Lucas Charles Crouse » February 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Mon, Feb 27, 2006 1:18 PM
We survived a nasty stomach virus attack.
Actually, Lucas survived the virus itself and we survived taking care of little Luc and crazy Amanda.
I picked Luc up from school on Thursday and something didn't seem right... instead of wanting to have a picnic at the park as I planned, Lucas said, "I'm sorry Mommy but we can't go to the park today because I have to go home and rest." If a 3-year-old skips a picnic in favor of taking a nap, something is wrong. After his nap he was pretty warm and ran a fever all evening and the next day. I kept him home on Friday and in the early afternoon he started vomitting. He really hadn't eaten anything since Thursday night. So, we just made him as comfortable as possible. By Saturday he was up and down. I had Jessica's bachelorette party on Saturday night and Phil refused to let me cancel. He said he was sure Luc would survive without me. So I left (but I didn't want to).
Things went OK, but Luc's condition wasn't improving. So I told Phil to call the doctor Sunday monring, which he did. She gave us some useful tips for getting liquids into him and by Sunday afternoon he was really improving. Today is still has not eaten much at all (none of the recommended foods seem to appeal to him now), so we're sticking with some pretzels, soy milk and water. Poor little guy. It's raining so we are all trapped inside today:( If Lucas seems up for it after his nap I might put him in the stroller and go around the Reagan Library.

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Mon, Feb 20, 2006 3:44 PM
Lucas saw his first movie in a theater over the weekend. Yesterday Phil and I took him to see Curious George while Grandma and Grandpa Crouse watched Amanda.
Lucas was so good in the theater and I think he really liked the movie and the popcorn (another first!). He covered his eyes during a couple of the more suspensful scenes, but other than that he spoke quietly when asking a question. He sat on my lap because I think he was a little scared of the dark theater. I was thrilled to peek at his face and see him laughing at some of the funny scenes. We had a really nice time.

On Saturday the O.C. grandparents watched both kids while Phil and I went to a wedding. We had a nice time and got to stay away all night!!!! We really enjoyed ourselves but were glad to see the kids yesterday morning. It is crazy how quickly you want to get back to your kids even though you are with them all the time, every single day. But just a short break seems to be enough to reenergize and remember that you enjoy things besides raising kids.

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Thu, Feb 16, 2006 10:38 PM
Just a quick one before bed....
Amanda can now say "doggy"

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Thu, Feb 9, 2006 8:45 PM
Amanda has a few words that I can now understand, although I'm sure most people outside the family won't be able to decipher her language.
She can say, apple, cheese and highchair.
I know the sounds she makes for milk, binky, duck, frog. She is so funny when she tries to repeat a word I'm saying. It comes out like gobbeldygook, but she's proud of herself.

Lucas got his first progress report from school the other day. Most of his marks were good or excellent. He had a few satisfactory in things like using words to ask for help and holding a pencil properly. He can count to 20, knows most of his upper and lowercase letters (there are a few that stump him) and has known his shapes and colors for quite a while. He is getting much better at drawing a straight line and tracing his name, but we still have a bit of work to do there.

He is still having issues with hitting. It is only when someone does something like take something from him or push him. It's like his instinctual reaction. We are trying really hard to get him to use words when he is angry or wants help. It is really, really tough for me to figure out how to tackle this one. I'm just trying to be gentle yet firm in my approach. We'll just keep monitoring him over the next few weeks. It's weird because he's not like that at home.

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Wed, Feb 8, 2006 2:00 PM
Today has been a good day so far....
Lucas we very well behaved at school. I picked him up and Miss Laura said he was very good. We headed over to the park to eat lunch and he and Amanda ran around for a bit. Then naptime and work called us home. The kids are sleeping and I'm trying to get caught up on some work but I just wanted to take a minute to write about the nice day. Yesterday I felt like running away and today I feel like I'll manage. It's so hard to see the light on a very bad day. You know in your head it will be better soon, but it's hard to keep from feeling frustrated. On bad days it seems like we all feed off of each other. Amanda was sick so she was very needy and crying a lot, this sent Lucas into whine mode which in turn caused me to be very short tempered. Oh well, I'm learning more and more each day how to cope better so that I get a better reaction out of the kids.

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Tue, Feb 7, 2006 7:28 PM
Let me start out by saying that never in my school career was I sent to the principal's office for misbehavior. So you can imagine how horrified I was to hear that my son was taken to see the pricipal of Pinecrest this morning. Today his teacher informed me that yesterday Lucas was spitting at some of his classmates. Then today he was hitting and punched one boy in the eye. That was when they marched him to see Miss Suzi. His teacher was trying to reassure me that they are just trying to nip this in the bud and that it is very common in 3-year-olds who are having trouble expressing themselves or asking for help instead of having a tantrum. It's of little comfort to me. My son has never acted this way at home. He has been known to pitch a fit and cry and cry if he doesn't get his way, but hit or spit or any other aggressive behavior, no.
I am sort of at a loss as to what to do. We had a calm talk this afternoon and Phil spoke with him this evening. I know the past few days have been difficult because Amanda is pretty sick, so maybe that is it.
Anyway, we are still seriously considering a school switch and this may just be another reason. Maybe he is trying to tell us something -- maybe he is trying to get kicked out of school :)

On another note, I have to write down two things that the kids have been doing for a month or so now. They won't be cute to anyone but me, but I want to make sure I never forget.
AManda can make many animal sounds, but for some reason when we say kitty-cat, she just tilts her head to the side and makes no sound. Not sure what it's about, but it is cute.

Lucas is on this funny kick where he wants to be the first to do or say something. An example of how this plays out... we'll be reading a lift-the-flap book and he'll try to be the first person to say what the item under the flap is. He'll say something like, "Ball, I said it first, bye!" or, " duck, I said it first, bye." It goes like that. He does that when he wins a race, too. He'll say, "I won the race, bye!"
Very cute to me.

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Fri, Feb 3, 2006 9:10 PM
I just want to add a cute story about Lucas for my own memory. It probably won't translate well for anyone else.

Today when I got Luc up from his nap (he didn't really sleep) we had about 30 minutes before Amanda joined us. Lucas told me I had to take a nap on the couch. He had me lie down and then he covered me with a blanket. He asked if I wanted to watch t.v. while I slept like Aunt Molly does. I said no. So, he brought me a magazine and his bongo drums in case I wanted to use them while I napped. He then said, "I'm going to go eat my snack while you take a nap." He walked over to his little table and I was watching him. He looked at me and said, "close your little eyeballs, mommy." I always say "close your little eyeballs" to him at naptime and I thought it was so freakin cute.
He let me rest for about 90 seconds before he told me it was time to come and share a snack with him. He is so cute and fun and sometimes I feel really guilty that Amanda is so demanding of my time. We haven't gotten to the point yet where I can sit and play with both of them because one of them will be unhappy. Either I'll be building with Lucas and Amanda will come and steal our building materials, or I will try to do something like read to Amanda and Lucas and they fight over turning the pages. Amanda is a bit young to get the "taking turn" thing (Lucas is just now getting it) so it makes for stressful playtime.
I just really enjoy the few moments I get to spend alone with Lucas, just as I get mornings alone with Amanda.

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Wed, Feb 1, 2006 2:53 PM
Not buying "China" is going better than I expected. A few weeks ago Phil and I watched a special on the History channel about Tiananmen Square. We've talked on many occasions about the lack of human rights in China but never moved to do anything about it. Then we heard about Google, MSN and others altering their search technology for China so that citizens can't look up terms like freedom or democracy. I know that things go on all over the world and even our own government has been less than democratic lately, but we decided to start with China. We haven't purchased any "made in china" products for 2 or 3 weeks now. It cuts down on toy consumption! Lucas knows that we can't buy things made in China but it doesn't stop him from pleading.
The thing is that so far it just takes longer to find things like shoes, clothes, socks, storage containers... but so far I have been able to find alternatives. The biggest surprise is that most books I look at are printed or put together in China:(
What would happen if we all boycotted China? Would the big US corporations stop doing business there? Would that force the government to make some drastic changes in the way it treats its citizens? I think they have had a big taste of capitalism and if all of the foreign companies pulled out now they would be forced to start making changes.

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