Today we woke up and had a dance party after breakfast. Jack is super into dancing now, whenever he hears music he stops, bounces on his knees and then laughs like he is having the most fun. Sometimes he will also throw in a head bob and I swear dancing babies are the cutest thing ever. Luca also has some really great moves now. He does a leg lift, a booty slap, and is usually always up for a dance party.
Afterwards, we met my mom and Steve for lunch and for some errands/shopping. After Lee and I swapped out a shirt I had gotten for him, he took the boys home for naps and I shopped with mom, Sarah, and Steve. It was a fun day, just leisurely browsing together.
(The only photo I snapped while out. If you look closely, you can see his little cut on his lip from his fall the day before.)
After we got home from shopping, Lee hung some pictures in our front hallway. Both of which were gifted/made by Abby and Josh.
After we dropped Luca off at school, Jack and I headed to his first therapy session. It was super helpful and eye opening. She gave a list of 8 steps to use when trying to get him to eat new foods. I will be implementing the list with both Luca and Jack (and probably Lee too. Only kidding! Sort of.).
After school, Luca asked to call Pops. So he did, and while on the phone he asked if Pops could come over and play. And he did! The boys see Pops every Tuesday and Thursday because he watches them on the days I work, but it's usually never enough for my boys. They LOVE their Pops. And they are so blessed because their Pops LOVES them.
When you're double fisting and you can "cheers!" yourself. He has become obsessed with holding both his milk and his water cups at the same time. The irony! Just a few months ago he wouldn't hold either!
Attempting the 8 step process with broccoli, not going so well.
I searched high and low for fall cookie cutters and sprinkles. I finally found some sprinkles at Home Goods and a cookie cutter at Michael's. (sidenote: Luca was with me when I found the cookie cutter and as hard as I tried, I could not convince him to choose the leaf over the dinosaur.) After all that time and effort searching, time went by and we never made the cookies! So I decided since it was still technically November, we could totally still make them and get away with it. So after naps, we made fall themed dinosaur frosted sugar cookies with leaf sprinkles.
Luca and I made the cookie dough together while Jack was napping. Jack woke up so he joined us for the rest. Luca did a really nice job with making and cutting the dough. He lost interest after cutting around half the cookies, but that was mostly because after he cut them and tried moving them to the pan the dinosaur would lose a head or a tail and that frustrated him a little bit. Once the cookies were done baking and cooled, I asked Luca if he wanted to frost and decorate them. I was thinking he might not be interested since he had been playing for a bit while we waited for the cookies to bake. But he was very excited and jumped at the chance to decorate. He frosted and sprinkled those cookies with a fierce determination. I thought he might lose interest after doing the first few cookies, but he didn't. He sat there and happily decorated all of the cookies for over an hour. I was so impressed! And he was so proud of his work. He did kindly save me one cookie to decorate myself, not because he didn't want to but because he wanted to make sure I had a turn.
Jack was not thrilled to be a spectator.
So after a few minutes momma smartened up and gave him his own cookie cutters to "use".
I spy a little Jack hand!
One dinosaur lost his leg so Luca solved that problem by attaching it to his body with frosting, which made us both laugh. Also, that sprinkle ratio kills me (and my OCD).
Luca liked to frost one cookie, then add sprinkles (some cookies got a little, some got a lot), then repeat. Which wouldn't have been how I would've done it, but I had to let go of what I would've done and embrace his method and let him create in his own capacity. I can still hear the sound of sprinkles hitting the floor, over and over and over again. I didn't say a word about the mess or his method and I didn't get the broom out until we were completely done. Letting him create and learn and grow means I can not meddle or impose my thoughts or feelings onto him. I need to let him do it completely on his own (in situations like this). It is beyond worth it to be able to watch the creative, independent person/thinker that he is and becomes. Seeing how he does things is fascinating to me, especially because his methods generally differ from mine. Parenting is not just what you teach your kids, but what they teach you. Sometimes it's hard to remember not to interject my own thoughts, methods, or ideas onto him. Sometimes it's hard to have that awareness and ability to be able to recognize when I am doing it and to have the humility to be able to correct it/stop doing it. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit's guidance in me as I guide him and Jack, because I know I certainly couldn't do it on my own.
Aside from all that deep, reflective thinking in regards to his creative process- look at how much fun he had! Sometimes you have to let them get their hands "dirty" and embrace the sprinkles and frosting and flour mess. Because these smiles are memories made and leave my heart (and I am sure his) feeling a lot more full.
Luca has this new thing where when I am taking his picture he will dictate to me what he has done or will be doing next. In the above photos he was saying "Cookies! I did it! It's all gone! Cheese! Robots! I'm going to watch a show! I love all these and I love the candles!" (Thank goodness for live photos I could rewatch to remember what he said.) It makes me laugh so hard, like he is trying to document the moment in his own way while I snap a photo.
He would make this face every time he would scoop a large amount of frosting out and say "WOAH!" like it was the greatest thing in the whole world.
Finally happy to be free and making his own mess.
So proud of himself!
Facebook showed me that on this day, three years ago it was Thanksgiving. So I made a little comparison family photo because I love myself a comparison photo.
Tuesday, November 28
Today is Josh's birthday! Though I didn't get to see him since we live in different states, it still needs to be mentioned.
I worked for a bit in the morning, but I didn't have a ton to do so I finished before it was time to get Luca from school. I was able to pick him up and spend the rest of the day with the boys. Which felt like a huge win since the beginning of the month was so full. Luca was a bit disappointed Pops wasn't the one picking him up though. I warned him in the morning that I would probably be the one getting him that day. After telling me that he liked Pops I asked "what about me?!" to which he responded "can't I have both you AND Pops?!" He is such lovey and loves being all together with the ones he loves. His love language has to be quality time. As he was walking to the car after school I could see him asking his teacher where Pops was. When he got to the car his teacher tried to cover for him by talking about how great it was I was there, to which I told her I know he doesn't want me, he wants his Pops. She laughed and said, "I tried!"
Post nap hangs, making messes together before I make dinner.
It kills my OCD to see that one knife going the wrong way. Im grateful my husband does the dishes, but I do kinda wish he would appease my OCD and put the knives all going the same way.
Mom stopped by after work this evening. I thought she looked so cute in her outfit :)
Wednesday, November 29
This morning Jack and I drove up to the chiropractor after dropping Luca at school.
We arrived a few minutes before they opened, so we hung in the car. Jack loves to pretend he is driving.
More double fisting.
At lunch time, I used my new 8 step feeding therapy plan and got BOTH boys to happily eat apples! It felt like a HUGE WIN.
Thursday, November 30
Jack and I headed to Target after dropping Luca at school because I didn't have to work. I was trying to get all our errands done before the weekend so we didn't have to do any then and could just fill our time with fun family things.
I still wear him in to most stores because when he sits in the cart he thinks he is a ninja surfer and I can't accomplish anything. He still fits and still does really well in it, so for now it works.
I spend a lot of my "free" time during naps blogging. I am trying to post once a week now recapping our day to day so that my future self can look back and be reminded of all the wonderful, hard, beautiful, challenging things that happened when our kids were little. It goes by so fast, and while I try my best to write things down as they happen sometimes things go by and get forgotten no matter how hard I try. I am hoping blogging each week will help me document (with photos) so that I can remember.
While blogging, I texted this to my sister. Crazy what a difference a shower, make up, and hair product can make!
At dinner, I made mac and cheese, which Jack wasn't a fan of prior to this night. This night, however, he was trying to shove it all in his mouth as fast as he could. Feeding therapy is real, and it works!
Friday, December 1
My dad and I took the boys to the science museum in uptown this day. It was so much fun! I loved getting to share the day with my dad. My parents got us a family membership for Luca's birthday this past July, which has been the best gift. We love being able to go to the museums so we try and go as often as we can with the membership. It was not only nice to share the day with my dad, but also to have him there to be able to be with one boy while I was with the other. With the extra set of hands, Jack was able to fully experience the museum, Luca was able to fully experience it, and I was able to fully experience it through their eyes. If it had been just me, it wouldn't have been as fulfilling for all of us.
Trying to get these three to look and smile is HARD. Getting my dad to look AND smile is harder than the boys I think!
Mona Luca!
I am so nerdy, but science in general fascinates me. Especially the human body. God designed us so flawlessly and it just blows me away.
Lunch break. Jack thinks he is a surfer in the high chair as well as the shopping carts, see a recurring theme?!
Luca struggles with fear in general, but especially with trying new things. We were walking through the museum and we saw kids riding this chair that lifts you up off the ground (fairly high too). He immediately said he wanted to do it. There was a line of around 6 kids, so we waited our turn. He waited so patiently, head on his arms leaning on the rail just watching the kids before him take their turns. I kept asking if it looked cool, if he was excited, if he still wanted to do it, etc. as we waited because I was so surprised he wanted to do it. He kept confidently telling me he did. I thought for sure by the time it was our turn he would change his mind. Or I thought once he sat in the chair he would change his mind. Or, even worse, I was thinking he would change his mind as the chair was in the air and try and get out. When it was his turn, he got right in, asked me to help buckle him, pushed the red buttons and went right up. He was so calm and curious and I was SO PROUD. I stayed inside the little gated part by it because I thought if he panicked, he might try and escape and I obviously wanted to be right there to catch him. Turns out, he clearly didn't panic, at all. And because I stood so close, all my pictures are too close to him and you can't see how high he went. Remembering his bravery, makes me tear up all over again and want to jump up and down. Watching your kids overcome their fears is one of the greatest gifts.
I really love this quote.
After the museum (and Jack napped in the car for 30 minutes) we played for a while at home (in hopes that that may tire Jack out to nap again for real in his crib). While playing, Jack started playing with a dinosaur and roaring. His roar was the sweetest, softest sound. Luca of course roars ALL THE TIME and his roar is loud and if you ask me, also very realistic (#1fan). Jack just adores Luca so anything he does, Jack must also do. Hence the dinosaur playing and roaring. Having two boys is the best, I love watching them learn and grow up with one another.
Saturday, December 2
We started the day with haircuts for Lee and Luca. After that, we went to the park so that Luca could practice riding his bike (which I apparently didn't take any pictures of). This one park in particular has a little track that is nice and flat (our neighborhood is SO hilly) so it's a great spot for him to practice. For a long time he was really afraid to ride his bike. It wasn't until this past summer that he got over the fear of it and actually started to enjoy it. I never pressured him to ride it before he was ready because I didn't want to force him to do something he was uncomfortable with. But one afternoon this summer Lee and I worked with him and he rode it around the inside of the garage and had so much fun. Unfortunately, we didn't ride it a ton after that because it was too hot but also because our neighborhood is so hilly. It would be hard for him (and whoever took him) to get him to ride up the hills. Now we are trying to make up for lost time and trying to get him to become an experienced rider in record time.
Post hair cut, sitting so sweetly with his hands folded.
Overcoming another fear and trying to climb up to the top of this. At one point I was standing beside him encouraging him to keep going and he whispered to himself, "you can do this" and took another step up. Honestly?! I teared up yet again. I can NOT with all of his bravery. While he didn't make it to the top this time, he did climb higher than ever before.
That series of photos kills me! Lee is the best dad.
This series also kills me. He was showing Luca how to climb over it and overcome his fear. I may have tried to do that too, but didn't succeed. To be honest, I couldn't figure out the logistics of how to get over the top. I may not be the most athletically inclined. And by that I mean, I am definitely not athletically inclined. At all. Hopefully the boys take after Lee in that area.
After the park we went home for lunch and naps. Lee thought it might be a good idea to take our tree out to see how Jack responded to it. We were both thinking he would just pull it down since he likes to explore everything and anything. Luca didn't touch the tree, or the ornaments when he was Jack's age. He also didn't open any kitchen cabinets, attempt to put his finger in electrical outlets, etc. Jack, however, likes to do all of those things. So we debated not even putting up the tree at all. I am glad Lee thought to bring the tree out to see before we decorated it the next day.
As you can see, Jack wasn't too sure about it. He kept a safe distance while Lee set it up and showed no interest in it at all. Even now, he has touched it once or twice but I don't think he likes it much. Thankfully! It would have felt weird to not have a Christmas tree set up.
After naps, we went to church. We have been dropping Jack at my parents while we go to church because neither of us love bringing Jack to his class because he cries the entire time. His age combined with his hospital experience (being taken from us by strangers to be poked and prodded and tested) has really taken his stranger danger to a whole new level. However, my parents had a wedding to attend and we really didn't want to miss church (it had been weeks since we were able to go last) again. I was thinking he might enjoy it more now that he was walking and would be in a new room with new toys. Unfortunately, that was not the case and 15 minutes into the experience I received a text that he had not calmed down and was still very upset. So I left and got him and we sat on the floor and watched the sermon together in the church lobby.
To be honest, it felt a lot like the race I wrote about last week. How my ideas/plans of what the night would look like wasn't at all how it turned out. But, I have to say, I felt completely fine with the change in plans. I was disappointed for sure that I couldn't sit in the church sanctuary beside my husband and listen to the sermon. But knowing my baby needed me far outweighed that, and I truly embraced it and was grateful for all the things instead of feeling frustrated at a change of events. I was grateful to be holding my baby, able to calm him down and keep him happy, I was grateful that he sat on my lap the whole time content and happy so that I could at least hear almost half the sermon, I was grateful that Lee and Luca still got to experience church fully, and I was grateful that I was able to still be in the house of God, even if it was on the floor of the lobby (chairs were offered, but I didn't want to move and risk disturbing a perfectly content Jack). After church, I felt like maybe God had read my blog from last week and decided to throw me a little curve ball to see if I really had "learned my lesson". I think I passed this time, my heart didn't even view it as a curve ball or changed plan until afterwards when I was laughing about how my boy certainly knows what he does and doesn't want and is not afraid to let everyone know!
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