Whoops!

I let the blog slip. Sorry!

My computer died, and sharing a computer with B is difficult at best. He really needs his down time in the evening, and I don't have much time during the day to get on the computer, so there goes my blogging!

In the interim, S2 is talking up a storm, and starting to put phrases together. She is very vocal about what she wants, and uses sign and spoken words equally. She'll grab her cup, crawl over to me and say "juice" while signing "please." She blows kisses, gives high fives, grabs her shoes when you say "let's go!" and then sticks her feet up for you to put them on her. She can undress herself and remove her diaper, much to my chagrin, whether that diaper have snaps or Velcro.

We transitioned her in to her sisters' bedroom last weekend, and moved J in to his own room. We realized that, as much as I have loved the closeness we've shared at night over the last 7 months, every time B or I rolled over, J woke up. None of us were sleeping, and it was effecting my health and my relationships. So we started the switch last weekend, and the first two or three days were pretty rough. I am firmly against letting my babies "cry it out" and as such spent a lot of time going back and forth between J's room and my own, just to reassure him that I was there. The fourth night, he only woke up once, and needed only to eat before he fell back to sleep. The next night, he went to bed at about 8:30 and didn't wake up until 6am. Night before last, same thing. Last night he woke up once, but barely nursed before he was asleep again. So far so good.

S2's transition has been a little rough. Not only is she in a new room, but in a new bed. She's now in a modified crib (the side rail has been removed and replaced with a low mattress rail) and can get out of bed by herself. She can also open almost all of the doors in the house, since the only door that isn't a French style handle is the front door. Given how tall she is, doorknobs are a piece of cake. Her first goal upon opening her bedroom door is to go in to her brother's room and sit in front of his crib yelling "Jacks! Jacks!" until we get him out to play with her. It's wonderful.

They really are very close, and share a twin-like bond. When J is upset, S2 will crawl over and pat his back to help calm him down. If S2 is unhappy, J will lay his hand on her body. At least three times a day, they just look at each other and giggle. S2 can make J laugh like no one else can. She wants to share everything with him, even toys! Of course this means that we have to watch her like a hawk when she has food or drink around, since J has no idea how to chew and will instead choke, but I wouldn't trade their tight-knit bond for the world.

V is trying to decide if she wants to do gymnastics after all. Ever since her camp, she spends every available daylight minute practicing her cartwheels in the front yard. We'll see where she goes with that. We're muddling through a few growing pains issues, but hopefully they'll clear up soon. Mostly trying to impress the "you're not the center of the universe" message while still passing along that she is very important, and special, and amazing. Interesting dichotomy, that. You want to teach your kids to honor others and treat all people with respect and dignity, and treat them to put others first, while still teaching them that they should love themselves and take good care of themselves.

I think we're making headway on her weight issues, in that she celebrated when she went up a size recently, instead of wondering if it meant she was fat. We know where the issues are coming from, but there's not much we can do about it except to model a healthy lifestyle and hope it sticks.

S2 is having her own body image issues. Do you have any idea how depressing it is to hear your 5 year old talk about how fat she is? Or how she just wants to wear the cute clothes like her sister, but can't because she's too "chunky"? It's awful, and breaks my heart every time. Again, all we can really do is model good behaviors and reiterate how perfect she is, inside and out, and impress upon her that we all come in different packages. No child should ever feel that their worth is tied up in their pants size, but mine does. And it makes me livid towards the person who is making her feel that way.

All in all, we're doing okay. Just plugging along with daily life, trying to find our footing.