Helmet Head

Spring has officially sprung here in Beaufort, and that means that Allen and I have started enjoying the outdoors again. In fact, yesterday, we spent just about the entire afternoon out of doors. 

We started with almost taking a bike ride. First, on Allen's trike (he subsequently decided he'd rather not pedal), then on Mom's bike ... until she saw how far it was buried in the shed (Daddy will have to fish it out for them). Just because the bike ride got canceled, doesn't mean we can't still wear the helmet, though. 

He wore it while he rolled around in the sand, and poured sand all over himself.

Then it protected his head while he poured rocks over himself.

Fortunately, he decided not to wear it to the park. Because, honestly, Mom would have been mortified. We enjoyed a snack (or picnic) at the park, and then played for awhile. Mom almost took him down the slide, but chickened out at the last minute. Can't get past that claustrophobia (it's one of those tube slides).

Then we were off to see Miss Nancy at The Storybook Shoppe. The best place in the world (other than our shop, of course). And we hadn't seen Miss Nancy since her return from Australia. Allen immediately found the little table at the back and started working on some Curious George puzzles, while Mommy and Miss Nancy caught up and discussed appropriate books for a certain six-year-old who is coming to visit soon. After a long visit, we left the shoppe with two Dr. Seuss books.

We got home just in time for Daddy's arrival, and then walked back up to the Marketplace to dine at our favorite local haunt, Maggie's. Bad idea. After the busy afternoon we'd had, Allen was too tired to sit still or behave at dinner. I won't go into detail, but let's just say it involved shoes on the table and screaming. Oh, and telling the owner that he didn't like the food. Not embarrassing at all ....

On the way home, Allen informed us that the word mail starts with the letter M. "Mail and Malcolm start with M," he explained. Genius. We quizzed him on a few more words, and he got most of them right. Child prodigy, don't you think?

We ended the evening with a casual family worship viewing of the David video (in our bed. Where the only DVD player in the house is).

All in all, it was a good day. A very good day.

xoxo,

AHC

Cry me a river

We've been seeing a lot of crying lately ... I mean A LOT. Every naptime; every bedtime; every time he has to make a decision on whether or not he wants to go with Nana (not to mention the times when he has no choice but to go with her).


Mom's getting really tired of it. Tonight, I threatened the loss of his "Mommy" story if he didn't change his attitude about bedtime and put his toys away (he was throwing a tantrum). He continued to misbehave so he lost the "mommy" story. I should have known that this was a mistake. I should have known not to mess with his bedtime routine, but I was desperate (you'd understand if you'd been at meeting with us tonight), and I didn't know what else to do.


So anyway ... no "mommy" story. All hell broke loose. Hysterical crying. Kicking. At this point, I was at a loss. I had realized my mistake -- you can't take something away from a child that he comes to expect from a routine. But, he was behaving entirely inappropriately. So, I explained that Mommy made a mistake, but I also explained why I had taken the story away. Once I felt he understood, we read a short story (series of poems to be accurate). Then he cried again because he wanted another story.

This morning he opened the pantry door and saw cookies. I need a "spinkle" cookie. Not until you eat breakfast. Allen, you have to eat real food before you have a cookie.
screaming
rolling around on floor
crying, "I don't want weal food. Just cookies!!"

I stopped arguing with him and went back to eating my breakfast. Finally he came over and ate his eggs. After he was done, he said "I a good boy! I ate weal food. I can have a cookie now!"

Does anyone have any words of wisdom for this stage -- the tantrum stage? The crying. The "I need" stage? I've tried reasoning. I've tried hugging. I usually remain very calm. I speak quietly to him. Do I just have to hold on until it passes? Help, please?!

xoxo,

I hate Gummy Bears

So remember my Bribery post from a couple days ago? How excited I was by my brilliant plan to use bribery (or positive reinforcement) to help train Allen to behave at meetings? Well, we tried it today at the meeting. It didn't work so well. In fact, the whole plan kinda blew up in my face.

We spent the entire first half of the meeting sobbing. Daddy tried to calm him down. Mommy tried to calm him down. Nothing worked. Finally Allen decided that he could go to the seat and sing the song. So I gave him a few gummy bears since he calmed himself down. Then he lost it again because he wanted the rest of the gummy bears. It took me another 15 minutes to calm him down from that episode. When we finally got back to the seat, he had missed his opportunity to raise his hand to answer "Noah." Though when someone else did, his eyes lit up, and he look at me and whispered "Noah!" At least he was listening.

For the remainder of the Watchtower he did pretty well. But then during the final song, he started messing around in Nana's purse. Therefore, during he prayer, he was not behaving (and was making noise opening and closing her eye glass case). As soon as we tried to pull him away, he screamed. I had to practically run out of the auditorium into the bathroom.

Needless to say, I was exhausted after the meeting. Utterly exhausted. So, loyal readers (all four or five of you), do you have any suggestions for how we can help Allen behave during the meetings? I welcome -- even plead for -- your suggestions.

xoxo,



P.S. I apologize for the lack of photos. I tried to post them, but Blogger is not letting me.

Tubby Time

When I arrived home this evening, Allen was happy as could be. He was playing with his cars; he had a move in the DVD player; he was eating a granola bar. Life was sweet. Then about 7:00, Mommy said the dreaded T word ... tubbies. Just the sight of me standing up and clapping my hands, caused him to throw himself back onto the couch and cry.

I gave him some juice treats, promised him that I would take the tubby with him, bribed him with all the sweetness I could think of, and he still screamed bloody murder when we tried to get him upstairs for his bath. He screamed (and I'm not exaggerating) all the way up the stairs and while I got him undressed. He screamed when I put him on the floor to walk into the bathroom. He screamed while I ran the water. He stopped when I told him he could sit on the potty and I'd read him the potty book.

He started up again when we were done on the potty. He screamed while I got his hair wet. He screamed while I washed it. Then he splashed and played with his binky in the water. Then he screamed while I rinsed him off. Now, as you can imagine, with all this screaming, I went as quickly as I could. So, I finally get him rinsed off and he stops screaming, smiles, and says, "All done!" I start draining the water. He plays for a minute, and then starts screaming, "Tubby Tubby" because the water was draining out.

I think you get the idea, right?

Needless to say, Mommy came downstairs after the kid was in bed and poured herself a nice big glass of wine :)

More to come tomorrow, my loves. I still have at least one more post from the Pennsylvania trip to share with you ... In the meantime, like my sassy little outfit today?

XOXO,

P.S. Don't you think legwarmers are awesome? I'm thinking about ordering these for the shop. What do you think??

Take your kid to work day

Today was "take your kid to work day" at the shop. Brian had some work to do at my Mom's, so Allen spent about half the day at the shop with Mommy and Nana. Of course, this was the one day that he didn't want to sit and watch Cars. Instead he pressed all the buttons on the DVD player, hid in the stock "room," threw sidewalk chalk around the shop, and threw a tantrum when he couldn't stay outside (it was really cold here today).

Finally, he started helping Nana stock a shelf with new merchandise. He would pick up an item and take it across the shop to her. She kept saying, "Thank you, sweetheart!" He was so happy to help her. I was standing where the merchandise was sitting on the floor, and I think I moved something, and Allen said, "Thank you sweetheart!" It was adorable. He also said, "Sugar Mama" right after I did (I say Sugar Mama instead of another choice word when I hurt myself). It's so much cuter when he says it though, because it sounds more like "Sugah."

Finally, Daddy came to the shop, and the three of us went to get "pizzie" across the street. We told him to say hi to Mister Bill, and he said, "Hi Sticker Bill!" I kind of like that, don't you?

That's all for the "working" post today. More to follow."





P.S. In case you're wondering what Allen is doing in the above picture, he is taking the lids off the candles and "sniffing" them to make sure they smell good. He would "sniff" and then say, "Mmmm!"

People Wait! Boogie Night

Before I post about the Peanut, I'd like to say that I don't like any of your responses to my puppy post. C'mon guys, I want a new "baby," but I'm not ready to have one of the human variety. Support the need ... is it really that much more expensive to have two? (that's not a sarcastic question ... I'm serious. I've never really noticed the expense of having Mia. Is it noticeable with two dogs?). Though, I have to say that with four negative responses, my confidence is wavering. Anywho ...

Tonight, my child was atrocious at the meeting. I can't even begin to explain how bad he was. Testing limits ... yelling ... I don't know what came over that child, but I was at my wits' end. It didn't help that Daddy is still sick and stayed home tonight. But I don't think that was all it was. That child deliberately did things I told him not to do. It was awful. Even Nana was surprised and said, "he's testing you." If she says something negative about the Peanut, then you know he was naughty.

Two positives from the meeting though ... 1) he said "Amen" really loudly and enthusiastically at the end of the meeting (we were in the bathroom for the first prayer because he was throwing a fit, so maybe he said it super loud to make up for that); 2) when the first two people walked out of the Kingdom Hall, he yelled, "People, wait!" and continued to yell that for the rest of the time we were there. Except for when he was rolling around on the floor ... oh and on the stage too (see what I mean about being naughty?)

Also, we discovered today that he now says, "I got you man (or I got chew man)." I'm not sure where he learned this, but it certainly is amusing.

Now onto more positive things ... dinner with the Todds during our Pennsylvania trip. Allen and Ava were hilarious. Here are some shots at dinner ...

Uncle Brian taught Ava to stick her tongue out (I'm sure her Mommy and Daddy are forever grateful for that one)

Contemplative Ava

What a cutie!

Even cuter close up!


Allen wearing Ava's barrette

As hard as I tried, I could not get one single nice picture of the two of them.


I think Ava grabbed Allen's butt ...

Once we got outside and finished the supposed "posed shots," the kids decided to dance. Tony provided the "beat" ...

Ava getting down!

The two of 'em groovin'

And groovin' some more!

He moves like such a white boy ...




And hugs at the end of the night (I can't wait to display this picture at their wedding!)

XOXO my loves, I've got to go to sleep now!


P.S. I'm only five viewers away from the big 500! Let's hope I get five more new viewers in the next couple days!

Sock Boycott

It seems that Allen is boycotting socks ... yesterday's nap apparently consisted of him working to get his socks off. When he called me about 45 minutes after I put him down for his nap, he was holding up one sock, very proudly, saying "Sock! See, Mommy?" The other one was under his blankets (I don't think he actually slept at all during his "nap.").

Today, I walked into the house to see him sock-less as well. And when it was time to "snuggle Mommy," her socks had to be removed as well. Seriously ... there was a tantrum brewing if I did not remove them promptly.

While not directly related to this post, Allen was barefoot when these pictures were taken. Plus I feared the wrath of my few readers if I posted today without pictures of the kid.This is Allen enjoying Daddy's new beer glass.

*Note: for those readers who don't really know us, and/or who comment on random blogs without knowing the person or bothering to read the full story, this glass is EMPTY. No beer was actually consumed.