As most of you are aware, my situation at home is temporarily different (message me if you are confused). This temporary change has left me feeling like I am drowning. I have not struggled with similar changes in the past quite like this time, and this time the change is in short increments. I will say to myself, I am drowning and I need to pull the plug. One night when I had a long list of things to do after the girls bedtime it hit me. I struggle most after they are in bed and I still need to eat dinner, do dishes, pack lunches, fold laundry, pick up toys etc etc etc. So to 'pull the plug' I need the girls to help me with some of this. In the past I when just ask them to help out when they could, but I never had a regular chore list for them.
Things are different now, I explained to them during this time of change I need their help more then ever. Brady and Reese were very receptive to this. Actually, they were down right excited about it. Lots of people have posted lately about how they organize chores in their home, so here is my new system!
I believe in choose for the kids. Children build confidence when they are able to make chooses about the direction their life goes, even are 4 and 5. Now, I am not talking careers people, just what they are going to do the next five or ten minutes. So I decided to let them have chooses with chores too. They must do as many chores as years old they are, but they get to choose which chores to do. I wrote the age appropriate chores on a clothespin. When they complete that chore they get to move the pin over to their pipe cleaner letter so they can keep track of what is completed.
If they do more chores then their age, they will then get to choose a prize from the prize bucket (mostly hello kitty $1 or less items) or they can ask for $1. Interestingly enough, at this age money doesn't motivate them, so the prize bucket is always sought after. Brady, almost always chooses to do way more then 5, and Reese always does one more then 4 to take a trip to the prize bucket. I have done this for about 8-9 days now and only once did they choose to just do their age, and that was because they wanted to work on making valentine's instead.
People, for now, they are excited about chores. One day Brady forgot to ask to be excused from the table because she was so eager to do her chores.
So, my girls have pulled the plug, the water has drained and I am breathing again! And top of it all, my kitchen is now swept daily and my dishwasher has never looked so shiny!
Since living on base housing I have come across a few 'situations' that have me chuckle and say to myself "only at base housing"
So I decided to start a new running post on here, so drumroll please...
Only at base housing,
1. Do you look at your window at 7:45am and see six missiles pass by on a flat bed truck
2. Does a street full of happy, noisy kids playing in snow become completely still and silent from the playing of a tune. (When the flag is raised and lowered each day a song is played over the base speakers and if you are outside you are suppose to respect the flag and stand still).
3. Do you drive by a marching band one tenth of a mile for your house
4. Do you have to take a detour two tenths of a mile from your house due to a suspicious package
Brady and Reese have had their first snow years ago. But they have never gotten to experience it. I mean really experience it; snowballs, snowmen, sledding, snow cream!
One of the things that had the girls excited about the move from FL to VA is the possibility of snow. Well we were lucky enough to have accumulation within 5 weeks of moving here!
So here is Elli's first snow ever and Brady and Reese's first snow experience.
January 25, 2013
Trying to wait patiently for the snow to accumulate.
Elli digs right in as I am trying to take a group picture.
The house looked awesome in the snow. Elli decided to do some tummy time while chilling in the snow.
I turned away to grab a picture of Brady and Reese making snow angels. When I look at Elli again she was happily playing in the snow... with her hands uncovered yikes!
After the snow angels, snow ball making lessons! You are witnessing Reese making the first snow ball of her entire 4 year life...history in the making people.
Snow kissed eye lashes
love this booger faced cutie
So this picture means nothing to you, but this is when I stood on the porch and watched my girls. Tears came to my eyes. The beauty of snow always gets me, but something much more beautiful going on here. Brady and Reese had the confidence to wander off (with my permission of course) and be amongst all the kids. They are in the mix of all the kids in the street. I want so badly for this to be their new home, not house, home! The beauty in this picture is that we are going to be alright.
Our best attempt at a snowman. The snow wasn't sticking to itself so this took a lot of work!
Who needs hills and sleds when you have Teflon coated baking sheets and a buddy to give you a good shove?!?!?!
So the true kid in my came out with this snow. I LOVE snow, and I think I always will. Elli however had no real business being out there for extended periods. She didn't like the idea of being a lone in her crib after a three hour nap. So I broke my own mommy rule...she watched a little Sesame Street while I went out and played with Brady and Reese.
After warming up by the fireplace, we finished the night out with snow cream (or slushies, Brady wanted no cream). These girls opted for cherry flavored.
Hopefully the temp will stay down and we will get a little more play time in the morning.
One night when I was busy cooking dinner, Brady came running downstairs to show me her latest creation.
"Mom. what's your number? I want to call you on my phone!" So have a short exchange of pretend telephone she scampers off. I return to cooking.
Few minutes later, she returns. Apparently she was at the cell phone store because when she returned she was holding what she referred to as her smart phone.
OH MY GOODNESS! EIGHT MONTHS OLD!!! I have loved every minute of the last eight months!
I believe this picture of Elli on her owl blanket demonstrates how awesome her personality has come to be.
Hi Ms. Owl! What's going on?
Pace wanted to have his picture taken next to the owl too. He is eight YEARS old this month.
Before I get to percentiles and milestones, I want to talk about some 'habits' of Elli. By 'habits,' I mean those special little things that make her Elli. When you are in the present with your baby you think I will remember every detail of this time, all the details that make this time so special. But as I notice this 'habits' I think to myself and try to remember Brady's and Reese's habits and they don't come as quickly to me as I would like. So here is my new category in these monthly posts:
HABITS:
-My favorite has to be the way Elli stretches each time I go to pick her up out of her crib after sleeping. She ALWAYS strikes the same pose; right leg straight, left leg bent, right arm bent, left arm straight. Never fails if I get her right when she wakes or she has been in bed awake 15 minutes, she always strikes the same pose. Love it!
- Elli has a fascination with hair, i know most babies do, but I think her interest is a little greater then usual. If I hold her cheek to cheek with me, she will have a thumb in her mouth and the other hand in my hair. She gave me hugs early on my grabbing my hair and squeezing herself into me. But with Elli, she grabs and pets but very rarely pulls. I think that tenderness is what makes me love this habit. When she nurses she either plays with my hair, or more often plays with her own hair. It is hard to tell in this picture, but this is her typical arm placement while nursing.
-Last habit worth mentioning, Elli is showing signs of being left handed. It will be my second child if she is (Reese is too). Let's see if I am correct...
PERCENTILES:
-Elli continues to be a long long baby girl. Coming in at 28.5" and over 90th%ile in height. For weight she is well over 19 pounds (WOW) and about 80th%ile. I just moved her into 12-18 month clothing, clothes which I bought for Brady during her second winter!
MILESTONES:
Earlier in the month I thought this was going to be a short entry, but the last couple of weeks she has blossomed.
-mimicking: This is one of the first milestones of the month and I tried and tried to catch it on video but no luck. When one of us would shake our head 'no' she would copy us. Fun!
-peek-a-boo: YAH! She can play games with us now. I love the playfulness in her eyes. If she doesn't have a cloth to play with she will just grab her hands together and cover her eyes.
-follows commands: And following the two previous milestones she has within a couple weeks taken it one step futher. She can follow a simple command now. If I say "no,no,no" in a sweet voice, she shakes her head back and forth. I ask her "Do you want to play peek-a-boo?" and she will cover her eyes. People, she is a real person now!
-first word: As if following commands wasn't enough for one month, now she is talking too. It may be a simple two letter word, but she is TALKING! Click here for more details
-army crawl: Elli has shown zero interest in traditional crawling. I have yet to see Elli on her hands and knees. I know most babies are on their hands and knees rocking by now if not out right crawling. Well, I caught little miss miss traveling forward a couple days before turning eight months. Not traditional but forward movement.
-tantrum: Unfortunately this milestone was reached way sooner then I wanted. As a mom you constantly want to see your baby meet milestones within the normal range. Well, if they reach it early (AKA Reese sitting up at 4 months old) you usual do an internal happy dance, you know that is one less thing you have to worry about. Well, Elli reached a milestone early and no happy dance was had by this momma. Last night (her last few hours as seven months) I was getting her ready for bed. I got all the things out I needed to complete the routine: lotion, her nightly anitbiotics, baby toothbrush, diaper, PJs. She say the bright red medicine bottle in my hand. Then she saw me put the bottle down on the floor. Then when I proceeded to put lotion on her; she made sure I knew that she was unhappy with the order I choose to partake in the bedtime routine. Otherwords, don't let that girl see her medicine bottle without immediately giving it to her. How do I know that it was a full out tantrum for meds? As soon as I started giving her the medicine she stopped crying!
-Pincer grasp: Like peek-a-boo, self explanatory.
The girls both choose to draw family portraits during art time at school this week. I wanted to share them with you. They are the best artists on the block but the pictures are still super special to me! Also the girls have drawn better people but I like that they choose to draw the family while at school.
Brady's picture (she labels the people with an initial):
I like that she put all the girls in pretty pink dresses but realized I wouldn't be wearing that and put me in pants!
Reese's picture:
I like Elli in this picture. She is petite with Rapunzel like hair...love it!
oh yeah, we have already had several conversations about this with Brady and Reese. They are VERY curious little girls. I will omit most details, but I have to tell you this one story.
We bought the girls an illustrated book about private parts for Christmas. We figured this is the best way to introduce them to boy parts since we only have little girls in this family.
Today, Reese was reading the book to me. I will bring you in on the page with boy parts. Picture Reese reading in her best 4 year old storytelling voice.
"And this is the boy, he has a tail. It is silly that he has a tail because people don't have tails!"
A couple pages later "The baby is in the mommy's belly. It has to be in the mommy because the daddy has a tail and the baby would hurt the tail coming out"
I guess we need to work on the correct anatomical names some more because I am pretty sure "the tail" isn't correct!
Yesterday I was driving the three girls around. The car was quiet (surprising I know!) except the humming coming from Elli. I asked Elli, "Are you saying Hi to your sisters?" and she immediately started flapping her arm about five times. I thought it was so cute that is looked like she waved. I then said "Reese, did you see that it looked like Elli was waving at you to say Hi?" I bet you know what happened then...Elli waved again! So after repeated attempts throughout the evening and having about 75% success of a wave connected to when I tell her to say Hi, I am officially declaring that my baby girl waves hi! I think it is so fun...
I attempted to use my new camera to catch the moment after dinner. I am still working on using the camera in video mode so please excuse the poor focus quality...
Karl and I haven't had a gas fireplace previously. We love the ambiance that is creates. Pace, however, can be found nightly in his new favorite spot! Let's hope this wiener dog doesn't get roasted.
