Glimpses of Glory

For anyone who knows me (as aparent), you probably know that I'm struggling (a bit) with this whole 2 year old thing. The 2 year old is a morphed alien like creature. Unable to reason. Unable to discern language. Able to throw fits and change moods quicker than superman can change clothes. But what I'm discovering about the 2 year old stage is that they also (somehow) manage to be cuter than a puppy (at times).
Kelsey is 2. But I've seen remarkable changes in her - especially in the last month (or so) - and since I failed to talk about her last month.. I figured I should do so now.
Firstly.. the most exciting news. I/We checked out a preschool last week - and she starts next Friday!! Woot woot!! They only had one morning space available but it happened to be on fridays which is the same day one of her friends form church goes too. So.. hopefully that'll help. my goals for preschool - develop some social skills and leaern how to interact around adults and children alike (who aren't family - ones who actually expect you to act reasonable!) Academically, she's way beyond what I noticed the other kids are (I don't know them all, but just what I noticed in theri play). But socially.. she's way behind. She just watched dumbstruck as they sang a song with actions (even if she knew the song), she kept trying to talk to me as the teacher was telling a story. Perhaps it was because I was there, but she kept asking me permission instead of simply listening to the teacher's instructions. For example, after story time the teacher excuses each child individually from the sitting mat. Each of the other kids knew to get up and run off to play.. Kelsey truned to me to ask if she could get up. I'm assumign however that it was simply because I was there. No doubt she'll be best friends with all of them within the month and inviting herself around to their houses.

                                                 Kelsey's "happy" face

Some days the things that come out of her mouth, just crack me up. Lately at the supper table, she's started this thing (copying me, of course) where she asks everyone, individually, if its yummy. "Mommy, yummy potatoes?" And she says it with a completely serious expression - like she really cares what the answer is! The other night we had a friend over for dinner, and she kept asking him (like 5 or 6 times), "is it yummy?" poor guy.. I hope he didn't feel the need to lie.
She's thouroughly enjoying the fact that her sister moves around now. She's discovered that going into a room and calling "Morgan come here!!" doesn't work nearly as well as getting down on the floor and crawling into the room while calling for Morgan. So.. this is what she does now. Unfortunately, its usually followed by slamming the bedroom door right before Morgan gets there. But alas.. we'll focus on the positives today.
I was just reminded of something weird she's been doing over the last couple months. Between 10 and 11 pm suddenly we'll hear kelsey crying - this isn't every night, maybe once a week on average - we'll rush in (she doesn't cry very often anymore) and she'll be sitting up almost disoriented - once or twice she's been standing in the middle of her room. We'll simply lie her back down and she'll pop her thumb in her mouth and go back to sleep. Its so bizarre.
Oh.. and I think we've tackled the eating supper issue. Well, for now anyway. In a what I believe to be fairly typical 2 year old manner,  she would often decide before dinner that she wasn't hungry, or that she didn't like something, or that she just didn't want to eat stuff. We are NOT the type of parents to make stuff to suit our child's whims and desires but you still want your child to develop well and eat the right foods. So.. for a while (probably a month or so) I was just not making a big deal out of anything food related at the dinner table. I only put a small amount on her plate. If you eat that you get more, if you don't want to eat it, that's ok, but that's all there is and you wait till we're all done before being excused. No arguments, no bribes.. just that. Happy conversations ensued around her. I was also watching when she did like a meal, how much she could eat - if its spaghetti, she can eat almost as much as me. One day, I talked it over with Marco, and we knew that he'd be home for dinner for a full week (he was working mornings), so we started part 2 of the plan. "Kelsey, you're a big girl, and big girls eat everything on their plates." (this won't be our rule forever, but with her, its necessary for now) "So, tonight, you're going to eat everything on your plate" It was a fairly normal meal - a meal that she likes everything, but often decides that she doesn't. Then we proceeded to eat. If Marco or I saw her playing around and not eating, we'd tell her to eat. If she threw a fuss at all (basically did anything except put food in her mouth), we gave her a 2 minute timeout.  When she came back, she had to eat immediately. The first night she got maybe 4 timeouts. In fact, we even finished the meal (did devotions and everything) and left her at the table to finish her plate. She knew we were serious. It was finished by 6:30 (we had started at 5:30). The next night she had 2 timeouts. and for the rest of the week she tested us every single night with 1 timeout. Now we've had 3 meals in a row with NO timeouts. she jsut buckles down and eats. Even stuff that I know she's not too keen on (salad, rice). I'm  SO excited. I know she'll test us again and I know I have to use my mommy wisdom to determine if she really can't stomach something - but its not like I'm serving up spinach - and even that.. its just a mindset.
Anyway.. its late now. I'm working on a video of kelsey being cute.. (its hard to get many clips of it  tee hee!) I'll post it soon.

Oh.. just thought of a cute (love my little 2 year old) story. a coupel weeks ago, I was sick. REALLY sick. Pounding headache. Sinus infection. I was lying downon the couch  feeling incredibly sorry for myself, blanket pulled up high around my chin, eyes closed (I'm sure Marco was watching the kids). A tear slipped from my eye. I didn't realise that Kelsey was watching me. I feel a hand on my shoulder, "Don't cry mommy. Its ok. You OK mommy?" Aww.. why can't she be like that ALL the time...

Sign Language

OK.. I'm behind again. I'd like to blame Christmas and the holidays, but considering that we didn't do anything.. its hardly true. I'm just lazy :)

Anyway, I took the cutest (parental bias) video of Morgan the other day, and I wanted to try embedding a video so.. here it is:



We love sign language. Its REALLY easy to teach, the kids love it too, and their so proud of being able to say things when they're this little. I usually only teach a handful of words that I find most useful - so I'm not hard core like some baby sign language enthusiasts.. but, it still works for us.
Enjoy!

Morgan's First Birthday!!

Well.. tomorrow is Morgy's Birthday! And  yes, it happens to also be Christmas day.. so what.. a birthday is WAY more important than Christmas.. (well.. whatever.. )
So.. what has Morgan been up to this month?
Well... she's FINALLY learned to crawl!! YEAH! We went up to the inlaws at the beginning of the month to celebrate Christmas there and she finally took her first forward crawls. She was managing to manuveur herself backwards for quite sometime but finally managed to get some forward momentum. Some people thought that she was just watching her odler cousin and learning from her - but I think that's quite unlikely. Her cousin still does the commando crawl and hardly ever crawls properly.. I think Morgan was just waiting till she knew she could do it properly.. and then away she went.
She's learning more signs every day - the speed that she picks them up is so amazing. YOu can just see on her face how clever she thinks she is.. So far she does, More, all done, milk and food. She says Amen after we pray ("Ahh.... ma") and she says Bye bye when she waves. She can also blow kisses and fold her hands to pray.
On a negative note.. she's becoming quite prone to tears lately. AS soon as you nsay no to her (whihc is frequently now that she's a crawler) she gives you this pitiful look and bursts into tears. The only way she'll stop is to actually cuddle her too. One time we left her to "get it out" for 15 minutes and it took 30 mintues to calm her down again..
I tried blanket time with her yesterday. I've always sort of figured that before they can crawl, its sort of pointless.. it seems a bit silly to teach boundaries to a child that can't yet move! So.. in the spirit of her newfound crawling we did blanket time yesterday. 15 minutes, on a blanket with toys. She screamed. She cried. She played. She screamed. It did not go overly well. 9 minutes had passed - with Morgan crying the whole time. She'd finally calmed down a bit, and picked up a toy.. so I decided to end on a high note and made the timer go off. That worked. So.. today then? well, it went ok for the first 5 minutes. She got off umpteen times.. but at least she wasn't crying. Then she started picking up the blanket.. my "no" to that got the tears flowing. She's certainly grasping the concept.. but its not making her happy. I think my biggest problem righ tnow is that I'm trying to do both kids at the same time. Smae room, different blankets. Kelsey can do it, but she's attention seeking.. so one foot off.. and then a giggle to see if I'll notice. I've gotta get her doing something else tomorrow. At least we made the 15 mintues mark today. a couple more days and Morgan'll have it for sure.. and I bet she won't even be crying anymore.

And, what are we doing for her birthday?
Well.. seeing as how most people have family things on Chrismtas Day..w e opted for the Sunday route. So.. Sunday after church we have some "adopted" family comign voer for cake, coffee 7 lunch. Should be fun. I'm currently still working on the menu.. which of course meant a trip to the grocery store on Chrsistmas Eve - that's just dumb! But I only ahd to take Kelsey so it worked out fine. we sang Christmas songs and smiled politely at the stupid people rushing around all stressed out. 
I'll probably decorate the house tonight, blow up some balloons.. but tomorrow we'll celebrate and tlak about Christmas and not Morgan's birthday. And Sunday we'll make into Morgan's big day. Well.. asmuch of a big day as a Sunday can be for a 1 year old.. maybe I'll splurge and make pancakes for breakfast.. Of course, maybe I"ll do that tomorrow too.. we'll see.

On a compeltely unrelated to Morgan note. I have a new project htat I'm quite excited about. Our church was looking for an admin assistant. I wanted to offer.. but realised that with 2 small kids and a husband who worked odd hours, there was no way I could without having to rent out my kids (and for a volunteer position.. well.. that'd be dumb). But I was approached, and it was explained to me that it could be job shared nad a lot of it could be done from home.. and to top it off there's lots of IT/computer geek stuff to do. So right up my alley.. so I got started right away. Our church is currently operating in the dark ages. So.. first project - a church calendar that can be viewed online. Second project ..w ell.. the list will go on and on and on I think..
its a big learning curve for me.. mostly becuase I've been out of it for over 3 years.. but I love it. I love experimenting and playing. And, becuase its volunteer, I don't have to worry about someone paying me to play on my computer and experiment.. its perfect!!
Anyway.. have a great Christmas, wahtever you do.

Hubby's Birthday!

Well, its my hubby's birthday today. He has to work though - sucks to be him! I think that it should be law that you get a day of annual leave on your birthday - or if your birthday falls on a holiday that you get a day in lieu. I mean, why should new Year's Day be a holiday but not one's birthday!?!
So.. with the help of both parents.. I got Marco the BEST birthday present this year. Firstly though.. allow me to tell you what happened last year. Last year he wanted a welder. He'd been researching for a year, and knew what he wanted. And.. I thought I'd been listening for a year.. and knew what he wanted. So I went to a local store. Asked a few questions.. and they assured me that "this" welder was the one he wanted. But they didn't have it in stock. They could order it in though. Excellent. It wouldn't arrive till the next day. OH. I had left it sort of late.. the next day was his birthday. Well, if they got it sent to a different store 30 km away, it'd arrive by this afternoon. Perfect. Went home, confident in my purchase. later that day, drove the 30 km to pick up this new welder. drove back. wrapped it, hid it. threw something together for dinner. The next day I gave him his present confident that he'd LOVE it. He opened it. Looked at it. Said thankyou and kissed me. then shyly remarked that it wasn't the right kind. let down. He returned it, got his money back. All was good - although in hind sight, I don't think he actually bought anything with that money.. Hmmm...
Anyway.. so this year.. I compiled his parent's gift money, my parent's gift money and a few bucks from my measely savings and ordered the gift I KNEW he'd love - Guitar Hero Metallica. Not just the game either.. but a guitar too. So now we'll have 2 guitars. I gave it him last Saturday.. I was right.. he loved it. But now I have to play with him.. that's not so great.. I've really gotta think through these gifts better!
Anyway.. happy birthday honey. Can't wait to celebrate 60 more with you.

Kelsey - 2 yr 4 mo

Well.. today is the last day of November. And, on the last day of everymonth, I'll do Kelsey's update. An entry all about my first born. (Or at least this is what I'll attempt to do)
However, first, let me say.. the mouse is dead. 4 days in my house (that I knew about), but it is finally dead. We discoverd it was living/hiding under the new dishwasher. So, we set the trap there, and upon arriving home from church, it was dead. Thankfully, Marco was with me.. so he did the big brave thing and disposed of it while telling me not to look. Thank-you dear.

Anyway.. onto Kelsey. Kelsey is 2. K is also my firstborn, so I'm still learning how to deal with a 2 year old. I don't always liek it. She can be very disagreeable, and then seconds later, the sweetest most agreeable child ever. I think the world from her viewpoint must be quite interesting. She honestly thinks that she runs the show. We're desperately trying to teach her this isn't so, but she's just not grasping it. Mostly, I see this in how she relates and talks to Morgan. She's such a copycat - a mimic. We are currently trying to teach her that she's not to boss Morgan around - this is a lot of, "Kelsey, no telling Morgan what to do". So, yesterday, I was sitting at the lunch table with them. Morgan was doing something naughty (I don't remember what) and I (being her mother) told her not to do that, and what she should do. Kelsey turns to me and says, "Mom.. no telling Morgan what to do." While trying not to laugh, I explained that I was the mommy and it was my job to tell her and Morgan what to do. It was her job to listen & obey mommy. I doubt my words had any effect.

We're also struggling a bit finding enough stuff to keep Kelsey busy.. occupied.. not bored etc. Marco is really great at just getting down on the floor and playing with her.. I.. am.. not.  So.. I took a look at my goals for Kelsey. What is important for her to learn? What things should I/could I be teaching her? How do I want to see her behaviours change? With this list of answers, I decided that Kelsey and I could do a little home preschool. It would give her and I time to do something together. It would teach her a few thingsneeded for school. It woudl teach her listening, sitting, and communication skills. So.. about 2 weeks ago, I started gathering up some supplies and found an online preschool program with free downloadable stuff and we got going. I'm still not very good at keeping at it and doing it every day - but we manage to do it most days. And, the bonus, that I didn't see before, is that it gives us something to talk about.  That might sound really horrible but 2 year olds (well, at least Kelsey) can talk ALL day long. And about really stupid stuff. But teach them something, and they'll talk about THAT. For example, the first week our "theme" was cows. Suddenly we coudl talk about cows all day long. We knew what cows ate. We knew how many tummy's cows have. We knew what baby cows were called.So.. each week we have a theme and learn a new word that has to do with that theme. We also learn a new number, a new letter and a new Bible verse. Iw as so amazed after the frist week how quickly she learned a Bible verse. Our verse for the first week" Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" She can still say it over and over again.

Kelsey favorite food a tthe moment is spaghetti. Any time you ask her what we shoudl ahve for dinner, her reply is "Sgetti". EVERY SINGLE TIME. Without fail. She's also quite into chili. And, of course, french fries. On the day that she came down with the chicken pox I bought some french fries and she refused them. I KNEW then that she was sick.
Anyway.. I do loe watching Kelsey grow up. Every day is unique, different and a bit of a challenge for me. But , just the other day, I sat back and I just couldnt' believe how big she was. Her sentences are coming along so well (although, usually she sounds just like me - scary). She remembers every time tos ay thankyou and most of the time remembers to say please. She's somewhat obedient - but the strangest things are not problems for her at all (whereas for most 2 year olds are). Such as, Its time to go to bed, supper time, time to brush your teeth, etc. These requests are always met with a very happy "OK!" and off she runs to do it. That's my favorite.. when she really does just have a happy willing to please attitude about her. Then again, maybe that's when we're all most likeable...

Mouse in my house

photo source: kids.nationalgeographic.com

The Mouse in My House

The following story is no mere tale

Its a story that's sure to turn you pale

It all began one day in my house

when before me there appeared a mouse!

I was so incredibly scared,

I didn't care how that little mouse fared.

I jumped on top of my wee office chair

My hubby was gone, this just wasn't FAIR!

I promptly fell off that swiveling chair

And ran to my bed, my whole body pale.

I called up Marco, frantic and crying

He didn't answer, my heart was sighing

Why couldn't I have a cat?

Preferably one that's not too fat.

I finally started to calm down,

And took off my night gown.

Went to the store to buy a trap

This mouse wasn't going to give me any crap.

I set it up and left the house

Came back later. but no dead mouse.

Now here we are 3 days later

That mouse is a bit like Darth Vader

It just won't die, it won't be caught,

It won't be trapped, it won't be shot!

Its keeping me awake all night

3 days now, I'm quite the sight.

Last night at a bit past quarter to one

I think the mouse thought he'd have some fun

He started running around in my room!!

My heart beat faster, here comes my doom!!

The mouse seemed to be prancing around in glee

The lights were off, but in my mind I could see

He was probably calling his friends, from far and near

"Check out this house.. let's find their beer!"

I thought about turning on the light

But I figured I just get a big fright.

So I just sat there shaking in fear

Uncomforted by the snoring hubby so near.

And here it is daylight at last

I'm glad the night is in the past.

The mouse must die today, my friend.

When it does that will be the end

Of the quick brown mouse

That's living, in my house.

Morgan is 11 month's old today!!

Firstly, let me start off by saying that this morning a saw a mouse in my living room. So.. as I type, I'm bouncing my feet up and down to scare the little *&#^&^@%# away. So.. there may be more typing errors than usual. My apologies. I'm a huge wimp when it comes to varmint of almost any kind. I just don't see their point. Why can't they all go live in Australia? Thankfully, I understand - logically- that mice mean to do us no harm. So I had no problem leaving my 2 kids floudnering on the floor while I jumped up to the safety of my bed :) Anyway, I bought a mousetrap, set it up.. and hopefully its caught something before hubby gets home tomorrow night - and HE can empty it.
Anyway... today (25th of November) is Morgy's 11 month birthday. And .. I thought.. on both Kelsey & Morgan's monthly birthdays, I'd take the opporutnity to write about some of the things they've been up to this month.

Morgan is such a great kid right now. She's (generally) so incredibly happy and just pleasant to be around. She's quick to smile and absolutely adores her big sister and her daddy. Well, she adores me too, but she still expects me to be there, so I don't ever get to see her face light up the way it does for Kelsey and Marco.

At the beginning of this month, she'd just sit down where I put her, and play happily with a few toys that I would sprinkle around her for an hour or 2 at a time. However, now (at the end of the month), she barely ever just sits.. she immediately flips onto her tummy and rolls around on the ground. She's still not crawling (officially) but she surprises me every day by where she can end up without me noticing.  For the most part, she doesn't mean to go where she goes - she keeps wanting to go forward.. but can only manage to go backwards. But she has such an adaptable spirit that she's still happy with most places that she ends up. She does get a bit grumpy, however, when she backs herself into a corner, under the easel, or into the couch.. then we hear a little whine, and I go rescue her. Sweetie.
This month was also the month that she got the chicken pox. One Saturday I noticed little red dots on her and Kelsey. Within the day there were LOTS more. She was SO good about it though. Thankfully, she still takes 2 naps a day, so that helps. There was 1 night that she wasn't interested in sleeping. I think she was just TOO itchy. Poor thing. The next day she didn't want to nap either. But it was only 1 day of that, and then back to normal. Occassionally we'd see her rubbing her head, or wiggling on the ground to try to relieve the itch, but for the most part.. she just kept playing.

She is learning tonnes of new tricks. If I could think of more to teach her I'm sure she'd just lap them up. We started this month with the sign language training. As with Kelsey, I'll probably only teach her 4 or 5 useful ones, but I'm blown away by how quickly Mrogan is picking them up. After showing her the sing for milk just 2 or 3 times, she now does it on a regular basis. She's also just started doing the sign for All Done (we use that one after meals mostly, but occassionally on the playground as well). Now I'm working on teaching her the sign for "More" (more food, more toys, more kisses.. etc).
Speaking of food.. she's getting mostly people food now, and for the most part she's feeding herself. For breakfast she gets either weetbix or porridge (same as Kelsey). She's at 1 1/2 to 2 weet-bix already.  I've been trying to get her to eat sandwiches for lunch.. but she's just not that interested yet. So she usually only manages about 1/2 of one.. and that 1/2 I have to have cut up into very small little squares. How do you teach a kid that their teeth are for biting!?!For supper/dinner she's getting whatever we're having. Usually (becuase i"m hungry) I put some on her plate and let her go nuts on it - but it depends hwat we're having. Obvously, she'd need some help with something like mashed potatoes - or soup. I've completely forgotten about teaching Morgan to drink from a cup. Well, not forgotten.. but just procrastinated. And here we are, 1 month from supposedly being ready for cow's milk, and no cup insight. So yesterday, I gave her a cup with water in it. I'd tried those baby cups once or twice before - the ones iwth the no spill lids - but those are impossible for me to ddrink from - so no wonder she thought it was just a chew toy. Anyway, so I gave her a tupperare cup with sippy lid. She did great. Until I took my eyes off and she poured it all over her tray. But at least she got some water first.. we'll keep at it and hopefully she can start milk in another month!! Oh.. I can't wait to not have to buy formual anymore!!

Other tricks - She's been pretty good at waving bye-bye for a couple months already. She's really sweet. I always forget to tell her to say bye, but I always remind Kelsey, and there's Morgy waving both arms bye bye.. it looks so cute! I was on skype the toher day with my parents, and my mom was getting Kelsey to blow kisses.. so we started to teach Morgan that too.. it was So cute. So now if we tell her to blow kisses, she immediately puts her hand to her mouth, but similar to Kelsey at that age, she forgets to move it away again. Oh well.. one step at a time.She'll also nod "Yes". Not necessarily all the time, but we have a fun little thing we do here. When either girl wakes up from a nap or nighttime sleep, I ask - "Did you have a good sleep?" and they say "yes" ok, it doesn't sound like much, but these are the silly mudane things that makes up a family. Anyway, Morgy now nods Yes everytime I ask her.. its so cute. OK.. maybe I think everything she does is cute and sweet - except for trying to rip her bib off during dinner, or when she threw her plate of spaghetti on the floor last night (I knew I shouldn't have given her a plate), and throwing her head back unexpectedly while in the shower and banging it on the shower floor.. Hmm.. there are a few things she does that aren't so cute or sweet.. but she's still sweeet & cute.. and lovely.. and mine. well.. ours.
Anyway.. I should probably go get her up from her nap. I never quite know when she wakes up as she just lies there in her bed quietly. Maybe she knows that mommy needs this time.... oops, I told Kelsey we needed to go wake her up... she's gone to do that without me - ahh.. better run..