The State Fair!

Matthew getting a clothing change at the fair

Today Jason took the day off from work so we went to the Minnesota State Fair with Ken and Cheri (Jason's parents). We loaded up the two single strollers we have and arrived early since Jason "doesn't like people" (those were his own words...I believe he means large crowds of people...).

Our first stop at the fair was the dog obedience training show where a bunch of dogs run an agility course with their trainers. Every year when we go to the fair and see the dog shows Jason and I entertain the thought of getting a dog, but then reality sets in and we realize we have enough to do with the two human little ones we have around the house.

Our next stops included looking at many different tractors, mowers and construction equipment. Sam got excited about the tractors, but was very excited when we came upon the construction equipment. He walked around with Jason and Ken and pointed out the various equipment by name..excavator! skid steer! tractor! excavator! front loader! I use exclamation points because that's the way Sam talks about trucks, tractors and construction equipment. He gets so excited and does a little goofy step/dance while he points at them. We'll have to get his dance moves on video sometime.

Jason, Sam and I with Dennis Prager

We then traversed across the fairgrounds to the livestock barns to see sheep, horses, pigs and cows. Matthew had been sleeping most of the time at the fair so far, but he awoke once we got to the livestock barns. We took turns carrying the little one around as he quickly wears out one's arms. I'm not sure what animal Sam liked best, although he mentioned the pigs most frequently when we got home.

Our last stop was the AM1280 booth where my favorite nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, was broadcasting live from the fair. It was fun to see his show in person and Mr. Prager began by posing the question "Think of the last family vacation you took. Would it have been better if you could do the same vacation but with just your spouse, and leave the kids with loved ones back home?" He then referred to Jason by saying "Iowa State, I can tell you're thinking" (Jason was wearing an IA State T-shirt). Later in the show he referred to Sam too. So they both were referred to on a national radio show. Jason teased me about the fact that Mr. Prager talked about both him and Sam, but not myself although I was wearing a Dennis Prager T-shirt and am a Dennis Prager Groupie. During one of the breaks we got to meet Mr. Prager and had our picture taken with him. Matthew was with Grandma Cheri in the audience so he missed out on the picture.

Growth stats

Today I took Matthew in for his four month appointment. I had scheduled an appointment for later in the week, but he has a rash which looks like ringworm that I wanted to get checked out. Poor kid. I'm pretty sure he picked it up at the Y as it appeared Tuesday afternoon after our trip to the Y in the morning. So we've been to the Y four times, and he's gotten something twice. That's not a good record.

The nurse practitioner recommended some OTC cream and said it shouldn't be infectious shortly after beginning treatment. Hopefully it goes away soon. During the appointment a toddler was in the room next door and I could hear him screaming "AWWWWWWW! I HATE THE SHOTS! I HATE THE SHOTS! AWWWWWW!" I'm definitely not looking forward to Sam's appointment later in the month. Maybe Jason can take him.

Matthew's report card is as follows:
     weight: 18 lbs (95th percentile)
     height: 27.5 in (100th percentile) what does that mean?

So Matthew is a big kid but he's well proportioned. The nurse practitioner commented that he seems a lot older than he is. I sure think so too. It's hard to remember he's so young when he is soooo big and soooo active!

Sam's stats when he was four months was:
     weight: 15 lbs (50th percentile)
     height: 26.5 in (90th percentile)

I think Sam's "little" brother is going to be holding his own very soon. Sam has been smacking Matthew occasionally as he's realized that quickly gets my attention. He doesn't hit Matthew hard enough to make him cry, but he still hits him out of frustration. However, I have a feeling that Matthew's days of non-retaliation are quickly coming to a close...

Sleep training

I think I've already mentioned this, but when Sam was 4 months old, Jason and I decided to do sleep training with him to help him fall asleep on his own. As Matthew is almost that old, I was thinking it may be time to get him to bed at an earlier time and in his own crib. Since birth, he's pretty much slept wherever he wants, mostly in the bouncy seat while Jason or I bounce him in the evenings. Sometimes he goes to sleep at 7, sometimes 10, he's all over the place.

So sleep training involves looking for signs of tiredness, then having a consistent bedtime routine and placing the child in the crib while they're drowsy, but awake. If they cry, you're supposed to check on them every few minutes and pat them on the back and say soothing words, but not pick them up. With Sam, we'd look for signs of tiredness between 7-8 and put him to bed whenever he was "ready" and he would inevitably, get tired around 7 or 7:30, then go to bed. The early days/weeks of sleep training involved much crying and we would go in Sam's room and pat him on the back and whisper, "It's ok" and so on until he learned to fall asleep on his own. Sometimes the crying lasted around an hour, but after a week or so, he went immediately to sleep and he's been a super sleeper ever since.

However, Matthew just doesn't seem to be that predictable. I was thinking sleep training probably wouldn't work with him, because he is just so active and goes from cooing/squirming to asleep very quickly and he doesn't generally show typical signs of tiredness, like yawing, rubbing the eyes and so on. I've gotten pretty good at telling when he is tired by his fussiness but that's about the only sign he gives. 

Last night, however, I thought I'd try a bedtime routine with Matthew and see how it went. He wasn't really showing signs of tiredness, we read a few stories and he was kind of fussy, but not too much. Then we said prayers and I rocked and sang to him for awhile. No droopy eyes, no yawning, nothing. Hmmm. My methods clearly weren't helping him wind down. Frustrated, I thought I would just put him in his crib and see how it went. So I did, then I went to brush my teeth. When I was done (2 min. later as I have a timer on my toothbrush), I peeked in on him and he was pretty much out. No crying, no fussing, nothing. I was slightly less than shocked and thought I should camp outside his door for awhile to wait for the crying to ensue, but I decided to take a chance and go downstairs to watch TV with Jason. Still, no crying, no fussing. He was actually out. Wow. This child amazes me. Now it's only been one day, but I'd say we're off to a pretty good start and Jason and I may have some more time to ourselves in the evenings.

Underwear

As mentioned, Sam has been pretend playing frequently with his stuffed animals. So this morning I was getting the kids ready and Sam wanted to put on some underwear. His isn't quite ready to wear underwear yet (at least not on his bottom, he prefers to walk around with it on his head), but we still have some around in case he decides to try it out. He did not manage to get any on himself, but he did manage to get some on Emmet. Yes, Emmet is wearing underwear. And in the picture, Sam is trying to put some on Bear too.

So Emmet wore his underwear all morning and even went out in public that way.  Emmet has frequently been going on our daily travels with us and today's plan was to meet Jason at his work and then go out to lunch. So we parked in a ramp two blocks from Jason's work. Matthew was in the stroller, Sam was holding my hand and with his other hand he was carrying a skivvy-clad Emmet down Nicollet Mall. When we arrived Jason's coworkers got a good laugh out of the attire and when we were leaving Jason's building to our lunch, Jason quickly hid Emmet in the stroller. Apparently he didn't get as much of a laugh out of the situation as I did.

P.S. To show my age (or my ignorance), as I was writing this, the word "underwear" kept on coming up as a misspelled word (it was underlined with a squiggly red line). I was spelling it "underware" as in software, malware, spyware, etc. On a similar note, the other day I told Jason that the grandmother clock we have needed to be "charged".

BaaBaa's Feet

The Beloved

Sam's beloved BaaBaa has been talked about a few times, but not in-depth, so that's what I'm going to discuss today. When Sam was 4 months old (Matthew's almost there!!!) we decided to start a bedtime routine with him and help him fall asleep on his own (a.k.a. sleep training). Among the suggestions we followed included having a consistent routine (bath, story, prayer, bed), using a white noise machine or music specifically for bedtime and introducing a lovey to the child. So we introduced a lovey to Sam and gave him two little sheep every time he went to bed. He initially loved a little beanie baby sheep, but over time, BaaBaa took over and became his lovey of choice.

Now BaaBaa is very important to all of us. He means a better night's sleep for the entire household. BaaBaa only leaves the house when we're going someplace where Sam will be napping or spending the night. He doesn't not go to the grocery store or for car rides, although if Sam had his way, BaaBaa would not leave his side. In fact, BaaBaa is mostly restricted to Sam's crib. We explained to Sam that BaaBaa needs to sleep during the day so he can stay up and watch over Sam at night. Anyway, when Sam is really tired he cries, "BaaaaaaaBaaaaaaa!" and we know that's a sign he is really ready for bed. We even use BaaBaa as somewhat of a bribe to make Sam's bedtime more attractive when he's is not so desperate to end his day..."Sam, don't you want to see BaaBaa? He's waiting for you..." 

The Beloved's feet

Having a lovey is not out of the ordinary. However, how Sam loves BaaBaa is what is unusual. Sam always holds BaaBaa upside down by his legs with his feet by his nose/mouth. So he stiffs BaaBaa's feet and with his fingers strokes BaaBaa's foot fur. What's even funnier is how Sam shares BaaBaa with others. During our bedtime routine, I let Sam hold BaaBaa during storytime, prayers and song. Of course, I kiss Sam frequently during our little routine as his head is right by my lips. But Sam likes me to kiss BaaBaa too. I try to kiss his head, but that is unacceptable, I must kiss his feet. Not just one foot, but both of them

A few weeks ago I let Sam have BaaBaa downstairs for awhile as he was having a tough morning. It was one of the days where he was pretend playing with his stuffed animals. He was sharing his water in a sippy cup with his friends. Sam held up the sippy cup to Mickey Mouse's mouth, Donald Duck's beak...and BaaBaa's feet. When I asked him where BaaBaa's head and mouth were, he knew the correct part of the body, but still he gave BaaBaa's feet a drink.

Papa Dewey

Sam is apparently quite taken with his great-Grandpa Duane. He has been talking about him frequently since we returned from our trip up north. He will pick up the little old tv remote which we removed the batteries from and gave him as a toy a long time ago, put it up to his ear and say "Hi Papa Dewey!" Then he says "Papa Dewey has a boat" and so on.

The night before we returned home from out trip Sam went to bed around 7:30, but he was making a lot of noise, so I went in to check on him after about 15 minutes. Turns out he was standing up in his pack-n-play and looking out the window at Papa Dewey and Papa Don as they were packing up things in the boat. "Papa Dewey! Papa Don!" he said when I came in. I'm pretty sure Papa Dewey didn't do much to attract Sam's attention and affection, but Sam has sure taken to him. I guess he's just a lovable guy!

3 signs that Matthew is back to normal

1. Last night he slept from 8PM-3:45AM. Yea!!! That's nearly 8 hours!
2. He had a brief early morning snack, then went right back to sleep. There was no fussing, nothing, only happy sleeping sounds.
3. I awoke to him cooing around 6:30. Matthew generally doesn't cry when he wakes in the morning, he usually coos and talks to himself for some time before I get him up. In other words, he's a happy kid in the morning. Seems like he is an earlybird because he certainly isn't that happy in the evening!