Spring is here...let's go outside

It's been warmer, the sun's started to show up more often and Teodor's passion for puzzles is slowly disappearing, meaning he is super-bored at home. A bored toddler means a whiny toddler. Not to mention he discovered I can't bear his whining at the end of the day, so guess what he loves to do at the end in the evenings?

I had to take some action. We can't go only to our local playground because it doesn't make him tired enough in addition to slowly disappearing passion for digging in the sand - he was getting bored too early.

• So I made him try the slide again (he is simply not the toddler who would love to test their limits by doing self-destructive stuff)

• I also made him try to make him climb the ladder in the playground - from his reaction it seemed like he thought he was several metres above the ground.

•  I bought chalks, which work surprisingly well.

• We started experimenting with digging different material: stones, soil,...

This one is from our local graveyard...but it's perfect for digging and they have squirrels there...

• We try to be more social, I want him to meet with other children, so he'd learn the local language and gained some social skills...

Teodor's facial expression says it all...

• Today we went to grill some sausages to keep the Czech tradition of doing so on April 30. The fire was interesting at the beginning, but not so much later. He enjoyed the food, though.

And this is what Anastasia's doing meanwhile...she can sleep for 7 hours with a few feedings and diaper change in the wrap. She makes this whole thing so much easier.

Spending a lot of time outside makes our household peaceful, Teodor tired and me sane. Not to mention if I keep walking a lot with Anastasia on my front, pushing Teodor in the stroller (or even if he's walking on his own), I'll be in shape in no time. I wish Teodor wanted to use his balance bike or even the motorbike...but he has a very clear "no" opinion about it (unlike to many other questions, he answers very clearly to "Would you like to try your cool bike?")

Puzzles

Teodor loves puzzles. It's a constant love since he was 18 months or so...started on 2-piece puzzles, which were challenging to put together (not to find the matching pieces but really put them together), had a long stop on 2, 3, 4, 5- piece puzzles because we didn't have any other box for a really long time and then out of the blue, he was able to put the 5-piece puzzle together, I thought it was because he memorized it, so we got him, about 2 months ago?, a new box with 4, 6, 8, 12-piece puzzle and he immediately fell in love with the 12-piece excavator and soon he learnt to put it together on his own.

He still likes the 4, 6, 8, 12- piece puzzles

Then, we wanted to get him 15-piece but they didn't have anything with cars, so we got him 24-piece and soon he learnt to put it together too. It was a month ago.

And since it entertains him for hours (he can do it over and over again), we started buying him more as it's a relatively cheap toy and it does not make noise. I learnt he can do 15-piece without prior help. Amazing. He still needs help with new 24-piece puzzles at the beginning because he doesn't understand he should be looking at the picture as a help. (It was quite difficult even for me to put the puzzle together without looking at the picture)

Anyway, yesterday we had a challenging way home from the doctor's appointment, so I got him some more...I first wanted to buy him something with c/Cars, but then I realized we are over-supporting the gender toy/picture/blah blah preference, so I got him puzzles with dogs and cats (he also likes bunnies, wouldn't be probably thrilled with princesses) and guess what!? He likes those ones, too. I also started paying more attention to his (waldorf) doll, so he would start paying attention to it, too. I'm aiming for him to take care of his baby while I'm taking care of Anastasia.

Side note: my days are filled with building and destroying towers (those cubes with cars were a great gift, thanks Asnate :), putting puzzles together and washing A.'s butt. I am feeling a bit under-challenged and bored. We need some change/excitement in our lives... :)

The second child

Do you know the jokes about the first, second and third child, right? With the first one, mother has time to deal with every little thing (March 2016 group and questions about every pimple are kinda funny, but can totally relate to it), with the second one, she is more chilled, but still concerned, with the third one, she just takes it easy. There is so much true in these jokes.

I took a lot of pictures of Teodor every day and of everything..he accidentally grabbed a toy, let's take a picture of it. OMG, he's watching the black and white bee, let's have a picture of it...Anastasia has started noticing the bee last week (when she was 14 days), but I still don't have a picture of it. She also accidentally grabbed the same toy as Teodor did. Again no picture. I actually don't care much about her development, I have put her on her belly like twice? so far, the thing I care most is that she either sleeps or is quiet because that's what makes Teodor calm. If she screams, he is out of his zen balance and starts to whine and it complicates my lazy mother's life :)

I have bathed her 3 times so far and she slept in her pyjamas also 3 times. Evenings are challenging and since Charlie takes care of her hygiene, I'm not motivated to go through more drama than I have to. She actually likes the bath, but she usually wakes up in a totally wrong time when it's either Teodor's dinner or bath time...and no, I am not that crazy to wake her up earlier. No, no, no. I finally have a child who sleeps, so I want to enjoy that.

I also realize that she is this tiny for such a short time that I try to enjoy it as much as possible. I found out it's ok if she's awake when Teodor's sleeping (for half of his nap is ideal) because I can cuddle with her :) With Teodor I was just waiting for him to grow up and be more fun.

Mostly I like and use the same stuff I used with Teodor, but with cloth diapers, my preferences have radically changed; with him, I really liked the prefolds, which I don't use unless there is no other option, in contrast to fitted diapers, which I didn't use before but like them now. AIO are my constant favourites :)
Side note: Thank goodness, Teodor is diaper-free, the amount of diapers she produces per day even though we are quite successful in practising elimination communication is over-whelming.

My first week with both children on my own

It's Friday, thanks goodness, the first week with both children without the help from their dad is over.

I learned a lot this week:

• I'm able to get anywhere with both of them by public transport. Both me and Teodor will just need some practice how to get on/off the bus and what's the routine after we get on. Or maybe babywearing him on the bus? I tried that and it went fine, but it is more comfortable if he sits on the seat than on my back.

  

  Standing on the bus because nobody lifted their butt to free the seat for him. Went ok, he is surprisingly stable. Btw. those biscuits were quite a bad idea, they kept him awake on the way home but the sugar kicked in when we came home and it was impossible to make him sleep.

• Both of them sleeping at the same time is crucial for keeping me sane. I seriously need at least an hour without them during the day and one free hour in the evening is also very nice...Today making them sleep went ideally, but T. woke up half an hour later and A. within an hour. It was so annoying. The gasses seem to be kicking in and it seems like my dairy-free diet is back on. Sigh. Ufff. But the first half of the week was almost ideal, they both took a long daynaps.

• Going out twice a day would be ideal, we managed most of the days only once. It entertains Teodor without much of my effort. Plus fresh air makes children tired. We mostly went just to our local playground, once took a longer walk, then he slept within 5 minutes. I hope to start taking a walk and then go to the playground as we did it today. I wish he grew a bit more and we could start using his new fancy balance bike. I am thinking about long walks for us, for me to get back in shape and for him to get tired. For her to have a good sleep.

She is getting used the wrap, finaly.

• Going out and back home is logistically challenging, especially in bad weather.
• Teodor got his birthday present from his Czech grandmother, the wooden train and the bridge (he got also a lot of new tracks) entertained him for a while...it is so boring for him to be at home. I feel like he needs new toys but can't really figure out which ones. I'm too lazy to research...and sometimes too busy.

• Babywearing is becoming addictive...
  
  
  
  
• I'm surprisingly able to keep the apartment the same clean as it was before A.'s arrival and I'm able to offer Teodor hot home-made meal every day. 
• It is challenging to be nice/respectful to Teodor - it seriously is. He stopped answering my yes/no questions and mostly communicates by whining. I also have much less patience for/with him. He seems to need a lot of my closeness, which he hadn't needed before, it is very new to me and I'm learning to deal with it. It is generally difficult to be there for both of them, especially if they are both screaming; who should be dealt with first? 
• I need to research some good books on the topic of siblings and make a reflection on my own brother-sister relationship...
• Btw. he can do 24-piece puzzle with no problems now. He is better than me :) 
  

Anastasia

Born on April 4, 2016 at 1:47 after a 45-hour labour with 52 cm and 3943g. She came to the world 5 days after her due date.

A few days before her arrival, her dad finally started dealing with the name and we agreed on Anna.
The day my water broke we took a walk in a nearby graveyard (Teodor's idea) to induce the labour, the dad said he didn't like the name and started to choose another one from the gravestones. Somehow we settled on Lydia, but I didn't like it when we came home. So he said Anastasia. And I said OK.

The blanket for her is still not finished, but I didn't dump the project, yet :) It's moving forward, very slowly, but it is :)

She is like a dream child...ok, things might change because those 14 adaptation days are over today...you know, it would be great to know what I know now with the first child. Not to feed according to a schedule, it's ok to hold your baby most of the day if she wants it, if you let the baby poop before sleep (above the sink, can't find the suitable potty for elimination communication), she sleeps longer, etc...Maybe Teodor would be different, too... So far she sleeps most of the day or hangs on the breast. Almost no screaming. The breast is a bit sensitive topic for Teodor, but can't do much about it..

Teodor is getting less scared of her, not much more fond of her, though. It's tough for all of us. They wake each other up at night now. I might end up sleeping in the living room with her...or we will have to take the house-hunting more seriously. I screwed up Teodor falling asleep on his own. I spent my evenings making them both sleep, not at the same time, obviously. 

Verbalizing Teodor's feelings (this is great about toddlers, you totally see their emotions in their face, have never seen such anger in Teodor's before) is helping with aggressiveness against her. I'm trying to be positive, to give him the message that having a sister is a great thing. But sometimes it's so hard...

Teodor has become a usual toddler (again) and I'm having problems to deal with him and being totally calm and understanding. The fact she is sleeping most of his awake time is helping a lot. Can't imagine how it will be when she's awake more. Well, if she is happy and not in my arms, that's a perfect situation for him, he doesn't like her crying or in my arms. 

Their first picture together taken today. 

Mornings and evenings are the most challenging. Teodor usually wakes up whining, probably because it is usually her waking him up, he is hungry, she is hungry...and they both need their food NOW. Wrap is my saviour in the mornings. For real. She is not super happy in it because her constant peeing is waking her up, but still, she is sleeping and occasionally wakes up screaming but I'm able to rock her back to sleep.
Today, Teodor finished his breakfast just in a perfect time to catch a bus to the post office, so I just put a babywearing hoodie and jacket on and we were ready to go. Babywearing clothing is such a handy thing! You don't have to wake up the baby :) This trip made me realize I won't be going anywhere with both of them unless it's necessary or only when it gets warmer.

I still haven't figured out the evenings. I'm just going with the fact I won't have free evenings for a year or something. If I think I have at least another 30 years ahead of me, it's ok :) TV shows can wait..

She is two weeks old today and she started watching the bee in her pink Tripp Trapp. (don't have a picture of that because I was feeding Teodor, so just a cute picture of her and half of the bee)

And a selfie from the hospital to finish this post :)

Screen time

With upcoming spring and no pregnancy tiredness there is no point in letting him watch youtube, especially as he didn't like anything particular there, he mostly wanted me to click on random videos and then he got upset because he didn't like what he was seeing. I was surprised his dad didn't play him any videos while my hospital stay, so he actually started it and I'm going with it. Now it is even possible to have my laptop on without him doing "sh-sh-sh" - his way of saying he wanted to watch youtube. (I have my laptop so rarely on now, even don't use my phone very often any more...having two young kids is time consuming)

As the weather is so much nicer and I feel much better, I decided it was time to start our morning walks again - Teodor is obviously a bit bored at home, he has some dark ideas what to do to his sister, so it's much much safer to go out. Not to mention she sleeps well in a moving stroller and usually adds one more hour parked in our hallway. 

We left at 8:18 and came back around 10.

I actually started to make a list in my head what kind of activities we can do in spring/summer outside. Haven't come up with much, but if he likes his First Bike (and is not too short for it), I think we're safe because we'll be able to go for long walks. Not only he and Charlie (and me) will get nicely tired, but I'll get my body back and A. will be well-rested = happy baby. 

Weaning, part 2

It was 5:30 and I faced almost a Sophia's choice - get up with him or give him the breast and get at least one more hour of sleep. Of course I went with the lazy choice...it gave me one hour of sleep more, it was worth it.

Teodor is struggling with the arrival of his baby sister and it just feels right to give him the milk, especially if he sees her hanging on my breast a lot. So he gets milk if he is very uncalm before sleep or at night or early in the morning, he doesn't get to hang on it, I keep it only to a few sips as it was just before giving birth, luckily, he is fine with it.

Parental success

With the second child my view on what's a parental success has radically changed. Before I felt quite successful with Teodor because he was ahead with both gross and fine motor skills...Now I feel successful when I managed to make them nap/sleep at the same time and if it takes under one hour. I really don't care about Anastasia's motor development (maybe for now?), everything comes when the time is right...

I feel so good about managing making them sleep before 9pm today without too much of drama...

When you don't want them to grow up but can't wait till they get more independent

I didn't have this feeling with Teodor, I just couldn't wait for him to be older and more fun, but now, as I am pretty sure I am done with reproducing myself, I feel a bit sentimental about our baby girl and toddler boy growing up.

When I see them next to each other, I realize how fast they grow up...when Teodor came after Anastasia's birth, I was just "wow, he's so big", my baby boy is just sooo biiig. And then he turned 2. I was not moved when he turned one, but second birthday (probably also because of the postpartum hormones) were a bit emotional for me (not actual birthday, but the day when he celebrated it). He definitely turned into much more fun and he's a full not-using-actual-words human being :)

Anastasia, in contrast, is actually no fun. She either sleeps, nurses or screams. There's nothing else in between. But still, when I'm looking at her sleeping, I'm thinking I don't want her to grow up...and then she starts screaming and then Teodor starts screaming and I'm just wishing they were both older and could play together.

Not to mention that those two years with Teodor passed in no time, so this time I'm trying to enjoy our squish as much as I can, I'm done with all pieces of advice, I'm all about being here for her. When I'm going through my March 2016 forum, I'm thinking a lot of people should just do the same, they worry too much and it's not worth it...these first months pass so fast that it feels pointless to worry about everything instead of enjoying the moment.

Weaning

He got his last sip of breastmilk on his second birthday. Then we decided it's the best time to wean him - I never wanted tandem breastfeeding - The last weeks of pregnancy were going in that direction, anyway, and it kinda seemed natural to stop after giving birth, in addition he was able to function well without my milk while being with his father.

So the plan is/was not to offer him the milk...if he asked for it, he would probably get it...but so far it's working. But it is really difficult for me not to offer...when he can't fall asleep (because the arrival of his sister definitely did damage his zen balance), I am tempted to soothe him with the breast...the falling asleep is becoming a bit a problem, but we have Tula Toddler now and I'm actually able to babywear him, so making him sleep is not a big issue, it just requires me being more active in the process. Another temptation to give him milk is when he doesn't eat or drink properly. Of course, I am dying to know what he would answer if I asked him if he wanted to nurse...

SmartMax Start Plus

I've been dreaming about buying him a magnetic building kit for several months, but couldn't decide which one and if he is big/old/mature enough for it. My first wish was for Magformers but seeing in the shop and at the friend's home, I realized it really requires fine motor skills, which might Teodor not have and it would irritate him...
People on MK started suggesting SmartMax...and today we had to go downtown, so I decided to finally give it a try. I'm desperate to make him busy...even though I was quite aware it might not be a success.

First of all, the box could be 3x smaller, it reminded me Brio packaging. The pieces are big enough for toddler hands, so it is really 1+, but otherwise can't imagine a one-year old playing constructively with the kit. For some reason the compartments are quite small and it's not possible to fit all the pieces inside. A serious disaster for our order-loving son. 

There is a booklet with what you can build, I really enjoy that one. I don't have a very good spatial imagination, so it was nicely challenging for me. But we don't have enough pieces :(

Teodor didn't fall for the kit. I mean it was ok, but he's more into building towers and making them fall (Lego is great for this) rather than for building anything spatial...

I don't regret the money I spent on it...a few more months and he might fall in love with the kit. I'm actually thinking about buying some extensions for myself just in order to stimulate my own brain :)