Do Not Negotiate

Nicholas has become a master negotiator.  Or some might call it a master manipulator.  And sometimes (okay, most of the time) I give in, either because he makes such a good point that I can't resist or because I'm tired.  But it has gotten seriously out of hand and so I have vowed not to give in.  So far we're on day 2 of this resolution so we'll see how long it lasts. 

Tonight was a major epic meltdown that involved some very clever attempts to box me into a corner as well as some very heavy-handed "don't you want me to be happy?" types of comments.  But I held strong and left him in his bed sobbing with the threat that if he came out he would lose the freeze pop he had been promised for tomorrow night.  And he stopped crying a minute after and I haven't heard a peep in the last 20  minutes.  I'm hoping he is asleep but I'm afraid to check.  We'll see hwo this goes.

1 Year

Elizabeth is 1 year old!!!  How did that happen?! 

At 1 year old, here are some thing about Elizabeth:

• She can walk between people, but won't walk unless there is a person a few steps away who she trusts to catch her.  When she is standing at the couch and sees something she wants across the room she tends to look at it, take one hand off slowly, pause, and then go down to the floor and crawl to it.  She is clearly thinking about whether to walk over and deciding against it.
• She says the following words clearly and consistently: dog, mama, dada, hi, yay
• She approximates the following words, saying a part of the word (usually one sound) and pointing: tickle, button, cat, bottle, sock, book, tiger, all done, banana
• She loves a pacifier, but only the infant soothie ones.  We tried to introduce her to the more "big kid" pacifiers and she just takes it out, looks at it curiously, and then plays with it.
• She started sleeping through the night a few days before her first birthday.  She had been getting up either once or twice a night before then and then suddenly did 3 nights in a row.  Now that we're another 10 days out I'm willing to say that she officially sleeps through the night.  There have been 2 nights in the past 2 weeks where she woke up and insisted on eating, but 12/14 counts.
• When she is about to do something she knows she isn't supposed to, she shakes her head no.  This doesn't always stop her from doing it, however.
• When she wants something to drink, she points to her mouth.  Okay, more like sticks her finger in her mouth as though she is trying to gag herself.  She now loves a sippy cup and does a good job with it.  We tried milk a bit, which she loved, but she got bad diaper rash so we're back to water.
• She loves books.  Not as enthusiastically as she loves dogs, but they are definitely her favorite thing inside our house.  She loves to look through her books (and will sometimes bring one over to you to read to her), but it isn't just the stories or even the pictures, because she is fascinated with adult books too.  She tries to sneak into our room and goes right for the book on Joe's bedside table.  At church she wants to flip through the book of songs.  And she does a pretty good job turning the paper pages (although not one at a time) without bending or ripping them.
• She loves to make and listen to music.  She has learned how to play the little cymbals we have.  Sometimes she catches sight of the piano when we are in the basement coming or going and she insists on sitting down to play.
• She throws baby temper tantrums.  I didn't know babies could throw temper tantrums.  But when she is mad she will throw herself on the floor and kick her legs with force and scream.  Luckily she tends to give up after about a minute . . . for now.
• She is adventurous and has no fear.  When she sees something she wants, she tries to throw herself out of your arms to go get it.  She crawls down the hallway and peers under the basement door.  I have to get a picture of this one, actually, because it is heart melting.
• She loves to climb stairs.  If we set her down in the basement to take our jackets off, she makes a bee-line for the stairs and starts to climb up.  If we're going to actually use the basement as play space this winter we need to break her of this.
• She loves to eat and eats a wide range of foods. 
• She has a STRONG will and will get MAD at you.  She is generally a happy kid and pretty easygoing but when she decides she wants something and you won't let her do it or have it, watch out.  The other night she woke up and I was trying to give her a pacifier instead of feeding her.  Her response?  She took the pacifier out of my hand and threw it.  3 times!
• She has recently discovered the fun game of putting things in a container, taking them out, and putting them back in.  

Happy Birthday, Lizzie-Boo!!

From 2014 November

Ice Cream and Books

I was going through the pictures from Elizabeth's birthday weekend and two things emerged as clear trends. My kids love books and chocolate ice cream. I wonder where they get that from.

From 2014 November

From 2014 November

From 2014 November

From 2014 November

From 2014 November

Preview: Elizabeth's First Birthday

From 2014 November

Halloween

From 2014 October

From 2014 October

Inspired by the cape Grandma Kathleen made him last year and a mask he has, Nicholas decided he wanted to be Batman this year.  So I bought him a Batman T-shirt at Target for $5 and we were good to go.  I felt guilty when he started saying, "But, Mommy, I want us to make a costume together, like we did last year," but since he couldn't come up with another idea of something he wanted to be and I have no idea how I would find the time to do that, I insisted that he stick with Batman. And for reasons of convenience, little sister followed the theme.

From 2014 October

Nicholas' school does a Halloween parade for only the kindergarteners and they go to the nursing home next door in their costumes to sing songs to the residents, so that was the beginning of his Halloween festivities.  We then let him take the bus home so he could go with us to Elizabeth's daycare early for a little Halloween party and early trick-or-treating around her babysitter's neighborhood.  I think this was their favorite part of the day.

From 2014 October

From 2014 October

We came home, had some dinner, and went out for more trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  But first Elizabeth needed a costume change.  Her Supergirl costume wasn't really warm enough at 4, but was certainly not going to cut it after dark.  Luckily Nicholas' horse costume from his first Halloween just fit her (even though he wore it when he was 5 months old!) so I was able to return the warm costume option I had bought for her and recycle this one.

From 2014 October

Nicholas did a pretty good job, but he mostly just wanted to go to the street where he picks up the bus to see the girls he takes the bus with.  We did see them and do a couple houses with them, but then they were heading to their grandparents' neighborhood.  Elizabeth had an interest in picking out candy and chewing on the packages but what she got really excited about was when there were dogs visible inside people's doors.  One dog escaped as its owner was giving out candy and started running in circles around the street and Elizabeth was in heaven.  "Dog dog dog dog dog!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We were only out about 30-40 minutes before Elizabeth started melting down, so I took her home to bed.  Joe and Nicholas stayed out but after only another 10 minutes or so Nicholas decided he was done and came home.  I think he had a lot more fun during the day when there were other kids to go around with.

These last pictures are ones I took the week before after the pumpkin festival I took the kids to at a different elementary school, but I had intentionally put Elizabeth in a Halloween outfit and they fit the theme.  There aren't as many pictures of Nicholas because after humoring me for a couple he decided to climb up into a tree.

From 2014 October

From 2014 October

From 2014 October

From 2014 October

And this last one is just so Elizabeth. She just took off, crawling through the leaves across the yard.

From 2014 October

First Steps

Elizabeth took her first steps today!  Apparently she took 5 or 6 steps dozens of times today at daycare.  But of course when we got home I wanted to see for myself.  She isn't super stable and falls as often as she completes her way to you, but she is clearly able to take steps now.  How long until she is running around?!

I apologize for the poor camera placement.  Ignore the orange pumpkin tablecloth in the foreground:

He's Back!

I am knocking on wood as I type this, but old Nicholas is back.  Our responsible, rational, reliable, boy has been around more and more the last month, and the last few weeks he has been SO good!  He's not perfect and still gets in trouble, but even when he hasn't been good recently he hasn't been out of control the way he was for most of 4 and the first part of 5.  It is like he clicked back in.  I have been thinking this for the last couple weeks but was afraid to write it for fear of jinxing it. And it is always possible that it isn't permanent, but oh I have been loving it.

We had hoped that starting kindergarten would help and it seemed to a little from pretty early on, but the changes to his behavior were gradual and not linear and so it is only in the last couple weeks that I've been really able to see it.  Given that this has accompanied another major jump in his reading, as well as a sudden interest in writing, my random theory is that he has been going through a major cognitive growth spurt and is now leveling out.  Okay, so that is completely random, but the things I find myself saying about having my old kid back sounds just like what I used to say when he would come out of growth spurts as a baby.

I have one last batch of applesauce for the fall that is almost ready to strain and finish and wanted to be in bed an hour ago, so I'm going to leave it at that for now.  More later . . . maybe.