Purple, purple, purple

As the weather has warmed (finally!) we are once again finding ourselves stocking up on age-appropriate outdoor toys. Tonight Brooke was in purple heaven - we stopped at Menards to get a sandbox, but of course forgot the sand to go with it. We then went to Walmart to pick up a plastic pool - they of course had a purple one right on top...and as we were standing there noticed that Crayola makes sand that is...you guessed it...PURPLE! Oh if you could have seen the excitement in Brooke. The man that checked us out even made a comment about how he'd love to be 3 again and SO excited about plastic pools that hold 2 feet of water and purple sand. He's right - it's a lot of fun to watch the world through our children's eyes. Our backyard looks like a plastic playard, not a garden oasis as I'm sure Mike would prefer, but he'd agree that it's worth all of the smiles and memories for a time that passes so quickly.

Clayton at 18 months

It's hard to believe that Clayton is 18 months old! We went in for his check-up and he weighs 24 lbs (25%ile), height was 33.5" (80%ile) and his head...you guessed it...just above the 97%ile.

And here's my current list of "Oh, the things I love about you, Clayton!"

• I love that you love to laugh. If you see anyone laugh, you'll join right in. You are so ticklish and have an infectious laugh.


• I love that you could eat pretzels all day long and still ask for more. As soon as you are buckled into your carseat you start chanting for pretzels...or if you forget to do that - you start chanting as soon as you hear the bucket of pretzels roll in the car.


• I love your obsession with balls - and that you're starting to identify the difference between basketball, football, baseball, etc.
• I love that when I change your diaper you pick up the dirty one and make a mad dash for the kitchen to throw it away.
• I love that you laugh hysterically when you are washing your hands and I turn the bathroom sink on and off.
• I love that you can finally lay still for a diaper change!
• I love that when I sing to you at night you "sing" along with me.
• I love that you try to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star but only sing "Up above the world so high" over and over and over and over - getting louder each time.
• I love that you get excited to hold my hand. Or to hold Brooke's hand when you're sitting next to her in the car or stroller.
• I love that you request a spoon at every meal - even though you don't really know how to use it yet and usually have food that doesn't require it.
• I love your own little language you've developed; "abba da ba da baba" and you'll say it while pointing at something in complete confidence that I know what you've just said.
• I love your curly, curly hair and blue eyes.

Little Girls and Boys DO play differently

Anyone who claims that boys and girls don't play differently than each other has either never had kids or never had one of each! Clayton has the car "garage" toy that has a place to race the cars, wash them, fill up the gas tank, etc. And Clayton will play with his cars on it with sound effects and all. The other day I found Brooke playing with it, but she had a very different idea...it was her Barbie's water park. The car ramps became water slides and the tower became the high dive. Here's a dated picture of the toy (October '07)...

I am just amazed at how different boy vs girl is! Brooke plays with dolls, likes to pick flowers, etc. and Clayton enjoys balls, throwing anything he can and eating the occasional rock on the playground.

And of course...a Brooke story. We (just Brooke & I) went to Sendik's grocery store on the way home from BSF yesterday. As we are checking out (by the way I'm standing by the checker and Brooke is down at the end of the aisle on the other side of the cart) Brooke says, "Mommy, is that a boy or a girl?" She was referring to the checker. So I did what any mother would...I pretended I didn't hear her and she got louder..."MOMMY, is that a BOY or a GIRL?!" I shot her a look and gave her a shhhh....and she got louder..."Mommy I want to know if it's a boy or a girl!" To which I replied, "Brooke, this is a nice lady that is helping us today." In the parking lot I explained to her that people don't like being asked if they are a boy or a girl. "Why?" she asks. "Because it's just not nice" I told her, "But why mom?" "I don't know, Brooke, some people just don't like being asked if they are a boy or a girl." I'm sure this is just a taste of what's to come...and remind me again why I was so eager for her to speak clearly!!!

Little Pooh's Birthday Party

Let's back up a few weeks or so... As you've heard, Little Pooh (stuffed animal) gets quite the attention around our house - I think he may be more high maintenance than either of my kids and he is quite the demanding little bear. We were shopping the other day and Brooke announces that Little Pooh told her we need to go to Kohl's next. I told her we weren't going to Kohl's that day - she responds, "But mommmmm...Little Pooh says we HAVE to." I nicely let her know that Little Pooh was not in the car, nor did he make the rules. Every morning we have new Little Pooh stories. He would scratch her, hit her, fall down, need a time out, refuse to take a nap, etc. Literally about 10 Little Pooh stories a day. If you ask her where she learned something new...her response...."Little Pooh taught me!" So I was just to the point that Little Pooh was going to need to be accidentally lost because he was driving me crazy...that almost brings us up to current day.

On Saturday during nap Brooke wasn't falling asleep. I went in to ask her to close her eyes and rest for a while. Her response..."I can't yet mom. It's Little Pooh's birthday and we're in the middle of his party. He's turning TWO!" (stated so emphatically that I must have been on another planet to have not realized that it was his birthday...how could I?!") Okay, Brooke - finish up the party and then go to sleep.

Sunday...Before nap she’s telling me that she has to feed Little Pooh and that he can’t have cheese because he has "allerJesus" which she corrected herself to say allergies. And that he doesn’t need a bracelet to tell people about his allergies like Tommy has…. I also heard about how Big Pooh has to take care of little Pooh while we go swimming, but he’ll cry while she’s gone so we should bring him along in the swim bag so that he’s doesn’t cry. Ummm…no was my response. I told her Big Pooh would take very good care of Little Pooh while we swam.

So Monday morning we went to Wal-mart to do our grocery shopping. I needed some more cupcake holders (just because we were out) and Brooke says, "OHHHH - those are for Little Pooh's birthday party?!" Sure, Brooke - they are for Little Pooh's birthday party. We then proceeded to buy cupcake mix and frosting. I couldn't remember what brand our friend Tommy could have (he has life-threatening milk and nut allergies) so I was reading all of the labels. I put the items in the cart and Brooke says, "MOM! I have to read the labels TOO because of Little Pooh's allergies." She then "read" the label and let me know Little Pooh could not have the sprinkles.

And here's the reason for the story...Brooke's "currency" for obedience/motivation has rarely been traditional (time out, spankings, etc.) just didn't work. On the other hand, things like not allowing her to buckle herself into her own car seat at 2 was a perfect punishment/threat. Recently Brooke has had some anxiety in going to preschool, the Y's kidcare, Sunday school, etc. and would cling to me and cry when I'd try to drop her off. She's almost always fine once I'm gone and has a great time. It's been going on for about 3 weeks now and not getting much better. SO! *Lightbulb* "Brooke, we can have a birthday party for Little Pooh at lunch on Tuesday with the Seiler's if you go to kidcare on Monday night and preschool on Tuesday morning with a happy face." Worked like a charm! So today, we celebrated Little Pooh's 2nd birthday (which happens to also be Brooke's 1/2 birthday) with cupcakes, candles and song. This evening at KidCare - in with a smile, no bribe required...hopefully we're over this hump! Thanks to a Little Bear that I wanted to "accidentally lose!"

And here's the proof....left to right: Brooke, Big Pooh and Little Pooh (a little hard to see), Tommy Seiler, and Samantha Seiler.

Working for beans (literally!)

A few weeks ago we started a reward program for Brooke to earn summer toys, etc. There are two jars - the good bean jar and the bad bean jar. Each jar started with 50 beans (too many...we'll revise for the next round). Everytime Brooke had good behavior, good manners, etc. she got to move a "bad bean" into the "good bean jar". And the opposite is true for bad behavior. The object is to have all your beans in the good bean jar and when that happens you get a reward. So Brooke has been "working" for this Dora fishing pole for about 3 weeks now. And today she earned it! She and daddy spent the early part of the evening "fishing" in the living room. I should have had a video camera instead of a regular camera...Clayton would chase after the "lure" while Brooke reeled the line in.

So ultimately the goal is to teach Brooke that we have to work for the things that we get and the way we found to instill that for a 3 1/2 year old is with beans...it brings a whole new meaning to "working for beans." The other great benefit to this is that Mike and I are reminded to give her a ton of positive praise for coming downstairs dressed in the morning, eating all her vegetables at dinner, being kind/helpful to her brother, etc. It seems so easy to always be telling her the negative things she's doing and not drawing attention to all the positives. It has also been great in the middle of a tantrum to ask her if she wants a "bad bean"...most of the time she straightens up pretty quickly.

Lots of interesting looks and comments...

This weekend we had the Seiler children at our home so that Tom and Karen could have one last weekend away before Baby #3 arrives in June. Our children are around each other a lot (close to every day) and get along great. In rank its - Tommy (44 months), Brooke (42 months), Sammie (26 months), and Clayton (18 months)...and soon Baby Seiler. So today was a cold, windy day, Mike needed to study, which meant that the 4 kids and I had all day just to play...but what to do?! I decided that we'd take a field trip to Hoffer's Tropic Pet Life (a huge pet store). I put the younger two in the stroller and gave Tommy and Brooke strict instructions to hold onto the stroller in the store and that if they let go we would leave. They all did GREAT! No meltdowns, no disobedience...perfect behavior. They loved the snakes, lizards, birds, alligators, turtles, fish, fish and more fish. But we definitely got some interesting looks as I traveled through the store....interesting as in "lady, are you crazy for having so many kids!" As we were leaving a little girl whispered something to her mother that I didn't hear. Her mom responded, "No honey, I think they are all part of the same family." To which I quickly corrected her.

We came home ate lunch, all four kids took awesome naps (miracles really do happen!) and then after dinner Mike and I decided to run a few errands with the kids before bedtime. Again, great behavior in the stores, but a lot more looks. One lady stopped Mike to ask, "What are their ages...are they all yours?!" And again as we were leaving, this younger couple whispered (but still loud enough to hear)..."Yeah, that's what I'd call a fun shopping trip." For good behavior, they were all rewarded with a trip to Toys R Us.

I just find it so interesting people's perspective on that many small children at one time. I think I'd find it more interesting to send a 8 month pregnant woman (i.e. Karen) out into the same scenarios and then hear what people had to say!!

Let the tantrums begin...

In the past few weeks, our darling, mellow Clayton has figured out the art of temper tantrums. When he doesn't get his way, he'll throw his head back, while crying, start stomping his feet and head for the nearest corner to express his displeasure. They are usually short lived and he's very easy to move on to something else. I find it cute!....for now. So I was reflecting back on Brooke at his age - (I've considered her to be more of our strong willed child.) What I found was that in actuality Brooke was just busy up until about 17 months (same age as Clayton is now) and the challenge was really just to keep up with her and then she started throwing fits when we tried to put her in shopping carts or anything that restricted her independence....and that lasted up until about 6 months ago! I'd still put her in the strong willed category, but we definitely have more good days than bad days...it just took a year and a half to get there!

My purpose in this posting is that my mellow child may be turning a corner...we'll see! If there's any similarities around this corner as there was to Brooke - it may be an interesting ride.



Also, for those that have been warning Brooke for months now to be nice to Clayton because he'll be bigger than her soon...I hope she was listening. Here's a good perspective shot on their difference in size - he's gaining on her. And Clayton is all boy, with his balls, cars, and wrestling. She'll be laying on the floor trying to watch a show or do a puzzle and he'll come up and jump on her (usually her head.) To which she starts screaming and then he starts screaming because he thinks it's a game. Isn't chaos great!