The Houston Temple

We were fortunate to be able to attend the temple with some friends this weekend. We had been wanting to take Davey to see the temple, so this was the perfect opportunity to take him when he could hang out with his buds Lauren and Avery, too.

Isn't it beautiful?

Davey was obviously contemplating his experience going to the temple and trying to sort out what he had learned about it, for a couple days later he mused, "I don't live at the temple. To get married. With Mommy and Daddy and Charlie."

We're so happy that our family can be together forever through the blessings of the temple.

Cute & Crabby Charlie

I'm hoping I can chalk it up to teething, but Charlie has been so crabby and clingy lately. He just won't let me put him down without screaming. Sometimes its obvious that it's his teeth bothering him - incessant munching on his fingers, drooling, nursing strike, etc. - but yesterday I just couldn't figure him out. He wouldn't nap all day except a quick morning one. He finally conked out at 9:30pm (after having been awake almost 12 grueling hours). And he kept screaming unless I held him - Daddy wasn't good enough. Ugh. 

Thank goodness I found a reason this morning - he had cut his first tooth! Guess I need to brace myself for these next few months of teething.

A couple days ago I gave him a piece of waxed paper to play with (one of Grandma Paulson's favorite entertainments for a baby) and he had a ball...

His bouncing little legs were just too cute!!

Cookies & Milk

I have been struggling lately with Davey to try to get him to nap. He will stay in his bed (amazingly) but falls asleep usually only every 3rd or 4th day. I would leave him for at least an hour, but usually by that time he was yelling loud enough that I worried it would wake Charlie, and that was not worth the break from him.

Then I consulted my "sleep bible" (aka Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - which I would recommend to anyone) and it had two recommendations for a child who is trying to drop his nap prior to his 3rd birthday:

1) Make a poster (all bling'ed out and fun to look at) with these sleep rules:

  At bedtime we...

  - Stay in bed.

  - Close our eyes.

  - Stay very quiet.

  - Go to sleep.

2) Reward following the sleep rules with a treat.

Yes, the book actually recommends a food reward and cautions that "this method is guaranteed to fail if the treats are insufficiently motivational." I found this method surprising, but I like it! The author explains that social rewards (smiling, hugs, praise) just aren't powerful enough to change a strong-willed two-year-old (describing Davey right there) who is fighting sleep for the pleasure of your company. It's easy and I knew it would work with Davey if anything did.

So far it has worked very well for us (and I actually didn't even make the poster - I planned to, but the treat for falling asleep was working so well that I haven't needed to bother with it yet). Now Davey gets a cookie every afternoon if he falls asleep. He slept 5 days in a row after I began rewarding him.

 

The second day, he asked for a glass of milk with his cookie (just like Daddy).

He kept repeating, "I dip it, I eat it. I dip it, I eat it...."

Yahoo for cookies & milk!

FHE

Dave and I have finally gotten on the ball about having Family Home Evening with Davey on Monday nights. And I really don't know why we put it off. I always think adding something new to our repertoire will sounds intimidating, but this has been so easy and fun!

I had to post about this week's lesson because something extremely rare happened - Dave got out his trumpet! He taught a lesson about music where he demonstrated his trumpeting skills, talked about different kinds of formal instruments and we made music with impromptu instruments from around the house. We all had fun!

Call me weird, but there's something sexy about Dave

playing the trumpet!

We banged and clanged to the beat of some primary songs.

I think Davey enjoyed it all, but he certainly was a fan of having ice cream at the end. Every Tuesday now he asks us to do Family Home Evening again (though we haven't indulged him).

Too Little Attention?

While I really doubt it's possible, this afternoon I find myself re-thinking whether or not I give Davey enough attention during the day. 

This afternoon included an episode where he tried to swing himself by his arms between an armchair and coffee table, resulting in a fall to the floor and a bumped cheek. The sound from him when he fell was a half-cry, half-laugh and then the familiar line, "Watch me; you might laugh," as he attempted the whole thing again trying to also include the fall.

Does he really feel like he needs to resort to slapstick humor to get my attention? I guess maybe I need to work on being more light-hearted and quick-to-laugh so he doesn't turn to hurting himself (though I didn't think seeing him hurt was funny anyway)!

A Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day was very special for me this year. It was so sweet to wake up to Davey coming in the room saying, "Happy Mother's Day" and holding a gift and card for me. Davey and Charlie gave me a gift certificate to Cold Stone and some cookies. My sweet tooth is no secret!

Church was very nice and all of us women who are involved with teaching the children's classes were relieved by men so we could all enjoy some time to chat and relax with the other ladies while enjoying quiche and strawberries and cream. It was very nice, especially because some of the women stole Charlie away too so I got to just relax, eat and chat. 

When we got home, Dave prepared a wonderful brunch for us. He made delicious coconut french toast, apple maple sausage and served it with fresh fruit. 

One happy mama.

Then Dave had more presents for me (!) and I unwrapped a pair of really cute sandals and a waffle maker. We'll have a yummy breakfast this Saturday!

My three boys that make my life so great!

What Should I Do?

I always sleep with earplugs in since I'm a very light sleeper. Last night I wish I hadn't though because maybe the monitor beeping that it needed to be plugged in would have woken me up. Normally I would never sleep through it. At 4 am I woke, not believing that Charlie had slept so long without waking. Wow! How great. But not really, the monitor was off and so I have no idea if he actually slept that long or screamed for an unknown amount of time and went back to sleep. I felt so bad not knowing and lay awake for about an hour thinking about my sweet little Charlie screaming.

But I do know that he should be old enough to start skipping his 1-2ish am feeding. So now that he's (maybe) cried it out one night, maybe it will only take one more to get him doing it (or at least the books say most kids take only 1 to 2 nights if you use that method - though I'm not sure it works in this family... Davey would cry and cry for weeks and then he'd sleep maybe 8 hours for a couple months and then have to cry it out all over again). I'm torn between feeling like it's cruel to have made him cry it out one night and not use it to mine and his advantage by using it as the first night of training him, but it also feels cruel to let him cry when he very hungrily takes that feeding. He lunges at me when I pick him up.

I'm sure everyone else will say now is the time to go ahead and skip the feeding, he's old enough anyway, but I hate letting/making my sweet little Charlie cry. He is such a good, sweet baby I don't begrudge him those middle of the night feedings...

The Stars are Out, the Moon is Up

That's a line from a lullabye that I've been singing to Davey since he was a baby that my mom used to sing to me. The other day Davey was playing with a shape sorter toy and held a star high above his head and said, "It's time to go to sleep, Mommy." I thought it was clever.

Some Davey-tidbits...

It's so fun watching Davey's personality grow and develop. One of his most endearing qualities is that he's always asking us, "You happy?" I've learned to use this to my advantage; when he's doing something I want him to stop, I tell him it makes me sad and he will almost always stop immediately. Or I can get him to do things like throwing a diaper away for me by telling him it will make me happy.

He also loves to make people laugh, which he definitely inherits from the other David Pauls in the family (Daddy and Grandpa). He's always trying to get our attention these days by saying,

"Watch me! You might laugh." Then he does something (he thinks is) funny. 

One of the quirky things he says all the time is when we're having dinner together: "Let's drink together," wanting us to all raise our glasses at the same time.

Davey isn't quite going through the normal annoying "Why?" phase, but instead is always asking, "How, Mommy? How?" 

He is certainly a chip off the old block, being so particular in so many ways. One of the ones I'm dealing with right now is with him wanting to do everything himself. If I so much as touch him while he's getting into his car seat, off the bed, etc., he will insist on going back out of the car or up onto the bed and doing it all over again.

I am so blessed to have such a sweet, (mostly) obedient child. I love you, Davey!

Move over Sun...

... the world revolves around Davey! 

That's what it feels like a lot these days at least. My week is planned around what activities I am doing to keep him entertained (preschool, library storytime, parks, playgroups...).

Here are some pictures of just a few of the fun things Davey did in the past week.

Hitching a ride during a playdate with Sammie

Walking around with his pals at Dewberry Farms

Playing ball with the neighbors

Cooking up some fun in the backyard

What a life!

Charlie is 4 Months

Our sweet Charlie is now 4 months old. He continues to be a very happy, smily child. Often when he's crying about something if you smile at him he just can't help but to smile back at you through his tears. Sunday he was just so incredibly happy we had to capture some of his smiles on video.

.

(I know - Davey desperately needs a haircut.)

I think he's on the verge of starting to wake up only once at night - hopefully - he's done it a couple times in the last week. And he's finally upstairs in his own room now, which I'm really enjoying. I can roll over in my bed without worrying about making too much noise now :) And the best part is that I can finally get back on my treadmill (also in my room) while he's napping. Today I actually got through 30 straight minutes! Davey had to go cheer him up the last 10 minutes, but either way it worked.

He now weighs 13 lbs 13 oz (just under the 50th percentile) and 25 1/8th inches (just over the 50th percentile). I think he's beginning to grow out of his reflux so I'm monitoring it over the next few weeks to see if I can take him off the medication. Thank goodness because he's seeming too big to keep sleeping in the swing (so his torso is elevated).

He's getting about a tablespoon of rice cereal in the mornings now which he is getting a bit better about eating. I waited to give Davey solid foods until he was over 6 months since I was wary about adding something else to my routine, but Charlie seems to need something more already  since he often wants to eat every 2 1/2 hours which is quite waring to still be doing. The thing I can't figure out is that his pediatrician advised me to give him 1 - 2 ounces of water through the day to help his body digest the cereal. I've never heard that before and thought kids weren't supposed to be given water yet.