Hellobee Boards

@FaithFertility: M just recently learned 99% of his ABC's. He has a magnetic bus on the fridge and does a weekly music class where they sing them. He doesn't allow us to sing (says no every time we try ). Hope the kids are better soon!

Gosh I feel like a neglectful mom. Ryan I feel like barely knows anything LOL. He is working on writing his name at school but mostly just scribbles still. He can't draw anything. He recognizes some letters and numbers and knows all of his colors. I feel like letter and number recognition would be super early for age 3 - most likely not even something to be concerned about until age 5. I worked with Tyler on all of this stuff, but my time and attention is spread so thin between the three kids and work....I just rely on school for this stuff and focus on QT at home. Also, Ryan is still in the toddler program at the Montessori school - we could've pushed to move him up to preschool in January but I am trying to give him a chance to be the "big kid" and a leader. So, he'll move up in June at the end of the year when it is time for summer camps.

We are all doing pretty well, I'm just trying to find some balance to life. We tend to put the pedal to the medal on the weekends and my husband works so much that he doesn't exactly carry any mental load for our family so it's all on me. I feel like I'm spread so thinly and have considered quitting my job to stay home....but not sure that is the right approach, either. Just not sure.

@winniebee: It is hard with 2 kids so I can't imagine with 3 little ones! This is actually why I'm more open to the idea of being done lately. And our kids wont' sleep so I get zero 'kid-free' time at night.

We're an a disadvantage b/c E won't get be in preschool until he's almost 5 - next year, we just can't make a 3 year program work with our jobs since they're not full-day programs.

E knows the alphabet and can count to thirteen I believe before he starts over. He is practicing letters on this preschool app I just downloaded for him, so even though 'I'm' not teaching him anything he is learning and its fun to watch. He knows colors and shapes. It really is amazing what they pick up on their own. Sounds like I need to start working on his name!

@winniebee: Totally agree that it's hard not to compare! It doesn't help that I can't really REMEMBER how Xander was at this age. I just know how he is NOW and Logan's not at the same level!

@winniebee: Kudos girl, I'm drowning with 2 at the moment.....sickness, work, weddings too.....so much!
You are a rock star! But I understand 100% when You say you spread yourself thin!

So I'm about 12 days late but just catching up with the activity here Now I'm stressed about Jack! M has always been pretty advanced and interested in this stuff, whereas J just wants to run and jump and play. I should probably put in an little more time with him working on letters, etc.

We've all been fighting bad colds and ear infections - ugh. Luckily no flu or strep yet, though I'm getting emails from M's preschool all the time about kids who have tested positive. C (8 months!) had a whole week of fevers this past week and has been just miserable He is only content in the carrier just napping on me on and off. At night he is hardly sleeping at all so DH and I are totally running on fumes. He's on day 3 of antibiotics for double ear infections so hopefully we'll see some improvement tonight!

@MrsF: aww man That sounds so rough. We have all had bad colds this last week, too, which is hard at 38 weeks pregnant. Haha. I’m hoping I can kick it before this kiddo makes his arrival!

@theotherstark: Ahh, so close! I am so excited for you! Please keep us updated on the arrival of the newest babe!

I am seriously just crossing my fingers and praying that we survive this flu season. We're good so far, but it's only Feb!

@MrsF: that sounds just awful. so sorry!

We had a healthy month or so but big kids woke with nasty coughs today. Yuck!

@MamaG: oh my goodness, she is on a roll! hope she is ok!

@MrsF: Sorry to hear about all the illnesses! Winter is the worst!!!

@MamaG: Poor kid! Hope she's okay!

Not much to report here. We've been battling a string of diaper rashes with Logan. He only poops in his diaper and only at nap or bedtime and won't tell us that he did it. I'm now trying to remember to actually go CHECK on him before I go to bed and change his diaper if he pooped. I wish he'd just poop on the potty, but that's a no go so far. He's been dealing with constipation, but JUST when I thought I had tweaked his diet enough to help with that, he got a stomach bug and lost weight and now our pediatrician wants us to load him up on the whole milk again, which is back to causing constipation again. I give up.

@KayKay: yeah, i mean, it's all hard. if I stayed home, we = couldn't afford to have a nanny for Grant anymore and I'm the type of mom that's no good 24/7 with my kids, so that wouldn't work so well for me either. i think i'm going to adjust my schedule when we are done having a nanny though - i'll work just 9-2 or something, so that i can have some carved out time for the kids/activities/workouts in the afternoons!

@Adira: We're still no where with pee, so I'd say Logan's still doing better than Kara!

@snowjewelz: Oh, hahaha, I guess I feel better?? Although Logan seems to not care about peeing in the potty - he'll skip going potty right before bed and then immediately pee in his diaper, which is frustrating. He doesn't have any accidents during the day, but I think he'd rather just wear a diaper!

@snowjewelz: haha, good luck!

@FaithFertility: We started timeouts once my kids turned 1. Hitting and kicking are automatic timeouts. Just one minute at that age, but they learn pretty quick not to do it.

@faithfertility: so E was the hitter/biter/scratcher/headbutter extraordinaire for a long time with K. we did a lot of reading the books "hands are not for hitting" and "teeth are not for biting", and just tried to be very quick/blunt/short with E and give most of the focus and attention to K when it happened. i'm not a huge fan of timeouts, but obviously you could try those too! it sucks, honestly, because you end up having to watch them like a hawk to try to prevent, and they still manage to get away with it.

@FaithFertility: I don't know that my kids totally understood it at first, but I think one is old enough to start timeouts for the big no-nos (hitting, kicking, biting). Those are automatic timeouts and we started them at one and so the kids definitely get it eventually.

@KayKay: @FaithFertility: yup, Ryan was also the aggressor for a loooong time and I remember it started around 18 months or so? Maybe a little later, can't totally remember. It was shocking to me because Ty was such a pacifist and never hit or bit as a toddler. It started with hair pulling and then progressed to squeezing and biting. I tried KayKay's approach mostly, but honestly after age 2.5, did start giving time outs because it was so flagrant! Now while they still can be very physical with each other, it is a lot better, and Ryan is often times NOT the aggressor.