Samantha: 50 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 15 Months, Week 1 (Week 66)
With VBS continuing on Tuesday and Wednesday night, we tried to keep the mornings a little more low key. Everyone was pretty tired and the kids slept in more than usual to make up for the busy nights at church.
Tuesday morning we went to story time at the library. The story time is geared for older preschoolers so Samantha has a good time listening to books read and singing songs. Aedan, on the other hand, is not so interested in sitting still and listening to stories for very long, especially at the library when he knows there are other toys to play with and places to walk around. We tried to sit by Samantha, but he was just squawking and trying to wiggle out of my lap, so I figured it would be best for us to just leave and not disrupt the stories. After story time was over, Samantha came over to play with the toys, the dollhouse, and the puppets with us. Aedan was a bit sleepy that morning and wasn't paying much attention to where he was walking, so once he tripped over a tic-tac-toe game on the floor that he had just been playing with. I tried to catch him but was too late and he just fell right into the side of a table, hitting his forehead, getting quite a bruise, and crying pretty hard. I got him to calm down by distracting him with something else, but it wasn't long before I decided it was time to go home for lunch. Both kids need a good rest before another night of VBS.
On Tuesday night for VBS, it was my turn again to tell the Bible story. I hadn't practiced it as much as I would have liked to, so I felt a little more unprepared and nervous than I would have liked. We taught two groups at a time and had two rotations, then our duties were pretty much over for the night. Ben and I decided to go out for a few minutes by ourselves and grab some coffee at Starbucks before heading back to the church so that Ben could take Aedan home for bed. It's funny how when you're a parent even a 15 minute coffee break by yourselves feels like a date.
Wednesday, July 29th, Aedan turned 15 months old and also had his 15 month appointment at the doctor. Ben decided to stay home so that he could just stay home with Samantha while I took Aedan to the doctor. They are pretty good at getting you in quickly, and Aedan did really well. Before going to the appointment, I filled out an Ages and Stages 16 Month Questionnaire. Dr. Buerk said Aedan was above average in every area like gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal-social. He was slightly lower in the area of communication, but was still above average. As we know, kids develop in different ways. Some develop language first and then more motor skills, and some vice versa. Aedan can communicate very well, knows quite a few words, and we generally know what he wants or is trying to get across to us. However, I can definitely see that he developed his motor skills first and then his language development is coming after that. His weight was 25 pounds, 3 ounces which put him in the 83rd percentile. His height was 32 inches which put him in the 80th percentile. His head circumference was 19.5 centimeters which put him in the 98th percentile. (Apparently he has a big head!) I didn't have too many questions, so the doctor just went over a few things that are important to toddlers Aedan's age like having a routine to his day and when he sleeps, using gates on the stairs, and how to handle temper tantrums. He then had to get two shots in his leg. The first one didn't even phase him. The second one made him cry, but the crying lasted less than a minute and then he was fine. I was impressed! It's amazing how much can change from one appointment to the next. It's also hard to believe that we have a 15 month old toddling around. He no longer nurses, is learning how to run and chase, and especially likes to try and feed himself with a spoon or fork just like his big sister does. :)
Wednesday night was the last night of VBS. It was good to be able to volunteer and experience what VBS is like at OBF, but Ben and I were glad that it was almost over and that we would soon get our evenings back and get our kids to bed at their normal bedtimes. Samantha got so tired throughout those four nights out, but she had a wonderful time. She learned the stories well, made some new friends, and got to have an ice pop every night when it was already past her bedtime. What could be better than that?
My original plan was to go grocery shopping that Wednesday night and then come back and get Aedan, since it was Ben's night to teach. However, when we dropped Aedan off in the nursery, I noticed that there weren't many volunteers there, and they were getting overloaded with babies and upset toddlers. So, I decided to help out in that room for awhile. When Aedan first saw me in the room, he came up to me, got upset, and started crying, I think because he thought I was coming to pick him up and didn't understand why I wasn't taking him. However, after a few minutes he calmed down and just went off to play. It was actually rather interesting to see how he reacted. There are so many kids, Samantha even sometimes, who get so clingy to their parents when they are volunteering in the same room as them. Aedan, however, didn't seem to care. He just went off and played by himself. He would come over to see me and play with me but then go right back to playing by himself. I was pleased to see his independence. Also, I got to hold a little baby for awhile, and Aedan was fascinated by the fact that I was holding someone else. He didn't cry or whine to be held like even some of the other moms experienced with their babies/toddlers that were in the nursery as well. He touched the baby very nicely and even tried to rock the chair that we were sitting in. He didn't try to hit the baby, but instead brought him toys to play with, just like his big sister does for him. It was cute, and surely if he's this good with a baby now, he will be good with our third child whenever God decides to bless our family with another baby.
Thursday morning we needed some kind of activity to do outside of the house but something low-key, as we were all a bit tired from VBS week. Some moms posted on a mom's group on Facebook about going to a local movie theater for a free movie they play in the mornings for families with young kids. I knew Samantha would enjoy watching Penguins of Madagascar, but I wasn't so sure how Aedan would do with sitting in one place for the duration of a movie. However, I figured we'd try. If it wasn't working, it wouldn't cost us anything anyways since the movie was free. It started at 10:00 a.m., and we got there pretty much right when it started. I got Samantha a kid's snack pack which included a small box of popcorn with a drink, and she picked a white cherry flavored slushie. I figured we could all share the popcorn since I just recently discovered that Aedan enjoys popcorn as well. We made it back to the movie theater and found some seats. This theater had nice, soft fake leather seats with padded armrests and buttons that reclined the chair. Aedan had never been in a movie theater before, so he was captivated with the screen for a long time. Samantha has only ever been to one other movie, so this was a special experience for her as well. Pretty soon, we busted open the popcorn and that kept Aedan fairly well entertained for awhile as we snacked and watched the movie. Then, I could tell he was getting tired, and he was getting a little bit more vocal, so I gave him his pacifier and set him down in my lap between my legs with the footrest propped up in front of us. He was very calm and quiet, and then all of a sudden I looked down and he had fallen asleep. I couldn't believe that he fell asleep in the middle of the loud movie! It was nice just sitting there and cuddling with my little guy for the rest of the movie. I couldn't resist taking pictures of my two kiddos during the movie. I was amazed that we made it the entire movie without having to leave for a bathroom break or a fidgety little man. We'll have to try this again another time!
On Friday Ben had plans to stay home from campus so that I could go to Zumba class. I also made plans with my friend Maggie to get lunch and hang out together for a little while. So, Ben decided to be adventurous and take the kids out by himself to the Cincinnati Museum Center. I thought about cancelling my plans with Maggie and just going with the rest of the family, but I decided it would be good for the kids to have a day out with their Daddy. They had a good day together, the kids were pretty respectful, and as he put it, they survived. :) They even went into a couple new places that we hadn't yet discovered in the museum like some tunnels in an Ice Age area. Our season passes to the Cincinnati Museum Center have definitely been worth our money. It's so nice that all three museums are included, and it gives us a great place to visit that is not too far away from home. Here are some pictures and a video from their day.
Saturday morning was going to be beautiful, so we decided to tag along with Daddy while he went to his softball practice at Oxford Community Park. We were hoping to maybe play with some friends again, but there were quite a few people missing from practice, meaning that their families weren't there as well. However, we had a good time playing at the playground together and playing in the sand, even though we didn't have any sand toys to use. Aedan likes tagging along with his sister on the big playground and climbing all the way to the top of the structure so that he can go down the slide with me. After awhile we went over the the smaller playground for a little snack and play time near the field where the men were practicing. Samantha enjoyed sitting right behind home plate and watching the practice. (Sometimes commenting and cheering as well.) Aedan got a little crabby towards the end of practice as he still is getting used to not napping in the morning and usually is tired, hungry, and done for he day by around 11:30. Nevertheless, we had a fun morning playing outside together, and I got a few cute videos and pictures of Samantha and Aedan.
We are encouraging Samantha to learn how to pump her legs on the swing so that she can learn to swing by herself. She was doing pretty well on Saturday and was doing it much better before I took this video when she was pretty much done swinging. I don't mind pushing her on the swing, but I also know that she will really enjoy the independence that will come with swinging by herself.
As soon as Aedan saw the sand, he made a beeline for it. He enjoyed walking around in it, and picking it up and letting it flow through his fingers.
And here are Samantha and Aedan on the yellow plane at the smaller playground. I got Samantha to agree to sit next to Aedan for a picture, and I thought it was really cute of the two of them. You certainly can tell they are siblings! They look so similar, and I think they are so adorable. :)
On Sunday morning the kids sang two VBS songs in the big church for the adults to give them a taste what VBS was like. Samantha was very excited to go up on stage and sing, and you can see her doing a pretty good job with the words and motions in the video below. It's fun to see her perform like this because she really seems to like it. She loves to sing and picks up on words and motions pretty quickly. There are a lot of kids who just stand on stage and look around, but not Samantha.
Over the weekend I was debating whether or not we should make a trip to the Butler County Fair. However, Aedan has been taking extra long afternoon naps lately. We're not sure if it's because of teething or something else that we aren't aware of. Samantha has also been acting pretty tired, so we decided it wouldn't be worth it to go to the fair and spend money on rides and food when she would be just as happy doing something else. So on Saturday night we picked up sandwiches for dinner at Jimmy John's and then went to swim at the TRI pool. We haven't gone swimming here at all this summer except for swim lessons. The weather was warm so we figured it would be a good day to make a family trip to the pool. Samantha was able to use her Puddle Jumper floatie so that she could swim in the deeper water. We played shark and other fun water games with her. Aedan enjoyed the kiddie pool, and it is shallow enough that he could walk around in the water, but it is still deep enough that we can't just let him take off on his own. We either needed to be holding his hand or be a short enough distance away that we could catch him if he toppled over. That didn't always make him very happy, as he wanted to be off by himself like his big sister.
Even though Aedan slept until 5:30, and we had to wake him up for dinnertime, he still was acting pretty tired and wanted to get out of the water sooner than Samantha. I ended up sitting on a lawn chair and cuddled with him wrapped up in a towel. He has been much more cuddly lately which I am really enjoying. Even when putting him down to sleep, he has enjoyed laying his head on your shoulder with his knees up like a frog by your stomach. He will just nuzzle into you, keeping his hand right up by his pacifier just to check that it is still there.
Sunday night, after having a busy morning at church since Ben and I volunteered the with elementary kids during the first service and then went to the church for the second service, we spent Sunday just relaxing at home, having a good dinner of French dip sandwiches made in the crock pot, and playing outside in the sandbox after dinner.
For some reason, I have been feeling so tired lately, even though I feel like I am getting a decent amount of sleep. Sunday night was a rough night because around 5:00 a.m., I was woken up because the power turned off. I woke up because of the change in background noise with the fan and monitors turning off. There was a bad thunderstorm coming through Oxford with lots of lightning and thunder, and that must have knocked the power out. A few minutes later we heard Samantha's door open and could hear her shuffling around in the hallway. I decided to go out and see if she needed help since it was dark in our house with the night light in the bathroom no longer working without power. She had to go potty so I helped her and then got her situated back in her bed. She told me she wasn't afraid because God was always with her, even during a thunderstorm. I thought that was a precious thing for her to say. I reassured her that the storm wouldn't last much longer and encouraged her to go back to sleep because it was still the middle of the night. The lightning and thunder continued for the next 40 minutes or so, and I kept expecting Aedan to wake up crying since he no longer had his sound machine running either. It's times like these that I realize how reliant we are on electricity with the fans and sound machines to drown out background noise, as well as the monitors to know if our kids need us during the night. However, Aedan never woke up and it seemed as if he didn't even notice the storm. Samantha, on the other hand, is a lot like her daddy and took awhile to settle back down to sleep. Ben and I were planning on getting up to exercise at 6:00 a.m., but with the disruption in the early morning hours, and the fact that our kids were actually still sleeping, we decided to take advantage of the chance to sleep in. Plus, not only were we able to sleep in, but our kids slept in as well. Samantha slept until 9:00, and we actually had to wake Aedan up at 10:00! It was understandable that Samantha slept in later since she was up for awhile in the middle of the night, but we had no idea why Aedan was sleeping for so long, especially with the long afternoon naps he has been taking lately. We chocked it up to the fact that he has a silly canine tooth coming in on the right top, with the bottom two close behind.
Since we had a slow start to the morning, we decided to go out for breakfast to use a coupon we had for Bob Evans. We don't have too many days of freedom before preschool and the semester start back up again, limiting our opportunity to do things like this together. From there, Daddy went to campus, and I took the kids to a preschool playground event at a local Montessori school. I took Aedan awhile back, but Samantha had never gone before. They were both a bit tired and aimless that morning, but they at least got some energy out through riding tricycles, playing with balls, and running around with other kids. Plus, I got a chance to interact with our adults which is always a positive thing.
Nap time couldn't come soon enough, and even though Samantha was very tired and cranky, she was acting sassy and woke up from her nap after only half an hour. I told her she needed to go back to sleep, but instead she just cried and whined, clearly acting tired, but refusing to sleep any longer. She has been in such a strange mood lately. She has been much moodier, talks back, sometimes even throws things, hits, or kicks things when she's tired. We give her time outs when she acts like that and try to talk her through her emotions, helping her to see what the proper response would be, but many times that doesn't seem to help. We try to do fun things with her, give her positive attention, and stay calm, not letting her get under our skin, but a lot of times it seems like none of that works. It's hard to know what the right and proper thing to do is sometimes. We hope that this is just another phase and that sometime soon she will grow out of it and be more calm and sweet-natured, like the Samantha we are used to.
More rain came through that afternoon, so we spent the evening after dinner playing indoors and dancing to our Smurfs game on the Wii rather than playing outside like usual. Both kids were super tired, with a rough night and short nap for Samantha that day, leading to an early bedtime for the kids. It was one of those long days when we were glad to have the kids tucked into bed, giving Ben and I time to ourselves and time with each other.
(Blog about July 28-August 3, 2015)
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