Braedon's bug bite

On Sunday I noticed Braedon's right hand was pretty swollen and there was a bump on the top that looked like a pimple then what appeared to be a scratch of some kind. He didn't remember being bit and we couldn't figure out where he could have since we hadn't been anywhere that day. So we tried not to worry about it and went swimming. When he went to bed, it still looked about the same but the swelling was getting harder. I checked on him at midnight-no change-but when he got up for school yesterday, his whole hand was puffy all the way down to his fingers and it was red around the swelling. Braedon said he felt fine and it didn't hurt so we went to school. I asked his teacher to keep an eye on it for me and to call if it got worse but that I would be callling the doctor to get him in. I had to get him out of school about 20 min early and when we got to the ped, he was running a low grade fever (99.3). The doctor looked at his hand and noticed it was warm but didn't seem to concerned since Braedon wasn't in obvious pain-though he has a very high threshold for pain. He said it hurt a little but that was after she had been pushing on it for a few minutes. Anyway long story short, they prescribed him with an antibiotic just in case for the fever and told me to give him Benadryl to help with the swelling. If it gets worse or doesn't get better by tomorrow, then I need to call. This morning it looked way better though. The redness was virtually gone but the swelling was still there.

After the fiasco at the peds, I talked to my mother in law and she reminded me that Braedon had rolled around in the grass on Saturday night and may have been bit by an ant. I guess it is safe to assume he is allergic to ants since he was bitten a couple months ago on his foot by an ant and had the same swelling reaction.

He took 2 steps!

Yep! Cohen took 2 steps! He has become braver and braver the last few days and is no longer scared to stand alone..in fact, he thinks it's funny when he lets go. Saturday night, we were having dinner for Chris' birthday and Cohen was standing on the booth when he took 2 steps towards Chris! He hasn't done it since but he is standing for longer an longer so it won't be long now. He is still trying to reach for something to grab onto before he moves his feet. I'll keep you updated :-)

An update on Braedon: He is doing much better with the new sticker reward system had 2 out of 3 days on green and one yellow. We talked to him about this week and told him we would like to see him on green everyday this week. He agreed but then said he wanted on purple! I think this may have something to do with Megan (his "girlfriend). She is a few months older than Braedon so she was able to start K last year and has been in 1st grade for a couple weeks longer. At dinner on Saturday, we started talking about school. In K, her school used a number system 1-4 with 4 being an excellent day; in 1st grade, they are using a color system and she told Braedon that she is always on purple and asked what color he is on. When he told her "sometimes yellow and orange", she asked him why he isn't good in school, etc. Maybe she will have an influence on him that no one else seems to have had yet. I let his teacher know that his goal is purple this week and she was really excited. Only time will tell!

Being a SAHM (stay at home mom)

I decided to write this post after an experience I had yesterday when I was at lunch with one of our play groups.

We went to chick-fil-a after story time. Now mind you, there was 15 moms, easy..plus the kiddo's. So we pushed a few tables together and had lunch. We were talking and laughing about mom stuff-funny things our kids said or did, things we did, etc when this old man comes up to us-he had to be 75-80-and says:

"So this is what you housewives do all day while the husband is out working"

So, me being sarcastic and all said "Pretty much"

Then a few other Mom's chimed in with

"and eat bon-bons all day"
"while sitting on the couch watching TV"
"and taking naps"
"and watching soap operas"

Then an uproar of laughter at the table.

This got me thinking about the common misconception of "housewives" and "stay at home mom's"..believe me, I used to have the same misconception when I was a working mom.

I thought being a SAHM would mean sleeping in, taking naps, watching my soap opera, lounging around, having a perfectly clean house everyday, dinner on the table when hubby gets home, being the soccer mom, or the mom all your friends had-the one that took you to school; picked you up; always had snacks for practice...you know, the ideal image of a Mom that doesn't have to work.

Man was I wrong! Having done both, I LOVE being able to stay home with my boys. I HATED dropping Braedon off at daycare knowing someone else was having fun with him all day and teaching him new things. That being said, being a working mom was easier in the means of effort. There was an escape from the crying and whining and diapers and cleaning and chasing. I had adult interaction and my days weren't filled with conversations with a child-while those conversations can be very interesting to say the least. I got up, got ready for work, got Braedon ready for daycare, ate breakfast, dropped him off at daycare, went to work. Then I picked him up from daycare, we played, I made dinner, then bath and bed.

I can honestly say, I am more tired at the end of the day being a SAHM than I was being a working Mom. Now, I get up, get ready for the day-if I want a shower, I have to get up before my kids or wait until naptime, get the boys up and ready, drop Braedon off at school, come home, feed Cohen, play, er, chase Cohen-make sure he doesn't get into anything, pick up after him, etc. Then he goes down for a nap at which time, if I didn't get a shower in the morning, now's the time if I'm going to get one then I have to pick up the house-it's amazing what a 10 month old can destroy-clean up our breakfast dishes, figure out what's for dinner and take out what needs to thaw, do whatever household chores are on the list for that day-clean bathrooms, pick up bedrooms, vacuum, sweep/mom, laundry-never ending with 2 kids, dusting, giving the dogs a bath depending on what mess they've gotten themselves into outside...then hopefully I can get that done before Cohen wakes up from his nap (which doesn't happen then I'm a day behind and it snowballs). Once he's up from his nap, it's time for lunch. I can then hope he will entertain himself without getting into too much trouble so I can clean up our lunch mess. From there, more chasing and playing...then it's afternoon nap time so I can finish cleaning up the lunch mess if I didn't get it done earlier, try to finish household chores or take 10 minutes for myself before he wakes up again. Then he's up and it's off to pick up Braedon from school. We come home, go over his day and any homework he has, then relief for me-Braedon plays/chases Cohen while I attempt to make dinner before the meltdowns start. HA-good luck with that! After dinner, I get the boys cleaned up while Chris cleans up dinner then it's play time with Daddy while Mommy puts her feet up :-) Then bath and bed...and Mommy collapses, er, gets on the computer LOL!

Being a SAHM also means making things work on one income and making sacrifices to do so. We haven't had cable in over a year, I haven't had my hair cut since I stopped working, I have had 1 pedicure since Cohen was born, we live paycheck to paycheck, we buy things that are on sale/clearance, we plan activites that are free-like story time at the library-or CHEAP-like kids eat free at Chick-fil-a on Mondays, Mcdonald's playplace with a $3 kidsmeal, we make dinner at home, we stress over how the bills will get paid, our credit is shot, Chris works 14 hours of OT every week just to make ends meet...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am willing to make sacrifices to be home with my kids. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of days that I think of the luxuries we could have if I was working. We've made it work on half the income we had and we thought we were broke when I was working as well! The problem is, aside from the crap economy, we have 2 kids. That would mean 2 kids in daycare-1 fulltime infant and 1 before/after school care. In order for me to go back to work and still bring home enough money to make it worth it after paying a daycare bill, I'd have to make at least $35k. I was making $42k but those paying jobs are harder to come by when you have ex-corporate america with Masters/Doctoral degrees competing for those jobs as well. Though, we have considered me getting a waitressing job at nights to bring in some income without having to pay for daycare. It's cash on hand and as long as the restaurant is busy, you can make what you need to make by picking up extra tables or working an extra hour or so.

So to all you working mom's out there-Props to you! I know how hard it is to leave your kids in someone else's hands...the trust it takes, the strength that it takes to leave a crying child or tell your child they have to go because you have to go to work, the courage it takes to know you are doing the right thing for your family, and the comittment it takes to balance work and personal along with making the most of the time you have with your kids.

And to all you fellow stay at home moms out there-Props to you as well! Especially those that have done it for years and years. It is exhausting and hard to not have the adult interaction, talking to your kids all day.

Meeting with the teacher

Thanks for the reminder Amy :-) The meeting was supposed to be with Braedon's teacher and vice principal however, the vice principal was called into another conference-I was lead to believe it was with a child with more issues than the "minor" ones we are dealing with.

So we bribed, er, were nice parents and brought Miss Fredrickson a Boba which we found out during meet the teacher night (when Chris and I walked in with one and she said "Oh my goodness where can you buy Boba around here? To which we turned and looked with absolute astonishment that she knew what Boba was) is one of her all time favorite drinks.

What is Boba you may ask? You can find that information right here.

So, now you know-you learned something new today didn't you? It's always good to learn new things.

Ahem, back to the meeting. So we brought her one-yeah maybe in hopes of her taking it easy on us-and after watching her grin like a kid in a candy store showing off her Boba to the entire staff, we went into the classroom. She showed us a chart she had created. In the left column, she had a box for the opposite of everything Braedon does to get in trouble-not sitting on his bum during carpet time, not sitting in his chair for table time, getting out of line, speaking out of turn, etc (there were 12 but I can't remember them all)-and the top row was Mon-Fri. So the plan is for everyday that he does each of these things (or the opposite really), he will get a sticker. I hope that makes sense LOL! So he will get a sticker for sitting on his bum, staying in line, yada yada. The ulitimate goal, obviously, is to have a sticker for every one, every day but the first goal was 8. Braedon decided he could do 9. If he gets his stickers for the day, he is on green or purple depending on how well he does but if he gets less, then he will be on yellow, orange, red accordingly. The chart will be at his table as a reminder and it will be sent home every Friday so we can see where he earned his stickers.

Miss Fredrickson was confident that this will work and will help him get back on track. I hope so!

Last week was rough

So my last post about school and Braedon was after his first day. You see, Braedon is a *spirited* child. He is very intense, emotional, energetic, and strong willed...not like his mom at all, ahem.

Moving on.

He can be hard to deal with and has a hard time listening and obeying authority. The school uses a color system to let us parents know how our dear children were at school. His calendar is colored everyday and we have to sign it.

Purple: exceptional day
Green: good day
Yellow: warning
Orange: time out/lose some recess
Red: time out in buddy room (principals office) and note/call home

So, Braedon's first day of school-Green
Tuesday: Orange
Wednesday: Green, then yellow-would've been Orange but school was over
Thursday: Orange
Friday: Thank goodness-Green
Monday (week 2): Yellow-still struggling with listening

He was throwing fits at school, laying on the floor and refusing to get up, pushing, hitting, pinching, cutting in line, refusing to listen to anything the teacher asked him to do, not doing his work and wandering the classroom and hall.

So, yeah, it was a rough week. I had to buckle down at home and become Nazi Mom-which I HATE! He tests his boundaries and constantly pushes his limits. I told him there would be no more warnings-there used to be one warning and that was it but for whatever reason, it got to the point where he was getting several warnings before punishment and he knew just how far he could push. Even after several warnings, I would give him "to the count of 3" to which he would wait until I said "3" then do whatever he was supposed to do. So, no more warnings, no more counting. I say do it, and you do it or there will be consequences. It was very hard for me to stick to my guns and he spent the majority of last week in his room. He was able to come down for dinner and then back up he went until it was time for a shower and bed. It was so hard to listen to him cry and just want to come out and talk-he's a social butterfly-but I knew the punishment had to be severe enough for him to know I mean business. I have taken away toys, TV, video games..you name it, he's lost it. But he doesn't seem to care. The only thing that seems to be working is solitude...which was proven when he got a big green smiley face on Friday.

Braedon is definitely a follower and if he sees another student being bad, then he thinks it's ok to be bad as well. I love his teacher-we almost seem to understand each other. She isn't married and has no children but it's as if we would/could be friends. The unfortunate thing is, while she's been a K teacher for 5 years, she just doesn't seem to have the forcefulness that some kids need. I may be completely off base here since I haven't seen her in "action" but she admitted that she has a brood of "rough boys" this year...which is not good for Braedon, you know, since he's a follower.

Today, Chris and I are meeting with his teacher and vice principal to work out a plan of attack, er, for success :-)

In other news-Cohen is so funny when it comes to standing without holding on. He has the balance to do so and does so very well, when he doesn't realize it LOL! If he is holding onto us and we make him let go, he holds his hands out in front of him and slowly lowers himself to a sitting/crawling position. If he's holding onto a peice of furniture, he gets distracted and grabs a toy with one hand, then wants to play with it in both hands. He will stand there for 5 min playing with the toy but the second it registered in his brain that he isn't holding something, he drops what he was playing with and grabs on! It's pretty funny to watch LOL!

Not Me!

Late Monday but still Monday all the same :-)



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So, where on earth do I start?

I absolutely did not find it funny when our dogs attacked the high chair once Cohen was out of it to get the food that didn't make it in his mouth. Not me! Our dogs are very obedient and would never do such a thing...and I am always on top of cleaning the messes my children make.



I absolutely did not take a picture of said event that did not happen, laughing hysterically at the fact that I did not think of this earlier..I mean, if it had happened...which it didn't.

I most certainly did not drink the last cup of milk-made into chocolate milk YUM!-leaving no milk for breakfast the next morning. Not me! I always leave the last of everything for my dear children.

I did not let Braedon go to bed in the clothes he was wearing that day. Nope! My kids always go to bed in there pajama's!

I also did not let him wear said clothes the next day as well while having a conversation in my head about it being one less set of clothes I would have to wash later. Not me! My kids are always clean, wearing clean clothes, and I love doing laundry!

I did not leave the baby gate open while I was chasing Braedon up the stairs because he was talking back to me which then left the staircase available for a 10mo old climber by the name of Cohen..who proceeded to take advantage of the opportunity. Once I realized this, I did not come running down the stairs to see that he had already made it up 4 stairs and was laughing...which then led me to run even faster down the stairs before he lost his balance and fell backward...I mean, if that did happen...which it didn't.

And lastly...I did not forget that Braedon gets out of school an hour early on Mondays and would not have been an hour late picking him up if his teacher hadn't reminded another parent about this..I mean, since I'm on top of my kids and a very involved parent, she just assumed I knew this and didn't feel the need to remind me of this....

So...what have you not done this week??

Braedon's first day! and funny story at the end :-)

So in all fairness I wrote this yesterday and didn't post it and I'm too tired to upload pictures..I'll just leave you with this-today was a rough day for Braedon and I am at my wits end. For now, enjoy his first day story and I'll upload the first day of school pics tomorrow...and maybe tell you what happened today-when I'm up for it.

Yep..first official day of school and man there were a TON of kids there! I mean, I knew it was a K-8 school, but I guess I didn't expect that many.

So we get to the school and see everyone migrating over to the courtyard where we were previously told to drop them off but since it was the first day..

Anyway-we flagged down someone -still don't know who she was but she worked there, our best guess is Vice Principal- to find out about paying for his lunch and were directed to the Cafeteria. Lunch paid for-check

Then we waited LOL! The school is on a grant of some sort so all the kids get breakfast for free-cool deal! There was a whole line of parents that hadn't registered their kids yet-CRAZY! Let's register our kids for school on the first day...sounds like a good idea to me! Breakfast was supposed to start at 7:55 but of course, they were behind schedule because of all the new registers.

Once we got in the classroom, he hung up his backback and sat down for breakfast. I got him all squared away and I just didn't want to leave. There were a few other parents that I could tell were feeling the same way as I was. Eventually, the parents started filing out of the classroom so Chris and I followed and off we went. Chris started laughing at me (gently) because I started tearing up. "But he didn't say anything this time to make you cry"..."No, but it's official now..He's growing up".




Ok Now the funny story.

A little background first though-Chris' friend Lupe has been staying with us Mon-Fri since he lives in another city but works out near us. Lupe drives a Scion like this:


We were walking passed the pick up turn around and there was an H2 parked there, like this:


Then our conversation went like this:

B: Look Mommy! It's like Lupe's!
Me: Yeah kinda
B: When we get home, I'm gunna tell Lupe we saw a car like his..but it was bigger so it wasn't like his...but it was like his...and it was black. I'm gunna tell him K mommy?
Me: *silently laughing* Ok bud.

Yesterday..

I absolutely had to post these pictures...they'll definitely make it into the "show the prom date" pics :-)

Braedon decided to be funny and put on Daddy's clothes:


Then he wanted to be Mommy-except I wear clothes:


And this is Cohen after lunch-Chef Boyardee:


We had to just put him in the sink because the rest of him looked about the same as his face!

Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So here goes my first Not Me! Monday post about all the things I did NOT do this week :-)

I most certainly did not let Braedon go swimming in his bathing suit that had been sitting outside for a week, nor did I let this go as his shower for the night. I am always about my children being clean and taking showers/baths every night..nope, not me!

I also did not join Braedon for a movie upstairs so I could nurse Cohen in bed and take a nap...nope, not me! I am always awake and attentive to my children!

I did not have to wash the same load of laundry 3 times because I did not forget to switch them to the dryer before they started to smell funny. I am way more on top of my chores than that!

I also did not stop at McDonald's on the way home from Braedon's first day of Kindergarten to get Cohen pancakes for breakfast because we are out of yogurt and I didn't want to make oatmeal for him. My kids always eat very nutritious meals and I love cooking for them every day!

And lastly, I did not take the long way through the neighborhood when I noticed a jerk following me too closely just to irritate him. I am way more mature than that! HA!

Want to play along? Go ahead..what have you NOT done this week??

Is it Sunday already??

Where did this week go? Where did the weekend go?? Is it just me or did it fly by fast?

So, let's play catch up..this could get to be long!

Wednesday: This Wednesday was Kids Club at the mall and they had a special going back to school edition for all the youngsters starting school Monday. We haven't been in a few months because Cohen is a bit on the young side and Braedon is a bit on the old side..but, Braedon wanted to go one last time before school started. Since it was a back to school edition, it was geared towards the older kiddos of the group and Braedon seemed to have a good time. After that, we went to lunch and then headed to the indoor play center.

Wednesday night was meet the teacher night at school. We have already met his teacher a few times because of the jump start program he did a couple weeks back but we were able to talk to her one on one and see around the school a bit. We also found out what the bus schedule would be if he ever needed to take the bus to or from school.

Thursday: I set up an account on Meetup.com to find some play groups for Cohen since Braedon is going back to school. I found 3 groups in the area with several members and seem to have younger kids so on Thursday, one of the groups was having lunch at McDonald's. There were several older kids that hadn't started school yet so Braedon had someone to play with and Cohen did as well. He couldn't go into the slide area but they had some stationary bug toy things that he was able to play on. This was a great group of ladies and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them. I am hoping between the three groups, I will be able to take Cohen out 2-3 times per week for a couple hours.

Friday: Yay-relaxation...or whatever relaxation you can get with 2 kids. We didn't have anything planned and Braedon was in the mood to watch movies and lay low all day...so I let him :-) I even got to watch a mommy movie while Cohen was napping and Braedon was upstairs watching a movie/sleeping in my room.

Saturday: We were helping my mom move..bleh. At least the weather was kind and it was only about 105*. Last week it was way too hot reaching 122 according to my car thermometer. My mom found a great apartment and I'm hoping she will stay there for a while. They have community activities like breakfast every Saturday, movies at the pool, wine and cheese party, etc. It should be good for her and I'm hoping she'll be happy there. She's a little farther away from us than she was but not much.

That brings us to today that started off with me getting to sleep in! YAY! I had also asked Chris last night if I could go get a massage today. My dad got me a gift certificate for Mother's Day and I hadn't used it yet so after moving yesterday, I thought it would be nice. I opted for the 90 min hot stone massage which was more than the gift certificate I had but I also had a Visa giftcard from my birthday that made up the difference and I just needed a tip. It was so wonderful! A whole 90 min of quiet and relaxation. I didn't want it to be over but all good things come to an end, right?

Now I am off to get the boys ready for bed and make sure everything is set for Braedon's big day at school...his first official day. I hope I can keep it together!

Twin fun!

We headed over to Amy's house today to help with her beautiful twins. Addison has been doing great with sleeping at night. Riley, however, not so much. I volunteered to come over and help out to see if I could help get Riley's scheduled flip by keeping her awake. Sara is exhausted as well because of Riley's schedule-one twin sleeping while one is awake. I also remember those first few months after having Cohen. I just wished someone would offer to come over for a couple hours so I could have a nap.

I tried to stay out of Sara's way and was just there to offer help if she wanted or needed it. I don't know if she appreciated my help or not..I may have just been a hindrance but we had fun anyway :-) Braedon went to spend the day with Uncle Colby in hopes that he will listen to his much idolized uncle about being nice at school and making lots of friends. Cohen hasn't been around the girls since he figured out this whole crawling thing so it was 50/50 if he would be more interested in scoping out this "new" environment or if he would be jealous like last time and go crazy with wanting attention. I'm happy to say he was more about playing-with the girls! He was loving on them, playing with their feet and hands and "patting" their head. It was so cute to watch. At one point, one of them was on their play mat and he wanted to stand up to reach the toys that hung down. So he was holding onto the little bars that go across and when he realized they moved, he was trying to use the baby to help prop him up. He was pushing on her leg trying to get that extra bump....needless to say, she didn't like it much LOL!

All in all, I'd say it was a good day. Sara got a slight nap-she played on the computer during the girls' naps and decided she should catch some zzzzz's about 20 min before they woke up. I did what I could before waking her up but Riley woke first so I fed her then half way through that Addison started stirring and 5 min after that, Cohen woke up from his nap. I only have 2 arms and 3 babies...I was completely outnumbered LOL!

Here are some pics..enjoy :-)

Riley-sleepy eyes


Riley-stay awake baby girl


Wide awake Addison




Cohen having fun playing


Amy and Cohen


Colby and the twins-he thought I was trying to intice him into making me an aunt sooner :-)

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thank you to Amy for giving me this award :-) I am supposed to list 7 things I am thankful for and then 7 blogs I want to pass this on to. I'm new to blogging so I only have 4 followers and 1 of them gave this to me LOL!

First things first-7 things I'm thankful for:

1 & 2: My boys-Braedon & Cohen I never knew how much love my heart could hold until I had children. Braedon is the son I never knew I always wanted. I was headed down a dark path when God gave him to me. HE knew it was time for me to settle down and I needed to get off the path I was headed. At the time, I didn't know what I was going to do but Braedon changed my life. He is my son through and through and he was always meant to be mine even if it wasn't the ideal situation at the time. And my baby boy, Cohen. I always knew I wanted more than 1 child and the prospect of another child was not in my cards for a long time. It was by sheer miracle that he was conceived. We were TTC but I was sure we had missed the window the month he was conceived. At my 20 week scan when we were finding out the gender, we found out there was a problem with his umbilical cord-he only had 2 arteries instead of the normal 3. After days of agonizing over the possibilities and problems this "could" cause, we had an in-depth scan to find out that he was perfect! There wouldn't be any underlying affects from the cord.

3: My husband, Chris. The love of my life. He came back into my life for good when Braedon was just 2 years old. It takes a special man to be a Daddy to child that isn't his. He knew we were a package deal and he never looked back. He took Braedon in as his own and promised to love me/us forever. He works hard everyday, including overtime, so I can stay home and raise our boys.

4: My family, They have always been there for me and they stepped up when I was a single mom trying to get by. They continue to be there for me to this day. My mom and I have certainly had our differences along with ups and downs but things are on the up. I have also been blessed with the best grandparents ever-Namma and Pappa. They made it a point to be a part of my life. They came down on the weekends, took us out during spring break, were there for every birthday, Christmas, holiday. My dad and step-mom have stood by me as well. Again, ups and downs with them but we are definitely back on track. Of couse, there is my brother as well. He made it home safe from Iraq and Africa, and where ever else he was and whatever else he did that he can't tell us. Lastly, my sister. As we have grown up, we've gotten closer and I hope that our relationship continues to grow.

5: My extended family-Chris' family took Braedon in as their own without looking back just as Chris did. I quite possibly have the best MIL a girl could ask for. She's always been there when we needed her, she takes Braedon on overnight trips whenever she can (and will take Cohen as soon as he's done nursing LOL!)and she is always buying the boys things-spoiling them rotten :-)

6: My friends, real life and online: I have a great group of friends that have always been a support system. I have this wonderful online group of friends that I met when I was pregnant with Cohen. It is amazing to have other mom's that are going through the same things. They are there to laugh with, cry with, pull your hair out with and bounce ideas off of when you are at your wits end.

7: Coffee, Cheerios, video games, Tylenol, Orajel, baby gates and anything else that keeps Cohen and Braedon entertained and happy :-)

And now I pass this award onto:

http://andbabymakesfour-makm.blogspot.com/

http://a-little-bit-of-us.blogspot.com/

http://serendipitymom.blogspot.com/


Alright ladies, what are YOU thankful for??

Cohen continues to thrive :-)

In all the hub-bub of Braedon going to school, Cohen continues to do new things! He is learning to climb-first with the steps in the pool and then he climbed up 4 stairs with Chris behind him and me in front of him encouraging him to do it. I'm ok with a few steps and letting him when he's supervised so it takes the curiosity out of it. He doesn't have access to the stairs during the day anyway with the way the baby gates are set up for this specific reason. He is also starting to let go when standing more and more. We were over at Namma's yesterday for her birthday party. She has a drawer full of of spoons and cups that she had made for Braedon. He reached in standing up and grabbed 2 spoons which required both hands. He realized he wasn't holding on, looked up and my mom and laughed! Lastly, he has started this growling thing. He's been making the sound for a while but on Friday, he discovered he has control over it and does it all day. He pulled up to hold onto the couch, looked up and me and "growled". It was too cute! He also likes sooting chairs around all over the kitchen. He prefers the barstools since they don't have wheels. Our dining room chairs do and they roll when he's trying to stand up on them. Until a few days ago, he didn't have the coordination to stand up while they were rolling but he is getting a lot better. At any given time, I have chairs and barstools all over the kitchen and dining area but if I try to put them back, he glares at me and continues to move them again. It's a never ending process LOL! I took a video of him after he had scooted the barstool around the kitchen island and then pushed it up to the fridge and couldn't figure out how to get it moving again so he just stood there and "jumped" with it.



Oh and today, Cohen said "Daddy"!! Chris was so excited. Of course, I didn't hear it at first but he just kept saying daddy, daddy, daddy! Chris has been waiting for that for a long time and I'm glad he finally said it..and kept saying it. It was almost as if he was making sure we both heard it and we knew what he was saying :-) Smart boy!

Last 2 days of jumpstart

We've been pretty busy and I fell behind on the blog front LOL!

Braedon's last 2 days of jumpstart went fairly well. He was able to stay on green most of the day. He had a couple mishaps that put him on yellow but with the "threat" of red hanging over him, he shaped up to get back on green. I was very happy with how this week went and am hoping the jumpstart program got all the wiggles out and we won't have any problems when the school year starts. On Thursday, when I was dropping Braedon off, a little boy-I say little because he was much smaller than Braedon-came up to me and said "your son 'bees' mean to me". It kind of took me by surprise but I turned to Braedon and he admitted it so I took it as an opportunity for a life lesson on being nice. It turns out, Braedon seems to be the bully. If someone has something he wants, he takes it away without asking and if they don't give it to him, he hits them. This little boy was beyond his years and kept telling Braedon that he needs to be nice to everyone and not take things away, to share, and to not hit. I talked to Braedon about being nice and making friends with everyone. It's better to have lots of friends than to be the kid that is mean. He said he wanted to be this kids friend so I told him he needed to appologize and ask if they can be friends. I couldn't have seen what was coming next. Braedon went over and asked him if they can be friends and he said "NO"..oh my-so much for a life lesson right? Good thing I'm quick on my feet because Braedon just looked at me like what now? I told him that he doesn't want to be his friend because he was mean to him and he needed to make an effort to show him he would be nice. Meanwhile, this kid kept saying "you need to be nice to EVERYONE, not just me". Hmmm..pretty smart this little kid is. I asked Braedon to work on being nice to everyone and have a good day. He was anxious to get to play and run before school started. This kid wasn't in his class so I don't know what happened or if he will be in his class for the year. I guess we'll have to see. Braedon also showed what a big boy he could be and rode the bus home the last 2 days. I was nervous about it but I figured it would be good for him to get the experience and this way if I ever needed him to take the bus home for anything, he already knows how to do it. Since it was just kinder during the jumpstart, there was only 1 bus and his stop is the first one. I talked to Ms. Jimenez about how it works to help me feel more at ease about the situation. If I had my way, I would've drove up to the school and followed the bus until he was dropped off. Anyway, the bus drivers have a list of the kiddo's and their addresses so they know where they should be dropped off at. They also won't let them off the bus unless there is an adult (that they know) at the bus stop. If there isn't, they will make them stay on the bus and take them back to the school after everyone else is dropped off. To top it off, the kindergartners have bright orange bracelets that get put on and the first graders have bright green ones so the bus drivers know they are little one's-not that it wouldn't be obvious by their size LOL! Oh and the teachers walk all the kids out to the bus and make sure they get on the right bus. That made me feel a lot better about the situation so I sucked it up and let him take the bus the last 2 days. He did great and LOVED it. According to Chris it was because he felt "liberated". He went somewhere without Mommy or Daddy and did it all on his own.

Now for pictures :-)

Wednesday-waiting for the bus:


Here it comes:


Such a big boy!


I didn't take a pic before school so here is after:


Thursday-waiting for the bus:


The bus driver saw me trying to take a pic Wed so he posed for me :-)


And again-after school-can't remember why he took his shoes off:


On Wednesday night, there was a "make and take" night at Braedon's school. We didn't have a lot of information going into it but we were told that we would be making things that would help the kiddo's practice what they learn at school, at home. Does that make sense? Ok so we went up there and the kinder teachers had typed out everyone's name in dot letters on laminated paper so he could practice writing his name. He's known how to do that for quite some time but now he needs to practice writing smaller. We also got a sheet with the letters of the alphabet along with their "characters" like W is worm-can't remember his name and Z is zebra-again, can't remember the name along with magnetic letters and activities we can do with the letters to help him learn to spell words, recognize letters, etc. We also made flashcards with numbers 0-20 for number recognition and for counting purposes. He can count to 100 so we are going to make more flashcards counting higher. He gets a little confused on number recognition when it comes to double digits. It is "1 and a 0" rather than "10" but when counting outloud, he does fine.

Pics from that night: