5 Months

Another month and lots of changes. Robin is now 5 months old.

Robin loves the baby in the mirror.  He lights up whenever he sees him.  Robin also loves jumping, being outside, and hanging by his hands like a monkey.  He screeches when he is happy and full of energy.  It sounds like a cross between a hawk and a velociraptor.  Robin also has lots of giggles, especially when tickled, nuzzled, or when you say "a-goo" or do a fake sneeze.  He just started blowing raspberries this past week.

Robin is still a petite little man compared to his siblings as babies.  He wears mostly 3-6 months jammies and onesies (and a couple of large 0-3 month ones) and 0-3 month pants.  I think he will be solidly into the 3-6 month sizes soon.  Robin is taking after his siblings in the dental department and getting teeth early.  He is currently cutting two teeth.  This means lots and lots of soaking himself and others in drool.  It also means some painful nursing experiences while he figures it out.  Those suckers are serrated and sharp!

He constantly gnaws on his hands, although he finds mine rather satisfying too.

I made the mistake of looking up what babies should be able to do at 5 months.  It says babies should be "perfecting" rolling over. Uhhh. Robin is not even close to doing this so I am now making a more conscious effort to give him lots of floor time and ample time to practice.  Rolling over is the only milestone he is not meeting so I'm not too worried.

getting in a little tummy time

I started back tutoring at the beginning of February.  While it's great in a lot of ways, it means Robin now gets to take a bottle at least once a week.  He didn't mind it the first time, but has since voiced strong objections.

Being third child means he gets schlepped around instead of the schedule being around his needs.  He got to do his natural schedule this weekend and I was a little shocked to see where things landed.  Given his way, he would have three naps (that completely conflict with the preschool pick up and drop off schedule) instead of four.  His eating scheduling is moving towards one conducive to solid foods (haven't introduced yet).  He sleeps about 12 hours at night, but usually wakes up three times to eat.  I'm hopeful this will improve once he starts solids.  Mama needs more sleep.

Lest I forget.  Robin still adores his siblings.  They love playing with him when he is in the jumper.

It was a little weird at first to step back into the world of babies, but I really am loving it.  Nothing makes me happier than snuggling my baby.  Luckily, Robin seems to agree.

From the Mouths of Babes in February

(Eileen starts suddenly crying)
Me:  What's wrong?  I don't understand.  Why are you crying?
Eileen:  I. Don't. Know. (sob sob sob)

Eileen:  We're being ninjas.  I hate being vampires.  They are too wiggly.

Linus:  I saw a cat burglar.
Me: What? Where?
Linus:  Right here.  He just disappeared into the darkness.

Linus:  This is me nursing Robin.  (showing a friend a picture of him bottle feeding Robin)

Dave:  Can I read to you tonight?
Eileen: No! You read it the wrong way!

Some more pics.

"nursing" Robin

100 pieces and no help!

Gutter Ball

Another rainy weekend in Seattle.  Robin is getting older and we are all getting a little antsy with how little we seem to leave the house these days (compared to our former lives).  Dave planted the idea of bowling in Linus' head.  Linus bombarded me as soon as I came down the stairs Saturday morning. 

A quick Google search led us to our morning destination --West Seattle Bowl.  We managed to get everyone dressed, fed, with teeth brushed in under 45 minutes.  It's amazing how fast young ones can move when motivated.

I am no bowling pro by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I can proudly state I one time did manage to bowl a turkey (3 strikes in a row--boo yah!).  I dominate Dave at Wii bowling, but that isn't really saying much. 

ready for a little bowling with babies

There have apparently been some technological advances in the world of bowling with kids.  Gone are the days of tubes as bumpers.  I was kind of excited to bowl with bumpers, pad my score a little.  The guy at the counter entered our names for us and apparently that only the first two bowlers were kids.  When I went to bowl the first time,  the bumpers suddenly lifted up. Doh. 

This is maybe the only time he bowled this way.  His preferred method was more of a shot put throw.  He landed between the gutter and the bumper multiple times.

assuming the position

My first time up I bowled a strike.  Sadly, it was not an omen of good things to come.  I bowled my lowest score since grade school.  It was bad.  I barely beat Eileen.  Dave fared slightly better, Linus not so much.  After our first game we noticed another lane with young children had a crazy contraption that lets you line up the shot and give the ball some speed.  This was good because Eileen's ball was clocking a speed of 1.3 mi/hour.  I was a little nervous.  Competing against that contraption and the bumpers meant I was really going to have to up my game.

The contraption

We all played a little better.  The scores were spread about the same with Dave in the lead, myself, Eileen, and then poor Linus.  I assured Linus that he was still a better bowler than his Aunt Sally and that made him feel a little better.

Robin found bowling to be less than thrilling, but did enjoy all the white noise.

Despite an embarrassing amount of gutter balls, bowling was pretty fun.  Lots of high fives, celebratory dances, stylish shoes, and good family time.

Feeding Young Padawans

Padawan: An apprentice who undergoes intensive training under a learned Jedi Knight. In many cases, the apprentice is referred to as a young padawan. 

The Jedi Council had reservations about letting Anakin Skywalker become a padawan, but Obi-Wan took him on as a student and we all know how that turned out... But I digress.  Every once in a while I manage to do something that briefly makes me the "fun" parent.  I would like to think that today was one of those days.

Last week while perusing the shelves at our local library, Linus noticed a Star Wars cookbook.  I agreed to check it out.  I then had a light bulb moment.  Why not have a Star Wars meal?  It's what every young Jedi needs as a part of a rigorous training regimen.  I own the Star Wars pancake molds from Williams Sonoma.  They are fun, but a pain to use.  Linus and I perused the cookbook.

We carefully selected a menu:
Tie Fighters
The Force Fruit Salad
Bossk Bounty Hunter brownies with white chocolate chips.

Linus and I baked the brownies (from scratch!) while Eileen was at preschool and Robin napped.  Linus then set about decorating the table while waiting for the brownies to bake.  He took it very seriously.

Dave made it home in time to join us and wisely suggested using the Star Wars grace. 

Star Wars grace

"May the Lord be with you!"
(to the tune of Star Wars theme)
"We are all here to eat God's good food, God's good food, as one." (bang bang bang) Repeat. Then in best Vader voice:
"____________ God is your father. Amen."

Bossk Bounty Hunter brownies

The Force fruit salad

Tie Fighters, served with ketchup and mustard

The meal wasn't too shabby and really very simple. My young padawans are very difficult to please.  They enjoyed the theme more than the food.  The brownies would be improved by being served warm with vanilla ice cream. I had to improvise a little.  I misread what became fruit salad (it was originally supposed to be a fruit leather) and I used pizza dough instead of breadsticks for the tie fighters.  I foresee more theme dinners in my future.  Eileen is now requesting a princess dinner.  Linus is already making plans for our next Star Wars meal.  Boba Fetta-chini anyone?

Jump Around

If there is one thing I have observed, it is that most babies love jumping.  My babies have been no exception.  Since it was a cold, wet, long weekend,  we decided to introduce Robin to the wonderful world of jumping.

Robin thought the idea of standing was pretty great.

The kids were super excited for him to be in the jumper, maybe a little too excited.  It got a little overwhelming at points, like when they crawled around him on all four mooing.

It only took two days for Robin to master jumping.  I think he is already better than Linus and Eileen ever got.

Now I just need to convince him that playing on the floor is fun and that rolling over is the bees knees.

In other news, it was rainy so of course we played games.

Unable to sneak away from the kids, I asked Dave to pick up some candy hearts and small toy(like under $5) for each kid on Valentine's Day.  I guess I should have been more specific.  He came home with a Wii mini.  To be fair, our Wii has been broken for months and he did bring me a beautiful bouquet.  The kids have found their new favorite activity.  They haven't figured out how to play without constantly jumping.  It is only a matter of time before Linus breaks the tv from moving too close.  It is nice that we now have another way for Linus to burn off some energy on these dark and stormy days.

Yah, that's right.  My baby can rock a pink diaper.

4 Months

Baby Robin is 4 months old and remains the cutest baby on the planet (no offense meant to cousin Gwen).  I don't know if I have ever met a more joyous child.

While still my smallest baby of the three, Robin is quickly working on growing.  I just broke out the 3-6 months clothes this past week (still in 0-3 pants for the most part).  Today at the doctor he got his stats and four shots (he was not a fan).

Length: 24.5 inches  14.5%                Weight:  14 pounds 1 ounce  16%
Head Circumference:  42.5 cm  70%

So we can put on Robin's dating profile that he is height/weight proportionate with a big head because he is so smart.

Robin is getting very strong.  He loves to wrestle with his siblings.  He just started giggling which I love.  Robin has a smile for pretty much anyone. He is teething like crazy, causing him to develop zombie-like tendencies.  Nothing is better to him than human flesh in his mouth.  The teething causes buckets of drool.  I don't think I have met a droolier baby since my nephew, Julian, aka Droolian.  My shirts are frequently soaked.

Robin likes it when Eileen piles toys on him.  So many toys, so little time.

Robin has commandeered Eileen's baby doll, Clementine, as his own.  This might have something to do with his strong desire for human flesh.  She is his favorite when he can't find a living and willing victim.

My days are better with Robin in them.  I can't help but beam from ear to ear every time I look at him. I am a lucky woman.

3 awesome kids

my boys

Revisit, Revise

If I have learned anything these past five years, it is that parenting is a work in progress.  A few months ago I wrote a post called Reining in a Tyrant.  It was all about curbing many of a certain little boy's undesirable behaviors.  The plan worked well.  When we followed it, things went smoother.  But kids get older and life changes.

Eileen has started actually watching television and movies, although she still often leaves part way through.  Linus, being highly incorrigible, has learned to game the system.  In addition to earning his screen time, he will frequently offer Eileen to watch one of her favorite shows as long as it isn't Dora.  Recently Linus has been offering me the option to pick a show for viewing. 

Another change has been the introduction of Minecraft.  I personally do not understand the appeal of this game at all.  Linus now will use his screen time for Minecraft to the exclusion of all other shows.  When this sort of focus happens, bad behaviors like not listening, screaming, talking back, and growling return.  I dislike the idea that my five year old will play a video game for hours on end without a break.  I want to curb this bad habit before it takes hold too firmly.

Last night I decided it was time to revisit how we allot screen time.  The 2 hours that Linus gets plus what he eeks out through other people's viewing choices and the exhaustion of his parents early in the morning has meant he frequently gets well over two hours of screen time everyday.  No good.  I knew Linus was not going to be a big fan of changes that involved him getting less screen time, particularly less Minecraft.

I share this because I like reading about how real people actually handle their children's behavior and not just what a child behaviorist recommends in a book (not that they never have anything useful to say).  What works for us might not work for someone else.

The new and improved screen time plan:
Instead of earning 30 minute increments at a time, a total of one hour can be earned by each child if all requirements are met.

Linus: 
complete 2 workbook pages or other learning activity
read with an adult
play with Eileen (Linus asked to get rid of this requirement which only told me it was probably the most important.)
get dressed
put dirty clothes in hamper
brush teeth
make bed
dust bust/sweep under dining room table

The big change is that Minecraft becomes a once a week opportunity on the weekends.  Linus prefers to play Minecraft when Dave is around so this will work well while Eileen naps. 

Eileen:  Yes, Eileen gets to join the big girl world of responsibilities.
complete 1 workbook page or learning activity
read with an adult
get dressed
put dirty clothes in hamper
brush teeth
make bed
fold and put away wash clothes and dish towels

Linus cried this morning when we broke the news to him about Minecraft.  He was more upset by that than the loss of an hour of screen time.  He was pleased that Eileen now had to earn her screen time as well.  Eileen liked the idea of earning screen time, but questioned her ability to fold and put away laundry of any sort.  I firmly believe she can handle this.

Hopefully, these changes will work well for awhile or at least until summer.  I know we will be revisiting the subject again.