I am thankful for...

Cole's chalkboard masterpieces,

Max's cheesy smiles, 

and Chris's creativity early this morning!

Sidenote:  I was up with Max at 2:30 am, 4:30 am, and 6:30 am today.  Ug!  Chris is NOT a morning person, but today he woke up earlier than normal and filled my side of our bedroom with red balloons while I was feeding Max in the living room.   I was so surprised!   Tonight we're going on a date to Little Zagreb, a local Bloomington favorite.  It's been a great day! 

He Jumped Out!

On Sunday afternoon, Cole jumped out of his crib!  He smacked his nose on the hardwood floors below him, and thankfully he escaped with only a scuffed up pink nose.   So we took the crib apart and put it in the guest room for now.  No more crib for Cole...and no more injuries!  

I've also been learning a lot during the last week or so about my life now with two boys.  I've been flustered by lots of small things that together snowball into a large mess...at least according to me.    I was talking about this to a friend at church on Sunday, a woman who has teenagers and is a principal at a local elementary school.   She gave me some blogworthy advice.   She told me that one of the things she works on with parents at her school the most is the very thing I was struggling with Cole about.  He seems to learn something one day and tank the next day.  One day is fabulous and the next is junk.  Ug.  My friend told me that most parents (myself included) expect kids to continually grow in a positive way.  Picture the long upward part at the beginning of a roller coaster.   In fact, she said, that is not indicative of true child development, or I guess human development, too.  She encouraged me to think of Cole's learning and growing as lines continually rising and falling similar to the lines on the machine that monitors labor contractions as you wait for your baby to be born.   Whew.  I needed to be reminded of that.  Expect the ups and the downs.  It's all part of it.  And I needed to remind myself of how wonderful Cole really is instead of focusing on the things I wish he'd do or learn but isn't doing or learning yet.    I used to tell my fourth graders at VCS when they received a low grade or had trouble grasping something that if they knew everything already, they wouldn't need to be in fourth grade.  Same is true now in my new world of being a parent.  

One more piece of advice from my friend.  She said that she often prays this prayer that Ruth Graham (Billy Graham's wife) prayed at night, especially when her husband was out of town on business, which was a lot!  "Lord, please help me and my kids forget that today ever happened!"  So I prayed that last night, and today has been great.  Both boys are sound asleep, my house is picked up, and our water heater is being fixed (yahoo!). Who knows if it's because of my prayer.  I think it's just that the prayer helped my perspective.   God has definitely been faithful to sustain us during these myriad transitions we've been experiencing!  

Confessions

About a year ago I posted about my addiction to furniture rearranging.  Confession number one.  Now I have realized that I have a second addiction. Baking.  I bake all the time.  A day rarely goes by when I don't bake.  I look at my KitchenAid mixer standing proudly on my counter every morning and think to myself, "What I can I bake today?"  The thing is, there is ALWAYS something I'd like to try whether it be red velvet cake, lemon bars, chocolate mousse pie, or just brownies.  The sky is the limit!  Yum!  Baking is a great hobby for several reasons. It's scientific.  It's a blessing to those who eat the tasty products, although often a curse to their wastelines!  It's a way for Cole to learn about measurement and time.  It's a way for me to make my house smell great.  And, it's fuel for my husband's chocolate habit.  One of my favorite things to bake lately is cinnamon rolls.  I love baking them for my family, and since we spent last weekend in Indianapolis visiting my parents, it was naturally an occasion for cinnamon rolls!   See photo above...just out of the oven!   The other photo is of Miles and Cole being silly.   I couldn't resist posting that one either.   

Cole & Max

Cole resisted the photo opportunity...until I mentioned candy.  Yes, I will bribe for a cute photo!  

Happy Snowy Day

From our house to yours! 

Enforceable Statements

Now that Cole is really verbal, I feel like all we do is speak enforceable statements all day long.  An enforceable statement is basically something I can enforce.  It's clear, and helps me stay calm instead of not having a plan and going nuts.  I am a teacher...I love plans!  Here's an example:

Cole:  Mommy, I want some chocolate bear crackers! 

Anne: Cole, I will get you a snack when you clean up the blocks.

Cole: Mommy, I want a cookie for breakfast.

Anne: Cole, I'd be happy to give you a cookie when you finish your eggs.  (This specific time, he didn't finish his eggs after a while, so I said "Looks like breakfast is over!"  And then Cole said "No cookie for you,"  and hopped down from his chair to go watch Sesame Street.)

It's a great way to keep control when the "I wants" begin to roll out of Cole's mouth.   So instead of saying, "Eat your vegetables," which is something I cannot enforce, I say, "I love giving dessert to boys who eat their vegetables!"   This may seem like a small small thing, but for us it has worked wonders with Cole.  He's learning cause and effect, and he's becoming responsible, too.  Yes!  

And just for your wondering folks, yes, the other day when I told Cole he wasn't getting a snack because he chose not to pick up his toys, he pitched a fit complete with floor stomping, crying, toy throwing, etc.  I smiled as soon as it happened (knowing that when tantrums happen it's a chance for Cole to learn something), hugged him, picked him up, and softly repeated, "Cole, I love giving snacks to you when you clean up your toys. We'll try again next time."  And then we left the room and did something else.  Victory for mom...learning for Cole.  Yes! 

We learned about this from Love & Logic for Teachers, which was a professional development training we learned in Vienna. It was wonderful in my classroom, so we decided to read Love & Logic for Early Childhood and use it with our kids.  Enforceable statements are only one of many tricks we have up our sleeve, all thanks to Love & Logic.  

Smile!

Our Boys

Cole & I made Valentines yesterday to help pass the morning. 

Stickers, crayons, and construction paper. What can be better?

Today Cole and I ran errands together, too.  We visited the post office and bought some super hero stamps.  Only in America!  The nice postal worker also gave Cole a USPS coloring book to keep. Wow! Then we visited the bank to deposit some money, and left with a lollipop.  Lastly we visited the grocery store where Cole snacked on the free slice of deli turkey he receives EVERY time we go.   He's learned to ask for a pound of turkey, please.  It's hilarious. 

Max is thankfully falling into a little bit of a pattern these days.  Yay!  

When he's awake he loves looking out the windows in our living room and watching Cole. 

It's always an adventure!

Singing

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

Up came the sun and dried up all the SMOOTHIE

Then the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again

Sometimes we sing at lunch time, often adding motions to songs like this one. This is what Cole sang today!  We laughed and laughed!  We were actually having a smoothie with our lunch, so it isn't such a far connection. 

Changes

A few things I've learned as we plow through the transition of adding Max to our family...

~Cole does NOT like his big boy bed.  But, he's about 3 inches from being too tall for the crib.  I'm open to ideas.  My newest idea is to take Cole shopping so he can pick out his own sheets, just him and me.  Thankfully, we have a Target gift card! 

~Max hates having his diaper changed. I think it's because he's cold.  Just like his daddy...craving the CA sunshine and flip flop weather!

~I am developing excellent baby burrito skills.  See photo above.  Every time I burrito Max up, he passes out.   I'm expecting him to bust out pretty soon, though. 

~Chris has a storehouse of ideas to entertain Cole that I never knew existed. Just recently I overheard him say, "Cole, wanna wrestle?"  So I darted to the basement with Max to check my email.

One Month

Max is 1 month old today!   He's eating and sleeping really well, and even smiling sometimes.  He often moves his head toward our voices, too, which makes us feel super!   We've been taking walks and enjoying a few warmer days, and just continuing to adjust to life as 4.  The picture above is Max after a walk in the Baby Bjorn.   I remember Cole doing the same thing!  I thought that Cole had been handling this change pretty well, too, until today!   After lunch I was just holding Max while Cole played with some puzzles.  I was feeling pretty good about the whole situation...2 calm children, both full from lunch, and naptime is coming!  Cole saw me holding Max and talking to him, though, and began to cry.  "Put Max back, Mommy!  Put Max in his bed now.  Mommy's done with Max."  He ran over to Max's bassinet and brought me a blanket and repeated those phrases again and again.  Finally Cole was happy to read a few books with me in my lap while Max watched a toy on a blanket on the floor next to us.  Whew!