Mindless Monday

Ok, so I know it's been about 6 months since I've written a new post, but I promise to write more frequently....

A lot has been going on since I last wrote:

My latest battle of the wills with my little guy has been sleeping in his toddler bed and falling asleep on his own. This started about 2 weeks ago when I changed his crib to a toddler bed. The first week either me or my husband sat in his room until he fell asleep, about 45 minutes to an hour. Finally, last week I decided enough was enough and decided he needed to fall asleep on his own (he used to fall asleep easily and on his own, from day one, that was until I put hubby in charge of bedtime). Well the first night was 3 hours of screaming and he fell asleep in the hallway, so I moved him. The next night I believe was 1 1/2 hours then he slept for 2 hours, then was up for another hour and a half. The following night he fell asleep on the floor in his room ( I trapped him in there with the baby gate). Saturday night he fell asleep standing next to his bed (so I grabbed the camera, see above picture). Tonight, VICTORY, he fell asleep after about 20 minutes on his own, no screaming and no crying...and he only came out once!! YAY for being more strong willed than my little munchkin! I will say it will wear you down quickly!

Tough Thursday

Will had an excellent day at school!! He did work around the class and ate all of his lunch and slept until 2 (he slept 1 1/2 hours)!That's some pretty big adjustment steps in only 4 days, the last time we switched daycares it took him 3 weeks to get used to it, although he was much younger then. I can't believe how grown he is!

Today he showed lots of his strong will at home though. I told him to "come here and put your pajamas on"; Will "no"; me "do you want me to spank you"; Will "no" *sweet eyes and grin*. So I got up and spanked him then we went through the conversation a second time...another spanking and I "helped" him to where his pajamas were and we put them on (of course even with the spanking he was still all smiles and sweet eyes). I'm really working on the discipline but he normally just looks at me with the cutest face and smiles innocently...oh the joys of strong willed, non compliant toddlers (it will all come back during the pre-teen and teen years, oh how I'm looking forward to that!) I think I'm going to re-read James Dobson's The New Strong Willed Child as a refresher, then I'm going to go invest in his other book, The New Dare to Discipline (I think is what it's called). I'm trying to walk the thin line between you will listen to me because I'm the parent and crushing his strong will (it will come in handy one day when he's a lawyer or something, he loves to talk).

His "I didn't do anything" look...This is right after he found his TaDoodle markers and had red on his face and hands...if you look closely it's still on parts of his hands.

My grandmother is still hanging in there. I got a text from my mom this morning saying they may have messed up when they were intubating her, she wanted to know how that might happen (I work in a hospital billing office). I told her to request a copy of her medical records, which I found out today you don't have to wait until they are discharged to get a copy. She also said that because my grandmother had a living will, they should not have had to wait until Monday, they should have been able to take her off life support on Friday after the first ct scan...so my mom and aunts are going to try to meet with the hospital executives or the ethics committee tomorrow.

Wacky Wednesday

So today was my first day back to work in 5 days...oh how I enjoyed my time off with my little man! I have a lot of catching up to do at work now, but I'm already halfway done. There was quite a bit of drama today at work...well there is most days (I work in a department of 50 some odd women...and 2 men, so there's always drama), boy was I glad when 5:00PM hit!

Well on a different note, today was Will's first full day at school. He was upset this morning when his teacher came to get him out of the car because I had taken away his blankie (they are not allowed to have them at school because it's considered a pacifier)...he loves his blankie! His teacher sent me a note home that said he cried quite a bit this morning, but when he wasn't crying he was enjoying walking around the room looking at everything. He slept until 1:45, they lay down at 12:30, and they said he laid down pretty easily. My trick for that...we have 2 of his beloved blankie so one is sent to school as his "cover" for naptime. He also came home with a bump on his head...with no explanation for that, so I will ask about that in the morning because it's a pretty big bump. So I think overall he had a pretty good day today...although when we got in the car he started saying "eat, eat, eat", then about 1/2 mile from home he started saying "night, night", poor baby I guess he was hungry and tired after a long day of learning!

P.S. My grandmother is still hanging in there...this waiting really sucks! I honestly hoped it would be a quick journey, but I guess she wasn't quite ready to go. My mom and 2 aunts are basically sitting with her in a regular hospital room...waiting for hours on end.

Day 2 of school

Today was Will's second day at the Montessori school...he did much better today! He actually did some work and ate his lunch. He did get upset because there were some other children and parents visiting today so when the parent would leave he would cry...but he calmed himself down! (That's a big step for him, he's always had someone to help him calm down.) He was only there half a day, so tomorrow will be another big step...nap time at school! He will be sleeping on a nap mat instead of a crib... this will be a first! He will be there all day while I'm at work (7:30-5:15), I'm sure he'll be tired tomorrow night.

My grandmother is still hanging in there...they moved her out of ICU and into a regular room. My brother flew in today and I'll pick my little sister up at 2AM tonight (she was on a church trip), so they will go down to the hospital tomorrow (it's about 3 hours from where we live)...maybe she's just haning on for them, who knows, but I think this waiting game is the hardest thing!

First day of school

Will had an OK first day at the Montessori school...I stayed with him for about 30 minutes and then left him until right after lunch (about an hour and 1/2). His teacher said he enjoyed the work in the classroom, however he refused to eat his lunch. So by the time we got home he had fallen asleep in the car but when we got home he started asking to eat. Then took a little bit of a nap. Tomorrow he will be dropped off at our "normal" time, and stay until noon when I get off. The teacher actually comes to the car and gets him out, so we'll see how he reacts to a stranger taking him out of the car. He was supposed to be there the rest of the week all day, however on a separate and sadder note, my dear grandmother was taken off life support today. I haven't talked to my mom in the last few hours, but last I heard she was off all the machines and given some pain medicine and was resting peacefully. I feel very at peace with the decision, she did not want to be kept alive that way (and made if very clear on more than one occasion). So, depending on when we have the funeral, more than likely he won't go to school the rest of the week and we'll start all over on Monday with the adjustment period.

Here is a picture of my wonderful grandmother, a couple of days before she went to the hospital...
Here is a picture of Will in his cute little uniform...

Tomorrow it's back to work for the first time in 5 days...oh how I've enjoyed my time with my little man!

New School...

Will starts at a Montessori school in the morning! I'm very excited and anxious, I know it take him some time to adjust to a new school (this will be the 4th child care/school since he was 6 weeks old). I know he will enjoy being more independent at the new school, he has do things on his own, he does not want you to help him. I will post tomorrow about his first day, even though he's only going for a couple of hours.

New year, new to blogging.

I'll give you a little background to myself for this first post. I married my husband on July 7th, 2007 and it was a beautiful day! We got pregnant with our first baby about 3 months after we got married. We had been together for about 5 years before we were married. I knew from the very beginning we were having a boy, or maybe it was wishful thinking, however my wish was granted our first would be a boy! I had gestational diabetes, but it was never really a problem except I had to give up my beloved Dr. Pepper. I also had high blood pressure during my last trimester and was put on partial bed rest in June I believe, I can't really remember. That helped, my doctor decided to induce me on my due date, July 19,2008 because of the diabetes and my blood pressure. We got to the hospital at 6 A.M. and by 8 the Pitocin was going. I was at a 10 by noon or so, the doctor came in and I pushed for about an hour. However, the baby did not drop down and I couldn't push correctly because I had no feeling (I had a wonderful epidural). My doctor let me rest for about an hour to see if the baby would come down some more, which he didn't. During that last hour his heart rate would drop slightly so my doctor opted for a c-section. I was really nervous about the surgery, my husband and my mom were able to into the operating room with me and at 3:05 P.M my beautiful baby boy was born, weighing in at 7lbs 1oz, and 20 inches long. He was perfect, after the doctor ran my hubby and mom off to the nursery with the baby, she told me she had found a cyst on my ovary but she thought she could save the ovary. So, after another hour of so of surgery and about the time my family left for the nursery the epidural/anesthesia started wearing off and it was a long painful hour. I spent 4 days in the hospital recovering, I was very anemic after the surgery. My little boy was a little stubborn about being born the natural way, but my doctor said I would have had to have the surgery within 6 months anyway so it worked out for the better. Oh, I guess you're probably wondering why my blog is called Strong Willed, well...my little boy is named William Thomas and I guess we picked a fitting name because he is definitely strong willed. Even before I had him, my first ultrasound pictures at 12 weeks along he would turn so the tech could get better pictures of his spine, I felt like I was doing flips on the table, he eventually turned but only for a moment, the ultrasound to find out what he was at 22 weeks along he wouldn't cooperate (he eventually spread his legs but only long enough to snap one quick picture to confirm we were having a boy). Now that he's here, he didn't like to eat and made it well known, now he's a little older (18 months old) and he laughs at my failed attempts to discipline. So here I am, I will share with you my trials and triumphs as I try to raise a strong willed little boy that happens to be one of the loves of my life! Thanks for joining me on this journey.