We are going camping with our homeschool group on Friday night. Saturday we are going to a BBQ at Aaron's aunt and uncle's, they live across the street from the stadium, so we can watch Stadium of Fire from their deck for free. Sunday I am conducting and teaching sharing time in Primary. Monday is the 4th. Tuesday I'll probably have a Primary presidency meeting, and it'll have to be cleaning day since we probably won't have cleaned on Monday. Wednesday is library day and a BBQ at Aaron's work, which I have to make milk-free rolls for. Thursday I am teaching a group of preschoolers at my house, so sometime earlier I need to prepare for that. Friday is Park Day for our homeschool group, and the ward picnic which the Primary is in charge of. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I need to write an article for The Sentinel and submit it, prepare my preschool lessons that I'm doing with Lincoln, work on my summer reading for the library, work on organizing the book club I'm starting in our "neighborhood" (aka Relief Society), and take care of three crazy, energetic, rambunctious, non-self-entertaining children. And none of them even have activities that I have to car them around to. I don't know how moms with older kids who have soccer and piano and cub scouts and on and on do it every day. My brain is going crazy as it is.
Speaking of activities...I did just sign Lincoln up for soccer in the fall. He just barely squeaks by the age limit of being 4. This will be his first season, so it should be hilarious. I have no idea what he'll think of it. Sometimes he has no interest in athletic things, and sometimes he's all over it. So who knows? What I do know is that it will be good for his little extroverted personality to get out there in a social setting with other kids his age and do something active. And it will be especially good for his introverted mother to not have to be the one providing the entertainment or conversation to him for a small period of time each week.
Lincoln refuses to nap. Therefore, almost every day he falls asleep in the car when we go pick up Aaron from work.
It occurs to me more and more that Lincoln is an outgoing kid. He loves to be the center of attention. He loves to be performing on stage, or anywhere that he can convince anyone to watch him. He makes friends easily, and has a lot of them. We just moved here, and already I've had so many other moms tell me how much their son/daughter talks about Lincoln. This is so foreign to me, as I am not an outgoing person and tend to have a little bit more trouble opening up and making friends. Lincoln is rarely shy, he'll talk to anyone who'll talk back, or even pretend to listen. He'd walk off with a complete stranger and not think a thing of it. He thrives on having other people around, which I find to be a little bit exhausting. He does not like to be by himself, and has a hard time entertaining himself for long periods of time. Quiet time is a battle I fight with him every day. He can't stand to be separated and on his own and I need a break to be by myself to regroup for my own sanity. I'm glad he and Ivan are so close in age, because a lot of the time they will play together, which gives Linc the companionship he needs and me the relief of it that I need.
One of Ivan's favorite things in the whole world is fresh fruit. He especially loves blueberries and strawberries.
A week or so ago, one of Ivan's nursery teachers told me that he is the sweetest, most helpful kid, and that they just love him. I was so surprised. Not because I don't think Ivan is sweet. He can be the sweetest little angel there ever was. And he is most definitely helpful, and seems to enjoy helping. So I know very well that those things are absolutely true. But he is my mama's boy, and introverted like me, and so often times he doesn't let the sweetness, or the helpfulness come out because he tends to stand back and observe things quietly. He's also got a pretty quick temper, and I wondered how he'd do in nursery having to share so much and not having me right there with him. But apparently he's doing well. Whenever I ask him what he learned about that week in nursery, he says, "BUBBLES!! and Jesus." I know he loves it, because he comes home and tells me all about it, but that doesn't necessarily mean he tells his teachers how much he enjoys being there. Isn't it funny how different kids are? I find though, that I tend to understand Ivan's way of hanging back in a new situation more than I understand Lincoln's jump-right-in approach.
Adelia is hanging in there too. Although, after this week's round of throwing up and diarrhea, I'm fairly certain that she also has a milk intolerance. Not really sure what to do about it either, at this point. She's on a milk based formula, because she was having issues with the soy based. She'd been doing fine on the milk based until just this last week. And of course this is the week where we can't go see a doctor because Aaron's work insurance doesn't kick in until July. So we're pretty much stuck waiting it out. Adelia is handling it differently than Ivan though. Ivan would eat, then throw it up or poop it out and then eat again. He never had an aversion to eating. But Adelia won't eat. She eats, throws up/poops, then won't eat much of anything, even a bottle, for a whole day, then she'll be starving so she'll eat a lot, and we think she's fine and her appetite is back for a whole day, then the next day she throws up/poops and then refuses to eat. I don't know 100% that it's milk, but that's my best educated guess. So for the next however many days until we can go see a doctor, I am putting her on rice milk instead of formula, and seeing if that will help her have a better appetite for solid foods. I hate the guessing game. I hate racking my brain for every possible thing should could have eaten, or wondering if she just picked up a bug from somewhere, or trying to determine if maybe she's just getting car sick instead or over heated and isn't really intolerant to anything. I just want to know what's wrong, and then I can spend my energy trying to fix it, instead of worrying over every single possibility. Why don't kids come with instruction manuals? We are supposed to be leaving Adelia with Ryan and Melissa Friday night, while we take the boys on the camp out. I'm hesitant to leave her with them anyway because she's always such a pain in the behind for them. They are great babysitters and they stick it out, though after the time Adi cried for 2 hours straight, I'm surprised they volunteer themselves to come back. :) But I feel bad for them when they have to deal with her when she's on her worst behavior, so if she's got some food issues on top of that...I don't know. The wonderful guessing game of motherhood...does it ever end? (If the answer is no, then don't bother answering, ok?)
3 comments:
Good luck my friend! Aria went through a milk-intolerance and it was so nerve racking trying to figure out what was going on and just getting my little baby to feel better.
And I think your spontaneity is great...sometimes I'm too set with a schedule or maybe just too lazy to do anything outside of the box. But as for keeping track of things, I have a calendar that EVERYTHING goes on and it majorly has helped me. It's now been transported to my phone's notebook and calendar, but still has saved my sanity.
p.s. It was fun to see you guys at the library! My mom even wrote about it on her blog so that means she was really glad to see you ;)
Wow...Alestair seems a lot like Ivan and Emmett a lot like Linclon although he is still young you can totally see his love of talking at people. Now all you need is to have your son go run up between the pews in church and try to play the piano then go to nursery and have him not talk to his teacher but give them a hug and say thank you on the way out.
Gotta love motherhood, never-ending steep learning curve motherhood. Figuring out what is wrong with a child when they can't tell you is difficult - to say the least! Only thing I can think of when that happens to me is: well, guess we'll take you off of every major allergen and see how you do for a couple of days. Fruits and vegetables, for babies the oatmeal flakes instead of wheat etc. I know some cereals use oat flour instead of wheat. Good luck Krystal - I know you can do it! It is difficult - but you're amazing anyway so I'm sure Heavenly Father thought he needed to give you something to puzzle out. Let me know if you need anything!
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