Brought to You by the Letter...

P



What does P stand for? Well in the Drennon house this week it stands for pacifier and pee pee.

We are delighted to announce that Lleyton is no longer using his pacifier! After meeting with the speech therapist last week she asked that we get rid of the paci even though Lleyton was only using it at rest times. Sunday night was night one without the paci and it went as expected... Lleyton crying and pointing to the dresser drawer where we usually kept the pacifiers and when no response was had crying louder. We had to stop the bedtime story because it was not being listened to and just tuck him in. He was upset, but got quiet after about 8 minutes. Night two was the hardest he was still pointing at the drawer and he cried the longest (about a total of 30 minutes), but it was hard to tell if this was because he wasn't as ready for sleep as the night before or if he was really that upset about the pacifier. By night three he had stopped pointing at the dresser drawer. He still cries/whines a bit when we tuck him in(less than 5 minutes), and shut the door but it is to protest bed time, not the absence of the pacifier. This was much stranger than when we took Kennedy's away. She was a bit older, and could communicate. We could explain to her what we were doing and felt confident she understood even though she was unhappy with it. With Lleyton it broke my heart because I didn't feel like there was a way to explain what was happening. I think at first he thought we had just forgotten to give it to him so he was trying to point and show us what he wanted. So sad... I am relieved he still had his blue blanket to find comfort in, and that this is over.
This is not Lleyton's bed... it is in fact Gramma Cheri's dogs' bed that Lleyton thought was an ideal spot to relax during our last visit. It grosses me out just a bit if I dwell on it, but Gramma Cheri does have very clean dogs.

Drum roll please....

Lleyton pee peed in the potty! Not once, but going on five times since last night!!! We are ecstatic. He has been interested in sitting on the potty before bath after sister does for awhile, but nothing ever happened. Then last night I mentioned to him again to "make it spray water" and I could see him flex his little belly and then ta da! He peed! (He was so proud of himself!) Then he stopped himself, and then purposely made himself go a bit more, and did this once more before getting down. He went again after bath, and twice today. Any time we ask him if he wants to go he gets excited and runs bare bottomed to the bathroom and points at the potty waiting for us to put him on. Tim and I were talking about how now we have this unusual predicament where we have a child who wants to be potty trained, but doesn't know how to say the words that would let us know he needs to go. We are not expecting him to be out of diapers anytime soon, but are so thrilled that he made the connection about what to do.

Swim Lesson Wrap Up

We finished up swim lessons last week, and I have to admit I was ready. Turns out it is hard work getting sun screen on all three of us, washing swimsuits and towels and, the worst part, making sure my legs were shaved for each class.

The "logistics" aside the classes went well. Kennedy did wonderfully and by the last class was putting her head completely under water by herself! Her favorite part was the little motor boat song they would sing at the end of class each day, and if you ask I am sure she would love to serenade you.
Lleyton did as I had hoped and progressed from a clingy, little guy, who wasn't too sure of the water to a little boy who loved to jump in to Momma. He even let me hold him in the hip carry position after a few days and learned how to kick at the same time. One thing Lleyton had no interest in was blowing bubbles in the water. I would ask him each day if he wanted to try, and he would adamantly shake his head "no". It didn't matter how many demonstrations I did he wasn't buying it.
Tim had last Friday off so he got to come to our last lesson. He was so proud of his kids and was great to get not only pictures but some video footage as well. You should have seen him carrying around all of those cameras going from end to end of the pool trying not to miss anything. What a wonderful Daddy. Running around in that heat was testament to how much he adores Kennedy and Lleyton, and if that wasn't enough the huge, beaming grin on his face was.
All in all it was a great summer activity. I don't have any official swimmers yet, but it got us going in the right direction and was a great way to stay cool in this triple digit heat.
This is Kennedy's Progress Report after the first week of lessons. She and Lleyton both received report cards at the end of last week, and the highlight a lollipop. :)

Different Perspective...

Tim and I had dinner with some friends on Saturday night. After it was over she and I sat at the kitchen table talking and sharing some of the family hardships we are currently struggling with. She told me something her father had told her, and it has been on my mind ever since. He told her that he believes we are given families to teach us how to love. When I look at my family I can see how perfectly this fits. We aren't all carbon copies, and when you mix people with different beliefs, life experiences, and personalities frustrations are bound to occur. With family there is no easy out. You are connected for life. In order to make these relationships work you must learn to adjust and from that a stronger, more understanding love often grows. I am now going to try to look at these moments as love learning experiences. They are gifts from God to expand my empathy and capacity to care about others in our world who might not be "just like me". I have always thought family was one of the most important things we have been given, and this is just one more example of why.

Slip - N - Slide

What to do on a weekend with 104 degree heat...? Slip-N-Slide! We picked one up last Friday and all FOUR of us got in on the action the next morning. It was a blast! The kids didn't really understand the concept, or maybe were just smart enough to know better than to throw yourself to the ground from a standing position. Tim and I weren't so smart... I have been paying for it all week. I woke up Sunday morning and my abdominals were so sore I could hardly sit up. Then I noticed that my ribs were tender to the touch, not to mention my chest which is still sore. Here I thought I was being so smooth and cautious in my motion. Tim was crazy! He was going so fast that he would fly off the end and almost into the fence. He got several scrapes but none of the "deep tissue bruising" that I experienced. For him that means that his technique was superior. I am still not convinced. Kennedy and Lleyton loved running down the slide, splashing in the water, and holding on to the boogie board that came with it and having Tim launch them down the tarp. It was a wonderful morning of fun, family time and our yard got watered while we were at it!

A 180

Kennedy's latest silly face.
Kennedy's attitude has completely turned around! I don't know whether to credit taking away everything in her room, my reading Parenting with Love and Logic and starting to institute some of their principles, finally getting rested up after Camp Agape or the wooden spoon. Yep, I had to resort to the spoon. This was my first time to spank with something other than my hand, and it actually worked really well. I was in control when I used it and not acting out of a flash of anger, and she was scared of it. Two days of using it and it has been on top of the fridge ever since without so much as needing to threaten it. Hopefully with my new found parenting technique I will never have to use it again because it breaks my heart to do it. I had Tim hit me with it so I could feel what she was feeling, and it really wasn't that bad which made me feel a bit better about it. I think it is the fear of the spoon that is most affective with KB. Anyway, for the past week+ she has been incredibly kind and loving, and it is so nice to have our sweet girl back. She has even started telling me after I tuck her in for rest or bed that, "I am the best Mom in the whole world." It melts my heart every time she says it.

Swim Lessons and a Pet Peeve...

So the kids started their two week crash course swim lessons yesterday and Kennedy had a great time. She is in a small group of 5 kids her age with 2 life guards coaching them. I don't get to watch the class because I am in the parent/tot class with Lleyton at the same time but she filled me in on everything on the way home. She was so excited about it. She then proceeded to tell Mindi all about it and her Daddy when he came home. Her biggest excitement from day one was learning how to blow bubbles in the water, and "airplane arms". Today they learned "super hero arms", and I saw them doing a hopping game through the shallow end of the pool. She loves it! Lleyton on the other hand is not so sure. He whined/cried most of the first class. The only time he got excited was when I sat him on the side of the pool so we could practice assisted "jumping" into the pool. His joy was because he thought he was going to be able to get out. When we did, "one, two, three, jump!" and I plopped him back in the water he was not happy at all. Today was much better, and he actually kicked his feet while his legs were out behind him, and didn't whine much at all. I guess the lessons are working already. :)

and now to the pet peeve...
When did female life guards at city pools start wearing bikinis? It caught me off guard when we first showed up yesterday and then just flat out bothered me today. Moving past the fact that they aren't even flattering bikinis and that several of the girls need not be wearing a bikini at all let's think about this practically. To any of you who have donned a two piece, we all know what happens when you dive into the water. Yep those bottoms often times end up around your knees. If my child is drowning, I want the person getting paid to look out for their safety to be able to jump in with their only focus being on saving my kids life, not making sure their bottoms don't fall off. I mean come on...even the babes on Baywatch wore one pieces.

New Favorite


Lleyton's new favorite toy is a felt book with about 20 felt race cars, contruction vehicles, and motorcyle cutouts that stick to the pages. Each and every nap and bedtime he wants that book in his room so he can play with it. He loves to stick the vehicles on the pages, chew on them, show them to us, shove them down his ball popper machine and distribute them ALL over the house. It can get taxing constantly finding those cars everywhere or having to fix the ball popper daily when they get wedged in the tube, but I've decided completely worth it. Lleyton has always been pretty laid back and easy going so it is neat to see him get really excited about something, and a joy to watch him develop his likes and dislikes.Of course Kennedy always has to make sure he is doing it "correctly". If he doesn't he hears, "No son. That doesn't go there." or "son. SON! Put it here son...that's a sweet boy"