Goodnight Moon....

Just on the offchance any of you have NOT gone out and looked up at the night sky recently... THIS is what you are missing. It's SO cool. It seriously makes me want to get a really nice backyard telescope for us to play with.

Pitiful...

Over the weekend, it became apparent that Ben's constant sniffling was not just his allergies as it usually is. Yep. He definitely has a cold. Probably the one he somehow avoided when the other two had it. It seems pretty mild, but he was having a hard time breathing so found it hard to fall asleep last night. He seemed mostly okay this morning, so I got him ready for school and gave him a dose of cold medicine. (thank GOODNESS he is old enough for it!!)

We got in the car for school and he didn't once ask to stay home or anything... but I looked in the rearview mirror and he looked completely out of it and half asleep in the backseat. So I turned the car around and sent him up to lay down for a little while while Jonathan takes his morning nap. He didn't complain, which made me realize I probably made the right call.

I may end up taking him late... not sure yet. I just checked on him and he ACTUALLY fell asleep... which is pretty rare for him during the day... so we'll see what the rest of the day brings.

Poor buddy... :(

Update: I took him to school halfway through lunch. He was happy to go and was just a little sniffly when I dropped him off. I'm glad he didn't need to miss the whole day because the amount of makeup work when he misses a day brings us both to tears!!!

Jonathan is 18 Months Old....

Dear Jonathan,

You are 1-1/2! Just a couple weeks ago, you suddenly started looking all big boy'ish to me too. WOW!

This past month has seen lots of interesting things. Tantrums for one. If we tell you no, you almost always go immediately boneless and collapse to the floor wailing. Sometimes you pound your little fists and kick your feet for good measure. You also look around to see if anyone is paying any attention. Unfortunately for you, this is not our first time around the block, so we usually just step over you and go about our business. If you happen to be in a dangerous spot where you might get stepped on or hit by a door, I'll scoot you out of the way... but yeah, mostly we just ignore you. Sorry.

You still don't talk, but this doesn't mean you don't communicate just fine thankyouverymuch. A couple weeks ago, you started nodding for yes consistently and shaking your head for no. So as long as our question can be answered with one of those two words, we all understand each other. I can't even tell you how much easier this has made our lives. It's also somewhat improving the tantrum situation.

I discovered this month, much to my chagrin, that you are a territory defender like your middle brother was at this age. You will not hesitate to dish out a full palm-out shove if another baby (or big brother) enters your space or tries to take a toy. I'm guessing this just comes with the territory of having older siblings... sigh. Little brothers are just too street-wise! We need to work on this though... can't have you being the playground shover.

In other news though, you are my little bookworm. I have given up trying to keep your books on your bookshelf, because your absolute favorite thing to do in your lately is go through them one by one looking for your favorites. When you find one, you immediately back up with into the first available lap, plop down and insist it be read to you. If no one is nearby, you'll sit amidst the pile you created and just page through them yourself. I love finding you doing this in your crib in the morning, although, I need to remember to STOP putting anything but board books in there. Two mornings ago, I walked in to find you signing "uh oh" and pointing to bits of the "Peekaboo I Love You" book on the floor outside of your crib. D'oh. Also in your room, you love your puzzles, especially those darn noisy Melissa and Doug ones... but you will work and work and work until you get the pieces in and make the kitty meow or the firetruck siren go off. :)

You LOooooooooVE to be outside and throw one of your fits if we bypass the outside coming in from the car. You biggest brother loves to egg you by saying "outside? outside?" and seeing if he can get you going. (sigh) Once out, you scoot around on your little wheelie toys or the purple trike like you are three or something. You also like to repeatedly go back and forth from the garage to the driveway carting various things from the sports box. I am very excited for consistently warm weather so we can all spend more time out there! You also love to point out birds and trees and, at night, the moon. You are in love with the moon, which you wave to over and over again like it's an old friend.

You are a champion eater and still love to eat anything and everything. I sometimes have to give you pre-dinner while I make real dinner just so you'll stop hanging off my pantleg and signing "please please please" while pointing to what I'm making. You are SO independent too! You go into the pantry on and off all day long and you know right where I keep your snacks.... I'll find you munching on a baby cookie or sometimes you'll bring me a juicebox or one of the babyfood pouches I still keep on hand and sign "please" and "open". How can I resist that?

I really enjoy our Tuesdays and Thursdays together when it's just the two of us. You are in a wonderful little routine and you are so happy and fun when you are awake most of the time. :) We play puzzles and read books and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together. You're are willing little helper around the house and will put clothes in the dryer for me, wipe things off and help vacuum with the dustbuster. You are also my errand buddy and all the cashiers at our various stops love to wave and say hi to you. :) You absolutely LOVE people and you are so social, which is completely new and different for me.

You are a pleasure and a joy and completely happy-go-lucky and looking for a party most of the time (when you are not throwing a tantrum.) Why do I have a feeling this is going to be who you are forever?

I can't believe you are halfway to two!

Happy monthday, baby boy!

Love, Mommy

Speech...

Yesterday, when I got to preschool to drop off Simon, one of the evaluators from Infants & Toddlers who had been to our house was standing in the lobby. She was there to meet with another family. It actually took me a minute to place where I knew her from, but I finally I realized who she was and said, "I remember you! You came to my house!" She recognized us and asked how J was progressing. I said I'd probably be calling them soon because he hasn't made a whole lot of forward progress.... SOME, but not much. They see SO many kids, I really a) didn't expect her to remember us and b) REALLY didn't expect to her relay any kind of message to anyone.

This morning, my phone rang and it was the woman who schedules all the appointments. She said that Sandy had seen me at the preschool yesterday and that she thought she'd call a month early to check in on J since I had said there wasn't a whole lot happening...

WOW. I really was just going to wait until the end of March like we had talked about when they were here. But, since she had called, I went ahead and got him on the schedule. What's the harm, right? So they are coming out in a couple weeks with the paperwork to get started.

Of course, now that I've committed to it, I'm sure this means Jonathan will decide to have some kind of crazy verbal explosion in the next two weeks. Gah. But, even so, he'd still be behind and could probably benefit from the extra boost, especially since I really want him to be talking at least SOME by the time school starts for him in September.

So, fun stuff. I really didn't expect the Infants & Toddlers department to be so efficient and proactive. Totally NOT what you'd expect from a government agency. LOL!

In the interest of not shortchanging my little guy, he is doing SOME new things language-wise.

-He consistently communicates yes and no now with nodding and shaking his head. This has been a HUGE help.

-He also signs "all done" all the time now and seems to be making an effort to say it here and there.

-He signs "open", and "eat" and still signs "please" CONSTANTLY.

-He waves bye bye to everything and everyone now. It's a good way to know he's finished with something. LOL.

- He will also singing the "eieieio" part of Old MacDonald... although, that's only because he was making that sound before and I just incorporated it into the song and he thought that was AWESOME.

- Lastly, I think he might be starting to say the beginning sounds of some words, but it's not consistent enough to say for sure. For instance, yesterday, he went up to his crib and pointed to his duck blanket and said "duh".

Roseola and Some Updates...

Annnnd that's what it was. Feels good to be right. ;) J had some SUPER duper crazy cranky days in there but seems to be mostly back to himself now.

Let's see... what else. Simon is still being difficult about going to school. Not sure when he is going to get the message that he can say as many times as he wants that he does not want to go, but that I will just take him anyway. It took Ben until 2nd grade... (sigh) Other than the school thing though, Simon seems to have turned a mood corner again. He was being really crabby and angry there again for awhile, but he is back to mostly pleasant Simon, which is good for everyone!

He is still my little artist. He makes the most intricate completely original creations from Legos and Kinex lately. He will spend ALL day building things. I promise you, that child is going to do something in some sort of creative field.... I don't know what, but there is no doubt in my mind.

Ben is just kind of plugging along. He's in a really easy and wonderful stage right now, so I am enjoying it while it lasts. He doesn't LOVE that he has to go to school every day, but he doesn't complain and he enjoys it when he's there and is doing really well. I no longer have to hover over him while he does his homework, which has been a fantabulous thing.

He says he can't wait to be a third grader. LOL. :o) I asked him if he has a teacher in mind who he wants and he said he doesn't know because there are "like a million" third grade teachers. Next year will be interesting because they change classes ALL day. I think third grade is a little young to not have a class of kids they stay with all day, but it doesn't seem to bother any of them, so whatever!

They have a really neat tropical rainforest presentation from the National Aquarium today, so he was excited about that! The aquarium people were unloading their van when I dropped Ben off and it all looked so cool! I wish I could go see it!

Nothing to See Here...

Jonathan's feeling better, but that doesn't change the fact that he is smack in the middle of hair-trigger tantrum-ville.

God help us all.

He just threw himself facedown on the couch because I offered him a sippycup of milk.

On the other hand, the other two have been as pleasant and polite as can be lately. It's considerate of them to take turns with who is the challenging one at any given time.

Plague and Pestilence..

Yesterday afternoon Jonathan threw himself on the floor in a fit because I wouldn't let him stand by the kitchen door and continually open and close it. This is not particularly unusual. But, when I picked him up off the floor to relocate him so his brothers wouldn't whack him in the head when they came in from outside, I noticed he felt not just warm, but completely burning hot.

I gave him the backdoor thermometer check and what?! 104?!

NO idea where that came from.

I actually assumed it was his ear infection making a comeback. Seeing as how we have potential weather hitting tomorrow, I played it safe and took him in to the doctor's office this morning. It my surprise, his ears are fine, as are his throat, chest and nose. Just a fever bug. My bets are on roseola since he hasn't had it yet and seems like all my kids have contracted it sometime around 1-1/2. It's actually a nice one to go ahead and get out of the way and checked off, so I'm hoping I'm right. Guess we'll see if the next week brings a rash...

At any rate, he has been sleeping a lot of today and is super snuggly. :) I am enjoying the cuddling while it lasts because when he's not sick, he's the least snuggly baby I have ever had!

Just Keep Swimming...

Simon is two weeks into swimming lessons. My kids need swimming lessons DESPERATELY. I can't believe I have a near 8-year-old who can't keep his head above water. These are NOT my children in this respect.

At any rate, we finally got on it and Simon started a six-week program with two of his little preschool friends. The first week, he spent 20 minutes crying and 10 minutes in the water. This week, he resisted and cried some, but I basically just tossed him to the teacher and all went well after that. He isn't letting go of her yet, but he is learning to kick and blow bubbles.

I'm hopeful that by the end of the six weeks, he can at least swim to the side. Either way, we are just going to keep going with the lessons, starting another session right after this one is over. And next time around, we're doing Saturdays so Ben can join in too. He is LESS THAN THRILLED, but I really don't care. With a daredevil toddler to save from drowning all summer at the pool, I need to know that my older ones, can, at the very least, swim to the side if they fall into the deep end. I don't anticipate that happening and there are tons of life guards, but better safe than sorry.

Today's bit of Simon humor came from his swimming lesson. On the way home, I asked him if he thought Ben was going to like swimming lessons.

"OH yes! You get to hold onto a girl the WHOLE time!!"

"Is that your favorite part?!"

"YES!!!"

Wow. Now I have to wonder if he'll ever show her he can swim on his own or if he'll just pretend he can't stay up just so he gets to hold into her some more. LOL!!

Well, This is a New One...

The nearly-18-month-old just this week has learned the art of the tantrum. He is exceedingly advanced in this skill seeing as how Ben and Simon didn't discover the tantrum until 3 and 2, respectively. I shudder to think what age it would start if I had a fourth. Probably six months.

At any rate, we can't help but laugh at him. If the slightest thing goes wrong in his world now, or not as expected, or you try to hand him something he doesn't want or... well, really, anything... he immediately goes limp and facedown on the floor. He kicks his feet and bangs his fists and just wails. And the wailing? Is SO fake!!! He actually says the word "Waaaaaaaaaa!!!!" and looks around to see if you are paying attention, all the while rolling around on the floor and continuing with the fists and the kicking...

Luckily, he seems to be the most easily distracted/redirected of any of my children at this age. So it's usually not long before he's all, "ooo! Shiny object!" and happy again.

But OMG.

Seriously. Don't think having more children is going to make you any better at this parenting gig because almost nothing you learn from one ever applies to another one.

GEESH.

Must get video though. It's really very funny. I'm sure I'll have at least four opportunities today, so check back later. ;)

my Three Valentines...

The morning was going along so nicely. I got them (the two older ones, obviously) each a little Ninjago set and a box of candy hearts.

I made a fatal misstep giving them, well, at least Simon, the toys before school. He did not want to leave and I had to drag him into school kicking and screaming. Always fun.

I'm sure everyone will be chipper by the time school lets out though. :)

Tom took off today so we could have a lunch date. Of course, Jonathan quickly picked up on the fact that we had made plans and decided that his morning nap should be taken from 8:40 - 9:20 instead of from 9:30 - 11 .Uhh... yeah. This will be interesting! Babies, they smell fear.

Ben's Foul Shot...

Magic happened at yesterday's basketball game. (which was the first one I have been able to attend in WEEKS because of naptime and illnesses)

Ben is not bad at basketball, by any stretch, but he is prone to major distractibility. I have confess, it's a little cringe-worthy to watch sometimes because he often likes to dance around and act goofy on the court and has to be reminded to keep an eye on where the ball is.

When he's paying attention though, he's actually looks really good out there!

Yesterday was a better game than most for him. He got lots of playing time because they were missing some people. He had just taken the ball all the way down the court and gotten fouled by a player on the other team, so went to the line to take his foul shots. We all held our breath... he's good at this at home, but we didn't know how he would do under pressure.

He missed the first one. I knew he would be so excited to score a point for his team, so I hoped against hope the second one would go in.

And it did. You can see the instant boost it game him. I love his celebration. We were definitely all celebrating with him! He has watched the video over and over again too. :)

Update....

Ben had some fluid in his ear and some pain when the doctor puffed air onto his eardrum (that diagnostic test was a new one for me!) so he's on an antibiotic now.

Simon somehow emerged from that awful snot-fest with NO ear infection, so YAY for that.

Still can't figure out how the one that didn't have a cold ended up with one... but whatever!

We got bonus weigh-ins, of course. I was SHOCKED to hear that Ben is now 46 pounds!!! Must be the five waffles he eats every morning. Simon is 44-1/2 pounds these days.

When it Rains, It Pours....

Did I mention Jonathan has a double ear infection? So, there's that.

Simon had an awful week trying to get readjusted to school after missing all of last week. They sent him home Tuesday saying he was still sick. I told them he played them. They kind of agreed with me once he had calmed down enough to stop making his nose run all over the place. At that point though, I was already there and had screwed up Jonathan's nap to be there, so I just cut our losses and took him. We went back on Thursday and he tried his best to do it again, faking a cough and throwing a ridiculous screaming fit. Thankfully, they didn't buy it this time and he stayed all day and was fine when I picked him up. Grr...

Ben had stayed healthy, somehow... until this morning when I got him up for school and he said his ear hurt. How he managed to acquire an ear infection, I have no clue, but off to the doctor's we go again at 11:15. I'm having them check Simon too while we're there because I am simply NOT going back three times in one week. And of course, with the appointment being at 11:15, there's no way Ben's making it to school today because by the time I get his medicine and whatnot, it will be nearly 1:00. What's the point? I HATE to let him stay home unless he has a fever or is puking because everytime I give the kid an inch on the school thing, he tries to take advantage of it for WEEKS after, attempting to convince me he's sick with this or that.

Oh, and I left Jonathan's antibiotic out all night. Thought I was going to have to deal with that too but when I called the pharmacy, they told me it's okay to leave amoxicillin unrefrigerated for 24 hours or so. GOOD to know!!! Whew. One bullet dodged, anyway.

Hopefully, the weekend holds only healthy, happy things... so tired of sickness!

Rollercoaster... of Luh-huh-huv.

This is Why I Have Turned into a Germaphobe....

Jonathan started with the full-on hacking, snotting, fever, moaning on Saturday evening. Our night that night was atrocious. Tom and I got maybe two hours of sleep. Jonathan woke up every 20 minutes or so, hacking and moaning. He ended up sleeping, if you can call it that, in our bed.

He was a wreck all day yesterday, but slept better last night and today is mostly himself, just snotty still and coughing.

Ugh. All in all, not too horrible, but still.. when it's all said and done it will have been two full weeks of sick kids and that's not even counting if Ben, Tom and I get it and then the older two both get ear infections in another week. Could end up being a MONTH before it's all out of here.

(sigh)

Here!

LONG week.

Simon didn't go to school all week because he has had an absolutely awful cold. He's finally feeling better, but now the baby is getting it and I'm pretty sure I'm right behind him. Ben seems to have been spared, so far. (as has Tom, but that's not a surprise because he has a superhuman immune system)

As a result of Simon being sick, we hardly left the house all week except for school dropoffs and pickups and a couple grocery store runs. I am going completely stir crazy. So sickness or not, we really must find something interesting to do today.

I've also been distracted because I have been in manic non-blog/Facebook writing mode. I've made myself a goal and I've been pretty inspired lately. It has been nice to get back to long-form writing. It has been a long time when I have really sat down for hours at a time and chiseled something out of a massive bock of spewed words. This is basically my "process", as I have come to realize. I spew a mass of ideas. I go back. I chisel out the important details then go back over them a hundred more times, buffing and polishing them until they shine. I'm curious if that is just me or not of if that's how others write too? Anyway, so I have about 5-6 works in progress. I'll share them eventually... but for now, I am just enjoying the process. I didn't even realize how much I had missed it and how much I need it.

Ben brought home a stellar report card on Thursday. I was truly shocked that every single grade from the previous report card that was anything below the highest mark had gone UP, it was pretty close to perfect! Not only that, his teacher wrote glowing comments that surprised the heck out of me. This year is turning out okay after all... and his work habits, his handwriting and his overall effort have improved substantially since the beginning of the year. Happy. :)

Anyway, so that's what's up... I have some pictures to post too... maybe later today. Happy weekend!