It's official!

Braedon lost his first tooth today!

It was so close and I had a feeling it was coming out today. I had another look at it this morning when he got up and it was hanging on by a thread. I told him to play with it as much as he could and to use his tongue to push on it to help loosen it up and to make sure he didn't swallow it at lunch LOL! I was actually pretty surprised that it was still in when I picked him up from school this afternoon.

So we ran home quickly since I have class on Wednesday nights. I grabbed all my stuff, packed my dinner and snacks for the boys to eat on the way to Chris' work. It didn't even occur to me that it would be hard for him to eat the apple he had requested..duh! He also asked for grapes since that is what I was packing for Cohen. So we rush out the door snacks and drinks in hand, get all everyone loaded up and ready to go. I literally get 2 minutes down the road (talking to Chris to let him know we were on our way) and Braedon yells "Mommy mommy! My tooth came out!!".."What?!"..."Yeah I was eating a grape and it just came out...here it is"...Yeah phone in one hand, steering wheel in the other...hold phone with shoulder, attempt to drive with knee while I reach behind me to get the tooth before he dropped it. You know, this scene is kind of ironic...you know with all my carseat safety knowledge and all...yeah lets get them all buckled in nice and tight and then attempt the knee steering, holding a phone with my shoulder and reaching behind me..oh well!

He was so excited and he wanted me to call the tooth fairy right then and there...then he wanted her number and promised he wouldn't tell any of the other kids what it was! Oh geez!

The real adventure came when I got home from class. My first attempt at playing tooth fairy which means getting the tooth pillow out from under the regular pillow which had his precious little sleeping head. Now normally, he sleeps pretty soundly..BUT not tonight! I had a plan in place though and it worked out perfectly since I had class tonight. The plan was to go in there and attempt to swap the tooth for money but if he woke up, I would just give him a hug and kiss to let him know I was home. While giving him a hug, I would reach under his pillow to grap the tooth pillow then let him go back to sleep before replacing it. BRILLIANT, right?! Well that's exactly how it went. He woke up the instant I opened his door..nice..I gave him a hug, conveniently slipped my hand under his pillow and grabbed it. Oh and by the way, thanks Grandma Di for the awesome tooth pillow but next time, let's get one WITHOUT VELCRO :D Luckily I had stepped out his room to make sure he didn't suspect anything..I mean, he is a genius and EXTREMELY observant which makes this even harder. I replaced the tooth with the money and waited for him to go back to sleep...then I oh so carefully crept back in his room, slid it back under his pillow and crept back out to which I found my oh so wonderful husband right next to me to scare the bejesus out of me and almost ruin the whole being quiet thing. He rustled around for a second and then went right back to snoring!

I can't wait to see his face in the morning when he discovers his money! Oh the magic of childhood!

Loose tooth

I guess a more appropriate title would be loose teeth..

I had been worried about the lack of loose teeth Braedon had. He teethed really early and got his first 2 teeth at 3 months old so I had been told and assumed he would start losing teeth early. At his 5 year well check, his pediatrician had mentioned that it was a possibility so I was on the look out...then his 6 year well check came and still no signs of loose teeth. A couple kids in his class lost teeth and he's one of the older one's along with Megan-his "girlfriend"..and still no loose teeth!

I had Christina take a look at his teeth because some of his teeth started looking really grey and of course, I was being a paranoid mom with this whole losing teeth. He definitely grinds his teeth which I used to do but she couldn't feel anything loose. The next morning, literally, when I was brushing/flossing his teeth, he told me his teeth hurt. My first though "Great! Cavaty.." NOPE. His front 2 teeth were loose...barely but still loose. I was so excited!

He had a dentist appointment last week. I was a bad mommy and hadn't taken him in almost 2 years. They took x-rays and were very impressed with how clean and cavity free his teeth were. The x-ray also showed a handful of teeth that had lost their roots completely and "would be coming out very soon". He had 2 of his 6yr molars in and the other 2 were poking through. Long story short, 2 days after his dentist appointment, brushing his teeth again, he told me his bottom tooth hurt. I was expecting it this time because the dentist had said he was surprised they weren't loose yet and bet the bottoms would come out before the tops. This tooth was VERY LOOSE. He can no longer eat with it, it's really starting to pull forward and the teeth around it are turning out to make room for the big tooth. As of tonight, it seems to only be hanging on by a thread..the TOOTH FAIRY better get ready!!

Braedon!

Last week was an exciting week for us!

After the holiday break, I felt like we were back at square one with Braedon and his behavior at school. He did so well over the 2 week break but it's probably because he didn't "have to do anything" as far as school work or anything that really required any sort of concentration.

So the first week back was rough...even rougher because he was not going up to 1st grade for math. The 1st grade class was "re-organizing". My guess is they were re-testing the kiddos because they were split up into 3 levels-below 1st grade, average, above average-and they needed to make sure everyone was where they should be. This meant Braedon had to stay in Kindergarten during math. He has been working on double digit addition/subtraction so you can imagine the torture of having to do single digit addition and "how many are in this picture".

Ok so fast forward to last week-I picked him up from school as I always do but Miss Fredrickson seemed distracted so we didn't really talk much about his day-no biggie. I get home and when I looked in his folder for the day's report, announcements, homework, I saw a permission slip. WELL! This wasn't just any permission slip...it was a permission slip to test him for the Gifted and Talented program!! Oh...my...goodness! I talked to her the next day about it and learned the testing will be in March and that she requested it. She said "he's a very analytical thinker and always thinks outside the box" and "I really just think there is something there"! I finally felt like my thoughts were being heard! After months and months of conferences with her and the assistant principal to figure out what might work and countless times of me telling them "HE'S BORED!"..they finally listened! I've always known he was smart and not just being biased. His preschool teachers always said something. Not only is he smart, he's quick to learn which is always a good skill to have.

So the test is really hard and there isn't much I can do to prepare him for it but everyone at the school is confident he will do just fine. If for whatever reason he doesn't make it this year, they will definitely test him next year. And once he's in, he's in!!

Isn't that great?! I'm so excited for him and I know this will be what he needs. He's not being challenged enough and is getting uber bored in class which then leads to misbehavior.

Almost there!

GRRR!!! So I had this whole post typed out last night when blogger decided to stop working! Did it save ANY of it? Of course not! The one time I didn't copy before submitting and this is what happens!

So here it goes again-

Cohen is so close to walking he can taste it! He has been walking with assistance for a few months but had this complex about letting go. He would freestand for a while but as soon as he realized it or wanted to go somewhere, he would slowly lower himself to the ground. He loved to push things around and would move chairs all day long. At any given time, our barstools and dining chairs were virtually all over the kitchen and dining room. The 2 things that prevented them from being everywhere else is the baby gate and the carpet in the living room.

All of that changed literally 2 days ago. First he figured out how to stand from the seated position without help from anyone or anything. Then he laughed that he had done it and started taking steps. He was laughing so hard he fell down...but right back up he went. Every time he does it, he is giggling. It is so cute! Last night at Braedon' soccer practice, he went crazy! He took about 10 steps before he fell and kept getting up again. I was surprised at how long it took him to resort to crawling. He is seriously FAST when he crawls which is why it is taken him so long to try to walk. I have no doubt in my mind that by next weeks practice, he will be running all over the field!

This is an exciting milestone but at the same time, I know what having a walker is like and I have not been looking forward to it. Walking brings a whole new aspect to things. I am just thankful he wasn't an early walker like Braedon who walked at 7 months...no joke!

Where oh where have I been?

Life has a way of getting the best of you. I haven't blogged in a month! :O It has been crazy busy around here and there were so many times that I said "Oh man this needs to go in my blog" then the event came and went.

I am back in school now and 2 weeks away from finishing my second class. I am proud to say that I finished my first class with a 99.3% and I am on my way to a very similar grade in my current class though it is so much harder. Who knew a healthcare ethics class would be so challenging? It is really making me think about my own ethics and how I would handle situations if/when I become a nurse.

Chris is doing great at work and is getting a 20% raise! He has been approached a few times about stepping into a management role and we have discussed what is best for our family. It is a step in the right direction but management doesn't get overtime which is our bread and butter at the moment. I would love for him to not have to work overtime but on the flip side, it is what allows me to stay home with the boys.

Braedon has been doing much better with the herbs he's on and the new diet. However, the last week has been rough. He is falling into old habits and of course, now we know it isn't anything other than him chosing to not make "smart choices" (per the school's wording). I am starting to wonder if he is challenging us in a way to see how far it will go. He has been grounded since last Tuesday and continues to challenge us. We also have a parent-teacher conference tonight.

Cohen is continuing to thrive and learn so much. No, he isn't "walking" yet though he could. He just won't let go and is afraid of falling. He also knows he is much faster when he crawls. He has also turned into quite the dare devil. He knows how to climb on the couch and likes to "throw" himself into the pillows after Braedon has stacked them up. We line the floor of the couch with additional pillows to help with the falls but now he intentionally falls off and laughs when he hits the floor. He is quite the little boy!

Since the boys' birthdays are 5 days apart, we had 1 big party for them a couple weeks ago at the park down the street. We reserved a ramada near the playground and BBQ. We also rented a bounce house which was a major hit with the kids and had a pinata. We were lucky that it wasn't triple digits like the weekend before and that it didn't rain as anticipated. It was very very windy so most of the decorations didn't last and we didn't even bother with the balloons. The general concensus was at least the sun wasn't beating down! The boys were spoiled as anticipated and we still have to go through the play room to make room for the new stuff.

They both had their check ups as well. Braedon came in at 47" and 52# up 6" and 10# from last year! Cohen came in at 31" and 21#. They are both healthy growing boys!

Braedon gets suspended,then gets on green & Cohen walks!

On Wednesday, the school had a "bring your grandparents to lunch" day in honor of grandparents day so Namma, Mom and I went up there. Braedon had had a rough morning and was in OCR which normally would've meant he would be walked to the cafeteria to get his lunch and then back to OCR to eat it but they made an exception since he pulled his act together in OCR and because we were there. I headed up a little early to talk to him about what he had been doing and then we went over and had lunch. While we were eating, Mr. George (OCR teacher) came in to get lunch with the other boys that were in there and Braedon's face just lit up. He had told us that he liked OCR but based on the reason's he gave, I figured it was because it was quiet in there and hew as getting over stimulated. Come to find out, he really likes Mr. George. Bells and whistles and red flags went off in my head-He likes Mr. George which is why he likes OCR which is why he keeps getting sent there. He knows if he acts up, he will be sent there. I don't know why I didn't put 2 and 2 together before that. We also discussed the possibility of him being bored in class because he is definitely smart for his age but more importantly, he absorbs everything very quickly and has an impecable memory. You don't have to tell him how to do something more than a couple times and he has it. After lunch, I met up with Ms. Jelleson (Asst. Principal) to discuss the my observances.

We set up the meeting on Thursday morning before school started so Miss Fredrickson could be there. We all discussed the *problem* with Mr. George. Come to find out, Mr. George is an ex Juvenile detention officer...whoa! So he talks to them about their decisions, making the right decisions and what is going to happen if they continue to make the wrong decisions. GREAT! But not great since Braedon likes him. Miss Fredrickson brought in his DIBELS test results for me to see and he is right where he needs to be...not below, not above. However, as I looked over some of his work, he missed things that I know he can do. Miss Fredrickson said that he continues to say he's tired and doesn't know how to do something that he can do. Between the 3 of us, we think he is getting overwhelmed. Instead of looking at things one at a time, he looks at the big picture. We worked out a plan that we were hoping was going to work. Rather than using OCR as a punishment, we flipped it to be more of a positive. If he was being good but needed a quiet moment/cool off moment, he could go see Mr. George. I didn't want him to lose that connection especially if Mr. George is talking to him about his actions and what that could mean in the future. Miss Fredrickson was also going to work on "chunking" him work. Instead of telling him to do the whole worksheet, she will cover up half of it and say "Ok Braedon, you are just going to do these ones then come see me". This way he gets immediate gradification and the praise/attention he so desperately seeks then he works on the second portion. After we had that established, Ms. Jelleson piped in and talked to him about his behavior and referrals (basically write ups when it gets bad enough-3 referrals=suspension and he already had 2). She told him that he needed to work on calming down and asking to go see Mr. George if he needed help. She then proceeded to tell him that if he got another referral, he would be sent home.....BIG MISTAKE! I cringed when she said it and it took her a minute to realize what she had just done. I immediately piped in and told him that he would NOT have fun at home if he got sent home-there would be no toys, TV, games, nothing and he would be sitting at his table all day writing letters and doing homework. He agreed but I knew better.

Not 30 minutes later I got a call that he scratched on kid and kicked another. He then refused to walk out of the room to cool off and talk to Ms Jelleson and she had to carry him down the hall to her office. He officially got his 3rd referral for hurting 2 other kids and I had to go pick him up. I was beyond upset-my kindergartner was suspended. By the time I got there, I could tell he was truly upset for what he had done and was crying. Ms. Jelleson said she had never seen him so upset so I think something set him off and he lost control. It took him a minute to remember/realize what he had done and he was truly sad over it. There is definitely something going on there but I couldn't let that interfere with what had happened and the punishment. I had warned him and I had to follow through. We talked with the school counselor and I filled out a sort of permission slip so she could talk to him a couple times a week about his feelings and how to express them. She'll also work on relaxation and calming down exercises.

Once we got home, he got what he was promised. I moved his table to the base of the stairs on the other side of the baby gate where I could still see him but he couldn't see anything that was going on in the living room. I made him sit there while I calmed down and figured out what I was going to do. He complained he was tired and hungry but just because we were at home, I couldn't let him take a nap or eat prior to lunch "time" so I made him keep his head off the table and he wasn't allowed to eat lunch until 11. I found a website that has grade appropriate worksheets and printed off countless worksheets. In the meantime, I wrote out letters of appology to the 2 kids he hurt, Miss Fredrickson and Ms. Jelleson. I made him tell me what he wanted to say and then he had to write them out. It was the first time he had to write sentences so it took several times before he had a copy that was somewhat legible but it was a learning experience for him in 2 ways-1: writing sentences and seeing how letters are combined to make words, spaces between words and how words make sentences-2; writing appology letters for his actions. He got 2 acceptable letters written before lunch so I let him stop and eat but then it was back to writing the 2 others. After he finished those, I made him start working on the stack of worksheets I had printed off. I talked to him about what he had done and why he was sent home. I also made sure he realized that school was the better option. I took it as a learning experience because he kept telling us he just wanted to be at home not realizing that being at home wouldn't be like it was before he started school. I still praised him on the worksheets and gave him the gratification he needed to continue but every time he got up from his chair, I made him sit back down. I also made it a point to not talk to him and kept Cohen away from the baby gate. If he had to go to the bathroom, he told me before he got up and if he had a question about the worksheet I answered but nothing beyond that. Once school would've gotten out, I made him a snack and then made him go back to work. He was then able to stop for dinner and then back to work until bedtime. I debated on letting him stop when school was over but I felt I had to go to the extreme to make sure he remembers how much being sent home sucked. Once Chris got home, he said "I just want to go to school, I don't want to do all this" so I knew I had made the right impression. When we tucked him in he said he doesn't ever want to be sent home again and he would be good on Friday. Good :-)

Friday morning, I decided we would spend more time at home and get there right when school started rather than going early for breakfast he can't eat anyway. I had been making his breakfast and letting him eat with the other kids but most days he looked sad and I think it is because he can't have what they are having. So he ate breakfast at home and we had about 20 extra minutes together. When we got to school, I gave him the letters he had wrote so he could hand them out. First up was Ms. Jelleson-she bent down and read what it said, gave him a hug and said Thank you. She also put it up on her bulletin board that has things other kids have given her. I could see how excited he was and proud. Next up was Miss Fredrickson who also said Thank you then the 2 kids in his class. Abby is who he kicked and when he gave it to her, she said Thanks but they are all learning how to read so I had him tell her what it said. I got a glipse of him giving the other one to Ryan which is who he scratched and I could see Braedon telling Ryan what it said (they were across the room) and then I heard Ryan say "Aww how sweet Thank you!" Followed by a hug! I about lost it. I had been so worried that he didn't have any friends because of how he had been acting but kids are very forgiving-come to find out he even has 2, yes 2, girlfriends! I mean, he is quite the little handsome boy but still..lay off girls LOL!

I left the school with high hopes but didn't want to be disappointed so I settled on yellow being a good day-Yellow is better than orange, red and suspension. I got a call at about 10 from the school but I was taking Cohen upstairs for nap. My gut told me it was the school and I got sick to my stomach. When I got back downstairs, I hated to look but knew I had to-it was in fact, the school. I didn't wait for the message and called right back. Relief-it was the attendance-apparently he had been marked absent since we didn't get there for breakfast. Whew! They patched me back to his class so Miss Fredrickson would confirm he was there and not missing. She told me his morning was going great! He had one episode but was able to pull it together quickly! I was so excited but still anticipated a rougher afternoon. I found myself watching the clock, keeping tabs on what he should be doing and waiting for the phone to ring...it didn't. My heart was racing and I was anxious as I drove to the school to pick him up. Once they opened the gate, I saw that Miss Fredrickson was holding on to him and I just sank. That only happens when she needs to talk to me about his day which means it was a bad day. All of a sudden, I saw them both start smiling and she took his hand and ran with him up to me holding out his calendar (where the color is marked) and I saw a big GREEN smiley face! Oh I lost it and started tearing up. She said it was a great day-he had a couple melt downs and a couple episodes of not listening but all in all he did great! I was so relieved and happy and he was excited about it as well!

In other Braedon news, he started soccer last week and had his first game Saturday morning. He did really well and I know he wants to try football but I think soccer is going to be his niche. It is active enough to keep him running and interested and he has always done really well with kicking. They don't keep official score but his team won 2-1 :-) After his game, we went to the party supply store and got everything for his birthday party then headed over to Toys R Us so he could show us what he wants. It was definitely a long day but we had fun. We are finally starting to see glimpses of "the old Braedon" that we love. Taking out all these problems, freakouts and melt downs, he is the sweetest, most loving, cuddly, smart, quick witted, funny kid you will ever meet. We are finally starting to enjoy him again and I couldn't be happier. I am calling his ped on Monday to get him in for another behavior consult now that we can get a teacher evaluation. We will see the doctor we had seen in the past that was completely supportive of our decision not to medicate him rather find other options that work. I am also going to have them test him for diabetes, thyroid issues and refer us to an allergist to have a full allergy test run. I want to know if he is allergic to dairy or just "sensitive".

Now onto Cohen news! He had taken steps on his own a few weeks ago but he had a complex about letting go. He will walk where ever as long as he is pushing something-his walker, a chair, anything. Well, this weekend, I was in the bathroom (TMI sorry LOL) and he came crawling in looking for me. He stood up using the door frame and I said "look at you big boy". He started to laugh, then took a step, got his balance, laughed again, took another step, got his balance, laughed and took another one! He knew what he was doing and thought it was funny! He did it again when Chris got home to show daddy too. He has only made it up to 4 steps but it is progress since it is 4 steps that he realizes he is taking and not just on accident. He is walking from chair to chair, couch to ottoman, etc. He is still faster at crawling and if he wants to get somewhere, he gets down and crawls but he loves to stand!

I can't wait until his birthday! Both of theirs actually but while at Toys R Us, we got to look at toys for Cohen and things he would enjoy. I am excited about some of the toys and such we found and I know he will love getting new toys. He has quite a bit but hasn't gotten new ones in a while and he is starting to outgrow some of them.

I will try to post a "picture" post tomorrow of our recent trip to the zoo, the soccer game and pictures we took yesterday for their invitations :-)

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!

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!

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!

Cohen gets his own post :-)

Ok so I tried posting this last night but the video wouldn't upload. I figured I would wait until today but I'm still having problems uploading the video so I went through youtube.

Cohen has been getting used to Braedon being school just as much as I have. He must have been thinking that Braedon was getting too much attention on Mommy's blog so he had to show off :-) Let me first say that this age is so fun! He loves to play with everything and most of the time, he plays with things that aren't toys. He loves metal spoons-if there is one around, he'll find it LOL! He likes to help me with dishes and by that I mean crawl up onto the door and find all the spoons in the silverware holder. Sometimes he gets a fork and I have to take it away but he will go to town on the spoons...banging them everywhere and chewing on them. When he plays, you can just see the wheels turning in his head and I LOVE it! He has been pulling up onto anything for a while and cruising around but he is getting this whole walking thing figured out. He will scoot the bar stools all over the kitchen and just laugh. I posted yesterday that he discovered his push walked is more than just toys to play with. Of course I got it on video tonight after dinner and he just wanted to keep going. It won't be long now until he is full on running around the house. He loves that he can get around and I know he's just dying to be able to chase after Braedon.

Notice his little "jig" while walking? It is the cutest thing and he does it all the time! He will also do it "on command" when you say "wanna jumpa jumpa?" That was Chris' doing when he was in his jumper and now he does it anytime you say that.

Oh and he got yet another tooth today! That makes 6: 4 on top, 2 on bottom. That pesky tooth took it's sweet time getting here. It's been swollen for weeks and bothering him so finally it cut..thank goodness! Onto the sleep front. I would've sworn when he was born that he was just never going to sleep. I was really lucky with Braedon-he slept 7 hours the first night home from the hospital and that only got longer as he got older plus 1 nice long nap during the day. He would get up at 6:30, nap from 11-3, sometimes with a little cat nap around 5ish and in bed by 8. Cohen was not so good -but-he has gotten it figured out and I am so happy! He goes to bed between 7-7:30, wakes to nurse around 5-6 and then up for the day around 8 but with Braedon going to school, this has been altered and we are still trying to get used to it LOL! He usually takes a 1-2 hour nap about 10:30 but I started bumping that up since Braedon gets out at 11:30 and then another 1-2 hour nap around 3. I kept saying it would be great-especially once Braedon is in all day school-if he would take 1 long nap-say 4 hours-so I could get housework done. With 2 short naps, the nap is over before it starts. Well, ask and you shall receive-I really hope it wasn't a fluke. This morning, after dropping Braedon off, I dropped Chris off at home so he could go to work and I had a couple errands to run. I needed to go to the post office to drop a few things off and then to the grocery store for stuff for Braedon's lunches. We didn't get home until close to 10 and he was perfectly content playing so I let him-go figure LOL! He started getting cranky around 11 and I knew he wanted a nap but I didn't want to have to wake him up in 20 min like I did yesterday so I just played with him and tried to keep him happy. Well, once Braedon was home, it was play time and then he wanted lunch. At about 1:30 he was definitely cranky and rubbing his eyes so I nursed him and took him upstairs for a nap. I figured it would be longer since he had missed his "morning" nap. He slept and slept and slept! I had to wake him up at 5:30! I am not fond of waking a sleeping baby but it was getting too close to his normal bedtime and I just had this image of him waking up at 2am ready to play. He looked at me funny when I woke him up but he was more than happy to play and EAT once I brought him downstairs-have I mentioned this boy can EAT! Since Chris went to work late, he had to work late but I'm happy to say, my fear did NOT come true. Come 7:30 (ok so a little later than normal), he was cranky and ready for bath and bed.

Blood work results, Week 2 Day 1 and Cohen walks-sorta

First of all, we got Braedon's blood work back and all is NORMAL! Not even anemic :-) It's definitely good news but it doesn't explain the symptoms. The pediatrician thinks the headaches are definitely allergy related, can't really explain him cold and I suppose he just bruises easily. His pediatrician wants me to watch for nose bleeds and bleeding gums because she will want to run more tests if this starts. Not sure what those will be but we can cross that bridge if we get there.

Now onto our day-Braedon's second week of jumpstart.

We had a rough night last night-Braedon didn't want to get in the shower then once he was in the shower, he didn't want to get washed. He likes to play so I let him for about 5 min or so and then gave him a 5 min warning to get washed. Then I went back in there to give him a 2 min warning and told him that in 2 min, I was turning the water off whether he was washed or not. Gave him a 1 min warning-which I really gave him another 2-3min and he still hadn't even attempted to start washing so off the water went and another fit started. I had to drag him out of the shower then, of course, he refused to put his jammies on. Meanwhile, Chris was bathing Cohen and getting him ready for bed. I finally carried Braedon to his room, naked. Not an easy task when he's pushing 55lbs. He was still refusing to get his jammies on so I put him in bed, gave him a hug and kiss and said goodnight. He screamed and threw a fit so Chris had to take over so I could get Cohen in bed. Braedon finally got his jammies on and went to bed at 8:30-1.5 hours passed his bedtime.

Since he was late to bed, he was tired this morning making it for a rough morning as well. He wanted to take his time eating breakfast, didn't want to get dressed, didn't want to brush his teeth or do his hair. I was at my wits end but pushed through the morning sure he would continue at school and we would have to deal with it later. I dropped him off at school and told him to have a good day and to have fun-hoping he would.

HE DID! I didn't get to the school as early as I usually do because Cohen was napping and didn't want to get up-plus, I had to get him dressed again because he had messed up his outfit already and was just sleeping in his diaper. I am usually waiting for Braedon to get out but today he was already waiting. As soon as he saw me, he came running up to me with a HUGE smile on his face-a VERY good sign. He ran up to me saying that he was on green all day and he was the leader! Ms. Jimenez looked at me and said he was really good all day and he was the leader in the lines whenever they went anywhere! YAY!! I was over the moon happy that he was good. I knew he could do it, he just wasn't. We also met his teacher that he will have all year. For whatever reason, she didn't do the jumpstart but will be in the classroom this week to get to know her students better. She knew he had problems last week but did really good today. Braedon sais he likes her and we had talked to her and K roundup when we registered him...I definitely remember liking her so I'm sure it will be a good year.

This weekend, Chris and I talked to Braedon about some of the things he was doing. We also decided to monitor more closely what he watches and plays. He is obviously having a hard time distinguishing real from fake. He understands why we took things away and we will be paying closer attention to everything. We thought he understood the difference which is the ONLY reason we were letting him play video games..even at that, they weren't any that you wouldn't think would be ok-they are certainly marketed to kids-Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Batman and Indiana Jones. He has games like Boom Blox and Mario Kart that he will be able to play when he gets them back.

Ok so now for this mornings pictures LOL! I won't take them everyday but since I was onto something, I figured I wouldn't stop now.





No you are not dreaming-my car IS IN THE GARAGE!!!

Chillin' telling Daddy how good he was at school!

Now onto Cohen-he's getting to be such a big boy! He has a walker, you know, the one you sit in and can walk around in it. He never quite got the concept of it but he loved to be in it. He would push himself around backwards with both feet. Well, he has a different walker, the one you push and yesterday, he stood up with it and pushed/walked with it across the kitchen floor! He thought it was the funniest thing and was laughing! I wish I would've gotten it on video. I'll have to catch it tomorrow-hopefully :-) But for now-he was so tired today! He didn't want to take a nap at his normal time between 9-10am. He didn't go down for his nap until 11am which only gave him about a 20min nap...so he fell asleep in the car:

Cohen stood by himself!

We went in for pictures today since Cohen is 9 months. Both boys were in a good mood when we got there but neither one of them were in the picture mood. A few turned out pretty good but when we were trying to get a picture of the two boys, Cohen stood alone! Braedon was laying down on his tummy and we were trying to get Cohen to straddle him and sit on his back. He wanted nothing to do with sitting and just stood there. I let go of his hand to see what he would do and he just stood there! The photographer snapped the picture not knowing how long he would last and it is pretty cute. We won't get it back until the 16th but Braedon is looking to the side and Cohen face, as the photographer put it, was a "help me" face but to me it is just his normal look when he's not smiling. He only did it the one time and hasn't done it again but it's the next step to walking. Look out!

Updates, Happy Birthday America and Happy 9 months Cohen

I need to work on getting better at this blog thing :-) First things first, I took Cohen to the pediatrician on Thursday because I was worried he might have had an ear infection. He had been pulling at his right ear for a few days. I didn't think anything of it at first because he rubs his ears (and eyes) when he's tired but Thursday morning he was rubbing it a lot. I figured better safe than sorry especially with a 3 day weekend approaching. Luckily, no infection. She thinks it is related to teething and agrees with me that his other 2 top teeth will be coming in soon. He weighed exactly 18lbs and we have his 9 month check up Friday so we will see his other measurements. We had discussed his weight at his 6 month check up because he is definitely on the smaller side. When he was born, he was in the 95th percentile for weight and has since dropped to the 10-20th percentile. She said she isn't concerned as he's been consistently in that percentile and said he is just small. They won't be concerned until he falls off the chart altogether but he looks healthy, is happy and is meeting his developmental milestones so all is good.

Onto other news, as predicted, Cohen had another tooth come in on Friday! So his mouth looks like this:
III
II
The other top one should be in *very* soon. He has been really good about "chewing" his food but is getting a lot better with his new teeth. He is constantly playing with them and likes to play with Mommy's too!

Also on Friday, we took Braedon to see Transformers. He was absolutely in heaven! As he says "Optimus Prime rocks!". He loved the first one and we've seen it at home at least 100x but I was nervous about taking him to the new one. I had read online that it was pretty sexually graffic with some language-foul words and sexual inuendo's mixed in with a brief drug inuendo scene-but we decided we would take him. We figured we would cover his eyes if we needed to and hoped that stuff would go over the top of his head. My mom let me watch Pretty Woman and Dirty Dancing when I was a little older than Braedon is now and -no joke- didn't know what they were *really* about until years later when I watched them once I was versed in the world and knew what sex and prostitution was. Anyway-as we thought, it just flew over his head and when we came out, he just talked about the basic story line and how the autobots defeated the decepticons once again. It was 2.5 hours and both boys did really well. Chris and I tag teamed Cohen because we had to walk out of the theater twice when he was cranky. We went later at night close to his bed time hoping he would sleep through it. We just had a problem in the beginning because it was too loud for him to get to sleep but once he was, we were fine the rest of the movie.

Friday was a busy day LOL! Chris had the day off in observance of the holiday so I took the opportunity to go visit Amy, Addison and Riley -by myself :-) She goes back to work on Monday and we haven't gotten together in 4 weeks! Man how the time flies especially when you are dealing with newborn twins! I can only imagine the lack of sleep her house is getting. We had a great visit and I was able to love on the twins since my baby was at home with Daddy. He got really jealous when they came to visit us and *his* Mommy was holding another baby. The girls are getting so big compared to where they were but are still smaller than both my babies were at birth.

Chris was having adventures of his own at home with both kids. I enjoyed my time away from the boys. I love them very much but I am with them all day and all night plus it's good for Chris to be reminded what I do all day-he tends to forget :-) Cohen is of course crawling and getting very good at it. He pulls himself up onto everything and is getting the whole cruising thing down. His recent development is giving his lungs a workout. He randomly yells because he can and then laughs that he can. He will also yell-a much different yell-when you take something away from him that he wants. Chris said he was crawling into the dining area and somehow put his right hand on top of his left hand and got "stuck" because he couldn't move the hand that was supposed to move next. Chris watched him for a minute and he said he kept trying to get his hand out until he got frustrated enough. He yelled for a second while Daddy laughed then he brought himself to a seated position and started, in Chris' words "examining his hand like there was something wrong with it" LOL! He flipped it front to back and poked at it with his other hand and apparently decided nothing was wrong with it so back to crawling he went. These are the events you tend to forget so thank goodness for blogging :-)

Now onto yesterday-Happy Birthday America! Chris let me sleep in yesterday morning and it was great! We lounged around the house-Chris and Braedon played video games, Mommy played on the computer a little bit and Cohen played with his many toys around the house and napped. At 5, we headed to the stadium for an all American tradition-baseball! Rangers vs. Cubs. They also had a kidzone and Braedon had fun jumping from slide to slide and bounce houses. Cohen chilled in his stroller taking in all the kids and wanting so desperately to be able to play with all of them. We ate peanuts, sno cones, and hot dogs. We danced to Michael Jackson, showed Braedon how to YMCA and watched fireworks. All in all, it was a good night. It was Cohen's first fireworks show and he did well. I was worried about the bangs but he was in love with the lights as was Braedon but I knew he loved them. Braedon was scared of them all but his first year and last year. He does NOT like loud noises of ANY kind and freaked out every year. Last year, we were in Pine for the 4th. We drove down to Payson for the fireworks display and we were far enough away from them that he was able to see but not hear them. Last night he heard them but wasn't scared of them anymore!

As of today, Cohen is officially 9 months old! He's getting so big and I can't believe that in just 3 months he will be 1! We are going to get pictures taken today to commemorate the milestone :-) For Braedon, I got pictures done at 1 week (didn't like the hossy pic), 1 month (him and I), 3 months (Christmas), 6 months, 9 months (him and I in our Navy getup after getting home from Colby's boot camp graduation), 12 months, 15 months, 18 months and 2 years. With Cohen, we liked the hospital pic so we got that one, 2 weeks (both boys), 1 month (family pic), 3 months (Christmas), 6 month, 9 month (family pic-we are doing a patriotic theme to coordinate with Braedon's 9month), 12 months, 15 months, etc.

We also received information about a sort of Kindergarten preview for Braedon. It is 2 weeks of half days so he can see what school is going to be like. It is also their way of making sure all the incoming kiddo's are up to speed on writing their names and identifying letters and numbers. I'm nervous for him but excited as he enters this next stage in his life. I know he'll do great but I am also nervous about his behavior. He doesn't sit still and is very hyperactive. He also has *selective* hearing which gets him in trouble at home. Everyone says your kids act better away from home than at home so lets hope this holds true.

Another tooth!

Cohen cut his 3rd tooth on Saturday! We were out of town for my uncle's funeral and after the first service, Cohen was a little cranky so Chris was playing with him. He loves to be flipped upside down and when he was laughing, I happen to glance in his mouth and I noticed 4 white spots on his top gums. His pediatrician had warned me to keep an eye on his gums when he's teething because the gums can become infected. It's a very rare occassion but Christina (my step-mom and dental assistant) was standing right there so I asked her to take a look. We both felt his gums and there was definitely swelling but no teeth. Literally 4 hours later, he became cranky again. After nursing him and changing his diaper, I decided to feel around again and to my shock...there it was! Poor guy! Christina couldn't believe it. She figured it would be in within the next couple of days but not hours. He is still cranky today so I'm sure more are coming in. This happened with Braedon as well. He got his first 2 bottom teeth in, then nothing for months. All of a sudden he cut 6 teeth in a matter of a week. Let me tell you, it was a weak of teething caos and I'm not looking forward to it again :-(

Update: After I posted this, I gave him more Orajel...low and behold, his other top center tooth has poked through. That's 2 teeth in 2 days!!

Oh and had to share this oh so cute picture (when he was actually happy) with the best teething tool...you guessed it-a cold wet washcloth: