Spring Break!

After being semi-concerned about how I would handle Spring Break, I am happy to report that the week was a good one.

Having all three home all day sometimes stresses me out but for the majority there was not more fighting or whining than I could handle. Luke and Ava have been fighting like cats and dogs for the past little while, but I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. He tends to hit her whenever she upsets him. Which is like, all the time. And I have had very little luck with "time outs" or punishments. I think it helps that he is growing up in general and especially since he is now talking so much more.

It's hard to tell your child to "use your words" and not his hands when he doesn't really have many words. So this week, he actually said, "Don't touch that!" which I find a much better alternative to whacking his sister.

This week...

...The weather was beautiful (minus one rainy day in the middle) and our grass went from brown to green.



... We enjoyed a visit from Tiffany and her boys, of which I have no photographic proof. But we had a great time.

...We purchased some bikes for the kids. Luke's bike still needs the help of a drill to become fully assembled, but Ava's bike has had the tour of a couple of parking lots and we're looking forward to many more.


Ava had never really learned to ride a bike or a trike, but she picked it up fairly quickly and has gotten a lot of satisfaction from learning.


...We also had a "Horsey playdate". Ava loved to ride around on the horse and especially pet a miniature horse. I literally had my hands full so it was difficult for me to take pictures. Luke was excited by the idea of seeing and riding the horses, but when we actually got there, it was another story.



When we leave the house now a days, you can usually count on him yelling, "My purse! My purse!" and he scrambles to find the blue purse with the colored flowers full of his trinkets and toys and phone. I have tried to convince him to carry something a little more "man-bag"ish but without success.

Anyway, as we headed to the garage to go see the horses and he yelled, "oh no!" I assumed he was going to find his purse. But instead he ran to the fridge and yelled, "Carrots! Carrots!"

So although he did not want to ride or even pet a horse, he did find satisfaction in sharing his carrots and collecting rocks.

...Ava lost another tooth! her other bottom tooth had been hanging on by a thread for days.


We'd periodically ask her, "Ava, is your tooth still there?" and always she would answer in the affirmative.




Then, when we were playing on the floor together I caught a glimpse in her mouth and thought something might be missing,

"Ava, is your tooth still there?"

"Yes."

"Really? Let me look." And her tooth was totally gone. My mind raced because i knew she would be devastated if it was lost. We had just made cupcakes and images of us breaking open two dozen cupcakes in search of a little tooth flashed through my mind. Luckily, she hopped up, started looking all around, and found it within a minute on the kitchen floor. Awesome!





But that night, the darn Tooth Fairy forgot to come. Not Awesome! She (He) made up for it the next night by being very generous.


...This week was also eventful in Maxs' little life. I ended up weaning him completely. It was a painful process for both of us, but I think it was for the best. I know I was not making enough milk and I had hoped to supplement him with a bottle but he was not going to have it. It just came down to the fact that if he was going to get enough to eat it was going to have to come from the bottle.




It was a very hard adjustment with it overlapping his ear infection, but I have seen him much more satisfied after eating and looking stronger each day. Although I still feel there are some kinks to be worked out as I figure out how much formula he actually needs and his little tummy adjusts to digesting it all. And I am not convinced that his ear infection is actually gone. I guess we'll see what this week holds.

And in case you were wondering, weaning a baby cold turkey hurts. It really, really hurts.