F is for Family

Family, home, travel, life

Some Days Just Come Together

There are plenty of days that are filled with tantrums and tears. Times when everything seems to be falling apart and patience runs thin. Today wasn’t one of those day. I started the day with just my little man and a short Pilates session in the living room.

Then, big sister woke up and after breakfast we had a yoga session where Sofie joined in. The little man thought downward dog was a great opportunity to play peek a boo and pull my ponytail. Not the most zen yoga session I’ve ever had but definitely the one with the most giggles.
We all went to the farmers market for lunch and grabbed some vegetables for the week and played at the park. We wrapped up with family dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s and another park trip. There were moments for corrections here and there but overall the day was great. 
These are the moments I wish I could bottle. Snapshots of time where everyone is on their “A game”. Days like today make all the hard days worth the “struggle”. And because I didn’t have my phone on me much throughout the day, I didn’t get many actual pictures…sigh. 

How To Train Your Toddler

Oh the thrilling three year stage. A precious time filled with incessant “why” questions, tantrums that make the “terrible” two’s look like a walk in the park and a stubbornness that will make any parent want to pull their hair out.

My tiny tot has hit an all time high in the verbal department. We can communicate back and forth. We make up stories. She asks for things that she needs and has an opinion about wants. She also has an opinion about how things are done, when things are, who is doing said thing. It’s all so magical.
As a parent, I read books. I try to understand the psychology behind the stage and while fasinating and insightful, when in the throws of battle, I mean parenting, it generally means nothing. I did squeeze out a tidbit that has helped a bit. One appropriately titled book that highlights this age, Your Three Year: Friend or Enemy by Loiuse Bates Ames, point out that this age is still very dependent on schedules. Albeit slightly dated as it’s written in the 80’s it’s still plenty relevant and insightful. 
So, I started giving Sofia a “checklist” to get us through transitions and establish a routine. Example, we need to leave the house in the morning. I would tell her, “we have 3 things on our checklist, potty first, then shoes, then we leave”. I’ve tried limiting it to three because that seems to be the most she can remember at any given time. 
It’s immensely helpful. She will repeat back the list and yell “check” when completing a task. Only problem, we’ve moved a little further along in the age group and she wants to do everything on her own. Also, it’s become a little too much of a time suck to continually give her a new set of 3 “checklist” items. 
I came up with a morning and night visual checklist that I plan to laminate and hang low enough for her to reach. This will let her see the progress she’s making and what she has left to do. Double bonus, we incorporate written word to work on letters and site word list. 
The fact that she is excited about checklist makes me warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, really, who knew toddlers could be into checklist! I will update once the new system is up and running wih feedback straight from the toddler herself.
How do you train your toddler? Checklist! For the win! (Fingers crossed anyhow)

How To Train Your Toddler

Oh the thrilling three year stage. A precious time filled with incessant “why” questions, tantrums that make the “terrible” two’s look like a walk in the park and a stubbornness that will make any parent want to pull their hair out.

My tiny tot has hit an all time high in the verbal department. We can communicate back and forth. We make up stories. She asks for things that she needs and has an opinion about wants. She also has an opinion about how things are done, when things are, who is doing said thing. It’s all so magical.
As a parent, I read books. I try to understand the psychology behind the stage and while fasinating and insightful, when in the throws of battle, I mean parenting, it generally means nothing. I did squeeze out a tidbit that has helped a bit. One appropriately titled book that highlights this age, Your Three Year: Friend or Enemy by Loiuse Bates Ames, point out that this age is still very dependent on schedules. Albeit slightly dated as it’s written in the 80’s it’s still plenty relevant and insightful. 
So, I started giving Sofia a “checklist” to get us through transitions and establish a routine. Example, we need to leave the house in the morning. I would tell her, “we have 3 things on our checklist, potty first, then shoes, then we leave”. I’ve tried limiting it to three because that seems to be the most she can remember at any given time. 
It’s immensely helpful. She will repeat back the list and yell “check” when completing a task. Only problem, we’ve moved a little further along in the age group and she wants to do everything on her own. Also, it’s become a little too much of a time suck to continually give her a new set of 3 “checklist” items. 
I came up with a morning and night visual checklist that I plan to laminate and hang low enough for her to reach. This will let her see the progress she’s making and what she has left to do. Double bonus, we incorporate written word to work on letters and site word list. 
The fact that she is excited about checklist makes me warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, really, who knew toddlers could be into checklist! I will update once the new system is up and running wih feedback straight from the toddler herself.
How do you train your toddler? Checklist! For the win! (Fingers crossed anyhow)

How To Train Your Toddler

Oh the thrilling three year stage. A precious time filled with incessant “why” questions, tantrums that make the “terrible” two’s look like a walk in the park and a stubbornness that will make any parent want to pull their hair out.

My tiny tot has hit an all time high in the verbal department. We can communicate back and forth. We make up stories. She asks for things that she needs and has an opinion about wants. She also has an opinion about how things are done, when things are, who is doing said thing. It’s all so magical.
As a parent, I read books. I try to understand the psychology behind the stage and while fasinating and insightful, when in the throws of battle, I mean parenting, it generally means nothing. I did squeeze out a tidbit that has helped a bit. One appropriately titled book that highlights this age, Your Three Year: Friend or Enemy by Loiuse Bates Ames, point out that this age is still very dependent on schedules. Albeit slightly dated as it’s written in the 80’s it’s still plenty relevant and insightful. 
So, I started giving Sofia a “checklist” to get us through transitions and establish a routine. Example, we need to leave the house in the morning. I would tell her, “we have 3 things on our checklist, potty first, then shoes, then we leave”. I’ve tried limiting it to three because that seems to be the most she can remember at any given time. 
It’s immensely helpful. She will repeat back the list and yell “check” when completing a task. Only problem, we’ve moved a little further along in the age group and she wants to do everything on her own. Also, it’s become a little too much of a time suck to continually give her a new set of 3 “checklist” items. 
I came up with a morning and night visual checklist that I plan to laminate and hang low enough for her to reach. This will let her see the progress she’s making and what she has left to do. Double bonus, we incorporate written word to work on letters and site word list. 
The fact that she is excited about checklist makes me warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, really, who knew toddlers could be into checklist! I will update once the new system is up and running wih feedback straight from the toddler herself.
How do you train your toddler? Checklist! For the win! (Fingers crossed anyhow)

The Sleepless and The Sassy

There are always challenges with adding a new baby to the household. Even more so if there is already another youngin’ at home. My two are 2 years and 4 months apart. A newborn and a two year old…didn’t quite think the logistics of that time frame through! But the start wasn’t quite the tumultuous  child run nightmare you’d suspect. Our challenges took a bit to surface. 

What’s more challenging than a two year old? A three year old! The sassy hit an all time high a few months ago. Adding to her sassy is that this kid is smart. And no, I’m not bragging for brownie point on this next piece, promise. Before her third birthday she was given her final evaluation to test out of Early Steps, a program that has been following her progress since she was released from the NICU. She tested in the 5-6 year old range. She’s also been noted to have “high energy” in past evaluations. Put those all on a blender and what do you get? A child who’s favorite game is what we like to call, “seek and destroy”, when she becomes bored. So, we have to keep this little toddler as occupied as possible. She’s started preschool but because of her birthday cut off she’s in a class with much younger kids. Socially it’s great but I try to keep an eye on whether she’s challenged to avoid becoming a “behavior issue” if she gets bored. 
We try to add some other fun games and learning techniques outside of school days. We have found a few games that she loves. We’ve found a few daily routines that make transitions throughout the day easier. I’ll be highlighting these in a series coming up so stay tuned.
On to Sleepless. Oh my little Sleepless monster. At 11 months old, I can count the days this little man has slept through the night on one hand! This is his biggest challenge. He’s my sweet, happy, little man during the day and a royal nighttime terror when the sun sets. I’m talking, walking and rocking at crazy hours of the night just to get him back to sleep. Still over night nursing on average 3-4 times a night at almost a year. This has been the biggest challenge of our year.
We aren’t into cry it out. Not for lack of trying. We’ve tried, my kids have stamina and I have a soft spot that can’t get past the scream fest. I don’t have a solution but your welcome on my journey to follow my attempts…the good, bad and the ugly. 
More to come…welcome to our crazy life!

The Sleepless and The Sassy

There are always challenges with adding a new baby to the household. Even more so if there is already another youngin’ at home. My two are 2 years and 4 months apart. A newborn and a two year old…didn’t quite think the logistics of that time frame through! But the start wasn’t quite the tumultuous  child run nightmare you’d suspect. Our challenges took a bit to surface. 

What’s more challenging than a two year old? A three year old! The sassy hit an all time high a few months ago. Adding to her sassy is that this kid is smart. And no, I’m not bragging for brownie point on this next piece, promise. Before her third birthday she was given her final evaluation to test out of Early Steps, a program that has been following her progress since she was released from the NICU. She tested in the 5-6 year old range. She’s also been noted to have “high energy” in past evaluations. Put those all on a blender and what do you get? A child who’s favorite game is what we like to call, “seek and destroy”, when she becomes bored. So, we have to keep this little toddler as occupied as possible. She’s started preschool but because of her birthday cut off she’s in a class with much younger kids. Socially it’s great but I try to keep an eye on whether she’s challenged to avoid becoming a “behavior issue” if she gets bored. 
We try to add some other fun games and learning techniques outside of school days. We have found a few games that she loves. We’ve found a few daily routines that make transitions throughout the day easier. I’ll be highlighting these in a series coming up so stay tuned.
On to Sleepless. Oh my little Sleepless monster. At 11 months old, I can count the days this little man has slept through the night on one hand! This is his biggest challenge. He’s my sweet, happy, little man during the day and a royal nighttime terror when the sun sets. I’m talking, walking and rocking at crazy hours of the night just to get him back to sleep. Still over night nursing on average 3-4 times a night at almost a year. This has been the biggest challenge of our year.
We aren’t into cry it out. Not for lack of trying. We’ve tried, my kids have stamina and I have a soft spot that can’t get past the scream fest. I don’t have a solution but your welcome on my journey to follow my attempts…the good, bad and the ugly. 
More to come…welcome to our crazy life!

The Sleepless and The Sassy

There are always challenges with adding a new baby to the household. Even more so if there is already another youngin’ at home. My two are 2 years and 4 months apart. A newborn and a two year old…didn’t quite think the logistics of that time frame through! But the start wasn’t quite the tumultuous  child run nightmare you’d suspect. Our challenges took a bit to surface. 

What’s more challenging than a two year old? A three year old! The sassy hit an all time high a few months ago. Adding to her sassy is that this kid is smart. And no, I’m not bragging for brownie point on this next piece, promise. Before her third birthday she was given her final evaluation to test out of Early Steps, a program that has been following her progress since she was released from the NICU. She tested in the 5-6 year old range. She’s also been noted to have “high energy” in past evaluations. Put those all on a blender and what do you get? A child who’s favorite game is what we like to call, “seek and destroy”, when she becomes bored. So, we have to keep this little toddler as occupied as possible. She’s started preschool but because of her birthday cut off she’s in a class with much younger kids. Socially it’s great but I try to keep an eye on whether she’s challenged to avoid becoming a “behavior issue” if she gets bored. 
We try to add some other fun games and learning techniques outside of school days. We have found a few games that she loves. We’ve found a few daily routines that make transitions throughout the day easier. I’ll be highlighting these in a series coming up so stay tuned.
On to Sleepless. Oh my little Sleepless monster. At 11 months old, I can count the days this little man has slept through the night on one hand! This is his biggest challenge. He’s my sweet, happy, little man during the day and a royal nighttime terror when the sun sets. I’m talking, walking and rocking at crazy hours of the night just to get him back to sleep. Still over night nursing on average 3-4 times a night at almost a year. This has been the biggest challenge of our year.
We aren’t into cry it out. Not for lack of trying. We’ve tried, my kids have stamina and I have a soft spot that can’t get past the scream fest. I don’t have a solution but your welcome on my journey to follow my attempts…the good, bad and the ugly. 
More to come…welcome to our crazy life!

New Year, New Blog Post

2014 wasn’t exactly the year of blogging for me. The move to a full time working Mom of two proved itself quite challenging. It turns out, there aren’t that many hours in the day! Shocker, I know. I’m sure no one has ever mentioned this. 

I’m hoping to turn a corner in 2015 and take some time out for more blogging time. The first resolution that I hope not to break, will be to write a post for the first 21 days of the year. Whether it’s a short blimp about lack of time or getting a chance to illustrate a little bit of life with a 3yr old and just about 1 year old, something should be posted from now until Jan 21st! 
From my family to you yours, I wish you all a healthy and happy 2015!

New Year, New Blog Post

2014 wasn’t exactly the year of blogging for me. The move to a full time working Mom of two proved itself quite challenging. It turns out, there aren’t that many hours in the day! Shocker, I know. I’m sure no one has ever mentioned this. 

I’m hoping to turn a corner in 2015 and take some time out for more blogging time. The first resolution that I hope not to break, will be to write a post for the first 21 days of the year. Whether it’s a short blimp about lack of time or getting a chance to illustrate a little bit of life with a 3yr old and just about 1 year old, something should be posted from now until Jan 21st! 
From my family to you yours, I wish you all a healthy and happy 2015!

New Year, New Blog Post

2014 wasn’t exactly the year of blogging for me. The move to a full time working Mom of two proved itself quite challenging. It turns out, there aren’t that many hours in the day! Shocker, I know. I’m sure no one has ever mentioned this. 

I’m hoping to turn a corner in 2015 and take some time out for more blogging time. The first resolution that I hope not to break, will be to write a post for the first 21 days of the year. Whether it’s a short blimp about lack of time or getting a chance to illustrate a little bit of life with a 3yr old and just about 1 year old, something should be posted from now until Jan 21st! 
From my family to you yours, I wish you all a healthy and happy 2015!

Michael’s AD