I Finally Did It!

I finally took Sam's bottle away from him on Friday. (can I get a whoop whoop!) I know, I know, you are supposed to do it when they are 1 instead of almost 2, but hey, I think I have already established the fact that I am not the best baby book instruction follower. Besides, I have always had the philosophy of not pushing things too hard.

Like with potty training for example. I was not the mom who sequestered herself at home for weeks on end with a naked child, putting him on the potty every hour on the hour to undoubtedly strive for bragging rights that he was out of diapers by the age of 2. Nope. I figured that when Bo was ready and interested, we would attack it then, but not any sooner. And at 3.5, he was, and we did. I knew he would not be a 10 year old in diapers, just like I know that Sam will not be a third grader riding his bike to school with a bottle of milk sticking out of his Spiderman backpack. It just won't happen.

And so, a year late, Sam is now bottle free and hating every minute of it.

We have gone from super easy nap times and bed times to screaming fits and throwing things out of the crib. Ever since Sam was about 1, we plopped him in his crib with a bottle (again, not the best rule follower) and he would fall asleep. It was great. Now don't get me wrong, this was not done out of laziness but out of survival. Bo was still such a high maintenance child at that point, that we just did what we could with Sam in order to deal with Bo. Sure, looking back on things, I would probably handle it differently, but at the time it's what made sense.

Which brings us back to today. A wonderfully happy and hilarious sweet-destroyer who will drink anything out of a cup, sippy, thermos, box or can; just not milk. In the 3 days he's been bottle free, the milk consumption in our house has plummeted drastically. On any given day he would probably drink at least 16-20 ounces of milk and is now down to about 0.2. He just won't do it. I don't get it, but whatever. It is what it is and in the wise words of my mom, "this too shall pass."

And in semi-unrelated news . . .coincidentally enough, ever since I put the 'do not enter' sign on Sam's door, he has slept through the night. Again, I don't get it, probably never will get it, but I'm lovin it and will take it! Who knows, maybe I'm on to something. Maybe all I need to do is put a 'milk in cups only' sign on the refrigerator door and all my problems will go away. Now wouldn't that be nice?!

Bo's End of School Picnic

Today was Bo's last day of preschool and his school had an end of year picnic to celebrate. Unfortunately it was right during Wes' weekly radio show so he couldn't come, but the rest of us were there.Max even took a nice nap in the sun until some girl tripped over his carseat and woke him up. Here's Bo and his good friend Devon with Sam on the right. They absolutely loved the mary-go-round. Bo even flew off once but it didn't seem to phase him. They sat under the playscape for a long time. Not exactly sure what they were doing under there but Bo did have quite a big pile of rocks on his lap at one point. This was by far the funniest thing to watch. From right to left: Bo, Maxwell, Sam, Ethan, Ethan's little brother. They laughed and laughed and laughed. And last but not least, Bo with his teacher, Mrs. Dupont. She's awesome! It was a great first year of preschool for Bo. The 3 hours, 3 days a week was a perfect start. He really seemed to grow up this year and made great strides socially.

- He went from not wanting/knowing how to interact with any kids to always wanting playdates. He still is not ultra comfortable in large groups or with unfamiliar kids but he talks about his friends all the time now. I am super proud of him. I know it hasn't been easy but he's really getting there.

- Wes took him to school in the mornings but on the rare occasion I would, Bo always procrastinated and drug his feet. He LOVED daddy taking him. It was there thing.

- His favorite job was "flag holder." Two kids got to hold the American and Alaska flags during the Pledge of Allegiance and Bo loved this. He preferred holding the American flag the most.

- Every day when I picked him up, he would literally drag me out the door asking what treat I brought him (I would bring him a little cookie or something fun) and if Max & Sam were in the car? He liked school but was always ready to leave.

-He is off for the Summer but will start back with the same MWF schedule in August. I feel bad for him, though, because all of his closest friends will not be there again. They are all a year older and are starting kindergarten in the Fall. Now Bo will have to re-make friends all over again. Hopefully it won't freak him out too much, but then again, it's probably good for him regardless.

Charlee Belle

I have a new niece . . .

Charlee Belle was born on Wednesday morning at 10:03am in St. Louis. She is a beautiful 7lbs 7oz and true to Ohlendorf form, came out in a hurry. Both mom and baby are healthy and enjoying becoming a family of 5. I love you guys and can't wait to meet her.

Max - 6 Month Photo Shoot

We had Max's 6 month photos taken back in March and we just got the proofs back. Cassy at Exposures Studio here in Fairbanks ( http://exposures-studio.com/) did another amazing job for us.

You would never know by the pictures that Max was not in a very smiley mood that day. I left the studio hoping we would at least get 1 good one, but ended up with 12. He's such a cutie and has a smile that lights up the room. And I LOVE that we took them with the blanket that Nana made for him...makes the pics even that much more special.

Here are a few that Cassy was nice enough to let me put on my blog to share. Thanks, Girl.

Bo-ism #19

One of Bo's teeth was bothering him yesterday so I told him it was a good thing we are going to the dentist next week because he probably has a cavity. About 30 minutes later he asks:

Bo: What day are we going to the cavity store again?

Sleep Update

Ok, so it's been a couple of weeks since we started sleep bootcamp and we have definitely made some good progress with Max but I am embarrassed to admit I caved, and cave badly, with Sam.

I don't know what it is but I give in or make excuses or give him milk in my sleep without knowing it, or convince myself he NEEDS me, or that if I just give him a bottle I can go back to sleep, or any other number or things that are counter productive to getting him to sleep through the night. But I'll talk more about that later.

I want to talk about Max right now. Mr. Maxy. Oh he is doing so well. And despite my caving the first night after listening to him scream for 1 hour and 15 minutes, I refocused and have had my game face on ever since. Game face, I tell ya. Game Face!

So this is how it went down:

First 3 nights he fell asleep fine around 6:45pm (minor fussing) on his own but woke up 45 minutes later screaming. Night 1: I caved after 1 hr 15 min and gave him a bottle. Night 2: screamed 2 hr 5 min. Night 3: screamed 1 hr 15 min (hoarse from the night before. So sad!) Night 4: screamed 42 min. Night 5: slept through that first waking. Yippeee!!!! . . .PROGRESS.

As for the rest of the night, he usually wakes up between 1am and 2am, gobbles 7-8oz of formula and then sleeps until anywhere between 6:30am and 8:00am.

So, I am proud to say, we have met our first goal (see: patting self on back) of putting him down awake and only feeding him once during the night. Every once in awhile if he goes to bed super early, there is a second feeding around 5:30am because the first feeding is closer to midnight, but in general we are down to one.

My next goal is to cut out all middle of the night feedings in about another month or so. I'm just reluctant to do it now because the poor boy does not eat any solid food. He hates it. So the extra calories at night seem needed for now. I will be sure to update more when the next phase commences.

Side Note: And just as I started to feel reassured by my parenting
skills and thinking I'm doing a good job, I talked to a mom on Sunday who
sleep trained her daughter at 7 wks. Yes, 7 wks. Stopped
all night feedings cold turkey. After a week of crying, Lucy now, at 6 months, sleeps 12 hours straight, and I am once again left believing
that I am too soft and not cut out for this. Damn over achievers!!

Ok, back to Sam . . .

I lasted all of about 3 nights with Sam. We did the whole, no milk in bed thing, only gave him water in his bottle in the middle of the night and it just made him so beyond pissed off that I gave in which is why as of tonight, this sign is now on his door. . .

I have GOT to do it. My new strategy is the same as with Max. Do not enter the room, let him scream, he will eventually fall asleep, unless of course he injures himself first from thrashing violently in his crib as he has known to do, but that is neither here nor there. He needs to learn how to sleep and I need to learn how to let him.

Game face back on!! Wish me luck.

New Bike

With the snow all melted and the days getting longer, we decided it was time to buy Bo his first bike. He was so excited. The next three days of rain didn't even stop him. He rode circle after circle after circle in our garage.
He even set up an obstacle course for himself, kind of his own mini bike rodeo. Around the snowmachine, in front of the cozy-coupe, around the Gator, circle back around the basketball goal and repeat. Knowing Bo, I predict the training-wheels will be off by the end of the year. We'll see if I'm right.