One of my childhood memories is sitting with my dad at the computer. At the time I was watching and learning what he was doing on the computer. I remember learning some of the basics of computers and programming at his knee. So I find it great that Jacob now wants to sit on my lap and play on the computer. Its a special time that the two of use share. Right now that consists of exploring the different shows, games and videos on PBSKids.org and www.cbc.ca/kidscbc/. We usually spend about 15 to 30 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week in front of the computer. He asks for it almost every day. Its great to have special moments to share with him, because he’s growing so fast, I can’t believe in just a month he’s starting pre-school, and before long it will be kindergarten. He’s growing up so fast.
Here is a call out to my readers. I’m looking for other things to share with him on the computer. Perhaps sites or programs that I could get that would help teach him how to use the mouse. He’s already typing, well hunting and pecking at the keys. He types in addresses of the sites we go to. He loves Babysmash, so I’m looking for other things to engage him.
The last week has been a whirlwind of milestones for our little cupcake. First on Friday while out with Mommy she decided to wave hello and goodbye to all the strangers in the mall. We’ve been trying to get her to wave and it was nice to see that she’s picked it up and shared it with the world.
Then last night she decided to showcase some of here other recent milestones. First while playing on the floor with me she climbed up on me and said Dada. she followed that with mama while looking at Melissa. These aren’t the first time she’s said Mama or Dada, but to hear them right after the other was great. Then later while playing with mommy on the floor she grabbed Chloe and said kitty. I was impressed with how well Chloe handled having her little hands grabbing her. Violet really likes our cat, unlike Jacob when he was a baby.
Its amazing how its the little things that bring a smile to my face and makes me realize how much my little girl has grown.
Today was Jacobs 4th skating lesson. It’s been quite a ride, every lessons Jacob acts out in some why. Either before getting on the ice or during the lesson. Over all he’s been good but take today for example. He didn’t want to even put on his skates. We talk him into letting us put his skate on, and once they were on his feet he was walking around and seemed excited about going out on the ice. The lesson went great and he didn’t even want to leave the ice at the end of it. Which says to me that he might be a little scared of heading out onto the ice. Now whether it is falling or the cold. I’m not sure, but I’m hopping that all he needs is a little more confidence.
The more I think about it the more I am convinced that it is the same problem we’re having trying to get him to jump into the swimming pool. He is scared but doesn’t know how to express it. What he needs is a little more experience so that he gets past the fear and gains confidence in his abilities. The best way to do that is to get out on the ice and into the pool more. We have been planning to start going to an evening free swim on Tuesday nights. Perhaps we should look at finding a free skate on another night to get him out onto the Ice more then once a week. We’ll watch his development over the next couple of weeks to see how he does. Then if he needs more ice time we’ll find a way to get him more ice time.
So tonight was Halloween and our little ones dressed up and headed out for a night of Tricks and Treats. Violet as a Bumble Bee and Jacob as a Pirate. A good time was had by all, though Violet was a little crabby. We were out past her bed time. It will be interesting next year when she’s walking. Enjoy the pictures.
Today our little family headed out to Whittamore’s Farm at last getting to do one of the fall family outings that we planned. We left later then we usually would have because of a rough night of sleeping for Jacob. We even thought about not going but the day was just to beautiful to waste.
It was Violets first visit to Whittamores, so Mommy and Daddy had to get a picture with our little girl.
Leaving later might have had some hidden benefits, though the farm was busy it didn’t feel as crowded as it has in past years. Like when we went to find a table for lunch, the picnic area was almost deserted.
We saw some animals, Wooden and real.
The kids both found something to ride.
Of course with the crowd we had to wait in some lines
And some things Jacob wasn’t big enough for
Of course there are lots of places to play
Of course what would be a trip to a Pumpkin farm without choosing a pumpkin. The kids were really helpful during the process. The one thing I can’t believe is that Violet is wearing Jacobs old Pumpkin hat.
All in all it was a great day at the farm. I just love family traditions.
2 days and 2 and a half nights of the no sou sous it’s been a mixed success. The first night went well but the second was a disaster. It started with having a full day of activities and missing his nap. So he was tired and went to bed with only a minor plea for a sou sou around 7. Of course that was to early for our little guy and at 2:30 he was up. I intercepted him on his way to get Violet sou sou. I’m not sure if he got it if he would have gone back to sleep. What I do know is that without it he didn’t. He was up till around 5:30ish when he finally fell back asleep.
Today was another day without a nap, with the family trip to Whittamore Farm taking up the afternoon. He never seemed tired though and after last nights weird sleeping pattern he didn’t fall asleep till 9:30ish. Once again there was a plea for a sou sou, but I managed to convince him that he should try and sleep another night without it. Once he agreed to try he feel asleep. The question is will we have another late night wakeup? So far so good.
We’ve also not had a nap time without a sou sou. We’re also not up for another long night, so if he can’t sleep we’re thinking we might pull out one of his sou sous instead of fighting with him. I’m hoping we’ll be able to hang in there, but only time will tell.
I usually try to post earlier in the day, but I couldn’t seem to find the time to blog today. Now that I’m sitting in front of my computer as the day draws to an end I have the time and thought I probably should. It’s been an interesting night here, we decided that tonight was the night that Jacob would give up his Sou Sou’s, better known to some as Pacifiers. He’s been really good about only having a Sou Sou when he sleeps, but we think it’s time that he moves on. We’re worried about how it’s effecting his teeth.
So tonight the Sou Sou Fairy came and took them away. In there place will be a Diego Rescue Pack. This isn’t the first time that we’ve tried to trade his Sou Sou’s for the Rescue Pack, every other time we ended up with a sad boy would couldn’t sleep. Today its been different. Though it took him till after 11 to fall asleep. He didn’t have the quite the same reaction as the other times. It seems like he wants to move on, but he’s just scared. He’s never slept with out a Sou Sou. Ever since he was a new born baby in the NICU he’s had one and tonight for the first time, he’s sleeping without one. It’s a big step for our little guy.
Of course the hardest part in the days to come is going to be Violet’s Sou Sou. We are going to have to watch him to make sure that he doesn’t take them from her. Of course I’m sure that wont be a problem.
Last Minute Update:
Of course I was I was going to post this entry who should come walking down the hall asking for one of his stuffed animals but Jacob. It seems that he’s still not managed to fall asleep. I’m still hopeful that we’ll get there tonight, but its not looking good. I’ll keep you posted.
The fall seems to be slipping away. We had a lots of plans for family outings but as the weeks slip past we haven’t made it to any. Apart from having Melissa’s family over for Thanksgiving dinner our fall has been a bust. It seems every weekend with either have other plans or the weather spites us.
This weekend we have a dilemma, do we go to the Whittamore’s Farm a family tradition that Melissa and I have had since we were dating. Or we go to the Boo at the Zoo. We could try and do both, but realistically that doesn’t seem likely. So we are left with a choice do we go for the family tradition or start a new one.
Of course there are a few great events in the months to come. We have The Santa Claus Parade and the Santa Train, and of there will be The Santa Experience and probably a visit to a mall Santa, but though they are all grate family traditions they are all more wintery. It’s a shame that it looks like we’re going to miss out on most our Fall traditions. Perhaps next year will work out better.
One of the tricks of parenting is to learn to communicate with your baby, you want them to understand you. However, more importantly you need to understand your kids or any other kids you may receive into your home, so if you were looking to become a foster parent you would want to go through some sort of foster care training process to better understand the children and the children understand you. Things that you will learn with becoming a parent (natural, adoptive, or foster) is that from the moment they are born you learn to tell the differences between their cries. That high pitch scream is because she wants to be held, that lower sustained while is because she is hungry. But interpreting screams is hard work, and not always an exact science. That’s where teaching your baby to sign comes in. We used it with Jacob and it was great. We’ve doing the Signs with Violet, I thought I’d share what Violet did with her signs.
Last night when it was getting close to Violets bedtime and her final bottle of the night she started putting her hands together in the signing motion for more and looked expectantly at Melissa. It was something like this video, except this was without prompting. And much clearer hand movements
She was clearly asking for something, we think food. She had the wrong sign, because that’s the sign for ‘more’. When I brought her a bottle we did the sign for milk she tried to move her hand in the sign. So it’s clear that she’s getting it. Now it’s up to us as her parents to make sure that we keep using them around her and expanding her vocabulary of signs. Another way I want to help teach Violet her signs is to get Jacob doing them too. He still uses the sign for Please and Thank You. So all I have to get him to do is use it for Milk, More, and Eat.
Tonight when I got home after work I thought I’d let Melissa unwind a little. So I told Jacob that we were going upstairs and play with Violet. He was quite excited, he started to pick up some of Violets toys so that she would have something to play with. It was a very sweet. So the three of use spent close to an hour playing with different toys in Jacobs room.
Of course Jacob wanted to play with his train table, so while we did that Violet pulled herself up and tried to play too. It was quite fun, though Jacob wasn’t happy when she grabbed at the train he was pushing around the track. After the train we played with some of Jacobs letters and with our large Fisher Price Laugh and Learn House. It was one of Jacob’s favourite toys when he was younger. He was quite happy to show her the different songs that plays. He was disappointed when she lost interest and started crawling away.
Though today they really just played by themselves while next to each other. It was like looking into the future, before I know it it will be the 2 of them playing upstairs causing mischief instead of just Jacob. Of course I don’t want that day to come to quickly, I don’t want my little girl to growup to quickly.