Almost to the End of the First Quarter

Amazing! The end of this week marks the end of the first quarter of the school year. In the meantime, we completed a bunch of doctors appointments. All good news - Thomas had some sealants on molar teeth done. John saw a pediatric cardiologist and received an all clear for some concerns we had over the summer. I got a night guard which means improved sleep. I am not waking up feeling like I have a massive headache every day.

We also had another round of visitors - Grandma Dee, Grandpa Nick, and Amber. We headed to Cox Farms for some fall festival fun.

Closest I’ll get to Stonehenge - Foamhenge!

We also spent some time getting our house outfitted for the upcoming spooky holiday!

The boys each participated in the school’s big fundraiser - Rock n Run. I volunteered for part of the day so I got to see them in action.

Also, the weather has finally gotten a smidge cooler. That means I get to enjoy more evenings with pugs in this position:

Edible Playdough

Sometimes you just need a recipe that will entertain the kiddos.

 

  

 

Edible Playdough

adjusted from cooks.com

Ingredients

1/2 c. water 

1 tbsp. oil 

1 and a 1/2 c. flour 

1/2 c. sugar 

1 pkg Kool-aid, any flavor

Steps

1.  Mix together water and oil. Microwave on HIGH for about 2 minutes.
2.  Mix flour, sugar, and kool-aid in a bowl.  (I did not have any kool-aid packets so this was just dough colored.)
3.  Add water/oil to dry mixture in stages and mix well with wooden spoon.
4.  Add extra flour to get to desired stickiness.

Comparison

With two small children, it is hard to keep myself from comparing them.  They are so close in age that I can remember their infant time easily.

JT at 3 months

Thomas at 3 months

I catch myself saying "wow, Thomas, you are huge!" on a very frequent basis.  I have to keep reminding myself that Thomas was 50 percentile across the board.  He is average while JT had a bunch of hurdles to overcome.

When I think about the first few months of JT's life, I am grateful that we have had very few issues with Thomas.  Those first couple of months were a hellish experience with JT and I am glad I kept my mind open to the option of having a second child.  We are so blessed to have giggly Thomas.  That is not to say that we are not blessed to have JT - just that JT's beginning makes me cherish the "normalcy" of Thomas's entrance into the world.  Little or big things like pumping to help keep JT healthy in the NICU to Thomas eating cool formula from the fridge; waiting for JT to put on enough weight be big enough to sit in the bouncer to Thomas growing out of clothes like it is his job; or how it took nearly 6 months to get JT to sleep through the night whereas Thomas sleeps 9+ hours at 3 months.  I think the pictures below are a better match then their monthly age:

Thomas at 3 months

JT at 6 months

They are totally brothers.  There is no doubt about that.  Also no doubt - that I love them to the ends of the earth!

Duty for Dooty

I'll be totally honest. There are very few days in my home where doing "Number 2" is not subject number 1 of our conversations. With Thomas' arrival, the boys' closets look like an aisle at Target - Cruisers size 5, Overnights size 6, a half plastic sleeve of Swaddlers size 1, a box of Swaddlers size 2 (for when the 1's are done), a box of Swaddlers size 3 and Overnights size 3. (You may think I am crazy to have 3s all ready to go but when you find a sale for these big boxes -$20 is awesome!- you might as well buy them early.). It is a little depressing, not to mention the extra costs.

So, we are slowly trying to get JT ready to leave the diapers behind. We have done a couple of things to get the process started:

1. I plan on reading Potty Training for Boys. I am almost done with the second book on India that I purchased many moons ago and this book is next in the queue. I am hoping this short little read will provide some insight into getting this done quickly and with as few messes as possible (HAHA!).
2. I have been trying to get JT to be more proactive in dressing himself. It is somewhat frustrating though. What I know will take me three seconds to do has now become a ten minute charade. I hope that as he becomes more adept at getting clothes on and off it will make the "pulling down my pants to use the potty" action easier.
3. Another hurdle is getting JT to use his words. He has a growing vocabulary but is torn between using them or screaming to get what he wants. I have been trying to convince him to use the words "poop" and "pee" as preludes to changing his diaper. Then he will hopefully use them to know when he has to go to the bathroom.
4. Wet vs Dry: another battle is trying to get him to recognize the difference between wet and dry. Right now I have been using all the instances when JT is drooling, or sticking his hands in his mouth to indicate wet. I hope it will help.
5. Easy Ups: On our recent diaper buying spree, I picked up a small box of potty training pants.
6. Got a potty. We bought a simple potty at IKEA. JT seems intrigued by it and has on a couple of occasions gone to just sit on it. Trouble is we have 2 bathrooms. Doi - silly mommy moment. We need to get one more before we begin this...adventure.

I'll update if we or when we have success. It might be a while. :-/

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Running in the Yard

It has been unseasonably cold through all of March here.  But yesterday we finally got a blast of nice spring weather.  It got to be about 60 - 70 degrees out and the sun was shining.  The perfect time to run around outside in the yard with the pugs!

Here are some still shots:

I hope we have more days like this in store for us!

Destroyer of Towers

Yep, that is JT.  We enjoy our building blocks.  But if JT doesn't build it, it will not stand.  Evidence the destruction of my 3 single block towers:

I am a little bitter about the whole thing.  I can not get too angry because it is fun to do this afterwards:

I have a bunch more posts to write up....if I ever have time to write them!

Mind Development

I have been trying to introduce JT to new tactile experiences even though we have been on the go recently.  The last time my husband's parents came up they brought up a toy bead maze.  I had been reluctant to give it to him because his teeth have been bothering him and thus he pretty much took to chewing on the wire maze portion.  But now that we have gotten over the teeth, JT loves navigating the different beads along the wire paths. I try to point out the color of the paths and the color/shape (yes, I call them cylindrical or spherical) beads that are on each wire.  Here is some footage (sorry it is a little dark):

On the Stairs

JT is demonstrating just how to go down the stairs:

Work of Art...Sort of

Yesterday, JT and I had a day to ourselves.  I realize that it may have been way to early for me to introduce coloring to JT but heck I felt like breaking out the markers.  So, we did.  Thank goodness for Crayola's Color Wonder markers - no messy clean up afterwards.  If I had a pack of regular markers, I might have thought twice about this little project.

While we didn't seem to really to care much about getting the marker on the paper, getting the markers in and out of the box was loads of fun.  We did manage to get something on the paper though - so JT's first work of art:

Ignore the sun and the flower...and the red birds.  I was trying to entice JT to scribble.  :o)

Snow Day

Yesterday, we had what some were calling "The Blizzard of Oz". Disregarding the fact that we only got about 6-7 inches here (other places did get 12 +), this was the first snow that JT could really interact and run around in. So here are some snow videos (they are not very exciting seeing as I bundled JT up to the point where he could just about shuffle his feet):

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Musical Jolly Chimp

That is what I thought of when I first saw JT doing this.  Actually, I was more impressed that he finally picked the toy and used it in the manner in which is it supposed to be used.  Boy, we definitely like banging things together!

Waiting For Daddy

Every afternoon we now have a new ritual - the "Daddy opened the garage door, so now I need to scream and bang on the door until he comes in" ritual.  Evidence below:

Jam Session

A little taste of who is sure to be an elite drummer someday :

Backyard

JT has been an out and about sort of baby.  We have never really taken him outside to just play - until yesterday.  It was really beautiful out.  So, we let the dogs out to run around the backyard, took JT and his tractor out, and even brought a couple of burgers and hot dogs out to grill us some dinner.

JT learned really quickly that putting his hand down on the grass is not quite the same as carpet.  This realization caused several moments of intense screaming.  I guess he takes after mom - I am not a super outdoorsy person.  I like a nicely manicured lawn but that is about as far as my love of the outdoors goes.

After overcoming this small "grass isn't carpet" inconvenience, JT did have loads of fun running around in a much more wide open space.

Walking

For the past week or so, JT has been taking steps.  Yes, steps.  Little steps that almost constituted walking.  Everything he has done this he has made sure that I am either a. not paying attention or b. unable to capture the momentous occasion on video.  Well, tonight, I managed to catch the steps.  You will have to wait until about the 40 second mark for the awesomeness to occur.

Clever Little Boy

No, I do not mean it to brag.  Sometimes I just find that my son does things that I don't expect him to be doing.  Case in point:

Not screaming his head off because his Taggies are out of his reach:

Mimicking story time before bed:

Slacker

Ah yes.  The slacker bug has hit again.  Well, not that I have been slacking off, I have been plenty busy.  I have just been too busy to sit down and write.  It has been almost two whole weeks since I last wrote.  Yikes!

It has been a bit quiet on the foodie front.  My hubby has been away on business and I just can not bring myself to make huge awesome meals for one person.  Now, JT is starting to eat regular meals, if the I can make things small enough.  But let's be honest, sometimes it is just easier to pop the microwave meals in and not think.  I do have a bunch of recipes lined up to try with a heavy emphasis on crockpot meals.  Why?  Besides the fact that it will be ready whenever the hubby gets home, the meats become tender enough that JT can just gum at it.  Well, doesn't he have teeth?  He does - at least 6, we are cutting a few more as I type.  But he still has not quite gotten the concept of chewing or in his case mashing the food up with his gums.

I have also been kept busy with Army life in general and volunteer work.  It is rewarding but sometimes I would like to put it on hold so that I can do all the little activities and hobbies that relax me.

Oh, I did manage to find my little flip video hd recorder.  Now that JT is moving so much, it seems like a godsend.  So here are a couple of clips from the past two weeks:

Sharing

I had to share this little story.

This evening JT was enjoying dinner.  Actually, a big step too.  He had some normal...adult food.  I wimped out and made a Barilla Skillet Meal for two.  He almost ate an entire adult portion.  But that is not what I want to share.

Once JT finished his meal, I gave a him a few cookies.  This evening JT decided he would demonstrate that he knows about sharing.  He leaned over the side of his booster chair and outstretched his cookie filled hand to Silvio.  I was so proud of him.  Unfortunately, Silvio does not understand about sharing.  I would almost say he has the doggy version of kleptomania.  Silvio jumped up, took the entire cookie and ran off to eat his prize.  JT just sat there, hunched over the side of the chair, staring at the spot that Silvio occupied.

I just had to laugh...and share it with you all.

My Little Cowboy

Yesterday, JT went in for his one year well baby shots.  It was a rough morning but JT took it very well.  I was probably more of a wreck than he was.  He is 19 lbs and 9.6 oz and just about 30 inches long.  He has almost doubled his birth length and he is 4.5 times bigger than his birth weight.  It amazes me how far he has come.

I was racking my brain for some small present or game for us to play when we got home from the doctor but luckily I was saved.  One of JT's birthday presents arrived.  Grandma and Grandpa S gave JT his very own rocking horse.  Unfortunately, it did not quite fit in the car on the way home.  Fortunately, it showed up in the mail this afternoon.

Cruising!

JT is almost walking or as his doctor said - he is "Cruising!"  To help him on his way to walking, I ordered him a John Deere tractor.  It showed up a few days ago.  Here is JT's reaction: