One Day At A Time

If you are reading this and are also friends with me on Facebook, or a member of my immediate family, then it is likely that these stories are old news. Nevertheless, I have not done baby books or milestone charts for either of my kids, and I really want to write down some of these things so later I can remember what has taken place at this stage of my kids’ lives.

I think I will start with L, since he is the youngest (that is, until N makes his debut), and his stories are far more entertaining. Where to begin… well, as many of you know by now, my son has been quite the challenge for me as a parent. Even years of being a nanny to some of the coolest little boys on the planet did not prepare me for my little man. For instance…

About 2 or 3 weeks ago, I was going about my daily routine of chores and had left K & L to entertain themselves while I worked — BAD IDEA. As I passed the kid’s bathroom on my way to the laundry room, I found my 18 month old trouble-maker stirring something in the toilet. That “something” was an ENTIRE roll of toilet paper, and he was mixing his concoction with *my* hairbrush! Really, son?! Really?! I was angry for about 3 seconds, and then he looked up at me with those big, blue eyes and long, dark lashes, full of pride in his creation. How in the world does he make me so upset and then melt me within the same 5 second period?

Then, about a week ago, L’s curiosity and mischievous bone got the best of him again. I was sitting on the couch folding the clean diapers fresh from the laundry, when he walked down the hallway with this ridiculous grin on his face. That grin always makes me nervous… then, I saw it — the justification for my heightened nerves. This time it was my toothbrush, and it was down the backside of his diaper! I cannot think of anything I have done to him in his lifetime to deserve such punishment. He is clearly singling me out… My toothbrush was sitting right next to J’s on the bathroom counter, and he went through all the trouble to pull out my drawers to build himself a little staircase, and then climbed all the way up to there to fetch the toothbrush and come right back down. He did not touch or move anything else in the whole bathroom!

*sigh* See what I have to live with?!

The other way L has been rocking our world lately is the sheer volume of food that this child can put away. I am slightly concerned that we will need to get him a job soon to pay for his grocery bill alone. And L is not even slightly overweight. In fact, at his last checkup, the doctor said he had actually fallen a few percentages on the growth charts from where he was at his 12 month checkup (he is now 35 pounds of mostly muscle). And he is incredibly strong for his age. He can easily push me out of the way if he wants me to move. He can already trap his big sister just by sitting on her. And he knows he is strong. He lifts and carries things that most 18 month olds would not even attempt to move. It is really crazy to watch him in action!

But I think he is so strong because of how much and how often he eats every day! He is not even two, and we are already concerned that he will eat us out of house and home. One night we had a pizza/movie night, and L ate 2 full sized pieces of pizza with a handful of raw carrots. Not even one hour later, he was acting hungry again! So, I made him a PB&J (hearty-style with homemade whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter, and strawberry jam). He ate the WHOLE sandwich, and then proceeded to eat K’s sandwich that she had barely touched!

Then, just this week, we had one day that I am sure that he ate more than K and I combined. For breakfast, he had 4 scrambled eggs with cheese, and a piece of whole wheat toast. Lunch was a full PB&J, a whole apple, and 4 celery sticks with ranch dressing. He ate a whole raw carrot and 2 apple cinnamon oatmeal muffins for his afternoon snack, and then that night he devoured FIVE servings of steamed carrots AND a 4 oz. steak. Does that sound like a normal toddler’s appetite to you?! Oh, and J just reminded me, that same night before bed L ate about half of his daddy’s bowl of ice cream… and this does not even cover all the milk he drinks during the day either.

Last night, I took this picture.

We call him the “dinnertime last man standing”. We usually start serving him food before we get started, and he will STILL be eating additional servings of whatever we had that night 15-20 minutes after the rest of us have finished eating.

Basically, we are probably going to have to start selling our organs so we can feed this child as he keeps growing. This Weller metabolism is no joke!

Well, onto my darling K… She makes me crazy, and she also makes me so proud. Sometimes I wonder just how much is going on inside that head of hers. It seems that even though she is improving every day in her speech, her communication skills are still far behind where her mind is. Ever since she was a few months old, we have noticed that K seems to have a natural understanding of colors, patterns, and order. Now, we get daily reminders of the meticulous detail in which she approaches life through her art. When she was about two, we introduced K to her MagnaDoodle, crayons, and drawing with different shapes and colors. And from the very beginning, she has been obsessed with patterns.

My mom can attest to this, as one road trip with my daughter resulted in hysterical fits of crying when my mom did not understand that she wanted Grandmom to draw on the MagnaDoodle a circle, square, and triangle (in that exact order), and then hand it back to her to trace the shapes, then erase it, and do it all over. That was something she started doing with me before she even turned two. And she would get stuck on doing it over and over and over again. She loved watching me draw the shapes, say the names of the shapes, and then attempt to trace the shapes. Sometimes it was really hard to convince her to stop. She would follow me around the house with her “doodle” begging for me to draw for her.

Well, a year later, I see what all of that was born out of. K has a very detailed, meticulously wired mind. She thrives in order, and struggles in chaos. She has a place for every one of her toys, stuffed animals, and art supplies. And when it comes to drawing, coloring, painting, and other forms of artistic expression, she is a perfectionist. K now practices every single day at her own request, will, and desire to do so. I am convinced it is because she does not like to make mistakes, and when she sees something I have written down, or drawn/colored while spending time with her, she wants to do the same, just like I did.

A couple weeks ago, we learned that Kate can now color inside the lines with fairly accurate precision — something she has only watched J and I do — we have NEVER discouraged her from coloring outside the lines or given her any instruction on how to stay within the lines. But this is what she does, and she takes her time, slowly and with care, coloring her pictures to match what she sees in the other pictures and on the cover.

On that last one, she asked me to draw her name in “bock wedders” (block letters — how she knew what block letters were, I will never know) and then she did 100% of the coloring inside the letters. She spent over an hour creating the “fwipes and poka spots” as she calls them. Her grasp on patterns at her age just blows me away.

She has also started to teach herself how to write letters. Again, I do not sit down with her and have “preschool time” with her yet. She will be 3 years old in December, which is when we had planned to start a more structured preschool schedule for her, but at this point I wonder if it is even necessary. Lately, I have been very busy between the move, getting settled, keeping track of my little 18 month old domestic terrorist, pregnancy, and soon to be newborn. I do want to still make sure that I make time for her each day, but I am not quite sure what that will look like when she seems to come by learning so naturally, and tends to do much better when I am not hovering over her or providing instruction. I would almost rather spend time doing fun things with her, or taking her on outings and playdates, instead of hammering her with early education when she is picking it up on her own anyway.

It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but one night while I was attending to L, she drew on the white board a picture of a boy, and then wrote “Lute” (her attempt at her brother’s name) underneath it. J and I have not shown her how to draw any letters.

I have hesitated to write this this blog, mainly because I did not want to come off as one of those parents who thinks their child is a genius/prodigy/above other kids their age. And also a little because as a full time stay-at-home mom I see all my kids faults, and it is easy for me to overlook their accomplishments and only focus on the things we still have to work on. I feel as if I should put the disclaimer in here that very little of what they can do is a result of anything I have taught them or done differently than other parents. The only explanation I have is that God has given each of them natural talents and abilities that are somehow going to be a big part of their future. My only hope and prayer is that I remember to see it that way, and support and nurture their passions, desires, and gifts as they grow and become the people they were meant to be. And whatever happens in the future and comes from all of this, I am so lucky to be their mom.