Moving On

Last September I blogged about Jonah's first day of preschool and entitled it Seasons Change. Well, two days after saying goodbye to the dogs, Jonah had his last day of preschool (at least for now). Considering my emotional state about the dogs and the knowledge that we were going to be moving in a couple of weeks, I was more nostalgic and sad about this day than Jonah. With our new home being significantly further away, I knew he would not be coming back to that preschool and I was somewhat saddened that he would not be able to continue developing his friendships nor I the relationships that I had begun through the school and my MOPs group, both of which used the same facility. Jonah was pretty clueless and seemingly tired of getting up and out in the mornings three days a week as well (Kudos to you moms who work outside the home and have to do that 5 days a week!). I have been finding that Jonah is not really a morning person. (I wonder where he gets that from? Well, I'm congenial enough in the mornings, but I like it quiet and subdued until I've had a couple of cups of coffee and checked email. Jonah similarly likes his apple juice and a couple of cartoons before being shoved out the door in the morning.) So on this last day of school, Elisabeth and I popped in early to hang out with the class and get some pictures to document this milestone. Elisabeth enjoyed sitting and eating pizza with the big kids and later going out on the playground with them.

Love God in the Midst of Potty Training

After Jonah got a rash on his inner thigh from an overly full diaper yesterday and all the difficulties that go along with that (doesn't want to take a bath or get a diaper change), I decided to seriously attempt this potty training thing. So today he has been in pull-ups all day. He has gone pee-pee in the potty about 7 times so far, but has pee'd in the pull-ups a couple of times as well - not to mention one poop. He is doing fairly well thanks to the M&M reward strategy. I have a jar of peanut butter M&M's in the bathroom now. He get's one for pee-pee in the potty, two for pooping in the potty and of course three if he does both. He really likes the candy so he's been very motivated so far. One time he actually told me he had to go instead of me asking him. It makes the day very full asking him every 20 minutes if he has to go to the bathroom, then helping him get on the potty and then applause for a successful pee-pee, pants up, wash hands, then get the M&M and put a sticker on his Elmo Chart, then I have to clean out his pottie and wash my hands. It's quite a production at the moment, but he really responds well to accolades so I will do my best to stick to the multi-step routine.
Then at lunch I said "Let's pray." So we grab hands (at his prompting) for grace and I say a prayer - he has his eyes closed but just keeps saying " amen... amen..." and then we're finished and I hear him say " Wove Dod wit all your heart". And I repeated it back to him and he says "yeah, Wuv God, heart". I was amazed. It was especially interesting that he said that and I don't remember saying the word "God" during our grace although I did use the word "Lord". Jonah has childcare for a couple ours at a local church where my MOPS group meets. A couple of meetings ago the teacher handed me his "art work" (scribbles on paper at this point) with Matthew 22:37 on it "Love God with all your heart." She told me they will be learning this verse this month. Kelly and I were both quite skeptical that he could in fact learn it, but it seems Jonah is proving us wrong. He's a sharp little guy to be sure.

First Daycare Experience

I went to my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting this week. I was a bit apprehensive about the childcare aspect, particularly with Elisabeth. Jonah did great - and it was his first experience in a daycare type setting. Elisabeth was having a fussy morning, but the ladies in the nursery really worked with her to sooth her. I checked on her 2 times - the first time she had fallen asleep. The second time I had to nurse her. When I picked her up at the end she was having one of her alert & calm moments. But she started crying when I put her in the carseat.

So far we haven't found any foolproof ways of soothing her. Sometimes one thing works, other times it doesn't. And sometimes she can cry so loud my ears litterally ring. But when she's having one of her quiet alert times, she is so sweet. She coo's and even smiles if you talk and smile at her. It looks as if she is going to have some striking blue eyes of her own, but darker than her brother's.

Juggling Act

I've posted a lot of Jonah pictures and didn't want to leave the little girl out.

She has been eating nonstop today. This may be the precursor to a growth spurt. If so that means she'll sleep all day sometime soon - that could be nice (sigh). It seems like for the most part I spend my day going back and forth between kids meeting their needs. Elisabeth slept long enough for me and Jonah to have lunch. Then she had a quiet moment when I was dealing with Jonah at nap time. But there are those moments when the baby is crying and Jonah is into something at the same time, that's when it gets a little hectic. I just signed up for a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group that meets twice monthly. The fact that I found myself being so excited about means I probably really need it. And they watch the kids for two hours. I don't know what I'll do with myself.
On a separate note, I'm starting to think I'm too lazy to keep calling her Elisabeth (Not that I call her by her name much now anyway - usually it's baby doll or baby girl or something). I may end up calling her Rose. I guess that means I should call her Elisabeth Rose until I make up my mind so I don't confuse people by changing her name on them. I'm sure this isn't the last thought on that though :-)