Picking a Fight

Sometimes I think Daniel's like his father in that he just likes to argue for argue's sake.

I was breaking down the lunch meat box to get it ready for recycling when Daniel saw me.

Daniel (in the most whiny, sad voice you can imagine): I wanted a ham sandwich for lunch tomorrow!
Me: That's fine.  You can have a ham sandwich tomorrow.
Daniel: Do we still have ham?
Me: Yes, there's ham in the fridge.
Daniel: Well, then what was that box?
Me: That was from the turkey.
(pause)
Daniel (still using the sad, whiny voice): I didn't want ham.  I wanted a turkey sandwich for lunch tomorrow!
Me: That's fine.  You can have a turkey sandwich tomorrow.
Daniel: No, no, no.....because you ate all the turkey!
Me: There's another box in the fridge.
Daniel: Oh.

Got Sleep?

Shortly after Catherine turned four months old, she started waking up a lot during the night - like 5-6 times sometimes.  She had previously been sleeping through the night, so this was a big problem, especially because it wasn't like she would just go right back to sleep.  We'd have to pat her on the back for ages - sometimes as long as an hour - before she'd stay asleep for any length of time.  Annoying to say the least.

So we decided to "sleep train" her like we did Daniel, using the Ferber method (basically letting her learn to fall asleep on her own with no patting/rocking by allowing her to cry, comforting her at different intervals).  With Daniel, he cried for an hour and forty-five minutes the first night and continued to cry a significant amount of time for about a week, finally learning to fall asleep with no crying on night #12.  Not fun.  So we were prepared for Catherine.  We waited until things were 'stable' in our lives and prepped for long hours of crying.  We started the sleep training about a week and a half ago.  She cried 15 minutes the first night, and since then she's been rock solid, crying maybe 1-2 minutes, if at all, and only waking once per night to eat.  So wonderful!

Crazy to see the differences between the two kids. 

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

When I hear a little voice saying this:

"beep beep beep beep beep beep beep"

and it's coming from the bathroom........

There's only one thing it can be. 

Daniel's "timer" has gone off. 

And when Daniel's timer goes off.......

It means he's ready to be wiped.......

after I've turned off the timer by bopping him on the head.

Am I a lucky mom or what?

Mother's Day

Daniel made me a card for Mother's Day, and with the help of Daddy and Aunt Cristi, made a video and completed a questionnaire.  Here are his answers from the questionnaire as well as a sweet pic of my kids and me from that day!

I really love it when my mom washes the dishes, because she makes them clean

My mom likes to wear pretty things

My mom always tells me not to do wrong things. To get dressed

The best thing she does is play with me and read books to me

It makes her happy when I do right things, when I unload the dishwasher

I like it when she play and read books and play trains

The best thing she cooks is pizza doughs, pasta

When my mom shops she likes to buy eggplant, baba ganoush

I love my mom because… she does right things, she does silly things

Moustaches

Grandpa & Grandma brought moustaches when they visited.....

 

4 Month Status

Catherine turned 4 months old on the 9th.  She's an amazing sleeper - especially compared to Daniel at this age.  She sleeps through the night about 2/3 of the time, and on other nights, she doesn't usually wake up until 4 or 5 am after going to sleep at 8 or 8:30 the night before.  Her naps are kind of sporadic.  I never really know how long they'll last (anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours), but she typically gets tired after being up for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  She recently started playing with toys.  She reached out for her first toy (a giraffe taggie) on April 29th - 2 days after spending an entire day watching her more advanced (by 3 months) triplet friends.  She typically eats 5 times a day, though she'd probably be content with 4 times.  She doesn't cry a lot, but she does do this whiny noise when she wants to be held.  She loves to be held and rocked and patted.  She loves to watch Daniel.  She still loves to be in the bathtub.  She doesn't mind being passed to new adults, which is good because she's so stinkin' cute that a lot of people want to hold her!  She smiles a lot and coos, but she hasn't really laughed yet.  She rolls over from her tummy to her back and scootches around a lot in the crib.  Sometimes we find her clear on the other side from where we laid her down.  She's incredibly strong and can lift herself really high off her tummy.  She still won't take a bottle, and we've tried for about 6-8 weeks now.  Any suggestions?! 

She weighed in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces (22nd %ile) and measured 23 3/4 inches (30th %ile) at her appointment yesterday.  Her head circumference was 16.5 inches.  She screamed - I mean crazy screamed - the second I laid her down on the examining table.  Our pediatrician said, "You'll have to tell me later if she's got a good memory.  She sure seems to remember getting her shots here last time!" 

Identity Crisis

Daniel: Uh-oh!!!  Oh, no!
Me: What?  What happened!?
Daniel: I forgot to put on my makeup this morning!
Me: You're a boy.
Daniel: Well....boy makeup.
Me: Boys don't wear makeup. 
Daniel: Well, I do.