tedium

Rainy days have kept us inside this weekend. We are all a little stir-crazy and cabin fevered. Jasper, who is least happy about being out in a rain storm was actually the one who went out in it most. First to an appointment which he was too late for and had to get back in the van just after getting out, and then to swimming with his daddy. Yesterday I took him in the Softub and we had a great time out in the light rain, just relaxing and him kicking his legs so much. I proposed to him the idea of seeing how far he was swimming with an underwater pedomiter(?) and he loved the idea. I said he could clock how many miles he swam in the hot tub and then imagine he had been swimming the ocean and how far he could get. We had fun with that idea. He was using his arms to splash me and then laugh like crazy when he got water in my face. I want to bring him in everyday!  We are just pretty busy with daily life and the whole process of getting ready and getting in and out and then cleaned off and dressed again is a lot more laborious for Jasper than it is for the other kids, and it makes a wet mess of the house and uses up all the towels. I want to consider moving it to the deck but Jon is against that idea and says they are ugly to look at... ok. Aside from having fun he also reopened an old wound on his toe by either kicking the jets or when coming inside on the metal door jamb.
His toe was gushing blood and it looked like a river of red flowing into the drain of the shower, yikes!
He has also been banging his lip on the side of his bed sometimes at night and bleeding all over his bed. Poor guy wakes up with a fat lip and a big bloody smear on the padded side rails of his special bed. We have tried putting a pillow or padding on that side but he somehow moves it and gets under or over and then he gets upset by the pillow being over his head!

Baby Jianna is three months old and I am reminded of a time when Juniper was that age and we took her with us to San Francisco to meet up with Aunt Gina and Uncle Greg and stay in Gina's friend's beautiful apartment. She was just this little thing all swaddled at night like our baby now.  I can hardly believe how big and strong she is now. She complains of stomach aches a lot so that is something I need to bring up with our pediatrician next time. I give her probiotics, and I got some special digestive tea to help soothe her but she seems to complain almost every time she eats. She also sometimes has dark circles under her eyes indicating a possible allergy. We are thinking it may be dairy but it also could be wheat. I think the next step is to try the elimination diet with her and see if the stomach aches get better.
Today they are having 100's day at school. They sent her home on friday with a piece of purple plastic that was supposed to become a cape for the 100th day of school. Everyone is supposed to put stuff on the cape, guess how many things? yes, 100! So before I even knew anything about it Juniper had set to work making her cape in a hurry, with tape and glue and all sorts of different small objects that probably did not end up making 100 things. She lost interest as it got torn and crumpled because she had taped some bows with masking tape and it was getting a little messy. Needless to say she forgot the cape this morning and I had to bring it to her. But I could tell she was happy to have her wrinkled torn cape with pretty jewels and bows and sparkles on it rather than no cape at all. So I had to console myself that I let her do her own work and she was proud of herself for doing it herself and it doesn't have to be perfect for it to be pretty and fun! (Hopefully they wont have to count all the objects!)
On another school related note, Jonah had a really hard time with his homework this week. The class was given a week to complete a research project on an endangered insect of their choice.
He was supposed to take notes and then turn in a rough draft with all the parts of an essay. He wants to do things well and correctly and is perhaps a bit of a perfectionist, which also means that if he doesn't think he will be able to complete it in time he doesn't want to really even try.
Jonah's class went to Coloma as a part of their study on the Gold Rush and they stayed overnight and acted as gold miners would have. Maybe that also included coming into contact with some nasty germs because about a week later he woke up in the night saying his hand was hurting. I felt it and realized he had some swelling and hardness under the skin at the base of his palm. We gave him some ice and he went back to bed. In the morning his hand was obviously infected with a red angry swollen bumpy  part and then red streaks heading toward his elbow. That scared me so I made and appointment and took him to the doctor. We were already headed there for Jianna's checkup so were able to get them seen together. Jonah is now taking antibiotics and the red streaks are gone but he still has this gross infection with pus under the skin. So he feels like he should not have to do his homework and just be allowed to watch TV and play video games because his hand hurts and he was allowed to stay home from school for a day and "rest" (watch TV and play video games). There was a Berenstein bear book in the waiting room of the pharmacy about the exact thing that happened. Brother bear was sick and was so busy having fun at home that he didn't bother to work on his homework and when he went back to school he flunked the pop quiz, maybe that inspired Jonah to blow off his homework and blame it on his hand. Oh the trials of being an elementary school student! On the upside both Jonah and Juniper have been having fun with some new workbooks I got Juniper to work on her Kindergarten skills. She is taking it very seriously and working all the time on them, she's already half way through the second book and it's only been three days! Jonah is helping her by reading the directions and making sure she is doing it right. Very sweet!

I read a posting at Jillian's preschool the other day for dealing with misbehavior and I have been trying it out with my kids, it seems especially to be working wonders with Jonah. It goes like this:  DADD....
D for Disapprove ("we don't do that in this family" and mean it)
A for affirm ( remind them what they do right "you are often so helpful"),
D for Discover (find out what is going on or why they did it "what is this really about?")
D for "Do-Over" (what could we do differently next time?)

Good stuff!
Love you!! xoxo

Hello 2014!

Here we are already in 2014! Wow how fast the time goes! Now we are a family of 7 people and it is getting more interesting all the time!
Jillian is so cute, she will be two in a couple of months and I can hardly believe that is true. She is still my baby! I am amazed lately at her expanding vocabulary and her easy social nature. Yesterday we all went to the Farmer's Market (Jasper stayed home with Irene who was here on Sunday). Jillian found the sidewalk chalk and was engrossed in the pictures she and others were making in the square. She was so focused on her work but at the same time was doing it together with the others (mostly adults). She offered different colors to her new friends and traded and moved around, sometimes lying belly down on the pavement with her nose inches away from the chalk drawing. When her favorite comrades in chalk left she recruited new members (young scruffy single males and older grey-haired gentlemen seemed to be her main targets).

Other excitements at the Farmer's Market included:
For a few minutes all of the big kids were missing. One minute they were playing tag, climbing trees and running around like banshees, then by and by I hear they are missing, no where to be found. Two dads were searching the perimeter and one dad is telling me it's not like his son to just run off without telling him.... I said that's not like mine either. I last saw Juniper near her favorite climbing tree, I knew they were here somewhere so I walked toward the tree and saw the hunched backs of a few familiar jackets under a table with rocks and gems on it and a long draping table cloth, I believe they were all looking at one kids ipod and had no idea the parents were looking for them.

In other news, Jillian decided it was a good time to try her independence at crossing the busy street by herself. She saw a family with a stroller crossing at the crosswalk and was following along with them. From across the way I saw where she was headed (Daddy was on duty at the time and had just turned away for a few seconds) I yelled her name and then his name and he ran over and scooped her up just as she made it to the curb! It was a little excitement for everyone watching. Jon said "she was already making eye contact with the drivers..." well, I hope that's the last time we have that happen!!

As I sit here now Jillian is insisting on going in the hot tub so she is naked, which makes for a great impromptu potty training session. I'm not sure she understands that it's gross to put the potty seat upside down on her head like a hat. She is ready to potty-train but I'm not sure I'm ready. I'm also wearing my sleeping/nursing baby in the sling so I'm reminding the screaming toddler about inside voices which she mostly disregards but does think is funny. The hard part about potty-training is the time before they are able to realize they are taking a crap on the carpet. They look down and they're like oh! there's some poop! I think i will squish it between my toes or maybe spread some under the table for fun... hopefully the dealing with massive amounts of excrement stage of my life will lessen as time goes on!
So....While I was writing that guess what Jillian did... ta-da!! she pooped in the little potty! I was typing away and I hear her say, "uh oh" which is what we all say when she poops in the bath, shower, on the floor or anywhere but the diaper. I jumped and clapped and said yes yes! that's the place to do it, not uh-oh, high five!! Good work Jillian, now put your diaper back on!!