Introducing…..

Trevor Alexander

8/19/2011

8lbs. 10oz.

21.5 in.

Reasons my Blogger card should be revoked

 

1. Updates have been, um, sporadic?
2. I’ve yet to complete my Disney posts.
3. Ryan and I went to Jamaica and I did not post about it.
4. Missed holidays.  Christmas, anyone?
5. I posted NOTHING about Sean’s 4th Birthday (Bad Mommy Blogger!)
6. Oh, and I have not once mentioned this:

Don’t put away those child locks yet.

 

This weekend we woke up to Meghan hovering over our bed.

“Seanie’s outside.”

“What do you mean Sean’s outside?”

“He’s outside.”

“Outside where?!?”

Uh-huh.  That’s right.  OUTSIDE.

I ran to the front door and found him standing outside, looking in, crying.  He did get himself dressed first, sort of.  He was wearing his underwear, a T-shirt that he put on backwards and his Diego Crocs.

We have no idea how long he was out there.  Or if he ventured off the front steps.  And our front door?  It was bolted and it’s super heavy but, apparently not too heavy for our little Bamm-Bamm.

Today we have a child lock on every possible exit.  Hopefully we won’t need to add Houdini to his list of titles.

It wasn’t all bad, just mostly

 

Today was a rough day.  You know it’s gonna be bad when you cannot wait until nap time no more than 10 minutes after the first kid wakes up.  And, that first kid?  He woke up a little after 6AM.  And started whining.  The ENTIRE morning. 

It wasn’t just the whining, Sean couldn’t figure out what he wanted and neither could I.  Five minutes into every video he started crying that he wanted something different.  He was screaming “Give me my phone!” when I wouldn’t let him play anymore games on my iPhone.  He wanted to be held.  He wanted to be put down.  He wanted stickers.  No, he wanted his trains.  No, crayons.  He was hitting.  He was in time out.  He was, well, acting like an almost 3 year old.

Meghan was slightly better.  Slightly.  She refused to let Sean play with her today which didn’t help.  And she was pushing the limit all day.  What could she get away with?  How far before I snap?  I’d ask her (tell her) to do something and she would flat out say no.  They were both throwing toys everywhere.  The place looked like a shit storm rolled through (more than it usually does) and everyone refused to help clean up.  I found myself saying things like “Watching TV is a privilege, not a right”  and “Actions have consequences.”  Um, hello?  I was talking to a 5 year old and a 2 year old.  I just got wide-eyed stares if they even bothered to acknowledge that I was speaking to them.  I’m tired of using the Santa/Christmas gift threat to get anyone to do anything. It’s frustrating.  But, I know not everyday is like this.

The good?  In between the whines and tantrums Sean always is ready for a cuddle.  That helps.  And Meghan?  No tears so far this week.  Hooray for little victories. 

Now excuse me while I return to my so-desperately-needed glass of wine.

Well, this is new…

 

Our kids have always handled drop-offs well.  Daycare , preschool, child care at the gym, anything really.  So well, in fact, that they would try and tear themselves out of our arms to go in.  Which kinda makes you wonder.  I mean jeez kid, can you at least stop for a second to say goodbye? 

Sean is still that way today.  Meghan, however, has changed.  I don’t know what happened.  One day last week she started crying while we were getting ready for school.  And didn’t stop.  I had to drag her into the school while she was saying she didn’t want to go over and over again.  Her teacher had to carry her in the classroom.  Sooooo unlike her.  I asked her what was wrong.  Got nothing.  Went through a list of possibilities. No, no, no, no.  I took her temperature.  Nope, no fever.  So I thought maybe she was just having an off day.

The next day she broke down crying in the middle of dance class.  It was like someone flipped a switch.  All the girls were dancing in a circle and as Meghan came around towards the front her head was in her hands and she was crying.  And once again she was not able to tell me why.  Preschool drop-off was just as bad as the day before.  And yesterday she cried as soon as I took off her jacket at the gym’s child watch.

Not really sure what is going on.  Her teachers said she has been crying more in class.  There they are in a circle for their class meeting and in the middle of the meeting?  Tears.  But every breakdown only lasts a few minutes and then she is back to normal.  I know she is an emotional and very dramatic little girl but usually there is something that sets her off.  Even if it is something as minor as Sean messing up her puzzle.  But at least we knew why she was hysterical.  Now?  No clue.

My only guess is that she is tired.  I used to have to drag her out of bed at 9AM so we would make it to dance class on time.  But recently she has been waking not long after Sean (who wakes up too damn early).  Short trips in the car after school almost will almost always put her to sleep.  So is she exhausted?  We can’t really put her to bed any earlier.  And, other than passing out in the car, she refuses to nap.

She has preschool today and I am really hoping today goes better than the past few times.  Because leaving a screaming, crying, begging, pleading kid anywhere just sucks.

A merry-go-round. Sure. Why not.

We always have music on when we are in the car. I think most people do. For short trips I take daily I generally tune the radio to a local music station and then my brain sort of tunes out. Most of the time the music becomes almost a type of soundtrack in the background. I often am not really paying much attention to the song (as long as the song is not irritating).

Wednesday’s we take Sean to school. It is a relatively short trip so the radio is on. Meghan is always yapping about something (always with the chattering) but I noticed she was asking me something.

“Why are the diamonds on the ground? Why did he say they are melting? It must be hot.”

Huh? What? Oh, Matchbox 20 is on the radio. Huh. She really listens to the lyrics.

I mentioned to Ryan that night that we will need to be more careful about what we listen to because she is picking up everything.

Fast-forward to the next day. We are (always) in the car running errands. And, once again, I hear questions coming from the back seat.

Meghan: “What’s a disco stick?”

Me: (oh, crap)

Meghan: “It must be some kind of ride. Like a merry-go-round!”

Me: “Um, sure, it must be.”

*************************************************

So now I am creating a “preschool friendly” playlist. At least with mp3s this task is much easier than it would have been in the past. I can remember wanting to watch Flashdance sooooo bad when I was younger. My parents, obviously, had other ideas. But, they tried to censor the movie themselves so I could watch it. One night they sat there while the movie was playing on cable, recording it on the VCR, and hitting the pause button whenever they thought something objectionable was about to happen. Sure, this may not have been to difficult for skipping a scene. However, they also tried to remove the profanity. Yea, not so easy. Also? Makes the conversation a bit choppy and jokes are missing punch lines.

As I go through my road trip playlist there are some obvious songs that should be probably be removed. Examples*:

Laid - James

Wasn’t Me –Shaggy

I Wanna Sex You Up – Color Me Bad (Shut up. There is no judging here.)

Push It – Salt N Peppa

The list goes on….

And what about songs sprinkled here and there with un-kiddy-like language? Sure, anything marked “Explicit” in iTunes is easy enough to find. But, I also have many, many, many songs that came from our CD collection. Most I don’t even remember having a curse word in it until I hear it again. I can’t even remember what is wrong with some songs marked explicit. Why is Raspberry Beret marked that way? I can’t remember anything in there.

Clearly this is going to take some time. But it is worth it to not have to listen to five hours worth of Backyardigans songs.

And, just because I have this song stuck in my head, here is something for your viewing pleasure.

* I’m realizing that some people may cringe when reading the list of songs up there. All I can say is that the songs listed here in no way represent our entire mp3 collection. No really. I promise.

Vacation 2009 – The Beach

We hit the beach a few times this year. Definitely not everyday. The rain and not feeling so great kept us away some days.

Meghan? Loved the beach. She was not too crazy about the ocean. She would put her toes in but did not want to go any further. And there was some running from waves. But she had a blast searching for shells and playing in the sand.

Some things to note:

• Meghan will always walk across the blanket with her sandy feet. Even 2 seconds after you tell her not to.
• Meghan throws sand EVERYWHERE. I got a bunch in my head one day. I didn’t realize it until I took the rubber band out of my hair in the bathroom and heard a shower of sand hit the floor. Also? I found a shell in my hair while showering. No lie.

Sean? Not so fond of the beach. He tried his best to keep his feet out of the sand. But, on the days he warmed up to the idea of playing in the sand he had no problem dumping it on other parts of his body. Just not his feet.

He HATED the water. I think I still have marks on my body where he clung to me if we even started to approach the water. It sounded like we were torturing him. Things to note about Sean:

• He will fight a nap on the beach like nobody's business. And when/if he finally does fall asleep, any stray voice will wake him up. This is not good on a crowded beach.
• If you attempt to carry Sean to the water be mindful of where your swimsuit top is positioned. He grabs onto whatever he can and hangs on for dear life.
• Bring lots of tissues. There will be snot.

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Related Posts:
Vacation 2009 – The Introduction
Wordless Wednesday – Best Vacation Photo Ever

Yes, we are college educated. Why do you ask?

So Meghan has these flash cards that are supposed to help her identify the states. They happened to be sitting on my nightstand one night so I took a look at them.

I mentioned to Ryan that I thought they would be pretty difficult to identify the states. He thought it would not be too bad. Ah ha, a challenge!

Do you know how many times we had to go through before he could identify the states*? Also, do you know how difficult it is to identify the states outside of the map itself and without any type of scale applied to them?

Some of them were easier to identify than others.

And, my gosh, there are a lot of states that look pretty much alike.

After the first or second time through I decided to give him some facts provided on the back of the cards as hints.

Uhhhhhh.

Eventually, I started to provide my own hints.

Like, “we have both been to this state but not at the same time.”

Or, “I traveled here for work.”

And the low point of the evening?

“If this state had a first name it would be Hannah.”

The age range on the cards was 4 and up. Seriously? Looks like Meghan is own her own when she studies this in school. But, we totally have math covered.

* I’m not saying I could do much better. I just was the one flipping the cards.

This has been our summer so far.

 

I’ve been pretty bad about updating lately.  I don’t know why.  It’s not like we have been spending time outside.  So, in an effort to bring this blog back up to date, here is what I can remember about the last week or so.

Rain – It’s been endless.  And quite depressing.  And it is still raining today.  Moving on…

In an effort to do something outside the house, I took the kids to story hour at the local Barnes & Nobel.  (Note to self:  Never go to story hour on a rainy day.)  The place was MOBBED.  I was quickly reminded why I don’t like to take Sean to these events.  It’s waaaay too stressful.  Sean kept escaping by weaving his little body through the sea of parents, kids and strollers.  I had to take the long way around to catch him.  One time, as I was making my way to him, I saw him put something in his mouth.  There were too many head in the way for me to see what it was.  When I got closer I realized it was a straw….attached to a milk box.  ACK!  I have never been so happy that he cannot yet drink out of a straw.  Needless to say we left after that.

And speaking of Sean, we were hoping that he would graduate from the Growth and Nutrition center after his last visit.  No such luck.  He gained what is considered below the normal amount of weight between appointments.  So we get to go again in August.

Meghan has become addicted to playing games on the internet.  This is where you can find her while Sean naps:

And, if I don’t get Sean as soon as he wakes up, this is where I find him:

 

 

I think I’ll finish this post with our excitement yesterday.  Sean had a tick on him.  That’s right, a tick.  Even though we were stuck inside due to rain.  They are starting to invade the house.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time either of them have been in an ambulance.

 

A few weekends ago* our town had something called “Truck Day”.  A bunch of trash trucks, fire trucks, police cars, etc. are parked in a lot for the kids to climb in and all over.  The town holds this event every year but this is the first time we attended.

 

 

 Meghan pulled the cable to blow the horn on this one and jumped so far off the seat she almost hit her head.

 

 

*I know, I know.  I have not posted much lately.  But it’s not totally my fault. Meghan has been hogging the laptop.

One year down, one more to go.

 

I had planned to write a whole picture laden post about Meghan’s last day of preschool for the year (no kindergarten yet, she was another year to go).  But then, almost the entire time they were putting on a little show for the parent Meghan parked herself DIRECTLY BEHIND another kid.  I was only able to get a few pictures where you can actually see her head.

 

 

She got a portfolio of some of the work she did during the year (which was great because I am really bad at saving that stuff).

Next year she will go to school four times a week instead of three.  First we have to make it through a summer of “Why am I not going to school today?” and “I never get to go to school.”

The Recital

Saturday was Meghan dance recital.  Here is what we learned:

1. Little girls are adorable in little dance costumes with tutus.
2. So is a little boy dancing in a little tuxedo.
3. Preschool dance routines are hilarious.
4. There is only so much dancing one should be required to watch in a day.
5. The school grossly underestimated how long the show would run.
6. If you lose someone in the caravan on the way there it is not easy to guide them back through Worcester.  Especially if the person doing the guiding really has no idea what the street names are.

Meghan was one of the first groups to perform.  She did great.  All of the girls kept gravitating to the middle of the stage so they can see their teacher.  Meghan kept getting a bit crowded by the girls next to her which threw her off a bit.  But it was really cute.  We were not allow to take video or use flash photography.  But I did record her rehearsal.

 

The Rehearsal from Dorene on Vimeo.

 

Overall it was a cute show.  However, it was really way too long.  Poor Sean had to sit through it all.  He made it most of the way through without causing a fuss.  He got so excited when Meghan was on stage.  He kept trying to stand on my lap and was yelling “Meme!  Mama, Meme!!”  (Yes, he calls Meghan Meme.)

We did take some pictures after the show.

The dance school already sent the dates (and costume bill) for next year’s recital.  At least now we know what to expect.

Childproofing FAIL

Childproofing FAIL from Dorene on Vimeo.

And here I thought I had nothing to write about

 

Posts have been a bit sparse lately.  It seems as though we have been doing the same stuff day in and day out.  But Sean would not let that go on forever.

Today Sean locked me in Meghan's room.  That's right, LOCKED ME IN MEGHAN'S ROOM.  Let's just say when I reached for the handle and realized that it was locked something a bit stronger than "Uh oh" was going through my head.

How could this happen?  I'll explain.

We keep Meghan's door closed most of the day.  If she wants to play with Sean in her room that is fine.  But if we keep her door open, Sean goes in there and destroys the place, much like he does to his own room.  So we let Meghan decide if she wants to have him in her room.

Now,just keeping the door shut is not enough to keep him out.  Unlike Meghan, Sean learned how to open doors a long time ago.  We placed a childproof cover on her door to keep him out.  The problem is that it also keeps Meghan out because she cannot turn the knob either.

Also, each of the bedroom doors have locks.  The locks on the kids' rooms are on the outside so they cannot lock themselves in the room.  Make sense so far? Great.

Today I went into Meghan's room to get her clothes.  I closed the door behind me (like always) to keep Sean, the human tornado, from running in.  As I was in there I heard him jiggling the handle trying to get in but thought nothing of it.  Then I went to open the door....and the handle did not turn. 

The first thing that ran thorough my mind was the fact that I did not even have a phone available.  Then I realized that if someone could just turn the handle from the outside it would unlock.  But who?  Meghan did not know how to turn it with the cover on it.  Okay, think, think.  Oh, there is a small hole in the handle. If I could find something long enough that fit through the hole maybe I could pop the lock.  As I searched around I also called for Meghan.  I still had not found anything to fit in the handle.  Thankfully, I was able to coach Meghan through pushing in the two buttons and turning the childproof cover.  She was able to turn the doorknob just enough to pop the lock open.

That was a very long 4 minutes.

It took 2 hours...

but he finally fell asleep.

Update: The nap lasted a grand total of 22 minutes. Basically enough time for me to take and edit pictures then post this entry.

Let Me Show You: The Big Boy Bed

 

A few weeks before Sean's birthday I heard a thud in his room when he was supposed to be in his crib.  I opened the door and found him sitting in the middle of his room with a "how did I get here" look on his face.  Uh oh.  It was just a matter of time.  Shortly there after I ordered his toddler bed.

One of the first recognizable words Sean said was "car".  Or rather "cah" (Boston accent and all).  He LOVES cars.  Points them out everywhere.  So, naturally, we had to get him a car bed, right?

 

 

We made the switch on the weekend of Daylight Savings Time.  Which, looking back, was probably not the best weekend to do it.  But it seemed to go as well as can be expected.  Ryan pretty much assembled the bed himself and I stuck all the stickers on.  ALOT of stickers.  Which were very sticky.  So you had to position them correctly to first time or you were out of luck.  Let's just say that this bed does not follow the suggested placement of the stickers.

Sean LOVES the bed.  Also he LOVES his freedom.  I, personally, am not fond of the freedom.  We have to lock his bedroom door until he falls asleep or he does not stay in there.  (I don't remember having this problem with Meghan.  She was not able to turn and open doorknobs until sometime after she got used to her bed.)  So instead of sleeping he uses the time to destroy his room.  Toys scattered everywhere, clothes pulled from all the drawers, shades pulled back up, diapers and wipes removed from the closet.  MESS.  He does manage to make it back to his bed and fall asleep eventually.

 

The biggest drawback so far is that he seems to be waking up earlier and earlier.  Today he was awake before Ryan's alarm went off.  I'm not exactly sure of the time because I did not want him to see me move.  I was hoping that he would head back to his bed.  No luck, we were watching Wow! Wow! Wubbsy waaay too early today.  (But, to be honest, I don't think there is ever a good time to watch that show.)

Sean's busy week

 

Sean had quite the week.  He was supposed to have his 2 year checkup on Monday but we had to reschedule due to the snowstorm. 

Tuesday was his first official Early Intervention (EI) appointment.  It was a bit slow going at first.  The only opening they had was smack in the middle of his nap time so it took a bit to get him warmed up.  But, once he woke up a bit, he did a good job.  He said some of the words I've heard before and he used a few new ones.  We had decided that it would be best for them to meet with Sean once a week and out next appointment is on Thursday.

Wednesday was his appointment with the Allergist.  *sigh*  This one was disappointing.  We thought Sean had accidentally been exposed to milk a few times and he did not react.  So we were optimistic that this appointment would show that he is outgrowing his allergy.  Instead we found out that he is still allergic to milk and casein plus he is allergic to cats and dogs.  On a positive note, the peanut allergy test came out negative.  He gets tested again in a year.  I am planning my next trip to Whole Foods to stock up on milk-free stuff again.  The last time I went to the local Stop and Shop I found out they will no longer carry the soy yogurt we buy so that pretty much sucks.

Today was his rescheduled 2 year check up.  And is was pretty uneventful.  He weighed in at 23.2 pounds.  But he is following his own light weight growth curve.  I have no idea how tall he is because I missed what the nurse said and they never wrote it in his book.

Now he gets a break next week but then we start back up again seeing more doctors. 

The little guy turns TWO!

 

Sean turned two this past Saturday.  We have been so busy between now and then that this is the first time I've had a chance to post about it.

First I think we need to discuss the fact that he is TWO.  Um, when did that happen?  I don't know if it is because he is such a little munchkin or because he still babbles baby talk or something else but he does not seem like he should be two already. 

We did not plan anything big for his birthday.  Just a small family party.  Thanks to the threat of a snowstorm and some sickness floating around the party got even smaller.  Not a problem though.  It just means he will get a second party this weekend.

We went out for Mexican food (Sean brought along his meal in a lunch box), opened gifts and had his Rice Krispie Treat Birthday cake.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

 

Intervention

 

A little over a week ago a group of women came to the house to evaluate Sean for the state's Early Intervention program.  I called them about 2 months ago because Sean's speech did not seem to be developing beyond a few Momma's, Da Da's and baabaa's.  I was not overly concerned because he obviously understands everything we say and seems to be on track everywhere else.

 

They showed up with a pile of paperwork and a bag of toys (at nap time, ugh).  Sean did great.  He interacted with them.  Completed their puzzles.  Followed their requests.  But, he said nothing.  Well, that's not entirely true.  He said "shoe" once as they were finishing up.  Before they even added up his score they said he would definitely qualify for his expressive speech.  The scores for every other category were above age level but his speech showed him almost 10 months behind.

 

I'm glad he qualified.  I was afraid he would just miss the cutoff.  Now, I know he can say more than he did during that session.  However, Ryan and I are the only ones who can understand these words because we know what he is trying to say.  I am now waiting for our contact to call so we can start to plan his sessions. 

Another Sunday, another kids event

Last weekend: Baby Loves Disco
Today: Playhouse Disney

I was going to get tickets to see the Wiggles next weekend but I think Ryan would have killed me. Three weekends in a row to a bit much for anyone to take.

Today's show was actually pretty good. Meghan and Sean sat still the whole time. Well, for the most part. Sean got restless whenever the characters were not singing a song.

Our seats were great and we were in and out of there in about an hour and a half.