{Thursday Night 12/8/16} Instant Pots and favorite blankies

For dinner tonight we had beef stew that I made in my new instant pot. It looks like Thursdays are turning into Instant Pot dinner days. I made something in it last Thursday too.

I wasn’t planning on using the instant pot today, but I saw some stew meat in the freezer this morning and it reminded me that I had a stew seasoning packet in the cupboard I had been meaning to use and I remembered my sister said she likes to make stew in her Instant Pot. So all of the sudden I just had to try it.

I was excited to try the pressure feature because I hadn’t tried pressuring anything in it yet. It was so cool. So easy and so fast. I did a step by step video of it on my insta-story. That was the hardest part of the whole deal. My phone was about to die and on low power mode so it took forever for the different clips to load.

Oh well, they are finally loaded now and hopefully it will help anyone who is feeling a little reluctant about trying the pressure feature. It was seriously so easy, I can’t get over it.

The rest of my day was fairly typical. We did the hustle and bustle morning routine, I took Char and Trev to the gym with me. I did a barre class that almost killed me. Why do I keep doing that???

We picked up a friend for Char to play with on our way home and when we got home a few minutes later, Trever’s speech therapist got here. She is so nice, we love Ms. Lacey!

Trever is getting better and better and attempting much more with his speech. I love Lacey because she has also been helping trouble shoot some hard behaviors/personality traits Trever has. I might have mentioned this before, but I’m going to go ahead and give my hardest toddler award to Trever. The kid is a walking fit thrower. He is so cute, and I hate to throw him under the bus, but it is true.

Every day I find myself bending over backwards to avoid fits, because it seems like once he has one “loose his mind fit” he is more likely to have more throughout the day.

This is the first week, in who knows how long, that we haven’t had 4-5 a day. It helps that he is getting more language but the other thing that I think is helping was Lacey’s idea.

I have always put my toddlers in their crib for time out. I take out pillows and blankets and put them in so they will have to stay in one place. This worked super well with my other kids and they learned (after a few times) that when they start to calm down mom comes in and talks to them and then they can get out and go back to playing.

Not so much with Trever. He never calms down, he just escalates and escalates. I have very seriously wondered if he is just stubborn and has a temper or if he really physically/psychologically, can not calm himself.

Either way it is extremely frustrating to deal with. He looses his mind over the smallest things.

Ms. Lacey’s suggestion was to let him take his favorite blanket in the crib with him when he is on time out. He LOVES his blanket and basically has it in his hand or around his neck all day. At first I was like, “but that’s giving him what he wants.” Then I thought about it for a minute and realized that maybe that is what he has needed all along to help him calm down.

That made me feel pretty terrible.

Well, I have been letting him take his favorite blanket with him when he goes to time out and it has helped SIGNIFICANTLY! As of the last few days, I can only think of 3 meltdowns and their duration was MUCH smaller then usual. Sometimes just asking him if he needs his blanket to help him calm down, before going right to the “You’re going to have to go to time out if you can’t calm down.” has been enough. It’s been so great! WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THIS AND IMPLEMENT IT SOONER?

So glad Ms. Lacey and her good ideas came into our life.

After she left we had lunch and nap time.

I went through all the pictures on my phone during nap time because it was so full it wasn’t letting me take pictures anymore. That took forever and before I new it the boys were about to get home, so I hurried to start dinner in the instant pot.

Once the boys were home, the piano teacher got here and they did their lessons. Charlotte and Trever woke up from their naps and Char folded some laundry for me. (This picture was right before she started whining that it was too hard.)

Trever watched his favorite show and had an orange. This is starting to be his new ritual after he wakes up. (That is “Favorite Blankie” on his lap….it’s his best friend.)

Dad got home and we had dinner.

Thatcher didn’t super love having beef stew for dinner, but he was able to get it down with the help of some garlic bread.

After dinner, Dad, who is a gem, volunteered to take all the kids to Conner’s basketball practice so I could get some work done. He is the best.

I really couldn’t do this blog if he wasn’t so willing to give me one or two kid-free blocks of time every week. Sometimes he takes the kids swimming or to the library or to the church with him on scout nights. He just makes it happen because he knows it helps me. He also does an unnerving amount of dishes on a fairly regular basis and almost never complains. He’s pretty amazing.

So here’s to good husbands, Instant Pots and favorite blankies. I couldn’t live without ’em!

Keep it Real!