Spring Fun

Some recent pics of our days…

Cecelia showing off her Ukelele skills to a playdate. She’s getting pretty good. I keep meaning to have her play more with me.

One of the first real nice days we had this Spring.

Josh getting ready to start sliding again!

Our family on a nature walk.

The girls and I congo at the DSAM dance.

Sawyer loves going up and down the stairs.

Maeve slides.

Isaiah just likes to bounce… he’s about ready to slide though!

Sawyer checks out the slide, but would rather do a little dance, then go back down the stairs.

The boys safely going down the stairs to our yard.

Josh contemplating some chalk.

Sawyer ponders a ball.

Maeve and Cecelia’s dance recital. They did a wonderful job!

Afterwards.

After the dance recital, we went to visit and hang with our cousins for a bit. Avae and Ella had a birthday party.

The girls and I heading out to try to give some lemonade away at the nearby bike trail.

Here we set up shop… unfortunately, not a lot of customers, but we had a nice time together anyway!

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Blogger is making some changes which may change things here… I will keep you updated as things move along…

GML4

Cease and Desist!

This is unbelievable…

Today in the mail I got a cease and desist letter from a lawyer in Kankakee Illinois. They represent some home design company in Mound, Illinois. Apparently this business, which is called “Home in Mound” has issues with us calling our blog “A Home in Mound” and want us to stop using this name.

I can’t find any information about the company online, and it’s not like we’ve been getting calls looking for home design information, so I’m not sure why there is a problem.

What should I do? Should I ignore this, or fight it? Any advice?

Bedtime Stories – The Wheels Story

Tonight’s adventure was a short one involving Challenger visiting 57 Chev.

While their parents were visiting inside, 57 Chev and Challenger were racing in the park and street, when Challenger noticed a puddle next to the trailer 57 Chev’s parents owned. Challenger had a big thrill driving through the puddle of course, made much more fun as it splashed water and dirt on the trailer. 57 Chev got into the action too, driving through the puddle, and making the trailer even dirtier! Both cars were having a blast racing through this puddle, seeing how much mud they could get on the trailer.

After a while, their parents came out and were horrified at the mess the young cars made. Challenger and 57 Chev felt terrible about it. After a stern, short discussion about how to treat other peoples things, they helped their parent clean it up.

The End.

Linkert Winter activities

I took the kids to the Early Childhood “Daddy and me” night out with the girls. It was a nice event with crafts, snack, play, and another dad brought his guitar and lead some songs. The girls were not on their best behavior unfortunately.

We met up with the Sebaskys to go ice skating at the Shirley Hills ice rink.

I had taken our girls out a couple weeks earlier, so they were a bit more familiar with being on the ice… this was Kendall and Masons first time, they really stuck with it though!

Last year Janet bought this helper for new skaters. Here Kendall takes a turn.

Cecelia skated strong. She moved around the ice pretty good with no assistance.

Maeve is more cautious… but got around a bit without assistance.

The kid in the background was showing off… zipping around at perilous speeds. Punk.

Cecelia and Mason share.

Uh… that’s not skating Maeve.

Here’s the gang. Had a great time!

Maeve imitating the Speed skaters while watching the Olympics.

Local Mound businesses the other day organized a Moonlight Trail Walk at the end of February. We hooked up with the Villamils for a nice dinner, and some cupcake decorating.

Here we are on the walk. The path was not as easy to walk as one would’ve hoped, but the kids did great, and we made part of the trek.

Stopped at the campfire on the way back and enjoyed some suckers.

Maeve kicking back.

The girls love helping mom in the kitchen.

Getting your new kid to sleep can be a difficult challenge. Here’s some tips.

First you want to think about starting a routine for the baby when your life starts to settle down after having the baby home for a week or so. Some babies absolutely need routines, others are much more easy going, and if a routine isn’t followed they can get by just fine.

The routine that worked great for our kids, and for practically all the babies in my daycare, comes from a book my wife read after Maeve, our first child was born, called Babywise. I didn’t read the book, but my wife told me enough to make it work for Maeve, and everyone else since.

The pattern to remember is Sleep, Eat, Play, repeat.

The idea is that the baby (and you!) will know what is to be expected, and what happens next. So when the baby wakes up, it will know that it is time to eat. After the baby eats, it is time for it to play. Then it’s time for a nap.

The benefit is, if the baby has been playing for a while, you can probably guess that it’s tired, and want to sleep, since it ate only an hour or so ago.

I highly recommend this pattern for any new baby and new parent.

Putting your new baby to sleep

Getting your new kid to sleep can be a difficult challenge… one I still struggle with my brand new 4 year old. Here’s some tips.

First you want to think about starting a routine for the baby when your life starts to settle down after having the baby home for a week or so. Some babies absolutely need routines, others are much more easy going, and if a routine isn’t followed they can get by just fine.

The routine that worked great for our kids, and for practically all the babies in my daycare, comes from a book my wife read after Maeve, our first child was born, called Babywise. I didn’t read the book, but my wife told me enough to make it work for Maeve, and everyone else since.

The pattern to remember is Sleep, Eat, Play, repeat.

The idea is that the baby (and you!) will know what is to be expected, and what happens next. So when the baby wakes up, it will know that it is time to eat. After the baby eats, it is time for it to play. Then it’s time for a nap.

The benefit is, if the baby has been playing for a while, you can probably guess that it’s tired, and want to sleep, since it ate only an hour or so ago.

I highly recommend this pattern for any new baby and new parent.

Brand spanking new baby – We let the baby sleep as much as it wanted

It’s hard, but she has got to learn to fall asleep on her own. One method that has worked for most of the kids that come to my daycare is this…

1. Be sure she is tired (but not sleeping), a clean diaper is on, and everything is ready in her room to sleep (music, comfort item, pacifier)
2. Put her down in her crib on her back, do the sign for sleep, and say something short and soothing (Good night dear, go to sleep) and walk out of the room.
3. If she does cry, don’t go in the room. Wait 5 minutes.
4. After 5 minutes, if the crying doesn’t stop, go in, don’t pick her up, but briefly try to comfort her, fix her pacifier, tell her she’s ok and to go to sleep, do the sleep sign again, and then walk in the room.
5. Repeat step 4 over, except wait 10 minutes, then wait 15 minutes, then 20.

It tears your heart to hear them cry, but if you stick with this _everytime_ it’s naptime or they go to sleep at night, everyone will benefit. She will learn to sleep on her own. You will be able to get things done while she sleeps. I strongly urge you to try this.

For the kids that I have used this on, they have learned to sleep on their own usually by the 3rd day… 7 days at the most. I did have one kid who took over a month, but he had reflux issues which didn’t help.

I should add that this process should be used by everyone that puts the kid to sleep.

The sign we used for sleep…
http://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/BED

Cecelia turns Four!

Cecelia’s birthday was a couple days ago, so we invited some friends over Saturday for a party.

The highlight game was musical chairs… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a musical chairs game go _so_ well…. we played it twice!

Even Isaiah played… though he wasn’t so sure about the whole thing.

The game was supposed to be herding balloons with brooms… but the wind just lifted the balloons off the deck and just made things difficult… so we just made it a relay race.

Cecelia’s fish cake… prepared by mom.

Then Sunday we met the Burfiends, my folks and the Bradways at a bowling ally to celebrate.

The kids did a great job!

Cecelia sends it down the lane!

Enjoying our time with Hans.

Grandpa takes a turn.

There goes Seth!

Happy Birthday Cecelia!

Cecelia Horse cake (also shaped in a number 4)

With one of her gifts was makeup… sigh.

Late winter days at Basso

We got a new friend coming to Basso!

Josh has been busy learning colors… he’s busy learning yellow here.

We like cars… we like ramps… we like cars jumping off ramps into the bins!

Sawyer enjoying a book.

Josh flashes some necklaces he made.

Our old friend Peter stopped by. Here he’s playing games with Cecelia.

The kids like playing on the rocking recliner lately.

Shaping things with play-doh.

Isaiah flashes a grin.

We enjoy our freshly snowless deck. Once it warmed up… it was pretty easy to push the ice and snow off the deck.

Coloring some green with Sawyer and Isaiah.

The Basso gang.

Isaiah pushing trucks…. everyone likes to push the trucks!

I guess everyone likes tea parties too… this one hosted outside by Cecelia and Maeve.

Janet realized Isaiah had a shirt on that had a striking resemblence to a cake pattern in a book she recently acquired.

Sawyer is a little slow to eat, but loves watching what the other kids are up to.

Maeve peeking around the corner

Tea party inside this time… hosted by Cecelia and Maeve. These seem to be happening quite more frequently now that Janet is home.

Sawyer and Josh playing with the laundry baskets.