Parenting Tip #37

We had a wonderful trip to Iowa to visit with Charlie and Liam's Great Grandma Knepper. While we were there, Liam's Aunt Christine discovered that he had broken through two front teeth on the bottom. They were just peeking through, but now they're quite visible. No sign of teeth up top yet.

In addition to a nice visit with family, John got to take some great photos of a fire training exercise that was going on in Perry. We spotted some flames a couple of blocks away from the playground where the kids were playing, and he and Todd went to investigate.

Last weekend John completed the Warrior Dash in Illinois with a group of friends. While he was off running, jumping, and climbing around through the mud, I went to St. Louis with the boys to meet up for a weekend of fun with the Brewoods. Dad flew up from Houston on Thursday to accompany me on the trip, so we had a nice homemade steak dinner that night to celebrate Fathers Day for him and John in advance.

Which brings us to Parenting Tip #37. Watch what you do in front of your children-- they might try to mimic you. On the drive home, I asked Charlie what he was doing in the backseat. He said "I'm doing like Daddy does." I shrugged, and kept on driving. When we stopped to eat, I went to get him out of the car, and found that he had torn up a tissue into small bits and shoved most of them up his nose, both sides. I was able to pull all but one piece out-- I could see it, but could not reach it. Apparently, Charlie had observed John trying to stop a nosebleed with tissues in his nose, and decided that would be a good way to clean out his nose, which apparently had "boogers."

A trip to the doctor on Monday morning was required to extract the last piece of tissue, and Charlie was very brave during the procedure. We also got Liam some antibiotics for his developing ear infection while we were there (he'd had a cough and congestion for just over a week). So it was a productive visit.

This weekend we're enjoying time at home, before our next two weekend trips away. John and Charlie went to see Toy Story 3 (in 3D!) this afternoon. It was Charlie's first feature film in a theater, and he did great. I broke down and trimmed a bit of Liam's hair (just the section that was hanging down over his ears) because he was looking a bit scruffy. It will only be a few weeks before we'll probably be having to get his first professional haircut-- it's creeping down toward his eyes in front.

Charlie has a new carseat in my car now. Liam is nearly too heavy for the infant seat, and I wanted to hand down Charlie's seats and get him new booster seats, now that he's 3 years old and over 30 pounds. While he could stay in his old seats for quite a while, I wanted to try and avoid buying a second set of expensive seats for Liam. But unfortunately the booster seats all seem to require a minimum height of 38 inches, and Charlie is just under 36. So I got a combination seat to try-- still with the harness, but will convert to the booster when he grows a bit. He's excited because it's easier for him to climb into himself, and it has a cupholder, which his old seat didn't.

We hope to take the kids to the pool tomorrow. We'll see if Charlie's swim lessons continue to pay off. So far it seems like they have-- he had a great time swimming around in a noodle while we were in St. Louis.

Kicking off our Tour of the Midwest

Tomorrow we kick off our 5 week tour of the Midwest, as we head for the airport and fly to Iowa to visit the kids' Great Grandma Knepper. It's a mini-reunion of sorts-- all six of her great grandkids will be there on Saturday for a small gathering. Next weekend, while John is at the Warrior Dash in Illinois, I will drive with the kids and my dad to St. Louis, where we'll spend the weekend visiting with my sister Christine and her family, who will have driven in from Kansas. After a weekend at home, we'll head on 4th of July weekend to Indiana, for a family reunion on John's side (his mother's family). The following weekend we plan to head to Cleveland to visit some Robenalts and celebrate high school graduations for two of John's cousins.

While the month ahead has excitement on the road, the month just past was full of activities at home. Charlie has settled into Preschool, and seems to have built some favorite activities already. John likes to say that he picks the math and science stations when he drops off in the morning, but for me, he seems to head for the sensory table or the block area most of the time when he doesn't head straight for snacks. His favorite thing to build with the blocks is either a house for the animals or a fire station. He's been really diligent about cleaning up after himself, and has learned the various routines of the room. Yesterday was their first water play day for the summer, and he had a great time. He has started taking Spanish two days a week at the daycare, and continues his Stretch and Grow class once a week.

At home, we converted Charlie's bed back to the smaller toddler size, because he did not seem to like it "big." He kept wanting to sleep on the floor. When we made the change, we also put the new Star Wars sheets on the bed, and now he's excited by them. Now that Charlie is 3, we tried to get him to taste some peanut butter cookies so we can eliminate thoughts of a peanut allergy, but he refused to try them-- he was completely non-interested. As part two of my Mothers Day gift (the first was our trip to the zoo), John bought me some new planters for the front porch, and Charlie went with me to pick out some flowers to put in them. He used his new gardening tools (birthday gift) to help me dig in the dirt and plant the flowers. He enjoys going out with me about once a week to water them-- he wants to make sure they don't "died."

The second half of May included several birthday parties, our own annual grill out, the Civil Rights game (Cards vs. Reds), and a playdate with one of Charlie's toddler room friends. Charlie finished up his Saturday morning swimming lessons just this past Saturday. I got a chance to head out with the girls to see SATC2, and to the butterfly show for a photography night. Work has continued to be hectic for both John and me. Somewhere in the midst of all this craziness, Charlie said to me one day, "When you get little like a boy, you can play on the monkey bars, and I will go to work." I told him that sounded good to me!

While Charlie keeps us entertained with his new vocabulary and grasp of new concepts, Liam quietly grows like a weed. He still hates tummy time, and I don't know when he'll ever get around to really rolling over easily and eventually crawling, but he's sitting up well and sleeping really well at night. Still no teeth in sight, but we've been working through various new fruits and vegetables and different cereals. His hair still stands on end, and he's quite the charmer in the infant room.