4 year old shots

I brought Griff in for his 4 year old check up and shots a few weeks ago.

I fully expected this visit to be pretty bad.

Because of this I brought back up in with me.

MiMi Kat.

To be totally honest it exceeded my expectations of bad.

It was terrible.

I needed a few weeks to regroup before reliving this experience in my mind.

Bad news.

I will have to go through this with 2 more kids.

Boo...

Started out a-okay.

Compliant patient getting measured.

(75% height and 50% weight)

Next up, blood pressure.

All was good until she blew it up on his arm.

He then politely told the nurse, "no tanks, dats not for me."

When she took the cuff off he said, "oh well."

Yes, a 4 year old refused his blood pressure.

I knew what was to come so I tried to keep it cool.

Eye test.

The good news is he can see.

His attention and focus?

Well that is a work in progress.

Hearing test.

Fun for one minute.

He then also refused this test.

This did not make Momma happy considering his history with his ears.

Next Dr. C tried to check his ears.

That would be a total NO-GO.

Call it flash backs from years past?

I do not know.

This was a test that he could not refuse.

We needed to know that his ears are clear now that his tubes have fallen out.

No more being nice.

It was time to hold him down on the table.

Everything went downhill from here.

Following the ear check he was assaulted with lots of shots.

I have always split up the boys shots in the past.

Not this time.

 I knew that getting him back into the Dr's office would be more than I was willing to take on.

This was the first time that he went in for shots and was totally "aware."

It broke my heart.

He was so worked up.

He is also a very tough cookie.

He didn't even realize that he was getting shots until they had already given him 1.5

After the shots it only took him a second to calm down.

He then asked Dr. C to check out his knee.

According to Griff this is the reasons for the appointment.

She put a ban-aid on gave him a sucker and we were sent on our way!

A walk in the park

I picked up the boys this afternoon and the weather was way too pretty to head home.

We made a little pit stop to our local park.

(ahem Satch... I may have an alterior motive here)

*Doesn't this park look like a LOVELY place for a birthday party?!?*

Anyway, the boys had a ball and ran off a lot little energy.

As usual they were a hot mess by the time we got back to the car.

Once home it was straight to the shower before dinner.

This was not the simple job of just washing the hands.

They were both in need of a full body scrub!

Oh how I love that spring is just around the corner!

Here we are on the swing.

They loved swinging with me because we went high in the sky.

I guess the smiles make it pretty obvious...

My big boy was in heaven.

"Higher Mama, HIGHER, HIGHER!"

The boys made some friends along the way.

Griff wanted to show his friends how much fun it was to swing with his Momma.

Gotta love when your kid still thinks that you are the coolest!  

Baby Bear  loves swinging high in the sky too!

Glad I captured these moments.

I will keep them in my brain forever.

They also really enjoyed chasing each other through the tunnels.

Here he comes!

Sliding down the slide together.

The boy with the $1,000,000 smile.

Oh how I adore both of these little people...

King Griff

Yesterday Griff and his classmates had their Mardi Gras celebration.

Here is my boy.

King Griffin

Griff and his classmates on the "float"

Everyone is loading the float to throw beads.

They are really cute.

They each take turns on the float and throw beads to each other.

Isn't it lovely how easily they are entertained?

Throw me something Mister!

It is such a good feeling to walk away for the day and see this smiling face.

I can leave Griff knowing that he is in a loving, safe, and learning environment.

Me and my Dad

Today Satch took Griff out for a dudes day.

They went to Best Buy to look at electronics,

hit a few others stops,

and then chowed down on some pizza for lunch.

Here are a few photos taken by Satch.

(I trained him well)

Dads don't cut pizza like Mommys do.
Either way sure tastes yummy!  

Testing out a few instruments in Best Buy.
The drums are ALWAYS a hit with this little guy.
He also tried out the bongos, piano, and guitar.

Oh how I adore that genuine smile.

I'm so happy that Satch likes to take his boys out for the day.
Today was Griff's turn to spend the day with his Daddy.

He is his hero after all...

Car, boat, plane or train

MiMi and Pop have been away on a trip, or "on trip" as Griff likes to say.  Every day Griff comes up with a new way to set out to find them.  He has suggested that we go by car, boat, plane, and train.

Last week we were parked in the car.  He told me to drive.  I asked where he wanted to go?  He said to "find MiMi Pop."  I said which way should we go?  He said, "dack way" and pointed to the left.  I chuckled and said, "so if we go that way we will get to Canada?"  His response, "yeah."  So innocent and sweet!

Griff put on his conductor hat to drive the train to find them.

 

Cabin Fever

Where in the heck has the time gone?

We have been very busy,

 but I can't quite put my finger on exactly what we have been up to?!?

It is HOT, HUMID, and WET outside

so we have been spending  more time inside than out.

Here are a few pictures of my monkeys 

with a case of cabin fever.

Trying on Daddy's basketball shoes.  

Guess it is time to see the dentist?

Griff, the official household cake taste tester.

Baby Bear loves hanging with Uncle Al.
Can't say the feeling is mutual. :)

Looking OH-SO-CUTE while making a mess.

Reasons that I smile

I had a rough week.
I just sat for a second and it didn't take me very long
to remember the many
"Reasons that I smile."

• This morning my tiny tornadoes pulled the toy baskets out from under the television set.  Griffin looked at me and said, "take ticture momee, pease, pease, pease..."  YES INDEED!  Nothing would please me more. :)  These are the quick pics that I got of 2 boys.  I love everything about these pictures.

• Last night Griff conked his head.  He asked for a "nan-naid" to make it, "all bett-er."  Happy to say that the patch of hair that came off with the nan-naid wasn't too big. :)

• Here is Griff helping to unload the dishwasher.  He is going through a very independent stage right now.  I hear "I do it by self" in a sing song sweet voice all day long.  He now wants to dominate assist me with everything.  He insists on dressing himself without ANY help.  So what if his pants are on backwards tucked inside his undies with his head coming out of an arm hole?  I am so proud that he gave it his all!

•  Roman has also started his break towards independence.  This is really a tough stage.  I remember it very vividly from our first time around.  Not a baby anymore, but not quite a toddler.  Still needing Mommy, but wanting to flex his muscle of independence.  I have accepted that laundry and dishes will not be done while he is awake.  The bad good news is my chores will ALWAYS hang around until later.  Chores sure are persistent little boogers! :)  

• The other night Kenton corrected Griff for something.  Griff quickly came back with, "Wats the big idea?"  OH MY GOODNESS.  Discipline is tough enough.  Do they really have to be so stinkin' cute?!?
• "Wats the big idea" has become a widely used phrase by Griff thank you Imagination Movers.  I smile every time he throws it into conversation.  For example.  The other day we pulled up to our house and a friend's car was parked in the driveway.  "Hey momee, wats the big idea?"  See.... it made you smile too!
• Another current favorite phrase is, "wats goin on in here?"  Ex. He walked into our bedroom and a piece of furniture was moved. "Wats goin on in here?"
• Griff is into spelling everything.  I love when he sees the letter "G" placed in a word.  Example:     D-O-G for Grippin     A-G for Grippin-A-I-N.  Regardless of the placement in the word "G" is always followed by "for Grippin."
• We say grace before every meal.  The other day during grace Roman grabbed my hand to hold hands like the rest of us.  THAT was a moment that made my heart skip a beat.  He now holds hands and prays with our family.  At the end he lets out his utterance for "Amen."  Proof that these precious child that we are loaned to raise pay attention to every word and action.  Encouragement to lead by example. 
• We are so amazed by Griffin's progress.  Just a few months ago he barely spoke and put together 2 word utterances.  Wow.... his progression is AMAZING.  Every day he throws in new words and phrases.  He is such a smart and good boy.  We are so proud of him!

Rock and Roll

Griffin has been cracking us up lately.  He amazes us with the words that come out of his mouth.  We often look at each other and wonder where in the world did that come from?  The other day we had music on so we could dance.  He started dancing around and yelling "rock and roll.... rock and roll!"

I couldn't stop laughing.  "Rock and roll" came out of no where.  I mean we love music, but "rock and roll" is not a word that we use in conversation around the house?

Fast forward a few days later...  Griff pulled out his cajun drum kit (pot, pans, and wooden spoons) and set them up on his table.  He started banging on the pots and singing "rock and roll, rock and roll."  Thank goodness I had my camera handy to catch this precious moment.  Once he finished his "show" he bowed and said, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"  Seriously.... just when you think that they can NOT possibly be any funnier!  

Griff and his very first "rock and roll" concert.

He added more drums to his drum kit.  I guess he had a fever for a little more cowbell?

This was my favorite part of the afternoon.  Satch walked in on this awesome show!  Like the amazing daddy
that he is he grabbed some sticks and join in on the fun.

NEVER to be outdone, Baby Bear beat on his own drum.

Because the pictures do not do the concert justice.

I just had to add a little video too.  Enjoy...

Pee-Pee is working!

So many of my friends with children older than mine all said, "wait to potty train until the child is ready."  I really took this advice to heart.  Even though Griffin was 3 he showed no interest in potty training.  I knew that he could do it because he had tremendous control over his bladder and bowels, but he just wasn't quite "there" yet.  In the back of my mind my goal was to have him potty trained over the summer.

The ball started rolling the week that he took swimming lessons.  Our schedule was a little different and all of a sudden it just seemed like the right time to give it a whirl.  Like everything in life that I do I went all or nothing.  We went straight from diapers to big boy undies.  I was on the fence with pull ups.  I mean really folks... it is a diaper.  I decided to skip the pull ups and deal with the potential mess.  :)

Pee-pee was not really a problem.  We started taking him to the potty every 30 minutes and each day stretched it a little further.  Now poo-poo was a little tougher.  Luckily he is extremely regular and routine with his poopy habits.  He went into the playroom and closed the door.  This mean showtime!  I followed him in and he asked several times for a diaper.  I stood firm with the answer "no" but rather offered him to sit on the potty.  Eventually he realized that it was potty or underwear and I am proud to say that he picked the potty!  I knew that it would take him once on the potty to realize that it was not so bad.

From that point forward he was done an excellent job!  Over the past 2 or so weeks he had 1 pee-pee accident during the day and 1 pee-pee accident at night.  AND... no poo-poo accidents as of yet.  I still periodically take him to pee-pee during the day and ALWAYS a few times before bed.  I also keep a very close eye on his liquid intake.  (it was of no surprise his night time accident)  He now initiates going to the potty on his own.  My favorite is when I hear him in the bathroom saying.  "It's working... pee-pee is working!"

I can not even begin to explain how proud we are of Griff.  He has done such a wonderful job with this potty training thing.  He has been handsomely rewarded  with hugs, kisses, praises, high fives, running around and cheering like lunatics, his own personal poo-poo potty song that he LOVES, stickers, gummy treats, and his beloved Toy Story lunch bag.  At the end of the day it is worth it.  HE is worth it.  I'm sure there are many accidents to come, but he is off to an incredible start!  Way to go Griff!!

Reasons that I smile

Griffin has been cracking us up lately.  Here are a few of my recent faves!

~ He ran into the kitchen last night and said, "I had a great day."  Wow... isn't it amazing how a few spoken words can make your knees weak.

~ We are in the thick of potty training right now.  I was sitting on the bathroom floor as he was trying to #2 on the potty for the first time.  After me trying to "explain" how to #2 (who would have EVER thought that would be a conversation that I would have?) he pointed to his tummy and said, "no poo-poo in dare Mommy."

~I was fixing lunch in the kitchen and heard him alone in the bathroom.  He went in to pee-pee all by his big boy self!  He was all excited and yelled, "wow...  it's WORKING!  Pee-pee is working!"

~ He often adds "Good idea!" to a sentence.  Ex:
me: Hey, Griff let's eat lunch.
Griff: Good idea Mommy!

~ Griff has shortened MiMi to Meme and Pop to Pa.  He is my child and already loves nick names! :)

~My brother, Tio John, was digging a hole to plant a tree.  Griff asked if he was digging for treasures.  Yes! He is a pirate at heart.  :)

~ We went to 2 birthday parties on Saturday and Griff was great!  He ran, played with the other kids, played on the water slide and had a blast!  I can not even begin to tell you how happy this makes me.  It is all about the small victories...

~"What are you do-ing?"  I hear this one no less than 100 times a day.  After the 75th time I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry?

My little man is growing up a little more each and every day.  I am so proud of ALL of his accomplishments.  Go GRIFFIN!!

1st Haircut

Today was a monumental day.

A round of hair cuts for the boys.

1st for Roman and kinda sorta Griffin too.

Griff has gotten several haircuts,

but today was the first time that I said...

"cut it."

Here is Baby Bear on his way to the main event.

He could no  longer see so I had a hair band in to clear his line of sight.  :)

 Here is Griffin once we got to the place.

He was watching the "big boy" in the chair before him.

I am proud to say that he took good notes

and was EXCELLENT!

(another first)

Here I am taking a picture with my baby moments before he would look like a boy.

 Daddy and flopsy Baby Bear.

Yes... I know the haircut was about 6 months past due.

 It was time to show off Baby Bear's baby blues.

Griffin went first.

 All for the love of the lollipop.

I say... "Let him have it."

 Ta-da!

 Next up....

Baby Bear

 Goodness...

Heart breaking at the sight of my boy.

One last look at hippy hair.

 Yes, he was this good the entire cut.

 And this serious.

I sure hope he has not lost his adorable smile.

Could this be his professional look?

I mean he does look like a dude now.

 The hairdresser is THAT FAST!

 "Hey Ma, what'cha think?"

 I do believe we got our moneys worth on this cut.

Yikes it is short!

 Sniff....Sniff....

 Me and my serious boy .

 Could he be posing like a male model?

Possibly his "Blue Steel?"

 I kept turning around on the drive home.

Who in the world are these boys in the back seat!?!

Baby to boy with the snip of a scissor.