Some more parenting randomness

I flipped through the latest issue of Parenting magazine and commented on a few things in my other blog, but these were really children related, so I thought I'd continue my comments here ...

~ I found the "4 reasons why your baby is different from your husband" list hilarious:
1. the only mobile device she's addicted to has tiny stuffed animals hanging from it.
2. the baldness is merely temporary.
3. you don't mind when your 3 month old hits the bottle 8 times a day.
4. you can change a baby.

~ Have you heard of "child sense"? It's the study showing kids have a dominant sense that determines how they experience and relate to the world. For more information, it's a book by author and behavior researcher Priscilla Dunstan:
1. The Tactile child: these little ones love to be held all the time, but they're also soothed by movement.
2. The Auditory child: This child startles easily and will listen intently to music, but don't play it at bedtime, it will distract her so much she won't be able to go to sleep. (this is Ella)
3. The Visual child: Visual infants often get labeled "good babies" because it's easy to meet their needs. All these babies need to feel secure and comforted is to be able to see their parent nearby. (this is Karl)
4. The Taste and Smell child: These little ones like to be cuddled, but they're not calmed simply by being held. If you're nervous or fearful, they're likely to be agitated too. (I think this is Allie)

~ There is an article about babies sleeping in other places besides home. It's entitled "Sleeping Around". Okay, isn't that a little off color? I mean, even for ME, it's a bit much.


Not much going on with the kids besides lots of playing and cuddling from a nice long thanksgiving weekend. If I ever need something to be thankful for, all I have to do is look into one of these sets of eyes. I hope all of your weekends were just as wonderful.

Did you hear the explosion?

Karl exploded this morning. It was the worst it's ever been. He called to us to let us know he was awake this morning and he was covered head to toe. Literally.

Before I go on, I will admit I slept through the whole thing. It was my morning to get up but my wonderful inlaws took care of the kids this morning and let us sleep in. Yay.

Anywho, about the poop. He was wearing footed pajamas and he filled the legs (yes, it was down to his feet) and got up to his armpits. Yuck. All over the blanket and the sheet too. It was one of those that needed a load of laundry done and a bath for the baby before it was cleaned up.

Heh. I can't believe I'm blogging about poop.

Mr karl is no longer a baby.

He's just getting so damned big. I swear, I'm not going to blink anymore.

We are losing our pediatrician.

We have the best pediatrician in the world. Problem is, he is in his mid to upper 60s or even 70s. And we were just waiting for him to retire.

We got the letter today. While he's not retiring, he accepted a part time job up in Denver. Which, I'm assuming, is just his first step in retiring. He has a very successful practice in which he's had through generations. (seriously, I meet mommies in the waiting room whom had him as their own pediatrician as a baby). I couldn't see him just retiring all at once, so step one in the process of learning not to be such a busy doctor.

He took care of us and got us another pediatrician already, but, oh man, I'm going to miss him terribly. I literally cried when I read the letter today.

I hate being right.

Karl's right ear is a 4 out of 4 on the bad ear infection scale.

My poor baby.

Another ear infection.

~grumble~

I think baby karl has another ear infection. This will be infection #3. He's pulling at his ear and not eating, which is his telltale signs. Ugh. And he's not AS happy as he usually is. Mind you, he's still happy as hell, he just actually has a few grumpy sessions now.

Right now he's sitting in his high chair in the living room (this is where I have my computer) and eating a biter biscuit. It's the first thing, besides a bottle, I've been able to have him interested in for the past 2 days. He's not even really eating it - more like bashing it on the tray like a drum stick. Allison is playing peek-a-boo with him and he's laughing big belly laughs. Love it.

Appointment at 11:30a today for an ear check. I wonder how many ear infections warrant tube placement. Allison had ear infection after ear infection, and she's had two sets of tubes placed. But she never responded to the antibiotics, I always had to get her those terrible set of three antibiotic shots. Karl has responded to the oral antibiotics. I'd rather not give him those though - I don't want him to build up a tolerance at such a young age.

Ah, he's chewing on his biscuit now. Awesome.

I just typed up a big post about Jenn's visit, which included the kids, on my other blog. But I wanted to do an update of each child here too, so I'll remember what is exactly going on in their lives right now.

Ella - She's lost 2 teeth and is trying to grow up before my eyes. Everday she is less little girl to me. Oh god, it just breaks my heart that she's growing up. I'm waiting for the day she doesn't let me kiss her in public. I know it's coming and I just don't want it to get here.

She's doing great in kindergarten and trying very hard to stay "on green" everyday. When I pick her up, I can tell my her little face she lost her green. Awww, she tries so hard! But she's too much like me and I know how hard it is to keep our mouths shut.

Today is a skate city party, which Tom is hopefully going to take off of work and take her to. I wish I could be there too, but with so many kids skating, it'd be unfair to take Allison and not let her skate.

Allison - I'm watching her personality change and develop everyday. Now she's home with me during the day sans Ella, she's a different little girl. It was hard to play alone and first, but she's getting the hang of it.

I have noticed some strong separation anxiety with her when I take her to daycare now. She only goes twice a week and instead of just dropping her off like I used to, she'll cry and hold onto me. I'm sure it's because I'm home with her everyday and it worries me about her going into kindergarten. Hopefully when we're there, she'll get used to the daily drop off and tears will be a thing of the past.

Karl - He's just amazing. All my kids are amazing, but in Karl's case, he is an amazing mover. You sit him down and he's immediately on his knees, crawling somewhere full speed. I can't believe how fast he can be. You take your eyes off him for a moment and he's already down the entire hallway and into a room. I actually have to be all "where's Karl?" and go searching for him.

He's also big on cruising now. He'll stand up on practically anything and he'll walk around it as much as he can. He'll even reach out and go from toy to toy now, which is new. I bet he'll be walking around a year old. Another month and a half. Whoa.

I seriously don't understand where the time went. Seriously. He's over 10 months old. Ella is more than 5 1/2. Allison is almost 4 1/2. How did all of that happen? I swear, all I did was blink.

An awesome gift

Check out this sweater and hat Jenn ~hand crocheted~ for Karl! It fits him and is so freaking adorable too.



What a great guest she is. Not only does she fly across the country to come visit me, she brings all kinds of gifts! (I collect shot glasses and magnets, so she brought me two shot glasses and magnets AND she got me ~two~ over the knee socks! Yay!)

I've got a smart kid on my hands.

Now I have the proof Ella is a smarty pants.

I got her first report card along with the results of her first Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Her results are as follows:

Word Analysis: 96th percentile
Language: 88th percentile
Mathematics: 99th percentile

CORE Total: 93rd percentile (which means she scored higher than 93 percent of kindergarten students nationally.)


She's just like her mommy. ~wink~

No cruising allowed.

Karl is starting to cruise around the furniture. Not much yet, but he'll take some small sideways steps before sitting down and crawling to where he wants to go. My guess is he'll be walking by the 1 year mark. He'll be 10 months old next Tuesday, so he's got 2 months to learn it. And he seems to be on the same time frame both girls were on.

I can already see one major difference between him and his sisters. This boy is a climber. I ~have~ to strap him the grocery cart when we go shopping because if he can stand up, he will. I have images of him falling out of the cart when my back is turned for 2 seconds.

I wonder if this is a difference between boys and girls or just the normal differences between babies. Only time will tell.

15% off coupon for gymboree

It's in today's newspaper, in the "P&G Brand Saver". It's right underneath the coupon for those tide stain boosters (which TOTALLY work, by the way).

It's valid through 12/24/09 so it's a good coupon to clip out and keep in your wallet for the next trip to gymboree.