Monday, April 28, 2014
Jersey Trip
Saturday we left early to spend the weekend with cousins Diane and Debbie and their families in northern NJ. Cousins Tabi and Sam were great with the kids, reading and playing cars and trucks for hours. Also--they have a trampoline!! The boys didn't nap Saturday which made for an early bedtime but Theo woke up about every two hours. He's the more likely of the two of them to freak out when sleeping somewhere new. It took about thirty minutes each time, and so of course Jeff and I were not super well rested Sunday. But we had a great visit with everybody!
Friday, April 25, 2014
What we're up to these days
Here we are, at 2 years and 11 months. The boys are counting up to about 10. When I am talking to one of them, the other will sometimes say "I want to talk to you" or "I talkin to you now!" There is lots of singing. We sing before bed: "I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon, I love you in the evening and underneath the moon, oh, skidimerinky dinky dink, skidimerinky doo, I love you!" and Happy Happy Home (brought to us by Mindy), and then I sing Itsy Bitsy Spider in a whisper, separately to each boy. They have amazing memories and sometimes recall things from what seems like long ago, seemingly apropos to nothing. Their sense of time is strange: they still don't really get the difference between nap and bedtime, and often when they go to sleep at nap, ask what we will do in the morning when they mean after they wake up from nap. They say "yesterday" to mean anytime in the past.
They enjoy reading by themselves so much that sometimes they just want to keep reading quietly to themselves before bed, in Mama and Dada's big bed, instead of having us read to them (so sad for me!). They play by themselves and with each other a lot now, which is mostly peaceful but sometimes punctuated by a scream or a cry. Often the conflicts resolve without parental intervention, but occasionally a bite or shove necessitates a time out. We've moved bedtimes back til between 8:30 and 9 now that it's light out for longer, and because they aren't really tired til then, which allows for more independent play after dinner (and more time for pottying before bed!). They're still napping about 2 hours a day, usually between 12:30-2:30, but sometimes it goes a little longer. They drink more water than I've ever seen any kid drink, about 8 ounces every meal and a good bit between meals as well. I suspect they drink so much water because I drank so darn much while I was pregnant; they're used to their blood being thinned to a borderline-unhealthy degree. Theo is a more adventurous eater than Beckett, who prefers fatty carbs to just about anything. They still put their raspberries (their favorite food) on their fingers and giggle before they eat. Each. Raspberry. They love to help cook, and they can dump in ingredients that I've measured, and stir things on the stove, and peel carrots. They're mostly not wearing diapers at nap, though today they both drank a ton at lunch and then refused to pee before nap, so I put diapers on both of them so they wouldn't wet through their beds. Beckett has been pooping in the potty for several months so the sheen has worn off, but Theo has only recently (in the last week) been coaxed to use the potty for #2 under promise of watching a show afterwards. So sometimes he will say he wants a diaper on, to poop in, and when we say something about how he can watch a show if he poops in the potty, he says that he doesn't want to watch the show. At least we're moving in the right direction.
Their play is mostly centered around cars, trucks, and trains. They love walking around the block, either on foot or with their bikes or lawnmowers, and have lots of favorite spots along the way (Corinne's pinwheels, the tree with the red berries, the flagpole, Finn and Shannon's sand box, and their favorite stump). We usually have the chance to see a neighbor or two while we're out. They love to go to Wegmans, where they get free cookies and get to drive the racecar cart and our friend Mike the helping hand gives them five, carries the boys in to the store, and helps me get my groceries into the car. We have about five playgrounds that we go to with some regularity, and it's amazing to me how much more they can do after a winter inside to get bigger and stronger. There's nothing on the playground near our house that they can't do independently now, except go down the fireman's pole. They often fall into play with other kids on the playground, joking and laughing and chasing each other around. They love encountering the playground when they have it to themselves, though. They like to watch from the front window when friends are expected or when Mama or Dada are leaving in the morning. My favorite times of our days together are wrestling (rolling around on the floor in their bedroom, giving snuggles and cuddles and hugs and kisses) and the moments where I have both of them, tickling and kissing and laughing, and they run squealing away and then come running right back into my arms.
They enjoy reading by themselves so much that sometimes they just want to keep reading quietly to themselves before bed, in Mama and Dada's big bed, instead of having us read to them (so sad for me!). They play by themselves and with each other a lot now, which is mostly peaceful but sometimes punctuated by a scream or a cry. Often the conflicts resolve without parental intervention, but occasionally a bite or shove necessitates a time out. We've moved bedtimes back til between 8:30 and 9 now that it's light out for longer, and because they aren't really tired til then, which allows for more independent play after dinner (and more time for pottying before bed!). They're still napping about 2 hours a day, usually between 12:30-2:30, but sometimes it goes a little longer. They drink more water than I've ever seen any kid drink, about 8 ounces every meal and a good bit between meals as well. I suspect they drink so much water because I drank so darn much while I was pregnant; they're used to their blood being thinned to a borderline-unhealthy degree. Theo is a more adventurous eater than Beckett, who prefers fatty carbs to just about anything. They still put their raspberries (their favorite food) on their fingers and giggle before they eat. Each. Raspberry. They love to help cook, and they can dump in ingredients that I've measured, and stir things on the stove, and peel carrots. They're mostly not wearing diapers at nap, though today they both drank a ton at lunch and then refused to pee before nap, so I put diapers on both of them so they wouldn't wet through their beds. Beckett has been pooping in the potty for several months so the sheen has worn off, but Theo has only recently (in the last week) been coaxed to use the potty for #2 under promise of watching a show afterwards. So sometimes he will say he wants a diaper on, to poop in, and when we say something about how he can watch a show if he poops in the potty, he says that he doesn't want to watch the show. At least we're moving in the right direction.
Their play is mostly centered around cars, trucks, and trains. They love walking around the block, either on foot or with their bikes or lawnmowers, and have lots of favorite spots along the way (Corinne's pinwheels, the tree with the red berries, the flagpole, Finn and Shannon's sand box, and their favorite stump). We usually have the chance to see a neighbor or two while we're out. They love to go to Wegmans, where they get free cookies and get to drive the racecar cart and our friend Mike the helping hand gives them five, carries the boys in to the store, and helps me get my groceries into the car. We have about five playgrounds that we go to with some regularity, and it's amazing to me how much more they can do after a winter inside to get bigger and stronger. There's nothing on the playground near our house that they can't do independently now, except go down the fireman's pole. They often fall into play with other kids on the playground, joking and laughing and chasing each other around. They love encountering the playground when they have it to themselves, though. They like to watch from the front window when friends are expected or when Mama or Dada are leaving in the morning. My favorite times of our days together are wrestling (rolling around on the floor in their bedroom, giving snuggles and cuddles and hugs and kisses) and the moments where I have both of them, tickling and kissing and laughing, and they run squealing away and then come running right back into my arms.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Easter Weekend
Saturday we woke the boys up early from their naps to run (literally, run) to the park for the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. It lasted all of about three minutes and we weren't sure it was worth waking them up early for.
We had a lovely day on Easter Sunday with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Jon and Aunt Renee. The Easter Bunny doesn't come til after nap around here, so everyone was here for the hunt!
We had a lovely day on Easter Sunday with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Jon and Aunt Renee. The Easter Bunny doesn't come til after nap around here, so everyone was here for the hunt!
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Easter Bunny Training Run
I heard from Sara, mama to Preston, that neighborhood Easter Egg hunt competitors are ruthless and unruly. I decided Theo and Beckett needed some practice on their egg-hunting skills before being thrown to the wolves in today's hunt in the park. So yesterday I told them before their naps that the Easter Bunny was going to come during their nap to hide eggs in the backyard so they could practice finding them. They took a nice long nap and then eagerly grabbed their Easter baskets and ran to the backyard.
So this is how the Easter egg hunting went here yesterday: Beck happily raced from egg to egg, placing them carefully in his basket.
Theo found a couple eggs, then realized they had candy in them, and then stood in one place and opened and emptied every egg in his basket.
Beckett, on the hunt.
Beckett, finding the last of the eggs:
Theo, five minutes later, still opening eggs.
At the end of the hunt, Beckett had about 15 eggs and Theo had three opened, empty eggs. To his credit, Beckett put several of his eggs into Theo's basket over the rest of the afternoon. This afternoon's hunt in the park, sponsored by the neighborhood association, will probably not reinforce my message of "the more eggs, the better" because the eggs will be empty. Every kid will get a bag of candy at the end regardless of how many eggs they found. I'll post more pictures of that later, if I get any amidst the chaos.
So this is how the Easter egg hunting went here yesterday: Beck happily raced from egg to egg, placing them carefully in his basket.
Theo found a couple eggs, then realized they had candy in them, and then stood in one place and opened and emptied every egg in his basket.
Beckett, on the hunt.
Beckett, finding the last of the eggs:
Theo, five minutes later, still opening eggs.
At the end of the hunt, Beckett had about 15 eggs and Theo had three opened, empty eggs. To his credit, Beckett put several of his eggs into Theo's basket over the rest of the afternoon. This afternoon's hunt in the park, sponsored by the neighborhood association, will probably not reinforce my message of "the more eggs, the better" because the eggs will be empty. Every kid will get a bag of candy at the end regardless of how many eggs they found. I'll post more pictures of that later, if I get any amidst the chaos.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Rochester Trip
Saturday Ithaca High School Class of 1998 (four members, anyway: Kate, Aaron, Sarah and Bryn) converged on Rochester to enjoy a beautiful day with our prodigious brood--seven children in all (including two sets of twin boys)!
Toby (L) and Theo (R, obscured by firehat)
Toby (L) and Theo (R, obscured by firehat)
Monday, April 14, 2014
New toys
As an early birthday present Grandma Joanie and Grandpa Stu got the boys their first motorized vehicles. Mater is their favorite character and they love all things Mater, so we've been scouring garage sales, consignment shops, the Disney store, Ebay and every internet retailer for Mater-related items (other characters from Cars are ignored). These arrived Thursday and are much, much loved already.
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