Updates from April, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Tamara 9:31 am on April 20, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Routines 

    The usual morning:
    - Rick wakes M up, he comes to my bed to watch cartoons for a bit
    - Rick gives him a “train ride” downstairs (a piggy back)
    - dry cereal with cartoons in the livingroom while we get ready/get his lunch
    - Mommy or Daddy helps him get dressed (even though we know he can do this mostly on his own, he insists on help lately – likely a little regression due to Ella’s arrival we figure)
    - sometimes more food – usually cereal with milk at the kitchen table
    - lately he’s been saying “I don’t want to go to schooool” followed by a big struggle to get his coat and boots on for him – he insists we do it for him

    The usual bedtime:
    - Marshall insists on a “train ride” up the stairs … I have been telling him that he’s getting too big for this and Daddy’s going to hurt his back.
    - we’ve been alternating bath nights with the kids
    - then Marshall takes forever getting his jammies on … lots of jumping and running and squirming and goofy laughing etc.
    - tooth brushing
    - book or 2, depending on how late/how much trouble he’s giving us ;)
    - then “I’m feeling a little bit snacky!” and one of us gets him a snack, which is usually a grape or 2, or maybe some peppers depending on what we feel he was lacking in his diet that day
    - lately he has started wanting to brush his teeth a 2nd time (because he had a snack)
    - then “I don’t want to sleep aloooone” and Rick’s cure for this has been to go get Bounce for him. She sits on his bed for all of 2 seconds and takes off but it satisfies him
    - when Rick’s not available, I have refused to go get the cat. I tell him I will tell her to come up but that’s the best I can do.
    - lately he’s been whining and calling me up a lot, so I started taking “payment” for each time he calls me up, I take one of his “friends” (stuffed animals) and agree to return them once he is on his way to sleep. This has cut down on the number of trips up and down the stairs.

    Today:
    - Marshall got up, got dressed (needed help with the socks only), told Daddy he was walking downstairs by himself today, sat down at the table and asked for waffles for breakfast
    - He came upstairs to show me how he was dressed. He put his new hat on and is wearing 2 t-shirts (on Sunday he was wearing 3 t-shirts … layering is “in” apparently haha)
    - “I don’t want to go to school”
    - He came back downstairs on his own and put his black rubber boots on (ones he barely ever wore that we bought in the fall after losing his Thomas boots, and hasn’t worn since we got him new blue shark boots 6 weeks ago), and put his new Spiderman spring jacket on (received from the Easter Bunny but hasn’t wanted to wear until today) and was ready to go!

    Kind of surprised us today. He was actually ready before Rick was!
    Now, to shorten the bedtime routine…

     
    • lana 9:00 pm on April 20, 2010 Permalink

      hmmmm..this sounds all too familiar..right down to the Spiderman coat!

  • Tamara 12:25 pm on April 14, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    5 weeks 

    Finally a few minutes to update … I have been trying to get housework and taxes done whenever I have a free moment, but since it’s been a couple of weeks, and there are some recent events, I thought I should get them down before I forget.
    First of all, I added pics

    Ella is now 5 weeks old. She started smiling and is very bright-eyed! I’m still breastfeeding, but we are supplementing with formula to make things a little easier for sleeping etc.

    Marshall is still going to daycare, but there was a bit of turmoil recently at the school… There are 2 teachers, an assistant and a director. The director and one of the teachers were leaving for other job opportunities, their last day was thursday before Easter weekend. The other teacher was on sick leave. We only found out about the situation on Monday and Tuesday of that week. After emailing some other parents and keeping Marshall home for a day and a half since there didn’t seem to be enough staff, they called a meeting, which Rick attended. They brought temporary teacher/director in for the week after Easter, and told us that if we wanted we could keep our children home and not pay for that week. So we did. We figured it would be easier on Marshall not to have to get used to new teachers 2 weeks in a row, and it’s not often you can take a “vacation” and not pay for the daycare service.

    On our days off together, we did some shopping, visited Cathy and old daycare friends, went to my office, visited Mary, watched a lot of cartoons and went to the doctor for an ear infection (Marshall), went for walks, the train store, etc. Mostly he wanted to stay home and play toys/do crafts/watch cartoons.

    Saturday, the kids and I took the train to Halifax. Rick had an exam in the morning then came home and packed up the car and drove down to meet us at the Westin. They have a great “hospital rate”. He picked up Greek food from Athens on the way. It was good but we were a little disappointed with the quality for price and the fact that they didn’t give us any cutlery. By the time we got some from the hotel staff the food was still warm(ish) though.

    Unfortunately, there was some kind of party in our hallway. Although we called around 9pm to see if it was going to continue, and were assured they’d already been spoken to etc, the party started up again around 2am and kept Rick up (I must have been just tired enough not to notice). The hallway smelled of stale vomit the following day – ugh.

    Sunday was a much more relaxed day. We had breakfast at Smitty’s with Jamie & Michelle, walked around downtown, met JC & Kelly and their son Michael (16 months) for swimming at the hotel, playground time and a little rest, then dinner at Talay Thai (YUM!) with John& Rhia and their son Owen (1 year old).

    Monday we met with Dr. Brna at the IWK which is the reason we made the trip. Everything is going well so the meds will stay as is. In Nov/Dec he will be 1 year seizure-free so they’ll schedule another EEG and try taking him off the meds to see how he does. Hopefully he will have just outgrown it!

    *****
    cute things:
    - Marshall, while taking a break from morning cartoons and cereal: “Mommy! Have I told you today how much I love you??? Hmmm?”

    - Marshall: “I’m not a kid, mom I’m a BOY!”

    - when asked “Qui a les yeux bleu?”, Marshall sometimes responds thus:
    – MOI
    – TOI
    – Yeu (you with french accent)
    – Grandpe (Grampy with french accent)
    – Momme ( you get the picture?? LOL)

    I guess my time is now up! I know there’s more … but it will have to wait as Ella is not pleased with her swing situation!

     
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