Summer was ECSTATIC about her Daddy date to the roller rink! She has
been talking about it for weeks now, and as soon as Daddy got home from
work she couldn't contain her excitement....she went running to him and
said, "I love you I love you I love you I want to give you a hug!" It
was adorable! Here are a few pictures and videos they brought back to
show me the fun date they had!
LOVIN' it!
Time for a hotdog...
and a GIANT pickle...
The pickle was definitely a highlight ;)
Skating!
Skating with Daddy
:-)
Look at me!
A few videos....(Paul couldn't video Summer skating WHILE he was holding her hand ;) but here are a few videos of her eating and watching the others skating)...
We have been working on obedience with Summer lately....
Paul and I ran up against a wall this weekend, where defiance seemed to be rampant, and time after time Summer would disobey and enjoy seeing what negative consequences would ensue. One evening Paul and I sat down and made a new plan.....instead of ONLY having negative consequences for disobeying, we would try adding positive consequences for obeying.
While I have always disliked sticker charts (I find them lots of work, I don't want my kids to always look for a reward when they do something right, and they seem to peter out, etc....) I decided to give one a try.
Here is how our sticker chart works:
Each time Summer chooses to say "Yes Mommy" or "Yes Daddy" and be obedient, (when she normally would say "no") she gets a sticker. We keep the sticker chart and stickers on the fridge, and after she picks one out and puts it on the chart, we sing the "obedience" song and dance around the kitchen. (She loves it :-) ... especially the dancing/singing part!).
While we used to watch a DVD (veggie tales or Baby Einstein) once every few days, now DVD's are a reward only....when she gets 20 stickers, she gets to pick a DVD to watch. (It is good practice in counting to count our stickers every time we put one on and watching a DVD is motivation for her to get 20 stickers!)
I have noticed a dramatic increase in obedience and a dramatic decrease in negative punishments (which still do occur, but much less frequently as she is "choosing good behavior" instead.) I really like that I can "head off" a potential battle by prefacing a request by saying, "Summer, here is a chance for you to earn a sticker! If you say "yes, mommy" when mommy says its time for you to change your diaper, you get a sticker. If you say no, you will get a time-out. Think about what you will say." Then I make my request :-)
Today she earned her first DVD by getting her 20th sticker. It was cute to watch her face as she called daddy at work to tell him the good news :-)
Here is a little video of her introducing the sticker chart. The song we sing when we put stickers on the chart is Steve Green's song of Ephesians 6:1-3, so that is the verse she is quoting :-).
-Colton is officially weaned! He is loving solid foods and eats 3 meals a day with no snacks or nursings in between.
-The kids are (finally!!!!) napping at the same time in the afternoon! (They used tag team...Colton 12pm-2pm, Summer 2pm-4pm, Colton 4pm-6pm). Now they both go down around 2 pm. That gives me a good hour every day to tutor or have time to myself, and it is AMAZING!
-We are in the midst of a battle of the wills in "Operation Picky" at our house. In the past, we told Summer that if she didn't like her dinner, she had to eat one bite of whatever was in front of her, and then sit with everyone until everyone else was done, and she didn't get anything else to eat. She did well with that, but we fell into a pattern of her tanking at lunch (because she loves PBJ, etc) and then choosing not to eat her dinner. So our new strategy is that whatever was for dinner the previous night, if not eaten, reappears at lunch the next day. It is working quite well :-).
While it is winter outside, Summer is in the Tommerdahl kitchen :-). We girls have been baking and cooking and learning all sorts of things about following a recipe, what "half" means, and so much more! Here are the cupcakes she made before we frosted them:
This morning we made lasagna together. I had a bunch of pre-browned ground beef in the freezer, so when we used noodles that don't need to be precooked, Summer could do almost everything by herself. Here is her "how to make lasagna" video. I think she is just about ready to air on Food Network ;)
One thing (of many) that I really appreciate about Paul is that he is so willing to help out, and he does so without me asking :-). When he sees a need, he just steps in and quietly does what needs to be done. Grandpa T. snapped this picture of us when Paul jumped into the kitchen to help make grilled cheese when the Tommerdahls were here over Christmas. We don't often get pictures of just the two of us together (as usually one of us is taking the picture or else has one or two kids with us) so I figured I'd post this one with a shout out to my amazing hubby. I love you, honey!
(**I worked as a waitress at Perkins in high school and college.....and that is still the apron I use in the kitchen!)
It has been SO much fun to watch Summer and Colton together since Colton started crawling! He will follow her all over, and she LOVES it! Playing hide-and-go-seek has been really fun lately because when Colton and I find Summer, both kids squeal! It is fun to watch Summer enjoy Colton as a playmate rather than just a baby. Here is a cute video of them playing together. Summer is still learning how to play with Colton (i.e. how to be gentle) yet it is pretty cute to watch her try and make him happy if he is fussy--she will get him a toy, sing and dance, or in this case, turn on some distracting music :-).
My parents rented a condo in Florida last week and we had a blast being almost 100 degrees warmer than it was back here in Minnesota! Colton loved his first time swimming! Here are a few pictures I stole from my mom :-)
On our early morning flight, ready for Florida!
Summer coloring with Daddy (see Colton in the corner napping?!)
Colton stretching his legs
Summer hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa
Ready for Florida!
My parents rented a large vehicle, in which all 8 of us and our luggage fit!
Bathtime = two tiny kids in one large tub!
On the glass bottom boat ride
Summer and Grandma
Grandpa and Summer
Colton skipped his morning nap to go on the boat ride, so here I am trying to get a fussy Colton to sleep :-)
Victory! (For at least 10 minutes.....!)
We could see a lot of amazing ocean floor scenery through the glass bottom boat.
In the background you can see what the glass bottom of the boat looked like.
Daddy and Colton
Napping :-)
Awesome hot tub with a waterfall!
The view of the back two seats of our vehicle....girls in the back, boys in the middle :-)
Out for dinner
Colton LOVED splashing!
Summer and Uncle Eric
Playing in the water---GORGEOUS pool!
Summer and Auntie Kristin
Daddy and Colton
Summer and Grandma
Daddy and Colton
One of the restaurants we went to had live music. Daddy and Summer danced :-)
Click here to see videos of Summer and Colton dancing:
Dancing!
Grandma loves doing matching shirt pictures :-)
Us :-)
Summer and Daddy watching the sunset
Summer with her "Summer-sized" ice cream cone in her "Summer-sized" chair.
My favorite two boys, just chillin'
Paul took this awesome picture!
Another one of my hubby's pics---beautiful!
My favorite pic--cool perspective--nice work, Paul!
We had so much fun being together as a family and enjoying the warm weather! Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Kirkwood! :-)
At 9.5 months, Colton is officially crawling! While he has been mobile (scooching backwards and turning to reach for things) for several months, he finally now can go forward, and he has the crawl position down :-).
Here is his first crawl (January 19th) at a condo my parents rented down in Florida:
Now that we are home he is LOVING being able to go from room to room on his own instead of waiting to be carried :-). Here he is excitedly crawling down the hallway this morning:
Colton puts everything in his mouth (while Summer never did) and he also has a big sister with small toys (which Summer didn't) so I am a bit more nervous about his crawling than I was about Summer. However, Summer is SUCH a great helper, telling me EVERYTHING that EVERYONE is doing ALL the time :-), so it is comforting to know that she will immediately tell me if she sees Colton put something he shouldn't (or should!!) in his mouth!!!
Way to go, Colt! It's a whole new world now....! :-)
