Today's lunch, as is most days', was leftovers from dinner or other various meals.
That's not what Levi had on his own personal menu, however.
Mealtime Meltdown was his plat du jour. Yes, we wanted to eat our cheeseburger, but no, we didn't want to sit in our chair. I want those grapes in the fridge, mom, but I don't want to sit in my chair. Ooh, you're having leftover green beans. Those look yummy, but I don't want to sit in my chair. I'm going to climb up in the big people chair and eat there. What? I can't do that? But I want to eat. Not in my chair however...
Repeat ad nauseum for about 15 minutes. I finally semi gave in and let him sit on my lap to eat. He had to eat SOMETHING and naptime was quickly approaching.
Why didn't Levi want to sit in his chair? We'll probably never know. It was yet another situation where I was having a simultaneous conversation in my head while I tried not to blow my stack. "Stick firm with this. You have to stick firm. You can't give in because it'll lead to bad things. Why won't he just sit in his chair!? Oh man, it's 11:53. He has to eat something before nap. (lower your voice) How about grapes? He likes those, he'll sit in his chair now. Nope. Ok, running out of options here. Should I be fighting this battle? He does just want to be with me. That's not a bad thing. It's just...OK, FINE. I don't feel like dealing with this any more. I guess he can sit with me. He'll eat and not scream. That's a victory in my book. Where is that parent manual anyways?"
Monday, January 27, 2014
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Unprepared
Today was our first true snowfall in Pittsburgh and I came to realize how unprepared I was for Levi to play outside. No snowsuit, no true boots, no mittens, no good 'wear under a hood' hat. We were going to Target anyways this morning, so I decided to look there. Nothing. Walmart? Nothing. --Although I did finally find a good hat for him there yesterday, so they're not completely on my bad list. Once Upon A Child? Yes! There were two suits. I bought both because I really couldn't have him try them on in the store. I'm the queen of returns, so I'll just take one back. We're still without mittens and good boots, but I don't think he'll miss playing outside today.
We're having to discipline more, now that Levi is up and walking and exploring. It's so easy to get frustrated and raise my voice, which is a nice way of saying 'yell.' I try so hard not to do that, but my impatience definitely gets the best of me sometimes. There are at least a handful of times during the day when I'm unprepared for what to do. He actually is a pretty good little boy. Just a typical 17-month old.
Tim and I see the importance of boundaries and consistency. We've had to smack a bum or a hand here and there, but it's always followed by a reassurance that 'mommy loves you, but you have to listen.'
I don't want to come across as sounding like this whole discipline thing is easy and logical. Because as soon as I start to believe that, Levi will throw a curve ball and we'll be back to square one.
He's definitely becoming his own little person now and is very expressive. He's caught on with a few signs (please/more, cup, eat) and that makes things a little easier. I had no idea he was paying attention when I started that a number of months ago. I figured he wasn't into it, so we stopped. Then all of a sudden he started "saying" please/more. That's actually two separate signs, but we combine them. :-)
Levi enjoys being affectionate and gives lots of kisses.
Thankfully for mommy (and daddy, too-only not as much since he's at work), Levi has been sleeping and napping very well. (I shouldn't be typing this right now because he is currently napping and I don't want to jinx myself.) He's down to one afternoon nap. That gives us the morning for errands, etc.
Each day is a new adventure and I continue to realize how much more I have to learn about this whole parent thing. :-)
We're having to discipline more, now that Levi is up and walking and exploring. It's so easy to get frustrated and raise my voice, which is a nice way of saying 'yell.' I try so hard not to do that, but my impatience definitely gets the best of me sometimes. There are at least a handful of times during the day when I'm unprepared for what to do. He actually is a pretty good little boy. Just a typical 17-month old.
Tim and I see the importance of boundaries and consistency. We've had to smack a bum or a hand here and there, but it's always followed by a reassurance that 'mommy loves you, but you have to listen.'
I don't want to come across as sounding like this whole discipline thing is easy and logical. Because as soon as I start to believe that, Levi will throw a curve ball and we'll be back to square one.
He's definitely becoming his own little person now and is very expressive. He's caught on with a few signs (please/more, cup, eat) and that makes things a little easier. I had no idea he was paying attention when I started that a number of months ago. I figured he wasn't into it, so we stopped. Then all of a sudden he started "saying" please/more. That's actually two separate signs, but we combine them. :-)
Levi enjoys being affectionate and gives lots of kisses.
Thankfully for mommy (and daddy, too-only not as much since he's at work), Levi has been sleeping and napping very well. (I shouldn't be typing this right now because he is currently napping and I don't want to jinx myself.) He's down to one afternoon nap. That gives us the morning for errands, etc.
Each day is a new adventure and I continue to realize how much more I have to learn about this whole parent thing. :-)
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| Our little monster |
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| Playing with Aunt Katie |
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| Still wanting to play outside despite the freezing temps |
Monday, July 29, 2013
Birthday Boy!!
I promised in my last post that I would post again about Levi's birthday.
We had a super fun party at Grandma and Papa's. I wanted to keep it simple so we invited just a few friends. He really hasn't shown any type of preference towards toys or tv shows or anything (probably because we don't watch very many at all), so we went with a general sports theme.
We had hot dogs and nachos, like at a baseball stadium. And then threw in some baked beans, macaroni salad and fruit salad for good measure.
My friend, Dawn, made the cake. She did an awesome job and it was delicious!
She was a little embarrassed by the soccer ball, but I told her it was very 'creative.'
Grandma made the baseball 'smash cake.' Levi did a good job smashing.
Levi got tons of gifts. Sand toys, books, clothes, puzzles, etc.
Levi did great with no afternoon nap that day. It was super exciting for him, I'm sure.
We had a special party inside after everybody left. And after we tried to figure out what to do with the literal ton of nacho cheese left over.
Our celebration at home was on his true birthday. I took more video of that than pictures, but here are a few:
This was his present from mommy and daddy. And his favorite, by far.
We take walks/rides every morning and after supper, if it's nice out and if daddy has enough energy.
It was so much fun to celebrate his birthday but kind of sad, too, since a whole year had gone by so fast. I try to remind myself to savor each day, but in the ordinary-ness that's hard to do sometimes. Getting caught up in laundry, his appointments, nap times, scheduling shopping trips, etc. is pretty much my focus every day.
He's all of a sudden super cuddly when I go to put him to sleep. He just hugs me and lays his head on my shoulder. Sometimes slobbery mouth in, sometimes slobbery mouth facing out. I just stand there, holding him and close my eyes. I want to remember those times. I wish I could bottle them up to open later when he's all grown up.
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| Messy birthday boy |
My friend, Dawn, made the cake. She did an awesome job and it was delicious!
Grandma made the baseball 'smash cake.' Levi did a good job smashing.
We had a special party inside after everybody left. And after we tried to figure out what to do with the literal ton of nacho cheese left over.
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| New pjs |
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| New chair from Grandma and Papa |
Our celebration at home was on his true birthday. I took more video of that than pictures, but here are a few:
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| We're not too happy about the bib |
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| Presents from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike |
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| "Tell him what he's won, Alex." "It's a new car!!" |
This was his present from mommy and daddy. And his favorite, by far.
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| Our neighbor's trailer-we thought it was funny |
It was so much fun to celebrate his birthday but kind of sad, too, since a whole year had gone by so fast. I try to remind myself to savor each day, but in the ordinary-ness that's hard to do sometimes. Getting caught up in laundry, his appointments, nap times, scheduling shopping trips, etc. is pretty much my focus every day.
He's all of a sudden super cuddly when I go to put him to sleep. He just hugs me and lays his head on my shoulder. Sometimes slobbery mouth in, sometimes slobbery mouth facing out. I just stand there, holding him and close my eyes. I want to remember those times. I wish I could bottle them up to open later when he's all grown up.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Nostalgia and making new memories
I recently looked back at some older videos of Levi, circa December 2012 and forward. He was so little! A lot of them made me cry because I realized how much I miss that little bean of ours. I'm upset that we didn't get a camcorder before we did since there's six months of his life that, yes, have tons of pictures, but it would've been nice to have a video.
I've decided to try and take video at least once a week from now on.
It's funny how I don't remember the difficult things about the second six months of his life, just the fun things in the videos. Of course, if I sit down and really think about it I could come up with some, but each age has its own issues, so I guess I'll leave it at that.
In May we went on vacation to VA Beach. I was worried about how he'd do sleep-wise, especially since he wasn't too keen on the pack 'n play. He was fine! We stuck pretty close to the hotel so that he could still have naps and our room was laid out so that we could move his 'bed' to another part when it was time for nap or sleep.
I really wanted to stop the mid-night feeding, but decided to wait until he was back home in his own bed and things were back to normal. Thankfully that process was pretty painless. He cried for less than ten minutes for a couple of nights and then, voila! I still wake up if I hear him or if he cries, but we just let him go and he's back to sleep in just a couple of minutes.
Last weekend we visited Tim's family in Maryland. Levi slept in the pnp in the basement and was fine the first night. He woke up crying really loudly the second night and wouldn't stop. So I went out to him (our room was in a separate room in the basement), tried to nurse him, but he wanted just to be held. I sang and tried to put him back down once he fell asleep. Well, *that* was not going to work. So I made a little bed for us on their big couch and ottoman and I held him until he fell asleep. I slept, too, not the best, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right? Around 1:30 he started getting all wiggly so I put him back to bed. I told Tim that I wouldn't want to do it weekly, for sure, but it was really special to spend that time with him. I don't know how much longer he'll want to do that.
Levi's still enthusiastic about nursing, even though I think I've pretty much dried up. He still gets some, but I don't think he realizes that it's not as much as before and he doesn't get full. I nurse only three to four times: wake-up, 2 naps, and bedtime. I couple of times I've been away and he's gone down fine without me.
Levi started whole milk a month ago or so and at first didn't care for it. I watered it down and then slowly decreased the amount of water. He's fine with it now. His dr. said that he should get 8-24 oz. a day. I know he gets somewhere between those numbers. We still do a water sippy during the non-meal times.
Two of his favorite foods are pizza and a new dish that I just made, Unstuffed Cabbage. It's pretty much everything in stuffed cabbage, just all mixed together in a pot. A ton easier than the fancy roll-up kind. He loves his yogurt afternoon snack-plain mixed with some baby food fruit. The Yoplait kind is just too sweet. We give him baby cereal at each meal, mixed with either fruit or veggie baby food. He takes it fine and I'll probably give it to him until he refuses it or gets too big. It's nice because he gets a lot of vitamins in it as well as iron. He's a good eater at meals, but sometimes he doesn't eat a whole bunch, so that's why I want to give him the cereal. Although maybe the cereal is why he *doesn't* eat a lot of other things. Always a puzzle.
No walking yet, but Levi still gets around very well and very fast. We penned off the living room and he's content in there the majority of the time. Even more so if mommy's in there with him. And since I can't do that all day, well, there's a sad little boy here most days. But as soon as I go out in the kitchen or out of sight he can sit right down and play all by himself. Silly boy.
I'll finish up with some pictures that will hopefully show some things that I didn't mention.
I've decided to try and take video at least once a week from now on.
It's funny how I don't remember the difficult things about the second six months of his life, just the fun things in the videos. Of course, if I sit down and really think about it I could come up with some, but each age has its own issues, so I guess I'll leave it at that.
In May we went on vacation to VA Beach. I was worried about how he'd do sleep-wise, especially since he wasn't too keen on the pack 'n play. He was fine! We stuck pretty close to the hotel so that he could still have naps and our room was laid out so that we could move his 'bed' to another part when it was time for nap or sleep.
I really wanted to stop the mid-night feeding, but decided to wait until he was back home in his own bed and things were back to normal. Thankfully that process was pretty painless. He cried for less than ten minutes for a couple of nights and then, voila! I still wake up if I hear him or if he cries, but we just let him go and he's back to sleep in just a couple of minutes.
Last weekend we visited Tim's family in Maryland. Levi slept in the pnp in the basement and was fine the first night. He woke up crying really loudly the second night and wouldn't stop. So I went out to him (our room was in a separate room in the basement), tried to nurse him, but he wanted just to be held. I sang and tried to put him back down once he fell asleep. Well, *that* was not going to work. So I made a little bed for us on their big couch and ottoman and I held him until he fell asleep. I slept, too, not the best, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right? Around 1:30 he started getting all wiggly so I put him back to bed. I told Tim that I wouldn't want to do it weekly, for sure, but it was really special to spend that time with him. I don't know how much longer he'll want to do that.
Levi's still enthusiastic about nursing, even though I think I've pretty much dried up. He still gets some, but I don't think he realizes that it's not as much as before and he doesn't get full. I nurse only three to four times: wake-up, 2 naps, and bedtime. I couple of times I've been away and he's gone down fine without me.
Levi started whole milk a month ago or so and at first didn't care for it. I watered it down and then slowly decreased the amount of water. He's fine with it now. His dr. said that he should get 8-24 oz. a day. I know he gets somewhere between those numbers. We still do a water sippy during the non-meal times.
Two of his favorite foods are pizza and a new dish that I just made, Unstuffed Cabbage. It's pretty much everything in stuffed cabbage, just all mixed together in a pot. A ton easier than the fancy roll-up kind. He loves his yogurt afternoon snack-plain mixed with some baby food fruit. The Yoplait kind is just too sweet. We give him baby cereal at each meal, mixed with either fruit or veggie baby food. He takes it fine and I'll probably give it to him until he refuses it or gets too big. It's nice because he gets a lot of vitamins in it as well as iron. He's a good eater at meals, but sometimes he doesn't eat a whole bunch, so that's why I want to give him the cereal. Although maybe the cereal is why he *doesn't* eat a lot of other things. Always a puzzle.
No walking yet, but Levi still gets around very well and very fast. We penned off the living room and he's content in there the majority of the time. Even more so if mommy's in there with him. And since I can't do that all day, well, there's a sad little boy here most days. But as soon as I go out in the kitchen or out of sight he can sit right down and play all by himself. Silly boy.
I'll finish up with some pictures that will hopefully show some things that I didn't mention.
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| Our little cowboy. We had 'old fashioned' pictures taken in VA Beach. |
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| Still lovin' bath time. Unfortunately he loves to try and stand up in the tub, too. |
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| Helping daddy pack for his road trip. |
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| His birthday present from mommy and daddy. (I'll post about that later.) |
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| Mommy's first flowers. |
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| Fun in the crab pool! |
Monday, May 6, 2013
Almost...
Levi will be 11 months old in one week! Time has just flown. Each day he does new things and learns more and more.
Since, again, it's been forever since my last post, I decided to jump month-to-month.
February:
March 2013:
We're obviously still working on those molars. His teeth are a favorite chew toy right now. It feels like I'm drugging him, but Advil helps make night time a lot better for everybody.
He finally graduated from his little blue tub. In April he started going solo and absolutely loves it!
April:
May has just started and now that the weather is nice we like to take walks in the morning. We've taken him to the park a couple of times, but I think he gets overwhelmed with all the new things, so we don't stay very long.
We have two gates that block off the living room-the safest room in the house. I'm sure we won't be able to do that forever, but right now it's just easier. If things get really busy, we'll put him in the pack 'n play. At first he cries a lot, but we have toys in there and once he realizes it's ok he quiets down. We're going on vacation next week and are staying in a hotel, so he doesn't really have a choice about it, does he?
(Trying to remember other things...)
We went to the allergist in March because we had concerns about possible asthma. He went to the ped with a bad cough and we got a nebulizer. We did a few treatments and it seemed to help. Because one of his sisters has issues with this and it's caused by allergens, we decided to see a specialist. To make a long story short, it's not asthma, he doesn't have allergies to any of the 9 things they tested him for (little skin pricks) and the cough is either viral or due to secretions from teething. Alrighty then.
I'm still nursing him and am so thankful that it has gone well. It's pretty much 'mandatory' until age 1, either that or formula, but I'm pretty sure he'll keep going after that. Which is fine, except I'd really like to cut out the night time feeding. He's done it before, sleeping 7pm to 5am, but those times are few and far between.
He loves to go to the store, which makes my life a lot easier. Of course, I make sure he's rested, changed and fed before we go. I think he wishes the cart was turned the other way so he could see where we're going. So nebby. (a term we learned at Max and Erma's. Pittsburghese for 'overly curious.')
Levi is understanding 'no' more now and doesn't like it. Shocker, I know. Sometimes 'no' includes a little smack on the hand. Obviously we don't plan to use that form of discipline forever, but at this age there's not much else they understand. I'm thankful that Tim and I are on the same page with that.
He does fine in the church nursery. I used to keep him home during that hour so that he could get a nap in before the worship service. His schedule is changing, going about 2.5 to 3 hours between naps, so we can make it through the entire morning without a nap. He's pretty much a bear when we get home, but for one day a week I think he'll/we'll live.
Levi gets more 'big people' food now. We did some of those Stage 3 meals for a while, but he got tired of them, wanting what mommy and daddy were eating. They were pretty nasty anyways. We added some salt-free Mrs. Dash and hopefully that made it better.
Now he has fruit cereal for breakfast, veggie cereal for lunch and dinner, plus whatever other table food we're eating. He eats pretty much whatever we're having. I can't think of anything he's tossed off his tray. He does great with the sippy cup. I put water in it and he's taking it just fine. We'll start whole milk (which will be quite a change from the skim we have now) at 1 year so that will be yet another adventure.
He's such a happy baby and his giggles brighten our day. It's crazy to think about what our life was like one year ago. Not knowing who he was (or even that he was a he) or when he would come. Being able to sleep and just do whatever, whenever. Which I fondly recall every now and again. But I wouldn't go back for anything in the world. I can't imagine our life without him.
Since, again, it's been forever since my last post, I decided to jump month-to-month.
February:
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| This was the napping position of the day. |
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| Grr, I'm a lion! |
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| Happy 7 months! |
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| We learned how to take the shapes out of the musical box. |
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| Fun daddy and Levi time |
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| Aunt Katie came to visit. She didn't even mind the backwash. |
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| In his turtle tunnel. |
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| Yeah, I made this mess. Whatcha gonna do about it? |
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| A week before St. Patty's, but the weather was warm and he wanted to wear his cute onesie from Aunt Katie. |
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| Happy 9 months! |
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| Yay for nice weather so we can chillax in our stroller. |
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| Levi and Grandpa. |
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| Goobs is not too sure about this whole 'crawling' thing. |
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| Bath with Daddy! |
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| First time in the Pack 'n Play. Mommy waited too long to introduce it, so he doesn't like it very much. We need it for vacation, so... |
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| First time outside. He's not too keen on the grass yet. |
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| Visit to Grandma and Grandpa's. Levi got a ride on the rocking footstool. |
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| Ah, Daddy's computer! |
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| We're standing (with help) now and nothing is safe. |
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| Out to lunch with Mommy & Daddy. Of course, he's looking at the waitress. |
We have two gates that block off the living room-the safest room in the house. I'm sure we won't be able to do that forever, but right now it's just easier. If things get really busy, we'll put him in the pack 'n play. At first he cries a lot, but we have toys in there and once he realizes it's ok he quiets down. We're going on vacation next week and are staying in a hotel, so he doesn't really have a choice about it, does he?
(Trying to remember other things...)
We went to the allergist in March because we had concerns about possible asthma. He went to the ped with a bad cough and we got a nebulizer. We did a few treatments and it seemed to help. Because one of his sisters has issues with this and it's caused by allergens, we decided to see a specialist. To make a long story short, it's not asthma, he doesn't have allergies to any of the 9 things they tested him for (little skin pricks) and the cough is either viral or due to secretions from teething. Alrighty then.
I'm still nursing him and am so thankful that it has gone well. It's pretty much 'mandatory' until age 1, either that or formula, but I'm pretty sure he'll keep going after that. Which is fine, except I'd really like to cut out the night time feeding. He's done it before, sleeping 7pm to 5am, but those times are few and far between.
He loves to go to the store, which makes my life a lot easier. Of course, I make sure he's rested, changed and fed before we go. I think he wishes the cart was turned the other way so he could see where we're going. So nebby. (a term we learned at Max and Erma's. Pittsburghese for 'overly curious.')
Levi is understanding 'no' more now and doesn't like it. Shocker, I know. Sometimes 'no' includes a little smack on the hand. Obviously we don't plan to use that form of discipline forever, but at this age there's not much else they understand. I'm thankful that Tim and I are on the same page with that.
He does fine in the church nursery. I used to keep him home during that hour so that he could get a nap in before the worship service. His schedule is changing, going about 2.5 to 3 hours between naps, so we can make it through the entire morning without a nap. He's pretty much a bear when we get home, but for one day a week I think he'll/we'll live.
Levi gets more 'big people' food now. We did some of those Stage 3 meals for a while, but he got tired of them, wanting what mommy and daddy were eating. They were pretty nasty anyways. We added some salt-free Mrs. Dash and hopefully that made it better.
Now he has fruit cereal for breakfast, veggie cereal for lunch and dinner, plus whatever other table food we're eating. He eats pretty much whatever we're having. I can't think of anything he's tossed off his tray. He does great with the sippy cup. I put water in it and he's taking it just fine. We'll start whole milk (which will be quite a change from the skim we have now) at 1 year so that will be yet another adventure.
He's such a happy baby and his giggles brighten our day. It's crazy to think about what our life was like one year ago. Not knowing who he was (or even that he was a he) or when he would come. Being able to sleep and just do whatever, whenever. Which I fondly recall every now and again. But I wouldn't go back for anything in the world. I can't imagine our life without him.
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