Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Nineteen

Happy Nineteen months my Love Bug!


How is it, that I blinked and you look more boy than baby? 


I started this post like I did my previous posts. A list of what I considered to be some of his accomplishments of the month and pictures to go along. However, going over the "list" I noticed that a lot of it was redundant. C hasn't really changed a whole lot over the past month. Yes, he's grown a new bottom tooth (for a total of I believe twelve all together), his eating is still crappy (although he'll eat a little more if he's left with his plate and a fork and no help), and he's still having problems with his sleeping ( waking up at least once in the middle of the night throughout this past week and still trying to decide if he wants needs one or two naps during the day.)

But while there isn't a significant change with his pearly whites, eating habits, or sleep patterns, C has started to try to talk more. I think being fluid free in his tiny little ears has helped him hear what we've been saying to him which in turn has helped him to start mimicing. He's behind. A lot. I could probably count on both my hands how many words he can clearly say. Peppered among the "Mom", "Dad", "uh oh", and "Dian" are the "what's that", "go", "quack quack", "woah", and "ball". There are many sounds that I understand what he's trying to say, but is still to garbled to be considered an actual word. I'm hoping that he remains infection free so that we can aggressively work on his language skills.

As far as new favorites go?

C loves to play air hockey on the table that Uncle M and Daddy brought home. He's actually pretty good.



C loves to play in the water. While it has taken him a bit to get used to D squirting him with the hose, he has figured out how to get even.


C has blossomed into quite an artist. If placed under "quarantine" as Kel lovingly calls C's time spent in the play pen, you will most likely find him drawing on Doodle.



C loves when we dog sit Charlie. I really need to work on Kel about getting the boys a dog. Maybe not this summer, or even this year. But someday. Soon.



C found a jump rope that D was given for Christmas from Aunt N. He hasn't put it down since he found it. I have conveniently hidden it so he stops tying himself up.



C loves to play with his fingers. Therefore if you ever catch him just idly walking by, you'll most likely find him in his "butler pose".



C loves to play cars. Yes, I know that this has been a favorite of his for a few months now, but I love this picture and just had to share. He knows which ones are from Cars the movie and which ones are just your average Hot Wheels. Needless to say, C has a temper to rival mine whenever D decides to "trade" Cars for cars.



I love you to the moon and back my brown eyed boy.


I'm so utterly happy to have you for my son, I can't imagine my life without you in it. 






Monday, May 23, 2011

Success

D is what I like to call a stubborn late bloomer. He's a very smart little boy and likes to do things in his own time.

Crawling? Never fully got the up on all fours concept but mastered the army crawl.

At 10 months.

Walking? Decided it wasn't necessary for him to attempt that milestone until he was 14 months.

Had it mastered by 19 months.


Talking? Who needs talking when throwing tantrums and screaming got his way. (Yes I know, bad mom) He went to speech therapy at 2 and was finally caught up to his age level.

At age 3.


Well now we can add another accomplishment to his "Better late then never" campaign.

Potty training.

Yes, D finally decided that he was ready to pee like a big boy over the weekend and has so far not had any acccidents with #1. #2 on the other hand, still needs some work. But I'm just so proud of him. I think playing with his friend from next door and my cousin H on Friday night helped him realize that he was ready to join the big boys. Saturday morning he woke up and told me "Mom I don't need to wear diapers anymore. Those are for babies like C." So I put underoos (this is what D has decided to call them) on him and he told me each and every time that he needed to pee. Of course he needed to pee standing up, like H and Daddy do, so he still needs to work on his aim. But he's so completely happy with himself that he can't stop smiling. I thought this might be a fluke but Sunday and today have been more of the same thing so I think D is ready to say adiós to his diapers once and for all.

He'll be 4 next month.





Sunday, May 15, 2011

Oh my D

D is a total Gemini.


Dual personalities that he can switch at the drop of the hat. One second we could be happily playing with McQueen and Doc (characters from Cars for those who don't know) and the next he could be in a complete break down mode because C is playing with Buzz Lightyear in the corner of the room that he all of a sudden realized he wanted to play with. Or I could leave the room for two minutes and I'll come back to him laying on the floor, crying (and I use that term loosely), and reaching for anything he could get his hands on so he could toss it at the nearest wall.




 His new favorite sayings include "I'm going to bite my toe", "I'm going to put you in jail Mommy", and "I'm just going away". After growling said favorite saying, he'll then stomp down the hall with Ducky and shut himself in his bed room. I guess putting himself in a timeout isn't a horrible thing. It's actually... dare I say cute? Of course I don't tell him this but it gives him a few moments to calm down and me a few moments to restore my patience.



However, the frequencies of his "meltdowns" have been increasing lately. Almost every transition into a new activity is bringing about an outburst of some sort. And playing on his own is no longer an option. He needs someone to play with, and usually C doesn't quite cut the team. So it falls on to me or Daddy. Which, to be honest, isn't always possible. Queue in another tantrum.

  

I love my D. Of course I love my D. When I'm on good terms with him I am considered his Best Buddy. But I'm at my whits end on how to help him. I know he's bored with the day to day schedule at home but trying to get him to deviate from it is next to impossible. He finds comfort in the familiar and throwing in an extra ten minutes of playing cars indoors with brother so that I can finish cleaning the kitchen instead of letting them both roam in the backyard is like asking him to clean is room. Lots of whining, lots of "MMMMMooooommmmmmmyyyy"-ing, lots of fake tears, and if I'm not quick enough to prevent it, lots of picking up random toys to carelessly throw them around.



Any tips, suggestions, and/or advice on how to help D get over his daily meltdowns would be more than appreciated.



Monday, May 9, 2011

No More

On May 3, D got his cast off!

The appointment was tough for him. When we arrived, we had to wait while a teenager (who fell while crossing the street) got patched up. Which was fine with me as I thought it would give D a chance to get used to the idea that he was soon to have full use of his right arm again.

Boy was I wrong. (Do you sense a common theme when it comes to me assuming things about my boys)

D spent the entire appointment begging for a red cast. While the yellow one was sawed off (not something I enjoyed watching), he kept asking the technician to put on a red cast. The technician and I laughed it off, and told D of all the wonderful things he'd be able to do now since he would no longer be hindered by a cast.  D wasn't impressed. Once the cast was off and we washed his arm ( it was dirty, but not smelly, and had a ton of dead skin) it was time for X-Rays. Which he whimpered throughout and refused to move his arm on his own. I honestly thought it was still broken and worried about what this could possibly mean.

We met with the doctor after X-Rays and he gave us the news that we were hoping to hear: Bones are healed and no more casts! D was not happy about this. He went from calmly requesting a red cast for his arm as it still hurt to demanding the red cast so that he could go play at the park. I believe the cast became somewhat of a security blanket to him and it was hard to just let go. He was able to squeeze the doctor's finger while he was talking with me so the doctor felt that his wrist truly was healed and he was just being a little overprotective. So we left the appointment with no follow up or physical therapy visits being required and the request to come back in a week if D seems to still favor the wrist.

The first two days were hard. D didn't want to use it at all and became really upset if I tried to touch it. However, I've noticed that when he's not paying attention he'll subconsciously use it before he'll use his left hand. And Wednesday he used it to hold the hose and chase me with it. And tonight he gave me the all important high five that he absolutely refused to give to the doctor. So I believe he is on the mend and with a little bit of patience and work, will be at full capacity within the next week or two.



 



Friday, May 6, 2011

Who needs a crayon when we have CHALK!

Awhile back, I had bought D a box of 64 Crayola Crayon shaped chalk. I thought it was amazing and a way to get D in tuned with his artistic side. D? Not so much. So they were packed away, forgotten,  never to be used.

Until one curious eighteen month old  and his trusty (borrowed) dog found the box and decided to explore.



At first I was just going to put them away again, assuming that C was still too young for chalk and would just use them as a chew toy teething ring. Which is a pretty safe assumption for a curious, teething, needs-to-chomp-on-everything little boy.

This sweet boy never ceases to amaze me.


( yes that is part of the bad diaper rash that he got from one of his antibiotics on his leg. It's gone now)

C and Charlie (my aunt's dog who spent a few days with us) had fun scribbling with the pinks and the blues while I used stuck to the greens and yellows. C lasted about five minutes before he decided that it was more fun to throw the chalk in the bucket and ten minutes before he decided that he just had to see what pink chalk tasted like. And how he'd look if he added a little blue to his hair. Really adorable is my opinion, but I could be biased.



But it was a fun ten minutes seeing C's artistic side.





Which turns out to be a smörgåsbord of colors over my carefully written "Mom". 



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Easter

I've had this post just sitting here, waiting for me to click publish, for over a week now.

I think my new motto for this blog is "Better Late then Never".

Easter weekend was nice. It was nice to spend it as a family, without all the chaos and stress of having to make sure we included everyone. With the boys being out of sorts for so long (especially C) we just wanted a quiet weekend at home with the possibility of Easter dinner at Great Grandma's.

So Saturday night we started our first family Easter tradition. Dying eggs! D wasn't all that impressed, and had preferred Dad or me dipping his eggs for him. C, on the other hand, loved throwing dropping them in the different colors. In fact, he got really mad when we ran out of eggs and started putting the already colored eggs back into different dyes. It was a lot of fun, and the boys enjoyed it.








Sunday was spent exactly how we envisioned it. Kel led the boys in their first Easter egg hunt together. C was able to keep up with D and it was fun to just sit and watch the excitement on their faces when they found an egg. After the egg hunt came the baskets. They were more interested in opening the eggs from the hunt than looking at the toys in the baskets. Sunday night ended with dinner at Great Grandma Walker's house with Aunt B, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle B, Aunt D, and Great Grandma.














It was a really nice day, and a great first Easter that the boys were able to enjoy together.