No family like a Snow family - continued

When Katheryn got home from school she saw our snowmen and wanted to finish the family.

 

I started it off, but Katheryn was determined to make the snowman all herself!

Even if it got really heavy!
She put together most of her snowman herself

 

 The carrot nose was very important

Katheryn wanted the Daddy snowman to have a smiling mouth

We were fighting against the rain and the depleted amount of snow on our front lawn to finish our snow family.

Katheryn

The Daddy

And an updated Mommy

Katheryn posing with all our creations!

By this time it was raining, and I expect that these pictures will be the only reminder of our snow-filled day by tomorrow!

No family like a Snow family

Today was a snow day. Perfect snow, snow man building snow. Nickolas was very excited to go out and build snowmen!

 

He wanted to build some snowmen on the front lawn. We brought out the walker, but he couldn't get it moving in the snow. We used it so he could stand up

But when it was time to start pushing the snow around he had to get down on the ground.

 



He tried pushing the snow, but it was heavy, and wet.

 

 Nickolas took more of an artistic director role.

We had a mommy

A doggy
(Nick was upset that he didn't have a hat)

A boy

Nickolas' favorite was the boy, because he had a green and black hat.

He also liked that he had a walker just like him, because mostly he liked the hat and the carrot-nose.

Some imagination

OK Maybe 3 isn't as horrible as I may have made it sound.

What I have found and loved is the imagination that has bloomed and developed in Nickolas. On top of being very specific about what he loves and likes - pirates and backyardigans topping up this list, he wants to play all the time.

And both the kids are playing together. Yes they have been playing together for a long time. A lot of it was Katheryn playing and directing Nick about what to do and Nick saying yes, yes, yes.
But now Nickolas is directing Katheryn! It is his ideas that they are playing out.
Nick pretending to be a rocket ship and flying through space

 

Nickolas is a little bit obsessed with his "Back-e-gans". He watches the same 2 episodes over and over and over again, and then acts them out, alone or with Katheryn.

 

I love watching the kids playing together, and hearing Nick explore his imagination. I can't describe the joy I get from watching my children grow before my eyes! Imagine that!

Finding a balance

I'm having a hard time some days to find a balance.

Since Nickolas has turned 3 I have found him to be (and I feel like a horrible mom to write this) a winy kid. He doesn't want to go up the stairs, he doesn't want to sit on the potty, he doesn't want to crawl, he doesn't like anything wet on his skin, he wants to be in this seat, or that seat, he wants his sister, he wants his mommy, he wants his daddy.
Nickolas has found his voice and know what he wants, and what he wants is to say no.
A lot.

At first I was thinking maybe this is shunt irritability? But it's not something that happens suddenly or all day, in between all of these no's he is happy and smiling and laughing and a great kid.
But I'm finding it a little bit difficult. I need to balance between listening to his voice and wishes/wants and letting him know that he can make choices, while helping him to grow. Maybe I'm expecting too much from 3 years old.

I don't remember 3 years old being like this with Katheryn. At 3 Katheryn would be having a meltdown and I could talk her down. It was great. I liked 3.
Nickolas went into a whole hyperventilating meltdown the other night because he couldn't have a lollipop before bed. I had to leave him on the bed to calm down because telling him 'no' only made it worse. He kept crying "I don't want mommy to say no to me" in between catching his breath.

All of that is just behavior, age, maturity I think. I can't compare Katheryn at 3 with Nickolas at 3, that's not fair.
Nickolas will get a time out when he is naughty, when he needs to calm down. But he isn't generally naughty and doesn't need many time-outs. Katheryn definitely wins that count hands-down.

But it's not just the tantrums. He's a kid, kids have tantrums.

But now I need to find a balance with mobility issues.
Nick doesn't want to crawl up the stairs. He wants to be carried. He used to love climbing the stairs with Katheryn, half the time he'd be up before we even knew he'd gone anywhere.
We readjusted our family room so he is able to walk and cruise around pretty much the whole room. That's where he wants to be. It's a step down and his walking doesn't fit so we haven't been using his walker a lot in the house. He doesn't want to walk up and down the hall in a line with his walker.
Sometimes I don't know what to do.

In the evening Nickolas wants to be with me all the time, it's hard on him when I go off and work nights, or I'm on a long stretch of shifts. Just tonight he was standing in the family room, crying for me to come and get him. I was ignoring him. Not answering him when he was crying that he wants me.
Trying to get him to come to me.

I feed into this, I know. I need to work on it. It is easier for me to carry Nickolas down the stairs in the morning and put him in his seat for breakfast. But I'm missing a prime opportunity for him to move himself, just because in the morning we always have time constraints.
I think this has to be a goal for me, and for him.

Because I really need to find a balance. I feel that we are in a rut at home.

Cover Girl

This month was very exciting for us, I spent almost 2 weeks checking every magazine stand we passed. Because we "know" the cover girl of the February issue of Parents Magazine! Her name is Emily and her mom blogs just like me. Emily is just 6 months old than Nickolas and was also born with spina bifida.

I finally found it! Of course as soon as I found it, I had to take a picture.

I wanted to show it and share it with everyone. When I was paying for it the cashier shared that her brother uses a wheelchair. I showed my sister, the girls at work, friends I saw.

When I got home I showed it to the kids. Nickolas thought it was great that she had a gold walker! Gold! And Katheryn wanted to read the magazine and look at the pictures. We had a little talk about why it was special that she was in the magazine. That she was born just like Nick, with a boo-boo on her back.
They were both impressed that someone was just like Nickolas. And Katheryn wanted her picture in a magazine.

Emily on the cover of a parents magazine is not a little thing.
It is the first time a child with a disability is on a mainstream parents magazine. I want to put it in every obstetricians office, screaming "this is what spina bifida looks like" just like any other kid, only with a walker and some cool braces. She is adorable and happy! There isn't any article in the magazine talking about what it is like to have a child with spina bifida, the article she is on is about making valentines day crafts.

There is a quick little blurb about the cover girl on the first couple of pages, and it talks quickly about what spina bifida is. Online there is an interview with her mom, and a follow up blog from a writer for Parents magazine.
I'm not sure what I like better, that the purpose of her being the cover girl in the magazine was just because she was super cute, or that it gave an opportunity to show what spina bifida looks like. It's kinda contradictory that I'm glad the article she was in had nothing to do with spina bifida while showing off what a child with spina bifida is like.