Kieran, his kitchen and the pets

Because of Kieran's apparent love for play kitchens, we purchased this plastic, talking kitchen for him from craigs list... got a pretty good deal too. Kieran loves it- he loves it so much that he assumes everyone, including the dogs, must want to play with it- which he can not allow. So whenever he hears them coming he squats and screams in an effort to ward them off- it usually works ;)

Wanted to show a typical highchair time- note the dogs- waiting patiently for scraps. I included this close up of Koshka under the highchair- in case you missed him in the first picture ;)

Finally- here is Kieran with Gracie. They both love to sit on clean laundry in the basket... although Grace isn't too found of sharing the space with KP.

A little rant about attachment parenting... (a.k.a why Dr. Sears is full of crap)

So I was researching temper tantrums this evening because Kieran is known to blow his lid from time to time- like every time he doesn't get his way, has to share or I leave the room... so in other words all the time. I keep coming across the same stuff, you know things like: stay cool- no one thinks this reflects on you as a parent (yeah- right), talk it out (hard to do when they don't talk yet), avoid the triggers (like visiting anyone his age, going to bed, being strapped into anything, leaving his site for a second...) basically a lot of really useful suggestions I never would have thought about myself. Then I came to the Dr. Sears site, a web page sure to instill a great sense of inadequacy, guilt and regret in even the most dedicated mother. And here is what I found:

1. Practice attachment parenting

We have noticed that infants who are carried a lot and whose cues are sensitively responded to are more mellow, less prone to tantrums, and are able to ride the waves of emotional upsets without falling apart so drastically. Because they operate from an inner peace, they are less prone to impulsive behavior or angry outbursts. Children, however, who are parented with less attachment are less able to recover from emotional storms. Attached parents can read their child so well that they naturally create conditions that minimize tantrum behavior. Practice as many of the attachment styles of parenting as you can, as often as you can. Making it easier to deal with temper tantrums is one of the immediate payoffs of attachment parenting. 


Okay- so I am not the perfect attachment mom- we both work and so Kieran goes to daycare during the school year- not ideal but the way it is. Despite this fact, I tried my hardest to be as attached to him as I could- wearing him in a sling, sleeping with him, holding him rather than putting him in swings and other baby containment devices as much as I could. My niece, on the other hand, goes from one caregiver to the next, from one home to the other, from car seat to swing, to bouncy. For those of you who don't know Presley, let me paint you a little picture: Imagine a child who is always dancing and babbling on in happy baby gibberish. A child who, when she doesn't get her way, usually turns the other cheek and toddles off happily to the next distraction. A child whose screams can't make your ears ring and that don't cause strangers to say "let's get away from that freaky, loud baby." Now I ask you- who is the mellow child and who is the one prone to tantrums?!!

Maybe I just did it wrong- wasn't there enough, sent out my inadequate-mommy/guilty vibes to Kieran and harshed his mellow. Maybe it was the two and half days I tried the cry-it-out method last summer. Or maybe, just maybe, Dr. Sears is full of crap and temper tantrums and mellow-ness have everything to do with innate personality traits and nothing (or very little) to do with the organic sling vs. the pumpkin seat that changes homes as often as new mommies change diapers. I have to belive the later is the case because otherwise I start back-sliding into the mommy-guilt and second guessing and worrying that I have set up my beautiful and (mostly) sweet natured  little boy for a life of "less able to recover from emotional storms" and "more prone to impulsive behavior or angry outbursts".

Of course if it is a matter of nature over nurture, and Kieran has inherited his tendency towards tantrums from his mother's prickly and high-strung personality...then what can I do to help him? Is he destined to a life of frustrations he can not manage and being known as the "sour grapes" kid? I sure hope not.

In other words I feel I am- damned if I do, damned if I don't and cursed either way with this crippling guilt and worry. But I still say Dr. Sears is full of s%@t!

The Magic House!

So this first picture is not from the Magic House, but it seemed to go along with the theme- it was taken the day before, so I added it in because he looks so stinkin' cute in it!

Trying to make the most of our final days of summer, Rick, Kieran and I ventured out to the St. Louis area again- this time to visit the Magic House in Kirkwood. The driving didn't go as smoothly as our last trip- Kieran was awake almost the entire way there with lots of crying jags off and on to punctuate the journey- he did however, fall asleep the final five minutes before we pulled into the parking lot ;) He was a real champ though when we got inside and only had a couple miner melt downs- mostly due to sharing things that are so obviously there just for him. But otherwise, despite the missed nap, the crowds and the delayed meal, Kieran did a great job and had a lot of fun.
After enjoying a little lunch at the Magic House Cafe, we went to visit Aunt Joyce and Uncle Furcin in St. Charles. Kieran was on his (mostly) best behavior for the duration of our stay and we all had a lovely time chatting and catching up with family- even though mommy and daddy were on KP duty (a.k.a. following KP around to make sure he didn't break anything!) most the time;)
The drive home was perfectly quiet, as Kieran passed out almost immediately and slept the whole way home- yay! However, this set him up for a rough nite-nite routine as he was sufficiently re-wired for action and did not go so quietly into his crib. Below are some highlights from the trip...

Me and Kieran watching the model trains. He LOVED the train... he made his "CHOO! CHOO!" noises with so much enthusiasm he sprayed the protective glass with spittle!

We were really impressed with the "construction zone"... lots to see and do. Of course KP loved playing in the rocks. He wasn't so sure about the Caterpillar earth-mover, but he sat long enough for a photo opp!

In the "under two" section Kieran really enjoyed playing pretend: driving a car, rolling in the ball pit and playing with the doll house- that is until he had an altercation with another chubby tot that seemed to think he should be allowed to play too... silly baby- doesn't he know everything Kieran sees belongs to him?!

Finally, here Kieran is playing at the sand and water tables- he loved this. These are no ordinary sand and water tables- they are huge and have fountains and wheels and things that move and go. We especially liked the little red waterproof apron he got to wear to help keep him dry- at least in theory ;)

End of July

Fun around the house with daddy while mommy was away on a float trip. *We don't endorse cell phone use whilst driving.

We took Kieran to the Boone County fair last week. It was terribly hot and apparently after we left there was a gang related shooting. But otherwise, we had a fun time ;) Kieran's favorite part was feeding and petting the animals- this may, however, be what led to two days of vomiting though- yuck.

While at the fair, Kieran enjoyed his first Popsicle- a bomb-pop. I bought it thinking he and I would share it, but alas, he gobbled the entire thing down in less than five minutes, which meant mommy had to get her own! As you can imagine he was a sticky, icky mess, but he loved it and it was great fun to watch- well worth the clean up :)

Art-ful play and a sleeping break through!

In an attempt to break the monotony at home (and get out of the house so daddy can recover from his stomach bug) I took Kieran to my school today. After stripping him down to a disposable diaper, I let him go to town on some finger paint and then play with sand. As you can imagine he created quite a mess and ended up being cleaned up in the sink! He had a lot of fun though and so did mommy- we saved his first painting to frame and display in his nursery. KP also explored the library and played with some balls in Mr. Nolke's gym- all-in-all a very fun way to spend a morning.
On another note, I am very proud to announce that I have been putting KP to sleep in his crib this past week too. For the past month or so, Rick has been putting Kieran down for naps and bedtime in his crib and staying with him over night in an attempt to get him out of our bed and night wean. It has been a very successful campaign- as KP is sleeping through most nights and often goes to sleep without crying or fussing. I have finally gotten in the game now that Kieran is used to going down in his crib. The first night I tried was rough- he cried a lot, reaching out for me from his crib and crying "mama, mama, MAMA!!" but I stayed strong and read to him from Charlotte's Web (great suggestion Jenny) until he finally fell asleep. The next night was about the same- maybe a little less crying but I read on. Last night and the past two naps, I have put Kieran down by first nursing him in our glider, then holding him on my lap and reading Good Night Moon twice, putting him in his crib, saying "nite-nite, mommy loves you" and reading Charlotte's Web from the glider while he slowly drifted off sans any crying or fussing!!!! YAY MOMMY and YAY BIG BOY!!! It is such a relief and a pleasure to put Kieran down in his own bed and read him off to dream land without any big crying sessions and knowing that he will sleep soundly either for a good nap or all night long. Now to get the crib out of our bedroom and into the nursery... baby steps mom, baby steps ;)

Fourth of July and other random things

Peanutbutter goes great on both Cheerios and Ritz- mmmm!

KP  doing a little light reading in his pool floatie and then wearing Presley's dress at grandma's.

We visited shelter gardens on the third after getting some goodies at the farmer's market for our fourth of July dinner.

Here's Kieran at a Independence day parade in Jefferson City. He had this look on his face the entire time- well until the end when the fire trucks blared their sirens and he cried as he clung to mama like a distressed kola.

The first photo is Kieran eating a typical lunch of fruit, tuna salad and goldfish- I love the way he holds one hand up while the other one sorts his food) The next two photos were taken at story time at the Columbia public library- Kieran is sporting his adorable green seer-sucker overalls and hat- which made some of the older children think he was a girl- guess it's time to put away the super-cutsie baby clothes in favor of the more boyish toddler wear- sigh ): Mommy thought he was adorable!

These photos were taken of KP while we were shopping at Toys R Us- notice how he eats his Ritz crackers by shoving the entire thing in his mouth and then removing pieces as he attempts to chew it ;)

This last, rather creepy photo, of my left eye shows me wearing a contact lens... why you might ask? Well apparently contact lens are the perfect eye-band-aid. Why do might I need a band-aid on my eyeball? Because Kieran scratched my cornea whilst playing the game "where's mommy's nose?!" It was excruciating and terribly annoying as well since I couldn't keep my eyes open because of all the pain. Thank goodness for patient, gentle and knowledgeable ophthalmologists! FYI- The doctor says they see more accidents like this than one might think ;-o