It's a beautiful day to be a mommy ... but then again, thats every day :) . When I had kids I totally thought I'd have 'babies' for longer than I did. Brenden is 4 going on 5, Logan is 3 going on 5. They are so independent and free-thinking. In some ways its great. I can send them to their play room and Sean and I can watch some olympics uninterrupted during the day. If Logan doesn't want to go to the bathroom by himself, Brenden will go with him and keep him company and tell him "good job" and "wash your hands!" Logan wants to imitate his big brother in as many ways as possible. One Sunday we sent Brenden to church for Vacation Bible School and Logan whined all day that he wanted Brenden to come home or he wanted to go to church so he could see him.
Logan will be 3 next month. How? What? Why? Didn't he just turn 2? Sometimes I look at him and still see his little baby cheeks and am reminded of that little 1 year old that had his sassy in his mouth everywhere he went. I still have a bowl of pacifiers in my cabinet that I can't bring myself to throw away. Now he's getting so tall and lanky and developing more of a 'little boy' look than that chubby little toddler he used to be. His baby fat is disappearing quickly. The other night Brenden said he was hot so we told him he could sleep in his underwear if he wanted. We went down later to make sure he had a blanket because he'd probably feel a little cool with no pj's on and I looked over at Logan who managed to strip himself down to his underwear too.. HAS to be like big brother. He's got a great smile. His grin goes from ear to ear. He's showing some strong will lately. Its like his terrible two's hit at 3 instead. He's really testing his boundaries and defying authority. Unlike Brenden, Logan doesn't seem to care much if he's getting in trouble. It usually takes 2-3 time outs before it starts to sink in that he's misbehaving.
Brenden would stay my baby forever if I let him. He loves to be cuddled and taken care of. We have to push him to be more independent. It's funny how different Logan and Brenden are. We have to reel Logan in and we have to push Brenden out. He tends fight staying in bed a lot. I had to bribe him with a glow stick last night, which worked well actually. I told him if he came out of his room for any reason other than going potty he'd have to give me the glow stick back. Of course if B got one Logan had to get one too. I went to check on them later and found them both asleep, glow sticks in hand. Brenden likes to invent games, which is fun to watch. They have no rhyme or reason but he'll tell you whether you win/lose/tie. He'll say something like "what color do you like" I'll say "green" and he said "you guessed the right one! You win!!!" -- um... okay thanks B! They both love singing and dancing and with the olympics going on they have taken to doing more acrobatic stunts. I see lots of hand-stands, head-stands, and flips.
"You get what you get, and you dong have a fit"
Someone posted an article on Pinterest about ways to curb preschooler tantrums and the article contained this phrase. It took me a minute to realize that the point of the article was to use the exact phrase when your kids have a tantrum because they wanted the blue cup ... or whatever. There is something about a phrase that rhymes that seems to mean truth to a kid. Its like they think "hmmm, that phrase rhymes, so it must be true." So I tried it out and the first time I used it Brenden looked at me like "how dare you use a rhyme on me when I'm trying to have a fit". I continued to use it for the rest of the day and now if I see a fit emerging I just say "you get what you get" and either of them will finish with "and you don't have a fit" and suddenly the fit is derailed. Of course its not 100% effective. There are just some moments when your kid needs a good old fashioned cleansing melt down, in which case we just ask them to leave the room and come back when they are done having their melt-down. I don't expect them to bottle up all their negativity. Just want to teach them that people don't like hearing fits, so if you MUST have one you can leave the room and come back when you are done. This worked really well when B was in his 2's. I could come into his room and say are you all done with your fit and he'd look at me and say "no" and then continue. Eventually he'd surface from his room and say 'all done fit' lol. Ah... that seems like a lifetime ago when he was only 2.
Here are some recent photos of my little princes.
Logan will be 3 next month. How? What? Why? Didn't he just turn 2? Sometimes I look at him and still see his little baby cheeks and am reminded of that little 1 year old that had his sassy in his mouth everywhere he went. I still have a bowl of pacifiers in my cabinet that I can't bring myself to throw away. Now he's getting so tall and lanky and developing more of a 'little boy' look than that chubby little toddler he used to be. His baby fat is disappearing quickly. The other night Brenden said he was hot so we told him he could sleep in his underwear if he wanted. We went down later to make sure he had a blanket because he'd probably feel a little cool with no pj's on and I looked over at Logan who managed to strip himself down to his underwear too.. HAS to be like big brother. He's got a great smile. His grin goes from ear to ear. He's showing some strong will lately. Its like his terrible two's hit at 3 instead. He's really testing his boundaries and defying authority. Unlike Brenden, Logan doesn't seem to care much if he's getting in trouble. It usually takes 2-3 time outs before it starts to sink in that he's misbehaving.
Brenden would stay my baby forever if I let him. He loves to be cuddled and taken care of. We have to push him to be more independent. It's funny how different Logan and Brenden are. We have to reel Logan in and we have to push Brenden out. He tends fight staying in bed a lot. I had to bribe him with a glow stick last night, which worked well actually. I told him if he came out of his room for any reason other than going potty he'd have to give me the glow stick back. Of course if B got one Logan had to get one too. I went to check on them later and found them both asleep, glow sticks in hand. Brenden likes to invent games, which is fun to watch. They have no rhyme or reason but he'll tell you whether you win/lose/tie. He'll say something like "what color do you like" I'll say "green" and he said "you guessed the right one! You win!!!" -- um... okay thanks B! They both love singing and dancing and with the olympics going on they have taken to doing more acrobatic stunts. I see lots of hand-stands, head-stands, and flips.
"You get what you get, and you dong have a fit"
Someone posted an article on Pinterest about ways to curb preschooler tantrums and the article contained this phrase. It took me a minute to realize that the point of the article was to use the exact phrase when your kids have a tantrum because they wanted the blue cup ... or whatever. There is something about a phrase that rhymes that seems to mean truth to a kid. Its like they think "hmmm, that phrase rhymes, so it must be true." So I tried it out and the first time I used it Brenden looked at me like "how dare you use a rhyme on me when I'm trying to have a fit". I continued to use it for the rest of the day and now if I see a fit emerging I just say "you get what you get" and either of them will finish with "and you don't have a fit" and suddenly the fit is derailed. Of course its not 100% effective. There are just some moments when your kid needs a good old fashioned cleansing melt down, in which case we just ask them to leave the room and come back when they are done having their melt-down. I don't expect them to bottle up all their negativity. Just want to teach them that people don't like hearing fits, so if you MUST have one you can leave the room and come back when you are done. This worked really well when B was in his 2's. I could come into his room and say are you all done with your fit and he'd look at me and say "no" and then continue. Eventually he'd surface from his room and say 'all done fit' lol. Ah... that seems like a lifetime ago when he was only 2.
Here are some recent photos of my little princes.
Logan practicing swimming
Brenden at Monkey Joes
Home-made sprinkler/trike wash using pvc pipe and a drill.
Pillow fort!
Mommy playing Peek-a-Boo with the camera
Brenden's VBS class performing at Church
Checking out the living room of the house in WV we are *hoping* to buy!
Typical silly Logan, in the "rolly-bag"
My 4 yr old doing his homework.. such a smarty pants!
