Friday, July 31, 2009

The Big Helper

So, we decided that we would switch the kids rooms since Sam's room is so much bigger and the boys will be sharing a room. Sam was soooo excited to pick out the color of her new room and help Nini paint! Here is her hard work! She was so proud of herself and when she finished she said, "Daddy will be so happy!" That girl loves her Daddy!


As you can see, she chose a light aqua color which is not all that much different from what she had in her other room : ) When we switched the rooms, we put her bed up on rails and attached the headboard. (pictures to come) We originally put the mattress on the floor so that she wouldn't have far to fall if she rolled out but now that she is bigger we thought it would be nice for her to have a BIG big girl bed. She loves it.

And FYI for anyone painting in the near future.....the Behr Premium Plus, which is the primer and paint in one, is AWESOME. We were painting over the intense green and a black stripe and it only took one coat. Wow!

Big Boy Haircut!

My Little Man got a big boy haircut. It's crazy how grown up he looks now. He did pretty good for his first time. They put on the movie "Cars" and he was glued to the TV. The clippers bothered him a couple of times but he did really well and we were outta there quickly!

BEFORE

AFTER
I took him to Cool Cuts 4 Kids. I'm glad I took him there for the first time since she was accustomed to working with kiddos and was super quick and patient but I won't be going back. They are ridiculously expensive and dirty.

Here is his only little freak-out! (isn't it cute)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

She Makes Me Laugh

Seriously.......Sam cracks me up. The things kids say are just great. This is also a little bragging so just know that going in...... I AM one of THOSE Mom's who thinks their kid hung the moon.

So, we were playing with her Aquadoodle. She told me she was going to draw a fish and this is what she drew. I was quite impressed. I realize it's no Picasso but for a 2 year old......pretty impressive.
(grrrr..... I don't know why but every time I upload this pic it turns it sideways)

After that she wanted me to sit and draw with her. I drew a smiley face and showed her how to do it. Here is her smiley face......pretty cute, huh!


So, THEN I drew a house. She wanted to draw it so bad but she was having a REALLY hard time. So, in my very teacherish manner I proceeded to do a dotted line house that she could trace because she usually really likes to trace. I thought that was brilliant.

Apparently she did not.

I was trying to tell her to trace the dots and she was "busy" drawing something else. So, I tried to take her hand and show her how to trace it. She pulled away and told me she was drawing something else. I guess I am a little persistent because I tried once AGAIN to tell her to trace it. Of course, she continued to ignore me so I said, "Why are you being ugly to me?" and her answer......... "I'm not hearing you!"...........WOW! I laughed out loud on that one. Just thinking about what she was thinking and hearing her so serious tell me that was just funny.

And because I am a Mom, I had to explain to her that she was in fact hearing me and what she was doing was called IGNORING.

And the story behind the next pic. I drew the large sun and then she asked me to draw the small sun. She said, "Mommy & Daddy." I asked her which was which and she said the big one was Daddy & the small one was Mommy. This is just funny because she is always saying, "I'm big like Daddy & Spencer is small like Mommy."

I really don't know what to make of this but she says it all the time! (Guess I should enjoy that I am small in her mind)

Friday, July 17, 2009

The Reward

So, we have implemented something new in the Martin household. It's the reward jar......it's equivalent to a reward chart w/ stickers.......I guess I am just more artsy fartsy than I am teacherish and so I had to do something different!

It works like this: I got a small glass jar and a bunch of pretty glass stones. When Sam does something good, she gets a stone. When the jar gets full, she gets a big prize (as opposed to a bunch of little junky stuff each time she does something good) She gets stones for a variety of things but I wanted it to promote independence, character and initiative for doing things.

At what point do you quit telling your child to say "thank you", "share with your brother" or "pick up your toys"? It isn't as if they don't know they need to do these things, they are just hoping to get away with NOT doing them. I was hoping for some positive reinforcement for positive behaviours. So far it has worked beautifully......BUT I must say that Sami is a natural people pleaser so this is right up her alley......don't know that this would work for all the little guys.

So back to what she gets stones for.......here is a small list of things she has actually gotten stones for......

putting away her toys w/o me asking
sharing with her brother w/o me asking
taking a nap w/o a fight
putting the silverware away
putting her laundry away
being a good girl at the store
watching/entertaining her brother while I need to do something
small but important stuff that makes my heart smile because she is such a great kid (character issues)

Sooooo, all this to tell you that she got her jar filled up and received her first reward today. She LOVED it. Her cousins are in town and my Mom was taking them to NRH2O, so we decided that would be a perfect prize. She is hesitant of water but she really warmed up and ended up doing really great and having a fantastic time. She went down slides, played on all the cool kid stuff and swam in the wave pool. It was a wonderful day!

Here are a few pictures.......

Sam & her cousin Parker

Sam & I going down the slide (we are on the left)

Daddy & Spencer


Sam hasn't been to NRH2O since she was less than a year old so she doesn't even remember it. I'm sure we will be going back. Spencer did pretty good. He just got REALLY tired and was fuss talking when we left.......I think his ears are still bothering him.

OH, and that brings up a good question........how do you reward one child w/o rewarding the other? or do you just let them both enjoy it? this isn't so much an issue now but it will be as Spencer gets to the age to do his own reward jar(and I could be wrong in my predictions but I have a feeling that his is going to fill up MUCH slower than hers).

Well, the fam is still zonked from the trip.......hoping they will wake soon.....getting close to bedtime.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

A First

Ha! We just got back from the play area at NE Mall. Due to Spencer being sick, we haven't been out of the house in several days and Sam was just about to lose all civility. I decided it was time to take action since Spencer's temp had been gone for over 24 hrs.

It was so stinkin' cute. This was the first time we have been since Spencer has been walking so this is the first time he has gotten to play. It was precious! He was in heaven. There were 8 billion people there but he just thought it was great. He would take a few steps and then just watch everyone, move a little and then just watch everyone. He was mesmerized! He would just laugh and squeal in excitement. It was hilarious.

And Sam was soooo sweet. She is the greatest big sister in the world. She was so concerned about him. She made sure he was doing good, would go play a little and then find him again to make sure he was ok. I don't know how many times she came over to me and asked me where Bubby was. She didn't have to watch out for him......I never asked her to do that. She is just a little mother hen. I'm sure it will drive the boys crazy as they all get older but I think it is sweet that she cares so much.

I am so blessed!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The 3rd Pregnancy.....

doesn't exist. Maybe it's just because my kids are so close but I don't have time to think about being pregnant!

For those of you who don't know this, I HATED being pregnant with the other 2...... like, despised it.......couldn't wait for the day I could get those kiddos outta there. Why?

1) there are too many things that happen to your body that are just flat uncomfortable (some unmentionables, some things like feet in your ribs)
2) your emotions are just RIDICULOUS
3) you get fat
4) nothing you wear looks cute and when you get really big, nothing is long enough to cover your protruding belly
5) you are TIRED.....all the stinkin' time
6) but you really can't sleep because you're either uncomfortable or HOT
7) and most of all for me it is because they are invading MY SPACE!!!!

All of that said, I have actually been able to enjoy this pregnancy because

1) you aren't sure if the things that are so uncomfortable are just leftovers from the last pregnancies
2) well, the emotions are still annoying
3) now you have an excuse for the fat you already had
4) nothing you wore before the pregnancy was cute anyway because you used all that money on making sure your kids look cute
5) you're already tired all the time from the other 2 kids
6) but you can't really sleep anyway since they don't sleep through the night or take up half of your bed
7) space? what space? toddlers just don't understand the concept of space.

and there you have it.
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