Grayson at 10 Months

Grayson turned 10 months today. Here's what he's been up to the last couple of months--

• He is officially cruising--pulling himself up to a standing position against furniture and walking along it--and has been for about a month-month and a half. Even though he hasn't tried walking or standing on his own, he loves walking along with his daddy and big sister while they hold onto his hands. 
• He also loves exploring and being free! That said, he now hates his bouncer and play pen. But with a big dog and two very messy older siblings roaming around and tossing every little thing on the floor, those are the places he most finds himself. But when he does get the chance to crawl around a bit, he takes full advantage of it. 
• He got his first two teeth last month (check them out in the photo above), and it looks like his top teeth might be making an appearance soon!
• He can pull himself into a sitting position now. The first time I noticed this was in church. I looked over to him while he was playing on the floor, and there he was, sitting up on his heels. Like a big boy. I had to have a double-take, it took me off-guard so much. But now he goes from a crawl to sitting on his bum all the time, so I'm used to it.
• Just like myself and Ally and Trey, he hates missing out on anything and just wants to be part of the group. He watches what we're all doing, laughs when we laugh, and puts his arms up to be tossed around by Daddy just like the other two. If I walk by him or away from him without picking him up, he cries, even if I'm just putting his bowl in the sink. 
• He absolutely loves his baths. He cries when I take him out. He could be in the water all day if I were willing to put my knees through the torture to let him. 
• He is fascinated by TV. He'll sit in his bouncer and get really absorbed into it. That's really bizarre for me to see because my older two weren't like that at his age.
• He hates when I go to work. Every time I put on my black chef's jacket, he starts crying. He knows that that means I'm going to be gone for what I'm sure feels like forever, and he'll have to try to suck down that nasty formula out of that dumb plastic thing. I'm starting to get the feeling that weaning him in a couple of months is not going to be easy...

All-in-all, he's still doing great. I know that I mentioned him crying several times in that list, but those are about the only times he cries. He's still happy and smiley and easy-going most of the time. And he's due for another haircut. I think that'll make for four in his first year. Still love his hair!

Why Trey is Now in Preschool (Even Though a Month Ago, He Wasn't)

Remember last month when I wrote a post about why my almost-5-year-old isn't in preschool? Well, now I'm going to take everything I said back.

Psych! Not really!

I mean, Trey really is in preschool now. But no, I'm not going back on what I said.

Let me explain...

As you'll recall, I said that I believe that kids need to be kids, they need to learn what they want when they are ready for it, and they shouldn't feel pressured into meeting standards that some fat guy in a suit sitting behind a desk on Capitol Hill says he should meet. I also said that he is spot-on in his development except for where his social skills are concerned, and I want to expose him to more social situations to help him prepare for kindergarten next year.

Well, I think I've found the perfect place for him to do all that!

I heard about a few ladies in my ward who got together and did their own little preschool, and we joined them this month. There are three other four-year-olds, and two of the moms trade-off hosting the class in their homes. They meet twice a week for two hours at a time.

The program they follow is called The Learning Box. Each month, they order a box that has all of the lessons and supplies necessary to hold the classes. There is very little prep required on the parents' end, and the lessons are really cute and fun for the kids. My favorite part of the box is the price. It only cost each of us $15.75 for the whole month. Sounds good to me!

Since it's run by us moms, it's kind of like a co-op. Like I said, two moms host and teach the class and the other two who choose not to host (myself included) trade-off with staying to help supervise the kids and help the kids with the craft projects.

And I gotta say, Trey is absolutely loving it! I was really nervous that he wouldn't want to be left with a stranger in a strange place, but he has not had a single problem with that. He even rides with the other moms when we carpool which I was certain he would pitch a fit about the first time we tried that. But his ride came and he ran out there with his little backpack just like a big boy! (Sniff sniff) He's growing up so quickly!

He did get a little nervous when I first told him that he was going to begin going to a school-like activity ("What? No way! I hate school!"), but after I assured him that it was a preschool and that it was at someone's house, he was okay with the idea. Now he asks me almost every day if it's his day to go to school. He looks forward to it, and he comes home and shows us the fun projects he did and the things he learned. I love seeing him so excited about it!

And I'm so glad that we found this because I really do think that he needs it. When I'm there, he has a hard time staying focused and often will get up and run around while the rest of the class is in the middle of something. I don't know of it's just because I'm there or if he does that every time, but he definitely needs some work with sitting and following directions.

He has improved with recognizing his letters, with his writing skills, and his scissor and gluing skills. ;) But again, there's no pressure to do too much too soon--no homework, no testing, and no state standards to meet. If he learns to read before he starts kindergarten, it'll be because he wants to, not because someone shoved it down his throat.

All-in-all, I couldn't be more thrilled with how things are going so far, and I'm so glad that Trey is loving it, too!

Evaluation of My 1-Month Challenge and a New Goal

At the end of September, I challenged myself to post on my blog every day for one month, and I am pretty dang proud of myself. The plan was to write every day from September 27 to October 25. I made it to October 23. I missed only two days, and I am thrilled with those results. The dates on my posts don't look like I posted every day since I posted after midnight on some days and before it on others, but I assure you, I did. And I have to say that I feel very accomplished!

There were several nights when it would have been very easy to tell myself to forget it, to just watch a show instead. There were other nights that I was lying in bed about to drift off to sleep, and I thought, Crap! I didn't write tonight! And still other nights when my husband probably thought I was crazy that I would rather dink around on my phone rather than talk to him. But I did it. I wrote my posts and hit Publish. Yeah, it was difficult, but I can do hard things.

I want to keep writing regularly, but writing every day is a bit much (I think I haven't written over the past couple of weeks because I just needed a break from it!). So I'm going to evaluate what I learned from this experience and come up with a new goal for myself.

First, I noticed that the hardest days to write were definitely the nights Brian had off. Not only was I physically tired on those days after working, but I would rather spend time with my hubby than have my nose glued to a screen. So I would like to reserve those nights for him.

The second thing I learned was that even though it's good to turn off the TV and use my brains a little bit, I really do enjoy watching something that doesn't constantly break the fourth wall and directly ask the audience obvious questions (you know the perpretrators: Jake, Daniel, Mickey, etc.), so I need nights where I can watch my shows without the kids harassing me to put on theirs.

Another thing I learned was that even though writing at night is the best time for me to do so, I cannot stay up too late doing it. I was on a pretty good sleep schedule before this challenge, but now I'm staying up way too late again and not getting enough accomplished during the day. So I need to limit the time that I write and give myself a bedtime.

The last thing I took from this challenge is that I truly do love writing! I mean, I already knew that, but I guess I was doubting myself about it since I've been procrastinating my novel and had such a poor track record with this blog. If I love it so much, then why don't I just do it?

But this project reminded me of the joy that putting my thoughts in print really brings me. I've noticed that I've been less stressed, more patient with the kids, and feeling happier with myself. I've been doing something that I love, every day, for no other reason than the fact that I love it. I've been filling my own bucket; taking care of myself. What a world of difference it has made, not only for me, but for my family as well.

So considering all of these things--that I want to take off the nights Brian is home, I need some nights to watch my shows, I can't write all night long, and that I really want to keep doing this!--I've decided to publish posts on two of the four nights that Brian has to work the next day. That'll be two or three posts a week. That should be few enough to not overwhelm me but regular enough to being me joy. I'll try it for a month and see how it goes. I'll reevaluate my progress then and see if I need to make any changes.