Today I am grateful for the powerful tool that social media can be when used appropriately. In an effort to "escape" after my son's bedtime two nights ago, I browsed Facebook and found a blog post my sister had shared about being fully invested in our children's lives. The blogger ended her post with a long list of the reasons she's grateful to be the mom of her kids. Her message to moms was to believe that kids truly do grow up too fast, and they are not a nuisance to be worked around. You can read her words here.
I have to say, I took her counsel to heart and just played with Corbin all morning the next day. You know what happened? Corbin went down for an early nap, which allowed me to still get my things done before I went to work. Normally I fight him and the things all morning and get him down just in time to leave for work, but still feeling like I haven't accomplished anything. I don't think it will always work out that well, but really, why don't I just enjoy him while I have him? There will be time to do laundry after he goes to bed, or when dad gets home, or
next week sometime. No big deal.
That reminds me of a talk I heard in church on Sunday about tithing. I felt like the woman had written it for me. She talked about the promise that the windows of heaven would be open to pour out blessings onto the tithe payer. Then she proceeded to share some of the blessings which she had received including special finds at thrift stores and on clearance racks or in hand-me-downs at just the right time, the ability to decipher between needs and wants, great kids who are okay with thrift stores and hand-me-downs, etc. I know I've received these kinds of blessings and yet, I've never thought of them that way. What does that have to do with cherishing our kids? I think the principle is the same. When I give the Lord my 10%, he makes sure I have my needs met. When I give my children my first hours, my best hours, somehow I have the time I need to get my other things done.
Then I got invited to view this story about Heather who is an 8 year survivor of mesothelioma cancer. I actually had never even heard of this cancer before, but it is caused by asbestos exposure, and it leaves VERY few survivors. You can watch the story by clicking on the link above. Her video is a beautiful invitation to count your own blessings.
Whenever a story like this is shared, I of course am reminded of how fragile life is and the importance of cherishing each day, but I have to say, what I most took from this video was what Heather shares at the beginning. She says that she and her daughter Lilly are best friends. I really do want to get to that place with each of my children, and I realize that it starts by appreciating having them in my life now.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Top 10 Mom Fails
Don't worry...this is not a "Wo is me, I'm a terrible mom" post. It's just that this morning, as I made a last ditch attempt to entertain my toddler by opening up a toy that was supposed to be a Christmas present (today is November 20th and Thanksgiving is more than a week away still), I had to laugh at all the things I do as a mom that I "swore I'd never do."
So here it is. My top ten mom fails--within the first year of being a mom (not in any particular order):
10. Feed child candy. I can't say I swore to never do this, but I definitely have let him have it more often than I thought I would. The reason I'm noticing? I eat it. Dad eats it. So baby of course eats it.
9. Bribe child with candy and other sugary goodness. Justification: How else do you lure him into his carseat without a tantrum?
8. Cry it out. I hung in there for a while, but it suddenly seemed like my going in to comfort or continue my sleep training methods was just setting up a new pattern for habitual waking. He sleeps great now that he has CIO'ed for a couple nights.
7. Wiped his nose with my own finger and then cleaned it off on his pants or mine. I hope this doesn't make me or my child less "popular" among our friends, but really...your own kid's snot isn't gross, well, at least not AS gross as the other kids'.
6. Wiped his face with my licked finger. After wiping his nose with my hand one day, I knew it was only a matter of time before I cleaned his face with my licked finger. It was an act of desperation, I tell you. Family pictures. Dad was in charge of getting Corbin ready because we met on location after I got off work. Cute outfit. Messy face. No baby wipes in the diaper bag. Oh yes, licked finger to the face. He's young. He won't remember it.
5. Aside from candy, feed child junk food in general. The kid loves hot dogs, and although I knew it wasn't the most healthy of choices, I couldn't resist the easy preparation and quick clean up they provided. So yes, he ate lots of hot dogs over the summer. Seriously, they are the one food that he manages to not drop on the floor. Every last bit makes it to his mouth and swallowed.
4. Cloth diapering is not something I've failed at because I never even tried it. I thought I'd get it going once we were in our house and had our own washer and dryer (we shared with our landlords in our old apartment). Once we were in, I said I'd do it once the house felt more pulled together so I could get a routine going. Since I still feel like my house is not pulled together, and I still feel like I'm barely keeping afloat in our "routine" as it is, I now say, maybe with the next baby.
3. Cleaning up after meals. Or should I say NOT cleaning up meals. This started out great. I was so proud of myself. I ran the vacuum after every meal, and Corbin's high chair tray was always cleaned. There was never a sign that a baby had been eating in that chair. That all changed once he could walk. Once I discovered that while I'm cleaning his breakfast mess, he's unloading the pantry, spilling the macaroni and cheese box on the floor, pulling toilet paper off the shelves, and (and I say "and" because he can get ALL this done JUST in that amount of time) dropping his binky in the toilet, I decided that breakfast mess could wait till nap time. As it turns out, at nap time, sometimes I prefer to blog, nap myself, check Facebook, catch up on work, get ready to go to work, or just sit in peace and quiet for a few minutes, so yes, sometimes breakfast is still on the tray and the floor at lunch...or dinner...or yes, the next day at breakfast.
2. Putting clothes away and general housekeeping. After Corbin was born, we refinished a cute little changing table. I was so proud of my handiwork. I got these little green plastic bins from Dollar Tree and labeled each one with clothing items (shirts, pants, onesies, jammies, etc.) I put the clothes in their assigned buckets on the shelves of the changing table. My sister said it was a great idea because it would help me keep things put away since everything had an assigned spot. I thought I had this organization thing down. And it worked great, till the walking thing changed our world. You know where Corbin's clothes are now? If they make it to the buckets, they are quickly pulled out on to the floor. Hence, most are on top of the changing table in piles resembling folded laundry.
1. I will end with the inspiration for this entire post. Yes, we have had a cute little Fisher Price barn toy "hiding" in our closet for several weeks. I bought it just after Corbin's birthday and we decided he had enough toys so we'd save it for Christmas. We knew he didn't care about Christmas, but we did, so we sort of hid it in our room. He still finds it from time to time and plays with the button that lets you try out the noises while inside the box. This morning, I felt like he was bored with everything in the house, and to be honest, so was I. I couldn't get anything done because he wanted me to entertain him. So I pulled out the barn and we had a great time putting it together, discovering all the neat things it does, and, Merry Christmas to me, he played with it by himself for several minutes after I finished. It was short-lived, and I spent the whole time taking pictures of him playing with it...but it was still fun.
Now, to put it back in the box in the closet so we can surprise him with it again at Christmas.
So here it is. My top ten mom fails--within the first year of being a mom (not in any particular order):
10. Feed child candy. I can't say I swore to never do this, but I definitely have let him have it more often than I thought I would. The reason I'm noticing? I eat it. Dad eats it. So baby of course eats it.
9. Bribe child with candy and other sugary goodness. Justification: How else do you lure him into his carseat without a tantrum?
8. Cry it out. I hung in there for a while, but it suddenly seemed like my going in to comfort or continue my sleep training methods was just setting up a new pattern for habitual waking. He sleeps great now that he has CIO'ed for a couple nights.
7. Wiped his nose with my own finger and then cleaned it off on his pants or mine. I hope this doesn't make me or my child less "popular" among our friends, but really...your own kid's snot isn't gross, well, at least not AS gross as the other kids'.
6. Wiped his face with my licked finger. After wiping his nose with my hand one day, I knew it was only a matter of time before I cleaned his face with my licked finger. It was an act of desperation, I tell you. Family pictures. Dad was in charge of getting Corbin ready because we met on location after I got off work. Cute outfit. Messy face. No baby wipes in the diaper bag. Oh yes, licked finger to the face. He's young. He won't remember it.
5. Aside from candy, feed child junk food in general. The kid loves hot dogs, and although I knew it wasn't the most healthy of choices, I couldn't resist the easy preparation and quick clean up they provided. So yes, he ate lots of hot dogs over the summer. Seriously, they are the one food that he manages to not drop on the floor. Every last bit makes it to his mouth and swallowed.
4. Cloth diapering is not something I've failed at because I never even tried it. I thought I'd get it going once we were in our house and had our own washer and dryer (we shared with our landlords in our old apartment). Once we were in, I said I'd do it once the house felt more pulled together so I could get a routine going. Since I still feel like my house is not pulled together, and I still feel like I'm barely keeping afloat in our "routine" as it is, I now say, maybe with the next baby.
3. Cleaning up after meals. Or should I say NOT cleaning up meals. This started out great. I was so proud of myself. I ran the vacuum after every meal, and Corbin's high chair tray was always cleaned. There was never a sign that a baby had been eating in that chair. That all changed once he could walk. Once I discovered that while I'm cleaning his breakfast mess, he's unloading the pantry, spilling the macaroni and cheese box on the floor, pulling toilet paper off the shelves, and (and I say "and" because he can get ALL this done JUST in that amount of time) dropping his binky in the toilet, I decided that breakfast mess could wait till nap time. As it turns out, at nap time, sometimes I prefer to blog, nap myself, check Facebook, catch up on work, get ready to go to work, or just sit in peace and quiet for a few minutes, so yes, sometimes breakfast is still on the tray and the floor at lunch...or dinner...or yes, the next day at breakfast.
2. Putting clothes away and general housekeeping. After Corbin was born, we refinished a cute little changing table. I was so proud of my handiwork. I got these little green plastic bins from Dollar Tree and labeled each one with clothing items (shirts, pants, onesies, jammies, etc.) I put the clothes in their assigned buckets on the shelves of the changing table. My sister said it was a great idea because it would help me keep things put away since everything had an assigned spot. I thought I had this organization thing down. And it worked great, till the walking thing changed our world. You know where Corbin's clothes are now? If they make it to the buckets, they are quickly pulled out on to the floor. Hence, most are on top of the changing table in piles resembling folded laundry.
1. I will end with the inspiration for this entire post. Yes, we have had a cute little Fisher Price barn toy "hiding" in our closet for several weeks. I bought it just after Corbin's birthday and we decided he had enough toys so we'd save it for Christmas. We knew he didn't care about Christmas, but we did, so we sort of hid it in our room. He still finds it from time to time and plays with the button that lets you try out the noises while inside the box. This morning, I felt like he was bored with everything in the house, and to be honest, so was I. I couldn't get anything done because he wanted me to entertain him. So I pulled out the barn and we had a great time putting it together, discovering all the neat things it does, and, Merry Christmas to me, he played with it by himself for several minutes after I finished. It was short-lived, and I spent the whole time taking pictures of him playing with it...but it was still fun.
Now, to put it back in the box in the closet so we can surprise him with it again at Christmas.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Chatty Kathy
I've noticed that Corbin is talking more and more lately. It's still mostly baby babbles, which I love to hear. The one word that I for sure know he knows and will say pretty much on demand is "Weee" as in "weee" I'm on the swings, or "weee" dad is throwing me in the air. I wondered yesterday if he really has had a true first word. He says "dada" and "mama" occasionally but not really in a way that seems like he associates the word with either of us. So I'm thinking "wee" is his first word. Fitting...
In fact, we had family pictures taken yesterday and we could not get a smile out of him almost the whole time. The only smiles were when we were swinging him in the air holding his hands and when he was running around by himself. The photographer called him a thrill seeker, and that's what made me realize that yes, "wee" is his first word.
He LOVES the swings and will say "wee" the whole time he's on them. He definitely liked a lot of motion as a baby, and we always blamed that on the fact that I danced through my whole pregnancy with him. The kid is accustomed to movement and he loves to be on the move.
Anyway, speaking of chatting. Corbin started talking himself to sleep a few months ago (once we sleep trained him), but last night at midnight he woke up and started chatting quite a bit. I was online so I did a quick google search to see if it might be a sign of being under-tired. But I read most people saying that it's normal for babies to want to practice their new skills when they wake up in the night. I'll take it. It's quite fun to listen to chatter over listening to crying.
The problem came when it got quiet, and I THOUGHT he'd fallen back to sleep. I decided to sneak in and turn down the white noise playing in his room. It seemed loud and I wondered if it had woken him up. We just use the static on an empty radio station and so sometimes it randomly picks up some signals and you hear men talking like airplane pilots communicating with the tower. It's pretty funny, except when it's happening and I'm like, "Pilot! Don't you dare wake up my baby!"
Anyway, I snuck in and heard him move. I quickly froze, facing the door, hoping he couldn't see me or smell me or in any way sense I was in his room. Not possible. Although it was pitch black and I couldn't see him, he totally knew I was in there. Stands up and starts to cry so I'll come get him. Game over. So I nursed him and laid him back down and he chatted himself back to sleep. So silly.
And I vowed never to enter the quiet room again. :-)
In fact, we had family pictures taken yesterday and we could not get a smile out of him almost the whole time. The only smiles were when we were swinging him in the air holding his hands and when he was running around by himself. The photographer called him a thrill seeker, and that's what made me realize that yes, "wee" is his first word.
He LOVES the swings and will say "wee" the whole time he's on them. He definitely liked a lot of motion as a baby, and we always blamed that on the fact that I danced through my whole pregnancy with him. The kid is accustomed to movement and he loves to be on the move.
Anyway, speaking of chatting. Corbin started talking himself to sleep a few months ago (once we sleep trained him), but last night at midnight he woke up and started chatting quite a bit. I was online so I did a quick google search to see if it might be a sign of being under-tired. But I read most people saying that it's normal for babies to want to practice their new skills when they wake up in the night. I'll take it. It's quite fun to listen to chatter over listening to crying.
The problem came when it got quiet, and I THOUGHT he'd fallen back to sleep. I decided to sneak in and turn down the white noise playing in his room. It seemed loud and I wondered if it had woken him up. We just use the static on an empty radio station and so sometimes it randomly picks up some signals and you hear men talking like airplane pilots communicating with the tower. It's pretty funny, except when it's happening and I'm like, "Pilot! Don't you dare wake up my baby!"
Anyway, I snuck in and heard him move. I quickly froze, facing the door, hoping he couldn't see me or smell me or in any way sense I was in his room. Not possible. Although it was pitch black and I couldn't see him, he totally knew I was in there. Stands up and starts to cry so I'll come get him. Game over. So I nursed him and laid him back down and he chatted himself back to sleep. So silly.
And I vowed never to enter the quiet room again. :-)
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Random Thoughts about Facebook and Blogging
Started this as a Facebook post, then it got too long, which puts it in the blog post category, as you will see...
After writing two blog posts tonight, I started thinking about the strange things that blogging and social media are. While brushing my teeth, I created these definitions:
Facebook Status: A place for people to broadcast their opinions, unsolicited or not.
Blog: A place for people to expound upon their unsolicited opinions.
Facebook comments: A place for people to counter or agree with the expressed opinion (definitely solicited--after all, you posted it on Facebook).
Facebook Shares: A way of expressing your opinion by posting the link to a blogger who expressed it better than you can.
Two questions:
1. Are we more opinionated now than generations before us, or do we just have more means of expressing our opinions? How did people share their opinions pre-social media?
2. How much of sharing our opinions online actually affects the world around us?
I guess that is three questions. It's getting late. I'm taking my unsolicited opinions to bed now.
After writing two blog posts tonight, I started thinking about the strange things that blogging and social media are. While brushing my teeth, I created these definitions:
Facebook Status: A place for people to broadcast their opinions, unsolicited or not.
Blog: A place for people to expound upon their unsolicited opinions.
Facebook comments: A place for people to counter or agree with the expressed opinion (definitely solicited--after all, you posted it on Facebook).
Facebook Shares: A way of expressing your opinion by posting the link to a blogger who expressed it better than you can.
Two questions:
1. Are we more opinionated now than generations before us, or do we just have more means of expressing our opinions? How did people share their opinions pre-social media?
2. How much of sharing our opinions online actually affects the world around us?
I guess that is three questions. It's getting late. I'm taking my unsolicited opinions to bed now.
Post-Pregnancy Bods: Some Thoughts
Don't worry. This isn't a post complaining about my body, or the weird (and gross) things that happen after having a baby. I remember hearing some of that at a baby shower before I was married and thinking, I will never have children. I will say, it's not as bad as it sounded then. No, this is my thought about how our focus should not be on the body after pregnancy, at least not in the way we generally concern ourselves....so keep reading. :-)
I had a thought yesterday about the focus we place on post-pregnancy bodies. A woman was commenting on some of my dancer friends and how you'd never know that any of them had had kids. Normally, I wouldn't get all up in arms about a comment like that, but it caught me off-guard this time because she was saying it to kids. In all honesty, I think she realized it was a weird thing to say to a group of kids, because she kind of hesitated trying to transition from that comment to the actual point she was trying to make. Nonetheless, it evidenced the fact that as a culture, we focus a lot on a woman's post-pregnancy body. How long it takes for her to get back into her old jeans, pre and post pregnancy weights, etc. etc.
I thought about the message that was already being given to these kids. When a woman is pregnant, she is fat, and if she still looks fat after she has a baby, that is bad. But if she can look like she never had a baby, that is good. So I thought about what message these kids SHOULD be getting from watching moms who have had babies and then still gone back to dancing. This is the message I hope I can share with girls, whether they be my own daughters, or my students, or my nieces...
I wished that instead of celebrating how these women had "gotten their dancer bodies back", we could be celebrating the fact that their bodies are capable of creating life and then returning to full dance activity. That these moms have the support of husbands to allow them to experience both the joys of motherhood and still enjoy the passions that filled their lives before having a baby.
I really do feel blessed to have the opportunities I do to continue dancing and even helping to grow a small dance company here. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without Dustin's support (not to mention the sisters and sister-in-laws that babysit for me). I've tried to reduce my time outside the home so I'm only doing my most favorite things right now--so I can have more time to do my most favorite thing, which is spend time with my family. I never really pictured that becoming my most favorite thing, but babies really change your heart. (Husbands do it, too--but for babies, you are irreplaceable. If you aren't mom, no one else is being mom) And I know I'm a lucky girl to "have it all" even if some of it has to be in very small doses.
I had a thought yesterday about the focus we place on post-pregnancy bodies. A woman was commenting on some of my dancer friends and how you'd never know that any of them had had kids. Normally, I wouldn't get all up in arms about a comment like that, but it caught me off-guard this time because she was saying it to kids. In all honesty, I think she realized it was a weird thing to say to a group of kids, because she kind of hesitated trying to transition from that comment to the actual point she was trying to make. Nonetheless, it evidenced the fact that as a culture, we focus a lot on a woman's post-pregnancy body. How long it takes for her to get back into her old jeans, pre and post pregnancy weights, etc. etc.
I thought about the message that was already being given to these kids. When a woman is pregnant, she is fat, and if she still looks fat after she has a baby, that is bad. But if she can look like she never had a baby, that is good. So I thought about what message these kids SHOULD be getting from watching moms who have had babies and then still gone back to dancing. This is the message I hope I can share with girls, whether they be my own daughters, or my students, or my nieces...
I wished that instead of celebrating how these women had "gotten their dancer bodies back", we could be celebrating the fact that their bodies are capable of creating life and then returning to full dance activity. That these moms have the support of husbands to allow them to experience both the joys of motherhood and still enjoy the passions that filled their lives before having a baby.
I really do feel blessed to have the opportunities I do to continue dancing and even helping to grow a small dance company here. I know I wouldn't be able to do it without Dustin's support (not to mention the sisters and sister-in-laws that babysit for me). I've tried to reduce my time outside the home so I'm only doing my most favorite things right now--so I can have more time to do my most favorite thing, which is spend time with my family. I never really pictured that becoming my most favorite thing, but babies really change your heart. (Husbands do it, too--but for babies, you are irreplaceable. If you aren't mom, no one else is being mom) And I know I'm a lucky girl to "have it all" even if some of it has to be in very small doses.
Yo-ho, yo-ho! The Toddler Life for Me!
Well, we are in full swing with toddler-dom. Corbin now reaches most everything dangerous in our house. I've caught him with kitchen knives twice (Dad has been taught to put them in the sink or far back on the counter). We throw great tantrums getting into the carseat, before most naps, and fairly regularly now for bedtime. We prefer pushing the stroller rather than riding in it (so as to stop and fill the cargo area with all the rocks we find on the ground). And he can destroy the living room (and kitchen, bathroom, and my own bedroom) faster than mom can load the washer.
Ah yes, we are living the toddler life.
There are some fun things, however. I love watching him make new discoveries (the key word there is "watching" as opposed to walking in to the next room to discover the new discovery). Some new discoveries:
• Lifting the toilet seat
• Flushing the toilet (fortunately, we've only made it that far. Aside from a binky which got thrown away after its swim in the white ceramic pool, nothing has been flushed down--as far as I know).
• New words: He can sign "more" and "please" although he isn't always willing to do so. He understands the words "drink"and "eat" for sure, as well as "hug" and "kiss" and we are working on signing "thank you".
• Giving hugs and kisses. Definitely my favorite by far. The first day I realized he understood this, I think I asked for a million hugs.
• "So soft" is something I say when he lays his head on his pillow pet or a blanket or anything soft. So now if I say "so soft" he lays his head on me or whatever I am holding. It's really sweet.
• Rocks. This kid loves rocks. Our neighbors have all rocks (desert landscape) and they are so nice to Corbin. Good thing because I think he steals a handful of rocks each time we walk by. We rarely walk farther than the corner anymore because he could sit and play with their rocks forever.
• Candy. Much to my chagrin he has discovered candy. It seems like kids quickly connect the sound of rustling packaging with delicious sweet treats because Corbin somehow always knows when you are holding candy. And he makes his intense desires known!
Another new development for us has been making new friends. We are so excited to be getting to know neighbors and ward members...finally. It seems like it has taken a long time to get acclimated to our new area, and I was really missing my old ward. But yesterday we met a mom with a boy Corbin's age at a yard sale across from our house. She lives down the street and came over tonight to introduce her husband to us. They are really sweet and I'm glad they live so close.
We also went tonight to visit a couple from our ward who has a baby boy that will turn 1 this month. The wife is from the Philippines so it was fun for Dustin to talk mission areas with her and mission foods, etc. She is a convert to the LDS church and so we will get to teach her new member lessons. I am so excited to be working as a missionary again. I've missed feeling a part of the work (my own fault, right? Many are called but few choose to do the work...)
Corbin loves being with other kids, but tonight I realized that he needs LOTS of wind down time before bed, especially if he's been stimulated by playing with other kids. He had a pretty bad tantrum before bed tonight. I am going to do my best to be home from 4:00 on in the evenings so we can have quiet time before bed. He just seems to do better that way. Sleep is a real battle right now. He's waking up multiple times in the night again, which is really frustrating. But I am praying for patience and I feel like the Lord is blessing me with the help I need.
We also made another discovery today. I call it play-group church. I wish it existed every Sunday, but today was Stake Conference so they had the auxiliary rooms set up for overflow. We checked it out and sure enough, three other young families were in there, toys on the floor, kids wandering the space, Cheerios and books to be shared among all. It was so nice. I heard about half of what was said in the meeting, but it was more than I would have heard wandering the halls with Corbin.
The most interesting thing I noticed, though (interesting for me as Corbin's mom), is that when nap time approached and you could tell that all the kids were needing to go home for naps, where the other kids wanted to be held or cuddled, drink bottles, etc., Corbin seemed to get more and more wild. It was evidence to me of what I read about in my sleep training book. There are different types of personalities which she lists in there, and I had pegged Corbin for a "spirited" boy. People have told me that he seems mellow, so then I questioned it. But in this book, she says that spirited children need more wind-down time before sleeping, and that they are prone to tantrums when they get overtired or over-stimulated. The trick, she says, is to avoid the tantrum by getting them down for naps or bed at the first sign of tiredness. The difficulty for me in that is that I can't tell Corbin is getting tired until he is so wild, I realize he is overtired. He just gets more and more wound up until I'm going nuts, and think, oh wait, he needs to be sleeping. Enter total tantrum...
Oh well, they are only little for a short while in the eternal scheme. I will try to keep remembering that.
Ah yes, we are living the toddler life.
There are some fun things, however. I love watching him make new discoveries (the key word there is "watching" as opposed to walking in to the next room to discover the new discovery). Some new discoveries:
• Lifting the toilet seat
• Flushing the toilet (fortunately, we've only made it that far. Aside from a binky which got thrown away after its swim in the white ceramic pool, nothing has been flushed down--as far as I know).
• New words: He can sign "more" and "please" although he isn't always willing to do so. He understands the words "drink"and "eat" for sure, as well as "hug" and "kiss" and we are working on signing "thank you".
• Giving hugs and kisses. Definitely my favorite by far. The first day I realized he understood this, I think I asked for a million hugs.
• "So soft" is something I say when he lays his head on his pillow pet or a blanket or anything soft. So now if I say "so soft" he lays his head on me or whatever I am holding. It's really sweet.
• Rocks. This kid loves rocks. Our neighbors have all rocks (desert landscape) and they are so nice to Corbin. Good thing because I think he steals a handful of rocks each time we walk by. We rarely walk farther than the corner anymore because he could sit and play with their rocks forever.
• Candy. Much to my chagrin he has discovered candy. It seems like kids quickly connect the sound of rustling packaging with delicious sweet treats because Corbin somehow always knows when you are holding candy. And he makes his intense desires known!
Another new development for us has been making new friends. We are so excited to be getting to know neighbors and ward members...finally. It seems like it has taken a long time to get acclimated to our new area, and I was really missing my old ward. But yesterday we met a mom with a boy Corbin's age at a yard sale across from our house. She lives down the street and came over tonight to introduce her husband to us. They are really sweet and I'm glad they live so close.
We also went tonight to visit a couple from our ward who has a baby boy that will turn 1 this month. The wife is from the Philippines so it was fun for Dustin to talk mission areas with her and mission foods, etc. She is a convert to the LDS church and so we will get to teach her new member lessons. I am so excited to be working as a missionary again. I've missed feeling a part of the work (my own fault, right? Many are called but few choose to do the work...)
Corbin loves being with other kids, but tonight I realized that he needs LOTS of wind down time before bed, especially if he's been stimulated by playing with other kids. He had a pretty bad tantrum before bed tonight. I am going to do my best to be home from 4:00 on in the evenings so we can have quiet time before bed. He just seems to do better that way. Sleep is a real battle right now. He's waking up multiple times in the night again, which is really frustrating. But I am praying for patience and I feel like the Lord is blessing me with the help I need.
We also made another discovery today. I call it play-group church. I wish it existed every Sunday, but today was Stake Conference so they had the auxiliary rooms set up for overflow. We checked it out and sure enough, three other young families were in there, toys on the floor, kids wandering the space, Cheerios and books to be shared among all. It was so nice. I heard about half of what was said in the meeting, but it was more than I would have heard wandering the halls with Corbin.
The most interesting thing I noticed, though (interesting for me as Corbin's mom), is that when nap time approached and you could tell that all the kids were needing to go home for naps, where the other kids wanted to be held or cuddled, drink bottles, etc., Corbin seemed to get more and more wild. It was evidence to me of what I read about in my sleep training book. There are different types of personalities which she lists in there, and I had pegged Corbin for a "spirited" boy. People have told me that he seems mellow, so then I questioned it. But in this book, she says that spirited children need more wind-down time before sleeping, and that they are prone to tantrums when they get overtired or over-stimulated. The trick, she says, is to avoid the tantrum by getting them down for naps or bed at the first sign of tiredness. The difficulty for me in that is that I can't tell Corbin is getting tired until he is so wild, I realize he is overtired. He just gets more and more wound up until I'm going nuts, and think, oh wait, he needs to be sleeping. Enter total tantrum...
Oh well, they are only little for a short while in the eternal scheme. I will try to keep remembering that.
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