Weaning: You Don't Always Have to Play By the Book

I despise the word, wean. Especially when my little P-man doesn't adjust well to change. His personality is completely different compared to his brothers. W had no issues weaning from a formula to milk, bottle to sippy cup, or even taking away his paci. Patrick on the other hand, hates change. I've been working with him trying to get him to take a sippy cup since he was 6 months old (don't bother asking me how bedtime bottle weaning is going). I have tried four or five different sippy's and nothing is working. He will place the cup in his mouth, take a drink, stick out his tongue with disgust, and then toss it like a quarterback would to his wide receiver. I know the more I offer, eventually he will give in, but not without him putting up a fight. I have put water, juice (diluted with h2O of course), and milk...he just isn't having it. I just keep telling myself he won't be taking his bottle with him in his lunch box to kindergarten, oh and that P-man is definitely not W. Even though I'm parenting them both the same, introducing things the same way, etc they each have their own personalities. With that said, I need to let my perfectionisms go, and realize it's not the end of the world if I don't get things done on a certain timeline...more like I'm "weaning" myself from trying to be that "perfect mom". Even though I've always been a trial and error type parent, I'm ready to throw away those books that tell me you HAVE to do this and HAVE to do that. Even though it may work well with one child, it doesn't necessarily mean it work well with the other.

One adjustment P-man made quite easily was his transition to whole milk. He LOVES it. I'm not sure if many of you know, but P-man stopped breastfeeding when he turned nine months old due to a low supply. I first started noticing my low supply after my first postpartum period when he was 8 months old, it took a lot of pumping and nursing around the clock to get it back up, but it was my second postpartum cycle I wasn't able to recover from. I was sad about it, but knew 9 months of breastmilk was a great accomplishment. Anyway, back to the whole milk transition or "wean" from formula... I started adding 1 oz of whole milk to his bottle when he turned 11 months old each week, so for week one I added 6 oz of formula to 1 oz whole milk, week two was 2 oz of whole milk to 5 oz of formula, week three was 3 oz of whole milk to 4 oz of formula, and week for was 4 oz of whole milk to 3 oz of formula. Finally, a few days after he turned one, I gave him 5 oz of whole milk to 1 oz of formula, and he handled the transition perfectly. He didn't have any reactions to the switch like constipation or diarrhea, or any excessive spit ups or gas. He's been drinking close to four 6-8 oz bottle of whole milk a day now, and just squeals in delight when he sees me pouring the milk. I'm very thankful this transition/wean went so smoothly.

Wean is definitely a word most of us as parents dread, because we are unaware of how the child will react. Sometimes it can be a good thing and sometimes it can be a bad thing. I also know weaning doesn't always involve the child, but the parent as well. Letting go or "weaning" from trying to live under perfection is a process, just like that of a child letting go or "weaning" from a bottle. I do have a better understanding of patience, which does come with having a second child.

Instead of putting all my trust into those parenting books, I need to put that trust into my heart, because I'm the only one who truly knows my child, not the text in a book.

“Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.”
–Unknown

Valentine's Day 2011 Cont.`

Wow, what a day it's been. I'm exhausted! We started off our morning with Valentine's Day pancakes. W and P-man just inhaled them. Of course, trying to make heart shaped pancakes came with a lot of trial and error. However, in the end they all looked like hearts, which is what I was aiming for in an end result.

After we ate breakfast, W and I worked on his Valentines he will be handing out to his friends at a playdate on Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to do something more homemade this year. My inspiration for these cards came from this blog: Craft-O-Maniac. One side of the cardstock has the boys picture(and candy), and the other is a homemade template I made in publisher.


Lunch was another Valentine's inspired meal with heart shaped grilled cheese and tomato soap(was not heart shaped... lol). Jess came home and ate a good lunch, and both boys enjoyed eating their grilled cheeses. The soup wasn't a huge hit with W this time, he normally really enjoys his "mater soap", as he likes to call it. I had a nice mess to clean up, especially since half of the mess was still from breakfast. Thank goodness the hubby volunteered to help clean up for me.

I still had some last minute errands to run, and wanted to grab ingredients to rice krispie treats. I didn't have any marshmallows and needed more margarine. Now, I will admit, this is only the second time in the past year that I have ran to the store with both boys, pathetic, right? The trip to the store wasn't so bad, and the boys had fun riding in the cart. We came home to start making dessert, which of course was heart shaped rice krispies. Anyone who knows me, I'm not a good baker, and am quite intimidated by the process. Anywho, I ended up burning the dang butter, the dial was turned a little past warm, and I had a fussing baby at my hip which help any. Before they cooled all the way, W helped me use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the rice krispies. They smelled so good, of course after the smell of burnt butter left the room.
After making another huge mess, I decided it was time to do a fun Valentine's Day craft with W. A new follower let me know about a blog she does, which is directed at early childhood education, Touch of Home Learning. I went over there, and found some neat heart shaped craft ideas. I showed W, and he told me he wanted to make a heart shaped octopus. He had a blast gluing on all the heart shaped parts of the octopus, and mommy enjoyed using fun scissors to cut out the hearts. In the end, the craft turned out really cute, and of course W had fun.


I had a fun dinner planned for the four of us. I made homemade heart shaped pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and breadsticks. I also decorated our kitchen table with fun Valentine's Day decor. I also placed the boys and the hubby's gifts right behind dessert. The hubster surprised me with beautiful white daisy's that I used as our centerpiece. Dinner was super yummy and everyone enjoyed the pizza, P-man even polished off an entire piece. At the end of dinner we at our rice krispy treat and exchanged gifts. The boys got a card, Valentine's Day book, and William got chocolate(you can't have a Vday without chocolate). I gave Jess a one hour massage, because I know he's been under a ton of stress from work and of course from the upcoming deployment.




All in all, it was a great day, exhausting one, but great. I love the men in my life so much, and I really enjoyed spoiling each and every one of them. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

B is for Bee

W had a blast making another project with the letter B. This project pretty much mimicked the A is for Apple tree we made two weeks ago, except we used flowers and bumblebees. My printer decided to run out of black ink on me, so I had to hand draw the project(instead of using an easy-to-use template). Please forgive my drawing skills, or lack of there of. Unfortunately, I didn't get the artistic gene from my dad, my sister did. W did a fantastic job with his letter B recognition and matched the B and b correctly according to each daisy(he also loves using glue). Here are some pictures from today's project:

B is for playdough?

Nah, but we sure had fun today with playdough and learning about the letter B. We had to take last week off from our "Letter of the Week" curriculum, because we just had so much going on in regards to playdates, errands, appointments, etc. This week, we're back in the swing of things. My printer is pretty much out of black ink, so I was only able to print one worksheet off, so I was researching the Internet to try and find a fun activity that would be fun and enjoyable for W. A friend had pointed me to a website called, "No Time For Flash Cards". They have a ton of activities, especially with letters, numbers, etc. Oh, did I mention that it's free?!

After we did our introductory worksheet, which can be found at, Alphabet Preschool Activities and Crafts. I decided W need to work on his fine motor skills, so I found a fun playdough activity that included letters. I was inspired to do this activity from a post over at No Time For Flash Cards. The name of the activity is called, "Playdough Snake Letters". I helped and showed W how to roll the playdough to make a "snake", and then I wrote both B and b on a white piece of paper with a black marker. Then he took the playdough and traced the shape of the letter. W had a ton of fun doing this activity, plus it was different. After he worked on his letter, I got out some fun kitchen utensils and he was able to practice cutting, etc.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of our week (we'll be home bound until further notice due to an ice storm that graced us with its presents last night). I just hope we can get some black ink, so we can do more worksheets and a fun bee activity I have planned. I guess if all else fails, I will just make us some homemade lacing letters. I knew learning was fun, but teaching my child is even better!

"The Alligator is my friend...

...can be your friend, can be you friend, can be your friend too".

That song brings back so many memories for me, especially when I was a camper at YMCA Camp Kitaki in Nebraska. A is for Alligator was also the name of our project we did today for our Letter of the Week curriculum. William had a fun time making his Alligator. I cut out the template and teeth, and he colored in the eyes and glued the teeth to the mouth. We also sang the Alligator song, here are the lyrics:

Alligator
(Chorus)
Alligator
Alligator!
ALLLLIGATOR!
Can be your friend, can be your friend, can be your friend too.

The alligator is my friend
He has a lovely face
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to have him on my suitcase
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He has a very lovely pelt
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to wear him on my belt
(Chorus)

This alligator is my friend
He has a very lovely snoot
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to wear him on my boot
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
Step on his tail, he’ll be in a rage
I’d rather see him in the swamp
Than to see him in a cage
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He can be your friend too
I'd rather have him as my friend,
then wear him as a shoe (point to shoe)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He has a scaly pelt
I'd rather have him as my friend
Than wear him as a belt (point to belt)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
He likes to tease and flirt
I'd rather have him as my friend
Than wear him on my shirt (point to shirt)
(Chorus)

The alligator is my friend
You can do no worse
I’d rather have him as my friend
Than wear him as my purse.

Besides our craft, we also worked on letter A recognition. I found a worksheet where there were six "A's" surrounded by other letters...I then asked William to find each capital A and lowercase a, and I circled them. He found all of them with no hesitation. I can't get over how much he's learning. He is definitely making Jess and I very proud.

We will be ending our Letter of the A curriculum with airplanes and a trip to the United States Air Force Museum tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers the snow doesn't ruin our plans. However, there is always Sunday and that way Jess can attend too.

I will go ahead and post the directions to our alligator craft in case anyone else is interested in making their own.

You will need:
-Alligator A template found below, copied onto a piece of construction paper
-googly eyes or draw your own
-white construction paper for the teeth
-scissors
-glue

You [your preschooler] will do:
-cut out your Alligator A
glue it to your full sized piece of construction paper
-glue or draw on your googly eyes
-cut triangle teeth out of construction paper
-glue on teeth

Template:

Letter of the Week Curriculum - Letter A

Today is the second day working on our "Letter of the Week Curriculum", and the letter of the week is A. With the help from friends and my wonderful sister-in-law, I've been given some awesome resources and websites to get started on W's early childhood education.

Today, we worked on more letter A recognition and tracing. I'm teaching W about the difference between "big A" (capital A) and "little a" (lowercase a). I found a tree template with apples...I put a capital A on three apples, and a lowercase a on two apples... he then had to match them up with the letters on the tree (pictured below).










W definitely had fun doing this project. After making the apple tree, W really wanted to work on his writing. So, I found a worksheet where he can practice writing the letter A by tracing it. I helped him place the crayon in his hand, and told him what I wanted him to do. He did fabulous! He traced the letter A with no problem. He then looked at me, confused, and goes, "where is the little a?". So, I made him a traceable "a". After he traced it, he went to the bottom of his paper and wrote his first lowercase a. I was so proud of him, and we both just shouted with joy! I can't believe how much W is picking up and we're only on day 2. He's doing such a good job recognizing the letter A, and I can really tell when we read books (picking and pointing out each "a"). I'm having such a wonderful time teaching W and preparing him for preschool and kindergarten. It's so much fun watching them grow and learn new things. **The first photo is W's first lowercase "a"**

A is for...

I have decided to start "homeschooling" W part-time until he attends preschool in the fall. We will only work 1-2 hours in the morning, and hopefully extending hours in the afternoon. However, I don't want to overwhelm him right now, and want to slowly introduce "school time" into our daily routine. This week we are going to focus on the letter A. I have already printed off a few worksheets/trace sheets, and have been given some great craft ideas from a friend and my sister-in-law (she will graduate with an elementary education degree this spring). I have some other ideas with letters, like making our own Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom tree to go along with the book, numbers, shapes, and colors. I hope to add onto our "alphabet wall" in our kitchen, and then create a small scrapbook of all of W's accomplishments and worksheets. This process is definitely a slow one, but I'm so excited to get started and instill an early childhood education into the minds of my children. I'm hoping to share our "lesson of the day" each day on here, as well as link back as to where I learned of our activity/lesson.

For now,

Gerber Generation

Saturday night, I was finally able to have my "Gerber Generation Houseparty". I won this houseparty by visiting/applying at, HouseParty. It took a few minutes to fill out the questionnaire/survey, but it was all worth it when I was selected to host and give out free stuff. HouseParty always has fun opportunity to host fun family events...from Fisher Price to Pull-Ups. They also have other party's geared towards cooking, video games, etc. It's pretty much a cheap way for companies to advertise and make their product aware to specific targeted audiences.

My party was postponed twice due to the stomach virus hitting our home and then changed due to a quick change of plans. I was only able to invite a certain number of women due to only having a certain number of supplies. I did invite a few more over the number, because I know it's hard getting attendance to 100%. Anyway, we had a lovely time chit-chatting about this and that, sharing all sorts of motherly advice, partaking in a game of "Gerber Generation" Jeopardy, and munching on tons of yummy food. We also learned more about the Gerber product through facts pointed out in the Jeopardy game. Here are the list of goodies that were handed out:

* Insulated Gerber® lunch tote
* VIP product coupons
* Gerber® bib
* Breastfeeding Basics Booklet
* Nutrition Guide
* 1 2-pack of GERBER® Organic SmartNourish™ 2nd FOODS® Purees
* 1 4-pack of GERBER® Infant Yogurt Blends
* 1 4-pack of GRADUATES® Yogurt Blends Snacks
* 1 GRADUATES® Smart Sips™ Dairy Beverage

It was a lot of fun, and would love to do something like this again. I think the only "HouseParty" I will try and win are the ones geared towards parenting and children. Let me know if you've ever won a "HouseParty", because I would love to hear how yours went.