We are definitely a 21st century family

Here is John opening his Christmas gifts from Grandpa Don and Grandma Indiana "with" them via Skype!

Life's burning questions

For about the past couple months, John's two biggest questions (besides "What?") have been "Are you happy?" and "Are you big?" I think the "big" refers to the idea of being a "big kid" rather than physical size.
Today he moved toward the biggest question yet in our family's short life: "Why?" He asked it on several occasions today, but so far only twice in succession on the same topic.
Over margaritas with friend Kerri tonight, I figured out that the alternate answer to the standby "Because I said so": when I get to the end of my scope in the answers to "Why?" I will answer "Because, chicken fuzz."

Ok, so maybe it's funny only if you've had two margaritas...

Thanksgiving, Finally

I think I am the last in my circle of Mommy-bloggers to post Thanksgiving pics! Oh, well, here they are. Better late than never.
We had a great time in Indy and Louisville!

Uncle David, Cousin KatieJean, and John at Grandma Indiana and Grandpa Don's house.


KatieJean sharing a book with Tony and her Daddy, John's Uncle David.


John and Uncle David playing "Lookout for the ceiling!"


John and Grandpa Mike at the piano.


The Penna Families


John playing with the awesome wooden trucks that Grandpa Mike made.



I've got some video too, I've just got to upload it! Whew!

It worked today, anyway!

John is always a little clingy when we drop him off from school. So today we tried a new technique: pushing mommy out the door. I read about it on a thread about toddlers crying at daycare. I talked to John about it yesterday at dinner, and this morning, he was getting sad as I was getting ready to leave, but I said "It's time to push Mommy out the door," and he did, and I said "Whoooaaa!" and he was laughing when I left. Yay!
Now I just have to deal with my fears that he will want to push other people...

Home

We're home from Thanksgiving again. We had a wonderful time in fellowship with family and friends, even if a large percentage of it was spent in the car! I'll post pictures and activities soon this week (I hope).

John is already moving on to Christmas! We will start putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow after Tony gets home from work. It will sure be a QUICK three weeks until our yule travel!
Fa la la la la, la la la laaaaaaa!

18°

This morning it was 18° when it was time to take Keats for a walk. Here are pictures of all the layers.
I took pity on the kid and didn't make him strip to his undershirt. He also had two pairs of socks and a shoes a size too big to accommodate them.
Who knew it could get this cold in Sunny South Carolina!

Virus number 263

Feiste diagnosed John today with tonsillitis. He had fever all weekend, topping out at 104.2. Called the on-call pediatrician (Nurse Susan) and she said alternate with Motrin and tylenol every 4-6 hours and come in on Monday if he doesn't improve. He didn't, so we went it. Feiste gave us an antibiotic to protect against the virus creating a bacterial condition. John stayed home from school today and will stay home tomorrow (got to be fever free for 24 hours), but hopefully he can go back on Wednesday.

Every time I think I have "it" figured out, there is a new variation... that oughta teach me.

At least I didn't panic this time.

Toddler v. 2.5, appendix

Here are the things that Tony and I have learned are immediate triggers:
Putting the spoon into his bowl of cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt
Not filling up the sippy cup to the top
Unzipping his jacket
Helping him climb out of the car
Helping him climb up or down from the changing table
Helping him climb in or out of the bathtub

There are, of course, hundreds of other incidents each day, but they are less regular and predictable.

Here are the things he is practicing the most right now:
Take off and put on his pants
Take off his socks
Take off his shoes
Wash himself in the tub
Clean the table after he has eaten

Toddler v. 2.5

Well, we are in the REAL terrible twos. It started this past weekend.

According to an article in "Parents" magazine, toddler mood swings enter the "rough patches" at the half-year. John is not quite at the half-birthday stage (Dec 23), but he is definitely "bossy, demanding, and indecisive," which apparently comes with being 2 and a half. He wants to do EVERYTHING himself, and if he can't do it, he cries. If we help, he cries. If something is the wrong color or size, or isn't full enough, he cries. We are in meltdown city. There is very little in-between, everything is tra-la-la fine, and then BOOM, tears and yelling and lashing out. We have genuine, directed temper tantrums, with hitting and throwing things. It's definitely a phase, I just hope we are able to develop effective management techniques before the holidays!

Our best method right now is to immediately remove him from the trigger situation when it starts to break down, and either let him calm down on his own or sit with him while he calms down. We encourage him to use words, and he always ends up calming down (after 1 to 10 minutes) and clearly articulating what he wants. It's just a long road between those two points. Once he starts the calming down process, he is very good at stating his regaining of control, "I'm calm"; expressing remorse, "I'm sorry I throw my bowl"; and expressing his desire, "I'm ready for my yogurt now."

The journey into the meltdown is rough, but coming out into the sun is always sweet...

Our son, the comedian

I asked John if he wanted peanut butter and jelly in his lunch today and he said "No."
I said "What do you want?"
And he said "I want jelly and peanut butter," then cracked a big grin.
It doesn't sound as funny here as it did this morning, but I guess you had to be there.

(The pictures don't have anything to do with the story. This is the pumpkin John and Pa carved together last week.)

Halloween

We had many Halloween events last week, but I didn't get pictures of many of them. Here's John in his costume, just so that everyone can see... It was lovingly (and skillfully) fashioned by Pa (Grandpa John).






It was hard to convince John to wear the "head," but once he understood that people would give him candy if he wore it, he was sold!
We went to the Pendleton "Trunk or Treat," (trick-or-treating out of the backs of cars on the town square in Pendleton (we went out of costume, this was our "practice event."
Wednesday was Halloween at our friends' church, Fort Hill Presbyterian. Chik-fil-dinner, a costume parade, then games in the church basement. Very fun.
Friday was trick-or-treating with his school class at the business offices and library at Southern Wesleyan University; trick-or-treating on "Main Street" in downtown Clemson (obligatory fire truck present!); and Friday night was trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. We only went to about 4 houses, because it was late and mommy was tired!
Overall, a fun Halloween week! And now there is WAY too much chocolate in the house!

Pendleton Fall Festival

The little town of Pendleton, just southeast of Clemson, has a really nice small town square they call the "Village Green," and they LOVE to hold events there. We went to the tenth annual Fall Harvest Festival there a couple weeks ago.
There were the usual arts and crafts booths, local insurance companies, fundraising tents selling cookies and hotdogs, and fried foods trailers that show up at every carnival.
They also had a "Bubba Bake-Off," featuring cakes (seven, I think) by local men; representatives from the Carolina Raptor Center (CRC), bluegrass music, and honest-to-gosh sack races and three-legged races...

John's favorites were the birds. CRC returns injured and sick birds to the wild and cares for birds that cannot be re-released. There was a golden eagle, a red-tailed hawk, a barred owl, and a small barn owl, with just one eye.



John and Tony checked out the Bubba Bake Off. John loves cake.


He also liked just hanging out with the nearby trees.


And also, hanging out with DADDY!!

Thunderhoof!

This is John reciting the first part of one of our favorite stories: Syd Hoff's "Thunderhoof."
Here are the words (to make it easier for you to follow along):

[Way out West,] one great horse still ran wild.
His name was Thunderhoof.
Cowboys tried to catch him, be he ran too fast for them.
If they got a rope around his neck, he shook it off...

Then he loses track and starts to work on being cute!

Debate

Tony and I have compatible parenting styles, very similar on the big issues, in theory anyway. But often on the little techniques of day to day, he sometimes is unsure about my methods for interacting with John.
I think one of those that he is not particularly fond of is the counting technique: "I'm going to count to five, and if you are not climbing into your car seat by then, I'm going to put you in it." It's crude, I agree, but it gets John's attention, gives him a clear amount of time to make the decision and begin to execute it, and expresses what the consequences will be if he doesn't do it. It also gives me one more chance to give him one more chance, but still have a clear end to whatever the battle, I mean task, is...

Do you use the counting technique? How often? Does it work? Does your partner use it too?

Filler pics

I am several events behind in updating the blog and am kind of "behind in life" right now, so here are some random pictures to tide you over...

Day Out with Thomas, Part 4

Here is an picture of us riding the turntable outside the Round House.


In order to avoid the line for pictures with Thomas, I got the bright idea to have Tony and John to stand next to the track when Thomas was puffing by. Tony saw the flaw in this before I did...




We did end up standing in the line, and just made it before Thomas was about to depart, but John would not look at the photographer, so I took this one on the run as we fled the scene.


Then we started to focus on the other celebrity at the event: BOB!




It was a big day!


He perked up on the way home!

Here are the words of the verse, to help you follow along:
Scoop, Muck, and Dizzy, and Roley too.
Lofty and Wendy join the crew.
Pilchard and Bird, Travis and Spud,
Working together like good friends should!

Day Out with Thomas, Part 3

Obligatory fire truck: I had no idea that having a child was so tied up with fire trucks!!


I just think this picture is funny. Plus, I'm in it!


We sighted Sir Topham Hatt posing with his fans, but did not approach him.


John liked the typical groundskeeper ATV.


I liked the user-friendly diaper changing area!


(I tried to NOT get any of the people in this shot, that's why it's framed so badly!)


Here's Mommy showing John how to get a tattoo. (John picked out Thomas's friend Emily for me.)


We then went into the Round House, which is where most of the activities were.


John liked playing with the small Thomas tables. They had three.


They had a Lego Thomas.


They had a working miniature train set up. One of the trains was full of construction machines! Perfect!


This is also where they had the majority of the museum displays, including a working train shop. They had lots and lots of bays for fixing working trains. We walked past these on our trek to the bathroom!