day four

Day four of The Chart and so far, so good. Dylan has been much more positive, helpful and brotherly. He's so motivated to earn points to play Wii. On average, he's earning about 10 points a day, which in turn gets him 30 minutes of Wii after dinner. However, last night, he chose to save up his points to puts towards a playdate tomorrow when his friend comes over. He wants to be able to play longer than 30 minutes, so I like that he figured out how to bank his points towards more time. He's really stopping to think about what he can do to help me, help Logan and earn another point. I'm loving it.

In turn, Logan's behavior has been more pleasant these last few days, too. When he can mellow out a bit, he's such fun and so darn sweet. Today he told me "I'm good boy mom".

Had a girls night out last night. Ahhhh, always so nice to share some good adult conversation with some of my favorite girlfriends. We went to Jackson's Mighty Fine Food and Lucky Lounge, and it was delicious.

Its 58 degrees and raining on and off here, and I'm secretly hoping soccer practice will be cancelled tonight. Who will go home on Idol tonight? I have a feeling it will be Matt Giraud. The other four contestants are all fantastic, and all so different from each other, and I wish they could all win. I think Adam might take the cake this year though.

earning his keep

I've been venting about Logan's behavior a lot lately, and I haven't given Dylan equal air time even though he's been just as challenging at certain times. Whoever said parenting is full time work was certainly not kidding. Somedays I'm ready to go to bed by 2 p.m.

Dylan just turned six. Now I don't know if this behavior is a normal six thing, or if its also paired with having a challenging younger brother who demands a lot of our attention. But we've been seeing some sibling rivalry like never before over these past couple of months. The good news is, Dylan is a pleaser. He usually does very well when he knows his good behavior will be recognized and praised. He's also totally old enough to be held responsible for his actions, and completely knows the difference between right and wrong (something we're still working on with Logan).

I was lamenting about the woes of this recent naughty behavior to my beloved New Jersey cousin, K, this weekend. K is also a teacher, with two sons of her own. She had the brilliant idea of implementing a reward chart for Dylan. As I've talked about many times here before, Dylan's favorite thing in the whole world is Wii. And we find ourselves constantly taking it away from him when he acts up. So the idea behind the chart was to make him do good things to earn time to play Wii or computer games. Fantastic! Instead of using the Wii for negative reinforcement (a cycle we've gotten stuck in), turn it into a priviledge earned for good behavior.

So we sat down this afternoon with Dylan, and developed a list of 10 things he can do to earn points toward playing Wii. The 10 things are a combination of behavioral and chores to help us, and he totally contributed to the ideas. Behaviorally, the goal is to get him to help Logan more often instead of doing things that result in Logan crying. We also put one on there about trying new foods, since this is an area we constantly struggle with him.

All day, he's been by my side asking what he can do next to earn another point. Once he gets 10 points (and he writes down the tally himself), he earns 30 minutes of whatever Wii game he wants. The 10 items on the chart are the things he should always do, but he can also seek out other things to help me (like today I washed all of our sheets and he helped me remake all the beds, thus earning a point). Also, if he is bad or doesn't listen, he gets a point taken away, putting Wii further away.

I'm totally excited about this new little system, and so is Dylan. And, he tried grilled swordfish and polenta for dinner! I'll report back in later this week with our progress.

hey batta batta...

Yesterday, on the freakishly hottest day of the year so far, we headed out for a little family fun at the local (well, not too far) minor league baseball park. Dylan participated in a literacy program at school last month. He read enough books to receive a free ticket to the game, and also march in a pre-game parade. We'd never been to this stadium before, and it was pleasantly small, kid-friendly and full of other kid activities for the Restless One. We splurged on the $9 seats and were four rows from the field. However, had I known how ass-cooking hot it was going to be, I'd have bought the cheap seats in the shade. We ended up moving up to those seats anyway, because our boys befriended two other little boys, and the four of them jabbered and giggled and pretty much disregarded the fact that baseball was even being played. We left early since we were all melting, thirsty (have you ever noticed all snacks sold at sporting events are chock full of salt and designed to make you buy more $4 waters?), and Logan was in desperate need of a car nap. Still, the school parade was very cute and Dylan's favorite part of the game was the musical interludes between the plays.

step right up...

At our local burrito place, they a have a wheel you can spin to win prizes - a free taco, a brownie... I feel like we need a wheel at our house that I can spin each morning to tell me what mood Logan will be in that day. Demanding something different every five seconds! Sweet and lovable! Nothing will make me happy today! I will be a good listener! I promise not to torture my brother every five seconds! If you look at me wrong, I'm going to throw myself on the floor and scream bloody murder for at least 45 minutes! Full of hugs!

Well, after a good nights' sleep last night, and making sure he ate a healthy breakfast, our Little Jekyll and Hyde man has made a turnaround so far today. His speech class was cancelled this morning, and its a gorgeous day. So after we waved goodbye to Dylan getting on the bus, we were off to the park for some quality time together. We packed a lunch, and joined the other bazillion people at our fabulous local playground for some good stick finding and ladder climbing. And other than a little skinned knee along the way, he was super sweet giving me lots of "kissy poos" and "gig hugs".

I hope the clicker on the spinning the wheel will land on something good again tomorrow morning. Dylan has soccer early, and then we're all heading to a Keys baseball game for the day!

Logan Arithmetic

There is not a big enough bottle of Motrin to dissipate the headaches this day has brought so far. Here is the Logan Arithmetic:

• 1 meltdown over riding scooter to bus stop
• 6 episodes of screaming at me in Target about wanting to get out of the cart to run around and me not buying him any candy or a giant box of Fruit Loops
• 5 time-outs in Target and 1 time out in the car in parking lot
• 25 meltdowns face down on the floor so far today at home over not being allowed candy, brother picking on him, the sky not being blue enough, wanting his hair combed, not wanting his hair combed, refusing to take a nap and not being allowed to watch TV, falling down and not wanting to go back to the bus stop to pick up Dylan, it being too windy and did I mention, not being allowed candy?

And, just for good measure, trying to change a flood light only to have the bulb come apart and the metal socket become disconnected inside the light fixture. Woo Hoo!

In all seriousness, Logan's behavior has taken a sudden dive and is more extreme than usual lately. He's either one of two things: one top of the world ecstatic, or tantruming like his life depends on it. There's no living in the middle for him. And as a result, I've been found more than once sticking my head inside the oven upon Andrew's return home from work. If anyone has a free plane ticket to a lush, tropical kid-free island, I'll be your best friend forever.

yummy bunny

While perusing the aisles at Target today, these caught my eye. And I thought, why not? I've been doing pretty good with this whole healthy eating thing so far. Plus they're low in cholesterol, they have probiotics, and heck, they even have 3 grams of fiber. Not many desserts can make that claim. Now, 8 grams of fat isn't exactly 'diet' material, but as a special splurge at the end of a long day in the mommyhood, a girl deserves a little somethin' something' now and then, right?

So of course, I had to taste test one this afternoon in order to be able to share my opinion. Now, I'm a sucker for white chocolate, and even though this is really yogurt, you could have fooled me. And the rasberry frozen yogurt is so creamy and delicious. These also come in a double strawberry flavor, we'll have to try those next (twist my arm). In a nutshell - YUM. And 8 in a box for $3.99. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Big School, Little School

There's always so much going on with school, I thought I'd do a post just about the latest academic happenings around here.

First, Dylan got his Third Quarter report card today and I'm so proud of him. He's doing so well, and his teacher even commented that his fine motor skills have come so far this year. They are currently learning about seeds and growing, and its been fun seeing all projects he brings home. The one area he still struggles with is completing his work on time, its an on-going area we work on. I'm working on some things for Staff Appreciation Week at his school in a couple of weeks, and they're holding a Grandparents Day in May where the kids will perform some songs and then they all get to eat snack together. Grandma Lynn is very excited to attend. The kindergarten classes are putting on a concert later in May to welcome the incoming kindergarteners. We attended last year, and it was very sweet and well done. Also later in May, he'll be taking a field trip to see the play If You Give A Pig A Pancake. Either Andrew or I will chaperone, so that should be a lot of fun and I'm sure whoever goes will need several Motrin by the end of that bus ride.

I've been at Dylan's school a lot lately because Logan recently started his new speech therapy sessions there. He has a new speech therapy teacher, and he took to her right away. He goes twice a week for 30 minutes. While he's in class, I've been walking the track trying to get some exercise. So far its all going really well, and his language, coincidentally, is really exploding again right now. We're getting lots of full sentences and new words. Of course, all this new language also means I'm hearing a lot of "No Mom, I won't!" and "Give it back, that's mine!". We'll take the good with the bad I suppose.

letting the good times roll

Dylan wanted a bowling birthday party this year, and I have to say it was really fun! The only tricky part was figuring out the guest list. He wanted mainly friends from school and that meant not being able to include other friends he's known since he was a baby. So it was a little different this year. But it was really fun to see all the kids different bowling techniques. We had a "Fred Flinstone" bowler, a couple of slow rollers, a couple "between the legs" bowlers, and then there was Dylan falling all over the lane as he hurled the ball towards the pins. I meant to take a group shot of all the kids and in the excitement, just completely forgot. But here are a few snapshots of the day..

Happy 6th Birthday to 'The Big Lopresti'!


'The Little Lopresti' and the Papa Lopresti

Guess who didn't exactly enjoy waiting for his turn? Although he turned out to have the highest score of the day, a 78. A born competitor.

Skater boy yummy vanilla cake.

I don't know what they were laughing about, but I love this picture.

Happy Birthday Dylan, I hope it was a great one!

a probiotic a day...

In my new quest to live more healthfully, I've been reading articles, food labels, shopping smarter and I even attended a lecture this week given by a nutritionist. She spoke about how kids behavior is directly linked to nutrition, and it was fascinating. I have two very picky eaters, and through the years, their (and all of our) eating habits have become less than healthy at times. I admit to terrbile habits, such as bribing Logan thru errands with some Starburst, letting my kids eat Toaster Strudels for breakfast on occasion, and buying that crappy sugar filled kids yogurt. But I'll also say my kids do eat and enjoy some healthy things, such as almost all fruits, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, hummus, and fruit smoothies. Maybe all is not lost.

My boys eat lots of fruits, lots of dairy, very few vegetables, some protein but not enough, and lots and lots of carbs. Its my goal to get us all back on track. I'm making some subtle changes to the boys diets without them even noticing. We've always done whole grain bread, but I've now also switched to whole wheat tortillas for their beloved quesadillas. They won't eat fish, and I do give them an Omega-3 supplement, but I'm not giving up on the fish. Andrew and I are eating more and more fish, and with grilling season here, I'm convinced we can find some recipes that will entice the boys, especially if we add some fruit salsa on top. I'm also really cutting back on the amount of sweets/junk and processed foods they both consume. Logan, especially, just asks for sugar all the time. If its not in the house, he will stop asking for it. Right now his snacks choices on the snack shelf are: dried apricots and cranberries and raisins, pistachio nuts, graham crackers, pretzels, goldfish, fruit leathers and Pirates Booty.

We are putting a garden in the backyard this year (more on that in another post), and we hope we'll be successful growing lots of veggies our boys will try. We always shop at the farmers market each summer, and its our hope that having our own garden will prove to be a great source of nutritious living (and maybe save us some money too!).

So my ultimate goal is to increase the amount of protein the boys eat, get them eating more veggies (even if I have to hide them), and cut back on nutritionless snacks. And as always, if anyone has any great tips or recipes or products that have worked for your kids, please share.

One topic the nutritionist spoke about was the importance of having probiotics in your diet. Yesterday at Costco, I noticed these Naked Tropical Mango smoothies with probiotics. The price wasn't bad for a box of 6 (much less expensive than buying them individually at the grocery store). The boys absolutely love them, and they're quite tasty. I have them split a bottle (since one bottle is 180 calories) and they gulp it right down. Naked has many other varieties and flavors at Costco, so we'll have to check those out too.

Six.

Dear Dylan,

Today you are six. Six! How is this possible? Yesterday, you were so tiny and new, swaddled in my arms. And now you are a little boy. A boy who has friends, goes to school, plays on his own, asks questions about everything, has his own opinions and ideas about the world, is not afraid of anything, is losing teeth and growing out of all his clothes. Watching you grow, I feel so torn between wanting to freeze time and keep you just as you are right now, and watching you grow independent and ready to take on the world.

Everyone who meets you says you are happy and funny and sweet and smart and I’m constantly in awe of you. When you were born, a part of me just couldn’t believe you were ours forever. And that same part of me, six years later, can’t believe I get the privilege of sharing my life with you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. You tell me all the time you love me all the way to the moon and back, and you ask me how much I love you back. I try to tell you, but I don’t think words can really say.

This year, you’ve changed so much. You mastered writing your letters and now you’re writing full sentences. You’re learning to read and sometimes you read to me before bed. You wake up every day eager to go to school, see your friends and learn, and make your teacher happy. I hope you will always love school as much as you do now. The things you’ve learned since starting kindergarten eight months ago amaze me. You play soccer and are always a good teammate and respectful of your coaches. You don’t have a mean bone in your body. You always say you’re sorry, and you always give hugs with all of your might. You love your family and always talk about your cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents with such love and kindness. You even started to love cheeseburgers this year, and you’re becoming more open to trying new foods. You’re addicted to playing the Wii and you love to play hide and seek in the house. You don’t like to have your toenails cut, but I can usually bribe you into it. You sleep with your four ‘guys’ every night: ‘ta’ bear you’ve had since you were a baby, a stuffed Elmo Daddy won you at Kings Dominion last summer, a stuffed Scooby Doo doll, and a stuffed dog you made at a birthday party. You love to take long showers, and you love to swim. This past summer, you were one of the youngest kids at the pool to pass your swim test. You love to eat crazy things, like garlic croutons and dill pickles and hummus, but you won’t eat a bowl of cereal with milk. You love mint chocolate chip ice cream with caramel and fudge sauce, with maraschino cherries and then we have to pour some of the cherry juice over top. Because of you, Logan has adopted that as his favorite dessert too. You’re usually the last one left at the dinner table, and breakfast, lunch and snack for that matter. And I’m not saying these things to make fun of you. These are the endearing qualities that make you who you are, and honestly, I’m just glad you are no longer sleeping with candles.

I hope someday when you’re a grown man, you’ll always look back on your childhood and remember it as a happy time, full of love and laughter. You’re such a special person, and you’ve brought so much fun and love into our lives. I sure love you, buddy. Happy Birthday. I can’t wait for this next year ahead with you.

Love,
Mom

Easter

I have such a hard time getting a good photo of Dylan and Logan together. It just doesn't happen very often. Dylan chronically closes his eyes, Logan makes funny faces, one of them always blinks and neither of them ever stand still for more than a nanosecond. So I was happy yesterday to get a few good ones of them both, and lots of them playing with their cousins in their cute Easter frocks at Grandma's house. We even had a little pre-birthday family celebration for Dylan after Easter dinner. He turns six tomorrow!

Maya somehow talked Logan and Josh into having a tea party with her:

Grandma and Grandpa hid 130 eggs in their backyard. Logan was a professional egg hunter by the end of the day:

And then decided to sit in the middle of the yard and break into his stash:

The boys have enough candy to last until Halloween:

And then it was time to kick-off Dylan's first birthday celebration of the week (because we didn't have enough sugar already).

All I Want for Easter...

Dylan got the double whammy last night. The Easter Bunny AND the Tooth Fairy paid a visit to our house. He bit into his cheeseburger last night at dinner and out popped the wonky tooth FINALLY. And after he mopped up the blood, he went right back to eating the cheeseburger. That's my boy!

Here is a photo of Dylan's new toothless look (and a beautiful Easter cookie bouquet Grandma Celia and Grandpa George sent yesterday).

I'll post more Easter photos tomorrow, as we're heading to my Moms for the day in a bit for another egg hunt and cousin time. We're also going to officially start Dylan's 6th birthday celebration over there today with some cupcakes and gifts. He turns 6 in two days! Until then, here the boys are with their Easter baskets this morning.

an open letter to Dudley's and PAAS

Dear Easter Egg Dye Kit Manufacturers,

In this day and age of modern technology, would it be impossible to invent an Easter egg dye solution that does not horrifically stain every surface it comes into contact with? For crying out loud, my fingers are going to be blue until Memorial Day.

Also, by nature, don't most people dye a dozen eggs at a time? So why then, are there only 9 perforated hole cut-outs on the back of the box? What am I supposed to do with the other 3 eggs, pray tell? There they lie, dangerously loose on the kitchen table ready to roll off into disaster any second. The sacrifices chickens must make.

Would it hurt your bottom line too much to include more than one wire dipping spoon? Do you not realize the average U.S. household has at least 2 children? I have a novel idea - less rub on stickers and tattoos (which only crack the eggs anyway), and more dipping spoons!

Finally, would it be so difficult to print the directions onto a slip of paper, and insert inside the box with the rest of the materials? Instead, you thoughtlessly print directions on the back of said box, directly where the perforated egg holder area is situated. And impatient, hurrying moms like me, punch out the holes first, only to realize the directions are lying in a pile of little ripped round holes on the counter. Leading me to try to piece it all back together but still missing the instructions that explain not to mix vinegar with the pink tablet. Thus leading to us having no pink eggs this year, only blue, green, yellow and orange. Our Easter egg rainbow is incomplete, thanks to you.

I sincerely hope that next year when I go to purchase my Easter egg coloring kit, I will see some vast improvements in your product quality.

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail,
Michelle

farm-tastic

Today we went here, per Dylan's request. The day was perfect in every way. The weather was fantastic, the farm wasn't crowded, we played all day long and had a picnic in the sunshine. No one whined, no one complained, no one talked back, no one asked to play video games, and it was just gorgeous everywhere you looked. It was the kind of day I could watch them play together, when they didn't know I was watching, and feel my heart overflow with pride and love to the point of explosion. If only I could bottle days like today up and save them for the not so swell days.

I bought them both an old fashioned candy stick in the little general store for the ride home. Logan promptly fell asleep, clutching his grape candy in his sticky little fist, his face covered with dirt. Dylan licked his candy quietly, smiled and summed up the day in one word - great.

Day of Wonder

I'm not used to having Dylan home all day long, and he and Logan can start to antagonize each other if left to their own devices for too long. So where do you go when the weather is still chilly, its Spring Break, you have two active, curious boys and a whole day ahead of you?

The Maryland Science Center in Baltimore is a fun, interactive (which is key with a 2 and a 5 year old) educational museum. We trekked up there yesterday with Grandma and spent a whole day exploring this great museum and taking in an IMAX movie, Under the Sea 3D which was absolutely fantastic and beautiful. The movie focuses on creatures living off the coasts of New Guinea and Australia, such as the Leafy Sea Dragon (above). The boys were reaching out to touch the sea snakes and cuttlefish slithering right in front of them.

Smoke!

The boys dig up some bones with Grandma.

The water table; the boys could spend all day here and be entertained.

A giant open blue head.

Grandma and the boys learn about cells.

Logan communicates with NASA regarding the next shuttle launch.

More smoke!

Hoedown at Roedown

Yesterday was one of those glorious spring days that are few and far between. Good food, great friends and a gorgeous blue sky at the 35th Roedown Marlborough Hunt Club Races. The kids rolled and romped and ate their quota of cookies for the month. The first year I went to Roedown, I was 20. Liza and I were college roommates. Seventeen years later, its more about the food and kids and actually watching the horse races, and less about the drinks, but just as fun as ever.

Andrew and Miss Liza....Now where is that bookie?

Man with Chocolate Face and Mairin, Julie's daughter, in wagon

Three fourths of my bridal party and long-time friends... (Liza, Ronda, Me, Julie)

Logan's 1,786th roll down the hill. The boys left a ring around the bathtub last night!

weekly wrap up

As I work this whole fitness thing into my life, I'm having a harder time figuring out when to blog. So here's an update for this whole past week with the juicy tidbits.


First, Dylan started soccer this week. He had practice Wednesday night, and his first training this morning. The first few weeks they hire a training company to come out and work with the kids. His coaches and teammates seem great, and it will be nice for him to make some new friends. Logan brings his soccer ball and plays on the sidelines, and has quite the kick. As soon as he's old enough, we'll sign him up too. We think Logan will be the competitive sports player, whereas Dylan just likes to go out there and have a good time. The soccer field was blustery and cold at 8:15 this morning, but at least it was sunny and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Dylan is officially on Spring Break all of next week and doesn't return to school until his birthday, April 14th. We thought we'd head to the lake house for a few days early next week, but the weather doesn't look great and its just too much work to pack everything up and get down there and not even be able to be outside. So home we'll stay. I'll try to plan a few museum field trips and other places we don't often get to go with Dylan in school everyday. Maybe we'll go here, maybe we'll go here... we'll see. We don't get to fly by the seat of our pants much during the week anymore, so it will be fun to have a week with no set schedule.

In other news, Logan has decided he no longer needs a daily nap. Which is making for some long, tantrum filled days around these parts, I won't lie. If he naps, he then won't go to bed at night. Then last night, we had the combo day - no nap and still wouldn't go to bed. Fun times! He is so head strong, when he makes his mind up about anything that's the end of it. Which will hopefully work in my favor when he finally decides, on his own, that peeing in the potty is MUCH better than in his diaper. Lets hope that happens soon.

I think I forgot to mention two things from last weekend, in my post-cholesterol news-induced shock. Dylan woke up last Saturday morning with a low grade and lethargy. Ran him into the ped and he tested positive for flu. Just a hunch I had, since kids at his school have had it lately. Put both boys on Tamiflu right away and neither of them ever really got sick. It just kind of petered out, and Andrew and I remain flu-free.

In the midst of being house-bound for an entire weekend, we saw a posting on Freecycle.org where a family in our community was giving away a 15' Bazoongi trampoline w/enclosure, in perfectly good condition. They chose to give it to us (they were moving to a house w/smaller yard). Andrew disassembled and reassembled in the pouring rain and wa-la, our backyard is now recreation mecca with the trampoline and the playset. Our neighbors must think we got a huge tax refund. The boys love it. We looked it up online, and the trampoline alone is $500, the enclosure an additional $300. Freecycle rocks. I must have written that family five emails thanking them. It looks like this one from their website, but we'll have to capture some jumping action photos soon.

Tomorrow is supposed to be our first super gorgeous weather of the spring, and we're planning on taking full advantage of it. Every year, the Marlborough Hunt Club has their annual Steeplechase race, about an hour and a half from us. Tailgating, betting on some horse races and seeing lots of great, old friends, enjoying some sunshine and a few tasty adult beverages. Can't wait!