It’s an odd feeling to leave the house with just Foofaraw and no kids, but we did just that tonight. The boys went to grandma and grandpa’s house yesterday and will be there through most of Sunday. The house is the quietest it’s been in a long time and we aren’t having to constantly step over toys.

I think it’s always harder on me when the kids leave for a few days than it is for them, some people don’t believe in separation anxiety but if you are basically around them 24/7 it can certainly be an issue. It’s good that the kids can get away though, sometimes we all just need a break from each other and allows us to relax a bit.

It’s amazing just how much more time I have now during the day, I got lots of things done today, I could go run errands without it taking 45 to get the kids ready and we even had a mini-date and went climbing for a few hours.

We have some more plan around the house to get done before the kids get back, should be a good time and hopefully we can cross some things off our list.

I miss the boys but at the same time it’s so nice to get a total break from them once in a while.

It’s now Friday and just getting around to the Weight Loss Wednesday post and I actually missed doing a Thursday post, so I’ll have to post two articles today to make up for it and retain my new year resolution.

I mentioned last time that I had gained 2 pounds over the holidays, which would have put me back up to 180, just can’t seem to get past 178.

This week I was able to lose the 2 pounds again which of course puts me at 178, hopefully next week I can shed a couple more.

Foofaraw was able to stay steady from last week and didn’t gain anything but also didn’t lose anything.

We had both expected to have reached our goal of losing 20 pounds by now, but we are both still at least 8 pounds away.

Both the kids are gone for a few days this week, so I’m hoping to get on our treadmill at least once, but hopefully a couple times before they get back.

Hope you are sticking with your weight loss too!

When Turkey was about 4 months old he started to get teeth, this also happens to be about the same time he stopped using a pacifier. We were lucky and never had to deal with the whole separation issues some kids have when it comes to the point when your kids should not using a pacifier anymore.

Raptor was even easier, he lasted about a month before he decided to give them up, it was actually quite difficult to get him to use one at all. We tried 3 or 4 different types of pacifiers before we finally just gave up, we think this was in part because he has a short Frenulum linguae which maybe made it hard for him to keep the pacifier in his mouth.

It’s certainly nice that we are past the pacifier stage, however we are running into a different problem which certainly relates – object based pacifiers, or as I like to now call - (OBP)

When Turkey was first born my mother made an awesome blanket for for him, which he absolutely loves to this day despite how stained and gross it is. In addition to his blanket he also has a small stuffed dog, a stuffed Tigger and a sock monkey which he has all used at one point or another to replace the typical pacifier. He is now 3 years old and has naturally narrowed down his replacement pacifiers to just his blanket and his sock monkey. Thankfully he usually only chews on these things when he is tired, cranky or watching TV, otherwise he is pretty good about not having something in his mouth.

As far as Raptor goes, the only thing that comforted him at first was a stuffed Giraffe we had found, he immediately got attached to it and loves having it around, I expect this will turn into his new replacement pacifier.

So where do you draw the line? How long is it appropriate for your kids to shove a blanket or sock monkey or other objects into their mouths?

We are certainly to the point that we think it’s time to wean him off of his replacement pacifiers and just recently started doing so, it’s not going to happen over night but a few simple steps will get the process started.

Step One
Our first attack is to only allow him access to his blanket when he is upstairs in his room, it can’t be downstairs during the day and it’s only sometimes allowed downstairs in the evenings if we are watching a movie. We figure the less convenient it is for him to use it the better.

So far it’s been fairly successful, he likes to try to get away with bringing it downstairs once in a while but when we catch him we can usually just say “Is your blanket supposed to be downstairs?” or “Take your blanket upstairs please” and he will typically listen to us with only a little resistance.

At this point he is still allowed to have his monkey with him even when he is downstairs, we don’t want to make it too overwhelming for him at first.

Step Two
Eventually we will require that the monkey stays upstairs in his room also, at which point I expect we will try to get him to keep his blanket on his bed only, where it’s used for naptime (ha, naptime, I wish) and bed time. At this point it’s so inconvenient for him to chew on his blanket that he should just stop doing it.

Step Three
Burn the blanket and monkey! Ok, not really, but hopefully as the months go on he will learn that he doesn’t need to be chewing on something to comfort himself.

Other Tips:

• Don’t take replacement pacifier on short road trips
• Say “Why is your blanket in your mouth” and have them take it out
• Put the blanket out of site for long periods of time
• Put the blanket in the washing machine and dryer, make sure they see you do it so they know it’s “bath time” for his favorite things

Resistance
It’s quite possible that he will stop chewing on his blanket and even his monkey, but there is certainly the risk that he will replace them with something else. It could be another stuffed animal, his fingers, his clothes, etc. The key in those instances is to stop the behavior before it too becomes a habit.

I am always astonished when I see kids who are 3+ years old who still suck on an actual pacifier, if I was the parent I think it would drive me nuts and I’d likely be a bit embarrassed. Chewing on a blanket or monkey is bad enough.

When did your kids stop using pacifiers? Have they switched to replacement pacifiers like Turkey did? What solutions did you use to break the habit?

Five months ago today we were blessed with our second child, it’s hard to believe it has been 5 months already but yet it seems like an eternity.

These first 5 months have been a lot easier than it was with our first born, but yet harder since I have a 3 year old to control at the same time.

It’s amazing how fast Raptor has grown, from being 8lbs 3oz when he was born to more than double his weight now, he is growing out of clothes everyday and already wearing 12 month outfits already. Granted, baby clothes vary so much from item to item,  it doesn’t really mean much that he is wearing 12 month clothing.

His personality is by far the best part about him, he loves to smile, laugh and attack my neck trying to tickle me like I do him. Similarly to his brother he is fairly mellow and really only freaks out if he is hungry or tired unlike some babies who constantly cry, not sure I could have handled that.

His sleeping schedule has been pretty good, he goes to bed around 7pm and then wakes up on his own between 10 and 11pm or sometimes we’ll wake him up to feed him before we go to bed. At this feeding we put him upstairs in the crib versus our room in the pack and play, he will typically sleep until 5 or 6am, sometimes if we are lucky he won’t wake up at all until 7:30 or 8. His brother likes to turn the light on in the middle of the night which often wakes up Raptor, luckily some soft music will put him back to sleep.

He loves to stand (not on his own yet of course) but he much prefers standing over sitting, rolling over is a daily goal, he rolled over twice so far and has really good head control and strength.

He has been drooling for a several months now, we thought he was going to get teeth quite a while ago but they have yet to show up, his brother had teeth at 4 months. He is chewing on teething rags and toys like crazy so I expect any day now we’ll see a few peek through.

This last week we also started feeding him some “solid” food at supper time, so far he has done really well and I think he is getting the hang of it pretty quickly, the last two times he barely cried so I think we are headed in the right direction.

It’s a bit sad to see him growing up so fast, but at the same time I can’t wait for him to be 2 or 3. It will be a good day when the two boys can run around and play together while I work or exercise or sleep or run some errands. That day will come soon enough and of course they will be leaving for college all to fast too so I’ll enjoy it while I can.

ps. The header photo is an older picture and not actually his 5mo.