The Traumatic Threes

It's been a rough few weeks.... If the twos are terrible, the threes are traumatic. The biggest victim of said trauma is currently my home. At this point, I think it might be easier to move than fix everthing.

Most recently, Spiderman was visiting and decided thant the towel rack was the perfect place to hang as he webbed his way through the house and his super hero strength pulled it right out of the wall.

 

The Culprit

 

 

Along with destroying our house one room at a time, we are having some major challenges with listening at home and at daycare. Everyday when I pick up Rex, I either hear "It's been a bad day" or "It was better than yesterday but still not great." I am pretty much at my wits end. We do timeout, we take away toys, we offer rewards for good behavior but nothing seems to work.  I was even watching a Super Nanny episode yesterday taking notes but everything she did, we have done.

 

After a very rough day yesterday with several time out sessions, I decided to make a new good behavior chart. We had one a year ago and at two, he was way too young to grasp it. Even at three years old, I decided to limit the number of areas of focus to four things but leave room to add to or change what we are working on. Get a good report from daycare is one of areas so it even lowers it to three areas on the weekend. I think everyone deserves a little break on the weekend.

 

 

 



I stole the design from another Pinterest user but altered it slightly. I decided to make daily reward cards. These range from as simple as having an ice pop or going to the playground to something more special like going to the Carousel at the mall or maybe a visit to Chuck E Cheese for when he has an especially good day or week. I have blank plenty of blank cards to add rewards as needed. It also allows Steve and I to be on the same page as to what we are giving him as rewards since sometimes we are two ships passing in the night with our work schedules.

Today is our first day and it was going really well until 5 minutes ago. Rex's reward was supposed to be a brownie. I was going to give it to him when I finished writing this post, but he just ran up to me with his face covered in chocolate. When I asked what he had been eating, he mischievously said "nothing mommy" with a big smile on his face and then tried to block me from going to the kitchen to find the brownies mauled.

As much as this behavior can be incredibly frustrating, I just have to take a deep breath and remind myself that I will miss this time of our life when he is older.

Toy Story

I am in search of a new organization system for Rex's toys. Since Santa visited, what we have is just not cutting it. There is not enough space nor a good system to keep track of all the cars, action figures and legos. In the meantime, I have come to terms with certain things:


My coffee table is the staging ground for a Transformer battle and also serves as a toy box.

The kitchen is guarded daily by Iron Man, Spiderman and two Hulks.

 

It's always rush hour in the hallway.

 

I am gathering ideas and have given myself a 1/31 deadline to take my house back from the toys.

The Search Begins

 

Happy New Year! Steve and I are back from New York where we had a wonderful time and are now back to the daily grind. Well almost, I am off until Monday which I am thoroughly enjoying.

 

Steph, Sarah and I on New Year's Eve

On our 3 hour train ride back from New York, I made it my mission to find some options for classes we could enroll Rex in that occur during "after school hours".  At the start of my search, I thought with the criteria I set, it would return several options to choose from:

Classes must start after 5:00pm
Sports, Language, or Art classes would work
Affordable prices(looking for under $150 but there is some wiggle room)
Preferably located in Sterling but anywhere between Reston, Chantilly, and Ashburn would work

Well after 2 hours of frustrated searching, I had successfully enrolled Rex into one floor hockey clinic that is 3 weeks long. That was my only real option that fit my criteria after looking at 2 community rec centers and multiple private companies. There were several options of classes for Rex's age in the categories I was looking at but they all took place between 10am and 3pm (not really conducive for the working mom).

I started to think I am just not looking in the right places so for the last hour of the train ride I redirected my search to find/join mom groups in the community. Other working moms must know where to go for these classes. I thought I hit the jackpot when I found a network consisting of 76 mom groups in Northern Virginia. They even had two groups for Sterling, separated by East/West. Unfortunately, working moms need not apply was the messaging once I read the descriptions.

I did find a couple networks that accept working moms, one who meets regularly but in Fairfax which in Northern Virginia traffic could be an hour long drive. I am still hoping to give it a try as I really do want to get our family more involved in the community. I would also really like to network with working moms. Who knows, maybe I will have to create a group to make this happen.

In the meantime, we will try the floor hockey class and we also had previously enrolled Rex in a swim class that starts this Saturday. Even though I am disappointed with my initial search, I am really looking forward to getting him involved in these classes and am sure we will find something else. Ideally, I would like him enrolled in one sports class and one educational/creative class that lasts for at least 6-10 weeks.  If any Northern Virginian residents have suggestions, please let me know.

For Dinner tonight:

Leftover Chicken and Rice Casserole(recipe below) from last night with a Kale Chopped Salad Kit and bread (only two plates because Steve is working late)

My normally non-picky eater decided to be tonight so his dinner turned from the above into dinosaur chicken nuggets and apple chips

 

Chicken & Rice Casserole:

4 Chicken breast halves ( I used 8 grilled frozen chicken tenders)
1 can cream of chicken Soup
1 7/8 cups of water
1 packet(1 oz) of onion soup mix
1 cup of Rice
Frozen vegetables(optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spread rice at bottom of 9x13 casserole dish
3. Lay chicken over rice
4. Mix cream of chicken soup and water together and pour over chicken
5. add onion soup mix and frozen vegetables on top
6. Bake for 1hour to 1.5 hours.

Mine was done right at an hour.

New Year's Resolutions

 

I started thinking about my New Year's Resolution yesterday. Quickly my one resolution turned into a long list.  Rather than narrowing it down to just one or two things, I figured why not just list them all out and then track which of those I am able to accomplish through the year. So here it goes in no particular order:

Start a blog
Get on a budget
Read a book or two or three
Exercise regularly
Cook at least 4 meals a week
Be more Patient
Donate to those in need
Get regular Manicures/Pedicures
Do More Activities with Rex
Go to Church on a regular basis
Be Kind to Others...always!
Don't Hit the Snooze Button
Make the bed everyday
Be more thoughtful of others
Organize and declutter house
Once house is organized, decorate more
Don't Be Judgmental
Read the Bible
Stay on top of laundry
Make time to see my friends
Be a considerate co-worker/employee
Be more informed on current events
Take more pictures
Do more outdoor activities with Rex
Cook Healthy Meals
Don't Yell
Stay in touch with my brothers more
Get involved in our community
Use to Crock Pot more
Go to bed earlier
Be a good co-worker
Work to Live don't Live to Work
Post on the blog I create at least 3 times a week
If I have to work at night, only do so after Rex goes to bed
Volunteer
Enjoy the moment (especially each spent with Rex)

I will go ahead and check off create a blog as my first success for the New Year. I know I started it technically in 2013 but looking forward to our family's schedule the next few days, I need to get a headstart on the year if I am going to come close to completing these goals.

 

Steve and I are off to New York on Tuesday to ring in the New Years with good friends. We are very excited for a litte getaway which is much needed after Steve spent 10 days in China and I was a solo parent for those 10 days. We both still feel like we are catching up from exhaustion, him from jet lag and me from a three year old named Rex.