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!