Arts and Crafts: Valentine's Box

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Gluing hearts on the box

Dot Paint

Happy Valentine's Day!

Recipe: Baked Asparagus

This has 6 simple ingredients, bakes for 28 minutes, is good for you and is soooo delicious.

raw, fresh asparagus
olive oil
salt
2 tbl. spoons minced garlic
shredded parmesan
(fresh lemon juice-optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350*. Line pan with tin foil (for easy cleanup). Wash asparagus and lay in the pan. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt, add about a tablespoon or two of minced garlic (I get it already minced in a huge jar in the produce section of the grocery store). Stir it up--I just use my hands to coat it all evenly--and then sprinkle parmesan over the top. I use all natural shredded parmesan that comes in a little tub.

Cover pan with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. Stir around gently with a fork and cook for another 3 minutes with the tin foil off.

Serve and enjoy!!! We usually eat this with Italian dishes, like spaghetti or chicken parmesan. Even Erik eats them (sometimes!)

Mom ideas

Potty training

I never wanted to use a small potty for training because the thought of rinsing out pee and poop everytime was just too much for me to stomach (I'm pregnant, so this is gross x's a million). But when my son refused to sit on the big potty because he's nervous and afraid, it left me with no choice but to go out and buy one. Then I had the idea of also buying some small scented trash bags and lining the small potty with the bag! I don't know if this idea is tried and true already, but I had never heard of anyone doing it. Hey! Maybe I should market this, go on Oprah, and get rich!! haha..... Now if I can just get my son to "go", I can put my own tip into action!!

Teeth brushing

My son has a strong gag reflex and brushing teeth is like torture for him. I actually have to wait until he cries loud and hard enough to even get his mouth open to get the toothbrush in. Then it becomes a battle between me and his jaw. He closes down so tight and bites it! This is just about every night. Little tricks seemed to work for awhile, but then he caught on and that was the end of that. First trick was to make a joke out of it by listing all the things he ate that day and saying that we needed to get each food out of his teeth...ie: "I seeeeee peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in therrre!!!!" He would laugh and let me brush for a second or two. Then that wore off. Next I would make him say his favorite saying, "AAAAAALLL AAABOARRRD!!" This would make his mouth open wide enough to shove in the toothbrush and clean what little I could. We would do this like 10 times! After a few days he caught on. It was starting to look hopeless. Then my husband had an idea. I have to admit that even though I didn't voice it, I was very skeptical. He said that we should buy him an electric toothbrush. I was thinking to myself that Erik would be even MORE afraid of that than anything. It's a good thing that I did not discourage Chris from this, because it's the best thing we could have done!! Erik thinks that it is so much fun and he even does it himself. After 5 minutes we are having to pry it out of his hands!

Chores

Two year olds can and will do chores if they are taught. At the end of the day (not everyday) I have Erik put all of his toys from around the house and his room into his closet. It takes him about half an hour to do what I could do in 2 minutes but the training is priceless. He is learning and remember where things go and he knows that he is doing something great because after each item is put away he comes back into the living room and claps his hands with excitement. I have him pick one of his toys that he wants to leave out to play with or to bring to bed and I keep it until he is completely finished picking up. Sometimes he comes back for the toy and I have to remind him that he has to finish what he as started.

Diaper "Doody"

Another chore is throwing away his diapers after I change him. I don't even tell him anymore, he just reaches for it when I'm finished changing him and he goes to the kitchen to throw it away. I think he actually enjoys this one!

Swivel Sweeper

He is learning how to use the "swivel sweeper". To anyone who has a lot of floor to sweep, this is the way to go. It's one of my cannot-live-withouts. It's basically a cordless vacuum for floors. I do use it on my kitchen and living room rug, but it does it's best on the floor. It's very quick and easy and it has a rechargable battery. We've had it for at least 3 years and it still does a great job. Anyway, Erik loves to use it and he is getting very good at it. I just turn it on and he goes to town! After he is finished, I just slide off the bottom and empty the contents into the trash. Voila! Clean floors....sort of! He obviously cannot get the job done like an adult would, but the point here is mostly to get him to understand what it is to work hard at something, get it accomplished, and to be a part of helping out the family. I hope he continues to enjoy this as long as possible!!!

I'm organizing my house....in my head.

This morning I woke up for my usual 4:30 trip to the bathroom (only because I'm pregnant). I stayed awake for 2 hours after that, laying in bed, thinking of all the things I want to oraganize in my house.

So far today I have rearranged Ivy's room (mostly using Chris' muscles of course), moved our massive pile of clean laundry from our bedroom into the living room-it's no longer 'out of sight. out of mind' anymore- and moved 3 pieces of small furniture/items out of our room and into Ivy's. I'm reclaiming my bedroom as a sanctuary and ...get ready for it...THROWING stuff AWAY!! I feel so free!

Spring cleaning in February:

Last weekend Chris and I threw out 6 large black trashbags of junk and 2 large hampers all from our laundry room. It is so nice in there that even when my two year old son walks in it he says, "Clean!" This weekend we cleaned out the pantry and organized everything on the shelves.

Two weeks ago my friend Taylor came over and she helped me get started on my dreaded monster--I mean --master closet. We bagged up over 10 large trash bags(Glad Force Flex to be precise!) of clothes and Chris took them to Goodwill this morning. Good ridance!

A few weeks ago my sister came over and somehow we got into cleaning out my fridge & freezer. An hour later she was walking out 4 bags full of groceries!

So that's what's been going on in my house lately. I still have a long way to go but I'm glad progress is being made. :)

Project Erik (Feb. 9th)

Well, Project Erik began on Sunday! We started going to Open Door this Sunday and we had decided that we were going to bring Erik to Children's church from the beginning. We had him stay with us during worship with Wendy and her little boy Jonathan. They clapped and sang, and played together and then.... DUN DUN DUN...it felt like we were taking the walk of death! I was soooooooo nervous. I had geared myself up for this for a week, preparing for all the screaming, wailing, tears and my own stress that I felt was to come. We walked down the hall and as I'm signing him in and writing on the "special instructions" column that this is Erik's first time away from mommy and family, I notice that Erik and Jonathan had already marched right on in. Wendy pulled me back and I set the sign in sheet down. Then the tears came. ....my own! I stood in the hall and couldn't believe that my little boy was so brave! The entire time in church I wanted to keep getting up and checking on him but Wendy and Chris urged me to just let him be. I'm glad I did! When we went to pick him up, he was still playing and having the best time! When he saw us, he said "Stay!" He wanted to keep playing!!!! Yay! Then his pants fell down. Which was really funny and out of no where! Anyway, I'm glad that it went well, and I hope he continues enjoying it. It may not always be like this, and some days he may get upset, but I know that he will only benefit from this. Well, we are on our way to a Bible Study and play group and I am going to try not to be "on top of him" the whole time. I think a lot of his clingy-ness might just have to do with me!! Imagine that!

Erik's 2 year checkup (Thursday Feb. 5th)

Erik has been enjoying his "new" room ever since we found out I was pregnant. We moved him across the hall right away (and into his big boy bed) so that it wouldn't be such an adjustment to have a new sister and a new room all at the same time. He adjusted well to leaving the crib...now it's just the potty training that we have to nail! I don't think he's quite ready because he still doesn't stay dry for long periods of time. As soon as I notice that, I will be putting all of my time and effort into trying to get that started before the big arrival. I would be so excited to have him fully potty trained by June (he'll be 2 1/2) but we'll just see how that goes.




He had his two year checkup with his pediatrician on Monday. What a nightmare. He got a stomach virus over the weekend --which we think he picked up when we were at a restaurant and a child threw up at the table next to us. When we went in to see his Dr. he got very scared and was clinging to me and screaming and crying. His Dr. was trying to do the examination, but Erik was not cooperating. He was shaking and I think he remembered his last visit, which was 2 weeks ago, when we had to hold him down for the Dr. to look at his eyes(he had pink eye). Well, again we had to hold him down...picture this: he's laying down, my left arm is over his legs, my pregnant belly is over his stomach, my right arm is holding down his arms, Dr. C's right arm has his head in a lock to keep it still and he has a wooden stick in Erik's mouth with his other hand. Crazy. When the Dr. put the stick in his mouth to look down his throat, he gagged and threw up all over himself, me, the Dr. and the exam table. By this time, there was no use in trying to finish the exam.

Erik was hysterical and I thought the worst was over. Wrong.

Dr. C starts asking me questions about the way I handle him at home. I told him that he is a calm and happy child and that occasionally he has normal two year old fits (nothing like what had just happened in the exam room!) He crossed his arms, threw back his head, and smiled at me. He said, "You mean to tell me that he does not have temper tanrums?!" I told him that he may have a few on occasion, but nothing out of the ordinary for a two year old and that he honestly does not give me much trouble. I told him that he is shy around strangers and that he doesn't like for people he doesn't know to touch him. He shook his head and proceeded to tell me that I need to start telling him, "no" and that I need to be more firm with him. He said that he was concerned about his behavior and reaction to other people. He also said that when he cries like this I need to ignore him. (In certain situations this may be appropriate, but CERTAINLY not right after he had just been held down on a table and gagged! He was scared for his life!)

I was shell shocked. I wanted to argue with him and tell him that I know exactly what I'm doing with the way I discipline and in my parenting and that there is NO need for concern. I wanted to tell him that I dedicate my entire life everyday to raising Erik to be a well behaved and loving child, not to mention I was a Preschool teacher for 4 years with TWO year olds (3 of which were at one of the best Pre-schools in Lafayette--actually it was voted the Best of Acadiana) [Edit: This is not to say that I know children (in general) better than a Pediatrician, but I am confident in the way that I parent.] I also wanted to tell him that he is in no place make judgment on me as a parent from this incident. Erik was SCARED and SICK. Period. He never ever ever acts like that anywhere else. I stood there with vomit all over me, holding my screaming child, in total disbelief.

Dr. C looked at me and said that there was nothing else that he could do with the way he was acting, gathered his things and started to walk out of the room. As he was leaving, Erik stopped crying and looked at him and said in his sweet soft voice, "Thank you." Dr. C shut the door and I started to cry. I felt very insulted. Still the worst was not over. The nurse walks in and says, "Why does he get so upset?" And before I could answer she says, "Oh. That's right. He's been like this since he was a baby."HAVE THEY NEVER SEEN A SCARED AND CRYING CHILD IN THEIR OFFICE BEFORE? Erik cannot possibly be the only one!!! I didn't answer her. I just helped her clean up the throw up in silence. I was ready to go home. Then she tells me that he needs to have his finger pricked and his blood taken to check for anemia. Wow, what a good idea. Send a mother and hysterical child who are both covered in vomit to a sterile lab to get his blood squeezed out of his finger. I can do this.

So I go down to the lab with the papers that I was given and give them over to the Jerk. I mean the man in the lab coat. He shoves the papers back in my hands and says, "Who's PETER?" I say, "Excuse me?" and he says, "Unless he's Peter, you gave me the wrong papers." It wasn't what he said, it was the way he said it. I took the papers back to the front, (all while Erik is still crying and we are full of vomit) waited in a room full of people to get the right papers, then marched back to the lab. The lab guy should not be working with humans. He looked like he had never once smiled in his life and he was SOO rude. I sat down with Erik in the chair and he poked his finger, squeezed some blood out of it, and was trying to get it to go perfectly in two little circles on a paper. Then he had to squeeze it to get it to puddle onto hole in a stick. Tell me...what child would be excited to do this? What 2 year old would not cry and wiggle for freedom? He starts yelling at Erik (good move) and telling him that he's going to "poke you again if you don't stop your screaming and crying." Um. WHAT is WRONG with these people? He is twisting his arm and squeezing the blood out for at least a minute. Longest minute ever. I am trying to hold Erik's other arm down and keep him from sliding out from my grip, but was having immense trouble. Jerk Face tells me, "You HAVE to hold him still." I wanted to grab the needle from him and poke him in his eye. Seriously.

So, that was not a good day. I was questioning myself as a parent and the behavior of my child because of these people that see him a few times a year--in a scary (to him) environment no less! Even though this was unpleasant, I do want to look at the positive side of things. I have always liked Dr. C (and still do) and the nurse (but Jerk Wad is a whole other story) and I know that Dr. C was just doing his job in asking those questions. I just wish I could have made it clear that I was not one of those mothers who are in denial about their child's behavior. I really think that he thought that I was. As I was talking I was kind of wondering if maybe I was. I have since been reassured by my family and friends that Erik is not abnormal in being shy with strangers and having strangers poke and prod him and that some children just don't like the Dr. I feel like I should have been reassured in some way by somebody at the Dr. office that other children his age go through this.

The good thing that has come of this is that I came to the conclusion (with the help of an honest friend) that Erik needs to be with others without me once in awhile. He has only been without me a handful of times and it's only been with my mom or Chris' mom (and once or twice with my Dad and step-mom). If he and I (and/or Chris) are at a friend's house (or anywhere other than home or with family) and we walk out of the room or outside he does get very upset. I don't think that this is abnormal, but I do want to help him to be more independent. Not completely (he is just 2 after all) but just enough for him to feel secure. So the solution to this is that we are going to start putting him in Children's Church on Sundays and I will be dropping him off once a week (or at least every other week) at a friend's house while I go run errands, or go do whatever. My friend that will be with him has a son that is close in age with Erik and her son will also be with him at children's church. I'm hoping that this will help him to feel like he can relax when I'm not around, and also when he is in a situation (like the Dr.'s office) that he will handle it a little better. I know it will take time, but it's not like I'm in any hurry to make him completely independent of me. There are many years ahead of him for all of that. I mean, if he's still crying when I leave the room when he's 14 then I just may take that Dr.'s advice and take him off of my hip and ignore him ;)

...and believe it or not...this has all been the easiest part of my week.





Poor Erik was sick all week. He was excited that we had a family slumber party in the living room every night though!!

Ivy ~ 22 weeks pregnant (Feb. 5th)

Well, little miss June Bug is a squirmy one! I feel her moving around throughout the day and night. This is probably my favorite part of pregnancy. Nothing else compares. In about two months we will be having another 3D/4D ultrasound. (4D is when they do the 3D in real time...The 3D is usually delayed a little.) I have two videos of my ultrasounds (2D, 3D and 4D) and a lot of U/s pictures, most of which are when I was 19 weeks. The nursery is almost finished. We have her crib and bedding, a bookshelf with a matching vanity that we will use as a changing table for now, and we picked up a glider rocker last week. The rocker is the most comfortable chair that I've ever sat in. We found it at Cullen's Playland for 50% off b/c it was the floor model. It's not scratched or anything and looks like it just came out of the box. I love it and have been sitting in it just about everyday just for relaxation purposes! I can't wait to rock my little Ivy girl in it! Her room is looking so girly and looks as though there was never a little Erik boy living in it!