Giving kisses to each other.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
We call this game fun in a box
The boys enjoy cramming themselves into small spaces, especially together. I couldn't tell if this was a driving/riding game. They alternately referred to their vessel (an end table, turned over onto the floor) as a boat and a car and a box.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Tuesday and Wednesday Grandma Kathy visited to take care of the boys while Mama worked during the day and Daddy went to Canton for work overnight. What a huge help!
Last night Lauren came over for dinner. Jeff and the boys made cookies while I made enchiladas. You can see how excited the boys were when Lauren arrived!
Last night Lauren came over for dinner. Jeff and the boys made cookies while I made enchiladas. You can see how excited the boys were when Lauren arrived!
Monday, February 17, 2014
A window into Beckett
Saturday night I was feeling crummy because of a silly little friction burn I have on my elbow from our trip to a bounce house Tuesday which has turned into a whole ordeal involving an aisle worth of first aid supplies. Jeff was trying to watch the Syracuse-NC State basketball game on TV. We returned late from a birthday party down the street and everyone was sugared-out and tired. So bedtime wasn't going well. Both boys were getting up out of bed and generally goofing off, so Jeff had separated them by putting Beckett in the pack and play in the extra bedroom. Theo had calmed down and gone to sleep but Beckett was still revving up and crying in the PNP. I had been sitting out of the bedtime routine trying to tend to my wound, but Beckett started crying "Mommy, where are you? Mommy!" We didn't want Jeff to get undermined by my going in with a soft touch and letting him go back to his bed, but we didn't want him to be so upset, either. He got out of bed, ran into our room, sobbing and gasping. He wanted me to tuck him back into bed, not Daddy. He wouldn't come in for a hug or a squeeze, but insisted on standing next to us, both sitting on the floor, pulling my hand to make me come into his room, all while continuing to suck air as he cried. I just kept talking to him, saying "Mama and Dada love you." I asked him if he was scared when Daddy took him into the other room, and he said yes. I asked him if he thought Daddy was mad at him when he took him into the other room. He said yes. Daddy told Beckett that he was not mad at him, and that he loved him, over and over, as we sat down at his height. Finally Beckett let both of us bring him back into his room, give him kisses and hugs, and tuck him in.
I think Beckett is constantly looking for reassurance, confirmation that he is okay and that we still love him. He interprets any frustration or anger as directed at him, as meaning that we don't love him as much as we used to. He often asks us, when we are eating or doing something, "You like that cereal? You like that book?" When we say yes, he says Okay. It's like he wants to learn as much as he can about us, and wants so much to please us. His temper tantrums are so often about not feeling in control, not having mastered something, or being afraid he has made one of us mad. I suspect that he needs way more reassurance even than we give him. We have to try to remember to tell him always that we love him, that he is a good boy, that he is strong and brave and kind.
I think Beckett is constantly looking for reassurance, confirmation that he is okay and that we still love him. He interprets any frustration or anger as directed at him, as meaning that we don't love him as much as we used to. He often asks us, when we are eating or doing something, "You like that cereal? You like that book?" When we say yes, he says Okay. It's like he wants to learn as much as he can about us, and wants so much to please us. His temper tantrums are so often about not feeling in control, not having mastered something, or being afraid he has made one of us mad. I suspect that he needs way more reassurance even than we give him. We have to try to remember to tell him always that we love him, that he is a good boy, that he is strong and brave and kind.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Happy Valentines' Day!
Last week the boys enjoyed some lovely Valentines gifts and making cookies with Mama.
Pipe cleaner spiders and paper baskets from Aunt Deb and Uncle David.
They always get these weird looks on their faces when using the potty.
Pipe cleaner spiders and paper baskets from Aunt Deb and Uncle David.
They always get these weird looks on their faces when using the potty.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Sunny day
It is still below freezing and it snows every day but when it's sunny, it's time to get outside. The boys love their new shovels and do a great job of moving snow from the yard and snowbanks onto the sidewalk and driveway. Theo is always the cool dude in his sunglasses.
Monday, February 10, 2014
What we're up to these days
Pretend play. The boys like to cook at their kitchen, preparing and serving dishes such as eggs and toast to guests. Beckett seems to get the concept of pretend play a little more readily so far than Theo. Beck especially likes to put his baby doll to bed in his bed. I haven't had the heart yet to tell him that the best way to tuck in a baby is NOT to ball the thick blanket together and stuff it around the baby's head. He tells the baby, "no more talkin!" and says "I'll be right outside." Beck also pretends he's a firefighter and uses the various spray devices on his fire trucks to put out the fire.
Playing together. The boys have a few games now that they play together. One will ask the other if he would like to play such-and-such game. Most of these I do not understand. There's one that they call something like "Get out my hugs" that involves wrestling and rolling around on Mama and Daddy's bed, with lots of laughing. They do it before bedtime before we read books in, but sometimes they will also try to get the other to go upstairs during the day. I'm pretty sure it is not actually "hugs" because when questioned they will say "HOGS, not HUGS" but we are clueless as to what it might mean. They also like to chase each other on foot or in their cars around the house, taking turns being the chaser and chased.
Eating. Theo continues to be a more adventurous eater, asking to try anything he hasn't tried before. He likes red pepper, edamame, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and pretty much any fruit. We don't eat a lot of meat with the boys but they liked the parmesan crusted chicken we made a few weeks ago, plus they like rolling up turkey taco meat in tortillas. And turkey pepperoni in quesadillas.We have simplified our lives by not doing snacks, which means they are hungrier and more eager to stay at the table with us at meal times.
Potty training. Both boys are doing really well, with very few actual accidents (rather than just a few drops here and there)--maybe one or two in the last month. Beck doesn't wear a diaper for nap and hasn't for a couple months, and has had only one accident (when he was sick), which is pretty amazing actually because he drinks a huge quantity of water at meals and all the time, so he pees quite frequently when not sleeping. Both still wear diapers at night and Beck sometimes asks, after he's been tucked in, "I can pee in my diaper?" He's definitely aware of when he needs to go and can hold it more reliably than Theo. Though last weekend when we traveled to Rochester Theo announced about 35 minutes from home that he had to pee (and neither were wearing diapers). There wasn't a great place to stop so we asked him to hold it, and he did. I was impressed.
Sleeping. Every night and nap seems different, with no rhyme or reason for the drastic differences. We have moved up bedtime to 7:30 and naptime to 12/12:30 whenever possible, which seems to have made a difference. Naptime has become much more relaxed lately, and most days the boys go down for naps in the same room with little or no nonsense first. I decided that letting them play again after meals lets them ramp up their energy again, so now we have one or two minutes of play after meals and then straight upstairs for getting ready for sleeping. Once or twice a week we separate them for naps in different rooms so they don't keep each other up with their crazy antics. Nighttime often is a matter of reading, singing and then kissing goodnight, and other times it's an hour or two of getting up, goofing off, and closing the door or separating them. It's hard to connect anything to the good or bad times. Even days when they've gotten lots of exercise and eaten well and everything goes according to schedule, it's sometimes a disaster. And some days when we've lazed around the house and they have been ornery, they go to sleep just fine. It's mostly a mystery. But it's definitely better than it was two months ago, and a heck of a lot better than it was four months ago. I'll take it!
Schedule: I'm working three days a week now, so they're usually with Mindy Monday and Wednesday and with Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu Thursday. Mindy sometimes takes them to the gym at her kids' school to run their cars around and generally get the wiggles out. Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu take them to music class at the library, the zoo, and the bounce house in Camillus, CJ's House of Bounce. When I'm home with them we usually try to get out of the house in either the morning or the afternoon, taking trips to the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) here in Armory Square, or the "tree slide" play area at Great Northern Mall, or the bounce house at Drivers' Village. We also just joined a playgroup at a church gym in Camillus that meets most Friday mornings. They have some limited toys and books but honestly I was underwhelmed by the toy options. The next time we go we'll crank it up a bit and BYO trikes and lawn mowers. There's also the zoo, about five minutes away, which has a pretty good indoor part for really cold days, and the animals outside have been quite active when we've been there in colder weather. In the summer they just lay around. Sometimes we hit up the Onondaga Free library, just five minutes up the hill, because they have story hours and play groups and music classes most days of the week, plus lots of diggers and other cool toys. The boys like picking out books to bring home. The boys are also expert shoppers and do well when we go to Wegmans or BJ's.
Talking. It's amazing that a year ago I was (mildly) worried about Theo's speech. Both he and Beckett are talking up a storm, to each other, to us, and to friends and family. They sing several songs, often spontaneously, and have lots of phrases they regularly use that crack us up. There was a spontaneous discussion among Beck and Theo this afternoon about who had the bigger butt, culminating in a comparison of butt size among many of our family and neighbors (I'll politely keep the results of said discussion to myself). Beckett often says please and thank you spontaneously, and apologizes profusely and often even when something is not his fault (e.g. Theo will run right into him and Beckett will apologize). Both like to narrate what is going on and confirm our future plans. They do lots of verbal negotiating all by themselves, working out who will go first and what the game will entail. There is still throwing toys at each other, pushing, and screaming/crying, but there are also lots of exchanges that go more like this: "I not ready yet." "Okay, sorry." "I ready now!" "Okay!"
Capacity for trouble: Theo regularly says to me "You not come in here now, Mommy" or "You stay in there," when he is getting into trouble and would like not to be called away from the trouble. Beckett will report back to me when Theo is getting trouble. I will rue the day when Theo learns to co-opt Beck into his trouble-making; then we'll really be in deep doo-doo. For now Beckett is rarely the one doing the naughty activity. Beckett is often happy to do the same thing, whether it is playing with trains, or driving his cars over the furniture, or reading books, for a much longer time than Theo. Theo has a shorter attention span and more quickly looks for something novel to capture his attention.
Playing together. The boys have a few games now that they play together. One will ask the other if he would like to play such-and-such game. Most of these I do not understand. There's one that they call something like "Get out my hugs" that involves wrestling and rolling around on Mama and Daddy's bed, with lots of laughing. They do it before bedtime before we read books in, but sometimes they will also try to get the other to go upstairs during the day. I'm pretty sure it is not actually "hugs" because when questioned they will say "HOGS, not HUGS" but we are clueless as to what it might mean. They also like to chase each other on foot or in their cars around the house, taking turns being the chaser and chased.
Eating. Theo continues to be a more adventurous eater, asking to try anything he hasn't tried before. He likes red pepper, edamame, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and pretty much any fruit. We don't eat a lot of meat with the boys but they liked the parmesan crusted chicken we made a few weeks ago, plus they like rolling up turkey taco meat in tortillas. And turkey pepperoni in quesadillas.We have simplified our lives by not doing snacks, which means they are hungrier and more eager to stay at the table with us at meal times.
Potty training. Both boys are doing really well, with very few actual accidents (rather than just a few drops here and there)--maybe one or two in the last month. Beck doesn't wear a diaper for nap and hasn't for a couple months, and has had only one accident (when he was sick), which is pretty amazing actually because he drinks a huge quantity of water at meals and all the time, so he pees quite frequently when not sleeping. Both still wear diapers at night and Beck sometimes asks, after he's been tucked in, "I can pee in my diaper?" He's definitely aware of when he needs to go and can hold it more reliably than Theo. Though last weekend when we traveled to Rochester Theo announced about 35 minutes from home that he had to pee (and neither were wearing diapers). There wasn't a great place to stop so we asked him to hold it, and he did. I was impressed.
Sleeping. Every night and nap seems different, with no rhyme or reason for the drastic differences. We have moved up bedtime to 7:30 and naptime to 12/12:30 whenever possible, which seems to have made a difference. Naptime has become much more relaxed lately, and most days the boys go down for naps in the same room with little or no nonsense first. I decided that letting them play again after meals lets them ramp up their energy again, so now we have one or two minutes of play after meals and then straight upstairs for getting ready for sleeping. Once or twice a week we separate them for naps in different rooms so they don't keep each other up with their crazy antics. Nighttime often is a matter of reading, singing and then kissing goodnight, and other times it's an hour or two of getting up, goofing off, and closing the door or separating them. It's hard to connect anything to the good or bad times. Even days when they've gotten lots of exercise and eaten well and everything goes according to schedule, it's sometimes a disaster. And some days when we've lazed around the house and they have been ornery, they go to sleep just fine. It's mostly a mystery. But it's definitely better than it was two months ago, and a heck of a lot better than it was four months ago. I'll take it!
Schedule: I'm working three days a week now, so they're usually with Mindy Monday and Wednesday and with Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu Thursday. Mindy sometimes takes them to the gym at her kids' school to run their cars around and generally get the wiggles out. Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu take them to music class at the library, the zoo, and the bounce house in Camillus, CJ's House of Bounce. When I'm home with them we usually try to get out of the house in either the morning or the afternoon, taking trips to the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) here in Armory Square, or the "tree slide" play area at Great Northern Mall, or the bounce house at Drivers' Village. We also just joined a playgroup at a church gym in Camillus that meets most Friday mornings. They have some limited toys and books but honestly I was underwhelmed by the toy options. The next time we go we'll crank it up a bit and BYO trikes and lawn mowers. There's also the zoo, about five minutes away, which has a pretty good indoor part for really cold days, and the animals outside have been quite active when we've been there in colder weather. In the summer they just lay around. Sometimes we hit up the Onondaga Free library, just five minutes up the hill, because they have story hours and play groups and music classes most days of the week, plus lots of diggers and other cool toys. The boys like picking out books to bring home. The boys are also expert shoppers and do well when we go to Wegmans or BJ's.
Talking. It's amazing that a year ago I was (mildly) worried about Theo's speech. Both he and Beckett are talking up a storm, to each other, to us, and to friends and family. They sing several songs, often spontaneously, and have lots of phrases they regularly use that crack us up. There was a spontaneous discussion among Beck and Theo this afternoon about who had the bigger butt, culminating in a comparison of butt size among many of our family and neighbors (I'll politely keep the results of said discussion to myself). Beckett often says please and thank you spontaneously, and apologizes profusely and often even when something is not his fault (e.g. Theo will run right into him and Beckett will apologize). Both like to narrate what is going on and confirm our future plans. They do lots of verbal negotiating all by themselves, working out who will go first and what the game will entail. There is still throwing toys at each other, pushing, and screaming/crying, but there are also lots of exchanges that go more like this: "I not ready yet." "Okay, sorry." "I ready now!" "Okay!"
Capacity for trouble: Theo regularly says to me "You not come in here now, Mommy" or "You stay in there," when he is getting into trouble and would like not to be called away from the trouble. Beckett will report back to me when Theo is getting trouble. I will rue the day when Theo learns to co-opt Beck into his trouble-making; then we'll really be in deep doo-doo. For now Beckett is rarely the one doing the naughty activity. Beckett is often happy to do the same thing, whether it is playing with trains, or driving his cars over the furniture, or reading books, for a much longer time than Theo. Theo has a shorter attention span and more quickly looks for something novel to capture his attention.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Playtime at home
Theo just didn't want to put on any clothes and luckily Beckett doesn't mind a naked reading companion.
Yesterday Auntie Tara came over with her baby Zoey for a little playtime with the boys.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Trip to the MOST
Last year the boys enjoyed the climbing structure at the MOST, but now they often skip it altogether and instead head for the flight simulators. They have an awesome helicopter simulator (Theo is in it, above) where you can operate the helicopter and fly over Syracuse. Theo likes to try to move every single control at once, crashing the helicopter almost immediately upon taking the reins. It makes a very loud and fun-sounding crash noise when it crashes. I am not sure he is aware that it is crashing (again and again and again).
Theo and Beckett at the helm of the simulation air traffic control tower at Hancock Airport. In one five-minute simulation they oversaw no fewer than six in-flight collisions and several airplanes completely missing the airport. Way to go, guys!
Theo in the pilot's seat flying the helicopter.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Cooking with Daddy
We made some yummy parmesan-crusted chicken "nuggets" last week that turned out great. First time Mama's eaten chicken in a while, on purpose. Definitely the first time the boys have ever eaten more than one bite of chicken in a sitting!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Rochester trip
Saturday we loaded up the family fun wagon with dear friend Lauren to go visit our friends Kate and Aaron and their kids Dylan and Ollie. We went on a whirlwind tour of the Rochester Museum of Play, then lunch, and then back to their house to play all the amazing toys they have, which proved too interesting to be able to nap.... Theo was with Daddy, so he got lots of pictures, but Beckett was with me and I lost my camera briefly, so no pictures. Beckett did enjoy his first video gaming experience (thanks for that, children's museum) with a very patient Lauren!
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