Friday, January 23, 2009

Living Life

It’s been a busy busy couple of weeks, not just with activities but with kid-maintaining too.

I took Addie to the pediatric dentist a couple of weeks ago. They were really good - they even have TVs in the ceiling so kids can watch movies while they get their teeth cleaned! They let Addison wander all over the office area, climb up in the chairs, and go into the office where a bigger kid was getting his teeth cleaned so she could watch. They kept telling me to not worry about her getting into stuff, that it was mostly important that she be happy and comfortable. To examine her teeth, she sat on my lap facing me and leaned back into the dentist’s lap. I couldn’t believe how good she was! Addie is not a very cooperative child when it comes to being held down or made to do something. But she let him put his fingers all in her mouth, and even scrape her molars and fiddle with her tongue and pull her lips back to show me the few thousand dollars worth of orthodontics I am going to have in a couple of years.

Addie has always had an underbite, and the dentist confirmed that it will definitely need to be corrected with lots of heavy machinery. Including a permanently installed something-or-other in her mouth with springs and such, that attaches to what he called a "catcher’s mitt" that she will have to wear around her head and face 24 hours a day for anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months. This is to help pull her upper jaw forward some. Luckily, it is not something we will need to do for at least 2 more years, since she needs to grow and develop more, and needs to be more "cooperative". Her upper lip is also attached to her gums at the wrong place, and the dentist is very sure that sometime in the next couple of years she will fall and tear her frenulum, which connects her lip to her gums right between her front teeth (it's attached too low and makes a gap between her teeth). Supposedly it's a good thing for it to tear on its own, because otherwise we will have to have it clipped. Bleh!

We have had a long stretch of nice weather here and have taken full advantage of it. Last weekend we went to the park and Addison had her first experience flying a kite! We got one for $3 at KB Toys (they are going out of business) and it was a Nemo kite, so she was very excited. Actually flying the kite was not as much fun as the anticipation.



Matt took a half-day off work yesterday and we went to the zoo. Addie is coming down with a cold and has been sleeping late, but we woke her up at 8:40 yesterday so we could get going. Well, that was a mistake! She was miserable almost the whole time, and has developed a big aversion to going into any of the tunnels, caves, and even the indoor aquariums. The only time she wasn’t grouchy and whiney was while playing on the playground at the Children’s Zoo. It’s funny, because she loves to play with her toy animals and look at them in books, but she could care less about seeing them in real life. We took her to Sea World this summer, and she didn’t give a flip about the dolphins, seals, Shamu, horses, etc. Same thing at the zoo. We were literally 3 feet away from a huge lion, who was growling and being fed meat through the bars, and she just sat and played with her apple juice. Matt and I enjoyed the time though – he has been super busy with a stressful situation at work, and was glad to get away in the 75 degree weather.




Ryan has started rolling over now, which is neat, but this has created a new problem…. the second I lay him down, he will flip onto his belly and start yelling! Most of the time I leave him for several minutes so that he can learn how to work his legs, arms, and neck, but he gets SO mad. So I come in and roll him back, and 2 seconds later, he’s on his tummy again. We think he’s cutting some teeth, and he’s also sort of in a clingy stage too, so we literally have our hands full with him right now, which can get old very quickly, especially since Jabba (my brother’s nickname for him) weighs in at a whopping 15.5 pounds! He is starting to laugh more, though, and smiles all the time (when he isn’t screaming), and I am really interested in seeing what type of kid he will turn out to be.

Things have been the same-old, same-old for us. The days are running into each other and the weeks are over before we even know they’ve started. Another part of growing older, I guess! We’re having a Super Bowl party with friends from church next weekend, and we’ll probably be starting Ryan on rice cereal in a couple of weeks. I know that I should not wish for my kids to grow up quickly, because they will be grown before I know it, but I am not now, nor have I ever been, a "baby" person. I loved my time with Addison, and I do love Ryan in each stage, but to me, the best time comes after they start walking. The year from age 1 to age 2 is amazing, and after that the changes are come so quickly that you can’t keep up with them. Addison is completely, totally, absolutely 2 years old in every sense of the word. She is funny and silly, she is starting to play pretend and come up with silly games and songs, she finds everything fascinating and wants to copy every single thing that Matt or I do, from repeating "Oh my gosh" when I change a yucky diaper to walking down the stairs backwards like I do (when I’m watching her to make sure she doesn’t slip). She also gets EXTREMELY fussy when her routine is changed…. she knows exactly what to expect each morning, each afternoon, and each evening, and changes to her daily schedule are not welcome and result in much crying and unhappiness.

Examples:

-Must have milk and watch Dora every morning.
-If she has apple juice, she must always have Goldfish with it
-Her blankets must always be rolled up and secured with a rubber band (????)
-Baby Ryan must always be a) in his carseat, b) in the exersaucer, c) on his mat, d) wherever he once was and must now always be, according to Addison (on the couch, in his bed, whatever her whim is).
-Any toy that was once used in a certain way must now and forever always be used that way.
-Bedtime stories are the same 3 books over and over. If you miss a word, she knows and will call you out on it.

Simple distractions and refocusing are tried with very limited success. Sometimes, though, as with her blankets and the bedtime books, the routine can be changed to something new, as long as we stick with the new routine for a long period of time.

All of this is part of the normal developmental stages, and most of the time Matt and I find it very very funny. However, sometimes it is rather obnoxious, like when I take Ryan out of the carseat to change him and Addison bursts into a tantrum and tears demanding that he be put back. No amount of explaining will convince her that Ryan should be anywhere except where she wants him.

Soooooo…. as you can probably imagine, Matt and I are ready for a vacation! By this fall, Ryan should be weaned and ready to be left overnight for a few days while we take a break. We will hang on until then!

Here are a few other pictures.


Chef Ryan and Addie brushing her hair with a whisk broom
See why he is called Jabba? To be fair, this is a doll stroller, but he sure bursts out of it.

Making cookies with Mama

3 comments:

  1. he is a big baby! It's good to see an update.

    I never realized how much little kids rely on a schedule. I'm not looking forward to that. :\

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  2. Kids in general need set schedules, although some are more flexible than others. The age and stage of the child also influences things. But, when you decide to have kids, you just understand that this is part of your life now. In just a couple or three years, they will be "kids" and not babies, and while you still need some routine, they become much more independent and self-sufficient, so I am trying to find the joy in the moment and know that I can easily make it through a couple of years of this!

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  3. Wow, the kids are growing up. Sorry we missed our playdate last week. I'm definitely looking forward to playing.

    We're going to start going to the Tomball library for toddler time. I think I'll also look into baby storytime again for Brielle. I think I'll take her to the NW library like we use to do. Can you believe our kids have grown so much?

    You're awesome for your schedule. We still haven't gotten into much of one and now it's really crazy since we were gone for a week and nothing was the same. It's great to be back!

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