Twice today Hallie’s made my jaw drop. She’s sure got it together for a 3.5 year old! This morning at breakfast we were watching a ton of birds on the feeder. Travis was really excited and kept saying “duh duh, duh duh!” Finally I realized that’s what he says for “duck.”
“No, Travis, those aren’t ducks, they are birds,” I told him, laughing.
And Hallie chimed right in. “Travis, those aren’t ducks. They don’t have webbed feet!” Leave it to Hallie to take the explanation to the next level.
Her best comment was at bathtime tonight. Mark was getting Travis dressed while we finished up in the tub. Travis was being a little fretful. Since he understands everything we say, I resorted to spelling to communicate with Mark. “He was asking for his M-I-L-K earlier,” I called down the hall.
Hallie splashed in the draining water for three or four minutes and then piped up, “I was just thinking that M-I-L-K spells ‘milk.’” It’s clear the spelling trick only works with one member of our family from here on out!
Both our kids were great snoozers this weekend. Hallie came in at 7:40 this morning and T slept past 8. When Hallie came in, I asked if she wanted to grab some books and climb in bed with us. She scampered off and came back with a stack of books from our Hooked on Phonics set.
Gum and Gup bought us the set a while ago. I haven’t wanted to push it or make it seem like work. But Hallie knows where it is, and periodically she’ll pull out the flashcards or the books or ask for the tapes. This morning, she was “reading” the books by telling us stories based on the pictures. I picked up one of the first books in the series and asked her what a word was. She read it to me! And then another and another. For several we had to sound things out together as I pointed to the letters. But she did the sounding, and she made the words from the sounds.
Of course we cheered and hollered and lavished her with praise. She was so proud of herself and couldn’t wait to call Gum and Gup this morning to tell them. Who knows what she’ll be reading by the time they get here this weekend!
On Thursday we did our usual hike in the nature park. We were the only guests, but the two staff people were beside themselves excited when we got there. Turns out a pair of bald eagles was visiting the park, something they’ve never had happen before.
We were able to walk down to the lake and see them from quite a distance. When they took flight they flew away from us, so we never got a really good look. Hopefully we’ll get another shot at it.
I’ve seen eagles several times–while sailing at Lake Crabtree, while camping at Jordan Lake, and while visiting the San Juan Islands. But I know a lot of people have never seen them. It’s neat for the kids to get such an early start!
It was a pretty great day in the Turner household. We had a good night of sleep and some fun morning play in bed. After a good, leisurely breakfast we loaded up to check out Horseshoe Farm Park. We had the park to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed tramping through the fields and woods, finding the river, and playing in the hay in the open barn. Hallie had complained at first when we told her there would be no playground. But early on in our ramblings she announced, “It really is a fun place to come even if there isn’t a playground. I want to come back here!” By the end of the visit I’d lost track of how many times she mentioned coming back.
Travis got a snooze in the backpack and then made us all happy by marching around a bunch on his own. A lot of the time he and Hallie were holding hands, which was just priceless. Both kids really liked playing in the hay, and we got some fantastic pictures.
We got home in time to feed a hungry family and get the kids down for naps. Then I went to our new nearby independent coffee shop and got in a good three hours of work on my new freelance project. It was great to be out of the house and not “on-call,” even though the kids napped most of the time I was gone. I was really glad to be engaged in some work again and not to feel like I was squeezing it in during sometimes non-existent naps. I’m hoping to get several hours in again tomorrow. After a stop by the grocery store, I got home in time to make a dinner that everyone enjoyed. We had several servings of plastic dessert afterwards, courtesy of Hallie. And we all enjoyed playing “school” in the playroom until bedtime.
Travis was restless at storytime, either because he wasn’t tired or he didn’t eat enough. He wouldn’t sit still for any of his stories and kept turning the pages himself or getting down to get a new book. At one point he got down, got a new book, and then instead of climbing in my lap, he went behind the rocking chair and popped out the other side. His grin when I spied him coming around was adorable–and not at all sleepy. He complained a little bit when I left him and now he’s talking. I’m hoping he’ll settle down in time for us to watch a movie and still have a decent bedtime tonight.
At T’s 15-month check up we asked his doctor for advice about picky eating and mealtime battles. Both kids were demanding “short-order cooking,” and I found myself offering 6 or 8 different options, hoping one of them would end up getting eaten. With Travis, it was especially hard. He’d survey his tray and immediately pitch a fit if he didn’t see something he liked. I’d offer other options just to buy myself enough time to eat my own meal.
Dr. Kartheiser recommended a book called “How to Get Your Kid to Eat–But Not Too Much.” I finally got it and got through it about 2 weeks ago. It gives a lot of good background about kids and eating and how they naturally do a perfect job of regulating their food intake–until parents mess with them. The premise is very simple: Parents are responsible for providing appropriate, nutritious, appealing food in a pleasant manner and environment at regular times. Kids are responsible for what, or whether, they eat.
The only somewhat revolutionary suggestion is that dessert should be offered WITH the meal, not afterwards. This avoids creating a “good food, bad food” dichotomy. And it removes the pressure for kids to eat a certain, parent-dictated amount to earn their dessert. The theory is that the sweets will lose their power and that even if they are eaten first, kids will continue eating the rest of their meal until they are full.
Taking this approach relieved me of all the pressure I felt to “get food into” my kids. I’ve also been trying to be better about making sure all the options are healthy ones that I feel good about the kids eating. My only rule (enforced only with Hallie at this point) is that she needs to have at least one bite of everything on her plate. This has gone over surprisingly well.
I’ll never know what’s made the difference–I’m sure just relaxing my attitude has helped a lot–but meals are soo much better after just a couple of weeks. Both kids are eating better most of the time. And when they don’t, I don’t worry about it. At first, Hallie was eager to gobble her sweets (which is usually all of four M&Ms, or one fig newton–nothing terribly extravagant) first thing. But at the last few meals, she’s started saving them for last. At lunch today, about halfway through the meal, she asked if she could eat her candy. I said yes but that if her tummy told her she was still hungry, she could continue eating her lunch afterwards. She decided on her own that she’d rather have a few more bites of lunch and then her candy at the end. Incredible!
It remains to be seen how this plays out over the long term. But it sure has gotten off to a great start!
Hallie had her second visit to the dentist today, and she made me so proud. She was really excited about going, and she kept asking for the same hygienist she had last time (of course Hallie remembered her name when I didn’t). Miss Wanda wasn’t available, but Miss Melissa did a great job. This time Hallie sat in a big chair, and I got to tell her it was just like the one I was in this morning. She loved that we went to the dentist on the same day, and she kept asking if what they were doing to her was like what I had done.
Based on her last visit, I was convinced she’d have to get scheduled for a filling on this trip. She’s got really deep grooves in her molars, and I was told at least one would likely be a cavity this time around–but if they weren’t they might never be if we take good care of them. So, I was very pleasantly surprised to have them say they just want to watch those teeth next time. All our good brushing and flossing is paying off!
Hallie did such a good job with everything. It helped a lot that she’d had a good experience last time and knew what to expect. She was really excited about picking out her prizes at the end, and she couldn’t wait to tell her neighborhood friends all about it as soon as we got home.
Most pediatricians seem to recommend a first dental visit by or around age 3. The dentists recommend age 1. Hmm. Self-serving? Given how smoothly things have gone with Hallie, I’m tempted to wait until Travis is a bit older. Knowing how upset he’s been at all his recent doctor’s visits, I don’t want a first dental visit to be traumatic and set us up for future challenges. I’d rather take him when he can understand a bit more about what to expect.
Our house has gotten a bit crowded of late with the addition of Rolph, Anna (pronounced Ahn-nah), Miss Cindy, and Mr. Clement. Unbeknownst to me, whenever Mark would dry Hallie’s hair they would become transformed into the vaguely European Ralph and his elite client Anna.
I witnessed one of these exchanges with delight last weekend. When it was my turn to do Hallie’s hair next, she wanted to know who I was. And thus arrived the deeply Southern, rather red-neck Miss Cindy. And while Miss Cindy was treating Hallie at the beauty parlor, Mr. Clement was taking care of Travis down the street at the barber shop.
Miss Cindy has been much in demand. She did Hallie’s stories at bedtime the last two nights as well as at her nap today. During dinner tonight Hallie kept running to the door to see if Miss Cindy had arrived yet. It’s making her Mommy feel kind of left out!
Being Miss Cindy is a bit exhausting. When she was requested for naptime today, I floundered for excuses. I came up with the very lame, “Miss Cindy doesn’t have a lot of experience reading stories and she might not be as good at it as I am.” To which Hallie made me so proud by immediately responding, “But if she doesn’t practice, how is she ever going to learn?” (It’s hard having kids smarter than you are!) So, Miss Cindy arrived just in time for stories, and her confidence and self-esteem were boosted enormously after a successful story session.
Hallie loves talking to Miss Cindy and in lots of ways treats her (me) as a truly separate person from Mommy. I remember an anecdote in a parenting magazine about a mom who would adopt a manicurist’s persona with her young daughters. Her girls would talk to the manicurist about things they’d never talk with their mom about. I’ve heard the same thing about kids relating to puppets. So, Miss Cindy may become a valuable addition to our family. If only we can limit her appearances to the point where they don’t wear me out!
I think we’re finally getting our guy back, and it’s about time! Even after just two doses of the antibiotic on Friday he seemed to be much happier. And it’s so nice to snuggle him and feel his forehead a normal temperature. He was warm for so long it feels different to have him back to normal.
T is still limping pretty heavily, but he’s doing more independent walking every day. It’s been a while since he really showed signs of pain. He just doesn’t quite trust his leg yet. He’s really shy of changing surfaces, like going from carpet to wood floor. He’ll usually get down and crawl from one to the other. I’ll give him another week and check with the doctor again on his improvement. I’m assuming that by the time of his follow-up x-ray he’ll be all back to normal.
We hired our first babysitter last night, and things couldn’t have gone any more smoothly. Alex is the fourteen-year-old daughter of a friend of a friend. She was great with the kids and they really liked her.
I talked her up a lot to Hallie in advance, and Hallie couldn’t wait for her to get her. Hallie hosted a tea party and they drew on the chalkboard together and generally had a great time. Travis seemed comfortable right away and didn’t show any separation issues.
I stuck around for about an hour to make sure everyone was comfortable together. I got the kids ready for bed before I left, so all Alex had to do was read them stories. I saw nothing but smiles when I said goodbye, and I think I’d have been fine leaving with Mark instead of sticking around. I’m glad I stayed to see how things were going, though. Apparently everything went smoothly–Alex called at 8:50 to report that they were both down for the night. That’s earlier than I get them settled by myself!
Hallie wasn’t as excited about the whole thing this morning as I thought she’d be, but I think we can get her jazzed again before we have Alex back. Paying a sitter definitely makes for a pricey evening, but it’s liberating to know we’ve got that option if we need it.
Well, now we know what’s been bothering Travis. I took him in this morning (after another dreadful night) after he’d had a fever for four days. Turns out both ears are infected. Apparently they aren’t too bad but enough to be the source of his fever and crankiness. Poor guy. So, he’s on antibiotics and we should see some improvement soon. I’m not sure if he’ll be well enough for me to join in the Turner family outing tomorrow night, which would have been our first use of an actual teenage babysitter. We’ll see how the night goes.
