Allergist

In an effort to see what is going on with Addie and her snorting and annoying throat clearing, we took her to the allergist.  She did so well, was attentive to the doctor and extremely patient. Thankfully, she only has a few minor sensitivities to tree pollen, mold and dairy. However, this doesn't answer our questions and will likely bring us back to the ENT doc.

Constipation

This was just heard in our house:

Addie: "What's that?"
Jackson: "A prune."
Addie: "Do you like them?"
Jackson: "Naah, but mom says they will help me with my pooping problem."

Kindergarten Graduation

Jackson has been such a great Kindergartener.  He's learned to read at incredible speed, even being the top reader in his class!  His teacher, Julie Boggess at Children's Discovery Academy has been amazing with our boy.  He comes home every day with new skills and facts he's learned.  Watching this boy grow into a smart, thoughtful and well-rounded kid has been an absolute joy for his parents.  We are so incredibly proud and know that our kid will grow up to do amazing things for this world!

Parenting thoughts

Addie is in her room saying her alphabet. She breaks into "A is for Addie, B is for Beer, C is for Cat, D is for Dog,"

Oops, did we do something wrong?

Being a better parent

Look at me... two posts in a row!

I'm reading up lately on being a better parent. At the end of a long day at work I don't always have the patience I need to be the parent I want to be. So I'm on a quest to find some helpful tools to keep in my toolkit. Random parenting thoughts:

If you want them to stop, you have to stop what you're doing, walk over to them, and tell them that. No parenting across the room. It Does. Not. Work.

I was talking to a coworker about Jackson's summer science program and how he was learning about matter. My coworker asked how he explained it and I had to say I tuned him out. Why did I tune him out? I'm sure I was busy trying to get two kids settled into dinner or something else was taking my attention, but I hate that I missed this important moment. I know I can't always give the kids my full attention but I want to be better about listening to their stories.

Addie is getting in the habit of wanting to sleep in my bed again. We seem to go through stages. Last night I decided to put my foot down. She cried in her room for 20 minutes... I went in a few times to try to calm her but left. What I should have done is what Ron did stay with her until she fell asleep. It didn't take that long and I could have avoided the 20 minutes of crying. I know I should be teaching her but really these moments are so few and far between that why shouldn't I just enjoy them. Before I know it she'll be slamming her door and telling me to leave her alone.

It's always a learning process and not always fun!

Too Long Between Posts

It's possible that the weather is getting me down or maybe I've not been relaxing enough or maybe life is just taking a lot out of me. Whatever it is, it's not allowed me to enjoy things that I once did. I haven't baked a cake since Easter, I've yet to take out my sewing machine, we've had ham and cheese sandwiches two nights in a row for dinner and I'm still scrapbooking Addie's first year -- she'll be four in two months!

We are still taking time to enjoy life and the kids are having a ton of new experiences. We've taken them to the zoo, they've been in theater classes, gone to movies, gone on bike rides and eaten plenty of ice cream cones. But I've not blogged about it because I've just not been excited about blogging.

I don't want to miss recording these events so I hope to get caught up but I want my loyal readers to know why I've been MIA here for much of this year! I'm just not feelin' it. I need something new in life to get me excited again. Here's hoping I find it this summer.

Until then we are riding bikes.