I’ve totally neglected my family blog, which makes me unhappy. Because I am such a scatter-brain, I need to blog my family and home life, or else I forget. Forgetting is painful because the days are melting in to each other. I’m afraid of looking back on the lives of my children and not being able to remember the fun, cute things they’ve done or said. Thus, a need to blog!
I’ve been spending so much of my time on my new venture: DIY (do-it-yourself) blogging at Thrift Diving, which features projects surrounding things I have found at thrift stores. I have been keeping a home blog since we moved into our house, mainly for my own personal reasons, to document the work we’ve put into our house–wallpaper removal, home issues, etc. But it wasn’t until recently over the last few months that I see that people are actually making MONEY blogging!
The motivation for me, of course, it not the money. The motivation is the passion I feel for blogging, for decorating with all things thrifty–things that people can’t just buy off the shelf at Ikea. I love it!! It’s very time consuming, so my evenings focus on projects and them blogging about them, along with some other things that I am trying to work on, like a photobook for my newphew, Trey, which is part of the “be more giving” New Year’s resolution for 2012.
Anyhow, I can’t access Thrift Diving while at work, because that site is using the newer version of Blogger, and it’s not supported on this old Internet Explorer window that they have here. This site, however, is still functioning. WHEW! I guess that means I can get in some personal blogging during the day, and the night will be for my DIY blogging. 🙂
Anyhow, our family is doing okay. Kojo will be turning 16 weeks old next Wednesday! I seriously cannot believe how fast time is going. He’s the cutest little thing ever, and I love him so much!! It’s sad that I don’t have much time to see him in the evenings because by the time I get home (especially if I have errands to run before coming home), he’s sleepy and wants to go to bed. He’s so independent, too. I don’t even really have to lie down with him, but I do so because I miss seeing him during the day. He really can just fall asleep on his own, and then he leaves me with this confused, “HUH??” look on my face as I see him knocked out. LOL. Kwabena was dependent on me to fall asleep until nearly age 2, and Ohene, just until a few months ago, still needed us to lie down with him. He’s in his room with Kwabena now, and we can just turn off the light and they go to bed on their own. WHEW!
Kojo smiles at everything! I love when he smiles so hard he mushes up his face and squints his face up. Adorable! He’s also turned onto his side, and I know he’s only weeks away (or less!) from turning over completely!
The little guy eats so much at daycare. The milk I pump is only lasting until 1 p.m. and then Miss Marilyn has to give him formula for the other 2 feedings before I see him later that night. Man, I remember that Kwabena never had one OUNCE of formula! I just couldn’t do that with Ohene and Kojo. I guess my work schedule is a little different, being that I work at Walter Reed, and it just takes longer to get home. Plus, Kwabena has never been a huge eater (and Ohene is begging pickier, too). But I just couldn’t keep up with Ohene, who gave up nursing at 8 or 9 months or so, and Kojo, who eats a lot when away from me.
Miss Marilyn has really trained Kojo to be able to entertain himself for long periods of time. I’m not used to that!! Over maternity leave, he was “spoiled” by attention in that he wanted me to hold him all the time. Well, of course Miss Marilyn can’t do that. So now, he’s used to sitting quietly, chewing on his hands and stuffing them as much as he can. Very cute!
Ohene is doing very well, too. I feel bad sometimes, though, because I feel like I spend more time with Kwabena (with his reading), and more time with Kojo (infant needs). And I worry about that whole “middle child” syndrome, even though I don’t even really know what that means (I must research that). He’s so cute, too, though. OMG. His latest obsession is the iPad. Tell me how a 2-year old (rather, 26 month old) can use an iPad and know how to actually work it, and then get upset and cry for it when you need to take it away. HA! Very cute.
It’s fun watching him and Kwabena interacting, though. At times, however. Sometimes it’s very annoying when they argue, or when one wants something that the other has. The other night Ohene had the iPad and Kwabena wanted to do it with him. Of course Ohene wasn’t trying to share. Kwabena tried to be mean, saying, “Fine, Ohene. I’m not going to be your friend anymore.” Of course the world ended for Ohene as he came crying to me, wailing, “Mooomy! Brother said he not my friend anymore!” Awwww……
Ohene still isn’t potty training yet, although he’s at the age that Kwabena did it, by having us (well, me and Miss Marilyn) reinforce it, especially at home on the weekends. We have been lazy about reinforcing it, but now that he’s getting to that point where he really can do it, we have to be good about reinforcing it. It will be nice not to have to change stinky toddler poop! That shit is disgusting!
Kwabena is doing well. He’s annoying at times, and needs to learn to listen. I can say directly to him something to do, and he will not hear me. Frustrating! Last week or so he and I were in the kitchen and I told him to buy fruit with his lunch since we didn’t have any. I asked him immediately to repeat back what I had said and he couldn’t. He wasn’t listening! Okay, my back was to him when I told him that. But when I said, “Do you understand?” he said “Yes, Mommy.” Apparently he wasn’t listening.
Kwasi gets very frusterated with that non-listening stuff, too. It’s hard not to get frustrated with it. But it’s up to us to stay patient and work with him.
Speaking of Kwasi, he’s doing okay. There’s nothing new to report with him. Just work, work, and more work! We really need more family time. I was considering going to Luray Caverns on a day when we can all take off, maybe spring break. We sooo need that time! It always amazes me the way some people spend family time together each weekend. It’s a foreign thought to me because for most of the time Kwasi and I have been together, he was working weekends. Hell, even if we weren’t in our house, he would still be working weekends. He would find some other reason to have to work. He’s just a workaholic, I guess.
Oh, I wanted to comment about Kwabena and his reading skills. I’m so proud of him! He started Kindergarten at a Level 6, whereas he should be at least a Level 4 by the end of Kindergarten. According to his report card, he was a Level 13 at that time (early January)! I’m guessing he’s actually a little further along than that, because he’s able to read chapter books! We’ve been reading “Is That a Dead Dog in Your Locker?” that we had picked up from the thrift store. There aren’t any pictures in the book. He comes to me each night asking me to read it to him. I do read to him, and point to the words. And then he picks up where I leave off sometimes, and we go back and forth. He’s such an excellent reader! I’m so proud of him.
Makes me wonder if he’s really getting the instruction at school that he needs, or if he needs to be in an advanced reading class. I know he’s in the advanced reading gropu in his class, but what if that isn’t enough? I want to foster that love of reading and learning. And he’s open to it. We must get some more chapter books. I’m stoked that he loves reading, because so do I!
He’s been doing well with writing, too, which is a requirement to go along with the reading, as well as reading comprehension. He came home yesterday with having wrote a paragraph for this story they’d read about Mr. Fox Foxing something or something. It was at least 3 sentences! And Mrs. Garner had written “Good Job!” on the top of it. When I asked him if he had written it all himself, he said yes, and that he had looked in the book for the words he didn’t know how to say. Excellent!
I just have to make sure that I am putting in the same amount of instruction with Ohene that I put in with Kwabena. With 3 kids, sometimes it’s hard to find the time to give each one individualized time. But it is imperative, for sure!
Well, there is much more I could write (don’t I say that each time at the end of each post?!). I just don’t have time. I need to post daily so that I can get it all out!
More later! It’s almost time for Happy Hour tonight with friends from work! WOOT! Can we say, WINE?!
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