Decorating for Christmas

We decorated the tree starting the Friday after Thanksgiving and ending Saturday morning. We were all excited to put all our ornaments. We realized that Emma had the most ornament of all the kids, be it makes sense since she is the oldest. It is truely amazing how every little part of Christmas is so magical for the little ones. Their excitement is reflected in the big kids, who do love our traditions.

Henry's First Birthday Party!!

We had a small gathering for Henry's first birthday. While the big kids played some games, he had his usual go-with-the-flow attitude and tooled around the house like it was a typical day. We had a Eric Carle birthday because I love the art of Eric Carle, and he is too little to voice his opinion on the matter (for now).

A New Start

I haven't blogged for over a year now. Facebook has been my outlet for pictures and funny tidbits about the kids, but I'm hoping to devote more time to the blog now and share more about the complexity of life with five children.

Yes, we've added Henry since the last time I was that I posted. He is 12 months and decided that today he was going to get serious about walking. No more two or three steps here and there. Today he's on the move.

So, for a kid age update: Emma is 15, Aidan is 12, Liam is 3 1/2, Ben is 2 and Henry just turned 1.

After lunch, Liam scooched down from his chair and ripped off his bib, apparently intent on doing something or another. I asked him if he could wipe his hands on this bib so he wouldn't get everything dirty. He picked up the bib, attached it around his neck, wiped his hands on it, ripped it back off again and threw it on the floor. On his way he went.

Pulling the Plug II

Taking the TV off our main level has gone much easier than I had thought it would. I've discovered, though, that my boyo II is a boyo with gusto. He finds a passion, and runs with it! The TV went bye-bye, so we've moved on. He's always liked books since he was an infant, but would often turn the pages before I could finish reading them. Now all he wants to do in read, read, read. AND, he listens to all the pages. We read book after book after book. He has his favorites too. That we read over and over again. How many times can one read, "Diapers are Not Forever?" without going nutty? Truely, I am ecstatic that he doesn't seem to miss the TV. Ninety-five percent of the time I am happy that it is gone too. That last five percent is me wanting something to lull Liam out of his sleepy funk after he wakes in the morning and after nap. I do not miss the preschool shows. I had come to loathe them. Even the descent ones like "Jack's Big Music Show" and "Wonder Pets." I couldn't stomach them because they were on so much, and I just couldn't get Liam to stop the whining and crying to turn it back on. He would sometimes be distracted for a few hours, but pretty soon the begging would start.

Life at home is a lot calmer. Even though I do have some crazy times when both boyos are crying and needing comforting at the same time, it's worth it. And he doesn't even know that his shows are accessible in the basement. For now.

Target with Tots

I don't know about you, but I need to go to Target at least once a week. It used to be a lot more often, but when you don't have much money, something has to go. Anyway, it's hard to distinguish between 'wants' and 'needs' at Target. Do I really need three sweatshirts that are size 3T for Liam when he's in 2T now? Well, they're marked down 75%, which makes them $1.48 each. Given that I don't have many 3T clothes (I only started saving Aidan's clothes when Josh and I got married and we was in size 5), I thought it was justified. Sometimes I just need to get that shopping fix. Even if it's just at Valu Thrift Shop (in Sun Ray; it is awesome!!) and I spend 5 bucks on something that I think is awesome, and would have been $30 new. Anyway, I'm digressing from the blog title, Target with Tots. My last couple trips to Target have been an absolute nightmare, so I'm trying to evaluate how to make it go smoother. Part of the problem is that when Josh wasn't working, we'd go to Target together. This means that one of us would have Liam and one of us would have Ben. Easy as pie. Ben would either stay in his car seat or be held while we shop around. Liam, on the other hand, got the luxury of being out of the cart, and on the loose. It's not too hard to chase on little one if someone else has the other. Ok, I might not actually say this if we hadn't had a baby as well. Now, Liam thinks he can have the run of Target Woodbury. He likes to play with the video game controllers, and the leapster games in the toy section. He hides in the clothing racks, and lays down on the shelves when the stock is gone from it. I need to end this craziness, or a) he's going to get hurt, b) we're going to get kicked out or c) I'm going to lose it, and start yelling. We've all heard these moms who yell at their kids in public. It ain't pretty. Today, our Target trip did go a little better. I brought some snacks and he did sit. Granted it was a pretty short stop. Maybe giving snacks is the answer, but it may not last on a longer shopping trip, and we wouldn't want to spoil our lunch. Any suggestions?

Pulling the Plug

I started letting Liam watch TV (all preschool shows...pbs, sprout, and noggin) when Ben was born in July. He was only 18 months old, but it was something that could keep his attention while I was attending to the newborn. Well, with this cold winter that has kept us indoors, a very energetic and daring boy (he literally climbs walls),and our digital cable that gives us two 24 hour preschool channels, Liam got hooked. Big time. He'd want to watch as soon as he got up, during his meals, and until bedtime. Of course I didn't let him ALL the time, but a lot of the time I gave in to his obsession. Plus it came in handy when I had to change the laundry, put Ben down for a nap, and admittedly, check email. TV is no more. Well, not on our main level anyway. We still have one in our bedroom, and the big one downstairs, but not where we spend most of our day. The big kids were starting to complain, and I was dreading any and all shows and even the musical or educational interludes. To its credit, the shows are quite educational, but the sheer volume that he was watching was probably affecting his brain development.

We made it through day one today. We had some hard times, especially after his nap when he usually comes down, has milk and watches something. At one point he kept spinning in circles looking for the TV. He searched under the side table for the remotes. He gave out a couple random "eez"s (translation "please") and I'm sure I know what he was asking for. But we also did some fun stuff today. We played a lot with his play kitchen, which we put in place of the TV. We spent a lot more time listening to music, dancing and playing with instruments. Even though we did watch the Superbowl in the basement, I feel a lot calmer, and so good about our decision. I'm sure we'll have an adjustment period through this week or even month, but it's all for the best. Wish me luck!