Baby Art

We were given two wonderful gifts from the family that I nanny for.

One was for a tile with Alex's hand print and foot print. We got the gift card a week after he was born, in December 2009. I had tried to call the lady that does the tiles, but never got a call back. After a little pushing from my boss, I was able to get a hold of the lady and we went and did Alex's tile two weekends ago. I can't wait to see how it turns out. It will have both of his hands, and both feet. It will also have a little monkey and giraffe stamped in it. I have seem these tiles many times, and I am excited to have one for Alex. The picture is of one that my boss had made. When we have more kids I would like to have one just like this for our bathroom. I have also seen one that says "Please, remove your shoes", and it has foot prints. I think that would also be a cute one, if you have more than one kid.
(There was another picture here, but it is gone now. I will add it back, later)
The other gift was for this past Christmas. It was for a photo shoot, and a framed "baby art". It is really for babies around 6-9 months, but my boss knew I had wanted one, and she thought it would still be cute, even though Alex is one. The frame will have 9 pictures in it, and each picture is a close up shot of a baby part, or face. We had this done on Saturday and I hope it turns out nice. Alex was acting really shy, and took forever for him to warm up. Even when he did seem to be enjoying it, he still didn't want to smile very big. I really wanted to get his teeth in a picture, but I am not sure if we will have that one. This picture is of 1 of the girls that I nanny. My boss has done these "baby arts" for each of her kids. This one does not have a bare bottom shot, but the other two do. We did some of Alex, but I am not sure if they will be cute enough to use. I go this Wednesday to proof it and see if there is anything I want changed. We should have the finished art, by the weekend.

Other than having Alex's pictures done, we had to stick around the house all weekend. Our four year old dachshund has an infection in both eyes and had to have eye drops put in every hour. On top of the sick puppy, the roads were really nasty, and the police were asking that people stay off the roads. I tried to do my best to keep Alex entertained, but we still had some melt downs. He is not a big fan of staying home all weekend, and neither am I! I did put his tent up and fill it up with stuffed animals, and Alex and Baxter played in that for awhile. Joe also had a fun idea and put on his Muppet's CD for us all to dance to. Then we all watched some old Muppet shows. Joe was a huge Muppet fan growing up, and he wants Alex to be, too!

Paci update! I was going to nix the paci this weekend, but Joe had Saturday morning, and he forgot and gave Alex his paci for his morning nap, so that went out the window. He has gone every night without it, but naps have been rough. Today he has gone both naps without it, but I don't think he is sleeping very well. This morning, I am pretty sure he only ended up sleeping 20 minutes, and this afternoon I have heard him cry out once or twice. It might be a rough week, but I am going to stick to my guns now. Wish us luck!

Mini Tantrum Fun!

Will they ever stop?

Alex's mini tantrums can go from 1 a day, to 20 a day! I'm really starting to feel bad about them, and wondering if there is something more that I could be doing. My 2 main beliefs at this time are:

1. Never pick him up and give him cuddles in the middle of a tantrum.

2. Try to distract him, rather then just telling him "no", whenever possible.

There have been a few times that I have sat down near him, and played very loudly to help him snap out of the tantrum. Once he is back to happy Alex, I will give him a kiss and tell him I love him. Sometimes Joe has a hard time with this one, and will try to pick him up in the middle of a tanrum, and I remind him to walk away. The little girls have tried to hug him, in the middle of one, too, but I remind them to just let him cry it out. The funny thing is, he would not let you hold him, anyway. Last night he fell while trying to climb on a chair where Joe was sitting and eating chips. He did bump his head and started crying. I tried to hold him and make him feel better, but all he wanted to do was cry and try to get back to the chair to try to get a chip!

As for telling Alex "no", we might as well skip that word all together! Telling Alex "no" only makes him do it, more, louder, faster, and harder. Last night Alex was getting Joe's DVD's out and from the couch Joe said "no". So Alex pulled out a bunch more. Then Joe told him "no" when he was banging the cases together. So Alex banged the cases even harder. Then Joe told him "no" when he was shaking a case that had a loose DVD inside of it, so Alex shook it even harder. At that point I cracked up laughing. I know I should not have, but those two were cracking me up! Joe was clearly having a "lazy parent" night, which we all have from time to time, and Alex was taking full advantage of it. If it had been me, or something of mine, I would have gotten up and removed Alex from the item, and then tried to distract him with something he could play with. I ended up making a comment to Joe, that I wasn't laughing at Alex being naughty, but at the fact that he just kept sitting on the couch saying "no". After about 3 minutes of watching Alex try to put the DVDs away, and me giving him a ton of praise whenever he would kind of put one back, I told Joe to help him put them away. So Joe got of the couch, and helped Alex put each of them back. Alex didn't care, and I think he even liked seeing how to make them fit.

I've been trying not to tell Alex "no', unless for some reason I can't get over to him right at that minute. Like a few nights ago when I was cooking. I could hear Alex banging the remote on the front of the TV screen, which we have talked to him about many times. So I yelled out "no", to try to distract him until I could leave the kitchen for a minute. Of course this only made him hit the TV even harder. Then when I did get to him, and get the remote away, he started poking the TV with his finger as hard as he could! So I had to remove him all together, and I am sure it ended with him crying on the floor.

I try my best to not set Alex up for failure, but there are some things that I can't do anything about! The main things that he has a fit about is:

1. Going in our room. I don't like to have him in there because it's not "Alex proof". So if we go in there and close the door he cries, and if he slips in behind us, and we have to bring him back out he gets really mad.

2. The electronics in the living room. When Joe got a big check at the start of the year and got his new TV, I said the ONE thing we had to have was an entertainment center with glass doors on it. Well, he went out and bought one with out doors, and now he is all upset that Alex won't leave his game systems alone! On top of that Alex loves to change the setting on the cable box and turn it on and off! Alex has loved touching the electronics in the TV stand since he could roll over to them! The remotes have also been a struggle.
3. The kitchen. We gate off the kitchen when we are cooking, or the dogs are eating and Alex hates it. Alex LOVES dog food, and he eats it at every chance he gets. Even if the gate is left open for a second, and the dog food is down, you will find Alex eating dog food. He also LOVES to dump the dogs water over. I have tried to think of a way to fix this problem, but I still have nothing. I just try to remember to put the dogs stuff up, or keep the gate closed. When we cook, I am working on putting him in his booster with a small snack. If I don't he will just sit next to the gate and cry.
That's about it at our house, but at work it's a whole other story. They never baby proofed their house, and it's about 4 times as big as ours, which means 10 times the stuff to get in to!

Who reads these?

Does anyone read post, that don't have pictures in them?

I tend to write post when I have free time at work. I always plan to add pictures that night, from home, and then publish the post. Then I get home and I am too busy, or I forget, or (like the last few nights) my laptop is going so slow I don't have the time to wait for the pictures to load. So I decided to just go ahead and publish my post anyway. I will try to add pictures when I can, but in the mean time I am just going to post them the way they are. Enjoy!

It feels a lot like...

It feels a lot like our final home study visit!

Tonight we have a foster care worker coming over to our house to do an orientation with us. They want to get us going on paperwork right away, so instead of making us wait for the next group orientation at the office, she was willing to come out to our house. It feels a lot like the day we were having our adoption social worker over to our house for our final home study visit. Only this time we didn't buy cookies to pretend like I made them, and we didn't buy flowers, just to make it look like we always have fresh flowers on the table. We also didn't clean the whole house from top to bottom. That will be done before our big visit to get our license.

I am excited to hear how the kids are doing too. The last time I talked to the kids social worker was over a week ago. They had been moved into a new home, and I have not called her since. She said she would call me with any big changes, or news. I could call her, to check on the kids everyday, but I have been trying to refrain myself. I don't want to bug her, or look crazy. It's hard because I know things can change from day to day. I was the same way when we were waiting for Alex to be born. I wanted to talk to his birth mom or our social worker every day. I always needed to be reassured that things were on track.

For now we just have a lot of waiting ahead of us. Just like with adoption. After our visit tonight, we will have paperwork to do, a medical check, and finger prints. Next month we will get all of our training classes done in 1 week, and then we will just wait for all the paperwork to be handed in to the state. I have pretty high hopes that we can have the kids with us by Easter. I also hope to start making visits with them soon.

"HI"

Alex is the most social toddler I have ever met in my life! It's almost a problem. Like when we are at the mall play area and he walks up to other kids parents and he says "hi" and wants to "talk" with them. Sadly, I say to Joe "He is just asking to be kidnapped"! I know that the chances that someone is going to try to take Alex, are slim to none. But to me this super adorable, red headed, social toddler is in high kidnapping demand! lol I laugh now that my kid is like this, because when I was a nanny and I would bring kids to the mall to play, I would always wonder what was wrong with those kids that would walk right up to me and say hi.

Today while we were shopping he was giving everyone big smiles and saying "HI" to anyone that looked twice at him. I wonder if a part of it has to do with the fact that everyone does look twice at Alex! Every single time we leave the house some one says something to us about Alex.
In 1 trip to the store today, 3 different people talked to me. (Now, I am not someone that likes to talk to strangers, so I am always caught off guard and never know how to react. Maybe that is why it bothers me. Joe laughs at me about how "shy" I am in public. Even if I see an old friend, or someone I went to school with, I will look down and walk as fast as I can. I just do not like uncomfortable small talk! ) The first person was a sweet older woman that Alex said "Hi" to. She told me what a beautiful baby boy I have, and I thanked her and just kept walking. To tell you the truth, I don't even think I looked up! I must have looked like a freak! lol The second was a guy that was restocking the salad bags. He wanted to know where Alex got his red hair from! This is a question we get asked every other time we are out, and I hate it! Yes, Alex is adopted and maybe his red hair stands out when his mom has brown hair, and his dad has black hair, but neither of his birth parents have red hair either! We really don't know where it comes from, but it feels stupid when I tell people that! Joe is much faster at coming up with an answer, but I fall flat every time! Today I responded with a stuttered "Your guess is as good as mine". And as soon as I said it, I wished I could take it back! He was very nice, and said "I can see a red tint in your hair, did you have red hair when you were a kid?" I said "yes", which isn't a lie! As soon as I was 13 I started dieing my hair red! lol But, I guess that's not what he meant! I'm not sure when I will ever get used to being asked where is red hair comes from, but I hope I will be able to come up with a good answer, and remember it for the next time!
The final lady, was just someone being nice in line behind me. She happened to notice that Alex was missing a shoe and she pointed it out to me. Luckily, it was sitting next to him in the cart. Then the lady went on about how cute he is, and his red hair, and blue eyes, and big cheeks. Don't get me wrong, it's nice hearing how cute your kid is, but I am just never sure what to say. I always thank them, but then what? I guess as long as I am going to take Alex into public I better get used to people wanting to tell me what a cutie I have! :)

Randoms of Alex.

Some of the cute things Alex is doing so I don't forget!

If we tell him to "jump", he does, and sometimes he even gets off the ground. He also loves to spin around. We sing "spin around, spin around" and he will twirl until he falls or gets dizzy. He giggles so loud when he spins! He also loves to "march in place". We call it "happy feet". It looks like he is marching super fast in place. He also uses this when he is mad!

He knows "yes", and "no" and will shake his head the corresponding way when we say the word. I am trying to teach him how to use them to tell us if he wants something, or not. So far he has shook his head yes, once, when I asked him if he wanted a drink. Joe and I like to ask him silly questions and then tell him how to answer! I will say "Do you love mama best? yes." and then he shakes his head yes! It cracks us up!

When he is driving his toy cars around the house he makes a sound for them. It is not the noise we use, but a noise that Alex came up with. It sounds a lot like the noise Joe makes when his car is spinning out. It's kind of a screeching noise. Alex loves to drive his cars everywhere! He drives them up walls, on us, on the dogs, on the baby gate, even in the air! He also has a favorite car that he always picks out.

At work and at home there are large mirrors on the closet doors where Alex sleeps, so when I get him up, we go to the mirror and I will use Alex's hand to pat his chest and I will say "Alex", then I use his hand to pat me and I will say "mama". A few times while holding him, I have asked him "where is mama?', and he will pat me. Well now he pats himself at lunch to tell me that he wants a bite! When I am at work I have 3 kids and myself to worry about at lunch, and if I am taking a bite, or trying to help another kids, Alex will pat his chest until I give him a bite! It is very cute!

He is also a tattle tell! lol On himself! Joe and I say "Ut Oh" if Alex is going to touch something he shouldn't or when he does anything he shouldn't. All day yesterday I kept hearing "UT UT UT UT UT". And every time I heard it I would find Alex up to no good! He would stand on a chair and then repeat "UT", until I got him down! Between himself, and the 2 year old who loves to catch Alex being naughty, I've got a lot of help with him! Which I need!

Alex is VERY curious! We have made comments since he was a baby on how curious he was. He could sit for the longest time and try to figure out how something works. It's hard to explain, but you could always tell that he was thinking really hard about things. Like last night, he wanted up in a chair, but it was filled with blankets. Next to the chair is a bench that we keep shoes in, and a lot of times he gets on that and then climbs over the arm of the chair to get in the chair, but last night the bench was covered in bags, and coats. Joe and I watched as he looked back and forth between the bench, and the chair, trying so hard to come up with a plan to get in the chair. At one point he walked over to the bench and gave a tug on the diaper bag to see if he could clear a spot, so he could climb up, but that didn't work. Then he went to the other side of the chair were more blankets were, and he tried to climb on those, but that didn't work. He also tried climbing up the front of the chair, but he can't get on it with out using the footstool, which had been moved to the couch. It took about 10 minutes before he decided it wasn't going to work out, and he got on the couch instead.

Alex also learned how to tantrum! I tease the girls that I nanny, that he learned it from them. When the 5 year old was 3, she had bad screaming tantrums, so when her baby sister followed suit, we would always thank the 5 year old. Both girls have stopped, but now Alex has them! The other day he got on the couch and then climbed onto the side table, trying to reach the phone. I quickly picked him up off the table and told him "NO". As soon as I grabbed him he arched his back and put his arms straight up (this is his favorite method of getting away, right now), when he does this it makes it very hard to keep hold of him so I always lay him right on the floor. Once he is on the floor he will cry for a minute, and then, depending on the time a day, he will get up and move on, or like in this case, get back on the couch, and back on to the table. He is also learning how to pout! Last night Joe very firmly told Alex "NO" when he pulled the dogs ear, and Alex looked at Joe then dropped his head and stuck out his bottom lip and started to make himself cry, but I very loudly laughed at the sight, and so Alex started laughing too! It was just too funny.

Alex is also a comedian! If he can find something that will make us laugh he will do it over and over and over. I think this is true for most kids though. Which reminds me, he is also a head banger! I asked the pediatrician about it. He said it is a boy thing. I also read online that it is normal and has something to do with them "finding their rhythm". Whatever that means. He loves to bang his head on anything. He cracks up when he is doing it, and even when it hurts he half laughs, and half cries!

Speaking of rhythm, Alex has moves! He loves all kinds of music and will dance the second he hears it. His favorites are Han.nah Mon.tana, and Ty.ler Swi.ft! I told Joe the other night that most kids will bend at the knee as a form of dancing, but I've never seen a 1 year old nod their head, and shake their hips! He has a guitar that sings itsy bittsy spider and whenever we turn it on he nods his head.

"Joe"

"Joe" is Alex's new favorite word!

This started over the weekend. Joe over heard Alex calling him by his name a few times. I tried not to laugh, but it was so cute. Later we talked, and Joe asked me not to use his name anymore. We also agreed that I would try not to laugh, and Joe would not answer to Alex calling him by his name. Some times we correct him and say "not Joe, Dada".

By Saturday afternoon Alex was really getting a feel for his new word. When we went into wake Joe up from his nap, Alex walked right up to the side of the bed and said "Hi Joe". I could not help but crack up! It's so hard not to laugh.

Later we think we found the reason why Alex picked up on Joe's name so fast. Apparently I call out for Joe a lot! Like in the morning before Alex and I leave, I will yell into the bedroom "Joe, we are leaving". Then he will come out and say goodbye to us.

Monday morning as I was changing Alex and getting him ready for the day he said "dada". I told him that dada was still night night, so Alex turned toward the bedroom door and yelled "JOE". This time I didn't laugh, but called out "DADA" instead.

Then at work Alex pointed to my phone and said "Joe". So the two year old looked at Alex and said "no Joe, dada". I thought it was so cute that even the other kids are trying to help!

Without getting too deep, I think I understand Joe's feeling for wanting Alex not to call him Joe, but to call him dada (or dad). As adoptive parents, I think we look for that reassurance that our children know us as their parents. It can be heart breaking to think that they see us as anything other than their "mom and dad". Surly Alex does not think that, but the thought is there for us. Not to mention, one of Joe's biggest fears is that Alex will be 18 and leave us to go seek out a prenatal relationship with his birth parents. He will always know who they are, and where they are (as long as we know), but that fear is still there!

On a lighter note, Alex also added "ut oh" to his list of words this week!

Paci, or no Paci?

I had always said that once Alex hit 1 year, I was going to throw out the paci and the bottle. In my experience, as a nanny, it seems the longer you wait the harder it is. So why am I having such a hard time giving the paci up?
I took Alex's day time bottles away weeks ago. It was easy, and I don't think he even noticed. The only down fall was trying to figure out how much food to give him instead. With the bottle I knew 6 ounces was enough. With puffs, it's a little harder to tell. (Also, Alex does not seem to stop eating......ever! We have to guess when he is full because he will just keep going.)
I knew the morning and night bottles were going to be a little harder, not just for him, but for me too! It has worked out well to lay him down with his morning bottle while I finish getting ready for work. Without me waking up early, and waking him up early, so I could feed him in the morning, I was not sure how I was going to do it.
I was not as worried about the night time bottle, but a little afraid that he wasn't going to sleep as well, without a belly full of formula.
My plan was to transition him during the week I had off, between Christmas and New Year, but then we all got sick. So I said "When this formula runs out, we're done". The last night bottle ended up being Saturday the 1st, and I had just enough left to give him 1 last morning bottle on the 3rd.
Our new nights are going well. Some nights he sucks down a sippy of milk, and some times he pushes it away. Sometimes I offer him a snack, but most nights he doesn't seem to need it. Joe rocks him, and we all watch a singing cartoon (and we sing along), then we brush his teeth and he is off to bed. He has not slept any less, so no problems there either.
His mornings have been going equally as well! I get him dressed then put him in his booster with a cup of milk and some dry cereal. He snacks while I start the car, or get our stuff together. Then when I get to work, I feed him with the other kids. I was worried that he would not want to wait that long (25 minutes), but he doesn't seem to mind it. Most mornings I catch him giving the dogs his cereal, so maybe he is not that hungry when he first gets up.

The paci on the other hand!!!!!!! First off, 99% of the time he only gets it in his bed. There has been a time or two when he is not feeling well, or is very grumpy, and I will let him have it, while we snuggle. I have put him to bed, a couple of times without it, and told my husband "cold turkey". Then I hear Alex talking, or playing and I think to myself that he can't fall asleep with out it, so I sneak back in and give him one! Silly, I know! Then there was the time, I just forgot and gave it to him the next day at nap. There was also one day when I did not give it to him at nap, and later I caught him sucking his thumb. To me thumb sucking is much worse, on account you can't take the thumb away! So I gave in again after seeing that!
I really want to be done with them, before he can ask for it. It's just seems nice for him to have it in bed, in case he wakes up, and wants it in the night. Don't tell anyone, but sometimes I even think he looks cute with it too. Like a baby, even though he is getting to be such a big boy! I think I will set a goal of February 1st. It sounds like I want the darn thing more than he does!




Day 1: Not so good! I thought I had forgot to put a paci in Alex's bag, so I thought it would be a good day to try putting him down for a nap without it. I did everything the same (minus the paci), and as soon as I closed the door I could hear him stand up and start calling out. As if he was telling me that I forgot it! I gave him/myself 15 minutes. The whole time he was talking and calling out, so I gave in. I went down, but the paci (that I found in his bag) in his mouth and laid him back down. I did not hear another peep! He went right to sleep! I will try again at his next nap!
Nap number 2, I didn't even try. Alex was so tired, I just gave him the paci and put him down.

Bedtime, I didn't give in. I just laid him down with his bear, told him I loved him and walked out. We didn't hear another peep! I just hope he doesn't call out for it in the night!

Update: It's about a week after I first wrote this. Alex no longer gets a paci at night. He does fine and doesn't seem to notice that he doesn't have it. He still gets it at every nap. I thought he might take naps at home without it, since he sleeps in his bed at night without it, but I was wrong. He wanted it for nap times at home too.

I still have February 1st as my goal!

When you hear a calling!

We have decided to become licensed for foster care.

We had looked into foster care before we came to the conclusion that we wanted to adopt. I had always liked the idea of being able to love on some kids, when they needed it most. I had always thought I would make a good foster parent. Back in 2007 we went to the orientation, filled out a pre-application, and then never heard anything! We waited and waited and no one ever called us to take the next steps. We thought maybe we didn't qualify. Well, we did end up getting a call months later. The person said that there was a lot of firing and hiring going on, and they were sorry. At that point we had moved on, and we were working on having a baby.

Now that Alex's siblings are in foster care, we feel like we are being called back into the world of fostering. Not only by our social worker, but also by God! The hope is that we can get licensed as fast as possible, which sadly is not very fast at all, but it is what it is. We should be licensed in the next 3-4 months. When we are, Alex's siblings with be coming to live with us until they can be reunited with their mom. Or there is a chance that we could be up for adopting them, if need be.

I am excited about this new turn in our life, and I am ready for what 2011 has for us!

"The Call"..........times two!

Today we got called and were asked to take Alex's two older siblings as a foster to adopt (with crossed fingers) situation! We are beyond excited. There is a long road ahead of us, and we do not know much at this time, but it looks like this family of 3 might be changing to 5!

Bedroom, or toyroom?

After Christmas I had to find room for all of Alex's new stuff. My plan was to make a play room for him in the basement, but since we have had Alex, the basement has become our dumping ground. Our house is not very big, and Alex has a lot of stuff. I did not have the time to make an area for him, and I have found that our basement is a lot colder in the winter then I thought it was. So we will be using his room to hold most of his toys until spring. We did put a few things away that he doesn't really use right now.

So I took out his rocking chair, which we never used. Alex never liked to sit in his room and rock, but now that it is in the living room, he wants to rock all the time! Since we didn't have a chair in there, we no longer needed an end table, so that got "dumped" in the basement.

His cube organizer was where the train table is now. I never liked it there, so I am glad we could move it. He has a lot more floor room to play.

His closet holds some of the larger toys that we don't play with much, like his shopping cart, and a ton of stuffed animals. As you can see it is packed to the brim! It doesn't look so crazy to me when I look at it, but when I look at the picture, I feel like everything is going to come flying out. It's my organized chaos! I have cleaned it up a little this past week, but it needs a little more.

Here you can see 2 of Alex's favorite things. One is, closing his bedroom door. He loves to close the door, and play in his room. We always laugh and then get up and open the door back up. The other, is his reading nook. He sits on his giraffe chair, and pulls books out, and looks at them all by himself, which cracks me up because he does not like to sit and read books together. He is getting better and better at pulling lots of books out, so pretty soon I can going to take out most of the paper books.

This is the only real "baby area" left in his room (other than his crib). I almost "closed" up his changing table area a month or two ago. Alex got really good at flipping over during diaper changes, and I didn't want him to fall off the dresser. But then, just like that, he stopped. He is really good when he is up there now, and just plays with the toys that we keep up there for him. Here is the link to my post about his room when we first got it done: http://ouradventurethroughadoption.blogspot.com/2009/11/baby-room-check.html