A valuable life lesson from a 3 year old

As a parent, you always want to encourage your kids to eat their veggies. We know they are good for them and even though they may not taste as good as a cookie or cake, they will help them grow big and strong. So, how do you tell a devout, 3 year old veggie hater this?

Well, you put a cookie in front of them!

My husband and I have always struggled to get our 3 year old daughter to eat her veggies, from a very young age, she has avoided anything GREEN, and if it looked like a bean, it wasn't going near her mouth!

Recently, I have begun encouraging better eating habits with a little dessert after dinner which is usually a cookie or a little ice cream. So, the other day, my 2 year old son cleaned his plate like a big boy and all of us, except my daughter, were done with dinner, so I decided to go ahead and give everyone a cookie because we had all cleaned our plates and it looked like it could be morning before my daughter ate her veggies, so after giving everyone a cookie, I decided to put a cookie just out of my daughter's reach, but right in front of her, and told her when she finished her dinner she could have the cookie.

Well, what do you think happened to the veggies?

She kept her eye on the cookie as she ate ALL of her veggies!

Her goal was to finish her dinner so she could get the cookie and her reward was a compelling vision of a beautiful, almost-perfectly round, chocolate chip cookie!

After going thru this with her, it hit me that this is all it takes to achieve your goals and dreams!

Instead of putting a cookie in front of you, put a picture representation of your goal or dream in front of you and as you work and progress thru your day, everything you do brings you closer to your dream!

This is called Vision Crafting. Creating a compelling vision that will motivate and inspire you to keep moving thru the difficult and unrewarding times in life and business.

I wanted to share a story with you that happened to illustrate the point perfectly of what we can achieve when we put what we want most in front of us and let THAT inspire us to keep pushing ahead!

Has it been a year?

I can't believe it has been a year since I blogged about my kiddo's!
Where does the time go?

In a year, they have grown and matured so much! My daughter is 3 1/2 and
my son is a little over 2.

Right now, the cutest thing they are doing is talking to each other. My
daughter was a late talker, but my son started talking right before he
was 2 and he has made huge improvements as time as gone by. I know that
having an older sister who is talking really helps him, but I am amazed at
the language growth he makes almost daily! My daughter didn't start talking
until she could talk in sentences! So, I missed alot of the growth that
happens, she was a good talker when she started.

But anyway, back to my story about how they act. At the kitchen table, they
will talk among themselves, my son will say something, and even if my daughter
doesn't totally understand what he is talking about, she will respond with
a yes or a correction or she will keep talking about something else, the whole
time, his attention is fixed on her and he will respond back to her, it is
the cutest thing! In the car, their car seats are right next to each other
and the conversations they have back there remind me of an old married couple!
No lie! They are the cutest!!! :-)

They also fight and squabble like siblings do, but their interactions are
priceless!

My son also LOVES pictures of animals, he likes animals in person too, but I
think he prefers them as pictures. The kids have tons of fun at the zoo looking
at all of the animals from a distance, but they have these big, almost life-like
statues at the zoo, and my daughter is no longer afraid of them, but she used
to be, but now my son is and won't go near the statues, it is really funny if you
ever saw him with pictures of animals!

We have 3 dogs, but only 1 of them is in the house with us and she is little
and pretty non-threatening, but if they see dogs outside they are not too keen.

However, yesterday, we took my little dog to the groomers and when we got there
it is pretty packed with lots of other dogs, there was a little 3 lb chihuhua in
there that a girl was holding, well, both of the kids wanted to take that little
dog home with them, I think! It was cute, but it was especially funny because
we have a neighbor down the street that just got a chihuhua about the same size.
The little boy was walking him on a leash, which was another funny site, but the
kids weren't too crazy about him, even though he was being really sweet and calm.
But they warmed a little and by the time the dog (Rex) went home, they were missing
him.

The next day, the kids and I went for a walk and we passed Rex's house, my son
was very interested as to where is Rex. On the way back to our house, passing
Rex's house, my son was still looking for him and as we passed his house, all of a
sudden my son starts running, "come on Mama, Rex is gonna eat T.T., come on Mama, Rex
is gonna eat T.T." The whole time he is running and looking behind him, I thought
it was hilarious! My son's name is Tristan and he calls himself T.T. :-)

Kids are great aren't they? :-)

Leigh



They are enjoying a quiet moment together! (Tristan no longer
has pacifier, this was taken back in early Dec.)

Mommy's Little Helpers!

Being a work at home mom,
I appreciate any help I can get around the house!

Tonight while I was doing laundry, I put all the wet clothes into
a basket to go into the dryer and my daughter comes running up "Help
Mama, Help"--meaning she wants to help Mama. She put ALL of the laundry
into the dryer and the entire time she was putting the laundry into the
dryer she is calling out who's laundry it is, whether it was hers or
her brothers ;-) I couldn't help smiling :-)

My son decided he would just stare into the empty washer :-)

I couldn't have hired better help than that--Mommy's Little
Helpers!

Spring Fever Part I

It has been so warm here the past few weeks, off and on, that getting the kids outside has been a lot of fun.

Taking babies for a walk, picking up rocks and looking for airplanes are just a few of the fun things to do with toddlers.

I am ready for spring and summer and all of the fun outdoor things to do that come with warm weather!


Taking baby for a piggy back ride!


Making sure the babies are safe in the stroller!

Another First Haircut!

My 13 month old little boy got his first haircut a few days ago. He was such a big boy! The girl that cut his hair gave him a hair clip and a styrofoam cup to entertain him with and it worked. He sat still (which is an accomplishment for him) and he looks like a true little man.

They grow up so fast! I was beginning to get a little teary when I saw him sitting in that big chair looking so little.
I can't get over how his haircut makes him look so much more like a little man. I can't keep my hands off his head, it is just so adorable.
No more babies. My little girl got her second haircut also and she just looks so grown up I can't get over it!

Won't be long they will be driving! ;-(

Spongy Brains

I am amazed at how much my kids' can learn and remember at such young ages.
Being able to stay home all day with my kids and watch them and help them to learn, is a source of continuous joy for me. I am so grateful to be able to be home.

My daughter was a late talker and I was starting to wonder if she would ever talk. :-) She is 2 1/2 yo now and the words and phrases are just flying out of her mouth. She has become quite the imitater too. If I am not careful, during conversations with my husband or while I am on the phone, I might actually think I was looking in a mirror at my own reflection! :-) It makes me smile and giggle every time I see her. Her arms and hands are moving at the same rate as mine and her words are coming out almost as good as mine.

She is starting to count now, which is the cutest. At first she counted one, one, one, one... and then it was one, one, one, two... and now it is one, two, tha (three), ty (five), nine, ten. She also knows she has 2 feet and 2 hands, well she also has 2 toes and 2 fingers. She asks for cookies and crackers now with quantity demands. 2 cookies, 2 "cackas" she says.

My little man is starting crawl up into my lap if I am on the floor and give me such sweet hugs and kisses that it melts my heart! If he is in his high chair and I walk by and give him a little hug, he gives me the biggest squeezes around the neck. I don't want these moments to end!

Because my kids are so close in age, I think they will be the best of friends and the worst of friends at the same time. They have such sweet tender moments and then I hear crying. :-)

What's up with the clothes coming off? My daughter's baby doll's are all naked, if I am not careful and keep a close eye on her, her brother ends up naked, she is watching TV and is naked. My nephew was over not too long ago and she laid him on the floor and I swear he was going to be naked too!

Never a dull moment!!!

What a night!

My little man was sick last night. :-( You always hate to have a sick child,
but for some reason, when they can't breathe, it makes it that much scarier!

Daddy has had a cold and thought it would be nice to share with the family ;-)

So far, my little boy is the only one that has caught it. He suffers from an asthma
type reaction to colds. I have asthma, so I guess that is where he probably got it from.

Last night he developed croup after going to bed. It was scary because it didn't sound like any kind of wheezing I had ever heard before. I called the doctor and that is what she said it sounded like.

I had already tried giving him a breathing treatment that didn't seem to make a difference which scared me even more! But the doctor told us to get the bathroom all steamy and let him sit in there for 10-20 min. I have to tell you that it worked like a charm! For a few hours anyway, but it really helped, surprised me. Since I have asthma, humidity bothers me, so I wasn't sure it would work, but it did. Ok, so I couldn't sleep for wanting to go run and check on him. So, around 4am, we were up again after I checked on him and he sounded bad again, so back to the breathing treatments and the bathroom. It worked again, so we got a few more hours of sleep before we got up so I could call the doc and take him in this morning. Croup is really only a night time thing, and would you believe it, when he got up this morning he really did sound better, I gave him another breathing treatment and when we got to the doctor's office about 1 1/2 hours later, the doc said his lungs sounded fine! Whew, hopefully we won't be up all night again, poor little man, he didn't sleep real well either. The doc gave him some steroids for the next few days and then it is just a matter of waiting out the cold.

Now, for my daughter ;-) Hopefully she won't catch too much of the nasty stuff.

I took her to the pharmacy with me while my husband took my little boy home. As we were waiting for his prescription to get filled, she started messing with stuff on the shelves, of course... but the really neat thing was, she started to read the price tags! :-) I couldn't believe it. She has been recognizing numbers in books up to ten and will tell you what they are. But, she has never done it outside of familiar books, I was blown away. She said "nine" but I thought she was pointing to another number so I told her no, but she pointed to the nine again, a little more clearly and said it louder "nine!" I had to laugh because she was right and she knew it and I was wrong! ;-) Kids are so incredible!

So, that was the last 12 hours of my life so far. Wish me luck tonight.

Definition of croup: My definition from experience, not technically a medical definition.

Croup is the tigtening of the airways and the throat that results from a viral cold. It has a distinct bark like wheeze and cough, not unlike what a seal sounds like. Treatment is generally a hot, steamy bathroom for 10-20 min and then outside for a few min in the cold air. This should relax the airways. In some cases, a breathing treatment might be necessary, but in most cases, one or two trips to the bathroom will work until morning so you can get them to the doctor. Going to the doctor is probably not necessary if the bathroom trick works, and just let the cold take it's course, the croup part will only last a few days. If you are like me and a worry wart, then take them to the doctor and the doctor may prescribe some steroids to give for a few days which will also help to relax the airways and prevent the croupy sound. This may not be done with babies that don't have asthma type symptoms with colds like my little boy does.

Hope this helps!

All the best ~