Okay - wow - what a night - and what a morning! Such an adventure! NOT! :-) First, last night, I wasn't feeling well - I have had a swollen gland in my neck since yesterday and it hadn't gone away - it was sore and my throat and ear were sore as well. I also felt chilled, so after I had put the boys to bed, I went to bed. At 12:30pm, I heard Caleb calling my name. Turns out he had peed the bed - I had him pee before the bath at 5:30pm and I usually ask them both to pee again before bed, but I guess I forgot. Anyway, so it was up (both Dad and I) to take the sheets off his bed and change him into dry pyjamas and then settle him onto the little mattress in our bedroom.
I put him back to bed and went back to sleep. At 2:30am, I heard Colin crying - I went in to him and he told me that he had a headache - I went downstairs, got him some medication and put him back to bed. I got to sleep in until 7am when Dad's alarm went off. I rolled over and told him that I was letting Colin sleep in and to go back to sleep. Caleb woke up at 7:15am as did Benjamin so I took them downstairs and Dad and I gave them breakfast. Colin woke up at 7:45am and he was not feeling that hungry. He said that his voice was hoarse (he didn't use that word, but I can't remember what he actually said) and he had a cough, his throat hurt and he still had a headache. I took his temperature and it was 37.3C which didn't make me concerned. Since I had this swollen gland, I was worried that I had passed whatever on to him. So, I called Doctor Milone's office and the doctors were out of the office until Monday. She wanted me to call back at 3pm to the doctor on call and I told her that I wasn't waiting until then since he was just 5 and had woken up crying. She then said that she could fit him in at 11:30am. I told her okay and then we all went to the walk-in clinic for me. It was closed so I told Dad to take us to the emergency department and we'd see how long it would take.
They actually got us in quickly (about half an hour wait) and the doctor checked him out (he was very impressed with Colin following his instructions so well). At the end of the check out, the doctor said that Colin had a virus (probably Adeno) and that there was no medication to help it go away - that it would just take time. He said to keep giving him acetaminophen and I could also give him ibuprophen at the same time. I asked the doctor if Colin could go to school and he said 'sure'. He also said that it wasn't that important that he eat, but it was that he drink as much as possible. Since it was pyjama day and he really wanted to go to school, I took him there just after morning recess. When he got home off the bus (Auntie Jennifer was there to get him with me) and I got him home, he felt warm to me and so I took his temperature. It was at 39.3C. Oh boy. So, I gave him some 'Equate' and took it again at 4:30pm, and it was up to 39.6C. I took it again at 5pm and it was at 39.2C. Before Jennifer took Colin to her place (he really wanted to go), I decided to call Telehealth just to be sure there wasn't anything else I could do. The nurse there just confirmed everything I already was thinking so that made me feel better. Jennifer called later to say that Colin's temperature was at 37.7C at 7pm when it was bedtime, so that is a good sign.
I asked Caleb today who was getting home tomorrow and he said Mommy and Daddy (by the way, when we were saying prayers tonight and I asked him what he was thankful for, he said he was thankful that Mommy and Daddy were coming home tomorrow :-) I asked him if I should stay longer and he said I had to go back to Australia. When I asked him why, he said because it was cold here and I didn't like the cold. :-) This kid is too smart. :-)
I had told Caleb that we were going to get a pizza for dinner tonight (since Colin was supposed to have a pizza for dinner at Jennifer's tonight - he didn't, though - he had some crackers and a blueberry smoothie and some vegetables (his choice :-) Anyway, Caleb and Pa went out to get the pizza (from Pizza Pizza) and while they were gone, I fed Benjamin the rest of his sweet potatoes (half a jar) and some more lasagna. Then, when Pa and Caleb got home with the pizza, we gave Benjamin some of it - he ended up eating a whole slice (minus the bottom crust) - this boy sure has a good appetite. I gave both of them a bath tonight - I let Benjamin stand in the bath while I did his hair and washed his body - he still cried a little, but nowhere near what he did on Wednesday. He still cried when I rinsed his hair, but I haven't figured out a way to do it where he won't cry. You can keep working on that. :-)
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, January 13th - Day 8
Well, we are getting ourselves into a great little routine here. This morning, however, Caleb woke up Colin at 6:40pm and then they came into our room - Colin told us that he just came in to tell us that Caleb had woken him up. I suggested that they both go back to bed until 7am, but Caleb was a little whiny and I didn't want to take up Benjamin, so I asked Caleb to lay down on the mattress at the bottom of our bed and asked Colin to go back to his bed. He said that he didn't want to be alone, so I let him get into our bed and we all 'rested' for 15 more minutes until it was 7am. I had heard Benjamin moan a couple of times around 5:45am, but then didn't hear a peep from him again until 7:10am.
I measured the Cheerios this morning for Benjamin and he ate one full cup! He also ate half a jar of pears and a tablespoon of raisins. I tried giving him some apple, but he wasn't too fussed on it. He did eat a couple of pieces. Caleb had three bowls of Corn Pops - they weren't too full - and then asked for more. I told him he could have fruit, but when we looked at the bananas, they still weren't ripe, so he asked if he could have cucumbers - an odd choice for breakfast, I thought, but why not? There was no more Ranch dip left, but he was okay having the cucs on his own. He asked if he could have some Shreddies which we were eating and Pa said he could have two. Caleb said that he never got diarrhea when he ate them and that he wanted more. I told him that Mommy had said that he couldn't have them. He told me that since I wouldn't let him have any more, that he didn't love me. Good thing I didn't take him too seriously. :-)
We got Colin off on the bus and Caleb off to school and put Benjamin down for his nap. It sure is nice having a break in the morning to relax a little. Benjamin woke up a little early because he was coughing - he still has his runny nose, but the coughing just started this morning. When we picked up Caleb from school, he had done the letter 'D' today, plus made a snowflake and in music class, he had played the guitar. He also told me that they had sang the 'Bumblebee Song' and he sang it for me - way cute! :-)
After a lunch of kolbassa (no, none for Benjamin although he was none to happy about that) and cheese and crackers (Benjamin didn't like the cheese) and peas for Benjamin, Caleb and I played for a bit (a combinatino of Mister Incredible and Erwin and Al) while Dad amused Benjamin. I read Caleb 'Aladdin' while Benjamin roamed around the room (Dad took off for Brampton to do some shopping before meeting up with Jennifer for dinner of sushi and checking out bikes for Jenniferf). When I put Benjamin down, he seemed to be okay at first, but then started moaning and did that on and off for about 20 minutes. He settled down and then Caleb woke up early (he was thirsty), but I knew that he was not ready to wake up (although he told me that he was not tired any longer - yeah, right!). So, he told me that if I went downstairs, he would get back into his bed. :-) Hopefully, he will fall asleep again and get in a good nap before we have to go and pick up Colin.
I wasn't feeling well today - still from yesterday - and so I let the boys watch 3 episodes of 'The Magic Schoolbus' (I know they were only supposed to get one episode a day, but when you're feeling sick, you do anything to not have to expend energy. When I told them that they could watch the second episode, Colin ran over to me, jumped in my lap, and said 'You're awesome!'. I love it when they say things like that! :-) Unfortunately, I was holding a cup of milk for Benjamin and some of it went flying when Colin jumped at me. So, it got on your little tan pillows. I washed them in the machine and they are sitting on the dryer in the basement. You might have to fluff them up, but they are now clean and won't smell like bad milk. :-)
At supper, I gave Benjamin the same pasta he had last night, but he didn't want any of it. He looked at what his brothers were having (lasagna) and kept pointing at that. I told him 'no' that he was having the pasta. He would not settle down, so I ended up scraping the hamburger off the lasagna (I wasn't sure if he could have any meat, so we have stayed away from that this week with Benjamin). Once I gave him the lasagna, he gobbled it all up.
After dinner, Colin wanted to see what the internet site he had on a 'ticket' from one of his toys, and so we checked it out. Unfortunately, the site said that the new improved site was 'coming soon'. He was disappointed and so I went onto http://www.starfall.com/ and let them (Colin and Caleb) play a couple of activities on there. They really enjoyed the ones they played. That site is one that I used to take my grade one children on there every week when we went into the computer lab.
Colin was quite tired this evening and so I reminded Caleb that he was not to get up until 7am so that Colin could get a good sleep. I went to sleep right after I put the boys to bed at 7:30pm.
I measured the Cheerios this morning for Benjamin and he ate one full cup! He also ate half a jar of pears and a tablespoon of raisins. I tried giving him some apple, but he wasn't too fussed on it. He did eat a couple of pieces. Caleb had three bowls of Corn Pops - they weren't too full - and then asked for more. I told him he could have fruit, but when we looked at the bananas, they still weren't ripe, so he asked if he could have cucumbers - an odd choice for breakfast, I thought, but why not? There was no more Ranch dip left, but he was okay having the cucs on his own. He asked if he could have some Shreddies which we were eating and Pa said he could have two. Caleb said that he never got diarrhea when he ate them and that he wanted more. I told him that Mommy had said that he couldn't have them. He told me that since I wouldn't let him have any more, that he didn't love me. Good thing I didn't take him too seriously. :-)
We got Colin off on the bus and Caleb off to school and put Benjamin down for his nap. It sure is nice having a break in the morning to relax a little. Benjamin woke up a little early because he was coughing - he still has his runny nose, but the coughing just started this morning. When we picked up Caleb from school, he had done the letter 'D' today, plus made a snowflake and in music class, he had played the guitar. He also told me that they had sang the 'Bumblebee Song' and he sang it for me - way cute! :-)
After a lunch of kolbassa (no, none for Benjamin although he was none to happy about that) and cheese and crackers (Benjamin didn't like the cheese) and peas for Benjamin, Caleb and I played for a bit (a combinatino of Mister Incredible and Erwin and Al) while Dad amused Benjamin. I read Caleb 'Aladdin' while Benjamin roamed around the room (Dad took off for Brampton to do some shopping before meeting up with Jennifer for dinner of sushi and checking out bikes for Jenniferf). When I put Benjamin down, he seemed to be okay at first, but then started moaning and did that on and off for about 20 minutes. He settled down and then Caleb woke up early (he was thirsty), but I knew that he was not ready to wake up (although he told me that he was not tired any longer - yeah, right!). So, he told me that if I went downstairs, he would get back into his bed. :-) Hopefully, he will fall asleep again and get in a good nap before we have to go and pick up Colin.
I wasn't feeling well today - still from yesterday - and so I let the boys watch 3 episodes of 'The Magic Schoolbus' (I know they were only supposed to get one episode a day, but when you're feeling sick, you do anything to not have to expend energy. When I told them that they could watch the second episode, Colin ran over to me, jumped in my lap, and said 'You're awesome!'. I love it when they say things like that! :-) Unfortunately, I was holding a cup of milk for Benjamin and some of it went flying when Colin jumped at me. So, it got on your little tan pillows. I washed them in the machine and they are sitting on the dryer in the basement. You might have to fluff them up, but they are now clean and won't smell like bad milk. :-)
At supper, I gave Benjamin the same pasta he had last night, but he didn't want any of it. He looked at what his brothers were having (lasagna) and kept pointing at that. I told him 'no' that he was having the pasta. He would not settle down, so I ended up scraping the hamburger off the lasagna (I wasn't sure if he could have any meat, so we have stayed away from that this week with Benjamin). Once I gave him the lasagna, he gobbled it all up.
After dinner, Colin wanted to see what the internet site he had on a 'ticket' from one of his toys, and so we checked it out. Unfortunately, the site said that the new improved site was 'coming soon'. He was disappointed and so I went onto http://www.starfall.com/ and let them (Colin and Caleb) play a couple of activities on there. They really enjoyed the ones they played. That site is one that I used to take my grade one children on there every week when we went into the computer lab.
Colin was quite tired this evening and so I reminded Caleb that he was not to get up until 7am so that Colin could get a good sleep. I went to sleep right after I put the boys to bed at 7:30pm.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wednesday, January 12th - Day 7
At 7am this morning, we heard a door open and then saw a light shining through our door. Colin and Caleb were awake and Caleb was wearing his finger lasers and shining them through the crack in our door. It was so cute. :-) They told us that they came in for a cuddle and so we had a little cuddle with them until they were ready to go downstairs. Colin was cuddling with me and Caleb with Pa. Colin told me that he always cuddles with Mommy and Caleb always cuddles with Daddy. :-)
The boys wanted pancakes for breakfast, but couldn't wait for Pa to make them, so they had something small to tide them over. Colin had a peanut butter and jam sandwich and Caleb had a bowl of Cheerios. By this time it was 7:30am and Benjamin was stll not awake, so I was a little worried and decided to go into his room to see if he was awake. I'm not sure if he was or not, but as soon as I opened up the door, he was ready to get out of bed then. :-) I gave him a half cup of Cheerios which he gobbled up and also half a jar of pears and a tablespoon of raisins which he saw when I was having them on my Shreddies. By this time, Pa had finished making the pancakes and Benjamin was so excited. I gave him one without the syrup and after he finished that one, he wanted more. I didn't want to give him more because I thought that he had had enough, but he sure does like his carbs this boy. :-) Colin had one pancake and Caleb had THREE! :-)
Once I had gotten the boys dressed, it was time for me to get ready for the day. By this time it was 9:30am and time for Benjamin to go down again for his morning nap. I found on Saturday that it was hard to keep Colin and Caleb quiet when Benjamin was sleeping which was one reason I took them to the Early Years Centre on Monday. I asked Dad to take them today as I wasn't ready to go when Benjamin was ready to go down and I don't feel comfortable driving the van. First he took them to Blockbuster's, but it wasn't open, so he took them to Walmart to get a pair of slippers for Colin for his 'pyjama day' on Friday. While he was there, he also got a pair for Caleb (Colin's has Mater on it and Caleb's has Spiderman on it). The boys wanted to look at the toys there, so Dad gave them a choice: they could check out the toys or go to the Early Years Centre for a little bit - they chose to check out the toys.
Benjamin still wasn't awake when they got back so the boys played quietly at the table. Dad said he overheard them playing and they were doing a scene from Mr. Incredible where Mr. Incredible's suit got damaged and so they were looking for a new one. Colin said "but w.com was all out of them" and so they would have to fix the old one. (or something like that - we were laughing at the 'w.com' part - Dad said it was the new generation way to shop <haha>).
By 11:30am, we still hadn't heard a noise from Benjamin so again I went into his room to see what was going on. He sat up as soon as I opened the door and after his snack (half a jar of pears and half a jar of sweet potatoes), we headed off to McDonald's and Play Place. The boys wanted to play right away so they did that for about half an hour - there were a few kids there when we got there and more came in as time went on. They had a great time playing with their new friends. After lunch (which they didn't finish cuz they wanted to get back to playing), they had another half an hour of play.
I read Colin and Caleb the book "This is how much I love you" (or something like that) today just before nap and at the end of it when I was at the door, Colin said "Ma, I love you all the way to space and back." Then Caleb said "Ma, I love you all the way to the planets and back." Too cute, my lovely grandsons. :-)
After nap, we watched 'The Bee Movie' which the boys really enjoyed. Colin again was asking 'why' questions every two seconds (or so it seemed :-) I tried my best to answer his questions - the good thing about him is that he is okay with whatever I answer him - although sometimes he's not content with the first answer I give to his question and he asks more.
Supper wasn't quite ready at this time and so I asked the boys to come upstairs to have a bath. I ran the bath and then put Colin and Caleb in and then put in Benjamin thinking that he would be okay with his brothers in the bath along with tons of toys - WRONG! He screamed the house down (most of the time) - I tried to get him to look at his brothers to see what fun they were having and tried putting all the toys in front of him to get his mind off being in the bath - he would settle for a second or two, but then start crying again. I finally just got him washed (forget about washing his hair :-) and got him out. We will try again on Friday.
After our supper, the boys asked if they could have an ice-cream cone so of course I said yes. :-) We gave Benjamin an ice-cream cone with no ice-cream in it (like last night), but tonight he was not having it - he broke up the cone and left it on the tray. He kept pointing at Caleb and Colin's ice-cream cone and so finally I dipped the pieces of his cone in Colin and Caleb's ice-cream and he was happy with that. That boy is too clever. :-)
After putting Benjamin to bed, I went into Colin and Caleb's room to do their night time routine. After prayers, I tucked them in and told the next part of the saga of Erwin and Al. They absolutely love these stories - the look on their faces while I'm telling the story is so priceless. :-) After the story tonight, as I was going out the door, Colin said he had a question for me, so I asked him what it was. He asked me 'How is honey made?' - I told him that we would look on the internet tomorrow to find out how. He then asked 'How are light bulbs made?' When I gave him the same answer as I had to the first question, he then asked 'How is coal made?' I gave him the same answer and then he asked 'How are beds made?' I decided at this point to give him an answer and it seemed to satisfy him. Of course, Caleb then had to get into the act and asked how curtains were made. :-) He was happy with my answer, too. :-)
The boys wanted pancakes for breakfast, but couldn't wait for Pa to make them, so they had something small to tide them over. Colin had a peanut butter and jam sandwich and Caleb had a bowl of Cheerios. By this time it was 7:30am and Benjamin was stll not awake, so I was a little worried and decided to go into his room to see if he was awake. I'm not sure if he was or not, but as soon as I opened up the door, he was ready to get out of bed then. :-) I gave him a half cup of Cheerios which he gobbled up and also half a jar of pears and a tablespoon of raisins which he saw when I was having them on my Shreddies. By this time, Pa had finished making the pancakes and Benjamin was so excited. I gave him one without the syrup and after he finished that one, he wanted more. I didn't want to give him more because I thought that he had had enough, but he sure does like his carbs this boy. :-) Colin had one pancake and Caleb had THREE! :-)
Once I had gotten the boys dressed, it was time for me to get ready for the day. By this time it was 9:30am and time for Benjamin to go down again for his morning nap. I found on Saturday that it was hard to keep Colin and Caleb quiet when Benjamin was sleeping which was one reason I took them to the Early Years Centre on Monday. I asked Dad to take them today as I wasn't ready to go when Benjamin was ready to go down and I don't feel comfortable driving the van. First he took them to Blockbuster's, but it wasn't open, so he took them to Walmart to get a pair of slippers for Colin for his 'pyjama day' on Friday. While he was there, he also got a pair for Caleb (Colin's has Mater on it and Caleb's has Spiderman on it). The boys wanted to look at the toys there, so Dad gave them a choice: they could check out the toys or go to the Early Years Centre for a little bit - they chose to check out the toys.
Benjamin still wasn't awake when they got back so the boys played quietly at the table. Dad said he overheard them playing and they were doing a scene from Mr. Incredible where Mr. Incredible's suit got damaged and so they were looking for a new one. Colin said "but w.com was all out of them" and so they would have to fix the old one. (or something like that - we were laughing at the 'w.com' part - Dad said it was the new generation way to shop <haha>).
By 11:30am, we still hadn't heard a noise from Benjamin so again I went into his room to see what was going on. He sat up as soon as I opened the door and after his snack (half a jar of pears and half a jar of sweet potatoes), we headed off to McDonald's and Play Place. The boys wanted to play right away so they did that for about half an hour - there were a few kids there when we got there and more came in as time went on. They had a great time playing with their new friends. After lunch (which they didn't finish cuz they wanted to get back to playing), they had another half an hour of play.
I read Colin and Caleb the book "This is how much I love you" (or something like that) today just before nap and at the end of it when I was at the door, Colin said "Ma, I love you all the way to space and back." Then Caleb said "Ma, I love you all the way to the planets and back." Too cute, my lovely grandsons. :-)
After nap, we watched 'The Bee Movie' which the boys really enjoyed. Colin again was asking 'why' questions every two seconds (or so it seemed :-) I tried my best to answer his questions - the good thing about him is that he is okay with whatever I answer him - although sometimes he's not content with the first answer I give to his question and he asks more.
Supper wasn't quite ready at this time and so I asked the boys to come upstairs to have a bath. I ran the bath and then put Colin and Caleb in and then put in Benjamin thinking that he would be okay with his brothers in the bath along with tons of toys - WRONG! He screamed the house down (most of the time) - I tried to get him to look at his brothers to see what fun they were having and tried putting all the toys in front of him to get his mind off being in the bath - he would settle for a second or two, but then start crying again. I finally just got him washed (forget about washing his hair :-) and got him out. We will try again on Friday.
After our supper, the boys asked if they could have an ice-cream cone so of course I said yes. :-) We gave Benjamin an ice-cream cone with no ice-cream in it (like last night), but tonight he was not having it - he broke up the cone and left it on the tray. He kept pointing at Caleb and Colin's ice-cream cone and so finally I dipped the pieces of his cone in Colin and Caleb's ice-cream and he was happy with that. That boy is too clever. :-)
After putting Benjamin to bed, I went into Colin and Caleb's room to do their night time routine. After prayers, I tucked them in and told the next part of the saga of Erwin and Al. They absolutely love these stories - the look on their faces while I'm telling the story is so priceless. :-) After the story tonight, as I was going out the door, Colin said he had a question for me, so I asked him what it was. He asked me 'How is honey made?' - I told him that we would look on the internet tomorrow to find out how. He then asked 'How are light bulbs made?' When I gave him the same answer as I had to the first question, he then asked 'How is coal made?' I gave him the same answer and then he asked 'How are beds made?' I decided at this point to give him an answer and it seemed to satisfy him. Of course, Caleb then had to get into the act and asked how curtains were made. :-) He was happy with my answer, too. :-)
Colin playing the recorder
Caleb playing the recorder
Benjamin eating cone with a dab of ice-cream
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tuesday, January 11th - Day 6
Hooray - I am well rested this morning - Benjamin didn't wake up until 6:45am. I heard a couple of moans around 5:50am, but I have learned to wait before I go in and he slept almost another full hour. He is a much happier baby when he gets a full night's sleep, although his diaper was soooooooooooooooo full. Since he woke up before 7am, we kept the lights off and kept things very quiet so that he didn't get going and wake up the boys. First, we checked out Mary's house to see if she had the lights on and to see if there are any traffic on the road. Then we walked downstairs and checked out the apartment building (I pulled the blinds half way up). Then we walked into the kitchen and checked out the traffic out that window. It was (and is each morning) a nice quiet time for us and I even get some kisses in, too. :-)
I went in to the boys' room at 7am and Caleb was so excited that he had slept 'til 7 again. It's so cute to see his smiling face when he says that. :-) Colin chose to have Cheerios this morning for breakfast; when I asked Caleb what he wanted, he asked me what Colin was having and when I told him, he said that he wanted Cheerios, too. He ate two bowls and then had half a banana before he had some more Cheerios. Benjamin ate well this morning, too - he had two good sized bowls of Cheerios and half a jar of fruit. He drank some milk out of his cup - I am not even putting milk in a bottle anymore because he just wasn't interested in drinking from it.
Colin and I played a little game of "Polar Express 2" before we had to go to the bus (of course, Caleb HAD to join us in the game :-) Colin and I have some interesting discussions while we are at the bus stop. Today's was about Mommy's and how hard they work. Colin said that Daddy went to work and he and Caleb went to work (school), but Mommy didn't work. Of course, I set him straight and told him that Mommy had the hardest job in the world and that she worked while Daddy and they worked and then had to work after they all had finished work. He told me that she got to play a little with him and I said that yes she did, but then she had to get supper ready and do the dishes and help them get ready for bed.
Caleb asked me to play with him when he was ready for school. We played pirates and he had some ideas about what I was and was not allowed to do. I had to laugh when he told me that there was no swimming in this game (he had taken away my boats and so what was I to do? <haha>). He was a little taken aback when I brought a chipmunk into the game, but he soon figured out how to take care of that - he went and got another chipmunk who he informed me was a bad chipmunk. :-) Caleb learned about winter birds today at school and they brought in snow for the sensory table. They were asking parents to register them for the next term. I asked Mrs. Brusch to register Caleb - I told her you were out of town and that you would be back Saturday, but that I was sure you wanted Caleb to continue coming to school.
After we dropped him off at school and returned home, I put Benjamin down for his nap. It's so easy now - he just seems to know that when I take him into his room and change his diaper and then turn off the light and put the garbage can in front of the door (to keep it dark in the room), that it's time to lay down on me and we rock for a bit. I have also taken to singing him 'his song' a couple of times through while we rock (glide). He goes down so easily now - I just put him in the crib making sure that the second soother is near his head and then turn around and walk out the door closing it behind me. What a difference from when he used to scream the place down.
We gave Colin a tuna sandwich today because we had run out of salami and hadn't had a chance to go to the store to buy anymore. When it was lunch time for Caleb, I told him it was tuna - he said he didn't want tuna, but wanted grilled cheese. I told him that if he took one bite of a tuna sandwich, I would make him a grilled cheese sandwich. I made a half a sandwich and gave Caleb one quarter and gave Benjamin the other quarter. Caleb took one bite and asked for the grilled cheese - I asked him to eat the quarter and then asked Pa to make him the grilled cheese - he then asked Pa for some more tuna sandwich! So, he had half a tuna and half a grilled cheese sandwich! I told him that when his daddy got back, he would be able to eat a tuna sandwich with his dad. He said to me "When Daddy gets home, he's going to say 'You ate a tuna sandwich!'" and then proceeded to show us what Daddy would do (see pic below). It was so adorable! :-)
Benjamin ate a jar of sweet potatoes, a quarter of a tuna sandwich and ten grapes (green ones which I cut in four). He seems to be a very happy camper when his tummy is full. :-) I put him down at 1:30pm and he's been up there talking for about 25 minutes. Dad said he seemed tired although his eyelids weren't red like they usually are when he's tired. He made a few moaning sounds when I first put him down - I am hoping that he goes to sleep soon. (Later) Benjamin actually talked to himself for over half an hour before falling asleep - it was really good to see him being able to do that.
Colin was so exhausted when he got off the bus today that he asked me to carry him home. I carried him most of the way home, but asked him to walk across the road so that I could hold both his and Caleb's hand. Caleb had asked me if he could come and get Colin at the bus stop with me. When we got home, I asked the boys to help me clean up the playroom as it was a total mess and there was nowhere for the kids to play in there without sitting on some toys. Colin was great (a little reticent at times, but he really worked hard to help out). Caleb started helping, but then had to go to the bathroom. He was taking so long that I asked Dad to go and check it out. It turns out that he unwound the toilet paper onto the floor while he was sitting on the toilet. :-) I told Colin that since he had worked so hard helping with the tidying, that I would play with him for an hour after dinner.
It turned out that we couldn't play for an hour just because it took longer for everyone to eat dinner (actually Colin was quick, but Caleb and Benjamin took ages). Anyway, we got to play the 'real' Polar Express (so I was told that I was not able to make anything up, that I had to do the 'real' story :-) and we played for about 45 minutes before it was time for me to put Benjamin down and to then continue the saga of Erwin and Al with the boys. It's a good thing that I have a good imagination with having to come up with a different story every night. :-)
I went in to the boys' room at 7am and Caleb was so excited that he had slept 'til 7 again. It's so cute to see his smiling face when he says that. :-) Colin chose to have Cheerios this morning for breakfast; when I asked Caleb what he wanted, he asked me what Colin was having and when I told him, he said that he wanted Cheerios, too. He ate two bowls and then had half a banana before he had some more Cheerios. Benjamin ate well this morning, too - he had two good sized bowls of Cheerios and half a jar of fruit. He drank some milk out of his cup - I am not even putting milk in a bottle anymore because he just wasn't interested in drinking from it.
Colin and I played a little game of "Polar Express 2" before we had to go to the bus (of course, Caleb HAD to join us in the game :-) Colin and I have some interesting discussions while we are at the bus stop. Today's was about Mommy's and how hard they work. Colin said that Daddy went to work and he and Caleb went to work (school), but Mommy didn't work. Of course, I set him straight and told him that Mommy had the hardest job in the world and that she worked while Daddy and they worked and then had to work after they all had finished work. He told me that she got to play a little with him and I said that yes she did, but then she had to get supper ready and do the dishes and help them get ready for bed.
Caleb asked me to play with him when he was ready for school. We played pirates and he had some ideas about what I was and was not allowed to do. I had to laugh when he told me that there was no swimming in this game (he had taken away my boats and so what was I to do? <haha>). He was a little taken aback when I brought a chipmunk into the game, but he soon figured out how to take care of that - he went and got another chipmunk who he informed me was a bad chipmunk. :-) Caleb learned about winter birds today at school and they brought in snow for the sensory table. They were asking parents to register them for the next term. I asked Mrs. Brusch to register Caleb - I told her you were out of town and that you would be back Saturday, but that I was sure you wanted Caleb to continue coming to school.
After we dropped him off at school and returned home, I put Benjamin down for his nap. It's so easy now - he just seems to know that when I take him into his room and change his diaper and then turn off the light and put the garbage can in front of the door (to keep it dark in the room), that it's time to lay down on me and we rock for a bit. I have also taken to singing him 'his song' a couple of times through while we rock (glide). He goes down so easily now - I just put him in the crib making sure that the second soother is near his head and then turn around and walk out the door closing it behind me. What a difference from when he used to scream the place down.
We gave Colin a tuna sandwich today because we had run out of salami and hadn't had a chance to go to the store to buy anymore. When it was lunch time for Caleb, I told him it was tuna - he said he didn't want tuna, but wanted grilled cheese. I told him that if he took one bite of a tuna sandwich, I would make him a grilled cheese sandwich. I made a half a sandwich and gave Caleb one quarter and gave Benjamin the other quarter. Caleb took one bite and asked for the grilled cheese - I asked him to eat the quarter and then asked Pa to make him the grilled cheese - he then asked Pa for some more tuna sandwich! So, he had half a tuna and half a grilled cheese sandwich! I told him that when his daddy got back, he would be able to eat a tuna sandwich with his dad. He said to me "When Daddy gets home, he's going to say 'You ate a tuna sandwich!'" and then proceeded to show us what Daddy would do (see pic below). It was so adorable! :-)
Benjamin ate a jar of sweet potatoes, a quarter of a tuna sandwich and ten grapes (green ones which I cut in four). He seems to be a very happy camper when his tummy is full. :-) I put him down at 1:30pm and he's been up there talking for about 25 minutes. Dad said he seemed tired although his eyelids weren't red like they usually are when he's tired. He made a few moaning sounds when I first put him down - I am hoping that he goes to sleep soon. (Later) Benjamin actually talked to himself for over half an hour before falling asleep - it was really good to see him being able to do that.
Colin was so exhausted when he got off the bus today that he asked me to carry him home. I carried him most of the way home, but asked him to walk across the road so that I could hold both his and Caleb's hand. Caleb had asked me if he could come and get Colin at the bus stop with me. When we got home, I asked the boys to help me clean up the playroom as it was a total mess and there was nowhere for the kids to play in there without sitting on some toys. Colin was great (a little reticent at times, but he really worked hard to help out). Caleb started helping, but then had to go to the bathroom. He was taking so long that I asked Dad to go and check it out. It turns out that he unwound the toilet paper onto the floor while he was sitting on the toilet. :-) I told Colin that since he had worked so hard helping with the tidying, that I would play with him for an hour after dinner.
It turned out that we couldn't play for an hour just because it took longer for everyone to eat dinner (actually Colin was quick, but Caleb and Benjamin took ages). Anyway, we got to play the 'real' Polar Express (so I was told that I was not able to make anything up, that I had to do the 'real' story :-) and we played for about 45 minutes before it was time for me to put Benjamin down and to then continue the saga of Erwin and Al with the boys. It's a good thing that I have a good imagination with having to come up with a different story every night. :-)
Face Daddy will make when he hears Caleb ate a tuna sandwich
Benjamins face after being told 'No'
Benjamin eating a plain ice-cream cone
Play room after big clean-up
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday, January 10th - Day 5
Before I tell you about today, I wanted to tell you something I forgot to tell you in yesterday's blog. When we were going to James' parents' place, we were going to put it into the GPS, but both Dad and I figured that Colin would know the way. We asked him if he did and he said yes. On the way there, we were helping him remember which way was left and which way was right. He got us there safely and then on the way back, he actually used the words 'left' and 'right' correctly without any assistance from us. Amazing! :-)
Now for the BIG news - drum roll please - Benjamin slept through the night last night - hip hip hooray! :-) We put the boys down at 7:30pm and at about 10:40pm, he woke up screaming. I wasn't sure what it was cuz it sounded like a different cry than just frustration, so I went in and it was just frustration. When I went in, I couldn't find either of his soothers (I have been putting one in his mouth and one in his crib as well so that he can hopefully find one of them when he wakes up during nap or night time). I had Dad come in and look for the soothers while I took Benjamin out into the dark area - he lay down on me and as soon as we were back in the room, we did a little rocking on the glider and then he went straight back to sleep and he slept until 7:15am this morning! Caleb and Colin slept until 7:30am - Caleb was very pleased that he had slept 'til 7 again. :-) Benjamin seemed much more calm this morning - Dad said that "we put one baby to sleep and a different one woke up." :-)
Benjamin has taken to playing the recorder - Caleb leaves it on the floor when he's done playing with it - Dad took a video of Benjamin playing it today - if we can, we will link it to this blog - if not, we will send it to you some other way - it's really adorable. He's eating quite well today. He ate his cheerios and half his fruit for breakfast, the rest of the fruit and a small piece of banana for snack, a jar of peas and some mac and cheese for lunch and he would have he would have eaten Caleb's leftovers, but since he had already eaten so much, I figured I didn't want him to eat any more of the KD. While he was in his high chair, I began playing a game of blowing with him. I would take in a big breath making a loud sound and then blow in his face - he started doing the same thing back smiling all the while - it was too cute! Another thing that is 'funny' (but not to Benjamin - it's more of a funny 'awwww' thing really) is when we say 'no' to him about something he wants or wants to do. He just stops, looks at us, and then slowly starts to get this really sad frowny face and begins crying. One time he did it, he even took his soother out of his mouth before he started. I almost laughed out loud when he did that. :-)
Around 9:30am, Dad drove us to the Early Years Centre and then went back home to put Benjamin down to sleep. I thought that I was going to be able to sit and relax there, but the boys had other ideas. :-) Colin wanted to play house first and that game took a long time; then we played 'getting lost' and then sandbox and we read six books and by that time, Dad was back again with Benjamin. After a quick snack (Dad stayed with the boys in the van while I ran in the house to get Colin apple slices with cinnamon and Caleb a banana), we went to Blockbuster's to get another video. This time it was Caleb's choice and he first chose a movie which had real people in it. I told him that and asked him if he wanted a real people movie (it was a Disney one) or a cartoon and he said cartoon. So he put that one back and picked up 'The Incredibles'. Colin told him that you guys already have that one and so we suggested he choose one that you guys didn't have, but he said that he wanted that one, so we took it.
A couple of Calebites:
1) At lunch while eating: "Ma". "Yes, Caleb". "I love you." "I love you, too, Caleb."
2) While playing with Colin who had done something Caleb had asked him not to do: Caleb starts crying and says "Now I'm gonna stay sad." then: "Colin, say sorry."
We watched the movie after nap - the funniest thing was listening to Colin saying "Look Pa, look Pa, look Pa!" while they were watching the movie (I was making dinner). I watched the movie a little bit and Colin was full of questions about things as we watched. I didn't mind answering his questions, but I thought it was funny that he would ask these questions since he had seen the movie before. He sure has an inquisitive mind.
He actually woke up earlier than Caleb from his nap and I was playing a computer game called 'Hearts' and he asked me to teach him how to play. We played one game and then asked if we could play another one so we played a game called 'Free Cell'. He didn't understand what we were doing, but he sure picked up quickly how to operate the computer for the game - I was very impressed.
After dinner, Colin asked me to play a game we had started on a previous day and as soon as we started, Caleb came over and sat on my lap to play with us. It's funny when you play with Colin, though, when he has a preconceived idea of what he wants to do. We were playing 'Polar Express 2' according to him, but he had it in his own mind how it should go so if Caleb and I tried to make things up, he would get a little annoyed and tell us that that isn't the way it goes. I had to try and placate Caleb as Colin kept pushing his hand away when Caleb tried to do something that wasn't 'right'. I asked Colin not to do that, but it was like he couldn't help himself (I know he wasn't trying to be mean - he just was a little one-track minded). I managed to figure it out so that I was able to keep both of them fairly happy.
So, we have made it half way through the 'cruise time' and we are still smiling (although tiredly :-) We have been enjoying our time with the boys - we are trying hard to figure out what Benjamin wants. I gave him a bath tonight which he didn't like so it was a very quick bath. When he got out, I 'helped' him drop some toys in the bath trying to make it look like fun. Later, when the boys got in, I had him in with us and he was putting his hand in the water. I am hoping these things will help make the next bath a more pleasant one and less scary for him. I am thinking that I will put him in with the boys because when I did that last time, he seemed better than he was this time.
Oh, and the boys are really enjoying the 'saga' of Erwin and Al - tonight's story was was about them flying into space. It's a two parter so we will continue the story tomorrow night. When it was time for lights out, I gave Colin a kiss and a hug and he hung on while I stood up and kept hugging me. When I kissed Caleb, I guess I didn't give him a proper hug and he told me that I didn't give him one so I gave him a big one and he gave me a big smile. I love those moments and will truly miss them when we go back to Australia.
Now for the BIG news - drum roll please - Benjamin slept through the night last night - hip hip hooray! :-) We put the boys down at 7:30pm and at about 10:40pm, he woke up screaming. I wasn't sure what it was cuz it sounded like a different cry than just frustration, so I went in and it was just frustration. When I went in, I couldn't find either of his soothers (I have been putting one in his mouth and one in his crib as well so that he can hopefully find one of them when he wakes up during nap or night time). I had Dad come in and look for the soothers while I took Benjamin out into the dark area - he lay down on me and as soon as we were back in the room, we did a little rocking on the glider and then he went straight back to sleep and he slept until 7:15am this morning! Caleb and Colin slept until 7:30am - Caleb was very pleased that he had slept 'til 7 again. :-) Benjamin seemed much more calm this morning - Dad said that "we put one baby to sleep and a different one woke up." :-)
Benjamin has taken to playing the recorder - Caleb leaves it on the floor when he's done playing with it - Dad took a video of Benjamin playing it today - if we can, we will link it to this blog - if not, we will send it to you some other way - it's really adorable. He's eating quite well today. He ate his cheerios and half his fruit for breakfast, the rest of the fruit and a small piece of banana for snack, a jar of peas and some mac and cheese for lunch and he would have he would have eaten Caleb's leftovers, but since he had already eaten so much, I figured I didn't want him to eat any more of the KD. While he was in his high chair, I began playing a game of blowing with him. I would take in a big breath making a loud sound and then blow in his face - he started doing the same thing back smiling all the while - it was too cute! Another thing that is 'funny' (but not to Benjamin - it's more of a funny 'awwww' thing really) is when we say 'no' to him about something he wants or wants to do. He just stops, looks at us, and then slowly starts to get this really sad frowny face and begins crying. One time he did it, he even took his soother out of his mouth before he started. I almost laughed out loud when he did that. :-)
Around 9:30am, Dad drove us to the Early Years Centre and then went back home to put Benjamin down to sleep. I thought that I was going to be able to sit and relax there, but the boys had other ideas. :-) Colin wanted to play house first and that game took a long time; then we played 'getting lost' and then sandbox and we read six books and by that time, Dad was back again with Benjamin. After a quick snack (Dad stayed with the boys in the van while I ran in the house to get Colin apple slices with cinnamon and Caleb a banana), we went to Blockbuster's to get another video. This time it was Caleb's choice and he first chose a movie which had real people in it. I told him that and asked him if he wanted a real people movie (it was a Disney one) or a cartoon and he said cartoon. So he put that one back and picked up 'The Incredibles'. Colin told him that you guys already have that one and so we suggested he choose one that you guys didn't have, but he said that he wanted that one, so we took it.
A couple of Calebites:
1) At lunch while eating: "Ma". "Yes, Caleb". "I love you." "I love you, too, Caleb."
2) While playing with Colin who had done something Caleb had asked him not to do: Caleb starts crying and says "Now I'm gonna stay sad." then: "Colin, say sorry."
We watched the movie after nap - the funniest thing was listening to Colin saying "Look Pa, look Pa, look Pa!" while they were watching the movie (I was making dinner). I watched the movie a little bit and Colin was full of questions about things as we watched. I didn't mind answering his questions, but I thought it was funny that he would ask these questions since he had seen the movie before. He sure has an inquisitive mind.
He actually woke up earlier than Caleb from his nap and I was playing a computer game called 'Hearts' and he asked me to teach him how to play. We played one game and then asked if we could play another one so we played a game called 'Free Cell'. He didn't understand what we were doing, but he sure picked up quickly how to operate the computer for the game - I was very impressed.
After dinner, Colin asked me to play a game we had started on a previous day and as soon as we started, Caleb came over and sat on my lap to play with us. It's funny when you play with Colin, though, when he has a preconceived idea of what he wants to do. We were playing 'Polar Express 2' according to him, but he had it in his own mind how it should go so if Caleb and I tried to make things up, he would get a little annoyed and tell us that that isn't the way it goes. I had to try and placate Caleb as Colin kept pushing his hand away when Caleb tried to do something that wasn't 'right'. I asked Colin not to do that, but it was like he couldn't help himself (I know he wasn't trying to be mean - he just was a little one-track minded). I managed to figure it out so that I was able to keep both of them fairly happy.
So, we have made it half way through the 'cruise time' and we are still smiling (although tiredly :-) We have been enjoying our time with the boys - we are trying hard to figure out what Benjamin wants. I gave him a bath tonight which he didn't like so it was a very quick bath. When he got out, I 'helped' him drop some toys in the bath trying to make it look like fun. Later, when the boys got in, I had him in with us and he was putting his hand in the water. I am hoping these things will help make the next bath a more pleasant one and less scary for him. I am thinking that I will put him in with the boys because when I did that last time, he seemed better than he was this time.
Oh, and the boys are really enjoying the 'saga' of Erwin and Al - tonight's story was was about them flying into space. It's a two parter so we will continue the story tomorrow night. When it was time for lights out, I gave Colin a kiss and a hug and he hung on while I stood up and kept hugging me. When I kissed Caleb, I guess I didn't give him a proper hug and he told me that I didn't give him one so I gave him a big one and he gave me a big smile. I love those moments and will truly miss them when we go back to Australia.
Benjamin playing Caleb's recorder
Benjamin 'drinking' the peas from the jar
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Sunday, January 9th - Day 4
Today was a good day - until after nap - well, it was still good after nap, but both Caleb and Benjamin were cranky. But everyone is in bed now, so it's nice and quiet. :-)
Last night, Cleo showed her annoyance at me closing the bedroom door by pawing at the door and meowing at 12:30pm. I finally got back to sleep and Benjamin woke up around 4pm. He cried off and on for about fifteen minutes and I decided to give him five more minutes before I went in. He isn't taking the bottle from me (he might take two sips and then stops and that's only occasionally) so really all I could do is give him his soother and put him back to bed. Anyway, he stopped crying in about three minutes and so I fell back asleep until 5:45am when Caleb yelled out "Ma, is it 7 yet?" I went in and replied "No Caleb. Go back to sleep." To which he replied "Okay Ma". Benjamin then woke up at 6:50am which I was very happy about. We went downstairs and had breakfast.
At 8am, I went in to wake up the boys and found them standing on the floor. I asked them why they hadn't come down to tell me that they were awake and Colin said that I had come in to wake them up for the past two nights and they were waiting for me to come in this morning. I told them that Caleb's body wakes him up too early but that Colin's didn't and so when he woke up, he should come into 'my' bedroom and tell me. He said that he would do that tomorrow.
Church went very well actually. Benjamin was a bit noisy during Sacrament, so after we partook of the sacrament and listened to the first speaker, we went to the Mother's Room and listened to Kathy and Dave Goldthorp give their talks on New Year's Resolutions - they both gave excellent talks. Benjamin and I went back into the chapel for Sunday School and he was really good - he played and ate peas - and he did the same in Relief Society (although he was now eating 'goldfish'). I had to wait in Primary with Caleb until Sarah Cornaby came in (he asked me to).
By the time we got home and got the boys lunch and got them down to bed, it was around 2pm. Colin napped for an hour and then came downstairs and played quietly. Benjamin woke up at 3:30pm, so missed his morning nap and then had a shorter than usual afternoon nap, so that was why he was so cranky for the rest of the day. I had to wake up Caleb at 4pm and so that's why he was a bit off as well.
I had to wake him up then because James' mom and dad had asked us to come over to dinner between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. Grandma Kearney was there when we got there and Colin ran into her saying "Grandma Kearney" - it really made her smile. James' mom and dad made a delicious dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, turnip, and bread. The boys had a little bit of each and Colin doesn't like turnip, but Caleb said "I love turnip."
The boys played a lot downstairs with Grandpa and Pa while Joyce, Grandma Kearney and I sat and chatted. Caleb was a little rude in the way he spoke to Doug and Grandma Kearney so I had a little chat with him about the way he was speaking and asked him to apologize to both of them. He was so emotional, but I knew it was because he didn't get enough of a nap.
We got home about 7:30pm. I have been putting the boys to bed since we got here while Dad tidies up the kitchen, but since we didn't have to tidy up tonight, while I was putting Benjamin down, Dad supervised the brushing of the teeth and the getting into jammies of Colin and Caleb (oh yeah, I forgot, Caleb was already in his jammies - when the boys got home from church, they chose to get into their jammies for nap - when I asked them to get dressed to go to James' parents' house, Caleb said he wanted to stay in his jammies, so I said that was okay). Benjamin was so tired that he needed me to rock him for longer than the usual few minutes. After he was down, I went into the boys' bedroom to tell them the continuing saga of Erwin the frog and Al the alligator. The boys seem to be really enjoying the stories which I am making up off the top of my head. After I was finished the story tonight, Colin told me he was going to miss me when I went back to Australia. I told him that we could Skype every week and that I could tell him stories that way. He was happy with that. :-)
Last night, Cleo showed her annoyance at me closing the bedroom door by pawing at the door and meowing at 12:30pm. I finally got back to sleep and Benjamin woke up around 4pm. He cried off and on for about fifteen minutes and I decided to give him five more minutes before I went in. He isn't taking the bottle from me (he might take two sips and then stops and that's only occasionally) so really all I could do is give him his soother and put him back to bed. Anyway, he stopped crying in about three minutes and so I fell back asleep until 5:45am when Caleb yelled out "Ma, is it 7 yet?" I went in and replied "No Caleb. Go back to sleep." To which he replied "Okay Ma". Benjamin then woke up at 6:50am which I was very happy about. We went downstairs and had breakfast.
At 8am, I went in to wake up the boys and found them standing on the floor. I asked them why they hadn't come down to tell me that they were awake and Colin said that I had come in to wake them up for the past two nights and they were waiting for me to come in this morning. I told them that Caleb's body wakes him up too early but that Colin's didn't and so when he woke up, he should come into 'my' bedroom and tell me. He said that he would do that tomorrow.
Church went very well actually. Benjamin was a bit noisy during Sacrament, so after we partook of the sacrament and listened to the first speaker, we went to the Mother's Room and listened to Kathy and Dave Goldthorp give their talks on New Year's Resolutions - they both gave excellent talks. Benjamin and I went back into the chapel for Sunday School and he was really good - he played and ate peas - and he did the same in Relief Society (although he was now eating 'goldfish'). I had to wait in Primary with Caleb until Sarah Cornaby came in (he asked me to).
By the time we got home and got the boys lunch and got them down to bed, it was around 2pm. Colin napped for an hour and then came downstairs and played quietly. Benjamin woke up at 3:30pm, so missed his morning nap and then had a shorter than usual afternoon nap, so that was why he was so cranky for the rest of the day. I had to wake up Caleb at 4pm and so that's why he was a bit off as well.
I had to wake him up then because James' mom and dad had asked us to come over to dinner between 4:30pm and 5:00pm. Grandma Kearney was there when we got there and Colin ran into her saying "Grandma Kearney" - it really made her smile. James' mom and dad made a delicious dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, turnip, and bread. The boys had a little bit of each and Colin doesn't like turnip, but Caleb said "I love turnip."
The boys played a lot downstairs with Grandpa and Pa while Joyce, Grandma Kearney and I sat and chatted. Caleb was a little rude in the way he spoke to Doug and Grandma Kearney so I had a little chat with him about the way he was speaking and asked him to apologize to both of them. He was so emotional, but I knew it was because he didn't get enough of a nap.
We got home about 7:30pm. I have been putting the boys to bed since we got here while Dad tidies up the kitchen, but since we didn't have to tidy up tonight, while I was putting Benjamin down, Dad supervised the brushing of the teeth and the getting into jammies of Colin and Caleb (oh yeah, I forgot, Caleb was already in his jammies - when the boys got home from church, they chose to get into their jammies for nap - when I asked them to get dressed to go to James' parents' house, Caleb said he wanted to stay in his jammies, so I said that was okay). Benjamin was so tired that he needed me to rock him for longer than the usual few minutes. After he was down, I went into the boys' bedroom to tell them the continuing saga of Erwin the frog and Al the alligator. The boys seem to be really enjoying the stories which I am making up off the top of my head. After I was finished the story tonight, Colin told me he was going to miss me when I went back to Australia. I told him that we could Skype every week and that I could tell him stories that way. He was happy with that. :-)
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Saturday, January 8th - Day 3
I am tired today, but this time it was my 'fault'. When I was talking with Colin last night before bed, I told him that if he needed me during the night, he could just come in the bedroom and let me know. He said that he would call out to me. I told him that I might not hear him because I sleep so soundly. He said "Oh believe me, you will hear me." :-) Anyway, at 2am I woke up with a start believing that Colin had called out 'Ma' and rather than wait and see if I heard that again, I jumped straight up and opened his bedroom door and asked him if he needed me. Turns out he wasn't calling me, but I woke up Caleb in the meantime. He needed a drink - then half an hour later, he called me because he needed to go to the bathroom and he needed another drink.
Benjamin did a little moaning during the night, but it wasn't until about 4:45am that he started to do more crying. I left him for 15 minutes and could see that he was not going to settle down, so I went into his bedroom. It turns out that he couldn't find his soother - neither could I - thank goodness there were a couple under his change table I could quickly grab. I rocked him for a couple of minutes and put him back to bed - no problem. He woke up again at 6:30am and that was it for the night - I figured that was pretty good. I could probably have just given him his soother without getting him out of his crib in the middle of the night and I will try that first before I get him out again if he wakes up in the middle of the night again.
Caleb was a bit sensitive this morning (likely due to him being woken up last night) and also this morning. I had told him that I would wake him up at 7am and didn't want to not do it in case he was waiting in bed for me awake. As soon as I turned the knob, both Colin and Caleb sat up in bed. I'm not sure if either was really awake, but they got up right away and came downstairs to start their day (breakfast and Lego, of course! :-) Anytime anything didn't go quite according to plan, Caleb started to weep, and he took himself off to nap earlier than I was going to take him. Hopefully, he will feel better when he wakes up from his nap (I am writing this first part while they nap). One incident that happened while Colin and Caleb were playing Lego was witnessed by Dad. He told me that Caleb said to Colin "If you don't share with me, you're going to get a time-out" and Colin replied "You're not the boss of me". Caleb was in tears at that and that was when I came downstairs. I asked Caleb what the problem was (he wanted a small Lego house which was already built and Colin was using) so I suggested he build one with Pa. Colin graciously gave him some Lego for the roof and a door and Caleb was happy to build a big house with Pa.
I put Benjamin down for a nap at 9am. He no longer screams when I am putting him down which is great. I rock with him for a couple of minutes in the glider chair - he just lays down on me - and then I can put him in the crib even though he is not sleeping. He just turns over and I can then quietly walk about the door. It has worked every time like a charm and it's great! While he slept, the boys and I played a continuation of a Lego game which Colin and I played yesterday. I tried to always include both boys in the playing, but sometimes I was having two conversations at the same time (one between my character and Colin's character and one between my second character and Caleb's character - that was fun! :-) I woke Benjamin up at 11am. I find that if I do that, he is ready to go down again at 1:30pm (and Caleb is already sleeping) and then I can have a little break while they both sleep.
Dad and I took the three boys to do some shopping after a little snack. Our first stop was at Dollarama to buy some things for their 'treat bag' since Colin isn't going to get to go to the movies today. We even bought special treat bags to put their stuff in. They both chose the same things: a recorder, a kid's laser finger pointer, a box of smarties, a box of popcorn and a couple of other candies. We are going to 'make them up' when the boys get up from their naps. We then went to the grocery store to buy some chocolate ice-cream and ice-cream cones. Our last stop was to the video store where the girl said it would be no problem to do the exchange of movies. Colin chose this one (we are going to get another one on Monday for Colin's P.D. day) and he chose "Chicken Little".
The boys had some play time after their lunch before it was time for nap and while they were doing that, Dad made himself and me fried egg sandwiches with ketchup. Both Colin and Caleb wanted to have a bite of mine to try it and both loved it!. Caleb shared the rest of mine and Colin asked Pa to make him his own one (this was after Colin had had half a can of spaghetti and some red peppers and Caleb had had 3/4 of a grilled cheese sandwich and some cucumber with dip)! Dad made Colin a half a fried egg sandwich and he gobbled it down. I think we are going to have it again tomorrow for lunch. :-)
What a busy afternoon! Colin came downstairs after an hour so I'm not sure if he slept or not. Dad asked him if he had closed his eyes and he said to Dad "I can't remember, so I must have napped." He said to me: "I nap with my eyes open because I'm different." He played quietly by himself for a bit and then I read him some books until Benjamin woke up at 3:30pm. Caleb woke up around 4pm and so FINALLY we got to watch the movie we had rented. Dad made popcorn and so we enjoyed that while we watched the movie - I gave Benjamin some yogurt and some of those baby treats in the cylinder container. We all enjoyed the movie - it was quite cute - it was even cuter with Colin getting so excited about parts he knew were coming up and would yell out for us to "watch, watch, watch!!!". :-)
When the movie was over I began to make dinner - I figured that since we had had some popcorn and a snack, we could eat dinner later (7pm). I started dinner and then Dad took over so that I could give the the three boys a bath including washing their hair. Benjamin did not like having his hair done, but once we were done with that (he wanted out), he kept getting in and out of the bath and so we played that 'game' a few times. Once all three were washed and changed into their jammies, we went back downstairs for dinner. After dinner, we decided to forgo the ice-cream since dinner was so late, but the boys still wanted to make up their goodie bags (they didn't eat anything from it, though). They did try out one of their finger lasers - they are basically finger flashlights in different colours - really quite cute.
So, another day done and we did pretty well, I think - we might actually have it all down pat by the time we are finished our ten days here. :-) And when I hear things like what Caleb told me today, I am glad we are here. He said to me "You are the BEST, Ma!" :-)
Benjamin did a little moaning during the night, but it wasn't until about 4:45am that he started to do more crying. I left him for 15 minutes and could see that he was not going to settle down, so I went into his bedroom. It turns out that he couldn't find his soother - neither could I - thank goodness there were a couple under his change table I could quickly grab. I rocked him for a couple of minutes and put him back to bed - no problem. He woke up again at 6:30am and that was it for the night - I figured that was pretty good. I could probably have just given him his soother without getting him out of his crib in the middle of the night and I will try that first before I get him out again if he wakes up in the middle of the night again.
Caleb was a bit sensitive this morning (likely due to him being woken up last night) and also this morning. I had told him that I would wake him up at 7am and didn't want to not do it in case he was waiting in bed for me awake. As soon as I turned the knob, both Colin and Caleb sat up in bed. I'm not sure if either was really awake, but they got up right away and came downstairs to start their day (breakfast and Lego, of course! :-) Anytime anything didn't go quite according to plan, Caleb started to weep, and he took himself off to nap earlier than I was going to take him. Hopefully, he will feel better when he wakes up from his nap (I am writing this first part while they nap). One incident that happened while Colin and Caleb were playing Lego was witnessed by Dad. He told me that Caleb said to Colin "If you don't share with me, you're going to get a time-out" and Colin replied "You're not the boss of me". Caleb was in tears at that and that was when I came downstairs. I asked Caleb what the problem was (he wanted a small Lego house which was already built and Colin was using) so I suggested he build one with Pa. Colin graciously gave him some Lego for the roof and a door and Caleb was happy to build a big house with Pa.
I put Benjamin down for a nap at 9am. He no longer screams when I am putting him down which is great. I rock with him for a couple of minutes in the glider chair - he just lays down on me - and then I can put him in the crib even though he is not sleeping. He just turns over and I can then quietly walk about the door. It has worked every time like a charm and it's great! While he slept, the boys and I played a continuation of a Lego game which Colin and I played yesterday. I tried to always include both boys in the playing, but sometimes I was having two conversations at the same time (one between my character and Colin's character and one between my second character and Caleb's character - that was fun! :-) I woke Benjamin up at 11am. I find that if I do that, he is ready to go down again at 1:30pm (and Caleb is already sleeping) and then I can have a little break while they both sleep.
Dad and I took the three boys to do some shopping after a little snack. Our first stop was at Dollarama to buy some things for their 'treat bag' since Colin isn't going to get to go to the movies today. We even bought special treat bags to put their stuff in. They both chose the same things: a recorder, a kid's laser finger pointer, a box of smarties, a box of popcorn and a couple of other candies. We are going to 'make them up' when the boys get up from their naps. We then went to the grocery store to buy some chocolate ice-cream and ice-cream cones. Our last stop was to the video store where the girl said it would be no problem to do the exchange of movies. Colin chose this one (we are going to get another one on Monday for Colin's P.D. day) and he chose "Chicken Little".
The boys had some play time after their lunch before it was time for nap and while they were doing that, Dad made himself and me fried egg sandwiches with ketchup. Both Colin and Caleb wanted to have a bite of mine to try it and both loved it!. Caleb shared the rest of mine and Colin asked Pa to make him his own one (this was after Colin had had half a can of spaghetti and some red peppers and Caleb had had 3/4 of a grilled cheese sandwich and some cucumber with dip)! Dad made Colin a half a fried egg sandwich and he gobbled it down. I think we are going to have it again tomorrow for lunch. :-)
What a busy afternoon! Colin came downstairs after an hour so I'm not sure if he slept or not. Dad asked him if he had closed his eyes and he said to Dad "I can't remember, so I must have napped." He said to me: "I nap with my eyes open because I'm different." He played quietly by himself for a bit and then I read him some books until Benjamin woke up at 3:30pm. Caleb woke up around 4pm and so FINALLY we got to watch the movie we had rented. Dad made popcorn and so we enjoyed that while we watched the movie - I gave Benjamin some yogurt and some of those baby treats in the cylinder container. We all enjoyed the movie - it was quite cute - it was even cuter with Colin getting so excited about parts he knew were coming up and would yell out for us to "watch, watch, watch!!!". :-)
When the movie was over I began to make dinner - I figured that since we had had some popcorn and a snack, we could eat dinner later (7pm). I started dinner and then Dad took over so that I could give the the three boys a bath including washing their hair. Benjamin did not like having his hair done, but once we were done with that (he wanted out), he kept getting in and out of the bath and so we played that 'game' a few times. Once all three were washed and changed into their jammies, we went back downstairs for dinner. After dinner, we decided to forgo the ice-cream since dinner was so late, but the boys still wanted to make up their goodie bags (they didn't eat anything from it, though). They did try out one of their finger lasers - they are basically finger flashlights in different colours - really quite cute.
So, another day done and we did pretty well, I think - we might actually have it all down pat by the time we are finished our ten days here. :-) And when I hear things like what Caleb told me today, I am glad we are here. He said to me "You are the BEST, Ma!" :-)
Colin asked for a snack and said bananas and peanut butter and then said "wait, I don't like bananas". I told him that sometimes you might like something when it was with something else so maybe he should try it. He did and he liked it!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Friday, January 7th - Day 2
Wow - what a CRAZY day!!! I just got Colin and Caleb to bed now - it's 9:30pm - don't worry, Mommy, I didn't let them stay up that late. Caleb was on a mattress in our bedroom and Colin was snuggling in bed with me and Pa. Let me start at the beginning of our day to explain things.
First of all, when I checked Benjamin's temperature at 10:30pm last night, it had risen again so I gave him some more medication and asked Dad to set his alarm for 2:30am to give him some more as I didn't want it to spike during the night. So, our sleep was interrupted - can you relate, Terri-Ann? :-) He did a little crying off and on from then 'til 6:30am at which time I finally got up and got him out of bed as it seemed like he was up for the day. He was not hot to the touch, so I figured that his fever had broken. I picked him up and took him downstairs and we sat on the couch in the dark 'til 7am when I went upstairs and woke up Colin and Caleb. Yep, you read that right - Caleb was not awake as yet. I told him that he had slept 'til 7am (I had asked him to do that last night) and he was so pleased that he had done it. :-) He told me he was going to try and do it tomorrow morning as well. :-)
After dropping Colin at the bus (I had him put on a sweatshirt on top of his shirt as it was really cold yesterday and I figured that he needed the extra warmth), I came back home and played trains with Caleb while Benjamin slept. Around 11am, Caleb said he wanted to get his soother and go to sleep. I took his temperature and he was 39.4C, so I gave him a dose of medication and put him to bed. He slept for 1 1/2 hours. When he came downstairs, I said to him "Your cheeks are red." He stroked them and said "They don't feel red." :-) He didn't want to take more medication (he didn't like the taste of it), but I told him that if the fever didn't stay down, he had to have some more medicine. He said that it would stay down. I took his temperature and it was at 38.1C; an hour later it was at 37.1C and by 3:05pm (when he got up from his second nap - from 2pm - 3pm), it was at 38.1C again. I told him that he didn't have to take any medication at this point and he was so pleased. By 5:20pm, it was up at 39.1C and so I had to give him some medication. Dad had bought some new stuff because we couldn't find anything for Caleb's age. This one was grape and after a lot of cajoling and tears, Caleb took it and he actually thought it tasted okay. At 6:30pm, he told me that he hurt all over and that he didn't like it. I told him that I didn't like it either. He didn't want to be touched (cuddled) cuz it hurt his body, so I laid him down on a pillow on the loveseat and put a blanket over him and he fell asleep right away (what a snorer! :-) I had asked him if he wanted something to eat or drink and he said no because it would hurt his tummy. I told him that he could eat plain crackers and that wouldn't hurt his tummy, but he still didn't want to eat anything. At 8:30pm, I picked Caleb up off the couch and took him up to the little mattress which is on the floor in our bedroom. I first changed his pyjamas as he had sweat so much, his top was really moist and his pillow was wet. He stayed there snoring until 9:30pm at which time I took his temperature and his fever had broken. (it was at 37C). He was so happy that he didn't have to take any medication and I put him to bed and told him to sleep 'til 7am - he said okay and went straight back to sleep.
Now, for Benjamin's day: he seemed fine temperature wise at 6:30am, so I didn't take it as he gets quite upset when I take it. He still has a runny nose and he wanted to be held most of the day (sometimes he wandered about, but stayed pretty close to one of us), but I thought he was past the worst of it. He slept from 9am - 11am and his breakfast was Cheerios and some of a plain waffle - he was also drinking quite well (milk and water). I took his temperature at 12:15pm and it was 38.1C. He ate some fruit for mid-morning snack and then had some vegetables and some mac and cheese for lunch (again drinking more). He went back down at 1:30pm and slept 'til 3:45pm. At 4:15pm, I checked his temperature again and it was at 39C. So, again with the meds which he hates taking and then again at 7:45pm I took his temperature again. It was down to 37.2C which doesn't require meds, but Dad thought that maybe we should give him some to him so that he would get a good sleep.
Colin's day: He had a long day at school again, but didn't say he was exhausted until he got home this time. :-) I asked him to tell me about one thing he did at school today and he volunteered right away (we were still walking home) that he did art today. He coloured two pictures: one of a bonhomme de neige and one of him coming down the stairs to open his presents. At one point in the afternoon, when I was trying to help Caleb feel better, I started reading from the December issue of 'The Friend'. As soon as I started reading, Colin came over to listen. He then said to me "I want to play, but you keep reading and I have to listen." I didn't tell him he had to listen, he was just taken by the stories I was reading. I read one about a girl who decided to give some of her Christmas presents to a poor girl in school. It generated with Colin a great discussion - he asked lots of questions and gave his thoughts on what we were talking about. It was really great! :-) When it was time for him to go to bed (we let him stay up a little later since it wasn't a school night - he and I played for a while with his lego pieces and then he and Pa played for a while while I tended to Caleb and Benjamin's bedtime routines), he told me that he was a little scared to stay in his room by himself - I told him that I would keep the door open until I brought Caleb in at 9:30pm. He seemed okay with that, but when I went into his room to put in Caleb's clothes in the basket, he asked me if I wanted to snuggle with him in his bed for a while. I told him that I would love to, but how about we do it in our bed. He was happy about that and fell asleep within minutes - that was why I had to take him into his bed at 9:30pm.
One more thing about Colin: I wasn't going to mention the movie invitation from the little girl in his class, but he brought it up so I told him that the movie they were going to watch was not really for little children. He seemed okay with this explanation and I told him that he could go with Pa tomorrow to buy some ice-cream (I told him that he could choose some fun thing to do tomorrow instead and he chose getting ice-cream) and I also told him that he could rent a movie and also go to Dollarama and buy some stuff to make his own 'goodie bag'. He was really pleased to be able to do all that and he asked for chocolate ice-cream and we suggested we buy the ice-cream and cones and have them at home. He also asked about us going to see 'Yogi Bear' and after I read about it on the movie site which Erin suggested, I decided that I couldn't make that decision about him seeing it (with one of us) and so I told him that Mommy and Daddy would have to decide that one. He asked us to check out what ages that movie was for - Dad went online and it said PG, so we told Colin that it was for older kids. He seems okay with this - he might ask you guys about it when you get home.
So, Day 2 is down and we sure hope that the rest of the days are not as crazy as this one!
First of all, when I checked Benjamin's temperature at 10:30pm last night, it had risen again so I gave him some more medication and asked Dad to set his alarm for 2:30am to give him some more as I didn't want it to spike during the night. So, our sleep was interrupted - can you relate, Terri-Ann? :-) He did a little crying off and on from then 'til 6:30am at which time I finally got up and got him out of bed as it seemed like he was up for the day. He was not hot to the touch, so I figured that his fever had broken. I picked him up and took him downstairs and we sat on the couch in the dark 'til 7am when I went upstairs and woke up Colin and Caleb. Yep, you read that right - Caleb was not awake as yet. I told him that he had slept 'til 7am (I had asked him to do that last night) and he was so pleased that he had done it. :-) He told me he was going to try and do it tomorrow morning as well. :-)
After dropping Colin at the bus (I had him put on a sweatshirt on top of his shirt as it was really cold yesterday and I figured that he needed the extra warmth), I came back home and played trains with Caleb while Benjamin slept. Around 11am, Caleb said he wanted to get his soother and go to sleep. I took his temperature and he was 39.4C, so I gave him a dose of medication and put him to bed. He slept for 1 1/2 hours. When he came downstairs, I said to him "Your cheeks are red." He stroked them and said "They don't feel red." :-) He didn't want to take more medication (he didn't like the taste of it), but I told him that if the fever didn't stay down, he had to have some more medicine. He said that it would stay down. I took his temperature and it was at 38.1C; an hour later it was at 37.1C and by 3:05pm (when he got up from his second nap - from 2pm - 3pm), it was at 38.1C again. I told him that he didn't have to take any medication at this point and he was so pleased. By 5:20pm, it was up at 39.1C and so I had to give him some medication. Dad had bought some new stuff because we couldn't find anything for Caleb's age. This one was grape and after a lot of cajoling and tears, Caleb took it and he actually thought it tasted okay. At 6:30pm, he told me that he hurt all over and that he didn't like it. I told him that I didn't like it either. He didn't want to be touched (cuddled) cuz it hurt his body, so I laid him down on a pillow on the loveseat and put a blanket over him and he fell asleep right away (what a snorer! :-) I had asked him if he wanted something to eat or drink and he said no because it would hurt his tummy. I told him that he could eat plain crackers and that wouldn't hurt his tummy, but he still didn't want to eat anything. At 8:30pm, I picked Caleb up off the couch and took him up to the little mattress which is on the floor in our bedroom. I first changed his pyjamas as he had sweat so much, his top was really moist and his pillow was wet. He stayed there snoring until 9:30pm at which time I took his temperature and his fever had broken. (it was at 37C). He was so happy that he didn't have to take any medication and I put him to bed and told him to sleep 'til 7am - he said okay and went straight back to sleep.
Now, for Benjamin's day: he seemed fine temperature wise at 6:30am, so I didn't take it as he gets quite upset when I take it. He still has a runny nose and he wanted to be held most of the day (sometimes he wandered about, but stayed pretty close to one of us), but I thought he was past the worst of it. He slept from 9am - 11am and his breakfast was Cheerios and some of a plain waffle - he was also drinking quite well (milk and water). I took his temperature at 12:15pm and it was 38.1C. He ate some fruit for mid-morning snack and then had some vegetables and some mac and cheese for lunch (again drinking more). He went back down at 1:30pm and slept 'til 3:45pm. At 4:15pm, I checked his temperature again and it was at 39C. So, again with the meds which he hates taking and then again at 7:45pm I took his temperature again. It was down to 37.2C which doesn't require meds, but Dad thought that maybe we should give him some to him so that he would get a good sleep.
Colin's day: He had a long day at school again, but didn't say he was exhausted until he got home this time. :-) I asked him to tell me about one thing he did at school today and he volunteered right away (we were still walking home) that he did art today. He coloured two pictures: one of a bonhomme de neige and one of him coming down the stairs to open his presents. At one point in the afternoon, when I was trying to help Caleb feel better, I started reading from the December issue of 'The Friend'. As soon as I started reading, Colin came over to listen. He then said to me "I want to play, but you keep reading and I have to listen." I didn't tell him he had to listen, he was just taken by the stories I was reading. I read one about a girl who decided to give some of her Christmas presents to a poor girl in school. It generated with Colin a great discussion - he asked lots of questions and gave his thoughts on what we were talking about. It was really great! :-) When it was time for him to go to bed (we let him stay up a little later since it wasn't a school night - he and I played for a while with his lego pieces and then he and Pa played for a while while I tended to Caleb and Benjamin's bedtime routines), he told me that he was a little scared to stay in his room by himself - I told him that I would keep the door open until I brought Caleb in at 9:30pm. He seemed okay with that, but when I went into his room to put in Caleb's clothes in the basket, he asked me if I wanted to snuggle with him in his bed for a while. I told him that I would love to, but how about we do it in our bed. He was happy about that and fell asleep within minutes - that was why I had to take him into his bed at 9:30pm.
One more thing about Colin: I wasn't going to mention the movie invitation from the little girl in his class, but he brought it up so I told him that the movie they were going to watch was not really for little children. He seemed okay with this explanation and I told him that he could go with Pa tomorrow to buy some ice-cream (I told him that he could choose some fun thing to do tomorrow instead and he chose getting ice-cream) and I also told him that he could rent a movie and also go to Dollarama and buy some stuff to make his own 'goodie bag'. He was really pleased to be able to do all that and he asked for chocolate ice-cream and we suggested we buy the ice-cream and cones and have them at home. He also asked about us going to see 'Yogi Bear' and after I read about it on the movie site which Erin suggested, I decided that I couldn't make that decision about him seeing it (with one of us) and so I told him that Mommy and Daddy would have to decide that one. He asked us to check out what ages that movie was for - Dad went online and it said PG, so we told Colin that it was for older kids. He seems okay with this - he might ask you guys about it when you get home.
So, Day 2 is down and we sure hope that the rest of the days are not as crazy as this one!
Benjamin not feeling well laying on Ma
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Thursday, January 6th - Day 1
Ma was very proud of herself this morning - she managed to get three boys breakfast and dressed and to the bus stop for Colin and to Caleb's nursery school all by herself. :-) Everything went fairly smoothly actually. Breakfast was Corn Pops for Colin and Caleb (courtesy of Nana) and Cheerios for Benjamin. Colin was happy with one bowl, but of course Caleb had two bowls and then asked for more. I told him that Mommy said he had to have some fruit first so then he said he didn't want any more cereal. :-) As Benjamin wasn't feeling too well today, he didn't finish all his cereal.
After everyone was dressed (except Benjamin who I left in his sleeper all day), we piled Benjamin and Caleb in the double stroller and went to wait for Colin's school bus. After he was safely off, we came back and after about half an hour took off in the double stroller once again to Caleb's nursery school. Caleb reminded me that he wanted to walk (I had told him he could walk back from Colin's bus stop and then forgot). So, although it took us a little longer, Caleb walked the whole way.
When we got back, Benjamin went for his morning sleep which was actually broken in half. He slept for half an hour and then moaned for 25 minutes and then slept for another 45 minutes. When he woke up, he ate the fruit which he was supposed to eat for breakfast. By this time, Pa was home and I walked up to get Caleb by myself. While I was waiting for Caleb to get out, I saw Becky McLaren and she told me that I was 'the best Mom in the world' because I was looking after the boys for a week so Mommy and Daddy to go on holidays. She said that she would love just two days away.
Caleb learned about vegetables today, brought home two pieces of work (a letter 'C' sheet and a 'meal': cut and pasted pictures of food on a paper plate) and played 'Doggie, Doggie, Who's Got the Bone?'. He asked if we could walk a different way home and so we came 'the hill way'. When we got to the top of the hill street he proceeded to run down the hill at a good pace. I had to run to keep up with him as I was quite worried that he was going to slip or fall on the wet sidewalk. He managed to get all the way down to the bottom of the hill (all at once) and in one piece. :-) During the rest of the walk home, we were talking about Erin and Rene Lalonde for some reason and he told me that Erin had two girls (Amelia and Evelyn) and one toddler (Audrey) - where DOES he come up with these things? :-)
After a little playtime, we had lunch (of course, Caleb asked for a grilled cheese) and I added some cucumbers with dip and Benjamin had a jar of vegetables and half a slice of bread. Caleb napped for 2 1/2 hours and Benjamin did almost the same with just a little moaning now and again. It was nice that they did it at the same time, so that after cleaning up, I could have a little down time. Dad went out and did some grocery shopping during this time and arrived back home in time for me to go and get Colin from the bus stop.
As soon as he got off the bus, he told me that he was exhausted! He didn't want to talk much about his day which was fine - I just asked him to think about one thing he did today that we could write down for Mommy and Daddy - he said that he played 'Lego' and I said that I knew he did that, but I wanted to know something else which he did - I told him he could think about it and tell me later on. When he got in the house, all he wanted to do was play 'Lego' and when Caleb started to talk with him, Colin told Caleb that he was too exhausted to talk. :-) Colin did show me two pieces of art work he brought home today - a picture of 'Ma Maison' and a leaf tree. He also brought home an invitation to Julia's birthday party on Saturday (a girl in his class at school) - I am going to check the movie out and then decide if it's okay for him to go. Colin thinks it will be fun, so hopefully things will work out. I am sure that I can think of something else fun we can do if it doesn't work out. He told me later on about what they did in gym today: they played soccer and they passed un ballon to a partner. I love the way that he mixes both french and english together like his Mommy used to do when she was younger.
Benjamin just wanted to be held today, so Dad made supper (broiled chicken with a nice light sauce on it), rice and carrots. I told the boys that they could try soy sauce on their rice if they wanted and both wanted to try it. Colin tasted it and said "I'm so surprised that I like it" and Caleb tasted it and said "I'm so surprised I DON'T like it". :-) Pa traded some of his plain rice for Caleb's soy rice. I had given Benjamin another jar of vegetables before dinner was ready which he gobbled up. I served him some rice and carrots on a plate while we ate, but he wasn't really interested - he did eat a little rice, but that was about it.
After supper, Colin wanted to write a note to Auntie Jennifer because she owed him a sleepover and wanted to write her to ask her why she hadn't asked him for one. I encouraged him to call her on the phone instead. When she answered, he asked her why she hasn't asked him for a sleepover and reminded her that she had done it for Caleb. They managed to figure out a day (Friday, January 14th) for him to sleep over and so Auntie Jennifer is coming up to get him after school and they will go out for pepperoni pizza (Colin's choice). When asked what they were going to do on Saturday, Jennifer answered that it was a surprise - it will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Colin was very pleased at the outcome of this call and can't wait for the sleepover. :-)
After that, I gave Benjamin a bath while Pa 'played' with the boys - it consisted of him laying on the carpet while the two boys played 'Lego'. After Benjamin's bath, I told Dad that he had a choice: bath the two boys or clean the kitchen - surprisingly, he chose the kitchen. <haha> We had a short bath which Caleb was not impressed with since he didn't have much time to play. I told him that it was already past his bedtime and that he could have a long playtime in the bath tomorrow night - that seemed to placate him. After prayers and a story (which I had to make up) - it was about Al the alligator and Erwin the frog and of course a 'trailer' for the next story (thanks, James :-), all three boys were down for the night. We have heard a few peeps from Benjamin and at one point, he cried for 5 minutes, but all has been quiet for a while. So, we are off to bed as we are tired. :-) But, I think we have done pretty well for this first day. :-) Oh, one more thing: I gave Benjamin some more fever medication at 11am and 3pm and by 7pm, it seemed to have broken (he was at 37.3C and it had been four hours since he had had the medicaton), so I was quite relieved about that!
After everyone was dressed (except Benjamin who I left in his sleeper all day), we piled Benjamin and Caleb in the double stroller and went to wait for Colin's school bus. After he was safely off, we came back and after about half an hour took off in the double stroller once again to Caleb's nursery school. Caleb reminded me that he wanted to walk (I had told him he could walk back from Colin's bus stop and then forgot). So, although it took us a little longer, Caleb walked the whole way.
When we got back, Benjamin went for his morning sleep which was actually broken in half. He slept for half an hour and then moaned for 25 minutes and then slept for another 45 minutes. When he woke up, he ate the fruit which he was supposed to eat for breakfast. By this time, Pa was home and I walked up to get Caleb by myself. While I was waiting for Caleb to get out, I saw Becky McLaren and she told me that I was 'the best Mom in the world' because I was looking after the boys for a week so Mommy and Daddy to go on holidays. She said that she would love just two days away.
Caleb learned about vegetables today, brought home two pieces of work (a letter 'C' sheet and a 'meal': cut and pasted pictures of food on a paper plate) and played 'Doggie, Doggie, Who's Got the Bone?'. He asked if we could walk a different way home and so we came 'the hill way'. When we got to the top of the hill street he proceeded to run down the hill at a good pace. I had to run to keep up with him as I was quite worried that he was going to slip or fall on the wet sidewalk. He managed to get all the way down to the bottom of the hill (all at once) and in one piece. :-) During the rest of the walk home, we were talking about Erin and Rene Lalonde for some reason and he told me that Erin had two girls (Amelia and Evelyn) and one toddler (Audrey) - where DOES he come up with these things? :-)
After a little playtime, we had lunch (of course, Caleb asked for a grilled cheese) and I added some cucumbers with dip and Benjamin had a jar of vegetables and half a slice of bread. Caleb napped for 2 1/2 hours and Benjamin did almost the same with just a little moaning now and again. It was nice that they did it at the same time, so that after cleaning up, I could have a little down time. Dad went out and did some grocery shopping during this time and arrived back home in time for me to go and get Colin from the bus stop.
As soon as he got off the bus, he told me that he was exhausted! He didn't want to talk much about his day which was fine - I just asked him to think about one thing he did today that we could write down for Mommy and Daddy - he said that he played 'Lego' and I said that I knew he did that, but I wanted to know something else which he did - I told him he could think about it and tell me later on. When he got in the house, all he wanted to do was play 'Lego' and when Caleb started to talk with him, Colin told Caleb that he was too exhausted to talk. :-) Colin did show me two pieces of art work he brought home today - a picture of 'Ma Maison' and a leaf tree. He also brought home an invitation to Julia's birthday party on Saturday (a girl in his class at school) - I am going to check the movie out and then decide if it's okay for him to go. Colin thinks it will be fun, so hopefully things will work out. I am sure that I can think of something else fun we can do if it doesn't work out. He told me later on about what they did in gym today: they played soccer and they passed un ballon to a partner. I love the way that he mixes both french and english together like his Mommy used to do when she was younger.
Benjamin just wanted to be held today, so Dad made supper (broiled chicken with a nice light sauce on it), rice and carrots. I told the boys that they could try soy sauce on their rice if they wanted and both wanted to try it. Colin tasted it and said "I'm so surprised that I like it" and Caleb tasted it and said "I'm so surprised I DON'T like it". :-) Pa traded some of his plain rice for Caleb's soy rice. I had given Benjamin another jar of vegetables before dinner was ready which he gobbled up. I served him some rice and carrots on a plate while we ate, but he wasn't really interested - he did eat a little rice, but that was about it.
After supper, Colin wanted to write a note to Auntie Jennifer because she owed him a sleepover and wanted to write her to ask her why she hadn't asked him for one. I encouraged him to call her on the phone instead. When she answered, he asked her why she hasn't asked him for a sleepover and reminded her that she had done it for Caleb. They managed to figure out a day (Friday, January 14th) for him to sleep over and so Auntie Jennifer is coming up to get him after school and they will go out for pepperoni pizza (Colin's choice). When asked what they were going to do on Saturday, Jennifer answered that it was a surprise - it will be interesting to see what she comes up with. Colin was very pleased at the outcome of this call and can't wait for the sleepover. :-)
After that, I gave Benjamin a bath while Pa 'played' with the boys - it consisted of him laying on the carpet while the two boys played 'Lego'. After Benjamin's bath, I told Dad that he had a choice: bath the two boys or clean the kitchen - surprisingly, he chose the kitchen. <haha> We had a short bath which Caleb was not impressed with since he didn't have much time to play. I told him that it was already past his bedtime and that he could have a long playtime in the bath tomorrow night - that seemed to placate him. After prayers and a story (which I had to make up) - it was about Al the alligator and Erwin the frog and of course a 'trailer' for the next story (thanks, James :-), all three boys were down for the night. We have heard a few peeps from Benjamin and at one point, he cried for 5 minutes, but all has been quiet for a while. So, we are off to bed as we are tired. :-) But, I think we have done pretty well for this first day. :-) Oh, one more thing: I gave Benjamin some more fever medication at 11am and 3pm and by 7pm, it seemed to have broken (he was at 37.3C and it had been four hours since he had had the medicaton), so I was quite relieved about that!
Colin watching a movie
Rocket ship which Caleb and Pa built
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