Friday, March 7, 2014

Family Date Day: Rodeo!

It's one of the best times of year in Houston: rodeo time!  We were so excited to take Little Buddy and Little Sweetie down to the rodeo for some fun.


All dressed up in his flag boots and ready to be a cowboy!


     

At the rodeo, checking out hay bales and tractors!



Horse riding time!



Meeting Miss Moo with Daddy and sister!


     


Little Buddy enjoyed the exhibits more this year.  Favorites included the milking demonstration, the baby pigs, and the rabbits.


     

We finished off the day with some lunch, cheering on the bands that were playing (he loved the drums!), and some ice cream.  


It was a very fun day down at the rodeo!  I'm so glad we got to go and have a whole day of fun as a family.

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

February 11

Another month has flown by!  It's been a busy month with Little Buddy leaving school, Sesame Street Live, my having a conference in New Orleans, and, of course, staying sane and we continue to settle into this family of four routine.

We did have our consult with our pediatrician to have Little Buddy evaluated for any issues that could be contributing to his potty and attention problems.  Long story short, he's fine.  Technically, he's cognitively advanced (he knows his stuff!) but emotionally immature (young for his age).  She basically confirmed everything our instincts had told us.   His size, his summer birthday, his new big brother status, his burn, and his lack of older siblings are all factors contributing to his distraction and inability to focus while playing.  So, with her backing, we feel very confident in our decision to take him out of school right now.  That, and the already impressive results we've seen in his behavior and his potty success since leaving school, just confirm that it was the right choice for him and our family.  And we've had lots of fun!

     


So much play time!  Lots of fun with Momma, working in his "office", and playing barber with Daddy!



No cavities at the dentist!


He was also a very busy guy with Daddy while I was in New Orleans...

     

Bought a school bus kit and made his own school bus!



Learning about flags (one of his favorite topics right now)!


Height and Weight 
Still 50 lbs. and now 43 in.  He is just so big!

Personality
In love with his sister!  Truly, he always asks for her and was very concerned when she and I were in New Orleans for a conference.  I love watching him become such a loving big brother.  

     

Tummy time with Sister and Chesney!



Cutest thing ever.  First he picks out her outfit, then he begs, "Take my picture with sister, please."



So excited sister is back from New Orleans!


Developmental Milestones
More and more words coming together, potty continues to improve, and we're working on our writing.  Also, he has totally mastered drinking out of a regular cup, with no lid on it!  Yay for no spills!

Fun Tidbits
It was our third year in a row to attend Sesame Street Live, and it was still a big hit!  Little Buddy was especially thrilled that Grover was a featured character this year (normally, the performances are focused on Elmo or Abby).  I love watching how excited he gets while watching the show!

     

Super Grover!


It's been so much fun with our little guy and I already feel less stressed having him with me all week and not having anxiety about him having accidents at school.  And I'll take all the time I can with him...just growing up so fast!

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Monday, February 3, 2014

A Tough Decision

Well, today was Little Buddy's last day at his school.  It was a difficult choice to make, to pull him from school, but I think it was the right one.  I've mentioned before our difficulty in becoming fully potty trained and how he has issues with telling other people he has to go.  Well, for some reason, since this semester began, he's begun having more issues with it at school.  At the end of last semester, he was doing pretty well, but since the start of January, he's had one accident each day of school.  His teachers, understandably, have concerns about this and asked he be sent in a pull-up.  Well, Little Buddy does not do well with pull-ups because he knows they are diapers and he can just do his business in them.  So Daddy and I have decided that we'll finish out the rest of the school year at home, hoping to make him comfortable enough with his potty-ing that he'll be able to tell other people and resume school with Pre-K in the fall.

It was a terribly difficult decision to make.  Little Buddy LOVES school and I've been pleased with the curriculum and activities offered.  Also, it's tough because it honestly gives you feelings of failure when you consider having to pull your child from school because he's the kid that can't "get it."  But then, after reflection, you realize that those are your own issues, not your child's.  He is a happy, sweet, smart, free-spirited kid and you're the overly anxious adult.  It's not failure, it's (as one of my dear friend's put it) the strength to realize that the school is no longer a good fit for your child's current needs.  And that is what a school should be, a place of learning that meets your child's needs.  Every flower blooms in its own time.  Obviously, Little Buddy needs a little more one-on-one attention to mature and get confident in his skill set.  I will miss the extra time I had to work on my own school stuff and the individual time I had with Little Sweetie, but I will also love having every day with my little guy.  It will be too soon that he will go off to "real" school and I won't have this precious time with him.  I intend to cherish it.  

But I know he'll still miss being part of the Alligator Class.  He's had such fun!

     




     


   

School Memories


I'm still very emotional over it and we are planning on talking to our pediatrician to rule out any other physical issues Little Buddy may be having that are contributing his challenges, but otherwise we're just hoping that a little extra time will help him mature to be fully school ready in the fall.  


Good night, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Merry Belated Christmas!

Since our Little Sweetie was so young at Christmas time (and because tickets were ridiculously expensive), we decided to delay our holiday celebration until January!  So, this month, we took our first cross country trip as a family of four to visit the grandparents in Ohio!

After a pretty successful flight (Little Sweetie slept and ate the whole time and Little Buddy watched his DVD player and didn't get too stir crazy), we arrived in Pittsburgh.  First stop was to see Great Granny before heading to Mimi and Pop-Pop's house in Marietta.  We had great visit with Granny (apple butter time!) and the rest of our Marietta visit was lovely.  Little Buddy had a lot of fun on the play castle and he got to see snow!


Daddy, the sherpa, with all our luggage collected in Pittsburgh



Checking out the Rock at Marietta College



Snow!  The only bad part was that it hindered playing on the castle that day.



Got to see Great Grandma too!  Will also loved playing with Great Aunt P (aka "The Kentucky Kid"), as well as Great Uncle T and Great Aunt R.




A fun January Christmas with Mimi and PopPop!


After three days in Marietta, it was time to head to Canton to see Mamaw and Papaw.  Boy, did Little Buddy love having all these Christmases!  Besides seeing Mamaw and Papaw, we got to visit with Great Aunt T and Uncle B, Great Aunt K, Great Aunt P, and my cousins, B, M, and A.  We also got the special treat of going to the McKinley Museum and seeing our dear friends who had just moved back to Ohio, Ms. C with her daughters, C and N!  Two other big hits included actually getting to take a ride on Papaw's bus and getting to watch a swim meet (for some reason Little Buddy is obsessed with being on a swim team)!


Another round of presents!


     

     

McKinely Monument with Momma and Daddy, and then with C and N.  Kept trying to get a picture of them all looking at the camera!

     

Dinosaurs and a science center in the McKinely Museum, Little Buddy was in heaven!


  

"Driving" and then taking a real ride on Papaw's bus!



One of his favorite parts of the trip, getting to say the Pledge of Allegiance to Mamaw and Papaw's flag each time he went potty.  



Such a fun visit with Mamaw and Papaw!



And we even survived the plane ride home!



I actually kind of liked the lack of stress experienced as we traveled for our belated Christmas.  Maybe we'll change up holiday dates in the future too!

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

January 11

Well, hello 2014!  Can't believe you're here already, but I guess we will keep you!  Little Buddy rang in the New Year a little early on New Year's Eve with some sparking grape juice.

    

Cheers!


Little Buddy has a few resolutions for the new year.  Number 1, of course, is to completely master control over his body and it's potty functions.  Number 2 is to keep working on being an awesome big brother.  Thankfully, my little helper keeps in practice!


Kisses for sister! Whether she likes them or not!


    


Diaper changes and feeding duties...he's going to be a great daddy one day!


My other resolution for him is to stop asking me and Daddy what we're "doin?" 50 times in a row!  Or perhaps just to listen and hear what our answers are so that he stops needing to ask every 3 minutes!  Yes, a mom can dream!


Height and Weight 
Hanging tough at 50 lbs. and now 42 and 1/8 in. tall!

Personality
Still sweet and shy, but getting more physical.  He is now willing to initiate playing with his friends when he would normally wait for them to come to him.  He stills seems to prefer playing by himself or with us, but is becoming more comfortable with kids he already knows. 

Developmental Milestones
Stringing more and more words together!  At least with us.  I think one of the reasons it's taking him a bit longer to make full speaking sentences and paragraphs is that he doesn't talk much to other people.  He will talk up a storm to Daddy and I, but with babysitters and teachers, he's still very reticent.  As quite the talker myself, he is teaching me how to work with someone who is a bit more quiet and shy.

Counting is another big topic we are working on this month.  He knows all of his numbers and can count though his thirties pretty reliably, but it's working on teaching him what numbers mean and how many items there are and what happens when you add or subtract items that is paramount right now.  Otherwise, he just likes to recite them and count as high as he can!

And, of course, our potty update.  Huge improvements.  We even had a 5.5 day streak of no accidents (he normally goes about three days between accidents).  Unfortunately, the majority of his accidents happen with sitters and with his teachers.  My sweet shy guy just does not seem to want to tell others that he has to go.  We're using a new calendar, though, and giving him a big sticker each day that he does not have an accident.  He really works hard for that sticker and the promise of lunch at Mellow Mushroom with Mushroom Man should he go an entire week without an accident. 


Fun Tidbits
He has officially discovered his shadow.   Daddy and I were a bit concerned when he started telling us about the "kid" in his room that kept disappearing.  The "kid" was starting to scare him a bit and we weren't sure were this originated from because he could never show us the where the kid was.  Well, then Daddy took him upstairs when the hall light was on and Little Buddy got very anxious because a new big kid had appeared!  It turned out that the big kid in question was Daddy's shadow and we were soon able to meet the original kid, Little Buddy's shadow.  After a short explanation about shadows and reassurances that shadows are always there and always friendly, he seems to have reached a truce with the mysterious "kid."


Good night kid!


As I mentioned before, Little Buddy is also getting more physical and a bit more daring.  Some of this drives me nuts, like the ants that seem to have possessed his pants and keep him from sitting still at dinner and at church.  Some of it cracks me up, like him trying to stuff himself into a too small box or continuously bouncing off a couch.

           

Of course Daddy had to get in on the fun!


      

This is what happens when I am feeding sister:  Momma can't play, so let's throw all the couch cushions down and jump/fall on them continuously.  That's not distracting to her or sister at all!


Otherwise, it's been a great start to the new year with my favorite people.  Hope your year is starting off well too!



Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma