Not much happenin'

We are enjoying some nice weather, despite the wind :-/ The boys are loving playing outside, and I'm happy that the backyard is getting more "playable". The sandbox is wide open now, so hopefully it'll dry out soon (the boys are playing in it anyway!).

Arlan continues to talk more and more. He's starting to say sentences, like "Landon sit now" and things like that. He definitely knows what he wants, and when he doesn't get it he shares his feelings. Usually by crying / screaming in your face. It's annoying, but mostly funny (unless you have a head ache or are on the phone ... not fun for people on the other end of the phone either!). The boys mostly fight all day, with brief periods of peaceful playing which I love. But they're fun.

Landon seems to be enjoying preschool more. He actually asked to go to preschool Monday morning, but he only goes Tues and Thurs mornings. And of course, now he doesn't have preschool until Apr 13!! Easter break. But at least he's enjoying it more.
Oh yeah, Landon's spring concert was at preschool last Thursday. I enjoyed it (Arlan loved playing with the toys there). Landon didn't squeak a single word, or participate in any way. He just sat there quite shy. But he didn't cry, so I was happy about that. Maybe next concert he'll find his voice.

Landon is getting better at controlling his strong emotions too. The other night he was so mad at John because John told him to quit hitting the window. He picked up the pillow, and you could see in every fibre of his body just how badly he wanted to throw that pillow at John. We just watched him with that "go ahead and try it" look in our eyes. He marched over to John with the pillow poised over his head, and put it on John's legs and stamped away. Much better - very impressive self-control I think. So it's an improvement. In fact, he's much less aggressive in many ways. I'm definitely seeing a pattern - Feb / Mar is an aggressive time for Landon, and I'm thinking maybe due to it being the end of winter and he's sick of being inside? But I distinctly recall us having some challenges right when he turned 2, then 3, and now at 4. So perhaps we'll be able to better manage that at 5? We'll see

Anyway, I'd better go, just thought I should put a note up. Until next time...

preschool struggles

Well, it seems that Landon really isn't liking preschool. It all began at his Valentine's party there on Feb 9. Since then he has hated it - begging me to leave him in the car while I go inside, fighting not to go, then refusing to let go of me when we do arrive. One day he even had a couple of tears escape after I left :-(
So I had to call today to see what's up. It all stems from that party. That day when I picked him up he was sad, he said that his cookies weren't eaten because someone said there's 'too much sugar' in them (they were iced roll-out cookies, in the shape of hearts - nothing too fancy). I do believe this all stems from that careless comment made by a volunteer mom, no doubt (really, would a 3 year old kid say there was too much sugar in anything??!!). We are going to send cookies to preschool for his birthday party on Thursday - hoping to replace a bad cookie experience with a good one. This time I think I'll buy Oreos and leave it at that (I don't need to feel bad about my baking skills too!). Landon doesn't want to bake cookies, he said he doesn't like the other kids :-/ He has related an incident where someone yelled at him "Get out of here! You're not supposed to be here!" I think this was most likely some kid wanting to keep the toys they were playing with to themselves, but I wonder if Landon took that to mean he wasn't supposed to be at preschool?

If that doesn't work, I'll volunteer to see how things happen at preschool. It's really heartbreaking -- he absolutely LOVED preschool up until that day, and I so hope we can get that magic back for him. Plus I simply don't want to face the fight to get him there, and then deal with him when I pick him up (he's horrible for about an hour, yelling, screaming, sulking, throwing things, hitting ... ). I know that preschool is valuable for him (and me), but not if it's a horrid experience for him -- and I am contemplating pulling him out, at least until the fall, if things don't turn around.

The teachers say he has a lot of fun at preschool (she hadn't noticed anything was wrong at all). He's got some buddies that giggle and play together, he loves the trucks and trains. He enjoyed the ambulance that was at the school today (although he didn't even want to tell me about it when I picked him up, just throwing his hat and colouring book all over the car and pouting). After an hour, he did admit to having some fun, and told me all about the ambulance -- but that was a looooong hour to get to that point.

Anyway, that is where we're at. Hopefully Thursday can bring some positive memories into his head. I'm open to suggestions on this one ....

Ear Infection!

Poor Arlan ... he has infection in BOTH ears :-( No wonder he's so pissy!!

He wasn't better this morning, so it was time to take him to the dr. We got an appt today, and what a gongshow it was. Doc appt was 20 mins late (which is very unusual in that office), then prescription took over 45 mins to fill (we'd been told it would be 20 mins). So our 'little outing' was almost 2 hours long ... at the end of the day ... with a screaming/fussy Arlan....and a cabin-fevered Landon. It was not fun. For any of us.

But we're home - Arlan has had 2 doses of antibiotics, plus some homeopathic earache meds to help combat the pain. He seems to be sleeping better so far (knock on wood). Let's hope that the meds will kick in and our happy baby can return tomorrow! Mommy needs that in order to maintain her sanity.

Landon had a Valentine's party at preschool today. He really enjoyed it, despite not wanting to go to preschool this morning. What amazes me is the amount of candy given away for Valentine's Day -- it's not Hallowe'en! He came home with a loot bag, which I get to fight with him over for the next few days ... thanks alot! We didn't even send V'day cards, I'm thinking we'll get that pleasure often enough in upcoming years, I don't need to jump into it quite yet...

Other than that - life is ticking along. I guess no swimming for Arlan this week, give his ears a chance to heal up. Maybe we'll do the play time at the gym on Thursday, both boys can have fun there since Landon doesn't have preschool. Spread our illnesses around a bit ...

until next time...