Checking in on the car video

Grandma Joanie proudly showed the previous video to her colleague Linda, who commented that it sounded like Beckett was saying "Shut your mouth!" to Theo. When Grandma Joanie shared that with me, I laughed so hard I could hardly speak. HI-larious, I thought. Obviously that couldn't possibly be what Beckett was saying, because I have never once said "Shut your mouth" to either Theo or Beckett. As I was trying to recover our dumb cat Milo came up on the couch 12 inches from my face and was meowing loudly at me, mouth wide open. Instinctively I turned to Milo and said "Shut your--oh crap." Now we know where Beckett has heard "Shut your mouth!"

Astute blog-checkers also noted that the boys are still rear-facing when the law no longer requires them to be rear-facing. Correct! But we bought seats that allow for rear-facing until 45 pounds, which is supposedly safer, so we're keeping them rear-facing until we have to switch it up.

Life, by Beckett

On the way home from the cottage last night, Beckett regaled us with stories. The stories seem to feature heavily the phrase "No, Theo ("Zee-Zee"), NO! Stop!" I imagine that this is what Beckett would LIKE to say to Theo when Theo is taking his toys, or playing on the ride-ons that he wants to be riding on, or cuddling with Mama or Dada.

Pool party at the lake

Two boat rides on the lake, lots of kiddie pool time on the patio, and some great lake swim time on the east shore. I got lots of good photos but many include baby penis, which seems wrong to post.

On the way home Theo asked to hold my hand, which was tough to do from directly in front of him. I suggested that he ask Beckett to hold his hand. Beckett initially refused, jokingly, but finally agreed to hold his hand (briefly). I only captured it as they were parting (Theo still wanting more). This is a theme of their relationship; when Beckett wants kisses before they go down for a nap, Theo runs away and refuses, while giggling. As you can see, Theo still wants more hand holding, but Beck was done. He let Theo hold his foot, though.

Rainy inside fun

Beckett enjoyed that he could reach the mixer paddle when I was baking banana bread the other day. Reminds me of Grandma Grinnell and eating cookie dough with my cousins Brenda, Debbie, Diane, and Barbi in her kitchen on Queen St.

Theo and Beckett received a new book from Aunt Teddy and Uncle Tom yesterday that they have been reading nonstop!

Beckett enjoying some quiet reading time first thing in the morning.

Mama time out

Monday I took my first Mama time out. I had heard of this from other moms of multiples and wasn't sure when or how they did it, but I was feeling grumpy and a little stressed and impatient with the perpetual fighting amongst themselves for toys that morning. So I announced, amid yelling and whining, that Mama was taking a time out. I can't imagine anything else I could have done or said to silence and still the boys like that statement did. I didn't even know what to do. At first I thought I would go to the bathroom and shut the door, or go to my room and lay down, but their rapt attention caught me off guard. Their eyes got wide and they followed me, in unison on either side of me, to the rocking chair. I sat down and closed my eyes. They stood on either side of me, each with a hand on each of my knees, while I rocked for about 15 seconds. I opened my eyes, smiled, and said "Mama time out over!". They grinned and giggled and it was like the whole energy in the room had shifted. Lovely! I don't know if it will always work like that but it was pretty cool!

Random musings

Theo has blossomed with his language recently. He repeats many of the things we say, often multiple times. He labels most things he sees and is surprisingly accurate with his pronunciation and descriptions. Beckett has markedly quieted since Theo started talking more. I wonder if it is because he had been the spokesman of the group and now his role is less certain to him. Beck certainly is crankier than Theo at this moment. Theo has learned just to give in because Beck can be such a pain when he wants something he doesn't have--throwing himself on the ground, crying, flailing, kicking, and shouting. Even sometimes after he gets whatever it was he wants, he can't calm himself down. I think some of it has to do with being tired or hungry, because it is definitely worse right before lunch and right before dinner, and also sometimes right before bedtime at night when he is very tired. Theo is definitely the easier and more relaxed guy these days. I often work with them to clean up their toys when they've taken out a bag of blocks or puzzles or something. Beck will have to be coaxed repeatedly to put even one piece away, and even then he sometimes throws the item with such force that it doesn't go into the receptacle. Theo, meanwhile, will be steadily finding all the pieces and calmly putting them away, then zipping up the bag or snapping on the top, with no supervision by me.

Time outs are getting much harder to manage. There was a long while there (from at least as early as 18 months) when we would tell Theo or Beckett that he was in time-out, and he would sit on the stair or against the wall, still and quiet, and wait til we came over to release him ("you are in time out because ___. Please say you're sorry. I love you.--A LA SUPERNANNY). Time outs now are a total nightmare. The one who has been ordered to time out laughs all the way to the naughty step (we're trying to use the same place all the time now), then before he has even been effectively deposited there, he is squirming his way away, challenging us to track him down and put him back. This often goes on for five or ten minutes. To add to the chaos, the one who is not in timeout nearly always follows the time-out boy to time-out and eggs him on, pushing him, laughing at his antics, or, maddening still, sits quietly with him. There is almost never a time when the time-out boy actually sits quietly for two minutes (the Supernanny rule is one minute for every year of age, so T&B get two minutes). But the repeated dragging back and then, often, forcibly holding him down to the naughty step, might take five or ten minutes. We need some help to find a better way to institute some calm-down time, because what we're doing now only seems to escalate the problem.

Theo continues to be a champ eater, trying almost anything I put in front of him and maintaining a much wider variety of foods regularly consumed. Beck is still a mostly white-and-brown foods dude, with some berries mixed in. When presented with a new food, Beck still often waits for Theo to try it before letting it pass his lips. I can become discouraged about Beck's lack of diet variety or his reticence to try new foods, but it's hard to blame myself because my other test case, Theo, behaves so differently. I have to remind myself to just keep offering vegetables and new foods, and adopting as my mantra "You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it." Which I am trying to enforce with the number one picky eater in our house, Daddy Lovebo. If you see him, please repeat with me: "You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it."

Kiddie Pool!

The boys continue to love shoes, especially shoes that are not theirs.

We had a great weekend in Ithaca. We kept hoping we could go out to the lake but the weather was threatening most of Saturday. We got some good Wimbledon watching in, though, and Sunday we enjoyed the Farmers' Market and some time at the Swim Club baby pool!