Luke with Friends

Here are some pictures of Luke outside and with friends care of Christi.

Fall in Houston

The perfect fall afternoon. The weather has finally cooled off, the mosquitos have all gone, asn Luke and I enjoyed an afternoon outside playing and raking leaves in the brisk air. Houston is beautiful in the fall.

Good News!!

Nathan's aunt Susie is cancer free!

She has had such a long and harrowing journey. Thanks be to God and thanks to all who prayed!

Using a comb

Luke was watching me get ready for church this morning and wanted to join in!

Being Patient

Yesterday and today have been better.

Nathan reminded me that not all of Luke's screams mean the same thing. (Well, with so many, I guess they had been running together in my head :) ) Bethany also noticed that often, Luke just didn't have the words yet to say what he wanted, so he screamed. Those pieces of information were helpful to think about.

Here is my brief POA (plan of action):

Sometimes he screams when he wants something. If I ask him if he wants "x," then I can help supply the words that his screams are trying to say.

Sometimes he screams when he wants my attention. I can ignore that sometimes, or just look down and talk to him briefly and then go on with what I was doing.

Sometimes he screams because he is mad that I took something away or because another child is playing with the toy that he wants. In this case, I either take him for a brief time out, or try to distract his attention to something else.

Hopefully I will be able to tell which scream is which. :)

Struggling

Today has been a very trying day. Mostly, I suppose it is because I have been feeling inept as a parent. Luke is changing so much and my responses to his behavior seem too much or too little, but never balanced. The current "issue," as I said in my previous post, Luke is in a screaming phase. He screams if I take something away, if he wants my attention and I am not giving it to him, at the priest while he is giving his homily, or just for fun.

Today, while making dinner, he screamed repeatedly at me. Each time, I said "No screaming, " firmly, and placed him in another room. (Consistent, but not effective) Instead of seeing this as a negative consequence, he was delighted. He got my attention and it became a game.

So, I am trying to figure out what to do now. It is hard to discipline since he does not understand what is going on yet. I would just keep trying my current technique with him, but it seems to do the opposite of what I intend.

I think that part of the reason that he screams is that he wants more attention. I do spend time with him, but I could spend more. I do expect him to be more patient than he is perhaps capable right now.

I am confused. Parenting is humbling.

Catching Up

I know it has been a while since I posted, so here are a few snippets from our past week:


-Luke loves the book "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton. In fact, he loves pretty much anything by Sandra Boynton, but "Doggies" is his favorite. He loves it so because of the great noises that I make when I read it to him. I bark, yelp, whimper, and howl- yep, all the things doggies do. Spontaneously, while playing around the house, he will begin to howl, "Aaahh-ooooooh." It is very cute.

-I have been telling Luke things without showing him what I am talking about for the past week, and he amazes me with what he understands. For example, I say, "Luke, go get your shoes." He then goes into the box of shoes in the foyer and brings me his favorite little white shoes. He also understands when I tell him that we are going outside, going to eat, and going to see Clara.

-New words for Luke this week are cheese and juice. They actually sound very similar.

- We are in another screaming phase and I am going nuts. I think I am trying to hard to make him stop. When he screams, I pick him up and set him in another room and tell him "No screaming, that is not ok." Sometimes it helps, sometimes not.

-Luke has slept through the night 4 nights in a row. I almost am worried to write this in case I jinx myself for tonight (if it is even possible to do such a thing).

-I am so excited about going home for Christmas that I just want to keep doing things to get ready- present making, plan making, etc.... I love this time of year!


That is all for now. I hope to have more pictures or video up soon. We had a really great one that would not load. There are benefits to having a powerful camera, but it does make videos very large and hard to post.

Pumpkin Patch and Our Little Lion

I am tired, and don't have much energy for writing so here are some photos of our last few days:



1. Trick or Treating with friends from church

2. On a Skype call with Grammy and Papa, showing off the outfit.

3. The little lion in full gear.

4. At the pumpkin patch.

5. Cousins on pumpkins.