Parenting milestones

This past month I had a double whammy of parenting milestones that happened in the blink of an eye it seemed!

I have been asked many times from mama's with even younger kids than I have if I have any advise to give when it comes to the infamous child milestone of POTTY TRAINING. I am quick to say, "Oh, I am the last person to ask that!" Yes, I have successfully potty trained two boys so far in my life. Both of whom were well over 3 years old when it FINALLY happened. Something I do not recommend if you can help it! With my first, I tried over and over again, but the kid just refused to sit on a potty. No amount of candy bribery made a difference. Then, one summer while diaperless in a pool it just happened.

With my second, my potty training method consisted of this:

"Hey Sam, do you want to go pee on the potty?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Betush" (which means 'because' for those who don't speak 3 year old)

The end.

Then, for over a month, every time I put him to bed he wanted to read his potty book. Within a couple of weeks he had the thing memorized. The end of the books asks, "Do you want to be a big boy like me?" To which he replied, "Nope!" Then I just had it with the manchild sized dirty diapers. So, off came the diaper! I made him sit on his "yittle potty" every so often. He was cold, so I gave him a blanket, and he wanted to watch T.V. every time. Fine by me. And within a few days...Bam! He still wears a diaper when he sleeps, but other than that he's doing great!

We gave Will a "new" bike last October for his 5th birthday. One that wasn't allowed to have training wheels on it. We had limited nice days to play outside then. Whenever we did get out he would sit on his new bike a little, but was never quite sure enough about attempting to ride. The Winter came...and came...and came....and finally went! One of the first nice days we had back in April we were more than anxious to get out and play! With no prompting from me, he pulled out the big bike. He climbed right on and would push himself across the driveway, with his feet still on the ground. The next day, he started off the same way. Pushing himself along on his tip toes. Feeling the way he balanced. And then his feet went up! Pushing the peddles just a couple of times before he'd start to swerve and tip over. But he kept at it. Crash after crash. He kept getting back on that bike. And can I tell you, it was amazing to watch. My mama's heart was so proud of him. Within 30 minutes he was riding like a pro!

Charlie George :: 10 months

See Charlie at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months,
7 months, 8 months, and 9 months.
See Sam at 10 months.

Homeschooling :: 7 months In

We are 7 months into our homeschooling journey, and things are going great! Will is a little smartypants which has helped make this transition of becoming a teacher and a student much smoother than I had expected. Don't get me wrong. We still have our challenges (i.e. getting a 5 year old boy to sit still and concentrate and a mom who continually fails to have enough patience), but I am so thrilled with the progress we have had. 

Will finished his Kindergarten math book back in January. We went right into 1st grade math, and he has continued to fly through that too. No surprise, if you ask him what his favorite subject is, it's this.

He also completed his Kindergarten Letters and Sounds book last month. I would consider him a reader now and hearing him read is so much fun! Learning this crazy language with all it's silly "rule breakers" hasn't seemed to faze him at all.

I wanted to bring up this picture that I posted on Instagram last Fall, a few weeks into our school, year with this caption:

"One thing I want to be sure I pay attention to in our homeschooling journey is how each individual child learns best. There is a time and place for being proper, but if he wants to sit on the table (in his outfit of choice these days) to do his work then by all means I'll let him."

My husband saw this, and didn't fully understand what I was trying to say. There is for sure a time and place for structure and discipline in schooling our children. There are moments when Will standing on a chair or sitting on the table is just him goofing around and it becomes a distraction. But if, like in the picture, he is concentrating and completing his school work, while siting on the table, than great!

We continue to take things one day at a time. Some weeks are more productive than others. With some nicer weather coming our way I am excited to spend less time sitting at the table pencil in hand, and more time in the backyard digging in the dirt and reading books in the grass.

Charlie George :: 9 months

See Charlie at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months,
6 months, 7 months and 8 months.
See Sam at 9 months.

Charlie George :: 8 months

See Charlie's army crawling in action!

 

See Charlie at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months,
6 months and 7 months.
See Sam at 8 months.

Boys and their blankies

I have made it a priority to make a blanket for all my boys before they are born (and hope to do so for anymore kids to come!) As soon as I find out the gender while pregnant, I can't wait to go buy my yarn (my favorite kind is this) and start crocheting! 

I have never been pushy on trying to make them super attached to it, but so far Will and Sam's blankies have gotten lots of love from them. 

About a year ago, just out of the blue, Will stopped wanting his blanky at bedtime. I must admit I was a little sad about it at first! Although, he doesn't need it to sleep anymore it is still right on his bedside. Every so often he will pull it into bed with him and wrap himself all up in it, and it sure does make my heart happy. 

When I made Will's blanky my personal sense of style was pretty non existent (there was no Pinterest yet!), and I went with the generic blue's and green for him with a simple double crochet pattern.

Sammy boy still loves his blanky. He has gone back and forth when it comes to what stuffed animal he wants to sleep with (or as of late hard plastic dinosaurs), but has always loved his blanket. I went with a more classic neutral style for his with navy blue and white with the same double crochet pattern.

Charlie boy! He sleeps with his blanket every night, but is still a bit to young to become attached to anything (with the exception of his mommy, that is). My crocheting skills had gotten more advanced since having Sam, so I wanted to do something completely different for his blanky. I decided on a granny square style pattern (I used this one!) with some more funky and modern colors. I love how it came out!