Life Long Learner

2 nights ago while putting Patrick to bed Shannon woke up. This NEVER happens. Shannon is a sound sleeper, and sleeps through Patrick's tantrums at bedtime. She was inconsolable. So, for about 10 minutes, 10 long minutes, 10 ear piercing excruciating long minutes both kids screamed. And, during this time I had flashbacks to last year. My kids were sick nearly every week last year, and I am terrified the pattern will continue this year. Patrick stopped screaming first, but Shannon was still crying. We finally calmed her down, put her back in her crib (because she'd rather be there than cuddle with us) and she fell asleep. 30 minutes later she was up again. At that point I knew something was wrong, and my gut said Ear infection.... So we found ourselves sitting in the muggy, hot examination room at our doctors. I like my pediatrician's office, but there is a doctor or 2 that I would rather not see, and, of course, today I had one of them. He walked in, asked me to explain w

As Shannon continues to explore new sounds and words (it seems like she has a new word every day!) I thought it might be fun to listen to music as we ate breakfast. So, that is what we did this morning. And we LOVED it! This is such a simple solution to drown out the morning complaints, and bring some energy and excitement to the breakfast table. I have a pandora elmo's radio station that is a nice blend of Sesame Street songs, Bob Marley, and Mickey Clubhouse. Just thought I'd share a nice little morning trick that starts our day off on the right foot.