Thomas goes to Preschool.

It's hard to believe it's already been over 4 years since Thomas joined our family. He is such a clever, funny, sensitive, loving boy. He has learned empathy, which at 4 I think is pretty remarkable. He loves to help around the house; emptying the dishwasher, putting his clothes away, helping with the cooking/baking. Just before I dropped him off for his second day of preschool, I confided in him that it made me a little sad he was big enough to go to school. He threw his arms around my neck and squeezed my tightly saying, "I'll make you happy with my hugs, mamma!" I teared up a bit at how much he didn't want me to be sad he was growing up. My big boy.

I made a small interview video with him just to be a marker for his growth as the years go by. I'm sure I'll get better at asking questions, but the majority will stay the same to see what changes for him as he ages. It's pretty cute, you've been warned. 

He says his teacher is very nice, and is now his best friend. He can't remember any of the other kids names yet, but I'm sure he'll learn them fast and not stop talking about them ;)

Change is good.

I like to think I'm a pretty easy going person. I take life as it comes. Sometimes it comes on a little faster than I expect, but that's not to say it's bad.

The boys are surprisingly good with change. Someone told me once children don't take well to change. But my boys have moved into the new house seamlessly, and are loving the puppy life. Sometimes I wonder if we were totally crazy moving and getting a puppy all within 8 days, but it really played out well. I anticipated the worst (ie. the cat and the dog hating each other, the boys not liking the puppy, the puppy being a TON of work and the boys displaying bad behavior as a result of the attention being shared with the puppy). We really figured that since we hadn't quite gotten into a new schedule/beat at the new house, that adding a puppy now would be the best idea, so we could all acclimate to the same schedule together, instead of getting settled, and then in a while adding a puppy and changing the whole daily schedule up again.

Thomas and Elliott are adjusting to their new room, and their new bunk beds. We decided that while Thomas was away for a week at nana and papa's, we'd tackle Elliott's soother. I've wanted to phase him out of it for awhile now, but decided it would be smarter to wait until we moved, and then once Thomas was away with nana and papa, Elliott wouldn't disturb him in the night if he had any issues without his soother. Before we got started, I explained to Elliott that he's a big boy now, sleeping in a big boy bed, and big boys don't use soothers anymore. In our conversation, he seemed on board, but when it was nap time, he definitely wasn't happy about it. He knew he was going to have a problem not being contained, so he asked to sleep in the play pen. It took him about 45 minutes to settle, but once he did, he had a good nap. At bedtime, it was the same struggle, he asked again to sleep in the playpen, but spent a good amount of time climbing out and banging on his bedroom door asking for his soother. After putting him back in the playpen 3 or 4 times and telling him it was time to sleep, I decided on a distraction tactic and gave him a bottle of milk. (I know, bottles in bed are a big no no, but in the name of getting rid of his soother, I made this exception.) The bottle worked! He went to sleep only 10 minutes after he'd been given the bottle. Success! We did this nap/bedtime dance for another 2 days, and now he is soother free, playpen free, and doesn't need a bottle (every time) to go to sleep. Sometimes he'll ask for a bottle at nap time, and to keep the peace, I'll indulge him in that, but I can tell he won't be asking for it much longer.

It really has been an easy adjustment period. I thought at least Thomas would tell me he missed our old house and wanted to move home, but so far he hasn't. They've picked out landmarks they recognize that are near the house, and exclaim "almost home!" when we near them on our way back. That makes me smile every time, because I know they like it here as much as I do.

Nothing is perfect, so there is one thing I don't like about Abbotsford. The outdoor pools are far and few between, and they're not free like the ones in Surrey. They also only take cash, and we rarely have any cash on us. Womp Womp Womp. But really, if that's the only fault I can find, so far, then I think we're in the clear. ;) Just wait until winter though, I may complain about the amount of snow. ;)

I hear the timer for dinner, so I'd better get the hungry monsters fed. :)

 Happy Monday!

Thomas and Elliott

Thought I'd do a little update post about my wild things.


Thomas:

4.5 years old.
excited to start preschool this fall
LOVES speech therapy
loves to sing and listen to music
has already picked out his future wife
has a small amount of freckles on his cute little nose
42lbs
still has a massive head
size 10(toddler) feet
still loves Thomas the Train and Cars
is excited to sleep on the top bunk of their new bunk bed
wants to know the day before what they're doing the next day
is very gentle
doesn't like conflict.
he's a lover, not a hater
likes to pray, and always remembers to ask for his blessing at bedtime
is a picky eater, but will almost always eat all of his dinner anyways (for the hope of getting a treat)
adores his cousin Emma
likes coloring, playdough, anything hands on, really
doesn't nap, perse, but if he has a time out in the late afternoon he will often doze off
cleans up all the toys in the living room when asked
empties the dishwasher (with my help), sweeps the kitchen floor and wipes the table and walls (willingly!!)
favorite colour is orange
consistently says he wants to be an astronaut
loves to snuggle
can't do anything without his favorite kitty


Elliott:

2 years and 4 months old
is not a gentle boy
loves Thomas the Train and Cars
instigates conflict
has a great vocabulary
loves to mimic Thomas
has been demoted to sleeping in his crib again because he was peeing in various locations in his room
is ready to potty train, i'm just waiting to we move
loves cats and dogs (but doesn't always know not to sit on them...)
likes to help empty the dishwasher
likes learning his letters and numbers
would prefer to sleep with mommy if he wakes up in the middle of the night
still uses a soother
still drinks his morning and bedtime milk out of a bottle
eats yogurt like it's the only food on the planet
is a cautious climber
naps 2 hours every day still (briefly tried to give it up, but he reinstated naptime)
takes a long time to warm up to other kids
likes his space
can't function without his blankie
prefers to roughhouse with daddy
size 8 (toddler) feet
likes soccer
won't sleep without Thomas at nana and papa's house
loves Hannah


They both love swimming, going to the park, going for walks and digging in the dirt.

Such is Our Life.

The last few nights Elliott has decided that sleeping through the night is not an option. He's been up every 2-3 hours crying LOUDly. We live in a fourplex, so while I'd love to just let him sort it out himself, I have 3 other families who could possibly be woken up by him when he does that.

I picked up an old wooden toddler bed, a few months ago, off the side of the road in our neighborhood, I've decided that now is the time to give it a sanding, and paint it and transition Elliott into it. When Thomas gets to have a sleepover at nana and papa's house, I've been putting Elliott in Thomas' bed, and he sleeps the whole night without a peep. So maybe the crib is too confining for him now. I'm nervous to let him be "free", but if it's what gets us through a night, I'll do it.

Of course, when you're getting inadequate sleep, you're bound to get sick. In this case, it's Josh and Thomas. Josh has a cough, and Thomas has Croup. Awesome. Our last week of spring break will have a bit of a different look than I'd planned now, because Croup is contagious. While it's not life threatening if passed on to another kid, it's just not good manners to let your children mingle with other children when they have something nasty like Croup.

In other news, I seem to have kicked my caffeine dependency. From the events of last weekend, I wasn't really into eating or drinking a whole ton, and that meant coffee was off my list too, especially because coffee can be quite hard on my intestines on a good day. When I was already having intestinal discomfort, I didn't want to do anything to add to it. I still miss coffee, but I think that's more of a habitual sort of "this is the time I used to drink my morning cuppa." I don't really crave the caffeine, and I found my energy might actually be a little bit more abundant.

And to add some colour to this post, have a look at a cake I made for my sweet niece's 1st birthday! It was a lot of fun to do, and it was tastey!