May the force be with you

A few months ago I decided it was time to make Jacobs pacifier disappear for good. He was only using it to put himself to sleep with and half of the time wasn't even doing that anymore. But I had some reservations. It has been a long time since I had to "ween one from a nuk", but I still remembered how hard that was her. And part of me was anxious as Jacob was by far our most "hyper oral child" (remember this video...Growing Together: What Jacob Eats)

But none of that kept me from from my goal...so when the day seemed right I cut the tip off (before hand) and gave it too him. He told me "ii ii" (fix it). I told him I couldn't but he could give it to his "woofy" (the stuffed dog in the picture) to have a turn. That lasted all of a day and then he decided to throw it away. BRILLIANT! And the best part is he never even cried about it.
How can you resist such a cute little man, sleeping with his pouch=)

With one success under my belt I was ready for the next transition we needed to make, and that was out of the crib and into a big boy bed, meaning the long awaited bunk beds. Both boys have done fairly well with the transition but Jacob does fall out onto the mattress I laid next to the bed (I can't seem to find my the toddler railing since our move...it is on my "list"). But I did find find some bedding I liked the other day, only problem is, both boys just like their old blankets..can't blame them, grandma has good taste. (Maybe next winter when it gets cold I can talk them into using it.)

Now if only I was as motivated to move on to potty training....

Spencer has loved the bunk bed...and he has been sleeping so much better at night. I think the toddler bed had gotten a bit to snug for him. And I think the squeaks it made really bothered him. The other thing that has helped motivate the boys to go to sleep better has been a reward system using sticker books. They each get five to ten minutes with wither mom or dad in the morning working on putting stickers in the correct places in sticker books they have picked out, if they stay in bed quietly beyond the number of strikes we allocated, which we have slowly been making less and less. Yeah for a good nights sleep again!

Spencer has been picking out star wars book from the library now for several months. He started to ask me if he could watch the movies, so we decided we would try them for our movie night for a few weeks. I was a little worried as he is very stressed out with certain movies, but figured he could leave the room if it was too much for him. Well he was a bit nervous, but there was this love hate relationship going on, as he couldn't get enough as well. And since we started the series it is all he talks about, plays pretend about, and well his newest sticker book is of course "Star Wars". I think his favorite parts are the aircraft, especially Anakin's pod racer. And one day he brought me the light saber we've had lying around for a few years, with an all new understanding. "Look mom, I'm Luke". If you look closely he is also wearing his star wars jacket, which he tries to wear almost every day now.


Maren was completely bored with Star Wars by the second episode, at least she claimed, but she stayed glued through every episode.
With the weather starting to show some signs of spring the kids have been out playing a little more. She decided that she wanted to try out Amanda's roller blades, as her friend was using hers. They have much faster wheels and she was elated. She is such a thrill seeker, within a day she was jumping over all the sidewalk cracks with them.

And one afternoon she decided to turn her book shelf into a library. Complete with handmade check out cards and signs posted all over the house to remind us where to find "Maren's Library" We have all been busy checking in and out books and she loves to give recommendations as well. My favorite was the girl scout manual she recently checked out to me.

Amanda received a three week vacation from swim, due to a run in with a parked car (while biking) and a generous break given by her coaches after finishing a very successful long course season. She has loved having some time off. And we have loved having her around a bit more. She went downhill skiing with her dad on St Patty's day with her dad.
Prepared and gave a talk for primary, prepared a very nice family home evening (complete with a magnet board activity and a typed out agenda and lesson...man why am I never that organized!), read several good books, and did a little mountain biking with her dad.

This is the same trail (called kids meal accessed from the lunch loops trail head) she did last fall, and she was so much more comfortable doing it a second time around.
I think she likes it=)