Sunday, June 01, 2008

Inspired

This week the inspiration came to take some action with certain parenting things. The first change I wanted to make was dealing with Micah's nighttime wetting. I decided to put away the pull-ups for good and just go for it. Erik and I still pick him up and put him on the potty right before we head to bed, but so far we've only had a couple of accidents. Hopefully this will spur him on towards dryer nights!

Micah at one of Daddy’s hockey games:


The second thing I wanted to do was start weaning Keziah from her soother. One afternoon before her nap I felt suddenly inspired. Before I could question it too much I got the scissors out and cut the tip off of her soother. My mom tells the story of how my brother loved his soother so much and she kept cutting it off a little bit at a time until she took the whole thing away and told him that he must've swallowed it. He totally believed her and never asked for it again. I thought I would try that with Keziah, but after two nights of unsatisfying sucking, she has decided to banish it altogether! For the most part she has been going down easily and sleeping through the night, but when she has woken up I've had no choice but to rub her back a bit and then just let her cry. In a few moments of exhausted desperation I even offered her the "in tact" soother I still had, but she didn't even want to try it. And that's a good thing in the long run. Overall I've been really surprised how easy it's been and I pray it continues. It just seems so strange to put her in her crib with just her blankie. I told Erik that I think I was more addicted to her soother than she was :) Knowing that we had the option of popping it in when she woke at night or whatever was kind of nice. But after the struggle we had with taking Micah's soothers away, I'm glad they are gone!

Mommy & Keziah watching Daddy’s game:


Micah has also been having a tough time staying in his bed these days. Recently I commented on how well sleeping was going for him, but of course he decided to change things up on us again. I felt like I was floundering a bit in this area with no clear game plan as to how to handle things. Some nights we'd be really firm, other nights we'd end up sitting in his room until he fell asleep or let him sleep on the floor in our room. I decided this week that I needed to make a deicision and be really firm. So we are currenlty implementing the Supernanny technique - repeatedly putting him back in his bed with no communication or eye contact. And I mean REPEATEDLY. It's been about 45 minutes of hauling him into his bed over and over for the last several nights. Erik is having a tough time being patient with this plan but I really believe it will work if we are consistent. Short-term pain for long-term gain, right?

Micah creating cards for our playgroup birthday party last week:


The kitties are increasing in their cuteness now that they are growing and have their eyes open. We’ve been holding them a bit more which is exciting for the kids. We've actually had several people interested in taking them home, so I don't think we'll have a problem getting rid of them when the time comes.

“Kitty!”


I pulled out a hula costume I bought for Keziah in Hawaii. It's too big for her but Micah was willing to give it a try (minus the mini coconut bra). I thought he looked like a little polynesian fire dancer:













Granny & Grandpa Harder called Micah the other day and he happily chatted with them for a long time, asking questions about all sorts of things. It was really cute!


Keziah says "baby" now and loves everything to do with clothes and dolls. It gets quite exhausting putting diapers on and off her babies over and over, but she never tires of asking for it :) She loves the Praise Baby video that we (repeatedly) borrow from the church library and has lately started settling into her foam chair and pointing at the TV saying, "baby! baby!" It’s pretty hard to resist.


Erik & the kids made brownies together yesterday. Keziah is starting to want to participate in baking & washing dishes.



She also enjoys participating in chocolate beater-licking :)

17 comments:

Bonnie said...

Licking the beater was always the best part as a kid :) Love these pictures Jamie... very cute! Hope all of your "inspirations" continue to work out.

Rick and Sandy said...

Great fun...the joys of parenting that is; this too shall pass and then before you know it they'll have left your home to start their own...and as in my case, they move out-of-town. That's the toughest part :(

You are doing a great job Jamie!!

Summer said...

Hi Jamie,

Very cute post!! My kids always licks the beaters when i am baking a cake or cookies!! I dont think they will outgrow that!

Love all the pics!!!

Kathy's corner said...

Keep up the good work!! Keep pressing on and don't give up/ March forward and don't look back.... One day Jamie, when Micah is 15, you won't beable to get him out of bed in the mornings. It will be so good to see you guys and enjoy some time together. Can hardly wait!! love mom

laura.h said...

Those are some cute kids! Looks like fun at your house with those kitties!
I read the letter Micah sent to your parents...too cute!!

Miss you guys
Love Laura

Kara said...

Good post. Good luck with the bedtime routine with Micah. Supernanny seems to know what she's doing, so hopefully it will continue to work. Those kids of yours get cuter by the day. I hope you have a great week Jamie!

Rosanna Toews said...

Love the pictures Jamie - my fav is of Micah all dressed up and dancing - so cute! You are a GREAT mom!

-Me- said...

Oh my goodness, I always love all of your pictures!!!! Micah dressed in the Hula gear..too stinkin' cute :)) I'm glad that the soother taking away went well...I've been thinking about taking Noah's away lately too, but you're definitely right...Us moms get addicted to them too...they are so convenient sometimes :) I STILL like licking the beaters when my mom bakes :)

Anonymous said...

micah in the costume dancing-so very hillarious!!!
i hope that the sleeping-issues will get better and that micah will learn to sleep on his own for good!
oh, and you´re one brave mommy to wean keziah from her soother!!
leslie

derek salmon said...

great pictures! i love the hula stuff. cant wait to see it on keziah when she's bigger.

we havent tried to make any nighttime changes yet for diedre (she's several months younger than micah) and i guess in some ways i dont even consider her fully trained b/c if she's wearing a pull up she will pee in it if she's tired, but she is good if she's in underwear.

ezekiel's 18 months now and we've mentioned that we think we were starting to train diedre by now, but cant even imagine starting with ezekiel yet. have you started anything with keziah yet?

kelly ens said...

So here I am, realizing I haven't actually READ this entry yet?!?! weird...

well a HUGE congratulations on the success with Keziah's soother! That is WONDERFUL news! I look forward to the day Taeya is off of it for good, but with all the transitions we'll be putting her through this summer, I don't want to take away her one comfort!

cute pictures, as ever :)

Janelle said...

ok - FINE! i'll admit it! i am ADDICTED to Kamryn's soother! it solves ALL the problems i can't!! i can't believe i have a 3 year old that still has a soother, and i'm not even trying to get rid of it! ahhhh! but i guess we all have our own crutches, and kids learn & grow in different stages...but still. :) :) proud of you Keziah!! :)
love the baking pictures! isn't that one of the funnest things to do with kids?? i love it. and wow, Erik! teach Rod how to bake! :) impressive! :)
miss you guys.

KDees said...

great picture of Keziah licking the chocolate beaters!

Trev and Rebekah said...

Your kids are growing up Jamie!
It seems like just yesterday when I read your post about getting rid of Micah's soother.

Trev and Rebekah said...

Your kids are growing up Jamie!
It seems like just yesterday when I read your post about getting rid of Micah's soother.

Michelle said...

That's the best part of baking is licking the beaters!! A girl after my own heart!

Good job with all your inspiration! You're a great mom!!

Melanie said...

Adorable - little fire dancer! You could publish those photos.