Our Kids

Well today has been much better (so far), no real tantrums and we have been out and about. We are starting to think that she isn’t overstimulated but under stimulated. We went to a busy restaurant today and she was so entranced with it all. Watching her in a crowded room where no one is talking to her but there is lots of activity is very interesting, she likes to just sit and take it all in just like her Grandpa Norman. I am wondering if the opposite of what I believed is true with her, maybe she does need to be put in a room with other kids so that she can observe without interacting (or interacting to her comfort level). She does seem to be the one that goes off on her own when they do a craft class, even though she is also the one that complains the most about going and me leaving. Anyway, we are going to try a two day a week home preschool program and also a two day a week art class where they have to listen to a teacher and there will be 25-30 kids in the class (with about 4 instructors). It will be interesting to see how it all goes. Getting out of the darn house will be a big help for us all. We are all done with summer and thankfully it is almost done with us.

OMG, Lela has the worst, biggest, longest and loudest tantrums EVER! This child will tantrum until you would rather gouge your eyes out with a dull spoon than endure another moment of the blood curdling screaming. Okay now that that is off my chest I feel much better. But seriously this gal can wail. I don’t know if she is just totally exhausted or totally overstimulated these days but man oh man is she on fire. It is a horrible spiral that can sometimes be avoided but when it can’t watch out cuz’ here come the fireworks to rival the Olympics this year. She is uber stubborn (gets that from both parents) so you can’t force her.

This week she has really taken to helping herself with food, drinks and what not which is cool and something to watch. She climbed on the counter this week and got a glass and then served herself and Piper up some milk from the fridge, cute but a might bit dangerous. She and I have been butting heads over how much toothpaste she is using (she puts gobs and gobs on and then eats it all during brushing and it has too much fluoride for her to do that). So after a row about the toothpaste she thought I was distracted reading Piper a book and she slipped out of the room and went to the bathroom where she proceeded to lock the door….yes that is right LOCK THE DOOR. OMG! I was floored (and laughing) that she locked the door, they NEVER lock the doors. Anyway, I opened it with my handy tool much to her distress. Now she is locking doors as she pleases and when you open them you are greeted with a mighty tirade that never goes well.

Tonight was a doosy, today had been really challenging all day long and I am not sure why. She doesn’t seem like she is overtired because she won’t settle down or go to sleep. I did have her do some relaxing twice today but it did not seem to help. We even went on a bike ride this evening and a quick play at the park to burn off some energy. So while I fretted early in the day and sweated later in the day to try to help her, it turned out to be in vain the melt down happened anyway. In the end it took both Jason and I to finally get her down. Poor Peeps had to go in to my room to sleep from all the yelling and poor Lela fell asleep in a puddle of tears in her daddy’s arms out of exhaustion from a very long nighttime tantrum. Sigh…..both Jason and I are becoming emotional eaters, LOL!

Well with the addition of one very active almost one year old it has been harder and harder to get on the computer to post. Landis is doing super, grabbing everything, crawling everywhere and putting everything in her mouth. She loves the toilet, I think it is just the right size to pull up and stand at, so we have to keep the bathroom doors closed which is hard with two active almost four year olds running a muck! We are having a good time most days but I am sensing that the girls need more structure, or that I need more structure.

The sibling rivalry between Piper and Lela is in full gear but I read a really good book called, Siblings Without Rivalry and it is helping me a lot. We are also having increased tantrums real and fake (mostly fake from Piper) but are handling that well too. Everything has changed from the way we put them to bed to the way we handle their tantrums. Overall we are managing and since Jason doesn’t post about how awesome I am I will post for myself. I think I am doing super at handling all this emotional upheaval at our house, much better than I had been prior to my vacations this summer.

Well after talking about it for over a year and a half (and reading books about it), the girls finally went to the dentist for the first time. I know shame on me and all that since the ADA recommends dentist by the age of one (as ridiculous as that is). Anyhoo, lucky for me we have good dental hygiene, never slept with bottles and did not drink juice until after the age of 3 because no cavities and perfect teeth all around. Landis of course got a clean bill of health for her two tiny teeth.

The girls did really well with the uber kid friendly dentist. Both sat in the chair, Piper volunteered to go first since she would get a prize first but was very uneasy in the chair and her mouth was frozen in the open position (at least it wasn’t closed). They both disliked the flouride treatment, Lela actually drank about 12 ounces of water after and would have had more if I had any. The dentist had a cool gumball machine thing that dispensed all sorts of toys, the kids get a token and then can pick their toy. They really liked that.

No teeth cleaning today, just a brushing. They will have their first cleaning in about 6 months. We have to check on whether Lela needs antibiotics or not to have her teeth cleaned due to her ASD/VSD thing. We don’t go back to the cardio until she is 5 so we don’t even know if the hole is still there, I am guessing no since they had trouble even finding it last time.

All in all a super visit topped off by lunch with their favorite Dad (and only dad for that matter just in case you were wondering).

Landis has started to stand on her own! In the past couple of days she has started to let go of whatever she pulled herself up on such as the sofa, chair or what not, and then balance herself. She has gotten quite stable and can even shake her arms around while standing which she likes to do when she is sitting. Today we were sitting on the floor and she used my leg to push herself up and then just stood there not holding on to anything. I think she might be walking by her first birthday. She is totally cute and can’t wait to be able to pester her sisters to death, you can just tell she wants to be with them 24/7.

Well we are back from the beach and that was a much needed and enjoyed vacation (by me at least). Landis was all about the new environment now that she is crawling and was content to crawl around exploring which meant I did not have to carry her (yeah), don’t get me wrong I love to carry her but man oh man is she getting heavy. The girls had a super time. They went in the ocean once and built sand castles another day. We also went to the bay side twice, once to ride the ferry to San Diego and once to eat at Peohe’s and watch the ships. Jason and I also rented a bike and tooled around the beach side of the island much to Jason’s dismay. I did not cook one single meal, ate out a lot, walked a bit and relaxed on the most relaxing patio in a comfy chair with a book (more on that later) listening to the waves and laughing at the antics of the US Navy Seals (the condo looked right into the Navy Seal Training grounds).

We did have one scary thing right when we left, Landis got under the sink while I was getting Piper a tofu hot dog and drank some dish detergent. I was a little freaked but she vomited it up within the hour and all was well. I don’t think she learned much of a lesson though because she was going for the bath soap this morning, I tell ya’ that gal puts everything in her mouth. Now we are back and the house is cleaned up and the laundry is in the works in preparation for next week:)

Okay so we finally admit it, we are beat down. Beat down by the heat, this summer cold, work, the nutgrass in the backyard, the late night Olympic watching and oh so many other little things. We are working to cut down on the amount of JUNK that we have and that comes with its own share of beat down (mostly along the lines of how did we get so much crap in the first place????). Lucky for us we are off to Coronado for a few days of rest and relaxation, that is after we pawn off our kids on unsuspecting grandparents, LOL!

Check out this post on a friends site, it is worth the read.

http://www.parham.org/2008/08/15/high-school-speech