Little Sister Fights Back

We all know that little sister’s don’t like to be pushed around.  Speaking from experience, I’m the youngest of four myself, I grew up trying to act bigger so that I could “get back” at my older siblings.

Well the other day I was in the kitchen and heard the kids laughing in the living room.  So I went to investigate and what I saw made me want to laugh and tell my kids “NO” at the same time.  Is that possible?

What I found was Luke’s little sister “fighting back”.  You see Luke often grabs a-hold of our baby girl’s shirt when she walks by and then proceeds to pull her over.  Well, this day our baby girl was fighting back.  She wasn’t about to be pushed around, instead she was doing the pushing and Luke of course thought it was very funny.

I decided to laugh a little, record what I saw on video, and then tell them “No, don’t do that anymore.”  I figure that is a fair trade, I have the “action” documented so we can laugh when the kids are older and for now we are learning that it is “not funny to push or pull other people over”.  After all I don’t want my kids to the “bullies” at school.

A true girl

Once again today I must share with you something that our baby girl has been doing the last month or so.  She has some speech delays, but loves to babble.  We’ll be in the car and she’ll babble away, “baba…maba…babay”.   She is also very serious about what she says.  She will tell you very intently “baba…bama…mama…”, like it is the most important thing in the world.

Well she has expanded her babbling to her play time by getting her toy cell flip phone, put it up to her ear and babble away while she is walking around the house.  She has also been known to pick up our real phone, put it on speaker and then push redial….which luckily just called grandma.

The funniest thing she has been doing lately happens when we are talking to grandma on the phone.  So grandma can talk to the kids we often put the phone on speaker so she can hear them.  Well, last week we were “talking” to grandma through the speaker phone when our baby girl got a hold of the phone and wouldn’t give it back to me!  She took the phone, sat down and had a conversation with grandma.  She responded to all of grandma’s questions with a serious babble of some kind. 

She is showing her “true girl” nature by loving to talk on the phone.

Mixed Blessings

Ever since Luke’s eye surgery, at the beginning of May, I’ve noticed subtle differences in Luke.  His balance and overall coordination seems better.  But, this last week he has done something that has “blown me away”.

Last Monday he was sitting on my lap and I handed him a Teddy Graham.  Usually I will work with Luke on trying to use only two fingers to pick it up, and in order for him to do that I have to hold down three of his fingers.  Well, this day he reached out with his left hand and grabbed the Teddy Graham with two fingers!!  There was no prompting at all and he just reached out and did it!  So exciting!  He did this three times in a row with his left hand.  I couldn’t get him to do it with his right hand or get him to do it again with his left….but he did do it!! 

I’ve also noticed this week that he is trying to push or point to things with just one finger.   For example, when I ask Luke to find something in a book…like the dog…Luke would not point at the dog but instead he will usually “knock” on it with his fist.  Well, this week he has pointed a few times to things in books and he has even tried using one finger to push the piano keys and push the buttons on a musical book!! 

This is all so exciting.  But it, like all other skills he has learned, is turning out to be a “mixed blessing”.  Just like when Luke finally pulled up and started cruising along the furniture last summer, it was great…but he was able to reach lots of things he couldn’t before.  This led to several things getting destroyed.

You might be thinking, what kind of trouble could “single finger isolation or two finger grabbing cause?”  Last Tuesday morning Luke picked up a fork with two fingers and I said, “yea….Luke”, and then he looked at me, smiled and threw it on the floor!!  This is nothing new, I guess I just thought once he was able to pick it up so well, he might decide to finally hold on to it.  I was wrong about that, obviously.

Probably the worse “mixed blessing” moment took place last Saturday morning.  I did a quick Library run in to town and while I was gone Luke tried a new trick.  When I walked in the house my husband was really upset with Luke.  It turned out that my husband was trying to do something on the laptop, and Luke came over and somehow got a key to pop off the keyboard.  This normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but my husband couldn’t get the key back on.  After doing some research we figured out that there was a small circular piece that goes inside the key to make it stick in place…and it was missing. 

The fact that Luke could do that, is so great!  But at the same time daddy wasn’t so happy.  We obviously can’t use the laptop while in his range anymore either.  Oh well, I’d rather have him be able to do things like this than be able to use my laptop wherever I wanted.  I’ve been very thankful that his fine motor skills are finally taking shape.  We’ll just have to work on what he can and can not touch.

New Problem

You know as a parent it seems like you figure out a solution to a problem then your kids just decide to do something new and unexpected…which creates yet another problem.  A funny example of this was back when we had the Christmas tree up.  The year before, I simply blocked off the tree area with all Luke’s largest toys.  It worked really well the first year I tried this, Luke would start going to the tree and then be distracted by one of his larger toys…like his dump truck.  But this last year, Luke and our baby girl worked together.  They soon figured out that they could move the “big” objects out of the way and then the tree was “fair game!”  I was constantly putting the toys back in place and telling the kids “no!”. 

Well, last Friday I talked to you all about Luke’s new “ultimate and perfect bed”.  It is great!!  But, like many situations, as in the Christmas tree example I gave above, our kids seem to find ways to create more problems and frustration. 

In Luke’s old bed, or crib, he would kick or rock and “creak” the bed and laugh.  It would often sound like “thunder”.  Well in his new “ultimate bed” he had to find a new noise to make.  After all he tried kicking his legs up and down, and that didn’t make any noise.  Then he sat and rocked back and forth, and that didn’t make any noise.  So Luke found something new.

I was in the garage last weekend, and I hear “Boom…Boom…Boom” and it wasn’t a “boom” like thunder…it was a “BOOM”…like the house was falling down.  I went inside to investigate and there was Luke hitting his feet on the wall.

You see, his new bed lays right next to the wall…it was like a “natural barrier”, this allowed us not to worry about putting slats on the other side of the bed.  Well…mommy wasn’t happy with that, the kicking that is….so after saying “no” many times to this…he seemed to stop.  I was wrong.

Now, kicking the wall was kind of funny…I have to admit…especially when you’re in the house and it feels like the rooms are shaking a little.  But the next thing Luke started…hasn’t been so funny.  The other day, not only did I hear “BOOM” again…but this time when I went to tell him to stop…I noticed it wasn’t his feet making the noise, but his head!!  Uugghhh!!  That is not good!!  What am I supposed to do about that? 

I am currently looking for some kind of padding to put on the wall behind his bed.  If anyone out there has any ideas on what to use, something affordable and not too big…let me know.  The video below is a time I caught Luke kicking the wall with his feet, it doesn’t seem as loud on video.

The Ultimate Bed

What do you do when your 3 year old is getting too big for a crib? Usually you would move him or her to a toddler bed, right? Well with Luke, that is not a possibility. I’ve found it to be VERY hard to find a “toddler” bed that can work for him. I also looked into “special” kids beds, unfortunately all of those I found were set up for kids that have a lot more issues than Luke. So what do we do? Luke is in between, he isn’t able to use a regular toddler bed and he doesn’t really need a bed with all the “bells and whistles”. So where is the ultimate bed?

Well in our case, we are blessed with a creative and talented grandpa. I told Luke’s grandpa about our problem and we put our heads together and “waala!” We came up with the ultimate bed, one that grandpa would build.

Since Luke is so big we decided to buy a Twin size mattress set, and we built the bed around that. It basically looks like a giant crib! One that has a swinging door in the middle so that with a set of stairs (that grandpa also made), Luke can walk or climb up into bed. No more broken backs! We also set it up so that both ends of the crib can swing open, allowing me to change the sheets fairly easily. That was definitely a plus.
Luke loves his new bed! It no longer “creaks” or moves back and forth when he tries to shake it, but the mattress is bigger and he can bounce up and down! So far he likes that part. I also gave him a pillow that he loves to hit…of course he finds this extremely funny and laughs. Silly little guy!

The only “problem” is that Luke’s little sister seems to be jealous. She is always climbing up into the bed and doesn't want to come out. Once I get her out of Luke’s bed, she starts screaming and I have to quickly shut the “gate”, because she soon climbs back up the stairs wanting to get back in Luke’s bed. It just isn’t fair!

My Favorite Recipe

"What is one of your favorite homemade dishes?   (Karen Ehman book)

This is hard for me to choose.   Do I choose something with chocolate?  Or a favorite side dish like my Hash brown casserole?  Or do I choose a main dish favorite, like pork chops and apples?  Today the chocolate won out.  So here’s my favorite dessert recipe, which I got from my mother, for Chocolate Chip Pie (the only pie I will ever eat by the way).  I got this recipe from my mother.  Make note that this is REALLY good with a cold glass of milk, especially when the pie is fresh or warmed up a while in the microwave.

Chocolate Chip Pie

2 eggs                                                                                   ½ c. un-sifted flour

½ c. sugar                                                                            ½ c. brown sugar

1c. melted butter, cooled                                             1 c. chocolate chips

1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)                                                unbaked pie shell, 9’

Preheat oven to 325.  Beat eggs till foamy.  Add flour, sugar, brown sugar and blend.  Then add cooled melted butter.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if you choose).   Pour into pie shell and bake for 1 hour.

Learned Behaviors

Have your kids ever started to do something and you wonder where in the world they picked that up?  Luke doesn't tend to do this, but in the last couple months I’ve seen him try things he never tried before.  I’m sure it is because he is now at school and able to observe other kids and how they do things.

Some of these “learned” behaviors have included putting his juice cup back on the table when eating (instead of throwing it), continuing to hold on to his fork and trying to stab his food (instead of throwing it), and stomping his feet when we sing at home.  Another one of these “learned behaviors” showed up last night. 

It was after baths were done and both kids were playing in the living room.  My husband said “raise your hand if you are ready for bed.”  Sure enough Luke’s hand shot straight up!!  Then to test to see if he really did this because of what my husband said, I said “raise your hand” and up went the hand!  I was so excited and Luke’s response to my excitement was a huge smile, of course.  I just hope that he’ll understand this raising the hand thing better in the next few years.  I can just see him in 1^st grade raising his hand when the teacher asks someone to raise their hand with the answer to a math problem, and then when called on he wouldn’t have a clue but just smile real big….after all he raised his hand!!  Who cares what 1+1 is, right?

It’s those little things that make my day.  To most parents probably think “what’s the big deal?”  Well when your kid has waited 3 ½ years to follow a basic command like “raise your hand”….you have to get excited!!  Luke’s understanding has definitely improved in the last few months.  He follows more commands like “clean up” or “get out”.  I’m so glad he is making even more progress in this area!

I'll help mommy!

Today I have to talk about something funny our baby girl did.  The other day I was packing up Luke and our baby girls things to go and spend the night at their Grandparents house.  I had the cribs, clothes and toys all packed.  Then I put all their diapers and wipes in their respective diaper bags. It is also important to note that I had everything in a pile in our kitchen. 

 When I was getting some more last minute things out of their rooms, I saw our baby girl run into the bathroom and then run back down the hall.  I thought she was just running back and forth like she usually does…then I saw her head back towards the bathroom.  This time she was carrying a diaper from her diaper bag, that I just packed.  I watched as she ran past me and then into the bathroom.  She reached up on tippy toes and put the diaper in the bathroom sink.  Then she turned around and took off to go back to the kitchen, to get more diapers. 

Of course I went for my camera, since I thought it was so funny.  While I was doing that she made one more trip.  Then when I got my video going she decided she wasn’t going to take her diapers to the bathroom anymore.  Now she decided she would take them to the basketball hoop in the living room!  Silly girl!!

I have to wonder where they get these ideas from.  Luke’s been known to take his clothes, diapers or toys to crazy places…maybe that is where she picked it up.

Cubs vs Dodgers?

Ok, today I have to talk about which team is better….the Cubs or Dodgers?  Personally I really don’t care.  But my husband is a Cubby fan and Luke’s aide is a Dodger fan.  You can imagine that this has created a little “tension”.  All in good fun of course.

Since my husband is a Cubs fan, Luke of course has a couple Cubby shirts.  After sending Luke to school one day wearing a Cubs shirt, I was “informed” that the Dodgers were better.  I think that was a “warning” of things to come.  After that every time Luke has worn his Cubs shirts something has happened.

The first thing happened on one of those days where it was really cool in the early morning but it soon warmed up.  I actually dressed Luke in a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve shirt, both of which were Cubs shirts.  When Luke got home, I took off his jacket and not only was the long sleeve shirt off….but his short sleeve shirt was inside out!  On the note I receive daily on how Luke’s day went, I was told that the shirt was inside out because it was the wrong shirt…since the shirt should say “Go Dodgers”.

The second thing happened while on Luke’s field trip, this time wearing a “forbidden shirt” isn’t what prompted the daily “battle”.  While Luke and I were “painting the wall” at the Children’s Museum, Luke’s aide was talking to someone else she knew about the Bears and how horrible they were.  So Luke and I got some blue paint, reached up and put “Go Cubs” on the wall.  Later when I was taking a picture of Luke and his aide painting, his aide reached up and put “Dodgers” above “Cubs”.  Look closely and read backwards and you can see our messages on the clear wall below.

The third thing happened when I sent Luke to school in only his Cubs T-shirt (and jeans of course).  It took me a while to realize what happened when he got home.  But where it says “Cubs” on the T-shirt, there was a blue piece of tape that now said “Dodgers” instead.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  I also decided to keep it on until my husband got home, to see if he noticed.  Sure enough, it only took my husband a few minutes to say “what is that!” and go over to take the tape off Luke’s shirt.  My husband then said, “this is war, we need to send Luke to school in the cubs shirt but also put a piece of tape on it that says ‘Down with Dodgers fans’”.  We haven’t done that yet….I’m not sure we should take this “war” to the next level yet.

It’s been a fun “rivalry”.  Maybe one day Luke can express his own opinion, instead of wearing what his daddy wants…then maybe he won’t be so “offensive” to his Aide’s in the future.

Field Trip

Luke had his first field trip the other day!  This was shocking to me at first…after all …he’s only 3!  It was a whole new experience.  I was blessed to go along and help corral Luke and two other children throughout the day (with the help of Luke’s aide).  We went to the Children’s Museum in Normal, IL.  It was lots of fun…and Luke was all over the place.

I was so proud of him.  We got there around 9:30am and left around 1pm and that whole time he walked all over the place!  He had lots of fun moments.  Luke was able to paint on the wall, with the help of his aide or myself.  He dipped his brush and we then helped him aim for the wall.  The paint  got everywhere…but was so fun!

Then we checked out so many other cool things.  There was an energy room, where it picked up your heat signature and showed it on the wall.  Then there was the combine and tractor and auger where you put “feed” in and watch it work.  There was a vacuum/air contraption where you put in a rag or cloth ball in one spot and watch it go around and then shoot out in another spot. 

Those were only a few of the cool things Luke liked so much.  I think one of his favorites was the water area.  In this spot they had various tubes that you could use to filter where the water goes.  I tried to help Luke build one, but of course all he wanted to do was get the tube and splash it around so that mommy kept getting wet.

After the full day, we boarded the bus to go home and Luke sat on my lap.  He never went to sleep, as usual…but after about 20 minutes he started getting his “second wind”.  He started butting his head into me and rocking back and forth.  That is when I gave him over to his aide.  He loved that because she got a hold of an empty water bottle and started trying to attack Luke with it.  It soon got to the point that all she had to do was bring the water bottle within 6 inches of Luke and he would start laughing.  It was pretty funny to watch.  Oh…what a long…but fun day.

Two People?

Do you ever wish you were like an ameba? Then you could split in two and go two different directions or even grow an extra arm.  I often have this thought now that Luke is doing so well with his walker and our baby girl is VERY mobile.  The best example of this is when I had to take both kids into our local IGA the other day.  I needed Gatorade for Luke, since he wasn’t wanting to eat or drink anything that we had at home after getting home from the hospital the day before.  So here I am… “super mom”….going to the IGA to find Gatorade.  The good part was that I was able to park in the Handicapped spot right outside the doors.  So I unloaded Luke got him in his walker and then went around the van to get our baby girl…all while telling Luke to “stay”.  I don’t think he really gets that…I think I say it just to give myself “peace of mind”.  In this case he didn’t “stay” in one spot…but he did stay close to the van and didn’t go backwards towards the parking lot.

Anyway….we get inside and are doing pretty good when Luke decides to go down one aisle while our baby girl takes off in a completely different direction!  So here I am trying to do a quick trip to find Gatorade and I’m turning Luke around by pointing his walker in the right direction and running after our baby girl.  Of course by the time I got our baby girl back to where I left Luke, he was no longer where I left him.  He turned himself back around to go the wrong direction again!  Uh…..that was the longest “quick trip” I’ve ever attempted.

There was another time that I felt like this recently.  But, I had a quick thought that saved the day.  I didn’t grow extra arms, but I used what I had on hand to “corral” our baby girl.  We had just visited our pediatrician and I was walking out to the car with Luke and our baby girl.  We did fine until we ran out of sidewalk and I had to get both kids on the pavement by our van.  Well, Luke wasn’t walking fast enough to be much of a problem.  But, our baby girl took off like a rocket and before I knew it she was trying to take off across the parking lot…which was definitely NOT ok.  So I made a quick executive decision.  I had the lift gate up on the van so I could put Luke’s walker in…but instead of putting in the walker I picked up our baby girl and put her in the back end.  We have “stow—and-go” so the back seats were flat which allowed her freedom to walk around in the back of the van.

She was confused for a little bit, but didn’t cry.  Once I got her “in” the back, I brought Luke around and we put his walker in…which effectively “boxed” our baby girl in.  Then I closed the lift gate and walked Luke around to his side of the van.  Our baby girl had nowhere to go…except towards her seat.  Instead of going to her seat, she just stood there…like she wasn’t quite sure what to do, or what other tricks mommy might have up her sleeve.  When I went around to her side of the van and held out my hand, she took hold and then walked up to her seat.    

This trick worked really well.   I’m sure I’ll use it even more in the future!  I may not be able to split into two people or grow extra arms…but I can try to out think my little ones and use the resources at my disposal.

Good or Bad?

Today I must start by apologizing to my regular readers.  I didn’t get a chance to post anything on Wednesday.  Today the story I will share is what happened Tuesday and Wednesday…some parts were good and others bad.  I think as moms we all have those days of mixed blessings or days with a blessing and then it turns into something you wish never happened.  Since many of you who read this also get my update e-mails you are already familiar with most of this story.

Tuesday was Luke’s big strabismus surgery.  We went in not knowing exactly how many muscles they would work on in Luke’s eyes.  We weren’t even sure if they would only work on his left or right eye or both eyes even.  The day started early at 6am, and we got Luke up right before we needed to leave around 6:30am.  I gave him his morning meds and had to keep reminding myself not to give him anything to eat or drink.  We finally got to the hospital and waited and waited.  Finally everything started rolling and he went in for surgery around 8:30am.  It was close to 10am before we met with the doctor after the surgery, where she told us she only adjusted two muscles and both were in his left eye.  For this reason he also had a patch over his left eye (which struck fear in me because I knew Luke would not leave it alone),then the doctor said if he wouldn’t leave it on that was ok (I then took a deep relaxing breath).

Then my husband and I went out and waited some more.  It was 10:30am before they let us back to see Luke.  He was very upset and even my holding him didn’t seem to calm him down much.  Of course he also kept trying to take off his eye patch…which he accomplished 3 different times before leaving the hospital. 

Luke continued crying, and when he was quiet…he was asleep on my lap!!  Anyone who knows Luke, knows that this is unheard of!!  He NEVER falls asleep on my lap.  He needs to be alone in a dark room to sleep….if there is anyone around him, he is constantly awake…afraid he will miss something.

They released us around 11:30am, since Luke was able to take a couple sips of juice and keep it down.  Once we got in the car he ripped off his eye patch again!  At this point I decided to just leave it off.  Then not even one mile down the road, Luke fell asleep again in the car seat!!  Once again I was amazed.  At this point I was grateful for anesthesia.  There was still enough in his system that it was “knocking” him out.  At this point I saw this as a “good” thing.

I was worried about trying to keep Luke from rubbing his left eye, but when he kept sleeping I figured it would be easy enough.  I would just sit with him in the recliner when we got home and he could sleep in my arms and I would make sure he didn’t bother his eye.

Well…it was a good plan until about 3:30pm.  At this time I was starting to give Luke more food, crackers and some applesauce…since he was doing well with the juice and just crackers.  Well, he wasn’t doing as well as we thought because he started to vomit.  When Luke gets sick like this he will continue to vomit for hours and hours.

I had some nausea medicine at home from last time he was sick.  So after calling his doc to “ok” it, I gave this med to him.  After only 10 minutes he was sick again.  That is not normal for this medicine to not work!  So we called his doc back, and they told us to go to the ER.  Luke continued getting sick, every 40 minutes or so. 

Of course the ER tried giving him the same meds I did at home, and of course it didn’t work.  So they finally decided to admit him, because he was getting so sick they were worried about dehydration.  Since he was getting so sick, it took three nurses to finally get an IV in him.  Then after he continued to get sick they gave him nausea meds through the IV, which finally worked!!  By that time it was about 11pm.  It had been a long day…but it wasn’t over yet.  We still had the whole night ahead in the hospital so Luke could get his IV fluids.

I “slept” with Luke and my husband got the pull out couch.  It was a long night of nurse calls and checking for wet diapers.  Needless to say we were all exhausted the next day.  In spite of the long night, Luke being his normal “charming” self did make me laugh a couple times.

After about 40 minutes from when the nurse gave him the nausea medicine his IV monitor started beeping.  Being the silly man he is, every time it “beeped” he raised his arm in the air and said “aaahhh!”  It beeped for a good 10 minutes before the nurse came in…and he kept raising his hand after each beep!!  At this point I knew he was feeling better already.

Then when the sun was up and Luke was awake he grabbed his monkey and started throwing him around the bed and laughing.  It was then I knew he was really feeling better.

It was such a long two days but in the middle of it our little man didn’t lose his sense of humor.  He may have misplaced it for a while, but it was back in full force by morning.

What's so funny?

You all know that Luke’s sense of humor is unique.  How many kids think that rolling a ball into a wall is funny? Or think that putting a book on a wall and then letting go, resulting in the book falling, is funny?  Not many.  But those are just a couple of things Luke finds funny.   There are so many other little things.

One of the things I just don’t get, is how he laughs when I try to dress him.  It isn’t just any piece of clothing that makes him laugh.  If you put on pants or a T-shirt, he doesn’t laugh….at least not a lot.  It is when I try putting on his PJ’s that have feet and zips down the middle.  Whether I am trying to zip him up or unzip him, he laughs so hard that he scrunches up by pulling his arms in and his legs up, which usually results in his torso bending also.  He is almost in a “fetal position” because he is laughing so hard.  You know how hard it is to actually get him zipped up or to unzip him?  He laughs so hard it takes two hands and sometimes my legs to hold him down enough to either zip or unzip him.

For some reason he also does this when I put a shirt on him that buttons in front.  Luke has a pair of PJ’s that does this and a few dress shirts.  The silly guy makes it so hard just to get him dressed when there are buttons.  It takes so long just to simply button or unbutton a shirt, because he laughs and pulls his arms in and bends over all at once.  I’ve learned to pre-button as many buttons as possible to save time.  Then I usually only have to fight Luke’s laughter to button one top button.  I’m not sure I’ll ever understand his sense of humor.

I tried to capture this in the video below.  He usually curls up more on me, but you can get an idea of what I described above.