Slowly Learning

Howdy!
It's not quite a habit yet- this consistency thing. I am trying so hard, and I don't want to let it wreck me. See I'm a go hard or go home kinda gal. Maintaining a full on approach to business & life has left me rundown and constantly sick. Unfortunately Business doesn't run well like that either so since having my coaching sessions with the Awesome Sal I've learned I need to slow down, and work at a constant pace, rather than fast, slow, stop, go, all over the shop.

My mission has been to do weekly blogs, weekly newsletters, stay up date with my accounts, and keep our Baby For Life Facebook page entertaining, informative & interactive. The stats tell me I'm doing pretty good so far. So after a pep talk from a wonderful woman yesterday I am back on track.

Its interesting that the things that are hardest in business (well for me anyways) is the most boring stuff. Being constant isn't wonderful or exciting, yet it's hard to do. Results are slower to see  (yet much more measurable in the long run) and because of this there's no instant gratification. So at times it's easy to get glum that things aren't progressing as fast as I'd like. But then I am a hard task master :)

This week my youngest son Fox turns two. This is Awesome in itself. I'm working the day of his actual birthday but I'm hoping to do something small on the sunday to mark his day. We're having a joint Birthday Party for the two boys in January as there's only just a month between their special days. (I'll blog about that party a bit closer to the day)

When I had my first son Memphis I wanted an Independent little boy so I could hold onto my own independence. And so life didn't have to change.Of course it did, but in wonderful ways. When I fell pregnant with Fox I was much more open to having a child more dependent on me, a little needier I guess.. However He's the most stubborn little boy I've met in a long time! He's self sufficient & knows exactly what he wants. Golly his cheeky smile melts my heart- it's crazy!

As the saying goes, you don't always get what you want but what you need.

It also marks two years since I shut the shop doors of Baby For Life. Golly, so much has happened and it seems like forever ago but it also feels like yesterday(which is much like how fast our children grow yet we can recall their births so easily) 

This online Business feels like a whole new journey and there is so much to learn! I'll keep at it, and with the support of my online helpers there's sure to be Great things coming from Baby For Life in the coming 12 months!

Boy oh Boy

I cleaned out my wardrobe the other day. I dont own alot of clothes to begin with, but I have a hard time of letting go of the old ones I do have. Amongst those I have donated to the salvo's all my maternity clothes. All in great condition. I'm at that stage where I dont know if there will be any more children. I figure if we get there one day I can buy some new stuff. The idea of holding onto all these clothes for 2 plus years is terrible. I haven't got that much closet space anyways.

12 months ago I was positive we would have a third. I remember crying when my best friend told me she wouldn't have any more after her two. I was hysterically upset about it. (she now has a third and is finally done :) I couldn't fathom being complete with my two at that stage.

I always imagined having three kids. And in there somewhere was the hope that maybe we may have a girl as well. And of course with most things once you have kids, there is no such thing as privacy, and I get the question constantly- will you try for a girl? will you have any more kids? I didn't mind that question when I was so sure we would try again, but now I feel invaded. I am not the most fertile woman in the world. Conceiving for me in the first place is a bloody miracle. Then to put pressure on and attempt to get a girl. Wow, just wow. Even if it were a sure deal to get a girl it wouldn't make the whole process any easier.

I grew up being the youngest of 4 kids. I have 3 older brothers. I get guys. I find boys easier. Less maintenance, easier to talk to- no nonsense. Of course I think about having a daughter and the possibilities, but nothing is guaranteed. Relationships dont always happen they way you would like. So having two boys right now is where were at.

Dont get me wrong, boys can be hard work, and of late mine have been really hard. But it comes and goes in stages.Right now I don't want to complicate life anymore. Time is so darn precious and I dont feel I'm giving enough of it to the two little people I do have. I feel guilty that I cant have all this one on one time that I had with my first son. Everything is now shared (not always a bad thing, but I feel for my eldest who has nothing of his own anymore, and for my youngest who will never know whats it like to have have our constant undivided attention)

So, aside from one snarly cat, our dog Izzy and a dozen chooks I am the only girl in our house. It may well stay this way forever. And you know what I'm ok with that. Our home is full of duplo lego, cars & trucks galore, dinosaurs & bikes. It's quite fitting really as I never really did like the colour pink ;)

Temper Tantrums & changes

As much as I love my boys growing up and learning new things it always brings with it anguish, pain and heartache and requires alot of patience.

During our Queensland holiday earlier this year in February Fox had not long started to walk. He was still wobbly, he was going through changes. At the same time he started these horrible tantrums. The kind you're left wondering if there is medically something wrong, or some thing behaviorally wrong. He would headbutt the glass doors, the floors, the walls. He would throw himslef into things scream and cry and was pretty much uncontrollable. Luckily that phase only lasted a couple short (but at the time very long) months. 

Fast forward to last week and the tantrums have started again. At the start of October we took away both his dummies and his night time bottle. We never intended to do both within one week but he went so well without the dummy we thought why not go for it all. It was alot easier than we hoped. Since then, as predicted he has started attempting using more words and communicating more with us. He has so much he wants to say but cant. So here we are at another developmental stage and he is losing his shit. Yep this kid is Psycho. If only temporarily (2 nights ago this tantrum lasted about 2 hours) we feared for his safety. If we put him in the cot he would keep headbutting the sides til we picked him up. Then if we picked him up he would pull hair, bite, scratch, punch and kick. We tried every bribe in the book, held him with as much love as we could muster and took turns restraining him. I wont lie, it was bloody hard, and hubby and I just didn't know what to do. It wasn't safe to let him cry it out, yet we were amazed with how much an almost 2 year old could hurt us.
We filmed him for a bit, so that later once we were all calm we could reflect and see if there was something we missed, or could pick up- but no such luck. I am hoping with all my might that this will pass as quickly as it started and that once he learns to talk better he will calm down. 

With all this going on my eldest boy Memphis is going through changes to. Certain body parts have developed a bit further and he is so excited he's growing up. For those of you with little boys you'll know what I'm referring to lol. Finally his clothes are getting too small (he's still wearing some clothes that are 12-18 months in size, and hasn't grown much in height in ages. Size 2 (3 at the biggest) right now and he's almost 5. So we make a big deal when he does grow!

We received confirmation of his 4 year old preschool acceptance last week. I am looking forward to it. I miss having one on one time with Fox, and to be honest I miss my time at home alone to work on Baby For Life, and get the housework done in peace and in one go.

We've spoken about moving the boys into their own rooms. Fox is Mr destructo (yes it's the age and stage he's at) but Memphis is now ready to look after things, and keep things special to him. He gets so upset when Fox ruins his latest lego creation or rips up his little robot and alien drawings. I don't blame him. That kind of stuff can be soul destroying even for adults. But before this can happen we have to build my new office outside and were a little way off that yet.

So in the mean time, all we can do is muster all the patience we can, be there for both the boys and hope they understand, and work it out all. We have to guide them, and let them know its ok, even if at times we don't believe it ourselves
Bec

Teaching the art of an old school game.

I wasn't lucky enough to attend a primary school where marbles were prevalent. My childhood friend did, and I remember countless days of her visiting after school and showing me the new shiny marbles she'd won in that days game. I recall she was really good at it too, that & athletics. I wasnt so coordinated anyways so it's probably lucky we never played them.
I didn't understand the game then, it didn't appeal to me at all, though now I can see how great it must have been for all those involved. 

Fast forward to now, and schools wont even allow kids to play taggy and all sorts of games we took for granted as kids as too many kids now a days cant cope with losing, or not winning, or not being great at everything. I blame parents for this, but even more so the school, and The Education Department for sub-missing to the whingy parents whims.

Kids learn so much more through play, and these seemingly innocent games taught us alot.

Why was the game of marbles so great?

They learn the obvious skill of rolling a marble, which requires co ordination,. it requires patience, concentration and determination. They learn the cause and affect ( if you dont hit the other marbles you lose yours- so try hard, but if you hit the other marbles you get rewarded by earning new marbles.)

Memphis, my almost 5 year old has had a bag of marbles for about 6 months. We've had to keep them mostly put up and out of sight and mind as Fox (Yikes he's 2 this month) could not be trusted with a single marble. But today I thought he's ready., We started out playing with an ice cube tray, a teaspoon and getting the boys to patiently pick up a marble one by one to put the marbles in the tray. This occupied them for about 25 minutes! and it was quiet play! 
Then I thought I'd teach Memphis how to ''play'' marbles. I think he needs a friend the same age to play with as Fox takes all the ones he's aiming for but he had a Great go and they both loved it!

  Fox throwing them where ever, & Memphis concentrating real hard :)

I wish schools would go back to this old school method of play, but sadly things will probably only get worse. I will however endeavor to teach these types of games to my children instead and hope they can learn the all important skills from me.

What other ''old school'' games have you taught your kids?