We made a trip to Arizona for my sister's baby shower. I decided to get a rooftop carrier, or "car backpack" if you will for several reasons. I had a lot of extra cargo because I was bringing things for the shower, and we were starting out with 6 seats filled, and back with all 7 seats filled.
The main thing I was worried about with the car backpack was that it was going to wack the top of my car the whole way to phoenix, and it would really annoy us, not to mention ruin the top of my car.
We took the trip to Jackie and Mateos house to pick them up and it seemed ok. No noise...now I was worried! How would I know it was up there? Paranoid! Mateo and Connor took the very back seats in the third row, where we set up a TV. They proceeded to decide which characters of Toy Story they would be and acted it out pretty much the entire way there. Jackie was a miracle when it came to Aaron. Every time there was a peep all she would have to do is ask him what was wrong, and she could figure it out, and we were back on our rants of whatever we were talking about. My sister took the front seat, which was good since she got a little sick on the ride both ways.
We only heard the backpack wack a couple of times, and even had Marylou stick her head out of the moonroof to check on it. A small tear formed before the end of the trip, but no bigger than 3 inches, so there was no way anything was sliding out. The only thing it did was sadden me that I just bought the thing and it was already needing to be repaired. Oh well...it made it 600 miles without flying off...I guess it accomplished its goal. I was thinking of writing a review on Amazon about it though.
Overall it was a great trip. Connor spent the entire time at the shower, which was candyland themed. He took ownership of the gumdrop mountains and ate through them as well. Needless to say wired children on the way back were a little harder to manage, but at least it was about an hour quicker.
My grandpa joined us on the way back and we all made it safe and soundly back to Las vegas.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Miracles DO happen!
For some reason the last two days have been blissful, at least when it comes to the boys playing together. They seem to be working together a lot, and Aaron seems to be listening to what Connor wants him to do (which I think is the big breakthrough). Either Aaron is getting better at listening, or Connor realized he has his own personal slave at his fingertips! Connor says jump and Aaron asks how high?
One other parenting breakthrough I had, that I think has helped contribute to this blissfulness came about because I was getting tired of raising my voice to the kids. I kept having to yell to get them to quiet down, and I soon realized that it wasn't really working as well as I wanted, it was just making me sad (and I'm sure the boys too).
Since Connor was 2 I've been using the Corner as a "Time Out" to punish him, which has seemed pretty affective. But lately he has been kicking and screaming in it, and never really calming down, even when he knows how long he has to be there. So this was actually pretty draining, and by the end he wasn't really calmed down.
After doing some research on different discipline techniques I decided to try calling the Corner, the "Cool-down-zone", and instead of dragging him there kicking and screaming, I showed him the comfy spot I made him with a lot of pillows and blankets, and told him that this is the "Cool down zone", whenever he needs a break from Aaron or anything that is bothering him he could go to his cool down zone. I made a separate one for Aaron, so that they know their "Cool Down Zones" are for them alone.
So the first time I had to use it, Connor went there with no objections at all. He sat there for 4 minutes, and came out happy and refreshed! He even said he felt bad about what happened earlier! MIRACLE!
Today he put himself in the "Cool down zone" 3 times (I didn't have to do it at all), and it was really good use of it! He was going to go off on Aaron about something, and he said, "Aaron I need to get away from you, I'm going to the Cool down zone!" Breakthrough.
It's really new, so maybe it's just a fluke thing, but I'm really hoping this will help Connor to be able to calm himself down. I know it won't work 100% of the time - but what does?
One other parenting breakthrough I had, that I think has helped contribute to this blissfulness came about because I was getting tired of raising my voice to the kids. I kept having to yell to get them to quiet down, and I soon realized that it wasn't really working as well as I wanted, it was just making me sad (and I'm sure the boys too).
Since Connor was 2 I've been using the Corner as a "Time Out" to punish him, which has seemed pretty affective. But lately he has been kicking and screaming in it, and never really calming down, even when he knows how long he has to be there. So this was actually pretty draining, and by the end he wasn't really calmed down.
After doing some research on different discipline techniques I decided to try calling the Corner, the "Cool-down-zone", and instead of dragging him there kicking and screaming, I showed him the comfy spot I made him with a lot of pillows and blankets, and told him that this is the "Cool down zone", whenever he needs a break from Aaron or anything that is bothering him he could go to his cool down zone. I made a separate one for Aaron, so that they know their "Cool Down Zones" are for them alone.
So the first time I had to use it, Connor went there with no objections at all. He sat there for 4 minutes, and came out happy and refreshed! He even said he felt bad about what happened earlier! MIRACLE!
Today he put himself in the "Cool down zone" 3 times (I didn't have to do it at all), and it was really good use of it! He was going to go off on Aaron about something, and he said, "Aaron I need to get away from you, I'm going to the Cool down zone!" Breakthrough.
It's really new, so maybe it's just a fluke thing, but I'm really hoping this will help Connor to be able to calm himself down. I know it won't work 100% of the time - but what does?
Monday, August 16, 2010
Cabin Fun
This weekend we made our way back up to the cabin. Brian's parents have a cabin up in Utah, and we try to make it up there as often as we can, especially during the summer. It's so wonderful knowing that Vegas is experiencing a heat wave, and we are at the cabin enjoying the 71 degree mountain air.
Aaron loved the drive, especially since it was during the day and he could see down into the ravine as we drove on the winding road up the mountain to Duck Creek. Quickly both boys would yell, "Don't fall Daddy!" as we drove past steep drop offs.
This trip we had invited our friends Holly and Michael, and they came up with their twin girls Jillian and Juliette, who are about 14 months old. This was their very first overnight trip away from home. They were estatic! My boys enjoyed being around the girls, and from their happy faces I think they had a wonderful time too.
One thing Holly and Michael learned, and I am always reminded of when I go to the cabin, is that being away from home is always slightly harder. The only thing on my side is that the boys get a lot of activity during the day, so bedtime is usually pretty easy. Without routine, a boatload of toys, and being excited about a new place, equals a jammed packed day with no rest for parents. I usually don't realize it until the day is ending, the boys are both screaming from being overtired, and I'm ready to scream because of the same reason!
Still, it is worth it when I see that my boys enjoyed their time. When we came home, Connor burst into tears. I asked him what was wrong and he responded by saying,
"I miss my ATVs!"
Fun weekend achieved!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Heartbroken Frog
Last December Connor received a "tadpole" farm from his Grandparents, which consists of a small frog habitat. Connor was so excited to raise his very own frogs. I decided that it would be a little hard to order the tadpoles, and hopefully raise them to frog-dom (or just didn't matter to him at this age). So I brought Connor to the pet store, and let him pick out some frogs.
We arrived, and there was only one type of Frog to choose from. The fire-bellied toad. The belly was the only cute thing about the Toad, and you NEVER see it. Oh well. Connor was happy. The lady selling me the Frog told me that I should buy two since they are socal, and they will actually sing to eachother when they are happy. Ok, fine, I'll buy two. I can't keep a poor lone frog in a tiny habitat alone. I felt bad for it already.
As time went on, the new-ness wore off, and Connor has all but forgotten about them. They don't even sing to remind us that they are there. But they do seem to stick together.
Unfortunately after a vacation, I had forgotten to replace the small feeding lid to the tank, and one escaped... I told Connor it ran away. So ever since then, which it's been about a month, I think I've only seen our poor frog eat once. I started to think that it might be heartbroken.
We left on Vacation for 10 days, and I had my friend feed him twice in that time, and it didn't eat AT ALL. I know that because meal worms can't swim. Anyway, I decided to take despirate measures and put some crickets in. Maybe this would be the key to breaking his starvation strike. I put one lone cricket in (one that I caught myself in the house since I forgot to pick some up from the store).
You will never believe what happened. He didn't go after the cricket. It's almost like they're buddies. This morning the cricket had jammed himself into a corner, and the frog was right next to him, as if to say, help! My friend is stuck! Now I'm beginning to think that his heart really is broken. He is actually befriending his meal. He has now pretty much stuck by him for a whole day.
I don't know what to do. I feel so bad for our poor little froggie, who has lost his one true love (not to mention what a boring life a cage has to be)! We will see how this new replacement goes...but I don't want to go back and get another. It's the age-old tale of moms getting stuck caring for their kids pets. Hopefully the frog will feel better soon. Otherwise his new home might be the pond nearby.
We arrived, and there was only one type of Frog to choose from. The fire-bellied toad. The belly was the only cute thing about the Toad, and you NEVER see it. Oh well. Connor was happy. The lady selling me the Frog told me that I should buy two since they are socal, and they will actually sing to eachother when they are happy. Ok, fine, I'll buy two. I can't keep a poor lone frog in a tiny habitat alone. I felt bad for it already.
As time went on, the new-ness wore off, and Connor has all but forgotten about them. They don't even sing to remind us that they are there. But they do seem to stick together.
Unfortunately after a vacation, I had forgotten to replace the small feeding lid to the tank, and one escaped... I told Connor it ran away. So ever since then, which it's been about a month, I think I've only seen our poor frog eat once. I started to think that it might be heartbroken.
We left on Vacation for 10 days, and I had my friend feed him twice in that time, and it didn't eat AT ALL. I know that because meal worms can't swim. Anyway, I decided to take despirate measures and put some crickets in. Maybe this would be the key to breaking his starvation strike. I put one lone cricket in (one that I caught myself in the house since I forgot to pick some up from the store).
You will never believe what happened. He didn't go after the cricket. It's almost like they're buddies. This morning the cricket had jammed himself into a corner, and the frog was right next to him, as if to say, help! My friend is stuck! Now I'm beginning to think that his heart really is broken. He is actually befriending his meal. He has now pretty much stuck by him for a whole day.
I don't know what to do. I feel so bad for our poor little froggie, who has lost his one true love (not to mention what a boring life a cage has to be)! We will see how this new replacement goes...but I don't want to go back and get another. It's the age-old tale of moms getting stuck caring for their kids pets. Hopefully the frog will feel better soon. Otherwise his new home might be the pond nearby.
