It has been a while since we last updated the blog. Life seems to be quite busy these days – Mommy recently got back into the workforce (following her dream of becoming an Event Planner) and Daddy has been working a lot of long hours. We are all adjusting to mommy being back at work and certainly Juvy (our nanny) has been wonderful. The kiddos are turning 2.5 this month and are at a stage where they need lots of attention + need to burn off plenty of energy.
So much to share on new developments….
One thing that has become very evident in the last few months is that the kids now play with each other. Before they were more independent but now they keep each other entertained. They also compete for attention and fight over toys. Sometimes it feels like we are constantly disciplining them and other times it feels like they are the best of friends. They love to watch Dora and Elmo (30 mins in the morning and 30 mins in the evening before dinner), they love going to the park and playing with the neighbors, and they love animals and trucks and buses!
Kailen is still a big teddy bear – he gives the biggest, squeeziest hugs. He still screams a lot, especially when someone takes his stuff – we are trying to nip that behavior in the butt. To date, we haven’t been big users of ‘timeouts’ but we have recently started giving him some. He gets 2 mins of alone time in the play pen away from his toys and siblings when he screams. We then follow up with a little chat about how screaming hurts everyone’s ears…it usually ends with Kailen saying that he won’t do it again and then somehow he forgets the lesson. KK loves animals – when you take him to the Museum of Nature, he can spend a lot of time looking at the dinosaurs and birds. He tends to get obsessed with things very quickly when he likes them and then becomes quite the persistent boy afterward when he has to let go, e.g. we see a parked school bus (his favorite)…mommy asks the school bus driver if he can have a little tour…KK goes inside and after we leave he spends the next 1 hour repeating ‘school bus….school bus…I want to hold it’. Mommy & daddy aren’t ones for repetition! Although he’s becoming increasingly challenging to parent (in some ways), he is so adorable all at the same time and it’s hard to stay upset at him very long.
Jaiden is in a very different phase then his other two siblings. His speech is advancing very quickly and he is often teaching the others. He is expressive and can articulate pretty complicated feelings and requests. He recently started expressing his emotions. One night, when going to bed, he yelled out to Juvy (our nanny) …”I’m very mad at you…I’m sad at you….I’m sorry”….all in one sentence. He was expressing all his emotions at once. We think he was just missing Juvy after not seeing her for a couple of days and was trying to find the words to express that. He’s been saying “sorry” a lot recently and it probably reflects us using that expression a bit much in our day to day dialogue. Recently JJ has asked us to start rocking him to bed – he’s never done that before and has generally always been the easiest to put down at night. He even slept in our bed one night which is something he never liked doing. We get the sense that his self-esteem is bit down (while Kailen’s is up recently)…always a delicate balance with giving attention. We’ve been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to find some more time with him 1-1 – we’ll have to find a way.
Ariya is really starting to come out of her shell. Most folks who come to visit will immediately point out her shyness and quiet nature. Recently, we’ve noticed that she isn’t as shy as she used to be and is often quite playful with people she’s never met before. Once she gets comfortable she is quite the chatter box and will talk up a storm. In playgroups, she is very participative and enjoys dancing and singing. She also really likes ‘Lightening McQueen’ from the Pixar movie, “Cars”, and collects stickers of the characters. She’s very picky about what clothes and shoes she wears and has a definite passion for shopping – when we take her to the toy store she has a very difficult time making decisions (she wants it all)…. it really stress her out having to choose. It usually ends with her bringing 3 or 4 items to the cash and then a bit of a meltdown as we keep it fair amongst the kiddos and restrict it to just one item. Ariya has developed a fond love of television too, and it’s getting tougher to turn the tube off especially when it comes to Dora or Elmo. Of the three, Bella has fewer ups and downs and is steadier with her emotions (unless she gets over-tired)….you can often reason with her and I wonder if girls are just easier than boy at that age?
Ahhhh….The joys of “terrible two’s”
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| Ariya loves peanut butter! |
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| Sharing Lemonade with Nanni (Grandma Uppal) |
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| JJ coming down the slide |
