Funny things you do

I have a notebook entitled "Today you made me smile" in which I record things the children do or say that make me smile. Or laugh, in most cases. There are not many stories of any one child until they can talk because this is when the most funny things occur. However this morning Silas definitely added a chapter of his own and its just too funny not to share.
For the last three mornings (counting today) Silas has slept through the night. Yes,yes, clapping, gasps, yippees, who hoos, and all that. Now because of these looooong nights of no nursing when Shiloh brings him down to our bed in the morning for some snuggle time while the girls are still asleep he makes this giddy,relieved,laughing sound while he climbs over covers and pillows to get to me signing milk as much as possible in between crawls. Usually he and I stay in bed while Shiloh gets ready for work but this morning I had to wash my hair so I got up early and showered so there would be time for all the drying and straightening before we had to leave the house at 8:30. While I was still showering Shiloh brought Silas down and got back into bed with him and he did all the giggling and all the climbing and then he got to my side of the bed and saw I was missing. Now here you must understand that my side of the bed is up against a wall (because there was an incident when Cecily was a baby and was in our bed one night and we didn't want a repeat situation) At once he sat down baffled and immediately got back on all fours and peered down the crack between the wall and the bed and said, almost in tears "Uh-Oh" His first thought was that I must have fallen into the crack. It makes me laugh even now and I didn't even see it all happen. I'm almost sure the worry in his voice was not because I wasn't there but because he would not be able to nurse. As soon as I came out of the bathroom he did the relieved,laughing sound and crawled quickly to the end of the bed,sat up and frantically signed milk with both hands. He is proving to be as funny as his sisters. :)

A Fun New Way To Eat An Old Classic

While having a Cheerios snack at the table Silas thought there must be a better way to eat them.

Looking very closely he thought and thought how this could be achieved.

Looking this close gave him this idea.
He ate them all up this way and then he saw me watching...
He gave me a super silly grin

and then signed for more cause his were all gone.

Vomiting in Public

I'd just like to give a little shout out to Wet Ones antibacterial wipes. And a special thanks to Mrs. S. And another thanks to all who held their seats...until we walked out of the gym. And that's all, I think I'll keep the rest to myself.

Progress

Well first of all thanks to all the comments about adding more than one photo and typing in between . Now I've also learned that they upload in the opposite order that you clicked on them. But anyhow I just wanted to let you guys see what I've been doing this week. These first four photos are of our downstairs front office bathroom at the shop. It's been sitting there all pretty and painted for a couple of months now and Saturday I found some prints at Hobby Lobby that I love love love love love(the exact number of loves I must confess to actually buy an item that will be this permanent). Thanks to their 50% off sales I was able to shop around and get everything on sale or clearance.





In this photo the mirror was already purchased and hung soon after the paint dried. The ledges and black and white candle holders are new and bought for 66% off the original price.






Here we have one of the prints that could make me swoon if I stared at it too long and then a decorative thing-a-ma-bob that I couldn't pass up. See the great moldings my Papaw put up for me? Just exactly what I had in mind. Caulking and painting them wasn't the most fun but I think the end result was soooo worth it.

Here is the whole back wall. Want to know how to make stripes like that? Its easy if you don't mind some time consuming measuring and taping off. Its just a clear protective finish that you can buy to put over paintings or faux finishes. It goes on white and dries clear and gives just the right amount of texture to an otherwise plain wall. I would like to mention that the hardwood floors are make from already used nail riddled pieces of wood. Eric pulled out all the nails, sanded them and then Papaw glued and screwed them down then Eric sanded them again and then Shiloh and I stained and finished them. Whew! A lot of work those floors but the wood was free and I love using things instead of trashing them.

Here are the three prints all in a row. This wall is the only complete one out of four.

Here are all the containers that I have emptied so far. I can't believe all this stuff fit into just those three containers I bought!

Silas loves to play with the empty boxes.

See those little fingers giving bunny ears to the large blue box? Cecily was hiding behind the box for the photo shoot and told me later of her "trick".

Well thats the progress for now. I'll let you know when the bathroom is all done.

Sign Language

For Silas' last birthday his Grandmommy and Grandad gave him money for books. Recently I went shopping on Amazon for his presents and after purchasing the books I had in mind for him I had some money left over and I decided to get him two Baby Signing Time Videos. I had heard about these videos from several people and I know they come (came?) on PBS on Sunday mornings but I had never seen them. Taking a chance I ordered the first two in the set. When the girls were small we taught them a few signs so that by the time they were about a year old they could tell us what they wanted pretty easily. Silas is 15 months old and he would only sign 'all done'. So after we got this in the mail and they watched it a few times he is signing a lot! Here is a list of signs he has learned from these two videos.
Milk
Juice
Please
Ouch
Thank You
More
Eat
Dog
And he uses them correctly to ask for what he wants. Cecily watched them about two times and has memorized almost all the signs to the point where she is ready for some more videos. Clara loves them and asks for them everyday. She sings along and does all the signs. They are great!

I have a little story about Clara...

One of the guys who work for us taught Cecliy what she calls Knuckle Fist, you know the things where you touch fists together instead of shaking hands. Now when she gets excited about something like if I tell her we can go to Chick-fill-a to play she'll say in a high squeaky voice "All right! Clara, give me a knuckle fist!" then they touch fists. So one day as we were getting ready to go out I told Clara, who had just finished watching Baby Signing Time, to "Please go and put on your..." and then I did the sign for shoes which is you make two fists and knock them together where your pointers would be next to each other. Like your holding a pair of shoes and knocking them together. And she immediately said "knuckle fist-es!" and hopped out of her chair to get some. I was laughing as I explained no go get your shoes. :) She is such a silly girl!

Adventures in Weaning part 2

I'm not sure I have made any progress since those first four days. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe we should've tried 'cold turkey', as in quitting. Is it possible to continue nursing during the day and teach a little one to sleep through the night? After all Silas is almost 15 months old and has never slept all the way through one night. I wouldn't even mind nursing during the night if it was maybe twice, two times seems reasonable to me. But he will wake up 4 or 5 times each night and is not satisfied with anything but me. If Shiloh goes to him he throws a fit! It has been this way with all of my babies but he refuses a pacifier which made this easier the first two times around. I'm sure super nanny would tell us he is predicting our behaviour and we need to take charge. I'm beginning to think the only way is the crying method, you know unplug the monitor. I've never done this and I would never do it to a small baby but I wonder if he is old enough to figure out to just put himself back to sleep. Does he need nourishment in the night. Is he actually younger than he seems to me? Hmmmm I don't know what to do but for tonight I can't listen to the crying anymore so off I go upstairs for the first time. Any advice is appreciated! Maybe I should contact La Leche League do they offer support for stopping or just starting?

Adventures in Weaning

Ok well I've been wondering how I would decide when to wean Silas and then one night it seems a decision was made for me. I made the decision long ago to co-sleep with this one because I did not want to go trudging through a cold house 4 or 5 times a night for a year +. I did some reading and found a book that assured me that this did not mean they would still be co-sleeping when they were eight. I slept tons better this way because I did not worry about him in his crib and I barely had to wake up to feed him.

Recently along came teething and some mild sicknesses and it seemed he wanted to be latched on all night long. I could not sleep very well this way and was thinking about moving his crib upstairs so he couldn't see me from it but I just couldn't go ahead with that decision because I really wasn't ready to stop nursing. Then came the night. I was dreaming that something (its all kind of a blur) was sucking on me and would not stop. (Imagine that) and I hit whatever it was. Instantly I woke up to find myself sleeping on my back with my little one draped across the top of me(a very creative nurser) and I had sort of lightly rapped his back with my knuckles. It didn't hurt him, he didn't even stir but I knew then that it was time. So it was decided to move the crib upstairs to the guest room. And then night weaning went something like this.

Night One-Sunday

I nursed him before I put him in bed and once again before I went to bed (he can sense when I'm ready to retire and always wakes up) I told Shiloh that the rest of the night was his. He had agreed this was the best way. So at the next awakening he went armed with a bottle of milk. Silas refused to take it and cried a lot so Shiloh snuggled up next to him on the guest bed and tried to sleep as Silas woke up every few minutes to wonder about me. I was blissfully unaware.



Next Day and Night Two-Monday



Silas was very happy to see me the next morning and nursed happily until he felt he had made up for the lost 7 hours. About 11:00 that morning I felt as if I came down with the flu. I somehow managed to survive with the children until Shiloh came home at five and I went to bed. and He decided to let Silas have a bottle while he walked around and played. It worked, he actually drank it then went happily to bed. Shiloh decided to go to bed upstairs armed with a sippy cup of water (because in his tired state Silas was sure to refuse the bottle) When Silas woke up Shiloh brought him to bed with him and gave him the cup. Instead of waking up and crying this time he would wake up and take a little sip and go back to sleep. In the morning he brought him to bed with me and he nursed and dozed a little before the girls came in requesting breakfast.



Night Three-Tuesday



As he was nursing this morning I realized I was super tender and figured out why I had the flu symptoms. I had a clogged duct. This was my first one and it seemed mild compared to other stories I have heard. But I couldn't believe this happened because of 7 hours of not nursing. The only way I knew was because my sister told me a while back this happened to her when her baby randomly slept through the night one time when she was about 7 months old. Any how that night I was still feeling poorly and again went to bed early and woke up when Shiloh came back to bed saying that Silas had had two bottles and he wanted to sleep in his own bed this time. Silas never woke up after that. Progress.



Night Four-Wednesday

Silas went to bed with a bottle and then nursed when I got home late after a girls night out (he instantly sensed when I got home) and then woke up just one time refused a bottle and actually wanted back into his own bed! Gasp. Once more we heard him fuss and didn't respond immediately and he went back to sleep for the night.



Tomorrow night we have a date planned and Samantha our great sitter will be here. We actually have hope that he will not wake up at all (at least until we get home) Can it be possible...