Declan is almost 7...yikes:)

I love Declan more and more all the time.  Declan is a loveable boy who has many friends.  He is the type of kid who parents want their children to be friends with and is often invited to other people's houses to play.  Declan enjoys playing with lego and playmobile.  He is very good at building lego pieces using the instructions.  I actually think that this is one of his giftings.  He is observant and pays close attention to details. He tends to be organized and particular and these qualities help him in his lego building.  He enjoys playing with vehicles that most and imagines as he plays downstairs in his lego/playmobile set up.  He really really enjoys playing and talking about hand cuffs for the last year or so.  Because of his liking for handcuffs he wants to be a police officer.  Though I don't think this will be his career.  I think his career will be something hands on.  I could see him working in a trade for woodworking or car mechanic or building houses.  Declan also has an interest in music.  He is taking lessons from a free website called "Hoffman music academy".  He enjoys the lessons and is motivated to get through the lessons because he really wants to learn to play the guitar and our deal is if he finishes his piano lessons he can learn to play the guitar. 

Declan enjoys playing with his neighbours Preston and Ashton outside but we aren't really pushing these relationships.  He is also friends with all of his cousins, particularly Justin.  He also like to play with James, William and other kids from church. 

Declan likes to eat healthy and loves apples the most.  He loves to eat basically all fruits and vegetables and mostly all types of food.  He would rather eat an apple that some junk food. 

Declan is now 5!

I don't update on a regular basis but I am glad that I have a little record of how Declan is growing up and slowly developing into a child of God. On January 17, 2012, Declan ketp saying to me that he wanted to be a christian. We've had several talks over the last few months about Jesus, and what it means to be a Christian. I told him it was a gift that God gives us. He loves us so much that he died to take away the sins of the world. We just need to believe that Jesus died on the cross in order to pay the punishment that we so rightly deserve. Instead of us having to take on the judgement, Jesus took the pain and separation from God while he was dying, as if he was a sinner. Declan had been developing an understanding of right and wrong and was very aware that all people make mistakes and do wrong things which can be called sin. He began to understand that "God loves us NO MATTER WHAT". He forgives us when we ask him. These are things that we talk about and focus on with Declan. Well, that evening he said he wanted to invited Jesus into his heart. He prayed and asked. I was so excited for him and so were his two grandmas (especially Grandma Rutledge). At this point, Gary couldn't really care less. That attitude is changing 100% with Gary but that is a whole other story. Someone said that if Declan begins to 'show fruit' than you know it was genuine. As far as 'showing fruit', one area is feeling remore and striving to do the right things. I see a big change in Declan in this way. He feels bad when he has done something wrong. He is still learning and I know that sometimes this desire to do good is more of an external motivation...he doesn't want to get into trouble and deal with the consequences. Anway, this post has taken a little tangent. However, I think it is a good indication of the way the Lord has been working in my life. He is doing miraculous works in our marriage and family. God is on my mind very frequently and I am desiring more of him. I struggled to get to this point for so long and I am excited for the changes. Over the last several years, I would never have written a post about this kind of stuff because God wasn't on my heart. Now, I can not even separate myself from him even when blogging about Declan's achievements. Anyway, more specifically... Declan's Interests Declan continues to be interested in monster trucks and all sorts of vehicles. I am noticing more lately that he is getting pretty interested in Star Wars because he likes the character characteristics, likes watching the first movie with Gary and some half hour cartoon Star Wars episodes. He has a few characters from it. Also, he likes light sabres and like playing fighting with them. All in all, he is just a typical little boy who loves to pretend to shoot stuff (he calls them pewers still)...though yesterday I heard him call his little gun 'a killer'..yikes:) Declan has caught on to the freedom of pumping himself on the swing and he will for quite a long time. He enjoys his sandbox and especially likes using water in the sandbox to make stuff. He is doing very well with biking on his two-wheeler. He rides like an old pro. He will even go on long distance bike rides around town and will do completely fine with no complaining. He loves feeling like he is apart of something and he likes feeling older. He loves things like the crash up derby, races, watching dirtbikes, etc. He is just a boy's boy. I am going to end this post now, as I am supply teaching and my prep is almost up:)

So many achievements

I have loved spending so much time with Declan lately. I am not boggled down with work and I feel like a real homemaker. Declan is so easy to take care of and it frees us up to do whatever we want. He isn't trapped by naps or diapers or tantrams. He is usually just a great kid to take anywhere.
I have been so happy with the things he has been achieving. We have a backyard pool and Declan was so scared and resistant to go in the water the first few times...and now he is so active and fearless in the pool. He used to be dependent on water wings or a lifejacket and now he want to just jump right in. He will do whatever someone challenges him to do. He'll dive in, bob up and down, hold his breath, and he just LOVES playing any sort of imaginary game in the pool. He may pretend that he is a police officer and that we catch bad guys and put them into jail or any sort of game like that. He can swim for short amounts of time on the water or under the water. He has made great attempts at back floating and front floating. He didn't pass his swimming lessons level of salamander but I think he would now.
The other area that I am so happy for him is in the area of biking. He really wanted to bike without training wheels. Well...he has really been working hard on this and now he can bike down a straight stretch of sidewalk in front of our house from the one stop sign to the other. As he tells us he still needs to work on slowing down and turning.
The last area that I am really proud for him is that he went to day camp for VBS at the pentecostal church and he loved it! He seemed so grown up. He only cried on the second day going in and no other days. He is learning so much. Declan is interested in the bible and the stories. He always has lots of questions .
I am really enjoying my time at home and I am praying that I can be more of a stay-at-home mom if I can get that small contract. Lord, you know my heart's desire. I am asking for this position because it is something I have been striving for for so long. I have two possible LTO's I can apply for but Lord, I really want to be home with Declan more to teach him and to love him and to guide him.
Declan is a joy. Lord, help me to be a good wife. You have plans that are for good and not to harm us. My heart's desire is to have another child and stuff needs to be figured out first and you are working on us. It is in your time and help me to be patient. Amen.

Declan is 4 now!

Time is ticking away and Declan is now four years old! It is fun to read the past posts and to see how he is very similar and also very different from what he was like when he was 2.

Toys and Playing
He still loves all the machinery stuff and still talks about excavators, dump trucks etc. all the time. He still loves his blue truck and boat with the trailer. He also still loves sea doos! Right now he is playing less with the John Deere trucks and more with the cars movie characters -mac, lightning mcqueen etc. He doesn't play with a lot of toys and never really has. He is much more interested in what we are doing. He will help with everything we ask. He has a list of jobs that I get him to do and they include: bringing the recycling from the house to the carport and sorting it, putting stuffed animals nicely on his bed, putting away the silver wear from the dishwasher, cleaning up his toys and putting laundry in the closet. He also does little errands for us like getting pops for us and opening up the tops. He has been doing this for quite some time.

Toileting
Declan has been really great with peeing and pooing in the toilet. He has never been a problem in this area once he got a hang of it when he was just over two. He does everything completely independently and can hold his pee for generally as long as he needs to. Staying dry at night has been something we have decided not to make a big deal. He will when he is ready....however when he turned 4 it was like he just decided that he needed to stay dry and he just started to on his own very consistently all of a sudden. He wipes himself, washes his hands some of the time. He switches between standing up and sitting down. I always say to him. I"f you want to stand up, you got to lift it up" because he was leaving the seat down when he peed and it sometimes got all over. Sometimes I hear him say that to himself sometimes. He brushes his teeth on his own when we ask him to and he does quite a thorough job.

Talking
Declan talks a lot in normal full sentences and he is starting to speed up a little. He has always been very clear with what he says and very understandable. However, every word seemed thought out, now it is just normal and natural. He really listens to what others say and he copies them, including the tone. I have noticed that he was been having a little snobby tone sometimes and then I listen to myself and know exactly why.

Learning
Declan has known his abcs for a long time and also the sounds that each letter makes. He recognizes both upper and lowercase letters. He can also recognize words by looking at the first letter. If I gave him a bunch of words, he can find the correct one with very little assistance. He can point to words with accuracy...though gets a little stuck with syllables sometimes. He has worked through Kumon books and is really great with mazes and tracing. He is a great cutter! He hasn't had much practice with printing any letters other than his name. He can print his name when he thinks about it carefully but not with ease yet. He seems to struggle with the whole 'holding a pencil properly'. He would not choose to write on his own but really needs to be encouraged. This may always be his area of weakness. He has little patience for colouring. I am encouraging it though! I think he will be reading by the end of JK. He knows a few sight words (like, I, see) and can spell cat, dog, mom, dad, Declan, John, Rutledge, and knows his telephone number for a long time.He is really good at memorizing spellings of words. He will say things like frog, hey 'f starts with frog'..and then I'll say, 'yeah, frog starts with f'. He also can count with ease past 20 and can recognize all numbers up to at least 9. For instance, we can tell him a phone number and he can dial it on his own.

Friendships
Just over the last few months Declan has been having a little bit of a harder time with friendships. He sometimes appears more nervous and won't just jump in with a group of people. He sometimes seems a little mad...but then he can shake all of that off and have a great time with other kids. He is like a switch...grumpy and moody and selfish and then if I say something he will put on this fake smile and act all kind and nice. This worries me a little with him going to school because I won't be there to snap him out of his selfish behaviour. He is so influenced by those around him. He picks up bad behaviour really quick and I haven't always had the chance to work with him on this because he was happening at Mrs.Levitt's house with his friend Logan. Declan picked up some bad behaviours but that will happen for the rest of his life. I just hope that I can work with him on this. That is why I would like to be available to volunteer in his class.

Fun
Declan loves being chased around the house. He loves playing with daddy. He is so ticklish and lovable. He will give great big hugs but sometimes he will push me away as well. He is getting to the point where our night time routine is changing a little because before I would always set him on my lap facing me and we would sing songs and rhymes etc. Now he pushes me away when I attempt this...my little boy is growing up.

Sleeping
He got back into napping this previous school year. We still give him quiet times and more than none he sleeps. It doesn't seem to keep him up that late. Generally I would say he would be in bed at about 8:30 when he naps. My view toward early bed times has tapered down now that he is so much more easy to handle. He really exhausted us when he was a toddler, now it doesn't matter so much when he goes to bed. If he goes to bed super late he may sleep into 8 or 8:30...not much past that. But if he goes to bed at 8 or so he normally gets up a little after 7. No longer are the days when i can't wait to put him down.

Sibling
I am so sad that Declan doesn't have any brothers or sisters. We have tried for the last 2 - 3 years and I am so sad about it. I REALLY want him to have siblings. That is why his cousins are so important. I want to make sure that I am a consciious effort to have them over lots so he can play a lot with other kids. He gets a long well with most of his cousins. He adores Justin. It makes it difficult for Declan to play with him when Justin is playing with the girl cousins. Declan loves playing with Breanna but he also loves playing with her next door neighbour Kolten. I'm looking forward to how Declan interacts with Ella this summer. It should be good. He is also getting together with Ava this coming week and I hope that goes okay.

Plans
My plans for Declan -- I just hope that he continues to pursue goals that are strengths for him. I hope that he develops an inner desire to achieve. My plans in my life are to develop a closer more intimate relationship with God and I pray that he follows on this path. Gary is resistant so I pray that Declan won't imitate Gary in that way.

That is an overview of Declan.

Another Update...2 1/4 years old!

Declan continues to be a very active boy but I am feeling that he is settling down a little.
Things he likes to Eat:
Declan will generally eat anything we give him. There are some foods however that he will like to eat sometimes. For instance, if we go to McDonalds he will only sometimes eat a hamburger. We never will know. He is just now becoming more of a french fry eater. He has never much like potatoes -- from the beginning. He LOVES any types of fruit. He is still a fairly big eater. One thing I am very happy about is that eating is never a stressful time with Declan. We give him whatever we are eating and that is what he gets. Generally he eats a lot but sometimes he doesn't and we don't worry about it. There have been no problems in this territory. He is doing well with using a spoon and fork. Sometimes he still throws things off his tray...but he is improving in this area. He loves his sweets but we dont' give him a lot unless we are at a family reunion or party...and that goes out the window but I really dont' worry about it too much. I've learned that with Declan and toilet training, he can't handle juice. He has been drinking just milk and water for the last several months.
Things he likes to say:
Declan is talking quite well, but not yet in proper sentences all the time. Here are a few little phrases that he says a lot: 'Pee bad', 'See that!', 'Morn please', 'Big loader, big excavator, big port truck', He has longer sentences as well I just can't think of them...but he does say a lot of two word sentences but they get the point across. He was singing happy birthday to his grandma doney today. He was like 'Happy Birthday to Daddy, Grandma, Happy Birthday to Grandma,' I'll have to write more once I hear him talk.
Things he likes to do:
Declan loves playing with tractors, trucks, construction machinery, boats etc. He loves talking about his sea doo and LOVES playing with his truck, boat and trailer that he aunt and uncle torrie gave him. He loves his John deere tractor which he calls 'John tractor'. He is really into Thomas trains and he loves the library because they have a Thomas train set there. He will now sit through a whole book and listen. Then he will spend some time reading/looking at it afterwards. Declan likes building things in the sand but he hasn't really settled in and play a ton in the sand (at least at the beach). He is really getting into playing the Gary's micro machines lately. He spends half the time trying to break things apart though.
Bed/Sleep Routines:
Declan has slept in his own bed for quite some time and has only fallen out of bed twice. He has been getting better with staying in bed and going to sleep. We have really had to figure out what his sleep needs are. I always liked to get a good solid nap in for Declan and so I had a nice break but then he wasn't settling in at night well. So....I finally had to admit that he probably didn't need a two hour nap in the afternoon. We started talking away his naps (in July) and now he falls asleep much easier in the evenings. We have substituted his nap for a quiet time if we are home. This involves playing in his room. We have only been home to have quiet times a handful of times but half the time he seemed to be so tired that he crawled in his bed and fell asleep. I guess he is really tired but then I have to wake him up so that he doesn't go to bed too late. Declan has been sleeping in until about 7:30 ish.
Toilet Training:
Declan goes on his own to the bathroom to pee or poo. He senses it and just goes on his own. This is good progress! We are finding he is dribbling a little before peeing. Sometimes he doesn't pull his pant down enough and then pees on them or he sprits up and pees on the seat. Other than that he is doing quite well. He stays dry when he does have his naps now. He has stayed dry about 3 times in the last two weeks at night. We have implemented the idea that if he stays dry at night he gets gummy bears in the morning.
Behaviour
Declan is quite a good listener but I don't think he would be if we haven't been working towards good behaviour by using time-outs. He will go a week or so without any but then a bad day comes and he might have two or three in one day. He has been quite cooperative. He loves going out and about. On days when we are just home he doesn't do as well...he may get more whiney. He doesn't have the dreaded temper tantrums that much. I don't know if it is because of his personality or because he has never gotten his way if he spazes out a little. He is a very happy boy and loves to laugh and smile. He is fairly outgoing and friendly to other kids. He will talk to people he doesn't know easily. I think I will need to work with Declan on sharing...he does okay sometimes but he finds it hard to give up a toy that he is playing with and another kid wants it. The whole sharing thing is sometimes stupid because if you are playing with something, why should he have to share it right then? Maybe I need lessons on sharing too. Like at the wading pool Declan brings a few toys to play with in the water. Right away kids come up to borrow all his toys. Am I supposed to dish out al of his toys to everyone else and leave Declan with only one? Urgh...I brought them for Declan to play with --Is that selfish?

Declan is two years old!!!!

Declan is now a two year old! I've missed several months of blogging so I think I'll do an update. We continue to have a very active son. We've heard things like 'wow, does he ever stop?', 'if there is something to take apart, he'll do it', 'does he ever climb well!', 'how old is he?...my son wouldn't have dared climb up to the high slides in McDonalds playland at that age!'. My mom said 'There are kids who will gently walk hand and hand down the street, and then there is Declan'. Declan sure is active but we loves his energy and excitement! 'Rough and tumble'

He loves to explore. We've been having more and more 'Curious George' incidents with Declan. Here is a list:
-Mrs. Enns (babysitter) says he takes off all of the tires on her toy cars
-She also said that when she has her pool set up the kids usually play in the pool or the grass. Declan plays in the pool and the flower garden
-Declan has flooded the bathroom while pouring half a bottle of handsoap all over the floor
-He has dumped half a bottle of baby shampoo in the bathtub
-He dumped almost a full bottle of sunscreen on his sheets and on his head and eyes
-he rubbed cream into his carpet
-he played with vaseline and rubbed it on clothes

Declan is starting to talk quite a lot
-he talks a lot about cars, trucks, tractors, loaders, Paul (uncle Paul), George (curious george), Wolfie, Grandpa (Pup ups)
-He saw an ipod commercial and he says 'mommy gots a podpod, daddy gots a podpod'. That was June 1st.
-he says 'opsie days'
-'dad's pop', 'well okay', 'no way --is a favourite', 'thanks' 'pee bad'
-he is very polite as he often says 'peas', 'thanks', 'no thank you'

-we are still toilet training Declan -- He wears underwear all day and cloth diapers at nap (often waking up dry) and once he woke up dry in the morning. We have to tell him to go most of the time. Though in the last couple of days I have noticed that he is telling us more.

-food -- eats anything (normally we offer milk at breakfast and supper and then water the rest of the day). He eats basically anything and he is a BIG eater! He isn't too fond of potatoes.

-I'll add more later

Christmas has come and gone

Well, we are now into January and things are slowing down. The Christmas season is over....we just had our last Christmas party (Gary's Work)....well we have one more party that we were supposed to fit into the christmas season...but no one had any extra time so we'll meet in January.

One major thing that I have noticed is that Declan loves being busy during the day. He likes getting up and going somewhere. When we are home all day, he becomes anxious to get into everything. It is just too long in our small house. I didn't work at all this week, and I think that when I start getting supply teaching jobs, it will help. I think I need to make it part of my weekly plan to have play dates with other kids. I keep making excuses when I think of getting together with friends and their kids during the day....but when I think of it....I have at least 4 different moms and kids that I could easily get together with.

Today is a lazy Saturday. We were out last night late and now we just want to take it easy. We are still finding it hard to balance
'taking it easy' with a one year old running around. We've always done sleeping in switches. Today Gary gets to sleep in. So basically I get up with Declan and feed him breakfast...and then he watches t.v. (Saturday morning Cartoons:)) and then I put him into his play pen for play pen time....and then I go back to bed. Either Gary gets up with him when Declan is done having play pen time, or if I don't fall back to sleep, I'll get up with him. Then we switch the next sleep in day. It works fairly well except that we end up wasting a lot of the day. Normally by about 10:00 I am ready for the day and the house is all tidy. On a sleep in day, I may not be ready for the day until after 1. It just makes me feel groggy.

Declan has been able to watch t.v. for a longer period of time without him crying out for one of us. However...I hear him right now (he must be finished munching away on his cheerios). I'll make this a wrap. I'll post pictures next time.