It is a rite of passage

Today was going to be the best of 2014 posts.  Instead I was up all night with a crying, inconsolable unless I was holding him and standing up little baby boy.  It is the first ear infection.  A rite of passage for most moms.  I was very lucky with Destructo.  He didn't get his first ear infection until 18 months old and that was the first time he was really sick with something more than just sniffles.  Yay breastfeeding helping his immune system. But boy was it a doozy.  He ran a 103-105 temp for four days.  He also hated the antibiotic and we had to force it down his throat.  

Poor pitiful Destructo when he had his first ear infection

Ollie didn't fare so well.  He is only nine months old and this one came on without the typical cold Kai gets ear infections after.  We are traveling in the mountains though so maybe that had something to do with it and he is also hard core teething right now.  He had a slight 100-101 temp all day yesterday but I thought it was just teething since he had no other symptoms.  But then last night it was 102ish and he was very stuffed up and miserable.  Just so sad and pitiful.  Now I am sad and pitiful because I am so very tired.

And it is New Year's Eve.  I doubt I will make it to midnight lol.  I am old.  But that is okay.  My pitiful boy needs me.  The worst part was on the ride home from dinner tonight when my ears popped apparently his were too and that made him start screaming so loudly.  I sat next to him in the back seat and he was just clawing at his little ear.  I felt awful because there was nothing I could do to help.  You realize just how much you would do for your kids at moments like that because I would gladly take his ear infection if it meant he didn't have to be in pain.  

Let's hope he recovers very quickly in 2015.  At least Murphy didn't hate me this time around.  He got sick on the last day of the year before our deductible starts over.  Yay Murphy.

Owwie at Eight Months

Weight-- He was pretty close to 18 pounds probably just under it.  I have it in his baby book but I am on vacation at the moment.

Height-- 27 3/4 inches

I sure love this boy

Medical Issues--  Still a spitter upper but that is about it.  We are slowly introducing dairy and he is tolerating it very well.  I am back on full dairy now.  Ice cream is so good.  Especially the choco cherry love in a waffle cone from Dairy Queen.

Sleep-- He fails this.  FAILS.  He did sleep through the night for only the second time in his entire life this month.  But typically he is up 2 or three times a night.  He goes down around 8, wakes around 11, or 2, or 5 or all three and then sleeps in until 8ish.  He still naps twice a day about an hour in the morning and an hour or two in the afternoon.

Clothes Size-- He is mainly in 12 or 9-12 months although I still shove him in some of my favorite 6-9 month stuff.

Diapers size-- He is on the second or third snap setting in his cloth.  Size four in disposables.

Diet--  He eats everything you give him.  He loves mum mums and puffs like every baby in the world.  He adores fruit, chicken, broccoli, peas.  Mexican food is a favorite as is spicy things.

Baby Stuff I Love--

breathable bumpers  I didn't realize how much I love these until I spent a night somewhere with a crib without them.  Oliver kept getting his legs stuck in the crib slats.
Wonderworld trucks These are big enough for Ollie to play with and so sturdy that they have held up to even Destructo's torture for three and a half years.

 Milestones-- He can really get around by crawling backwards but can't go forward yet although he is on his hand and knees rocking close.  He can also butt scoot around.  He is saying momma with meaning now.  And hi all the time.  

He loves to eat

Likes/Dislikes--  He likes my dad a whole lot.  And me.  He pretty much screams if I am not touching him.  I love/dislike this since it is exhausting to have to hold him all day every day.  Thank goodness for my Beco.  He loves being worn and will fall asleep in it.  He loves his big brother and loves playing with big boy toys in big brothers room.  He loves cars and trucks.  He loves any kind of teething toy that is silicone/rubbery material.  Taggie toys are very popular with him as well.  He loves eating and would probably eat all day long if I let him.  He very much disliked Santa this month.

Santa visit one was a success two and three were fails

Things I Don't want to Forget--  How he stretches his neck and peeks around to see things.  How many times he whines momma in a day.  How sweet and cuddly he is in the middle of the night after he eats and cuddles into me to go back to sleep.  How he is obsessed with any kind of technology product.  How angry he gets when he doesn't get his way.  The temper tantrums are hysterical.  I mean big brother has been throwing tantrums since birth.  It isn't anything we haven't seen yet haha.  

I am a slacker

When you have a second kid everyone says that your love multiplies instead of is divided in half.  Let me tell ya this is so true.  You know what else multiplies?  The work and noise.  I mean you would think it would be a matter of simple addition.  One kid plus another kid equals two times the noise and work.  Yeah... it doesn't.  It multiplies by at least ten.  So loud.  And so busy.  Hence why my blog is a bit deserted.  But I plan on doing better this coming year.  

I want to have this blog as a record of parenting.  Cute things my kids say and do, challenges (because everyone knows parenting is so challenging), projects we do, places we visit.  A virtual scrapbook if you will.

So as a catch you up if you will here are the kiddos in a paragraph each.  

Captain Destructo is 3 1/2 years old.  He is still an absolute honey badger.  He is determined, stubborn, inflexible, but absolutely hilarious in everything.  He outsmarts me on a regular basis and discipline is quite hard since I think he could be smarter than me (especially in my sleep deprived state.)  He loves board games, Paw Patrol, animals, and more than anything else fire trucks and fire fighters.  He is very science minded and so smart.  He plays dinosaurs not based on the dino but based on whether they are carnivores, frugivores, omnivores etc.  He can also name all the parts of the digestive system.  Nothing like your three year old saying I am eating food and it is going down my esophagus.  

Officer Owl is 9 months old.  He has a temper the size of Texas.  He is very easy going but once he gets mad he is MAD.  He is a huge momma's boy which is exhausting for me because he cries unless he is being held or worn by me.  He loves to eat anything you will give him.  He is so close to crawling and can go backwards quite well but hasn't figured out going forward yet.  He has really good fine motor skills and likes to talk.  He only has two words hi and momma but babbles non stop.  He loves anything he can chew on, his big brother, food, and trucks.

My sweet boys in their new Christmas present

Okay Ebates is awesome

I had heard of ebates a number of times but never took the time to really research it until it was discussed on my message board one day.  I decided to check it out since they all loved it.  Yeah it is awesome.  In less than a month of using it I have already saved 25 bucks and got a 10 dollar Target gift card.  

I detest shopping in stores with my kiddos.  The crowds, the dealing with whiny kids, the putting on actual clothes instead of pajamas.  Ugh it is just too much.  So I do a ton of online shopping.  So ebates was right up my alley.  You just go to the ebates site and choose the store you are going to shop from.  It redirects you to their site and you get a percentage of your total back from ebates.  Some stores are better than others of course.

My new favorite thing is to buy things from Walmart, Petsmart, and ToysRus and have it shipped to the store.  Free shipping that way and then I get back my ebates percentage.  Genius I tell ya.

So check it out if you haven't already (affiliate link) Ebates.  You won't be sorry.  Yay for saving money.

Source

A few words can make your day better

I sit in the cry room at church.  My kids don't cry per say.  But they are LOUD.  LOUDLY LOUD.  And active and argumentative.  So we sit in the "angel" cry room which always amuses me because if my kids were acting angelic, I wouldn't be sitting in the cry room.  

 Source

Today though it was just me and the boys.  Mr. Destructo had to work all night and wasn't up in time to go to church.  So it was just me and the boys which quite possibly is like my biggest nightmare.  Especially because church is right smack dab during Ollie's nap time and typically Destructo is wired from being cooped up in his Sunday school class beforehand.

Usually the room is full but today it was just us.  Then an older lady with an older boy came and sat in there. I couldn't really figure out why because obviously her kid knows how to behave in church as this point.  (It was actually because she couldn't find a seat in the main worship area I would later find out.)  So then I had company to witness my kids spirited, non listening, dad isn't here and mom is outnumbered behavior.

Needless to say it wasn't horrible although I had to get onto Destructo numerous times (and Owl started shrieking at least once.)  But what happened after made my day.  Heck it might have made my week.  She said my boys are cute and I am doing a great job.  She shared that she sat in a cry room with her two boys many years ago and a lady actually shushed her older son.  In a cry room.  We both agreed that if you sit in a cry room, you can't complain about kids behavior.  She then said that I am training and shaping their behavior and one day I won't need the cry room anymore.  And she said you are doing a great job.

Moms need to hear stuff like that every so often.  So often I feel like so many people are staring at me in church, at the store, wherever.  (Side note Destructo took a foam axe while we were looking at the dollar section of Target and proceeded to ax/chop/whatever a random lady's cart that was walking by because he was defending his territory and she was "in the way."  I was mortified.)  As my kiddos tantrum, scream, demand, and argue with me people watch.  The fact that someone was watching today and thought I was doing a great job made today awesome.  

Random acts of kindness and thoughtful words go such a long way.  

Snake/Monster/Insert your Nightmare of Choice here Repellent

So Destructo started having recurrent nightmares about snakes.  Yellow and purple polka dotted snakes to be exact.  He was waking up every single night around three AM and coming into our room, laying in our bed, waking me up thoroughly, and eventually going back to bed.  Then I was wide awake for hours.  This wasn't working especially with Officer Owl the eight month old who sleeps like a newborn.

Source

So I hit upon the idea of making snake repellent.  All I did was fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of essential oil.  Destructo picked lemon eucalyptus essential oil the first time we made it and orange essential oil the next time we made it.

Let me tell you it was a huge hit.  He has only woken up once or twice since then and he said it wasn't from a bad dream.  I highly encourage you to try it if you have kids with nightmares.  Every night he sprays his bed and room and then has his toy lizard and snake smell it to make sure it is stinky.  Then he puts them far away from where he sprayed.  It is too cute if I do say so myself.


This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!

Christmas Gifts for the Sensory Kid

Typically I do a blog post around this time of year about Christmas gifts that are ecofriendly.  I have a young toddler and an older toddler edition if you are interested in reading about them.  I had planned on doing a preschool edition this year but with all the happenings of late I had actually added a lot of sensory enriching/calming/ behavior helping whatever gifts for Destructo to his wish list.  So I decided that this years blog post should be about that.  I might get around to the ecofriendly edition as well.  We shall see.

My son is a bit of a seeker so a lot of the toys on this list are to help sensory seekers get that sensory input they crave.  He is also lagging in fine motor skills so a ton of the things on this list are to help him out in that area.  There are also things on there that I am getting him (or he already has) to help him with his speech.  So basically this is a sensory gift guide for my particular sensory kid.  But I would love love love it if my readers would chime in with sensory gifts for kids that have different sensory needs than Destructo.  Please.  I will actually add links to this post so it become a more all encompassing list for sensory kiddos.

First on my list would be a bunch of board games.  (Any of these toys can be clicked on for more info.)  Destructo seems to calm down and behave better when we play board games with him.  I think he likes the structure and rules of them.  There are a number of board games we are getting him for Christmas to help with fine motor skills.  Two of these are:

Cute frogs that you feed flies and improve fine motor skills while learning colors and numbers
  Cute squirrels that work on motor skills as well as matching and sorting as well as other preschool skills

One other game that looks like it would be great for working on fine motor skills is Tweezers are great for fine motor skills so this looks like it would be a great game.  It also works on counting and colors.

lacing beads and lacing cards  These are great for fine motor skills.  Kai likes the lacing beads better because he can pretend they are snakes.  Which is ironic seeing as this was what his recurrent nightmares were about.  Snake repellent solved that.  (And that is in tomorrow's blog post.)

Slicing foods can also help fine motor skills.

In the speech and oral sensory seeking department, I have read that blowing bubbles is good.  I like these bubbles best.
Another thing that Destructo has and loves is chewy tubes.  He used to chew on baby teethers but that posed a problem when he eventually bit right through one and then drank the (thankfully non toxic) liquid. This is the actual chewy tube Destructo has.  He sits there and gnaws on it but also turns it around and around in his mouth feeling the bumps on it I assume.

In the sensory seeking and craving department, we have a number of things that we are getting Destructo or he already has.  They all fill different types of seeking.  Kai is mainly an auditory, tactile, and vestibular seeker.

First and foremost in the vestibular seeking area is his swing set.  He can climb, swing, jump, slide on this.  We also added a rock pit onto the bottom under the clubhouse part of it.  He loves digging in the rocks and using his construction equipment to excavate construction sites.

And next up is a mini trampoline.  We have this one  and love it.  I love the bar on the front of it so that he can't crash off as easily.  And on a totally different note, he uses the bar to pretend he is sliding down a fire pole on his way to put out fires.  He can burn energy and satisfy  his sensory seeking with this.

Destructo likes horses and has two horses at my parents house that he loves to "ride."   He has named both of them Ellie (which sadly makes me want to tear up each time since that was my beloved mares name.)  He rides them in the Kentucky Derby (and always wins.)

I had read that a sit and spin was another great toy for vestibular seekers.  Destructo never seemed to be able to get the hang of it though and I think that is probably just that he is slightly behind in motor skills.  Let me just say that the fun I had as a kid on one of these bad boys made it worth buying. 
In the tactile seeking department, we have tons of things.  Until the last year Destructo was actually more of a tactile avoider than a seeker.  But I worked with him a lot and then one day it was like he did a 180 and started really seeking tactile input.  Things he has liked are:

ball pit   We had this for awhile in a pack n play.  I eventually had to get rid of it because at the time Destructo didn't like it that much as he was a tactile avoider and we just don't have room for it.  But now he loves ball pits so much.
playdough  Destructo likes making cookies, biscuits, and all kinds of food with playdough.  If you are a do it yourselfer, I have a blog post about making homemade playdough.
Speaking of making things yourself, you can have tons of fun sensory play with dried beans.  Or you can make sensory colored rice.  I ended up putting and old Scrabble game tiles in it to help him learn letters.
finger paints  Yay for getting messy and having fun.


Water tables are great for summer outdoor sensory play.  You can even put ice cubes in it to make it even more fun.
Kinetic sand is the most amazing thing known to man.  My mother in law bought some for Destructo when I had Owl.  It was great to amuse him when I was so busy and I (errr he) still plays with it every night.  It can be made into shapes or  just let flow through your hands.  Heck who am I kidding, you don't even need to buy this for your kids.  Just buy it for your own stress relief.  Destructo is getting colored kinetic sand for Christmas from my mother in law and I can't wait to play with it.  :)

Insta snow.  We live in an area where we don't get a whole lot of snow.  Kai has been asking for two years now when it is going to snow again.  There are no guarantees here so I saw this and it will allow him to play in "snow" and also be good for tactile seeking.

Finally Destructo is a auditory seeker.  He yells, talks, sings, hums just to hear the noise.  He is so loud.  So he has some toys coming for Christmas to help maybe channel some of that seeking into semi productive uses.  You know instead of just screaming Ollie OLLLIIIEEEEE Ollie OLLLLIIIEEEEE over and over and over again.

Musical instruments.  I ordered the first set for a Christmas present for Destructo.  I hope that him and Owl can have marching bands for years to come with that.  The second picture is one for a younger child.  I might regret this in approximately 24 days.  I will let you know.


Rain tube.  Even at 3 1/2 years old, Destructo still likes shaking this and watching the beads fall.
Okay there you have it.  These are my ideas for the sensory kid in your life.  Let me know what I can add to it and I will!  I might add a few more ideas tomorrow when I can look around the kiddos rooms.  I know I am forgetting some things but obviously it isn't worth waking the kids hahaha.

This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!