And witness how tickled he is with himself!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Disney World, Day 3
On Day 3, we divided and conquered. Connor and Pop went off to enjoy Magic Kingdom and Nani and I took Timmy to Epcot. While the boys went off to Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Barnstormer, etc, we had a blast wandering around the International area at Epcot.
The Garden Festival was going on, and there were amazing topiaries everywhere. Here's Nani and Timmy near the Fantasia ostriches.
Here's mommy in front of the Simba scene from Lion King.
We enjoyed a long leisurely lunch at Cafe Marrakesh with mimosas and a baklava sampler. Timmy was hungry too, so here's mommy and Timmy enjoying a Timmy apertif.
We really loved Asia the most...China and Japan were really very interesting, and we fell in love with the gardens.
We decided to rest in Mexico for a little while and let Timmy have a taste of Nani's all fruit popsicle. We LIKE pops. Mommy had to buy a new shirt though because strawberry and beet juice just do not look great smeared across my chest.
We came back to the hotel for some swimming and dinner, and then Pop and Connor headed out to fireworks while Nani and mommy stayed with comatose Timmy and enjoyed some petit fours from the concierge service upstairs. Connor had a blast at the fireworks but the first loud volley had him running across the park to get away...Pop had to convince him he was not a target on an artillery range.
The Garden Festival was going on, and there were amazing topiaries everywhere. Here's Nani and Timmy near the Fantasia ostriches.
Here's mommy in front of the Simba scene from Lion King.
We enjoyed a long leisurely lunch at Cafe Marrakesh with mimosas and a baklava sampler. Timmy was hungry too, so here's mommy and Timmy enjoying a Timmy apertif.
We really loved Asia the most...China and Japan were really very interesting, and we fell in love with the gardens.
We decided to rest in Mexico for a little while and let Timmy have a taste of Nani's all fruit popsicle. We LIKE pops. Mommy had to buy a new shirt though because strawberry and beet juice just do not look great smeared across my chest.
We came back to the hotel for some swimming and dinner, and then Pop and Connor headed out to fireworks while Nani and mommy stayed with comatose Timmy and enjoyed some petit fours from the concierge service upstairs. Connor had a blast at the fireworks but the first loud volley had him running across the park to get away...Pop had to convince him he was not a target on an artillery range.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Disney World , Day 2
orry it's taken me so long to catch up! It's been a very busy week!
We woke up all refreshed on Monday and hied ourselves off to Animal Kingdom for the morning. We made lunch reservations for Rainforest Cafe, and so we enjoyed Dinoland in the meantime.
The place was relatively empty when we first showed so Nani and mommy took Connor on the dinosaur ride. I jumped out of my skin a couple times when the carnosaurs popped out of no where but Connor demonstrated great sangfroid...after all, they would eat the bigger people first right? His only comment was that "dinosores are LOUD."
He really enjoyed the flying dino ride and went three times before we had to go off to the cafe for lunch.
We stopped to see a few animals on the way out...
We ate lunch at the cafe, which Connor loved...he talked to all the animals on the walls...and then headed off to Epcot for the afternoon.
Connor loves trains of all sorts and we got to ride buses AND trains there. We got back at around 7 and put both kids to bed...they fell asleep near instantly. Too bad I can't always run them into the ground like that!
We woke up all refreshed on Monday and hied ourselves off to Animal Kingdom for the morning. We made lunch reservations for Rainforest Cafe, and so we enjoyed Dinoland in the meantime.
The place was relatively empty when we first showed so Nani and mommy took Connor on the dinosaur ride. I jumped out of my skin a couple times when the carnosaurs popped out of no where but Connor demonstrated great sangfroid...after all, they would eat the bigger people first right? His only comment was that "dinosores are LOUD."
He really enjoyed the flying dino ride and went three times before we had to go off to the cafe for lunch.
We stopped to see a few animals on the way out...
We ate lunch at the cafe, which Connor loved...he talked to all the animals on the walls...and then headed off to Epcot for the afternoon.
Connor loves trains of all sorts and we got to ride buses AND trains there. We got back at around 7 and put both kids to bed...they fell asleep near instantly. Too bad I can't always run them into the ground like that!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Disney World Adventures, Day 1
The Crean/Freel clan went off on a magical Disney World vacation this Sunday...in fact, I'm writing this now from the DW Animal Kingdom Lodge as the kids slumber peacefully in their beds. It has been a real blast so far...I'll write day by day, but one or two days delayed so I can catch everyone up and not miss anything.
We got up early Sunday morning and flew out of Dulles...Connor was extremely excited about the airplane ride and told everyone within hearing distance about tails and flaps and cambered wings. We arrived before 9 am, and we were whisked off to our lodge to check in and get our tickets and info. Our rooms weren't ready yet -- we were upgraded gratis to concierge services and two adjoining deluxe rooms -- so while dad got things straightened out with all that, the kids and I roamed the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, decorated with an African theme, and has a "savannah" in the courtyard. From our balcony we can see this:
The animals roam all day in a big protected paddock and Connor is learning all kinds of new animals like amkole and ibex.
While we waited for our rooms, we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. It was very busy by the time we got there, but Connor did manage to get on the Flying Dumbo ride he's anticipated for weeks, and discovered the wonder of the spinning teacup ride (one of mommy's faves!). Here he is modeling his new hat (his old one didn't fit) and waiting patiently in line.
Here he is on the teacups...
If you're wondering why there hasn't been any pics of Timmy featured yet, that is because the world's mellowest baby chose to sleep through most of all this action. He finally woke when pop and Connor braved Connor's first roller coaster, the Barnstormer. Here's Pop and Connor heading up the track -- zoom!
And here's the cheering section on the ground!
The rooms were soon ready so we headed back to the hotel on the bus (Connor asks about 40 million times day to ride the bus...we probably could have bought him a $20 bus pass and he'd have been almost as happy!) and rested. We were all pretty tired from the day's travels so as soon as the kids ate, we all hit the sheets to get an early jump on the Animal Kingdom the next day. The park had early opening hours we wanted to take advantage of. Stay tuned for Animal Kingdom and Epcot adventures!
We got up early Sunday morning and flew out of Dulles...Connor was extremely excited about the airplane ride and told everyone within hearing distance about tails and flaps and cambered wings. We arrived before 9 am, and we were whisked off to our lodge to check in and get our tickets and info. Our rooms weren't ready yet -- we were upgraded gratis to concierge services and two adjoining deluxe rooms -- so while dad got things straightened out with all that, the kids and I roamed the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, decorated with an African theme, and has a "savannah" in the courtyard. From our balcony we can see this:
The animals roam all day in a big protected paddock and Connor is learning all kinds of new animals like amkole and ibex.
While we waited for our rooms, we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. It was very busy by the time we got there, but Connor did manage to get on the Flying Dumbo ride he's anticipated for weeks, and discovered the wonder of the spinning teacup ride (one of mommy's faves!). Here he is modeling his new hat (his old one didn't fit) and waiting patiently in line.
Here he is on the teacups...
If you're wondering why there hasn't been any pics of Timmy featured yet, that is because the world's mellowest baby chose to sleep through most of all this action. He finally woke when pop and Connor braved Connor's first roller coaster, the Barnstormer. Here's Pop and Connor heading up the track -- zoom!
And here's the cheering section on the ground!
The rooms were soon ready so we headed back to the hotel on the bus (Connor asks about 40 million times day to ride the bus...we probably could have bought him a $20 bus pass and he'd have been almost as happy!) and rested. We were all pretty tired from the day's travels so as soon as the kids ate, we all hit the sheets to get an early jump on the Animal Kingdom the next day. The park had early opening hours we wanted to take advantage of. Stay tuned for Animal Kingdom and Epcot adventures!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Some catch up videos
Connor loves to dance...this is an HBO Baby video that he loves. He dances with the tap dancers, and gets very excited about the blue screen.
Here is Connor and cousin Evie playing with Pop during a family party at mom and dad's house in Olean.
Here is Connor and cousin Evie playing with Pop during a family party at mom and dad's house in Olean.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Kid Funnies
My kids keep me laughing all day long. For those of my friends and family members that don't get to see them on a regular basis, I thought I'd capture a few of their doings for your reading pleasure!
Timmy is a crack up, a total ham, who delights in charming total strangers with million watt smiles. If you number among his favorite people, he will have a full body celebration when you come in the room. He waves his arms, kicks his feet, and wiggles like you are the best gift he has ever gotten. If you turn away without acknowledging his little party for you, he gives a little squeak of dismay and starts to fuss.
One of his favorite things to do is lay on your lap and reach up to your mouth as you talk to him. He cooes and gurgles and generally flirts with you. He has the brightest most expressive little eyes -- laser beam like in intensity and focus. He loves singing and actually sings to himself in his sleep.
Connor is keeping us laughing with his turns of phrase. He is a myna bird, repeating everything he can. He and Pop watch for the metro trains in the tunnel chanting, "Waaiiiit for it, waaaaiiit for it..." and that's now his go to phrase. He is in love with "Super Why!" on PBS - Elmo is for babies! - and when he's told no, no Super Why! he says, "Oh no, where is it? What happened??" like a global disaster destroyed the show archives because surely he would be allowed to watch it otherwise! He spends a lot of the day asking for new signs (as in ASL) and repeating his favorite learning stuff. Nothing more disconcerting than a naked toddler running by yelling "Big D, widdle D...ddd...donaud doo and a duck dog too!" (10 points if you guess the kid book) Connor read out his first entire proper sentence today all by himself (Wake up Bert) with no phonics help from mommy -- his reading aloud had been limited to simple lists of two to three nouns per page. He loves to sing phonics songs with mommy after school so mommy's had to brush off the pipes and render the "If you see a double e, you say EEEE!" song all its musical due. He also figured out left from right and wants to demo his knowledge every chance he gets.
He of course has also added a few less endearing phrases; I asked if he would like some yogurt and we found that we only had lemon left which prompted a high volume "EWWWWWWW!" It was funny and I laughed...and now get EWWWWW every time I turn around.
And oh dear...mommy needed some new shirts and Nani needed a swim suit so we took the kids shopping at Sears. Connor got a little bored waiting for Nani to try on clothes so he thought he'd join in the fun and promptly stripped down to his skivvies in the store. No matter what store we went to, Connor had to be naked if there was clothes trying to be done. Sigh. Wouldn't be so bad if he didn't try to model his Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and scare the 80 year old ladies with his manly physique.
Timmy is a crack up, a total ham, who delights in charming total strangers with million watt smiles. If you number among his favorite people, he will have a full body celebration when you come in the room. He waves his arms, kicks his feet, and wiggles like you are the best gift he has ever gotten. If you turn away without acknowledging his little party for you, he gives a little squeak of dismay and starts to fuss.
One of his favorite things to do is lay on your lap and reach up to your mouth as you talk to him. He cooes and gurgles and generally flirts with you. He has the brightest most expressive little eyes -- laser beam like in intensity and focus. He loves singing and actually sings to himself in his sleep.
Connor is keeping us laughing with his turns of phrase. He is a myna bird, repeating everything he can. He and Pop watch for the metro trains in the tunnel chanting, "Waaiiiit for it, waaaaiiit for it..." and that's now his go to phrase. He is in love with "Super Why!" on PBS - Elmo is for babies! - and when he's told no, no Super Why! he says, "Oh no, where is it? What happened??" like a global disaster destroyed the show archives because surely he would be allowed to watch it otherwise! He spends a lot of the day asking for new signs (as in ASL) and repeating his favorite learning stuff. Nothing more disconcerting than a naked toddler running by yelling "Big D, widdle D...ddd...donaud doo and a duck dog too!" (10 points if you guess the kid book) Connor read out his first entire proper sentence today all by himself (Wake up Bert) with no phonics help from mommy -- his reading aloud had been limited to simple lists of two to three nouns per page. He loves to sing phonics songs with mommy after school so mommy's had to brush off the pipes and render the "If you see a double e, you say EEEE!" song all its musical due. He also figured out left from right and wants to demo his knowledge every chance he gets.
He of course has also added a few less endearing phrases; I asked if he would like some yogurt and we found that we only had lemon left which prompted a high volume "EWWWWWWW!" It was funny and I laughed...and now get EWWWWW every time I turn around.
And oh dear...mommy needed some new shirts and Nani needed a swim suit so we took the kids shopping at Sears. Connor got a little bored waiting for Nani to try on clothes so he thought he'd join in the fun and promptly stripped down to his skivvies in the store. No matter what store we went to, Connor had to be naked if there was clothes trying to be done. Sigh. Wouldn't be so bad if he didn't try to model his Thomas the Tank Engine underwear and scare the 80 year old ladies with his manly physique.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
My kids continually surprise me in wonderful ways (and a musing on parenting)
Connor has always been...not a difficult kid...but a challenging one. He is pretty easy going til you hit a streak of stubborn, and that I tell you is like drilling granite. Read about the World War II beaches of Normandy reenactment it took to get him potty trained and you will feel my pain!
For about a six month stretch, he had no go areas where he fought for control with me. Hair washing. Teeth brushing. Hair cutting. Doctor visits. Potty training. One by one, we knocked them down with firm limits, wise punishments, a fair amount of exasperation and loads of praise and positive reinforcement when he finally gave in to the inevitable. We have all but hair cuts conquered. Imagine my apprehension then when I had to add a first dentist visit.
I knew he was due for his first cleaning soon, and when he fell while running and chipped a small piece off his tooth, I figured sooner rather later was in order. I found a great pediatric dentist here in Manassas called Dr Kakar and made an appt for today. The staff was lovely...obviously great with kids...and Dr. Kakar himself did everything possible to make Connor comfortable. I had done a little prep work: got a book about dentist visits by Mercer, talked about the dentist looking at his pretty teeth and counting them, and how I was so excited he was going to the dentist so he could earn a treat by cooperating. We did a tense preschooler negotiation (I thought he was going to call in union reps) and we settled on a milkshake as a good dentist compliance treat. Probably not what the dentist has in mind, but you gotta go with what works.
Dr. Kakar was very patient and showed him all the instruments and the gloves, counting fingers and all that. He also brilliantly let Connor watch an older boy get his teeth examined and showed him a little girl who earned stickers for completing her exam calmly. Dr. Kakar and his assistant (who had a beautiful lilting Trinidad accent) did a great job at putting him at ease. He very willingly let the dentist count his teeth, inspect them and do a quick cleaning and fluoride treatment. He earned three stickers and a tooth brush, and I made an enormous deal of how grown up and mature he was about it, trying desperately to hide my delighted surprise at how wonderful he was. We headed off to the nearest McD's playground, upping the reward to playground playtime and a Happy Meal as an "I'm so proud of you" gift. After earning a rare lollipop for a fantastic doctor visit on Tuesday, this kid is sitting pretty on the treat front and will probably try to ask for appts just to earn the elusive lollipop/milkshake combo again.
There's a lot of angst among moms about the advisability of these kind of treats for compliance. One school of thought counts this as bribes. Well, sure there's something to that. Sometimes children should do what they're told because it's the right thing to do and they know it, absolutely. But I feel like when a child is doing something new, something in which expectations are more than they have had to give before, a treat for rising to meet those expectations is in order. After all, if you go above and beyond your usual level of performance at work, you earn praise, accolades, even bonuses, right? Everyone wants a pat on the back, the "milkshake" when they reach beyond their comfort zone and do well. I think this has a flip side as well. Never ever promise a treat that you're not willing to withhold if expectations are not met. Case in point: Connor loves this little merry go round ride at the local mall. We went to take his three year pics there, and I promised that if he behaved during the pics, I would let him ride the merry go round. He acted up, refusing to behave, and generally acted like a pill. So I had Pop carry him out to the car sans ride which caused a nuclear meltdown that put Three Mile Island to shame. He HAD to understand that there were consequences to his choices and that was a bad choice. When he calmed down, I explained that he had had two choices: behave and earn the treat, or misbehave and earn disapproval and go without. Connor generally is wise enough to act the pragmatic part and realize that expectations met equal good things showering down upon him. After all, this mama didn't raise no fool! Can we hope the same method might work for a haircut?
Soon all these things will not earn treats because he's grown beyond the trepidation that once necessitated a little extra incentive, and we'll attach some new motivator to something else. When we were kids, my brother and I lived for the quarterly "I get to pick a special dinner" award for good grades. We earned a great allowance (and learned budgeting) for doing our duties around the house, and could earn extra for doing especially hard or dirty jobs. Mom and dad always had little celebrations for any milestones worthy of the name - acing exams, advancing in Scouts, earning a scholarship, getting into college - but never rewarded us for being demanding little jerks. THAT is a bribe in my book -- the "okay have the candy just so you'll shut up and stop nagging me" Snickers. We knew much better than to nag; nagging was a one way ticket to bug eyed irate mom and a guaranteed way to kiss a prized treat or outing goodbye.
Well, anyway, I have two sleeping kids that need extensive cuddles...
For about a six month stretch, he had no go areas where he fought for control with me. Hair washing. Teeth brushing. Hair cutting. Doctor visits. Potty training. One by one, we knocked them down with firm limits, wise punishments, a fair amount of exasperation and loads of praise and positive reinforcement when he finally gave in to the inevitable. We have all but hair cuts conquered. Imagine my apprehension then when I had to add a first dentist visit.
I knew he was due for his first cleaning soon, and when he fell while running and chipped a small piece off his tooth, I figured sooner rather later was in order. I found a great pediatric dentist here in Manassas called Dr Kakar and made an appt for today. The staff was lovely...obviously great with kids...and Dr. Kakar himself did everything possible to make Connor comfortable. I had done a little prep work: got a book about dentist visits by Mercer, talked about the dentist looking at his pretty teeth and counting them, and how I was so excited he was going to the dentist so he could earn a treat by cooperating. We did a tense preschooler negotiation (I thought he was going to call in union reps) and we settled on a milkshake as a good dentist compliance treat. Probably not what the dentist has in mind, but you gotta go with what works.
Dr. Kakar was very patient and showed him all the instruments and the gloves, counting fingers and all that. He also brilliantly let Connor watch an older boy get his teeth examined and showed him a little girl who earned stickers for completing her exam calmly. Dr. Kakar and his assistant (who had a beautiful lilting Trinidad accent) did a great job at putting him at ease. He very willingly let the dentist count his teeth, inspect them and do a quick cleaning and fluoride treatment. He earned three stickers and a tooth brush, and I made an enormous deal of how grown up and mature he was about it, trying desperately to hide my delighted surprise at how wonderful he was. We headed off to the nearest McD's playground, upping the reward to playground playtime and a Happy Meal as an "I'm so proud of you" gift. After earning a rare lollipop for a fantastic doctor visit on Tuesday, this kid is sitting pretty on the treat front and will probably try to ask for appts just to earn the elusive lollipop/milkshake combo again.
There's a lot of angst among moms about the advisability of these kind of treats for compliance. One school of thought counts this as bribes. Well, sure there's something to that. Sometimes children should do what they're told because it's the right thing to do and they know it, absolutely. But I feel like when a child is doing something new, something in which expectations are more than they have had to give before, a treat for rising to meet those expectations is in order. After all, if you go above and beyond your usual level of performance at work, you earn praise, accolades, even bonuses, right? Everyone wants a pat on the back, the "milkshake" when they reach beyond their comfort zone and do well. I think this has a flip side as well. Never ever promise a treat that you're not willing to withhold if expectations are not met. Case in point: Connor loves this little merry go round ride at the local mall. We went to take his three year pics there, and I promised that if he behaved during the pics, I would let him ride the merry go round. He acted up, refusing to behave, and generally acted like a pill. So I had Pop carry him out to the car sans ride which caused a nuclear meltdown that put Three Mile Island to shame. He HAD to understand that there were consequences to his choices and that was a bad choice. When he calmed down, I explained that he had had two choices: behave and earn the treat, or misbehave and earn disapproval and go without. Connor generally is wise enough to act the pragmatic part and realize that expectations met equal good things showering down upon him. After all, this mama didn't raise no fool! Can we hope the same method might work for a haircut?
Soon all these things will not earn treats because he's grown beyond the trepidation that once necessitated a little extra incentive, and we'll attach some new motivator to something else. When we were kids, my brother and I lived for the quarterly "I get to pick a special dinner" award for good grades. We earned a great allowance (and learned budgeting) for doing our duties around the house, and could earn extra for doing especially hard or dirty jobs. Mom and dad always had little celebrations for any milestones worthy of the name - acing exams, advancing in Scouts, earning a scholarship, getting into college - but never rewarded us for being demanding little jerks. THAT is a bribe in my book -- the "okay have the candy just so you'll shut up and stop nagging me" Snickers. We knew much better than to nag; nagging was a one way ticket to bug eyed irate mom and a guaranteed way to kiss a prized treat or outing goodbye.
Well, anyway, I have two sleeping kids that need extensive cuddles...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Kids doctor appts and stats
After a long weekend in New York, we came back to go to the kids' doctor appts. Timmy needed his six month well baby appt and Connor needed to catch up on a couple of shots that were not available in Alaska. The appts went better than I could have imagined! Connor was very cooperative, balking only at getting weighed, and earned a rare treat for his lovely cooperation; lollipops are big motivators in his world!
He is just over 39 1/2 inches tall and weighs 37 lbs...nice lean tall boy. He got his shot with no fuss and earned his lollipop and congratulatory hug from mommy for such nice behavior. The pediatrician was very supportive of his speech therapy and preschool plans, and was impressed with his motor skills in riding his big boy bike so well.
Timmy's stats were 18 lbs 9 oz and 28.5 inches tall. He's in the 95th percentile for height, but only 65th for weight; he's showing a gradual but not yet alarming trend downward in weight percentiles, so we'll mention it at his pediatric gastroenterology appointment in April. He's right on target for all his milestones and is on the cusp of crawling -- he manages to get around pretty well wiggling and rolling around.
I'll post pictures from the New York trip as soon as I can. We sure had a lot of fun, but the kids were very tired and worn out after such a whirlwind trip of cooing relatives!
He is just over 39 1/2 inches tall and weighs 37 lbs...nice lean tall boy. He got his shot with no fuss and earned his lollipop and congratulatory hug from mommy for such nice behavior. The pediatrician was very supportive of his speech therapy and preschool plans, and was impressed with his motor skills in riding his big boy bike so well.
Timmy's stats were 18 lbs 9 oz and 28.5 inches tall. He's in the 95th percentile for height, but only 65th for weight; he's showing a gradual but not yet alarming trend downward in weight percentiles, so we'll mention it at his pediatric gastroenterology appointment in April. He's right on target for all his milestones and is on the cusp of crawling -- he manages to get around pretty well wiggling and rolling around.
I'll post pictures from the New York trip as soon as I can. We sure had a lot of fun, but the kids were very tired and worn out after such a whirlwind trip of cooing relatives!
Monday, March 2, 2009
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