Our 'Spirited' Child

That is the term that the pediatrician used when she was talking to us recently about our 2 year old, Cooper. She said that he was 'spirited', which James and I took as just that. We often mock her wording in situations where he is running around crazy in our house or throwing a tantrum...'oh, he's just spirited!' She even recommended a book, Raising Your Spirited Child that would help us understand his needs, and our plan of attack for raising him.

I think of Cooper as kind of a Labrador puppy. He can't be put in the house all day and be expected to behave - he needs to be taken out and run to make him tired enough where he will listen, behave and sleep at night! I don't mind this, because we have found that it works 90% of the time, and he is a much easier kid to deal with when he is active.

There are many days when James will get home from work and I will say, 'Cooper needs to be taken out and run.' Meaning he needs to go to an open space and burn off energy. We either go for a walk/run with him to the park when the weather is nice, or we go to an indoor park when we need to stay indoors. Even a trip to Target will help burn some extra energy.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a super energetic kid than one that needs to be motivated, so we aren't trying to change him. We are just trying to manage him so he can not only run around like a crazy person, but also have the focus to sit at the table to do an activity or learn numbers and letters.

Oh karma,...you trickster!

Potty Trained!

Yes, it's true...Cooper is officially potty trained! It took one long weekend to get into Pull Ups and really understand the rule of telling us before he goes instead of going in his diaper, a lot of potty treats for when he did tell us first, and now we are in big boy underwear!

It has been all week, and only 2 accidents!

Cooper is happy, because he is sporting some new Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine underwear, and I am excited because I can get his Diaper Champ out of his room and I have one less thing on my weekly Target list! One down, one to go!

Cutting Caffeine!

Caffeine withdraw is something I don't remember from having the boys. I never remember the headaches being this bad or the dehydration being so apparent when I stopped drinking coffee and pop when I was pregnant.

Maybe it is because I had something to be excited about, whereas this time I am just doing it for the health of it. I haven't had anything caffeinated since Saturday, and still the pressure is intense at certain points of the day.

I didn't realize exactly how much I was drinking until sat down with my good friend, Lynn, and she told me about all of the sugar and calories in one of my Skim Mint Conditions from Caribou Coffee. I wasn't just drinking one, either...but 2-3 LARGE ones, with an extra shot of espresso in each! Not only was that almost $16 a day in coffee, but it was also the only thing I had for breakfast, and enough sugar for a week! I was drinking an average of 10 shots of espresso per day, not to mention the pop and other drinks.

I am now really focused on drinking a lot of water, and just keeping the warm delicious drink out of my mind. I have heard that it can take a week, so I know that I have time before the light at the end of the tunnel. I am just excited that I don't need to drink coffee anymore.

Miles, our little swimmer!

Miles loves the water! I shouldn't be surprised - he has always loved the tub, and my in-laws keep their pool really warm, so it isn't so shocking when he goes swimming.

Swimmers' ear has always been a concern of mine while taking either of the boys for a dip, but after talking with our pediatrician, she has assured me that it isn't a concern if you really dry their ears with a towel or Q-tip after swimming. She also mentioned that if you aren't repeatedly submerging their ears into the water you are also unlikely to get swimmers' ear.

I look forward to really getting him used to the water over the next few months, as we head into cabin time in Hayward! I know that he won't be doing laps across the lake, but since he consists of so much body fat, we could just use him as a floating device!

The Potty Dance!

So, we are in the middle of potty training Cooper, and I thought that we had a pretty great way of celebrating when he told us that he had to potty...we jump around, yell, cheer, and then he gets a 'potty treat' for his efforts!

I thought we were doing well, until I discovered The Potty Dance...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacxAfN_T-Y

This is the cutest thing to get your kid excited about potty training! What a fun idea!

Enjoy!

Mom's Intuition

Miles had an ear infection 2 weeks ago, and was on an antibiotic for 10 days. It wasn't even a week after finishing the medication that he was seeming 'off' again. I told James that I thought I should take him in, even though he was still happy and not warm. Of course James thought that I was being an over-reactor, and we should just wait to see what happened in a few days.

James left yesterday for a training, and will be out of town for a few more days...so I took Miles into the doctor yesterday just to be sure.

An ear infection in BOTH ears, as well as pink eye in BOTH eyes! Yeah, that's right! Poor kid! No wonder his eating had slowed down, and he is getting up every hour at night right now. I have never had an ear infection, but I have heard that they hurt like crazy and on top of that, his eyes are bothering him.

The good news is that it has been 24 hours, so he is feeling much better, and he isn't contagious. I just can't believe that he has been so good for being so sick. Hopefully we caught all of this early, so he hasn't been in pain too long!

I just thought that this is a perfect example of how a mom knows their kids. I can feel them and tell they have a temperature, or just tell that they are getting sick. When does that happen, at their birth? When you find out your pregnant?