Cailey – 10 Months

Cailey turned 10 months old on the 3rd of January.  Her first birthday is right around the corner . . . only six weeks away!  I am depressed by how quickly my baby is growing up but excited by all of her new accomplishments. 

Cailey has mastered crawling.  She gets around so quickly now and gets into everything.  I’ve forgotten (since Sawyer) how much stuff there is to get into.  I am now strategically angling furniture (in odd ways) to block plants, decorations, etc.  I’m also making good use of my sofa pillows to block more plants.  Some things are moved up and some things are just being put away.

Cailey weighs 16.4 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long.  She is getting pretty good at furniture walking and can stand unassisted for a few seconds.  She gets nervous when we let go of her fingers so she will either sit down or lean towards us.  She has learned how to say “Dada” and “Momma.”  She learned how to say “Dada” first but she says “Momma” more often.

Cailey has been teething; therefore, not feeling well and not sleeping well.  On Monday, she would not take her afternoon nap so she was very tired by dinner time.  After dinner, I decided to rock her for a little while.  Surprisingly, she fell asleep in my arms.  She hasn’t let me rock her to sleep since she was six weeks old.  It was so nice to have her in my arms and I didn’t want stop rocking her but I had some housework to do.  Again tonight, she let me rock her to sleep.  I don’t want her to become dependent on my rocking her to sleep every night but I really am enjoying it.  Maybe just a couple more times

Cailey - 10 Months

Sawyer’s New Car Seat

Cailey has quickly outgrown her infant car seat and will now be using Sawyer’s convertible car seat.  This means that Sawyer gets a brand new car seat.  After a lot of research, I purchased the Graco – Nautilus 3-in-1 Multi-Use Car Seat.  The feature I like best is the five point harness.  I was hesitant about using just a booster seat and a seat belt because the weight minimum is 30 pounds and Sawyer is only 32 pounds.  We spend enough time on the road that I  feel more comfortable with Sawyer continuing to use a harness.  When Sawyer is older, we can remove the harness and just use the seat belt.  When he is older yet, we can remove the back of the car seat altogether. 

I purchased the car seat today and will be using it in the car tomorrow morning.  I have all the straps adjusted to fit Sawyer properly but I still have to go out into the cold and strap it into the car.  Brrrrr.  Maybe I will volunteer Pete to do that job.  After all, I spent one hour putting the car seat together.

Pictures

I have loaded Christmas pictures in Photobucket.  Enjoy

Snow Day and More . . .

Snow Day

If you live in Wisconsin or watch the news, you’ve probably heard that we got a lot of snow.  I don’t know the exact amount of snowfall but it looks like more than 12 inches.  Peter and I have been shoveling/snow blowing for a couple hours each and we are both very tired and sore.  Sawyer helped with the shoveling but as most three-year olds are, he was more of a non-help than a help.  That’s just the way it goes, though.  He was having a good time and that’s what was important.

We have very friendly neighbors (on three sides) that always help us clear the end of our driveway.  All three neighbors have really big snow blowers and can clear the end of the driveway about three times faster than our little snow blower.  We are very blessed to have such kind/caring neighbors . . . one of the things I like most about our home.

Due to the snow, my plant shut down for the day.  My boss called me early this morning and told me not to go into work.  Sawyer and I made Christmas cookies today.  The cookies taste good but we (or Sawyer) made a huge mess.  There were sprinkles all over my kitchen because Sawyer dumped an entire bottle of candy balls on one cookie.  I think we spent more time cleaning up the green candy balls that were scattered all over than we spent on decorating the cookies. 

I remember my mom making/frosting cookies for us when we were little.  We always had a ton of cookies.  I don’t remember if we ate them all ourselves or if we brought them to holiday gatherings.  Either way, it is a fun memory.

Pete just brought me a glass of Blackberry wine from Door County.  It is quite delicious!

Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree.  We hung ‘fun’ ornaments this year instead of my fancy ornaments.  Sawyer hung all of his favorite ornaments (the train, tractor and car ornaments) on the very front, bottom branch of the tree.  There were so many ornaments on one branch that they kept falling off.  After he went to bed, I spread them out a little bit.  Of course, he noticed and moved them all back.

St. Nick

On St. Nick’s day, we put little gifts in the kids stockings.  Sawyer and Cailey got some Thomas trains, bouncy balls, jump ropes (which were a bad idea because Sawyer keeps tying his sister up), hats/mittens and candy canes.  

Cailey was sucking on a candy cane for a really long time but it still had the plastic wrap so I wasn’t concerned.  I then realized that the collar of her pj’s were pink.  To my surprise, she had broken the hook of the candy cane off (which was lying underneath her leg) and was sucking away at the candy cane.  No wonder it was in her mouth for so long!  There goes my ‘Mom of the Year’ award.  LOL.

Cailey is 9 Months Old

Cailey turned nine months old on the 3rd of December.  She weighs 16 1/2 pounds (no change from last month) and is 27 inches long (a half-inch shorter than last month . . . it’s so hard to measure a squirming baby).  She has become very good at pulling herself up on her knees.  This means everything had to be moved up a little bit higher and soon the crib will have to be lowered.  Cailey is still not crawling forward but she does crawl backward really well.  She certainly has no problem getting around, it is usually just in the opposite direction of where she wants to go.

Cailey has been teething for about two weeks now.  Three of her top teeth have popped through the gum and one more will pop through soon.  She has been more fussy lately and more tired, but really not too bad.

Cailey’s hair is getting pretty long in the front.  I really don’t want to cut bangs but her hair is too fine to hold a burette.  Plus, burettes and rubber bands are a choking hazard so I don’t think it’s a good idea to put them in her hair.  I’m just not sure what to do.  Maybe I will just leave the hair hang in her face.  Poor girl.  I just don’t want to give her a botch hair cut.

Wow, half a glass of wine and I’m already feeling it.  I guess I should call it quits.  Enjoy the pictures.

St. Nick Stockings

Cailey - 9 Months

Christmas Cookies

Snow Day

Thriving Threes

I went to a Thriving Threes workshop tonight.  I learned a lot of useful information regarding the routines, discipline and skill development for three-year olds.  Below is an overview of what I learned. 

Routines: 

It is very important to have a very specific routine for pretty much everything.  Children love routines and it helps then to feel safe and secure.  For example, your morning routine might consist of wake up, go potty, brush teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast.  The routine should consist of the exact same things in the exact same order every day.  DO NOT BREAK THE ROUTINE.  Adults are thrown when they don’t get their morning ‘routine’ cup of coffee or shower.  Children are thrown off just the same.  Only they are young and ‘handle’ routine change by crying or having a temper tantrum.

Discipline: 

At age three, children can control two things, their bodily functions and their parent’s emotions.  When you discipline a child, you should show no emotion.  Further you should not talk them.  The facilitator encourages the ‘1,2,3, Timeout’ approach.  When the child does something wrong you simply say (with no emotion), “Sawyer, that’s one.”  If the child has the same bad behavior within the next five seconds you say (with no emotion), “Sawyer, that’s two.”  If the child does the same bad behavior a third time you say (with no emotion), “Sawyer, that’s three.  Timeout.”  You do not lecture the child or provide an explanation for their punishment.  When the timeout is over, you let the child up with no explanation, apology or hugs/ kisses.  The child already knows what they did wrong, they don’t need you to explain it.  Further, apologies at this time are very rarely heart-felt.  Finally, there should be no need for hugs/kisses because no emotion was shown on the part of the parent so the child should have no hurt feelings.

You must have rules and expectations.  Rules need to be simple, short and few (3-5 rules for a three-year old).  Consequences for breaking rules or not following expected behavior needs to be enforced every time and in the exact same way every time with as little words as possible.  For example, “Sawyer, no hitting.  Timeout.”  Do not say, “Sawyer, I’ve told you over and over that hitting is bad behavior.  When you hit someone it hurts.  How would you like it if someone hit you? etc.”  Three year olds do not have the ability to reason or have logical thoughts/behaviors so a lecture is pointless. 

Follow through and be consistent.  Do not threaten a punishment that you will not or cannot go through with.

Tips:

Tell children what is coming up next so they can be prepared.  For example, “After your bath, we will put on pj’s and then read a story.”  If they are not ’surprised’, they are better able to cope.

Provide options.  If bedtime is in five minutes, give your child the option of going to bed now or playing for five more minutes.  This way, the child will think he is in control while the parent actually maintains control.  Three year olds thrive on being in control of what they do and when they do it.

For whining and complaining, choose an empathetic phrase to use all the time (make best efforts to avoid the word, ‘No’ in this phrase). For example, your child asks to watch a movie and you tell them no.  If they keep whining, “But I want to”, use an empathetic phrase such as, “I know you do.”  Keep using the phrase over and over in an empathetic tone.  Eventually, the child will stop whining after they hear the phrase one or two times because they know that the parent will just continue to use the phrase over and over.  Using an empathetic phrase shows that you are listening and are in touch with their feelings.

Skill Development: 

Three years old is the right time to begin major skill development in the following areas . . .

Fine Motor:  Hands-On . . . play-do, cutting with scissors, writing, etc.

Gross Motor:  Pedaling a bike, hopping on one foot, etc.

Social:  Conversations, ask/answer questions, develop friendships

Cognitive:  Making connections (i.e. recognizing a specific letter in different places . . . a story book, a road sign, a refrigerator magnet), memory, matching, etc.

Cailey is 8 Months Old

Cailey - 8 Months

On November 3rd, Cailey turned 8 months old. 

Cailey has become very vocal.  She does not babble, she sings . . . one loud, long note.  The best is when she does this in the car.  I will have Cailey ’singing’ and Sawyer telling her to be quite and complaining to me that she is too loud and is hurting his ears.  I just laugh . . . Cailey seems to be playing the ‘annoying younger sibling’ role quite well.

Cailey is not yet crawling.   I think she is very close but I’ve been thinking that for about six weeks now.  Pretty soon I will have to baby proof the house a little better and block off our stairway.

Cailey is such a sweet and content little girl.  She likes to be held but I’m okay with that.  I will hold her all I can because pretty soon she won’t want to be held at all.  I guess she could be like Sawyer, though.  He is three and still asks to be carried all the time.  I would gladly carry him all day but he gets heavy pretty quick.

Cailey weighs 16 pounds and is 26 1/2 inches long.  After I measured Cailey, Sawyer measured me . . . I am 3 months long.  I measured Sawyer and he is 38 inches long but he protested that he is 3 years long.  What a funny boy

 

Dress Up

Sawyer enjoyed trick-or-treat last weekend.  It took a little coaxing to get him into the costume but he finally decided it was worth wearing to get the candy.  Sawyer was a chicken and Cailey was a frog.   Andi Grace was also a chicken.  She and Sawyer had matching costumes which was a complete coincidence but very cute.

Today, I bought some clearance costumes at 75% off.  I figure that they will work well for playing dress up or for future trick-or-treating.  I bought a pink princess dress, an angel dress and a Tinker Bell costume.  On average, each costume was about $10.  I told Sawyer to pick out a costume but he didn’t want one.  I might go back and buy a fireman or superhero costume.  After all, a princess needs a hero, right?

It seems like we’ve been very busy but I can’t really think of anything major that we’ve been doing.  I guess it has just been a lot of little stuff.  We had a mini Janssen family reunion at our house three weekends ago and last weekend we helped Peter’s brother move into his very first house.  We’ve been doing a lot of leaf raking/blowing.  This is our first fall with a leaf blower and I love it.  I’m not sure if the work gets done any faster but it is easier and I don’t get any blisters.

I’ve been trying to think of some sort of child’s fort to build in our playroom.  It is something that I would have loved to have when I was little.  I would like something with two levels which is causing a little bit of difficulty because our ceilings are pretty low (maybe 6.5-7 feet).  I was also considering a slide but I think it would take up too much space.  Now that I have a little girl, a mini-house or castle would be fun but it probably has to be gender neutral so that Sawyer will want to use it, too.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Here are a few pics of the kids.

 

Cailey is 7 Months Old

Cailey turned seven months old about a week ago (I’m a little bit behind on my posting).  She weighs 15.2 pounds and is 26 1/2 inches long. 

Cailey has become really good at sitting unassisted.  She can lean over and reach toys and then sit back up again.  She can also go from sitting to lying down.  Cailey is very close to crawling.  She wants to crawl so badly but she just hasn’t figured out how to do it.  I guess that she will be crawling within the next week or two.

I looked at some seven month old pictures of Sawyer and saw that he was drinking from a sippy cup, holding his own bottles and eating some beginner solids like Puffs and teething biscuits.  Sawyer was already crawling by seven months and starting to pull himself up onto his knees.  I was surprised to see how much further along he was than what  Cailey is.  Obviously some of these things are dependent upon the parent.  I had not even thought of giving Cailey beginner solids yet.  I also hadn’t given her a sippy cup or tried to get her to hold her own bottle.  It seems as though I was so much more eager for Sawyer to learn/accomplish new things than I am with Cailey.  Maybe because Sawyer was first and it seemed like so much more of a big deal with him.  It could also be that Cailey is my baby and my last child so I am wanting her to stay a baby as long as possible . . . the less she does on her own, the more baby-like she seems.  With Sawyer, I think I pushed him a lot harder to learn stuff but with Cailey I am leaving her to just learn stuff in her own time.

I expected Cailey to grow the same way that Sawyer did so I bought her size 12 month clothes for winter (I typically buy clearance clothes a season ahead).  She is not quite keeping up with Sawyer so 12 months will definitely not be fitting her during the early part of the winter.  I put Cailey in her size 12 month winter jacket to see if it would fit . . . I guess we will have to figure something else out

Bedtime Giggles

Sawyer usually goes to bed really well.  Tonight was a little out of the ordinary.  Long story short, we tucked Sawyer into bed seven times tonight and he kept getting out of bed.  He is grounded from a few toys tomorrow for his bad behavior.  But . . .

I see these little fingers peeking out from underneath Sawyer’s bedroom door.  Since corporal punishment wasn’t working, I decided to lay on the floor in front of his door.  When his little fingers popped out again I grabbed them.  Sawyer began to giggle.  He pulled his fingers away and then stuck them under the door again.  I grabbed his fingers again and Sawyer said, “Who is that?”  I lowered my voice in disguise and said, “I don’t know.  Who do you think it is?”  Sawyer said, “I know it’s you, Mommy.”  I said, “What are you doing?”  Very seriously, Sawyer said, “I’m trapped in here.  I can’t get out.  Will you save me?”  His question made me laugh.  It is funny the way children think . . . he is a prisoner and we have ‘trapped’ him in his room.  Plus, I’m the enemy . . . like I’m really going to ’save’ him.  On the other hand, I’m the mommy and I make everything alright so of course I would be the one to save him.

For a few minutes longer, we continued to giggle as we grabbed each other’s fingers.  Then I had to be authoritative again and make him go to bed.  Sometimes kids are so gosh darn cute it’s hard to be upset with them.

A Whole Lotta Stuff

I have my fourth batch of zucchini bread in the oven so I have a few minutes to write a post while I wait for it to finish baking.  The kids and I brought a batch of zucchini muffins to our elderly neighbor, Joe.  He is a very nice widower and I thought he might like some baked goods.  Then we headed to the park.  Sawyer met a little boy at the park who was two weeks older than he.  The boys had a fun time playing together while the little boy’s mother and I visited.  Maybe the boys will end up in the same four year old kindergarten class next fall. 

Just a side note on kindergarten, I just heard on the news that gov’t is trying to make kindergarten mandatory for children.  Children will not be allowed to enter first grade until they have completed kindergarten.  I guess the problem now is that kindergarten is not mandatory so attendance cannot be enforced. 

Both kids had back to back doctor appointments on Monday.  Sawyer was pretty awful.  I’m not sure what got into him but he was at his worst.  I suppose it happens to all parents at one time or another.  He was getting into everything and not obeying.  As a parent, you don’t want to do too much scolding in public but then it looks as if you have a very unruly child that receives very little discipline.  When we got home, Sawyer spent a very long time in ‘time-out’.  On the plus side, both kids appear to be very healthy.

Tuesday night was our first night of Awanas.  Sawyer had a great time in Puggles (the 2-3 year old class).  At one point, I walked past his classroom and saw all the kids (about 20 children) sitting at the little tables with their hands folded and heads bowed in prayer.  It was really cute and it lifted my spirits to know that all of these children are learning about God at such a young age.  All of the kids in the class received a Puggles t-shirt and will get some kind of kit (or box) for the year’s activities.

Peter and I have volunteered to work at Awanas.  I love babies so I requested to be put in the youngest class which is basically just a nursery.  Including Peter and I, there were four adults and seven babies.  There should be two more babies next week.  I enjoyed taking care of the babies and I think Peter did, too.  On the drive home, Peter told me that he had been nervous but it wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be.  I’m sure some nights will be easier than others.

Sawyer is finally day time potty trained.  He has done a great job the last two weeks and has had only one accident.   I think the deal breaker was telling him that he couldn’t go to the Eve of Destruction (a race/demo derby type event) unless he did all his business in the toilet.  He will only pooh in the little potty chair but I’m okay with that.  Now we need to start working on night time training. 

Here are some recent pictures of the kids.