August

August- noteworthy points:

-Ryan continued trying new foods, he tried sweet potatoes, peas, rice cereal, carrots, and squash. He was not convinced about this eating thing at all. He is quite proficient in drinking from his sippy cup though:)






-Ryan started scooting (sort of), he scoots pushes off with his back legs and the front part of his body slides along the ground.

-Ryan has discovered his voice. He is LOUD, LOUD, LOUD. He has also officially discovered his laugh which is a heavenly sound.

-His sleeping habits have improved to a certain extent, he is now mostly waking up 2 times per night, which is a VAST improvement over what we were seeing. Erik and I are starting to feel like humans again.

-Tropical Storm Fay visited us which provided an impromptu vacation for Erik. We got to spend the 21st and 22nd together as a family with NO agenda, which NEVER happens. It was nice.

-Erik and I had our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Cheesecake Factory as usual.

-Reid is gearing up for school next month, we are doing a lot of playing with friends and still doing Gymboree.

-My brothers turned 7 and we had a nice birthday party with them.

Love and Logic

Reid is at that funny age of almost 3 where I have been at a little bit of a loss with how to discipline him. For the most part he is a really, really great kid- I believe exceptionally great. He is very cautious, not agressive, and kind.

Of course there are those moments where he is not easy to discipline. At this age, you wonder what can be expected of them, since he is somewhere between a baby and a child. We decided we are not going to spank our children, so that leaves one wondering what to do? This philosophy was recommended on a message board, and I really liked what they had to say so I bought a couple of the books.

It is called Love and Logic. The basic idea is that the consequences of their actions should teach children. Not yelling, not spanking, not lecturing. The parent is to be empathetic and calm and behave as though it doesn't cause any stress at all do deal with your child. The book has lots of clever and creative consequences for undesirable behaviors, and ways to curb fights. I highly recommend it.

So I just thought I would post an update on how my little experiment with what this book is teaching is going.

First we have been working on trying to offer lots of choices to Reid. We had been doing that a bit anyway, but we are trying to up it.

Second, we have been trying to use our key word that means that basically he is in trouble, we are using "Uh oh".

Third, I really instituted a better time-out policy. In the book if they are doing something you don't like you say "uh oh, looks like bedroom time". It says in the book to take them to their room and ask if they want the door open or closed. Reid would say open, then I would tell him he could come out when he wanted to be nice. Well he quickly caught on to this and would just go right in for a minute yell that he was "gonna to behave" and come back out. I had to up the anty a bit. After he hit his brother because he was mad at me, I closed the door. I followed the books instructions and held the door closed- he did NOT like this at all. I made him stay in for about 5 minutes until he calmed down and then let him come out and told him I loved him. The hardest part about this is my next reaction is to discuss why he is in time-out. These guys say don't do that- let the consequense be the lesson. You are just supposed to say something like "that was sad" and tell them you love them and let it be the end of it.

We had to do that twice and now the Uh oh has become a quick fix with behavior problems.

We have been working on Reid being able to walk at Publix and Target, he understandably gets really excited about this and has a hard time controlling his urge to run, pick things off the shelves, open the refrigerater doors, and wander away. Even though Ryan can sit in the cart now, I have been still keeping him in the sling to keep the front seat open. The last time we went to Publix, I had to put Reid in the cart for something- I forget what, this did not make him happy, he yelled when he was in the cart and cried. I just continued to use empathy like the book says and said I know it's sad, I'm sorry, etc. I gave him one chance to try to get back out of the cart, and about 2 seconds later he was running, so he went back in the cart for the rest of the shopping trip. When we were at Target, he would wander off, and I would hide a little bit so I could see him but he couldn't see me, but unfortunately that didn't really panic him, he just sat there and said "mommy, mommy",I probably should have made myself lost for longer. I am pretty sure he ended up in the cart for that trip too.

Anyway, we went to Publix on Monday and before we got out of the car, I asked Reid what the rules were, he remembered them, so I told him he could walk as long as he followed the rules. He was for the most part PERFECT!! HE stayed right by me, didn't pick anything up, didn't run down the aisles. If he started to have a memory loss all I had to say was "uh oh", and he would be right back by my side saying "I'm gonna behave" in an instant- it was AMAZING!! I did put him in the cart because he opened the freezer doors, but only made him stay in for a minute because I felt like he got it.

We had to have a little talk at Gymboree yesterday too, and after removing him from Gymboree and having a quick talk, he was great the rest of the class and participated in most of the activities (he never wants to participate).

Today I had a really sad one. We were eating lunch and still hadn't showered (Reid showers with me most days- he enjoys playing in my shower and it keeps him out of trouble). He was dawdling eating his peas so I asked him if he wanted to finish his peas and come take a shower or not take a shower- he wanted to take a shower. I told him he had 5 minutes to finish his peas. I even gave him updates on the time, and he just still messed around, so at the end of 5 minutes, I said guess you aren't getting to shower. (What I forgot was to use my empathy word before I said that- you are supposed to say something like "Bummer, looks like no shower for you"-I am still working on that) Anyway, I got in the shower without him- it was SOOOO sad. He sat at the door and cried and cried. At one point he left for a minute then came back and continued the crying, at another point he left and came back with a mouth full of peas, saying he wanted to get in the shower:( It was the saddest thing ever. The old me would have let him come in the shower at that point but the new me just had to say I'm glad you did the right thing buddy, but shower time is over. You can shower tomorrow. It was heart wrenching, but I think next time he won't mess around eating.

What I have learned so far is that all you truly want is for your kids to be happy. Unfortunately in the short-term you kinda have to make them mad. They will be happier in the long run. My first instinct is always to avoid tears or fights, but that is not what is best for him in the long run. This book has really helped me with learning how to discipline in a strict way while being very loving and eliminating yelling and lecturing (I am still working on the lecturing thing). I am finding that it is VERY hard (for me to see him upset about the consequences), but it has been so rewarding to see him get it.

Again I know most of this is common sense, but it has been nice to have a game plan to work with.

Thanks for listening to my rambling:)

Reid's Stats

November 18th, 2005

-8lb 6oz

-20.5 inches long

November, 22 2005


-7lb 14 oz

-21 inches

-35 cm head







December 6, 2005 (2 weeks)

-9lb 2 oz

-21.5 inches

-37.5 cm head












January 19, 2006 (2 months)

-12lb 11oz (75th %ile)

-23.25 inches long (60th %ile)

-40.25 cm head (50th %ile)












March 20, 2006 (4 months)

-16lb (70th %ile)

-25.5 inches long (60th %ile)

-43 cm head (70th %ile)







May 18th, 2006 (6 month)

-18lb 12 oz (70th %ile)

-26.75 inches long (50th %ile)

-44.75 cm head (75th %ile)







August 21, 2006 (9 month)

-20lb 4oz

-28.25 inches long

-46.5 cm head








November 20th, 2006 (1 year)

-21lb 4oz (25th %ile)

-20.5 inches (75th%)

-40.5 cm head (80th %ile)












February 12, 2007 (15 months)

-23lb 6oz (40th%ile)

-31 inches long (50th %ile)

-48 cm head (75th %ile)












18 months??



November, 15th, 2008 (2 years)

-27lbs (40th %ile)

-34 inches long (40th %ile)

-50 cm head (80th %ile)












November 24th

31.6lbs (50th %ile)

37.5 inches long (50th %ile)

51 cm head (80th %ile)

Ryan's Stats

January 26th, 2008



-8lb 4oz, 20

-20 and 1/4 inches long






January 30, 2008
(4 days)


-7lb 12oz



-20 1/4 inches long



-35 1/4 head










February 7th, 2008
(2 weeks)


-8lb 9oz



-20.5 inches long



-37 cm head







March 28th, 2008
(2 months)


-13lb 10oz (90th %ile)



-23 inches long(50th %ile)



-40 cm head (50th%ile)







June 23, 2008
(4 months)




-18lb 5 oz (85th %ile)



-26 inches long (70th %ile)



-44 cm head (75th %ile)







August 4th
(6 months)


-19lb 11oz (80th %ile)



-26.5 inches long (50th %ile)



-44.5 cm head (60-70th %ile)







September 23rd
(7months)

-20lb 14 oz









November 4, 2008 (9 months)

21lb 8oz (60th%ile)

28 3/4 inches long (60th %ile)

Head- 461/2 cm (80th %ile)

February 3rd (1 year)

23lb 1oz (50th %ile)

30 inches (60th %ile)

Head- 47 cm (60th %ile)

May 5th (15 months)

23lb 6 oz (50th%ile)

30.5 inches (50th %ile)

48 cm head (70th %ile)

Reid-isms

This is a little dedication to my wonderful boy. Part of the joy of parenting is hearing what will come out of these kids mouths. I thought I would try to compile some of the cute things I hear him say, so I don't forget them. You have to imagine this high pitched voice with a little lilt at the end of every sentence. He is just starting to lose that.

*Pool=Cool

*When he wants Erik to throw something up high to hit the

ceiling he says "Daddy make real sounds"

*He says stuff is "pretty cool" or "pretty cute"

*Today when Ryan was crying in his room he said, "Ryan

don't want to sleep, he's just chilling out"

*The other day I looked over and Reid was sitting on Ryan, I

made some exclamation and he said " I'm just sitting on

Ryan" (which sounds more like Ryn).

*Shivers = Sugars

*Whenever he hits his golf ball, he says "I hit it 14 yards"

*He went through a phase where he would point out

something we purchased and say "Mommy got this at Old

Mavy(Old Navy), Mommy got this on sale"

*When he is hungry now he says "I want somfing else"

*When he is drumming, or pretending to play the guitar using his hockey stick, he will do this

dramatic playing and then say "I rocked out on dage (stage)".

I will continue to add to this one;)

*He doesn't say this anymore, but when he was first learning to talk he called all songs CD's. There was one song on the chicken little DVD that was sort of mournful and he did not like it, so he would say "no no CD"

*More recently he has started using the word "actually". For example, tonight we asked him if he could pedal his bike and he started to then he said "actually, I'm not doing that".

*Now he started saying everything (houses, cars, shirts, etc.) "costs forty dollars"

*We both think it's really cute when he says "I'll be right back, Mommy", or "Bye Bye Daddy". Anytime they use your name like that it's adorable.

*Going to = Gonna to, ex. I'm gonna to behave.