October

Dress Up!  :)

Such cool kids!

Sierra helping shovel 4 yards of mint compost with a tiny trowel.

Sierra eating an ice cream cone.  I was impressed that she drew herself from the side!

Outfit #47 of the day.....

Jaxon loves to swing!

Met Daddy for lunch at Avery Park!

Happy pumpkins!

A remedy for our leaf problem.

Jaxon does not like pumpkin guts this year!

My kitty and dino trick-or-treating in downtown Corvallis.

Jaxon is doing so well potty training!  He's going #1 and #2 on the potty and instead of having to follow him around and watch for signs, he's started to tell me before he has to go!  I love that part of the training stage!  It let's me off the hook a little.  There are still accidents but he has done very well.  He's also doing GREAT with his letters.  By the end of the month he could visually recognize all except V and Z.  He tends to turn his head sideways and say N when he look at a Z.  He also mixes M and N up frequently.  But I am so impressed.  He's still not speaking in sentences, but the boy knows his ABC's!  He also counts to 10, says "bless" if I sneeze and says "uuuurch" when I put the breaks on in the car:)  He's at a super fun age!  He's such an affectionate, lovable little boy. 

Sierra on the other hand is giving me a run for my money.  Aside from infancy, four has been the biggest challenge so far.  I've seen my sweet, kind child turn into a hostile and mean kid at moments.  If she gets sent to her room, she runs up the stairs, slams the door, and says things like "I wish you weren't here and daddy was home."  "I wish you weren't my mommy."  "I'm never going to play with you again."  The list goes on and on.  I expected the door slamming to be several more years down the road.  She is very good at saying she's sorry though and usually does so on her own without prompting.  But the ups and downs, drama, and emotional roller coasters every day are exhausting.  Some days I get so frustrated with myself because I find myself constantly telling her no, don't do that, that's not nice, why did you do that, and I really have to make an effort to say some positive things to her.  I'm supposed to be building her up but teaching her at the same time.  Some days I feel like it's impossible to do both.

I read an article this month that really struck me.  It was talking about correcting your child vs punishing.  Kids will be kids.  They will be forgetful, make messes, talk too loud, and be silly.  If they spill their milk or leave their shoes in the middle of the floor for the 10th time of the day, they need can be reminded without being punished and belittled.  We tend to want to say "I've had to tell you 5 times today to put your shoes away.  Why do you keep forgetting."  Well, they keep forgetting because they are a kid!  It happens.  When they do some intentionally that they know is wrong (ie hitting a sibling, lying, etc) then those situations need to be treated differently.  Those are the times for time outs, or sending them to their rooms.  I've been really working on trying to look at her actions and remind myself of the times that she is just being a kid.  She needs to get to be a kid!  This takes constant effort from me though.  And some days I fail.  Repeatedly.  But, I also work really hard on saying I'm sorry.  I'm a work in progress myself.  We are all works in progress while we are on this Earth.  Here's to hoping that tomorrow we are a better person that we were today.