What to Expect From the Kids

The fun thing about kids is they are ALWAYS changing their habits, attitudes, etc. The bad thing about this, is it can be really hard to know what to expect when you go somewhere or do something new.

Virginia is usually a happy little thing and generally causes no problems at all. I still have not found any problems with her riding or sleeping in the stroller. She still can't hold her own bottle, so that is something she'll need help with, though she has no problem eating when anybody feeds her. She's also starting to eat solids, so I will try and feed her those at the restaurants while we are waiting for our food. Pretty much anyone can hold her or talk to her and she'll stay happy... unless she has a stinky diaper... then you'd better change her or get used to her fussing at you!

Hayden is getting a bit more brave, but he still seems to do best with trying new things if he gets lots of encouragement from someone who he thinks is cool (ie: not mom and dad!). This means lots of overly excited and encouraging prompts will need to be made from Evan/Paula on probably every ride... (hopefully by day 2 or 3 he will no longer need this, but you never know!).

Hayden is in the "Can I have that?" and the "I need" stage. Mostly, he seems to "need" liquid refreshment every 5 minutes of every day. Sometimes less frequently when he's having fun, distracted, or sleeping.... but as soon as that ends, you'd better bet he'll be asking! We really try and limit how much he is having b/c of potty training reasons. At the same time while we are doing lots of outside activities, we like him to stay hydrated, so if he wants a drink, we encourage him to drink a lot (not just a sip or two), then shortly after send him to the bathroom.

Public bathrooms scare Hayden. He is afraid of germs. Just remind him he can stand up for #1. He is still not good about going to the bathroom on his own, especially when he is having fun, so I think the best thing to do would be to send him to one whenever we pass one (if it's been at least 30 min. from the last time), or see if he will go while he's waiting for others to finish their attractions. Sometimes he will say he doesn't need to go, because he doesn't want to, but we just have to remind him that as soon as he goes, he can come back to whatever fun thing he didn't want to leave. He is pretty good at holding it if he needs too... You'll know by his dance that you've run out of time! He's also not so good at the #2 on the potty. No current solutions to this at the moment, and seeing as he'll only have 3 days of Preschool before we go, I'm not counting on that to work quite yet. Basically, if he needs a Pull-ups change and cleaning, just use your awesome ability to channel only good air in and avoid the bad air, until Dirk or I can take care of it! Unless of course you want to brave it for us ;)

Hayden will throw tantrums if you push against him. It is kind of a fine line between not enough discipline and too much. Right now we are working on something that seems to really be working. Instead of getting angry when he does something wrong, we try to keep kind/loving sing-songy voices and say something like "uh oh... Hayden isn't being very nice, guess it's time for a time out." It sounds funny at first, but it seems to work. We'll put him in time out for 4 minutes, giving him minimal attention. We'll tell him he needs to go to time out until he is ready to be nice and apologize. Sometimes he's super fast about it, sometimes he puts up a good fight. If he's tired and needs a break, he'll put up a huge fight. I'm thinking our breaks after lunch should make this pretty okay for him (I hope!).

He usually has much better behavior when we are out and about and keeping busy. He'll probably be fine the first few days, then after we've been there for a few days, he'll start getting more comfortable with the routine and might start trying to get away with more.... Or he could do the complete opposite!

Basically, you have our permission to do what we do whenever needed. Generally it's easier for him if only ONE adult is working against him at a time. So if Dirk is disciplining, I will back off and vise versa... He gets really upset and confused if lots of different people are telling him different or same things at the same time...

So writing this all out makes it seem like our kid has tons of issues! I think he'll have lots of fun and be pretty good most of the time. He does well with long stretches, even when he's tired. I'm really excited for him and to see how he enjoys everything!