Getting Better All The Time

January?  Not our month.  Coming off the holidays, getting sick, and entering terrible twos gave us a run for our money.  February?  As John and Paul once said, “It’s getting better all the time.”

We started February with a virus.  And I thought, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

So last week, we stayed indoors

and let’s just say, James, Lynyrd and I had A LOT of quality time.  I don’t know who has been most excited for Daddy to come home.   Actually, it’s me.

Seeing as how we still have 11 months of 2012, I refuse to say that this is a bad year.  So, we turned our sickness into snuggles,

our sore throat into popsicle tongues,

and our doctor’s appointment into parenting advice.  Her advice – “Ignore, ignore, ignore.  James is not at a reasoning age.” – and some reading have taught Mommy and Daddy some lessons.

Yes, the culprit is my bookmark above.  Not crazy about all the advice in that book, but it helps to understand the mind of a two year old.  Justin and I are focusing on ignoring the outbursts,

letting the little things slide,

sticking to our guns on the big things,

and letting our baby grow into the little independent boy that he wants to be.

Apparently if Mommy and Daddy can do something, so can James.  So we’re all working on finding a balance between letting him do more {or think he’s doing more - the Cheerio box is closed…}

and enforcing our rules.  For example, you do not touch the grill.

And things have really been looking up.

Oh, and distraction is also huge.  Bonus points if our distraction can prevent the meltdown in the first place.

This week, morale has been much better.

We celebrated Moose’s birthday yesterday with BLTs, fruit and cupcakes.  And I can’t believe this is the one and only picture I took!

We had a GREAT time, and James has been talking about you ever since.  I love you, Moose.  Happy Birthday!

We’ve been getting out

and having lots of fun!

And even though all things aren’t fun, like haircuts, we try to find the positives, like lollipops!

It’s “Getting so much better all the time!”