Catching up: And then he was four. . . (otherwise known as Luke's Birthday, Part One)

My sweet baby Luke turned four years old in March. OMG! I can't believe how fast it has all gone.

The day before his birthday, Thomas the Train came to Grapevine. We decided to take Luke for his birthday. Luke enjoys the Thomas shows and has a train table that he plays with, but, Will LOVES Thomas! Before he could talk, we taught him some baby sign language. He created his own sign for Thomas and still uses it! We knew both boys would have a good time.

It was hot on the train, but we had good window seats, and once we were moving, things cooled off a bit.

After the ride, we walked around the station a bit. They had some fun things--bounce houses, puppet shows, petting zoo. Will just wanted to run free, but we would lose him in about 2 seconds if we did that. Poor thing got strapped into the stroller against his wishes and protested most of the afternoon. Gene and I took turns distracting him before we headed home.

And the next day was the big day!! Luke woke up as a big four year-old!!

He really really really really really wanted a crane-that-works-and-dings-like-the-one-we-saw-at-the-museum. You know, the industrial, mile tall crane rebuilding the museum district? We can get one of those, right? And the dinging he heard wasn't coming from the crane, but he would not accept that explanation. Anyway, Handy Manny's construction job crane has been an excellent fill in.

Sweet brother enjoying the birthday morning festivities!

Next post: Kids out of their PJ's and onto the par-tay!!

Catching-up: Easter

We hosted my family at our house for Easter this year. It was a lot of fun for the kids. My adorable angels sat for pictures for about 30 seconds--but that was all I needed because, as I said, they are adorable.

Easter egg hunting commenced while Will napped. It was probably better that way because we hid the eggs in the front yard and when we go out there Will only wants to run in the street anyway. Prior to Easter, Luke asked me who hides the Easter eggs. I told them that the Easter bunny hides the Easter eggs. He laughed at me and said, "No mommy, tell me who really does it." So we decided not to work hard to keep up that facade. It took no fun out of it for him. Luke and his cousins lined up for one last shot before chaos ensued.

On your mark. . .

get set. . .

GO!!!

Sweet Luke was very concerned that Wibby didn't get to participate in the egg hunt. We had some eggs set aside for Will and later that week Luke made sure he got a hunt. I gave Luke the set aside basket of eggs and sent him out in the back yard to hide them. I told him not to hide them in places that would be too hard for Will to find. Luke is pretty good at following directions.

We set Will free to hunt. He wasn't interested in more than one egg and didn't quite get the concept to put the egg in the basket. Big bro Luke decided to help out.

Helping out meant that he got to help eat the treats inside, too!

Our family pic with no one screaming and everyone looking in the general direction of the camera. AMAZING!

Vacation!!

I am on vacation for two whole weeks!!! I am not going anywhere in particular--I am just not going to work. I am paying our babysitter to come on her regular days, but with reduced hours, and I am going to do fun things for me. I have been really looking forward to this break. After returning from maternity leave after having Will, I have not taken any vacation days except for child care purposes. So, nearly 19 months later, this vacation is all for me! Yippie!

On the agenda so far is swimming lessons for the boys (I know that doesn't sound like vacation for me--but it is!), Luke and I have a movie date one day, lunch and pedicures with my high school pals, a special day with my friend Fara, a birthday bash for my friend Jamie, and a visit to the dentist. I may just go sit at Starbucks for five hours one day. Who knows? I love my boys, but sometimes I just need some "me" time. And I don't have to do any ironing!

I have also given myself a vacation style budget so that I can actually do these fun things. Maybe next year we will actually get to go on a family vacation, if we can coordinate the time and the money, but for now a mommy-cation will be just right.

They keep growing. . . and growing. . . and growing. . .

This picture was taken on the first day of school this year. . .

And nine months later, the last day of school.

He's grown an enitre brick in nine months!

An Willy keeps growing too. Here he is back in September,



And now. Not so much of a chubby baby anymore--although he never really was chubby--not like Luke was. Will is a lean, mean, climbing machine.  Doesn't sit still long enough to store chub.

This is where Luke took his nap last week. He was supposed to be in his room. He usually plays in his room for quiet time and rarely actually sleeps. He was waiting outside his door for me to come tell him he could get up and I guess he just passed out.  He slept this way for over an hour until I woke him up. 

And more of Will climbing on things. He loves light switches and figured out he could climb the shelves to get to this one. He was discovered when I was investigating the mysteriously flickering lights. 

Trying to get some food. Or attention.  Most likely both.  Standing in his chair doing the sign for "more." 

Luke in my boots 2009 and 2011. What does it say about my style that I am still wearing the same boots three years later??



A Line in the Sand

(Yeah! I finally found my camera cable! Funny, it was in my laptop bag. Who would have thought to put it in such a logical place. Surely it was not me!)

Since Will first became mobile, we struggled with the idea of giving Luke his personal space and a place to go away from the baby versus giving Will free reign regardless of where he chose to wreak his havoc. We initially decided that Luke's room could be his own private space where he could go and shut the door and be alone if he needed it.  However, this quickly turned into a lot of slamming doors and unnecessary drama as it evolved from a space Luke could go to be alone to a place Will wasn't allowed to go and wasn't allowed to touch anything. As Will got old enough to care he began to get his feelings hurt by the slamming doors and Luke started to stash toys in his room just to keep Will from playing with them. I became increasingly irritated with the situation as it escalated to Luke absolutely having a fit for the two minutes Will would be allowed to be in his room while I helped him get dressed. There were tears on all sides of this battle.

Back in February, when we had the blizzard of 2011, we were cooped up for quite a few days. Luckily, the first day I had to go to work. (Luckily? I don't know about that.) As I prepared to be home with the boys the next day, I decided I had had enough of this behavior. I started talking about it the night before to Luke--about how the slamming doors hurt Will's feelings and about how he should start letting Will come in and play. Luke didn't think I had any good ideas. So the next morning, I drew a line in the sand. I said no more shut doors and Will could touch/play with whatever he wanted. He could have his alone time with the door shut during quiet time and that was it. I told him it was too cold to shut the door. (I do have a reputation around here for coming up with abstract and inane reasoning to get my kids to do what I want--but this one had merit. Luke's room is the coldest in the house and it was 17 degrees outside.  I couldn't let the kid freeze!) 

This was initially met with resistance but I held my ground (silently giggling inside).

The door must remain open.

Nope, you can't block his way either. . .

. . . put your arms down. . .

You can't smush him up against the wall either. . .

And that was it. All smiles from here on.

 Luke even gave Will one of his most coveted toys.

I was a little surprised. He put up a good front initially, but once he gave it, there was not a single problem. The whole day went smoothly as did the next, and the next, and the next.  A little surprised is an understatement. I was actually stunned that this worked. But it did and now the two are playing together like peas and carrots.

As for the rest of the wintry weather--

Well, it was 17 degrees outside. I was not taking anyone outside who refuses to wear mittens and hats . . . ahem, WILL. I stood outside in the wintry weather waiting on the train for long enough to get my fill of the snow.  Luke didn't really ask to go out, so we didn't. 

But we did try on funny hats! I love funny hats on kids! They just make me smile.

But it didn't last long, as I knew it wouldn't.

Will was permitted to look at the snow. (I know, I'm such a good mom, right?)

And once the weather was above freezing, I bundled them up as much as they would allow, and we went out for an afternoon at the boys favorite park!

a little lost. . .

I really want to share about Luke's 4th birthday! I can't find my cable to upload the pictures. It is a month since his birthday party and the cable is no where to be seen. I am losing a ton of mommy points for each day that passes and I have not posted about my baby turning 4!

I am not above bribery when it comes to my children

Luke has been going to preschool for three years. Every spring, the school has a fundraiser event where the kids get to sing. The past two years, Luke never made it on stage to sing. One year he was sick and the next, he chickened out right at the time to get on the stage.  It was actually pretty pitiful because he was real excited about it, and hyped up to do it. He even walked up to the stage to line up, but when the time came--he got stage fright.

Since Luke came of the age in which it was time to develp social skills, he has frequently had stage-fright-like expereinces. He gets overwhelmed at big parties or in places that are new to him. This usually ends up in a shut-down where he refuses to participate--often refusing to even go into the room where the party is. This past year, we have really been working on this.  We have been encouraging him and giving him lots of time to talk about it and work through it in his head before the big day. When we can, we show up early, as he always does better if he can acclimate before the crowd gets there. He really has come a long way in this past year.

The past few months Luke's class has been preparing for the school's ArtFest fundraiser. We wanted to help him get prepared to get on stage this year. When we learned from his teachers that Luke was (not surprisingly) not participating in music class and not singing the songs we realized it was time to take action.  Luke's favorite place to go for a treat is TuttiFrutti, a little frozen yogurt shop that is self-serve with tons of yummy toppings.  We went the noble route and decided a little bribe was just what he needed. So we told Luke that if he got on stage at ArtFest and sang that we would take him to TuttiFrutti afterwards. We made him practice at home and let him stand up on tables for a "stage." The most important part is that we withheld any trips to TuttiFrutti for this time. I think it made him want it even more when we decided to go out for ice cream one night and Daddy chose Braum's and said N-O to TuttiFrutti. Did it work? See for yourself. . .

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