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Summertime Stuff.



Lately, I have learned that I need to remember the following things when dealing with my children:
1. Always have popsicles around. (they are more effective than bandaids when treating booboos)

2. Distraction is undefeated. (I can not speak fro other three year olds, but if there is an unpleasant task ahead of Noah, a distraction is undefeated. If he is fully cognizant of what is going to happen - a protest will ensue. If I am not careful, this protest will turn into a power struggle - which even if I win, I still lose.)

3. They will eat when they are hungry.

4. If I want them to learn something, I need to teach it to them. (I now understand that Noah and Avery have the ability to learn basically anything. So, when I am frustrated with their behavior, lack of understanding, etc - I need to get up off my ass and teach them what I want them to know. It certainly takes more effort on my part to fully teach them things, but that is the way it should be.)
This being said, I am still pretty tired this summer. Avery is sleeping better. Jessica takes the nightime shift (allowing me to sleep), and I take the early morning shift (allowing her to sleep). This is the same arrangement we had with Noah, and we are doing well excluding the days when Avery has a gassy night/morning, and/or Noah wakes up crazy early and wants to run around the house screaming. . .without pants.

But our summer is going well, and we are all extremely excited to be headed to Hilton Head this Saturday. It seems like our beach trip came a bit later this year - so it has not "broken up" the summer like previous years. This has been nice to just hang around the house, but has also led to blissful patterns of monotany and a lack of motivation. Translation: we haven't gotten many projects accomplished. But generally that is okay, because we have a 4 month old baby around, so lazy days are happy days, ya know? And, we have broken it up with some playdates for Noah (with his buddy Lucas), and some fun activities at his school, like "Crazy Hat Ice Cream Party Day," and at-home art projects (see pic). But now we are mobilizing for a road trip, and Jessica and I LOVE to do that. So, off to the packing!

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