Meet the Teacher

Meet the Teacher night always makes me nervous - usually because I'm the teacher.  Somehow I was still a little apprehensive tonight, as Carter and I set out to meet Mrs. T.  Will she like Carter?  Will she like me?  Will she think I'm a bad parent because he is a challenging kid?  Sigh.

This Meet the Teacher night was unlike any I've ever experienced in my teaching career.  First of all, I have only taught in Title I (read: POOR) schools, and parental involvement was super low at all of them.  My last school usually only had 1-2 parents show up for PTO meetings.  So sad.  So, imagine my surprise when I show up 10 minutes early, and the parking lot is already completely full.  I had to park down the street and walk the rest of the way.  Seriously!  I can't imagine if I'd just been on time... I would have needed a shuttle!

Kids and parents were already lining up outside of the classrooms, and we quickly discovered that Carter knows two of the boys in his class from our neighborhood.  Carter was his usual chatty self, asking all of the kids questions - name, age, favorite soccer player - and jumping around yelling, "I'm going to kindergarten!"  His excitement was adorable.

Mrs. T seemed nice enough, but I just couldn't stop myself from taking inventory of the classroom.  I was judging.  No smartboard.  No computers.  No RUG.  How do you have a kindergarten class without a rug?!  I know that kids are taught successfully without all of the bells and whistles of classroom technology, but I've become so accustomed to having access to the very best technology available that I can't imagine running a classroom without it.  It will probably be good for Carter to have 6 hours a day without anything electronic though! 

I am so excited for Carter to have his first day at Kindergarten on Thursday.  I hope he loves it... and I hope his teacher loves him.  How could she not?  He's pretty awesome.

Changing My Ways.

So, in case you haven't heard - I have a challenging child.  Not just a little challenging, but big-time-behavior-plan-push-your-buttons-on-purpose kind of challenging.  I love him... a lot.  But I definitely find myself at a loss in dealing with his behaviors sometimes.  The arrival of Charlie has brought on some new interesting behaviors, such as throw-himself-on-the-floor fits, hitting himself in anger, and saying pretty hurtful things.  I'm not surprised that things are especially difficult right now, but it certainly makes things worse when I'm so very tired from being up 2-3 times each night and have very little extra patience.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon a really fantastic blog the other day.  On Real Child Development, the author, Leslie has really given me some insight into dealing with my spirited child.  I've found that I'm so concerned with stopping the behavior, that I don't always bother to address the feelings behind it.  I'm too focused on making sure he is obedient, which of course is also important, but there is SO much more to his behavior issues than just choosing to be disobedient.  He makes those choices because he is usually truly upset about something.  I have been using some of Leslie's ideas, have challenged myself to NOT raise my voice and give orders... but to keep calm (the hardest thing of all) and talk to Carter.  This doesn't mean he doesn't have to listen to me.  It just means that I will finally listen to him, too.

So far, so good.  It hasn't been a miraculous turn-around, but there have been some huge improvements.  Acknowledging his feelings calmly, but still being firm with my boundaries and consequences isn't always easy - but I can tell that he is slowly coming around.  He's a challenging one, all right.  Good thing I'm up for the challenge!

Family Outings

While some days I like to laze around the house, never even bothering to get out of my pajamas, I know that our family gets a little restless if we don't leave the house on the weekends.  This weekend, I found lots for us to do.  We started on Saturday morning at the Portland Farmer's Market.  I seriously love this place.  It is by far the very best market I have even seen.  There are millions (or a hundred-ish) vendors selling the most beautiful produce, fabulous flowers (the dahlias are unbelievable right now), and delicious food.  To be honest, we really go for the prepared food.  We have a favorite vegan/gluten-free bakery that only sells their product at the market... so we can only get our fix once a week.  Now, if I am declaring love for a vegan/GF bakery, you know it must be great.  I usually only endorse full gluten-containing products with lots of butter in them, but Petunia's really knows what they are doing.  Delish.  Carter surprised us by finally having a decent trip to the market.  I totally get that it isn't his favorite place.  There are lots of things he can't/shouldn't touch, it is super busy and he has to stay close to us at all time - not his favorite things.  But, I'm a firm believer that even though he doesn't love it, he still has to come and behave - we shouldn't have to skip our favorite weekly outing just because the dictator 5-year old says so.   He was rewarded by a lengthy visit to the adjacent playground, which was full of kids that had been dragged to the market by their parents.

On Sunday, we all went to a street fair.  Portland is so much fun.  Every weekend there are a huge number of great family-friendly activities to choose from, and one of my very favorites are the street fairs around town.  This weekend, the Hawthorne neighborhood had an incredible street fair - complete with kids' activities like face painting and rock-wall climbing, good food, bands, and businesses displaying some cool stuff.  Charlie was amazing - he had an awesome power nap... for 3 HOURS while we walked around.  Didn't wake up once!  Carter rode his new razor scooter around, chatting up every person he saw, and even attempted to climb the rock-wall.

It was a great family weekend.  Now, back to single parenting, as Chris gets ready to head out of town tomorrow morning until Thursday night.  4 days with my 2 boys - and no more summer camp.  Uh-oh!  At least it'll probably give me something good to blog about!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Wow. One month old.  It actually makes me a little sad to see how fast Charlie is growing.  Our family is complete with two beautiful boys, but I just adore this newborn stage so much that it is hard to believe that this is my last one!

Little Charlie is growing so quickly.  He was born at 7lbs 15oz, but came home from the hospital at 7lbs 4oz.  At one month old, he is already 11lbs 6oz!  What a little chub!

Charlie at 1 week, 2 weeks and 1 month

What a little love bug!  We'll definitely keep him.

A New Project!

I just don't have enough to do.  Life as a stay-at-home-mom of 2 busy boys is just too easy.  I needed a new project.  Oh, wait.  You aren't buying that?  Hmm.  Well, even though my life is crazy busy at the moment, I have some high hopes that I'll have a tiny bit of extra time once Carter starts kindergarten next week.  What will I do with that extra time, you ask?  Blog!  Obviously, I already have a blog, but it is all about the family.  My new project will chronicle my attempts in the kitchen, craft room, and garden (if I ever get going with that!).  I hope you find a minute to stop by and say hi at The Happiness of Rainy Days.

So Hard.

I thought adding a new baby would be tricky - back to sleepless nights, endless amounts of poop, and a baby that is attached to my boob 20 hours a day.  But, here's the thing... I really just thought the baby stuff would be hard.  Not so.  The baby stuff has actually turned out to be relatively easy (dare I say that? Knock on wood...).  Charlie is a sweet baby - he sleeps well, for a newborn, he eats well, and my obsession with cloth diapers has made the frequent changes better than expected.  The hard part was what I didn't expect - Carter.

He is pushing every button he can think of to try and get attention - negatively - from me.  This morning, I told him that he could not bring snacks to summer camp.  He's been going to camp ALL summer, and they provide the snacks - why are we even talking about this?  Instead of being reasonable about it, he totally flipped out.  Seriously.  Like a two-year-old-on-the-floor tantrum.  Of course, this was followed by my threat of "Put those snacks away and get in the car in the next 10 seconds or else...".  Unfortunately, it just got worse from there.  Refusal to leave the house.  Refusal to buckle seat belt.  Unbuckling seat belt as I was backing out of the driveway.  I thought it was going to make my head explode.  Luckily, my head is still intact, but now we have a host of consequences - no wii, ipod, ipad, computer or tv for the rest of the day.  Have I mentioned that it is raining outside?  Bummer.  He's going to have one boring afternoon.

Maybe I'm not providing enough positive reinforcement?  Maybe this is completely normal?  I just feel like mornings like this are *way* harder than I ever thought they would be.  Sigh.

Pacifiers

As a first-time mom, I swore I wouldn't use a pacifier.  I felt like many parents just pop a pacifier in their baby's mouth instead of trying to figure out what their baby actually needs.  I didn't want to start a habit that would be hard to break later, and it seemed like Carter got along just fine without one.

Fast-forward 5 years to baby #2: Charlie loves to eat.  Well, more accurately, he loves having something in his mouth.  Unfortunately, this means that he wants to eat all of the time - but ends up spitting up tons of milk because he truly isn't hungry at all.  What a waste a of precious sleeping time milk!  I'm definitely a lot more relaxed this time around, and I'm no longer concerned about starting a bad habit or relying on the pacifier too heavily.  I went to my favorite eco-friendly baby boutique and bought a couple of bpa/phosphate/phthalate-free pacis and an adorable clip to keep it attached to Charlie.  Can't have it falling on the floor!

We'll find out soon if he actually likes it...
 

2 Weeks Old!

Our house has been a whirlwind of activity during the past two weeks.  Nana (Chris's mom) stayed with us for the past 3 weeks - one week in anticipation of Charlie's early arrival - and Chris's sister and brother-in-law were with us over the past weekend.  Carter and Charlie have had tons and tons of attention... but now it is time to get back in the routine of our regular life.  

Charlie had his 2 week check-up today, and he has already hit 9lbs!  Not bad, considering he came home from the hospital weighing about 7lb 4 oz (born at 7lb 15oz).  He is one happy eater and is growing fast. He has also gained almost 2 inches!  He's definitely going to be a little chubber like his brother.  He is sleeping really well, 3-4 hour stretches usually, and he doesn't seem to know how to cry.  Well, he definitely makes his needs known, but in a much cuter, squeakier way.  I'm sure the crying will kick in at some point, but I'm hoping he holds off as long as possible!

Carter has had a hard time adjusting to the diverted attention.  He does not like to share mom and dad, and the disruption of his regular routine has been really tricky.  Luckily, he LOVES his little brother and cuddles him at every opportunity.  He even "babysits" him when I take my shower (don't worry - Charlie is always strapped in a bouncy or swing, so Carter doesn't have to really do much of anything!).  This morning, Carter called to me, "Mom! Charlie is making noise, so I'm singing to him."  Awww... brothers.  Love it!

Guess Who!

Time to play the "Guess the Baby" game!
So, which baby is which?
Carter? Charlie? Hmmm...

Cloth!

Here's a little peek at Charlie in his very first cloth diaper, getting ready from his trip home from hospital #1.  Other than the disposables we used at the hospitals, and a couple that Nana used while Chris and I were out, Charlie has been in cloth diapers the whole time.  I was a little intimidated at first, but I'm definitely starting to get the hang of it - and Chris is, too!  The washing isn't nearly as yucky as I imagined it to be, and there really isn't anything cuter than a little cloth-diapered bum.