February Learnings

Although it was a short month, lots of learning was able to take place! Some lessons learned were tough ones, while other ones were beneficial, fun and worth working on.

Lincoln learned the toughest one, I think. That is, snow on the bottom of shoes is g.r.o.s.s.!!!

Keziah also learned a tough one, but it didn't take too long. When she wakes up in the morning, she NEVER gets out of bed, which is nice. However, she will yell at the top of her lungs "Can I get out now?" and will continue to yell until answered. This can happen anytime in the morning, from 5:30, or 6 or 6:30. Knowing that it is getting lighter out earlier in the mornings, I knew telling her she has to be quiet until it's light out would only backfire in a few months. So I remembered an idea from a good friend of mine, who did this with her daughter:

Overall, it has worked! The tough parts for her was getting used to it and understanding it. For instance, the first night she became upset. I had put her to bed, which was 7 something. So the numbers matched! But then, she was still awake when the number turned to an 8. Well, you would think that was the end of the world!! "MOMMMMM!!!!! The numbers don't MATCH!!!". I had to reassure her that this was okay and the numbers will change until it goes back to 7 again for the morning time. That worked for her. So now, she wakes up and watches the time, waiting for the 7s to match. Her hollering in the morning has gone from "Can I come out now?" to "The numbers match!!!!". She still won't come out on her own :o)

On to some fun lessons!! Keziah and Lincoln learned that Opa can fit both of them on his knee and bounce them all around:

And playing on a big flat box is a whole tonne of fun, too!

What was in that box, you ask? Well, the lesson learned for me this month was never to give up on kijiji!! We have been looking for a dining room table and chairs since we redid the kitchen 4 years ago. And tada, our patience has paid off! We found this table and 7 chairs off kijiji for a fantastic price. The table hadn't even been used yet and was still in the box! We are thrilled with it and now look forward to being able to accommodate more people comfortably around our table; that is, once we dare to use it! Right now we are eating off the floor for fear of the first scratch. I am kidding!!! (mostly)

Someone figured out that elastics on door knobs that are meant to keep him out of that room can sssssttttttrrrrrrrreeeeeeettttttttccccchhhhh a long way!

Daddy also learned a lesson this month. What he did with Keziah back when she was little....

...is a whole lot harder to do now that she is bigger!!



And lastly, I thought for sure the biggest lesson this month would be Lincoln learning to walk. Alas, he is 1 day from being 14 months old and walking is not what he is doing. His sister actually finally beat him in something, as she was walking by this age!! He has taken 3-4 unassissted steps but that is it!

"But mother, please forgive me. I shall try to learn next month."

(I know already what his plan is. It will not surprise me one bit that he will skip the walking stage and go straight to running. And I'll be moaning for the days when he crawled! :o)