boot camp

There’s a lot going on in our household and that is the reason that I haven’t been posting too much lately (busy!):

 

Kaylee is really looking forward to preschool starting…

We are really looking forward to Eric and Levi’s birthdays both upcoming in the next week or so…

We are looking forward to Lang family birthday parties and reunions around Labor day…

I am really looking forward to having Fridays off again with the kids…I think Kaylee is too! She’s always asking if she gets to stay home…

We are looking forward to going to the state fair…

We are looking forward to having our basement wall repaired and maybe getting the guest room and the stairs recarpeted soon!

 Last week we went out with Krissy and Matt and had a great time seeing them and catching up. We went to the park, had a picnic and went out for ice cream. The kids loved seeing them and showing off for them!

We had lots of fun going to the cabin with the Smiths. Went there after not being there for like 12-15 years. (can you believe Eric and I have been together 15, almost 16 years!?) At the cabin we went canoeing, swimming, paddle-boating, went out for ice cream, Eric and I got to go out alone and we saw some bald eagles and loons. The kids had fun with their grandparents. Earlier in the week we had to work, but Eric had a chance to go to the zoo with his Mom and the kids. Kaylee came home talking on and on about the rides they went on – so much so – that I had to ask if they saw the animals!

 

We have been doing “boot camp” lately on some things with the kids and we have had a number of successes!:

1)       Successfully gotten them to go to bed without us sitting in the room with us.

2)       Successfully gotten me out the door in the morning at least 15 or 30 mins earlier every day.

3)       Now I am doing a boot camp on discipline and timely timeouts for 10 days to work on improving listening skills and respect for each other (sharing, not fighting)

4)       This is not worthy of being called 'boot camp' but – Levi, as I promised myself, is no longer nursing (by his 2^nd birthday)! We accomplished it early – a whole week ago! We did it a long time and both really enjoyed our time! But now we're ready!

5)       We have been culling through our stuff (purging) and have probably gotten ride of about 20 vanloads of stuff the past year or so (how did it all fit?) and we are still going! – Eric and I did more last night – with Levi’s birthday coming we are making way for the new (that’s what a lot of it is – old clothes stuff we/they grew out of) It feels good!

6)       Now we are about to embark on a long weekend and we are thinking we will put Levi in underwear all weekend and teach him to go to the potty more consistently. As you know he does it most of the time he knows he’s going but a lot of the time it is a little bit too late. So just trying to raise his awareness of what’s happening by taking the diapers away. (we’ll see if this is a good or a bad idea by the end of the weekend – it may be too soon or we may be too busy – and we’re fine with that if it doesn’t work right now – we know you can’t force this kind of a thing too much – just need to facilitate it is all!)

 

Hope you are having a great end of your summer and that you have a safe and happy Labor day weekend!

Fun on our long weekend - at the cabine & the zoo

more details to follow soon...

Random things

Levi tried to jump over his penny bank the other day (I know not so smart, but oh so boy), and he said beforehand, "1,2,3 Jump!"

Kaylee has been asking about the what it means to be a week, a month, so on...she's counting on her fingers with me each day how many days until her grandparents come to visit.   We are also starting to have to explain that sometimes words have two meanings and what they are...

I am thinking of signing the kids up for a couple little classes for the fall and am thrilled that they are for ages 2-4 because I can include BOTH kids! Lovely! Anyways, thinking one will be a gym class type and the other one will be an art/science type mess-making class.

Levi wanted to pick out his shirt this morning, managing to ecke out an "I don't like it" while pulling on his shirt during a tantrum. We told him good job at (eventually) using his words. Then he got to pick out his own shirt. So it seems that now I will not be able to pick out his clothes myself without a fight (I thought maybe my boy wouldn't care what he wears - guess not!)

Cooperation!

Hope you are having a great summer, it's going by too fast for my taste but oh well...fall is fun for us too since Kay absolutely loves preschool and Levi's 2nd birthday is 9-5!  That'll be great...

Anyways, what I wanted to record here today is that for our first time ever I think we are beginning to see kaylee and Levi get along, cooperate and share together this week more often than not. In other words, not so much fighting and thus timeouts for the pair. Levi realized he's not encouraged to knock over his sisters towers while playing blocks so he began to strt to build himself a small tower then go over to kaylee and ask her to help him build it bigger, then knock over his own tower. I was thrilled to see this cooperation!

They also have been liking to lay down in pretend beds and fall asleep, consists of pretty much playing some house together and fake snoring under layers of carefully spread out blankets. Very very cute! Sometimes kaylee interprets for Levi, when I don't understand what he's just said, shell tell me. I love that she knows him so well and cares enough to help. She's been telling me this week, "mom, I love everyone I know, even you!" and I taught her to say instead,"...".... Especially you!"

For the first time his week Levi has been catching the ball too when he can manage it, not just throwing. He also looks at you and says, "ready?" before a throw. He's also begun to use his arms to doggy paddle while swimming. So with his paddling and kicking together, he's making some good time getting to his balls and frisbees while swimming (in his life jacket of course).


Kaylee fell on some playground equipment at daycare this week and has a scab on her chin. Thankfully it's not bothering her. She's told us the story over nd over and ESP. Enjoys the "and h told me I had a rough day" part? Eric was sick last night so that was no fun but seems to be bouncing back today, yay! Levi threw up the other night after a huge meal but wasn't then sick the next day, much to my relief as I am on a deadline at work and couldn't afford the time off!
 (I'm sure I coulda found help tho)   So there's been a bit of drama as usual but nothing too crazy, just par for the course! You all have a great rest of the weekend!