Following Directions

Lately, Mr C's favorite phrases are, "Can you do me a favor?" and "Hold your horses Mom." I love it. Even though, he is usually saying hold your horses when I ask him to do something. I try to hide my amusement and make him follow through on the request. Then he usually says, "Can you do me a favor? Can you ...?" (whatever I just asked). I don't think so. So, I persist and finally he says, "Fine, Mom!" and does it.

We have been learning that the first 5 years of life should be entirely focused on getting children to follow directions. I think once a child can master this skill, the other desirable behaviors will fall into place. If you wait until they are older to focus on it, then you have a very difficult time getting them to follow through because they start to become bigger than you!

With the use of positive reinforcement and some logical consequences for not following directions, he has been getting better everyday. So, there is hope!

Pertussis??

Little A has gotten his first illness, which has been miserable for the both of us. Not only has he been fussy, but I've had to change my shirt at least three times from him throwing up on me after coughing. We took him to the doctor and ended up getting him tested for Pertussis, which I am a little freaked out about.

For some reason it seems like most babies at risk always seem to be right around 2 months of age, which he currently is right now. Although I was hesitant to put him on antibiotics because I know frequent use can cause resistance and other problems, I finally decided the benefits outweigh the risks.

Sure enough it must have been something bacterial because he started feeling better later that day after the first dose. The day after we went to the doctor the nurse that helped us called to tell me the test results wouldn't be ready until 3-4 days and to start the antibiotic anyways.

I happened to be in the back bedroom and didn't hear my phone ring. Mr C answered and asked her if she wanted to come over to play. Then when she asked to talk to me he told her no and hung up. When she called back a minute later he said, "Why do you keep ringing me?!? Stop Calling!" and then hung up on her.

I was practically in hysterics when she called back an hour later and told me this. The funny part was that right after she had called my husband called and he brought the phone to me this time. Except he didn't know who it was and before handing me the phone he kept saying, "What your name?" He must not have heard him say it was daddy cause he kept asking it over and over getting louder and louder sounding really irritated.

Here I am saying, "Give me the phone please." when finally he said, "Oh, it's daddy." and handed it over. Looks like we'll have to keep our phones out of reach from now on...

Better Sleep

For weeks now, Mr C has just had terrible sleep. We couldn't quite figure out why it had gone down hill so rapidly until speaking to our holistic nurse practitioner.

She said since we had stopped giving him the fish oil (he was refusing the applesauce we had to put it in), the lack of essential fatty acids can cause sleep disturbances.

So, we went to a local herb store and picked up a different type of fish oil that most kids love. It's flavored with mango peach and has a thick creamy texture - all natural of course.

After taking it yesterday for the first time and doing a little acupressure trick the woman at the store recommended, he actually slept through the night for the first time in weeks and slept in!!

Boy, was my husband happy. He has been the one getting up with him since I have been getting up to feed Little A, who by the way sleeps better than Mr C if you can believe it. Little A slept from 11:30 til 5:45 a.m the other night. The straight 6 hours made me feel like a new woman.

So, if your child has sleep problems and isn't taking any omega 3 fish oil supplements. I highly recommend trying it, but we will have to see if this continues...