. =)

Turkey Hunt

Prepared Not Scared has some of the cutest free holiday downloads and games (not to mention TONS of other amazing posts about canning, preparedness, FHE lessons, etc). I printed off this cute Turkey Hunt game, laminated the turkeys, taped them to tongue depressors, and we've had 2 days of fun turkey hunting.Walt generally loses interest after he has 1 turkey in his hand, but that's probably for the best because Dean can then run around and pick them all up.  Dean found some halloween make up and did up his own camo.

"Let's send Walter away!"

We have had a fun, longstanding morning routine (when we're not out running) of "pushing dad's car out" when Matt goes to work. Dean has done it for a very long time, and now that Walt's getting bigger, he's started joining in on the fun. The boys get so excited to say goodbye to dad and help push his car out. Dean has been pretty angry about having to share the responsibility often saying things like, "No! Only one kid pushes!" or "Don't let Walter push!!"  This morning after we pushed dad's car out, Dean said, "Mom, let's send Walter away!" When I asked him where he thought we should send Walt, he said very reasonably, "To Grandma's!"  I was surprised he came up with an answer, and a pretty smart one at that. He's obviously thought this one through. I told him that I would miss Walter too much to send him away, just like I'd miss Dean too much if we sent him away.

It was a hard transition to 2 for him. He had lots of issues with bringing a new baby home, and I don't think we handled it very well. New parents, crazy postpartum mom, 2 boys under 2. We did what we could, but the sibling rivalry persists and gets stronger it seems. We have good moments of sharing and caring and love, but it seems like the moments filled with frustration, anger, and jealousy are increasing the more mobile and able Walter is.

They constantly fight over me. Who gets to sit on my lap at church or during books. Who I hold. They HATE sharing my lap and end up whining, crying, and/or hitting each other when I try to do both.

Any good book suggestions or church articles that have helped you out on this topic anyone? Or your own tips?

Giving Thanks: Bike and Car

On Sunday our card was "I am thankful for my bike: Go for a bike ride."  Dean loves his bike, but hates his helmet. So for awhile there we didn't ride all that much because no helmet, no bike ride. He's okay with it now most of the time and will go if I suggest it.  Our friends the C.'s were outside with remote control cars. The boys loved it! Dean kept trying to follow the cars it was so cute. Once again blogger wouldn't let me load my other video, but this one works I guess.

Today our card was "I'm thankful for our car: Clean out and wash our car." I had forgotten that last time we washed our car Dean dumped the entire bottle of carwash out. So, we just ended up cleaning it out and vacuuming. Dean REALLY wanted to wash it, but he settled for watering the bushes and soaking Walter from head to toe. Luckily it had warmed up today and was about 74*.

Dean really wanted to take a picture. Not too bad.

Giving Thanks: Daddy

Today Dean chose "I'm thankful for daddy--do something nice for dad."  I first suggested that we clean out the tool closet, but when I went to go do it, he'd cleaned it out today while I was running errands!  So I asked Dean if he had other suggestions and he said, "Make him some chocolate bars." and I said, "Brownies?" And he said yes. So, the three of us made up some brownies after dinner. Walter enjoyed licking the beater and spatula waaaaayyy too much. =) According to Matt (I'm on a no sugar treats challenge at the moment) they were a little on the dry side, so I guess my little helpers helped me add just a tad bit too much flour. He said they were still good, though.

Dean's on this "take my picture while I'm purposefully closing my eyes" kick.

Giving Thanks: Grandparents

I have really wanted to institute some family traditions around here, and since we're staying here for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I thought it was the right time to start.

Last year I saw a Thanksgiving countdown at Sugardoodle, but I thought Dean might be too little to really get it. This year I decided to do it, but I customized it for us. I made up 21 cards with pictures so Dean could pick one a day until Thanksgiving. I think I'm going to glue them to feathers and put them on a Turkey body so we'll "pluck the turkey" every day. I really hope I can keep up with it because I think it could be really good/fun for us.

Today's card was: I'm thankful for grandma and grandpa--draw a picture for grandparents and mail them a letter.

I asked Dean if he wanted to paint, draw, or glue shapes for them. We went with painting today. He was generous with the paint, so we're going to have to wait until tomorrow to send them.

This was Walter's first real art project. I usually just put water on his brush and let him "paint" with the water.

Halloween 2010

Matt was still feeling a little poorly on Sunday so I ended up with both boys in church for 3 hours by myself again (this is like the 4th time in the two months). Being in nursery just puts me over the top on those days! It was pretty rough. I was losing it. Dean was losing it. I am just amazed at all the moms who take their children to church by themselves on an extended and regular basis (whether their husbands are in stake pres./bishopric/inactive/non-member, etc.). You women need a medal for continuing on!

Since Matt got to sleep some, he was feeling slightly better by afternoon, so that's when we did our carving. It was so hot in the direct sun! We decided not to do intricate pumpkins because we didn't want to stay out there longer than necessary!!  Dean drew his face for the pumpkin and I helped carve it. He helped me carve the top off my pumpkin and throw away the guts. Walter helped clean out the pumpkins and he drew with a marker on a small sugar pumpkin.

Walter after eating a twix bar.

That night I hadn't planned on taking Dean out. We had some candy for trick-or-treaters, and since Dean had taken a nap, I let him help me hand out for awhile. (Walt was asleep before any trick-or-treaters came.)  He LOVED it. He was so excited to help hand out candy. He didn't even want to wait for them to knock, so we sat on our little mini-bench on our porch waiting for kids. I had to laugh, though, when I saw the wheels start turning about half way through the night. He had a package of skittles and a laffy taffy in hand ready to hand out; he was going to give the skittles and I saw him hesitate a moment, change his mind, and put in the laffy taffy. After the kids left, he said, "Dean wants to eat these skittles!" And then he started going through the candy, looking for all the "bad stuff" (ie. smarties and jolly ranchers) to hand out first so he could possibly save the good candies for himself. HAHA. I did the same thing the night before! (We handed out all of our "bad" candy at the trunk or treat, so what we had left was what I considered decent candy).

Matt's

Dean's

 

Mine

Anyway, at one point he said, "It's not Halloween, not for us!" And that made me feel a little guilty. So I asked if he wanted to go to a few neighbor's houses.  So, we put on his costume (over his pjs) and headed out to about 10 houses.  He tried giving his candy to the first three houses. It was very cute. On our walk, there was one mean middle schooler who had a horribly scary mask/costume. While they were walking he had it up, and when he saw Dean, he put it down and kind of came at him making noises. Punk. I said, "Come on, he's just a little guy!" and he laughed and walked off. At least Dean wasn't really old enough to really internalize and process it.

He ate a few pieces of candy the next day, and while his candy bag is still sitting on the counter, he and Walter have not asked for any candy since! I may just recycle candy into the stockings!!! Does that make me a bad mom? =)

I think that sums it up.

Today I had institute at the church, so Dean and Walt were in the nursery for a little over an hour. When it was over, I asked Dean if he was a good boy. He said "Dean threw toys at other kids." I said, "Oh, that makes me so sad. We don't want to hurt other kids. Kids don't want to be our friend if we hurt them or throw toys at them. You want to have friends, don't you."  He replied, "No, Dean don't want any friends. Dean only want you. You are only one person. Dean want you to come to preschool and nursery and everywhere Dean goes."

So often it seems like he hates having Walt around, and I honestly think a lot of that stems from him wanting me all to himself. I hope they can be better friends once he moves past this stage.

Halloween Eve 2010

With Halloween being on Sunday this year, we did some of our Halloweening tonight. We will carve pumpkins tomorrow after church (Matt was really sick today).  We went to the church for a Trunk and Treat night.  While I agree it's much safer and a lot more consise, I do think there' s a little something lost by not knocking on people's doors and walking the neighborhood. Matt says we might do a little tomorrow night in our neighborhood, but I don't know if I'm up for it and the boys have WAY more than enough candy already.

I made Walter a Charlie Brown shirt by cutting up an old black shirt of mine and appliqueing it onto his shirt. Unfortunately I could only find long sleeve shirts in the right color, and my sewing machine won't do sleeves that small so I couldn't cut them.  At least it wasn't roasting hot. Somewhere in the 70s I think. He was on my hip the whole time at the church. About half the people got that he was Charlie Brown. The other half said he was a bumblebee. Whatever. I thought he was a cute Charlie Brown.

This was a candid shot of him being so excited to go trick or treating.

When I asked Dean what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said a builder. Not Bob the Builder. Just a builder. So I set out to make him a good builder's tool belt. It took us forever to find a hardhat, but we finally did in Target's role play section.  I got a $1 flannel shirt from Kid-to-Kid and we were set. He already had tools. I really wanted to get him the Dough and Melissa wooden tool box so we had lots of screws to put in his belt and so he could use his tool box as the candy bag, but I couldn't justify the purchase since he already has 2 regular tool boxes.  Instead I made them little trick or treat totes today during their nap. I was very pleased with the final size and how cute they came out.

Aren't these darling??

Walter wasn't sure about all the people, so he was clamoring at dad's knee.

After

I decided to dress up last minute.

Walter at 15 months

My baby is growing up! With his blond curly locks and his brilliant blue eyes, he gets lots of attention and comments from strangers and friends alike. 

Poor baby had a rough morning yesterday. He woke up at 5:45. He was completely distraught when I left him in the nursery for my institute class. We were only there for 1/2 hour because of our doctor's appointment, but he was seriously on the verge of passing out when I got the boys. Poor kid had to stay awake a whole hour longer for his doctor's visit. Everything looks good except I have to do yet another blood draw to see if he's still anemic. This will be our 5th or 6th!

Walter's Stats
Weight: 24 lbs. 11 oz. (53%)
Length: 32.5 in. (87%)
Head Circ.: 18.75 in. (64%)

What is Walter like at 15 mo.?
He is in such a fun stage. He's constantly learning new things, it's easy to make him laugh, and he knows what he wants!  I love that he will snuggle right up to me, he'll rock with me, and he still loves helping his mama. He will not, however, snuggle up or hug Matt! He likes Matt a lot, and is always excited to see him home from work, but I guess he can sense that Matt's not a hugger/snuggler! He loves blankets spread out on the ground (it's crazy hard to keep him off Dean's time out towel when Dean's in time out! that causes extra problems to say the least) and hugs and loves on stuffed animals and puppets. He's really good at growling like growly animals. His favorite way to get from here to there is running! He loves tooth brushes and carries them all over the place. He also loves getting into my "personal items" drawer in the bathroom and as a consequence, there are tampons randomly scattered throughout my house.  The other day when we had some friends here, he came into the living room from my bathroom, had three tampons in hand, held them up high, and said, "TA-DA!!!" Good thing I don't get embarrassed easily! It was pretty funny.

He has been "saying the blessing" at meal times (he folds his arms and starts mumbling incoherently -- SO cute). He loves, loves Dean and watches him like a hawk. He copies so many of Dean's mannerisms and behaviors.  He always wants to play in the front of the car and is very disappointed when I take him straight in the house without letting him play first.  He loves the outdoors, and he's quite good at entertaining himself.

He likes to do actions with songs. Here is his latest "trick", rolling his arms. I still remember when Dean figured out how to roll his arms (right about at this same age), he was so proud of himself and found the new movement hilarious. It's fun to see these kids grow up.

Dean's 3 year well visit and stats

We went to the dr. yesterday for the boys' well visits. Luckily we were able to do both at once this time. That was fantastic. The less I have to be a the doctor's office, the better, as far as I'm concerned!

Dean has had an aversion in the past to the doctor using a tongue depressor to look in his mouth. He's also had issues with the doctor looking in his ears. So, two days ago Dean and I practiced "going to the doctor". We first pretended that I was the patient. He greeted me and signed me in, weighed me, took my temperature, looked in my mouth with the stick, and looked in my ears.  He also reminded me that we needed to use the stethescope and check reflexes!  After he was the doctor, I took a turn and we did all those things. I felt like it was pretty productive.

So, when we were there, it was pretty funny when she didn't have to use the tongue depressor (since he was 3 and big enough to open wide and say "ahhhh" without it). He was very cooperative. They took his blood pressure and he was very good and still while it gave his arm a "hug".

Dean's 3 year stats
Weight: 30.5 lbs (36%)
Length: 37 1/4 in. (37% ) I think he's a little taller. He wasn't looking straight ahead.
Head Circ. 19.5 in.
BMI: 15.45 (30%) Really? They give you their BMI at age 3?
Blood Pressure: 100/59

They changed one of the shots that they'd previously given him, so while he wasn't due for any shots, he had to get one. =P Poor guy. He was very courageous. He cried a little, but got over it quickly with the help of a sucker. By late afternoon his leg was REALLY hurting him, and by bed he was a puddle of tears asking me to carry him to his bed.  Matt told him that he could have some medicine and he declined multiple times. Matt also told him it should feel better in the morning. When I went in this morning at 6:30 when Walter woke up, Dean was laying in bed in the dark, awake. I asked him how he felt and he said, "Dean's leg still hurts. It's not morning yet."  Poor kid. But by preschool he was walking normal and by the time I picked him up, he was running around.


What is he like at 3?
Well, he is very smart and completely drawn to the computer and electronics. He has navigated is way through almost every game on PBS.org, the friend online, and has completed all of the levels of the world of goo. Luckily all of those things are highly educational, right?

He is going through a very, very difficult and aggressive stage right now. Body bumps, hitting, kicking, stabbing with "swords" (remember pencil incident), shooting fake guns, and throwing big tantrums when he doesn't get his way. And while it's not malicious, he is OBSESSED with spitting. The rules with spitting in our house are: only spit outside, in the trash, or in the toilet. I've even caught Walter spitting, trying to copy Dean (and Matt). His aggressive streak started a few days before his birthday. I was very disheartened by this new change in his personality. I just didn't know what to do because time outs were not effective (though he fought them tooth and nail). I thought it was hard when he turned two and was suddenly very head strong. This has been much harder. 

I was feeling pretty low this past weekend, feeling like a failure parent, and struggling to figure out where to turn and what to do. My mom has been a great support, calling me every day this week to make sure I'm doing ok. I've been listening to the Saturday afternoon session of conference while I fold laundry during nap time, and it's helped me change my outlook tremendously.  One particular talk by Richard Edgely really spoke to me. He spoke of choosing faith and choosing peace. We have to work for them. They are not free gifts. We need to choose faith in Christ over doubt, over fear, and over the unknown. We need to choose it over pessimism. As Alma said in Alma 32, we need to awake and arouse our faculties and experiment upon the word. We need to desire. We need to plant.  I took out of this that my faith in Christ can carry me through this aggressive period. I may not know every good parenting technique, but if I pray and try and follow the spirit, I will be led in my parenting and will be able to guide him to a happier time. I need to experiment and try my best to do what I think will help him. Some things may work, some things may not. I need to choose happiness, choose to be a peacemaker and not feed into his aggression. I need to be a good example in how to handle anger or frustration. I also took it (and other talks from that session that I've listened to this week) to mean that I needed to seek out parenting helps from the Prophets and leaders of the church rather than only turning to "experts".

Since reading this and other church articles, I'll still do time outs, but I've also been taking away a privilege every time he acts out violently. Yesterday morning with a succession of hits and what not, he lost computer privileges on my computer for the day, I took his little "laptop", he lost his blankie, and he lost all wii time. He took the consequences fairly well, but he was very much missing the computer come late afternoon when I started making dinner. It seems to be working a little bit better, though he still hit someone at preschool today. We will make it through the 3's, I'm sure.

In other topics, he is completely capable of going on the potty and often does when we're in public (at the store, at church, at the park etc.) However, he won't at home any more. He says he's never going to wear underwear. All of our cloth diapers lost their elasticity so we're back in disposables until I can fix them sufficiently. 2 boys in size 5 diapers is too pricey for my liking! I just need to back off, and I HOPE that I don't have to potty train Walt and Dean together! Whatever though. There are worse things in life than a 3 year old in diapers I guess.

He can be really sweet and helpful. He gives great hugs and kisses. He knows can recognize numbers 1-12 as well as some of the 20's. He can count up to 22. He has been staring to sound out words lately. He really loves starfall.com, and I think that's helped with the phonics and sounding out. He can do a decent job tracing numbers and letters, but he doesn't care much for drawing or wielding utensils. He's been very interested in signs and what they mean. "What's this say mama?" "That tells you not to put your hand or foot under the lawnmower because there's a sharp blade."

He had been getting better at eating dinner, but during this past week we've taken a step back a little (trying to swallow things he doesn't like in one big bite and then throwing up because it's just way too much to swallow at one time). He will eat almost anything to get his milk in the evening. A lot of times he'll say, "Dean doesn't want any milk. Dean is done." But, I usually reply with "Ok. That's fine, I'm setting the timer for 10 min. and if you haven't eaten or aren't working on your dinner, it goes in the trash along with your chance for milk tonight."  and he ends up quickly coming over and eating the required few bites of everything I've made.

He's been imitating Walter a lot. He will copy the way Walt talks and do what I tell Walter not to do. For instance, we were at the library on Monday. I was looking at books and FOOLISHLY didn't strap one of the two boys into a stroller. Walt wandered away from me and I asked Dean to go look if Walt was ok. He checked on him, came back, and said, "Walt's pulling books off the shelf!!" I finished up what I was doing quickly, but not quickly enough. Right after Dean told me, he went back and emptied THE ENTIRE SHELF of books all over the floor. Grrrr. I was not happy about that one. The only books I checked out that day were from the stack that he pulled out and we left immediately. It's not been a great bag of books, I must say. =)

He's been taking naps on Tues-Thurs. and Sunday really well. On those nights he ends up having a slightly later bed time (about 7:30-8). Basically because those are the days he interacts with others. I think that wears him out enough to get him to fall asleep. It has been very helpful to have them both sleep in the afternoon at the same time half the week. If he doesn't nap, he goes down for bed 6:30-7pm since they're usually up by 6:30 am. In my book, 12 hours is enough awake time for a 3 year old!

Dean turns 3 years

(I wrote this on Saturday, but am just posting it now for some reason...)

Today was Dean's 3rd birthday.  We had our good moments and our bad today. He's been feeling a little sick the past few days I think. He acts totally normal, but hasn't eaten hardly anything at all. Yesterday when I tried the "no milk if you don't eat your food" (our normal rule), he started to eat and then threw up.

Today started out ok. He slept in until 7:40 (unheard of!!!) and then played computer games while I went jogging. When I got back, I made him some puffy oven pancakes by request. I frosted his cake, and then we went outside to play.

That was when things went down hill.  He started throwing fits because I was alternating pushing him and swinging with Walt. He then tried to "mow the lawn" with his little mower, and Walt started chasing him so he could mow too.  Dean pushed him down a couple of times so he couldn't get the mower, so I put him in a time out. He went ballistic. He's usually pretty reasonable about going to time outs, but he was screaming at the top of his lungs and started hitting me repeatedly.  I put him in time out for 10 minutes.

After that we had lunch and naps. After naps, he and Walter wanted to play in the car, so I was out there with them for awhile. I needed to go to the bathroom, and I decided to get Dean some gatorade since he hasn't had much of anything the last few.  When I got back 2 min. later, Walt was SCREAMING.  I asked what happened and Dean said nonchalantly, "Dean poked Walt in the eyes."  He was holding a pencil. That warranted another 5 min. time out and a big talk about how it's REALLY dangerous to do anything to the eyes.  He didn't actually get the eyeball, but he poked him really close to his eye and dragged down. He had 2 nice welts across his face and one on his arm from Dean's pencil. Poor kid.

It was raining here most of the day and we even had a tornado warning go off (though it was just for our county and I don't think we were ever in "danger"). I was feeling pretty caged and the boys were just being difficult, so I let them run around in the rain for a good 1/2 hour or more. It really started to pour at the end and got a little colder, so we gave them a bath to warm up. I have a video that blogger won't load, unfortunately. In the video Dean declares that he is never going to wear underwear. Great. I hope I'm not in for another full year of diapering 2 kids. I don't want to potty train them together, but watch, that's what will end up happening. =P

I felt pretty worn out most of the day from my run. (I swear, anything over 6 miles and I'm TOAST the rest of the day. I didn't recover until about 5:30 or 6 pm!) I asked Dean what he wanted for dinner, and the only thing I could get out of him was "french fries". He doesn't like my homemade oven fries, so I decided we'd eat out. We haven't eaten out at all on our dime (even at Taco Bell) in the last 3 months, so we went a little $$ than I'd normally do for a kid birthday. We'd never eaten at Fuddruckers, so Matt dropped us off at Lowes to play on the tractors while he went next door to pick up "hangaburs and french fries". In my personal opinion it was way too expensive and not good enough to buy again. But it was better than having to cook tonight, so I guess I still won out on that. Their fries were potato wedges, and I don't think Dean even ate one (though he didn't complain about them not being regular fries). He did eat a good portion of his 1/2 a hamburger and said it was yummy. So at least he enjoyed something.

We cut the cake and had a little ice cream (left over from the homemade stuff I made a few weeks ago for the letter I!). He had a tiny bite of his cake, one spoon of his ice cream, and ate the monkey's mouth (a starburst rolled into a rope). So, I guess he was still feeling kind of poorly.

His presents were pretty minimal. In June or July he saw this "tote-n-go laptop" at Target and wanted it so badly. To keep a scene from erupting from my not buying it, I told him we'd put it on his birthday wish list. It worked. We came home, wrote it on a paper, and posted it on our bulletin board. I honestly thought he'd forget about it, but every time we went into the store after that, he asked to see the laptop. It was only $20, so I couldn't not get it for him! I was a little worried that he'd play it 3 times and be done with it since he knows how to use my real computer, but we'll see. I also got him an Eric Carle puzzle set, but Matt felt like that was too excessive since I already got the computer (the 4 puzzles were a whole $10 total), so I'm saving it for Christmas and Matt gave him a $1 big bubble wand instead.  Whatever. He's 3. He was happy. Grr. another video foiled. Our camera's too good I think. It's videos are too large for blogger to compress if they're over a min.!