Dawson is doing great! We had his IEP meeting in November, and they had great things to say about him. He's having none of the behavior issues he had last year. All of his goals and things he wasn't getting at the end of the year, we worked on all summer, and he now has them mastered. Rhyming was a big one. They cut his para support hours in half, because he just doesn't need it. He has become very independent, he just needs some help getting started, and then he gets all his work done. He understands the work, much of it is still stuff he already knows. He's also very interested in learning, and comes home with questions about phrases, words and meanings, and other things. We also get corrected. He had a shirt with a spider on it, and he asked me why he has a spider on his shirt. I told him they wanted to make an animal shirt, so they put a spider on it. He said "No mom, it's an INSECT shirt!". He loves playing Mario on the Wii, and watching Curious George in his free time.
A painting Dawson brought home from school! I was impressed.
They had a binder of these to look at during conferences. I thought it was so sweet that Dawson put down Gabriel as his friend. :)
Gabriel, who has been my sweet, easy-going child, seems to have flipped a switch. He's 2 1/2 now, and throwing tantrums about everything. Pulling hair, hitting, biting, scratching. Fighting bedtime for hours, which has never been an issue. This kid used to be so easy! I'd say goodnight and he'd walk himself to bed. He's also fighting mealtimes, even though he's hungry and loves what we're having. He's just being so blatantly stubborn, it's so frustrating. I know it's just a phase, it will end. Hopefully soon. Those 3's are tough though, so I'm bracing myself!
Doesn't help that I'm still having hormone issues. They were crazy during my pregnancy, and they haven't leveled out at all. I still have a super short fuse, and get irritable so fast. Not a good mix. I'm going to ask my OB if there's something to help with that, because it's getting difficult to deal with. Almost worse than it was when she was born. I was fine for a couple months, but it's gotten worse again. Very frustrating. So my patience is not holding up with the tantrums, and it's just not a great mix. This month was a hard one as well. Last year I was find once the anniversary passed. This year it took a couple extra weeks to climb out of that black hole of depression and feel somewhat normal again. Now I'm feeling ok, other than the raging hormones. It's been fun doing some Christmas shopping.
Dawson had the week off school, so that doesn't help with the patience. It's been stretched more than usual this week! He was great for about half the week, and then he started having issues. He doesn't do well being off routine for very long. We went to The Works museum on Monday, which was very fun. Basic science concepts, both boys loved it. Tuesday we went to Bounce Adventure, a bouncy house place. Wednesday we went to the Rainbow play systems place. They have 6 indoor playgrounds set up, and a trampoline. So we were able to go wear off some energy most days of the week, and they loved it. Thursday we went to my mom's house for Thanksgiving. Friday and the weekend we mostly stayed home. Today (Sunday), we did get groceries and the boys and I got haircuts. I'm looking forward to getting back into routine though.
Napping in the swing
She likes sitting on the couch, watching her brothers
Our group at The Works museum. Minus Dawson, he was off playing.
This harp was played with sensor lights around the frame. Was really neat!
Watching water go up the tube as he turned it
The boys both loved this racing ramp.
Donated my hair today! As you can see (mostly) in the last pic, my hair was down to my butt. They were going to take 10 inches, but ended up taking more. It's several inches shorter than what she said it would be. It felt much shorter than this at first, but I'm getting used to it. I had Dawson take this pic. It looks longer than it feels! It's always weird getting used to it shorter. I donated it every 1-2 years usually, but since I started coloring it in 2011, I couldn't. They recently changed the rules though, and they do accept colored hair. That was my one thing I was holding off coloring it for, so now I don't feel as guilty. :)
Charlotte on Thanksgiving. My mom had fun dressing her up after she got her last outfit all wet.
Cousins!
The boys being silly. They switched car seats after we got home, they thought they were quite hilarious.
Dawson had lots of fun playing Mario with a friend this week. He's been really wanting someone to play 2 player with him. Other than me. Friends are more fun.
Gabriel is having growing pains again. He's been to the chiropractor 3 times in 10 days, and he's getting more loosened up, but still not quite there. He was really having a hard time the other night. Screaming in pain, stumbling. I had to give him pain meds and do some stretches with him, then he was better and fell asleep. He fell asleep on this bench, but woke up crying a few times, and it took another dose once I put him to bed for him to get through it. The last couple days have been much better. He has grown so much, he went up another pants size. The dr said last time that he was surprised at how much he's been growing, it's not the usual pace for a 2 year old. Poor kiddo! I feel so helpless when he's screaming in pain.
Charlotte enjoying the jumperoo at Bounce Adventure, while the boys played on the bouncy houses. She was amused by the toys.
Monthly car seat picture. She decided to ham it up and give a smile. :)
Still plenty of growing room, thankfully! Thankful I got this seat, so she'd get through the winter all snug and warm. It goes up to 35 pounds too, so we should be good. In theory. ;)
Monthly comparisons
Gabriel has been running out of his room every night, so I finally put up this gate tonight. I got rid of our doorway baby gates, because he was such an awesome, easy kid! I didn't figure I'd need them anymore. He can open the door, even with door knob covers. They don't even slow him down. The gate sure does though!
Some emotional things coming up, with our 3rd Christmas without Tyler, and also Charlotte's 4 month well baby checkup. Always stressful, that was the appt Tyler was diagnosed at. It's a bit irrational, since the chances of it being at the same time would be so slim. It's just a milestone, even though every well child check is almost as stressful for the same reason. Hoping Christmas will go well, I'm actually excited for some things this year, so I'm hopeful that it will be a good holiday. I'm casually picking up gifts here and there, I'm nearly done. We try to keep holidays as stress-free as possible. We don't really spend a ton, but sometimes we will get a bigger family gift. We don't do Santa, we only do a few gifts each, and we mostly focus on family. I'm actually looking forward to decorating the tree. Last year we got the tree up, it had lights, but that was it. I had no motivation to do any more. Hoping this year we will be able to get more into it.
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