Blueberry Picking

I received an invite for a play date to visit Marc’s U-Pick Blueberries. I didn’t even know we could do this around here so I was thrilled to respond yes. My timing was off in the morning and I was behind schedule with breastfeeding. I was trying to hurry and sneak out of the door without waking Esteban so he could sleep in. I got Maya fed and dressed. Then I freshened up and grabbed my clothes. By now, Jayden was awake so I grabbed him, dressed him, brushed his teeth and got his milk. I then went to double check directions and sneaky Jayden woke up Daddy. Rats! Oh well, I explained what I was doing and by now I was late, plus the location was further than I thought. But Esteban got up and decided he wanted to join us so we quickly loaded up the family in the car and hit the road.

The fields were a lot closer than I thought. The first field was closed but the second was still open when we arrived. It was too late to meet up with the playgroup, but at least we made it. It was so much fun. That was my first time ever doing any such thing. We walked up and down the aisles of trees and looked for ripe berries. They were so sweet and delicious. We gave some to Jayden and before you knew it, he was hoarding the berries. He started to pick himself. He didn’t care if they weren’t ripe yet. He would still grab at them and pluck them into his mouth. I could barely get any into my basket because he was screaming out loud for more. Jayden had his mouth full and both his fists were full, but he was still screaming when daddy put the berries into my basket instead of into his mouth.

There were lots of families there and I could hear the kids squealing with delight. Oh, I found a cluster. Look, I found a blue one. One family was teaching their young daughter to count. 1...2...3... Jayden was the only child whining and carrying on. We decided to make our way back, stopping only a few times whenever we found perfect berries. Jayden carried on the entire time. Really, I had to smile. I thought Jayden would enjoy the fields. There were tons of trees, small branches and pine cones. Right up his alley, right? We were all together and Jayden had free roam of the place. Plus, he had every blueberry h could possibly eat. How wrong I was! I realized right then and there that Jayden will always have an unexpected reaction and I decided right then and there. That’s ok with me. I wonder if he’ll like the blueberry pie I’m planning on making.

Jayden's Progress

Jayden is learning and growing in so many ways. He’s got all sorts of tricks up his sleeve. Jayden has learned how to climb. Now he is using this skill to get things done around the house. He climbs onto his highchair so he can reach the light switch. He climbs onto the chairs so he can get up onto the table. He used his bed rail to climb onto the dresser so we rearranged the furniture. Now, he uses his bed rail as a stepping stone to climb into the crib. He also uses his activity cube to climb over the baby gate. There’s no way to turn your back on him even once because you never know what he could be up to.

Fortunately, when he is alone with me he behaves like a normal two year old. He plays and keeps busy and entertains himself for what seems like hours, without ever getting tired. He still acts up, but listens fairly well when I address him. Daddy is helping by starting to get a bit stricter with him. Jayden knows that it’s not party time anymore when Daddy’s around. It used to be that Jayden would act all sorts of crazy when he was home with both Mommy and Daddy, but I’ve even noticed that Jayden’s behavior has improved when we are both home together. It’s when I’m busy that he looks for ways to get my attention and it’s usually with something that he shouldn’t be doing. Mostly, it’s when I nurse Maya that he turns to mischief. He does anything possible to get my attention. He’s even started to make these puppy dog faces that get me every single time. I can’t help but to literally crack up. He makes this sad face and drops his head so that his chin touches his chest, but rolls his eyes up to see if his look is working on me.

One thing I’ve done is to try to get Jayden back to his normal routine. Afternoon nap was first. Luckily it didn’t take long before he was back to his normal schedule. Night-night time was a little tougher. My sister helped me a lot with this. We would put Jayden down and read to him and tuck him in. It took many nights of going back to his room and saying night-night and re-tucking him in, but it worked. Now he’s back to his normal sleep schedule. He has started to wake up earlier than normal, but I think it’s because he knows that Daddy is home, but lately he’s back to sleeping until at least 7am. Esteban will change his diaper and get him his bottle and he lies in bed with us for at least one more hour. Lastly, we started to take Jayden back to daycare once a week. Jayden literally ran into Jena's arms. I know he was happy and it's an added bonus to me. I get one day of alone time with Maya and I’m free to take care of so many things that I never get to do anymore. On my first FREE day, I made a ton of calls, ran errands, organized and cleaned the house, etc. I made such a long list of things to do that I didn’t even get to rest or take care of ¼ of the things on my list. But I was happy. I was getting things accomplished.

One of the things I did on FREE day was to get my nails done. I was chatting with Nick, my nail tech. He’s got two kids of his own and I shared with him my woes with Jayden. He suggested taking something away from Jayden. At first I thought it wouldn’t work because Jayden isn’t attached to anything, except his Daddy which I would never dream of taking away. We started to remember our own childhood and having to kneel. He had to kneel on chopsticks. My parents always made me kneel on the floor, but I remember having cousins who had to kneel on dried beans or rice. I decided to combine the two ideas together. I talked to Jayden’s pediatrician, Dr. Jill about Jayden’s behavior. She said that Jayden’s age combined with the fact that he’s not the only child anymore is what’s causing his behavior to get so out of hand. I also asked about combining a time out with standing in the corner (instead of kneeling). She gave me her blessing so I started those this week.

At first he didn’t know what to make of it. He was crying hysterically and turning his head to try to find me, but I calmly moved his head back to the corner and kept him there for two minutes. Now he stands in the corner. Sometimes he cries. At the end of time out, I turn him to face me and ask him to listen to mommy. No means no. If Jayden doesn’t listen, he will get another time out. I then kiss him and he goes off to do his thing. Now, when I ask him if he wants a time out, he understands what I mean. It gets his attention and he remains serious and I re-direct him to another activity. This works most of the time. I’m happy to find something that helps me discipline him without me losing my sanity or my patience.