Mommin' It Up!

June 24, 2013June 22, 2013

Jonah Wears the (swim) Pants in the Family

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Huggies, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #HuggiesSwimmers http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.”

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that one of my summer survival strategies this year was joining a new pool, and now I’m here to say it was a great decision! Thus far, the extra money we forked out to have room to move and er, swim at the pool has been SO worth it! It is never crowded. We pretty much had the place to ourselves on Monday last week, see?

We are having an amazing time at the pool this summer! The big kids are making friends (despite the fact that there are none present at the pool in the above photo), and Jonah is learning to love the water.

We’re having a blast, but before we leave the pool, I have to endure the arduous process of getting us all ready to go…not my favorite part. It takes me nearly all morning to get us all dressed, sunscreened, and ready to go. And of course, there’s also the packing of the POOL BAG:

One thing that makes our pool-time routine easier is my favorite swim diaper, Huggies Little Swimmers. I’ve been a mom for over nine years and I can honestly say I have never bought another brand. Between great Huggies coupons and sales, they are always the absolute best price. My most recent package of Huggies Little Swimmers came from Target, where I saved an extra $1.50 with this Target printable coupon you can print here. I was able to combine it with a manufacturer’s coupon for even more savings! You know mama likes THAT!! (And you also know that mama does NOT need to have an excuse to go to Target! Wheee!)

Untitled — Found ’em in the diaper aisle, top shelf at Target.

And they work! They keep Jonah’s baby business where it needs to be so EVERYONE at the pool can enjoy swimming with us! And Jonah himself feels quite comfy in his Little Swimmers. I love how they are so easy and quick to get on him so we can get in the water!

He likes to wear them above his swim trunks so everyone knows he's got something special on underneath... — He likes to wear them above his swim trunks so everyone knows he’s got something special on underneath…

I love how easy they are to to take off when he’s had enough swimming for the day. The tear-away sides make removal extra-quick!

sacked out 2 — He’s worn out at the end of every pool day. Being so cute at the pool is hard work!

Huggies Little Swimmers are the swim diaper solution that works for us! So far this summer they’ve already been to the water park, the splash park, and the pool, and next month they are hitting the beach! We can’t wait!
We love our Little Swimmers! Where will you take your baby in them this summer?

June 19, 2013

All the King’s Horses

sad day — This is my “I had a bad day” face.

Yesterday I had a bad day.

Here is what happened:

About 35 minutes into his hour-long therapy session at PACE (the free program through the county), Jonah got mad about having to be all done with a fun activity and having to move on to the next activity, and he threw a giant fit, rendering the next 25 minutes of the session completely useless.

Day ruined.

Jonah’s therapy sessions (he just started last week with Sophie’s former speech language pathologist, the Amazing Miss Kristen!!! so now he goes twice a week) are the most important part of my week. This is because, like I was when Sophie was delayed, I am super, super, super, super, super, SUPER-FOCUSED on Jonah getting past his speech delay. I think about it all the time. I plan times for us to work together at home. In every little thing we do together, I try to figure out how I can apply it to teaching him speech.

But 90 minutes a week, when he is at therapy, I can relax a little bit. Just a little, because obviously I am watching him like a hawk during that time and tucking away notes about how I can apply this or that at home. But for those 90 minutes it’s not my job to teach him. Pressure’s off a little. And usually, he does well and has fun and is adorable and I leave feeling encouraged.

But when he doesn’t, I just cannot recover. I lost something more than 25 minutes yesterday. I lost my ability to function for the next 12 hours. I didn’t get my encouragement, my high, my feeling of progress. I didn’t get any relief, just pressure and doubt heaped on more heavily.

I wish I could shake it off, but I can’t. The rest of my day was a wash. I feel nothing but despair. I hate to be dramatic, but that’s how it is. It’s how it was with Sophie too, but she was so much older when we started therapy that her days of non-cooperation were extremely rare and her progress was always evident.

We’ve only been at this a few months and I’m already tired of it. I would give anything to have Jonah wake up tomorrow and be caught up; to feel like conversing with me instead of only communicating his basic needs and wants. Other people’s kids seem to learn this stuff with no problems; why can’t mine?

I know he’s only two. But I’m 35, and I feel much, much older. And I’m tired of having to be all the things I’m supposed to be instead of just…being.

April 15, 2013

Copycat

jonah swing — This swing was given to us for Joshua’s first birthday. It has served us well. 8 years and counting!

Jonah had a great week last week. We finally had two really warm days where we could play outside (and then it got cold and rainy for two days, of course) and being able to play outdoors made him light up like a candle. Now he goes to the front door each morning and says “outside” and it’s adorable! He’s a persistent little booger, too. On the cold and rainy days he asked me one millllion times (approximately). Fortunately, the facility where he goes for his toddler development class has a fabulous gym that we can use anytime we want during the weekdays!! So Friday we headed over there so he could get some energy out, and we had the whole place to ourselves. We had a great time!

The really wonderful, amazing thing that happened last week is that Jonah finally started repeating words after us. On command. He doesn’t do it every time, but before he pretty much would NEVER say what we asked him to say, and now he will. As a result, his vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds and so have his two-word phrases, because some of the things we have asked him to say, he is now saying on his own. He is finally saying the word “want” and phrases I’ve been trying to get him to say forever like “want grapes”, “want down” – stuff like that. YAY! It’s been very good progress and we’re excited about it. Also, it’s kind of fun to get him to say stuff like “Mommy’s awesome” and “I tooted”.

Mostly, I’m excited that he seems to want to communicate a little better (not that he always wants to cooperate, but more than before for sure) and he really loves it when we clap for him and praise him. I’m hoping this means he is one step closer to being bribed to work with me at home on the iPad. He loves to play his apps and books but he also loves to be in control and not so much go along with what I’m trying to get him to achieve. I’m hoping a good M&M or Skittles bribe will help with that now that he seems more open to learning (don’t be jealous of my parenting skills! He rarely ever gets candy, I swear.)

I can’t wait to see what this next week brings! What do you have planned this week?