Timeouts Part II..Difference in Attitudes

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Connor has had his fair share of timeouts lately (all part of the terrible FOURS, not TWOS). Brady has his share...on occasion and when he is willing to face the punishment. There is a HUGE difference in attitudes regarding timeouts between the two.

Connor's reaction: Not the timeout chair...I won't do it again...don't put me in timeout...I promise I will be better. Or sometimes, flat out denial that he did anything.

Brady's reaction: Yeah, I bit Connor and I will serve my punishment! He made me mad, so I lashed out. I won't do it again (unless of course he pushes me over the edge again). By the way, it takes a lot to push Mr. Laid Back Brady to the edge, so watch out when you do!

At least we haven't seen too much of the blame game. A friend had a birthday party for his boys and anything that went wrong for the invited child was someone else's fault. He could not believe how much HE was blamed.

New Milestone - Way to go Brady!

Last year for Brady's 2nd birthday, he got a tricycle. He could scoot around on it (usually with one leg on the ground and the other dangling), but could never really use the pedals. This year - no problem! He gets on there and goes to town...

Last year...look at those little feet!

This year...getting to be a big boy on there! Check out the video and the shout out to Mimi!

Timeouts - When do they get easier?

Connor has been earning his share of timeouts these days - I guess it is the 4 year old stubbornness that is in full force! Not listening is the biggest battle! So, we instituted a new rule that three strikes gets him sent to his room for the night with no TV or playtime with brother.

Tonight, three strikes, so he was sent to his room about an hour before bedtime. At first, he was requesting that I just send him to the timeout chair again. "I love the timeout chair, not my bedroom, I will listen" He said that he doesn't like timeout in his bedroom and he didn't like the fact that Brady was getting to watch TV and taking too long - then I hope it will be effective.

Half way through, he was agreeing to one strike gets him timeout in the chair and three strikes gets him sent to his room. He was also asking specific examples to find out if they would count as a strike. By bedtime, he was admitting to his wrong doing and agreed he be better. Gotta love the preschool years - it gets better right?

Sunday Update...Gattitown Fun and More

After I had a nice session of hot yoga Sunday morning, I was motivated and determined to spend the afternoon doing something fun with the boys. I gave the boys some choices and luckily they picked Gattitown since it didn't quite warm up enough for the zoo. After a few timeouts and debating whether to just stay home, we finally decided to go for it (or the remainder of the day would be bad). The boys had fun...they love the Carousel, bowling, and Connor loves the Frogger. We also attempted skee ball, but the boys don't understand the concept of underhand.

The rest of the day went well with the boys playing outside. We even got the Power Wheels Jeep out...last year we didn't get it out for fear that our new fence would be destroyed. They drove it very well, so their license has been officially reinstated.

Enjoy the picture slideshow...make sure you check out the bowling pictures.

Pantry/Freezer Wipeout Game

I had lunch with a friend the other day that said they had just completed the Pantry wipeout game in their household. We were talking about how when we go to the stores (instead of our husbands) that we see things that sound good to try...and then we forget that we bought them. So, they had a rule that they only went to the store for the essentials (fresh goods, milk). She said it didn't take as long as you might imagine - less than a month. She also said it got pretty interesting towards the end in coming up with meals.

The Seaton Household has officially kicked off the Pantry Wipeout game and has also extended the game to the freezer, because we have created quite an assortment of frozen meals. Hubby is making lists of possible meals available in our pantry right now. We have realized that there will have to be an ingredient trip made to actually use some of the items, because we didn't think that far ahead when we bought the initial item. This should be an interesting game for our household for a couple reasons.....

1. I am trying to eat more healthier during my weight loss journey...the pantry goods are not good for that journey.

2. We have two very picky toddlers that only like to eat peanut butter sandwiches and snack on fruit and chocolate.

We will be monitoring our progress...update to follow when completed. Anyone up for desserts as there are quite a few cake and brownie mixes in the pantry?

Brady is Hilarious!

Some of you have probably heard us say this before or even had the privilege of witnessing it, but Brady is hilarious! He is normally our laid back child. When he sees Connor fussing about something, he will usually surrender to allow Connor to get what he wants or leaves the room (while making the statement that he is leaving because Connor is whiny).

However, he loves to make "common sense" statements that he says in the most hilarious tone and context. He always makes us laugh! Family loves it when Brady says "Hey, how you doing?" (Imagine Joey on Friends). Hilarious!

Following are a few pictures of our little man... You're not Five...how old are you really? Hello...can anyone hear me?

Rainy Day Fun...Day Trip to Louisville

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Seaton Family has had a bad case of the winter blues. We saw a brief period of sunny weather that got us really excited and then it got colder and rainy. We debated all week and well into Saturday morning whether we should just throw the kids in the car for a day trip. The beauty of a day trip is you are guaranteed naps somewhere along the way (for the boys and mommy).

We finally packed up to leave for Louisville around 10:30am...totally unprepared I might add, but oh well! The boys sang songs and napped on the drive over. We arrived at the Science Center realizing that they were an hour ahead and we were starving for lunch. Luckily, there was a Subway attached so we had a quick lunch and then enjoyed some time roaming the Science Center. While several exhibits were designed for older kids, there was enough there to keep the boys entertained. So, entertained, that we completely forgot to go to the kid zone designed for toddlers. We grabbed a nice dinner out and then headed home...the boys were out again almost the whole way home.

It was a nice day trip..we will definitely make that trip again this summer and hopefully it will be nice enough to check out the Louisville Zoo. Especially since they were in awesome moods on Sunday...nice end to the weekend.

Enjoy it while I can, right?

I had to share this story since it won't be long before he will change his tune...

Every morning, Connor and I have the same routine when we arrive to school. We walk in the building, go to his hook at the West end of the building to hang up his school bag, walk through the office area and some of the classrooms as we head to the East room. The East room is where the "daycare" kids start their day before classes start at 9am. He gives me a kiss and hug and he heads off to pick out an activity for the morning.

Since his school includes older kids up through 3rd grade, some of the parents drop the kids off in the parking lot or at the front door. Connor inquired about this..."Why do some parents not walk their kids to the East room and let them go by themselves?"

I explained to him that it is because they are bigger and that when he gets bigger, we could do the same. He said he didn't want to get bigger because then he wouldn't get a hug and kiss from me in the East room. It was so sweet! I know it won't be long before he is asking me to drop him off a block away so he isn't seen with his mommy...so I will enjoy it while I can.

Can I show Daddy what I learned at school?

Thursday night was the opportunity for parents to attend night school at Montessori with their child to learn the answer to the question "what did you do at school today?". Since siblings were not invited, daddy got nominated to be the attendee with Connor.

For 45 minutes, daddy got the opportunity to "share" the works that Connor has had lessons on. The child is the guide for the evening with daddy merely there as an observer. Daddy was not allowed to direct, correct, or intervene. I think Connor really enjoyed having the opportunity to show what he does all day including the rules about selecting an item and putting items away properly (even if Daddy thought it was boring). He said the kids are very quiet and deep in concentration as you will see in a couple of the pictures.

Next year, we both get to go since we will have two kids there. Yeah!

Welcome to Radiator Springs

The boys have a new obsession these days - the Cars movie. A few weeks ago, they stayed the night with Mimi and Papa and at a desperate attempt to watch something other than trains again, Cars was suggested. Then, this last weekend when Papa and Gma watched the boys, Cars was suggested by Gma since Papa had never seen it.

Now, the boys are requesting the Cars movie...and the pajamas...and the Cars shirts...and their Lighting McQueen camp chairs.

Apparently, this is a very popular movie with a lot of kids this age (and Mommy has to agree it is more age appropriate than their other favorite, Barnyard).

Weekend Update...

What a beautiful weekend....nice preview for the spring/summer months just around the corner! Of course, we couldn't hardly get the boys to change their "routine" of being indoors. When I suggested to Connor that he could go outside and burn off some energy, he suggested back that he would like to save it for Monday at school. We did spend a little time outdoors....Daddy worked on landscaping, mommy swept the garage, and Brady showed off his new "milestone" of truly riding his tricycle.

Saturday evening, hubby and I had the opportunity to go on a double date with our good friends, J & A. We had a very nice evening of dinner at Nagasaki before heading to the Guns & Hoses charity boxing event where the firefighters were pitted against the police officers. It was my first boxing experience and since it was a "charity" event, it was more entertaining than I imagine real boxing would be.

While we were enjoying an evening out of boxing, good music, and friends, the boys spent the evening with Papa and Gma. I think they had a good time, although it sounded like they were pretty exhausted by the end of the evening. They watched the Cars movie, which Papa had never seen and they also had a stinky sock fight. I wonder who won?

Thank you Papa and Gma for spending the evening with the boys! Later Sunday morning we learned that Connor went commando to bed last night. He CLAIMS that Papa suggested it...wonder what the true story is??

Why can't I have a cow?

Connor has decided that he wants a pet and that pet needs to be a Cow because he doesn't like cats and dogs and Cows don't go potty.

But the Cows do have to go potty....Connor said "Okay, if the Cow has to go potty, he will just Moo and we will let him out." (Apparently, the Cow will get to stay in the house).

But Cows live on the farm...Connor said "Okay, we will paint the house red and it will be a barn."

I'm sure he would also name it Otis...from his new favorite Cartoon, Back at the Barnyard.

Day 2 - the cow discussions continue...Did you know that Cows can make us milk? What planet are cows from? Did God move them from another planet to Earth?

Date Night out...

Showing off my NEW red shoes...

Chris and I had the opportunity to go out for a date night this weekend. The boys had a sleepover at Mimi and Papa's, while we went to a dinner/dance fundraiser for Connor's preschool. The fundraiser aspect was primarily from the silent and live auction of various donated gift certificates, medical packets, gift baskets, and more. We bid heavily during the silent auction, but managed to escape with a minimal amount of restaurant and museum gift certificates. The live auction was related to classroom quilts and pictures and they went for some shocking prices (one quilt went for $1,200). Dinner was spent visiting with a co-worker and her husband. After the live auction ended, there was no dancing as everyone was anxious to check out for the silent auction wins.

It was a nice night out and it was reported that the boys behaved well.