Curious George

First of all, we have a lovely new camera which was a gift from Grandma W and Grandad B. It is awesome and doesn't have the nasty delay our old camera had. It's the perfect thing for when the twins arrive. It's also better with those indoor photos and since winter is here and the twins are arriving soon, that's probably where most of the photos will be. We had tons of opportunities to test it out during the holidays and I got a few good pictures of LR with the family. Unfortunately, LR got a little cold during their stay, but it cleared up after only a couple of days. He got to go see their plane when they left and he's been obsessing about seeing the "big jet planes" since. Speaking of obsessions... LR has a new favorite show. Curious George is awesome. We went to a George themed birthday party of a friend of his a few months ago. He left the party with a goody bag of George stuff which he didn't appreciate at the time, but he does now. The best is a big foam yellow hat. LR can pretend he's the man in the yellow hat now.

LR's imagination is growing every day. Grandma Nese bought LR some adorable Gymboree gloves. They are raccoons with the thumb creating the bottom of the mouth and in between the main part of the mitten and the thumb is an extra piece of red material which is the tongue. LR was standing in his tower eating some grapes when I grabbed the raccoon mittens and started making the raccoon "eat" the grapes. Of course, with no where to go, the grapes had to go back into the bowl, so I had the raccoon spit the grape out while saying "bleh." LR thought it was just about the funniest thing ever. He wanted to put on a mitten and play too. Aunt K and I took turns playing with him and the game must have lasted at least 20 minutes. He laughed so hard that Aunt K and I couldn't help laughing along with him. We made our raccoon characters spit the grapes out for various reasons, but the basic retching sound got the biggest laughs. We had been having a hard time getting LR to keep his mittens on outside, but not anymore!

NOTE: The au pair arrives today! I can't wait to meet her in person. We'll call her N for now.

Ouchie

The following is an excerpt of a conversation I had with LR yesterday after he walked into a door frame during a game of chase with Grandma Nese.

Me: Did you hit your head?
LR: Hit head. *sniff*
Me: Where did you hit your head?
LR: On the wall.

Then LR got off my lap and walked over to the wall to show me where exactly he had hit his head. He and the wall recovered quickly.

Hair Cut

This post is way overdue, I know. So in recent news, LR got a professional haircut for the first time in a very long time. I was tired of chasing him around with the Norelco razor three nights in a row to get a crappy version of a buzz cut. I could never get around the ears or the neck! Last time I took a divot out of the top of his head and I realized one of the plastic tines had broken and was scraping his scalp with each stroke. Nice. On the recommendation of a friend, I took him to Snip-its, a kids only barber shop. Imagine a Disney barber shop and you're pretty much there. Each cutting station has its own TV where they show a relatively lame Snip-its branded cartoon with Snips the Scissors, the head of the Snip-its gang. Anyway, when he first sat down he got to play with bubbles. Then she brought out the razor and he started to freak out. Then he cried. I gave him a lollipop, which they have a huge stash of, and immediately realized my mistake as it was quickly coated with hair clippings. *blech* So I held his hands to keep him from reaching up and getting cut and tried to talk to him about how well he was doing. At one point I said, "I know... it's torture," to which the nice lady cutting his hair replied, "we don't use words like 'cut' or 'torture' so that the kids will want to come back." While I understood the reasoning, 1. LR doesn't know the meaning of the word, 2. he wasn't paying any attention to what I was saying, 3. it was like torture since I had to restrain him during a scary procedure. Anyway, it was worth the premium I paid for a fast, nice looking haircut. For a few days afterward, he asked about whether or not we were going to get his hair cut again. I reassured him by saying that his hair was nice and short and he didn't need another hair cut for a few months. Now I catch him saying "nice, short hair" every once in a while.

So the first picture in this post is of Daddy playing "we're snails" with LR. LR always wants to chase Daddy when he gets home from work. Daddy is almost always accomodating, but on this particular night, Daddy was pretty tired. Instead he told LR they were going to play "snails." LR sat down next to Daddy and mimicked him. When Daddy started to scoot toward Daddy, "chasing" him like a snail, LR jumped up and ran away. Daddy had to convince him that snails don't run, they scoot. LR came back and played for another minute, but lost interest quickly. I laughed the entire time at Daddy's attempt to keep play time quiet. Commendable effort though!

The second picture is of me pointing the camera straight down after Daddy asked LR where the babies are. LR definitely knows where they are! I have so many pictures to post, but I'm going to let them come out with a bunch of follow up posts. I need to cover his new Curious George obsession, his Raccoon mittens, and his nice visit with the family over Thanksgiving.

Big Bedtime Success

So it's 6:39am and LR is still not awake yet. Daddy's still not awake either. The only reason I'm awake is because when I woke at 5:15, I was so excited that he was sleeping through that I couldn't get back to sleep. And I started thinking about baby names and then it was all over.

Daddy put him to sleep last night and he hasn't been out of bed since. *smile* This is the first time since we moved him from the crib to a big-boy-bed that he's slept through the night - and it's all thanks to our new bedtime routine. Frustrated with the hour long struggle to get him to sleep and knowing that the au pair and the twins are coming soon, I was trying to figure out an alternative. Daddy was convinced we'd need to lock his door and let him scream it out. I couldn't bring myself to do it, so I looked online for suggestions. On babycenter.com I found a little article describing how to put kids to bed without using fear. I think the line that interested me most was the one that described fear as having unpredictable results. Would he hate being in his room at any point during the day if we locked him in? Would he get angry and resentful around bedtime? Even though I knew it would "work," I didn't want to put any of us through that.

So the article went on to describe a bedtime game where he has to have his head on his pillow to receive a goodnight kiss and a tuck in. Then you leave the room. He obviously will follow and you have to turn around and take him back to bed. Then you act surprised that the bed is empty. Well in practice I had to alter the game slightly, but LR giggled his way through the routine 2 nights ago. He played sometimes and tried to figure out ways to get me to come back without having to get back in bed, but after and hour and a half at 10pm sharp, he fell asleep on his own. It was huge victory and he only woke once during the night. There was no screaming or crying and even though I was exhausted by the end, I knew we were headed the right direction.

Last night it took an hour instead of an hour and a half and LR was asleep by 9:15 instead of 10. I talked to a friend yesterday who was doing something similar with her 2 year-old and she said that after a week they could tuck him in and he would stay. The article also indicated that a week was all it would take. Crossing my fingers, but it's 7am now and he's still asleep...

Where are the babies?

Note: Finally was able to post pictures in the Halloween post. See below. The picture at the left is of LR playing with a ticklish card that Gigi sent for Halloween.

LR has definitely figured out where the babies are. I can't remember if I blogged about it before or not, but we have a game we play in the evenings sometimes with his stuffed bunny, Rye the Bunny. LR runs out of his room, picks imaginary vegetables from the floor in the hallway, runs back into his room and feeds Rye. He picks carrots, lettuce, and corn typically, calling out what he's feeding Rye as he does it. He also makes the noise of Rye eating for him.

Well, 2 days ago while Daddy and LR played "tow truck, dump truck" on LR's rug, LR decided the babies needed milk. I was sitting in the glider watching the fun when LR ran out of the room, picked imaginary milk from the floor, and ran back in to feed the babies by poking me in the belly. He made eating sounds and then ran back out to pick carrots, then lettuce, then corn. The babies were very hungry.

Team Support

There is a tradition at Tufts where students paint the cannon on the hill. Often it's for an event or celebration. Groups carefully stake out the night of the planned painting, check around campus to see who else has made noise about painting the cannon, then paint and protect the cannon the rest of the night. The rugby team decided to do just that the other night in honor of making it to the D3 final 4 and managed to get a few pictures of their stellar work.

In the second picture you can see they painted "Kara Jr." on the back of the cannon. I picked up the photo from one of the team member's postings on Facebook. The caption said, "represent the babies." I love my team.

Dirty Cucumber

LR has started to get a little sensitive about food and dirt. Like his cousin Bud, he's started asking to have his hands wiped when they get sticky or dirty while eating. For that reason he's getting better with a fork and spoon. He still gets frustrated and goes back to shoveling food in with his hand and then wiping it after each bite on his shirt. Recently we've been giving him cut up cucumber which he loves. When he finishes his portion, he'll ask for some from the salad bowl which typically has dressing on it. The vinaigrette that we've been using has spice which to LR looks suspiciously like dirt. He inspects each piece I fish out for him, announces that it's dirty, and makes me wipe it off. I keep telling him it's spice and not dirt, but he clearly doesn't believe me.

Yesterday Daddy took LR to the doctor since on Sunday he complained that his ear hurt. The doctor said there was some fluid behind his ears, but that they're not infected. We have to go back in a month to check them again. I just want his cold to be over soon. He's better now about having his nose wiped because the constant dripping makes him uncomfortable, but he still doesn't love it. The cold weather doesn't help either. When we go outside he's like a faucet because of the cold air. With rugby finished we're not spending quite as much time running around outside, but then he's not wearing out as quickly as he should and bedtime is still an exercise in patience.

Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating and LR really got into the swing of it. We practiced during the day with his pumpkin basket. We'd knock on the door to the garage and then I'd pretend to open it. He's say the right words and I'd put a lollipop in his basket. Then he took it out and ate it. For that reason we only practiced twice.

Daddy came home just in time to go out. LR was ready to go in his skeleton costume that Daddy picked out for him. The weather was perfect in the high fifties, so the costume kept him just the right temp since it was sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Only when we got outside did I realize that an all black costume at night was a bad idea so near a busy road. Daddy and I stuck close by his side though, so it wasn't a problem.

At the first door, LR tried to back out, but Daddy rang the door bell and our lovely neighbor and mother to our baby sitters opened the door. LR changed his mind as soon as he saw her, climbed the steps and said "trick or treat!" She put a candy in his pumpkin and when prompted he said "thank you!" Then he wanted to go in her house. We got him to go back out to the sidewalk by lighting his way with flashlights. We each had one. LR with his little plastic one, me with an LED, and Daddy with the Mag light. I think he was just thrilled to be walking around in the dark.

We hit about 6 houses and LR did the right thing at each door. He definitely tried to grab more out of bowls that were held out to him, but otherwise did okay. The only other glitch was when we saw a house with spooky decorations. LR wanted to see what was going on, but halfway up the long staircase he heard the audio recording playing and turned into my legs claiming "scary." I picked him up and said "Don't worry. We won't go to the scary house," and turned and walked back down the stairs. The rest of the night he fixated on it. Right up until bed time he was saying "Don't worry. Go scary." I assured him each time that we would not return to the scary house.

All in all, we had a great time. LR wanted to break into his candy as soon as we got home, of course, but it was bath and then bed time.

The Difference Between Twins and Singletons

Here is a picture of SwingDaddy and Lady M's Halloween pumpkins from this year. They are expecting their second child a few months after the twins. Their pumpkins are very happy pumpkins.



No joke. These are our pumpkins from this Halloween. Daddy's is the bigger one. See the difference?






Tomorrow I'll blog all about LR's Halloween adventures.

First Try on the Potty

Looks like LR is ready for potty training (and as expectant parents of twins, not a moment too soon as far as we're concerned). We've had 2 potties in 2 different bathrooms for around a month and showed him how to sit, but it's mostly been a toy and a stool for him. Last night Daddy took his favorite bath toy, a large rubber dinosaur with a hole in his belly, and had him "pee" in the potty for LR's entertainment. At that moment it clicked for LR. He absolutely had to have a turn on the potty and if he hadn't just peed in the bath before getting out, he would have been successful. He sat down on the potty, tucked himself behind the special, boy splash guard that these potties have now, clenched his teeth and little hands, and really tried to pee. We were halfway between laughing and applauding his efforts.

In other news, LR is getting into coloring more. We inherited an Ikea table and chairs from a neighbor and now it's his designated coloring table, although he really enjoys coloring on the couch with Daddy most of all.

Scared

LR has been using the phrase "scary part" to describe an upcoming part of a movie he doesn't like for a while. For example, he's not a fan of the marionettes in The Polar Express. I have to fast forward through them every time. Recently, he's started using the word "scary" every time he goes into a room without the lights on. He stops at the edge of the light and runs back into the room I'm in, grabs my hand and drags me to the dark room, declaring (loudly), "scary! Scary!" It happens more now that we're losing light so early in the day. Luckily, it doesn't seem to apply to his room at night.

Speaking of LR's room, we finally have his crib converted to a double bed and he loves it. I love that I no longer have to heave myself off the floor at night after putting him to sleep. After he recovered from that last cold, he was waking up only once at night. I was finally starting to get some decent sleep again. Then, on Saturday night he was up every half hour. I suspected the start of a cold and sure enough, his nose was runny on Sunday. He didn't seem to mind although he's figured out how to wipe his nose on his sleeve. I've convinced him to let me wipe his nose now although I have to tell him to blow. Last night we gave him Motrin now that Dimetapp Cough and Cold has been deemed useless. He slept better, but was still up 3 or 4 times. Today he's more congested and coughing a bit. Crossing my fingers that croup doesn't show up again.

In the meantime, not sure what to do about practice on Tues. My normal sitter can't do it and I can't leave him at a playdate since I don't want other kids infected. Yes, our season has been extended unexpectedly. The ladies made the first round of playoffs, won in a tight and rainy 7-5 game against St. Michael's College, and made it to the semi finals for our division. We'll be meeting a team we lost to already this season, so I don't have high hopes, but any given Saturday... Here's the kicker. Not expecting to win the game, I told the team I'd name a twin after the high scorer if we won. The young woman who scored the only try AND kicked the conversion is named Kara. She said if Kara Jr. is too awkward, I could use her middle name Ann. Funny, I have no problem with Kara Jr. which is good because that's what the team has been calling her since then.

The twins continue to grow quickly. Last Wed, twin A (boy) measured 1 lb 4 oz. Twin B (girl) measured 1 lb. 5 oz. They both seem to be right on track for singletons. This time, he was underneath and she was on top. Her head and his butt were right under my right ribcage which explains the pressure I was feeling last week when I breathed. They both kick in distinctly different areas, so when people ask me if it's different to carry 2 vs. 1, I can say, yes. The kicking is more constant, came earlier, and is clearly from 2 different little animals.

Pumpkins

LR helped Daddy pick out pumpkins. We got one for each member of the family. LR even picked out 2 tiny ones for the twins.






Then he showed Mommy his mad pumpkin cart pushing skills.









And finally he helped Daddy scoop out the innards of Daddy's pumpkin. Such a great helper all day long!

Getting Near to the Groove If Not Into It

LR seems to be completely recovered from his cold finally. This past week we've been trying to get him back on his old sleep schedule with no success. The gate helps to keep him from running out of the room, but it still takes us 30-40 minutes to get him to fall asleep. I, invariable, fall asleep with him and Daddy comes to wake me around 10pm so that I can actually go to bed. Then LR wakes up twice during the night. He used to come into our room, but the past 2 nights he's just called for me instead. I prefer the calling so that I don't have to carry him back to bed. I just can't lift him anymore. The third trimester is going to get tricky since I'm already having trouble half way through the second.

LR's new twin mattress arrives tomorrow and we'll put together his bed first thing on Saturday probably. Hoping that helps with the routine. We'll get his "Cars" sheets on the bed from Papa and Grandma Nese finally. Anyone know why a twin mattress is called a twin? Or double, queen, and king for that matter? I'm going to Google it...

In other news, we had a mouse run across the living room and into the dining room two nights ago. Luckily I had a quarterly visit from Terminix already scheduled for the next day. The inspector set out some glue traps and sprayed for bugs. Hoping that it was a one time thing, but with the cold weather, it's the time for mice to be looking for warmth. Ah, the joys of living in front of the woods!

Pity: How To Make It Work For You

There is a hidden benefit to having twins, pity. As a teen with Lupus, I hid the fact that I had the disease for over a year after diagnosis. I told myself that I didn't want anyone's pity. Turns out I needn't have worried. Everyone in high school is too busy pitying themselves. :)

But over the past week, both Daddy and I experienced the up-side of pity. Daddy had a coworker hand him an enormous bag of baby clothes saying, "take it. You'll need it." I asked Daddy if the clothes were lent or given. He said given. I'm still going to put the coworker's initials in the clothes just in case he wants them back at some point.

Earlier that same day, I met with a foot doctor who said that although insurance would only cover one visit per year, she would see me whenever I needed it and just take care of me. She explained that she has a one year old at home and couldn't imagine a toddler and twins. I thanked her for her pity and slipped my much happier feet back into my shoes.

Today one of my coworkers brought me an infant snowsuit, toys for LR, and extra odds n' ends from her kids. She said they were collecting dust in the attic, but I'm pretty sure she was just feeling sorry for me.

Ear Infection

Well LR's cold lasted long enough that he woke up Friday night after being asleep for an hour with an ear infection. The doc said to give him Motrin and Dimetapp and to bring him in the next morning. I had a game to coach (Homecoming which we won 38-0), so Daddy took him to the doctor where he confirmed our guess of an ear infection and prescribed Amoxicillin. It seems to have already done the trick. Sunday he seemed better, but tired. Today he was pretty much back to his old self and the coughing has finally subsided as well. This cold has been going on for over 2 weeks, so I guess I'm not surprised that it turned into an ear infection. I am happy that it's his first one ever though. He was able to tell me that his ear hurt even though I hadn't missed the dozen times he poked his left ear while trying to fall asleep.

"No Like Gate"

New bedtime strategy! After 3 nights in a row of 10 o'clock bedtimes, I went out on Wednesday and bought a gate for LR's bedroom doorway. I hate the idea of locking his door, but warmed up to the idea of putting a gate up in the doorway and treating his room like a giant crib.

The first night he went back and forth to the gate and opened and closed his door a bunch of times. Each time he returned to the bed where was since there wasn't anywhere else to go. He didn't seem upset by it, just curious. The last time he returned to bed we had a little conversation about the gate.

LR: Open door?
Me: You can open the door if you want.
LR: Open gate?
Me: No, it's bedtime.
LR: Open Hudson's gate?
Me: No, it's bedtime.
LR (under his breath): No like gate.

A snowsuit arrived from grandparents B&W. They've been scouting the Carter's outlet in Denver for weeks, waiting for the winter gear to arrive and finally it did. I opened the box while LR was playing in my car. He wanted to put the hat on right away and admired himself in the visor mirror. He didn't seem to mind the mittens still attached to the top. Thanks, folks!

Birthday Party

On Sunday we had a little shin-dig for LR's second birthday. September is busy, so we were a couple weeks late, but he didn't seem to mind. He was still a little under the weather from his croup/cold, but it didn't seem bad enough to cancel the party. I managed to way over order Mexican food, but everyone did their best to help us out from under the mountain of food. Although we asked people not to bring gifts, he received a bunch of really great books and a couple of toys that he loves. He's very into firetrucks right now which explains the firetruck themed party. He loved the hats and made Daddy wear one while playing with firetrucks with him. I bought him a big truck a few weeks ago to help at practice and it's been one of his favorite toys since. My friend A with a 2-year-old in a leg cast and a 3 week old, gave him a smaller friction firetruck which is the noisiest toy he has to date. Thanks A! ;)

Thanks to a few weeks of pretend play where we sang Happy Birthday, blew out fake candles, and ate imaginary birthday cake, LR was a champ at blowing out the candles on his cupcake. I desperately wanted to make some cool cake like my mom made for us when we were kids, but I ran out of time. I was trying to make flame-like cupcakes, but it fell through when guests starting walking through the door. LR didn't seem to care and ate most of the cupcake anyway.

We blew up LR's new bouncy castle for the kids who were there and he and V had a great time despite the fact she couldn't jump. She crawled in and let LR run around her. He actually spent a lot of time crawling around the house with her. Not sure if it was empathy or if he just thought she was playing a game. Anyway, here's a picture of the two love birds. They are adorable together.

It's a Boy... and a Girl!

At the ultrasound on Wednesday, I was sweating bullets after the technician said that Twin A was a boy. A whole family of boys would be fine and, I'm sure, pretty fun, but I was hoping for one girl in the mix. Twin B was sitting cross legged and refused to be identified. The technician came back to Twin B 3 times before saying that she thought it was a girl. When the doctor came in, he took about 5 seconds to determine Twin B was most likely a girl. Hooray! The Y family girl drought is finally over!

Twin A: the boy










Twin B: the girl









You can see in the photos that Twin A is clearer (well, as clear as an ultrasound photo can get) and Twin B is a little fuzzier. That's because they are both in the transverse (sideways) position with Twin A on top of Twin B, bunk bed-style. They were facing each other during most of the ultrasound and it looked like they were punching the hell out of the slim barrier between them. At it already, I guess.

They both look good at 10 oz each and 10 inches long. All systems checked out and we're good until our next visit in a month. I'm up about 15 pounds and just hit the 20 week mark. Starting to get pretty uncomfortable, but I'll keep my complaints in check since there's still such a long way to go. :)

Croup!

My generally healthy little guy is battling his first episode of croup. He'd had a mild cold late last week, but was tapering off with the sniffles. Then late yesterday I noticed his voice was hoarse and about an hour and a half after going to sleep he woke up sobbing and gasping for breath. I took him into the bathroom and threw on a hot shower. He still wouldn't stop crying. Finally I took him out of the bathroom and he settled down. He slept with us the rest of the night and I spent most of that listening to him struggling to breathe.

Around 4am I could tell he was spiking a fever and when he woke up at 6am he had one of about 101 degrees. He tried to take a few quick gulps of water and threw up immediately. After that he calmed down and I managed to get more water and a dose of Tylenol into him. His lungs were still rattling though, so I took him to our pediatrician's daily walk in hours. The doc on duty agreed with me that it was croup, but that he might also have another cold complicating it. She even told me to watch for pneumonia! Scary!

When we got home I tried and failed miserably to get a dose of the medicine into him. The second dose was delivered via juice and that worked well. He doesn't typically drink juice, in fact he asked for water, but I kept supplying pretzels, so he didn't really have a choice. Then a little Motrin and we tried to get him to bed, but he was having none of it. I guess being indoors all day got him very wound up. He did get to bed until just after 10pm. Hope he sleeps in, but by the sound of his breathing, I wouldn't be surprised to have to turn on the shower again tonight.

Quick Recovery

LR had no fever and very little congestion today. It's the fastest cold he's ever had. I gave him Dimetapp just before bed to make sure he slept comfortably, but I skipped the Motrin. He had such a big day today that I'm hoping he sleeps through the night without any problems.

This morning we all went to meet my MOT (Mothers of Twins) Big Sister. She gave me a quick view of life with a three year-old and twin year-old girls. They were adorable and kept both their moms very busy. They had lots of good advice, I just need to remember to write it down before the twins arrive. After our visit there, we ran off to Target to pick up odds n' ends. Then LR fell asleep on the way home.

I had to wake him up 2 hours later so that we could go to our 2 year new moms reunion. What a mistake that was! Too many kids in too small a space. There was hitting, stealing of toys, and a couple of tantrums. LR got slapped for trying to take a toy and then pushed another little girl down a small slide. I was within inches when he did it and apologized a dozen times to the parents. The girl wasn't hurt, but it didn't make me feel any less guilty about it. After that party, we ran to his friend R's second birthday which was much more relaxing and enjoyable. The kids ran around outside and there were more than enough toys to go around. LR introduced a game of hanging off a bar that was part of the railing for the stairs and as a result, all the kids joined in, trampling R's mom's plants. She initially tried to stop them, but was overwhelmed by the power that is 5 little 2 year-olds intent on doing the same thing.

Birthday Fun and Not So Fun

After we blew up LR's gift from us on the morning of his birthday and he crawled into it, Daddy asked me, "are we the worst parents in the world, or the best?" It made me laugh, but I knew what he was getting at. We're trying to walk the line between spoiled and well taken care of. We have the means to provide him with all his needs and most of his wants. Do we turn our house into an indoor amusement park or a place for adults to socialize. We've chosen more the amusement park route and I can't say I'm too disappointed. Being an adult is pretty overrated. Playing with LR in his new moon bounce or pushing him in his beautiful new tricycle from Grandma W and Grandad B or spending family time after each dinner playing with his Playdough factory from Grandma Nese and Papa is some of the best time I've had this week. I can't say the same thing about work.

Unfortunately, the day after his birthday was his 2 year physical which he hated. It was a regular exam and he did well with the weigh-in especially since he got to use the big scale this time and not the baby one. He didn't mind them looking in his ears, but being shut in the room made him crazy. I don't know if it's small spaces that bother him or that he knew being in this room could only mean one thing. Well no shots, but they did a lead test which is a finger stick and then lots of squeezing to get enough blood in the vile. He was unhappy to say the least, but recovered quickly. Then in the evening he started a runny nose and small cough. He was up every hour and by morning was completely congested. I was able to give him Dimetapp for the first time since he's now officially 2! Hooray for 2! That helped, but by mid-afternoon today he had a fever and so we're just crossing our fingers that the Motrin will keep it down and the Dimetapp will help the congestion overnight. We could all use a good night's sleep!

Side Note: LR can pick up the words for a song within a few reps. I sang Daisy Bell for him 4 times in the car (he kept asking for it "again, again") and the next time he joined in. He made it through the main words of most of the lines. Tonight he requested in while in the bath and sang right along with me.

Happy Birthday, LR! You're 2!

A big happy birthday to the little guy that changed our lives 2 years ago on this day. Despite the massive sleep loss, we'd do it over again. Love you, LR!

Monologuing

LR watched part of The Incredibles the other night. I thought it might be a little adrenaline inducing, but I guess no more so than Nemo. He seemed to enjoy it, but I always laugh when Syndrome says, "You sly dog! You got me monologuing!" I think of it every night now when I put LR to bed. Our latest trick to get him to go to sleep is to catalog the events of the day. I start with his morning routine, skip over most of what happened with the nanny other than what she's told me, and then launch into a painfully detailed description of our day. By the end he's usually asleep. Guess it doesn't say much about my story telling abilities, but it works well for Daddy too, so we're pretty happy about it.

The bedtime routine is still close to half an hour, but I'm hoping that gets shorter. Unfortunately, I keep falling asleep with him and then Daddy has to come wake me up to get ready for bed. Last night I really wanted to get a snack before bed, but missed it because I was too busy getting LR ready for bed and then Daddy woke me up close to 10:30. I crawled into our bed after dutifully brushing my teeth and then woke up at 2am starving. The twins were obviously displeased with their lack of sustenance, but I was too tired to go downstairs, so I just tossed and turned for half an hour thinking, "I'm hungry... I'm hungry... I'm hungry. I really should stock our little micro-fridge with ice cream bars. I'm hungry."

Me, Myself, and I

LR started using "I" this past weekend. It was really interesting to hear since we've only heard him refer to himself as "baby" and by his first name until now. He's also singing many more songs. His favorite right now is a Laurie Berkner song about the moon. We belt it out at dinner time as a family and tonight he and I sang it as part of the bedtime routine. Speaking of which... no more bottles! After less than a week of water bottles, he's given them up. I'm tossing the chemical-releasing Avent bottles today!

No More Midnight Milk

So we've finally altered LR's bedtime routine. I figured it was all in shambles with the transfer from the crib anyway, so I decided to try to get rid of the milk. LR used to take a bottle of milk before bed and the routine was simple: bottle, blanket, books, bed. If he woke up during the night, he put himself back to sleep. Then when he went to the mattress on the floor it was bottle, blanket, books, bed... followed by a little bit from the bottle each time he came wandering into our room, once or twice per night. I really started to worry about his teeth in a way that I hadn't before. After fretting for a week someone (I can't remember who) suggested replacing the milk with water. Brilliant! Genius! He noticed the change, but didn't put up a fuss. He drinks much less now and I imagine we're not far from getting rid of the bottle completely. I'd really like to do that before the twins arrive.

Pictured above is Daddy's fix to our gate problem. Now LR can't let himself out of the yard. Unfortunately, they're even a little tricky for adults to open, so we'll keep looking. In the meantime, we can keep LR a little safer.

It's All About the Ladies

Saturday morning we had a play date with friends D & M and their daughter C, who is just 3 months older. They hadn't seen each other for a very long time, so it was good to see them interact well together. C got cuddly toward the end and we're pretty sure LR thought he was getting a big 'ol dose of cooties.

After they left we spent the rest of the afternoon at a big block party on our street. LR loved seeing so many kids and had a ball running up and down the street. We got lots of compliments on LR and congrats on the twins from our neighbors. I think we also got a lot of pitying glances... Found out that there was something in the water years ago when everyone had girls. There are more than a dozen girls from ages 5 to 18. We thought LR was the only boy, but I guess someone poisoned the well, because now there are 4 male 2-year-olds on the block. Awesome! Lots of friends for LR!

Sunday we took it easy since I had to do a 24 hour urinalysis. Daddy did the grocery shopping and took LR to the park while I tried to catch up on a bunch of rugby World Cup games. Just in case you were curious, the USA did not get slaughtered by England. I believe it was the least number of points the US has ever lost by in a world cup game. Go Eagles!

Monday we had a play date with LR's girl, V. They chased each other around both inside and outside the house. V's mom and I tried to rest since she's due with baby #2 this week and I'm starting to look like I'm close. (It's not that bad, but I'm getting bigger by the minute!) Also got my AFP test result back which test for Down syndrome and we're in the clear with both babies. That was a relief. Am becoming more comfortable with the idea of a C-section. It just looks like that's the direction that twin deliveries are going now-a-days thanks to a study which says the second twin delivered vaginally has lower APGARs and spends more time in the NICU. Might as well do what's best for both of them.

LR started his gym class today and Nanny C reported that he loved it. She said she thought the trampoline was his favorite and he has a hard time doing group activities because he wants to do his own thing. Not a surprise. Hope I get a chance to go to one of his classes.

Finding His Voice

LR has learned a new skill, singing! He's got the ABC's down for the most part, which he often sings while strumming the grill above the fireplace. Not sure what he likes about the sound it makes, but it's music to him. The past few days, he's picked up Ba-Ba-Blacksheep, Jack and Jill, and Old MacDonald. We sing at home and in the car. As long as the song is long enough, he will start to join in. He really liked Old MacDonald yesterday and even suggested animals. It's nice to feel like I haven't been singing to a brick wall for 2 years. He was actually absorbing a lot of it, just waiting for the connection to the mouth to develop, I guess. Very cool stuff.

Oh, and his favorite new bedtime show is Sleeping Beauty. I'm really enjoying the old Disney movies. The scary scenes are far less scary and adrenaline inducing than more recent Pixar movies. The music is wonderful and LR is soothed by it. I'll have to pick up a few more. So far Dumbo (it has a train!) and Sleeping Beauty are hits. Alice is Wonderland is okay, but probably his least favorite of the three.

First Day of Practice

LR came with me to the first rugby practice of the season last night. He mimicked the players as they stretched during warm ups, touching his toes and sinking into deep squats, and chased them while they ran laps. He showed off his somersaulting skills and they whooped and hollered for him. He was a little star. He gave lots of high fives and was told often how cute or cool he was. Speaking of, his new phrase is "how cool!" Guess that's a little of me rubbing off on him.

Despite all the attention and having a new fire truck to play with at practice, LR became a major distraction. When I held him during instruction, he overpowered me with car noises, "vroooooom, VROOOOOOOOOOOM!" The team thought he was hysterical, but we couldn't get much accomplished. Now I'm going to need to find a babysitter during practice. *sigh*

The picture is of Daddy and LR playing their new favorite game "jump truck." The rug is beautiful and apparently Nanny C has already had to learn the game. LR calls out the name of the vehicle and also the color. He really loves the rug. Thanks Yianni and Cookie!

At The Car Wash

This is our first test of the video upload feature. We know the quality is poor, but we're learning. Thanks to Daddy for both taking and editing the video!

Floor Mattress

So we ended up putting our guest double mattress on LR's floor. He calls it his "new" bed and hasn't had any problem sleeping in. The problem, unsurprisingly, is that he won't stay there. It takes around 45 minutes for him to fall asleep with either Daddy or I next to him, but then at some point in the middle of the night, he wakes up, closes his door behind him (I have no idea why he does this) and then toddles down the hall to our room. For the first few nights, I let him sleep the rest of the night in our bed. Then last night I took him back to his room each time he came to ours. He only woke up twice, so it wasn't too bad. I hope as he gets used to the arrangement, he'll stop wandering around quite so much.

The other reason he had a hard time getting to bed last night, Yianni and Cookie bought him a great big, new rug with construction vehicles all over it. He invented a game where he jumps on each vehicle and calls out its name. When it was time for bed, he asked to play the game again. I was barely able to convince him to get back in bed. I'll have to take a picture of the rug this week and post it. One of the nights of their weekend visit, Cookie made artichokes which LR couldn't get enough of. He got the hang of the scraping skill quickly and Cookie helped to make sure he didn't get any sharp ends as we got closer to the center. He kept us all entertained during dinner and then demanded another game of chase with Cookie afterward. She obliged and they went tearing around the house again. You can see how much gun he's having in the picture.

A new favorite game of Daddy's creation is Plunger Ball. If you haven't visited us yet, you might not know that we keep two plungers in the half bath between the washer and dryer downstairs. They have never been used for their intended purpose. I bought three for the house when we moved in. They were cheap and the first time we had the opportunity to use one we found that they lacked the necessary "oomph" that a plunger needs. So, we kept the other two as "decoration" and LR loves playing with them. He uses them as stilts, ground thumpers, and most recently, as a sort of batting / golfing implement. I'm not really clear on the rules, but Daddy seems to know them. I think both twacking and plunging are legal.

Game Over

At 4:45am this morning, LR climbed out of his crib. After calling for me for a bit, "climb, Mommy. Climb!" (and before you think that he was telling me he was climbing, that's what he always says when he wants me to pick him up) , and then escalating to some crying, he got a little quiet. We thought he'd gone back to sleep. Then I heard a little bump and a crash and Daddy and I sprinted down the hall to find a weepy LR standing at the end of the hall waiting for us. He was completely unhurt, so must have landed on his feet or butt. He hiccuped a little in Daddy's arms and then I took him and tried not to crush him with the amount of adrenaline running through me.

So, game over. LR: 1 Parents: 710 (number of nights spent in his crib). We're going to shop for a "big boy" bed this weekend. We would have had to soon anyway with the new kids arrival. It'll just be sooner than we planned. Daddy and I are learning not to make any more plans. :)

Xingu Plane

I went to the park this afternoon with LR after work. I put him in a swing and he talked about all the things he could see while he was swinging: trees, cars, trucks, slides, etc. At one point he looked up in the sky.

LR: airplane!
RuggerMom: What type of plane?
LR: Xingu plane (X is for Xingu in his plane alphabet book.)
RuggerMom: Are you sure?
LR: Yak plane (Y is for Yak in the same plane book.)
RuggerMom: *laughing*

He's awesome.

Little Daredevil

Okay, I've missed a bunch of things from last week, so I'm going to try to catch up here.

Gifts for Daddy's birthday arrived last week including an awesome beach bag from the Denver grandparents. LR claimed it as his own and Daddy and I made the mistake of giving him "rides" in it where we basically tested the bag's seam strength. Boy, is it a tough bag! Now we have to hide the bag from LR.

Last Wed we had our second ultrasound. Since we already knew it was twins, it was easier to enjoy it this time. I had started the day with a big glass of OJ, so the kids were bouncing and dancing all over the place. "Twin B is facing down... no wait, facing up" the technician said. The important part of the visit was that they found 2 placentas. The doctor said that makes them 95% sure that they're fraternal. Next visit we should be able to find out the gender.

On Friday we went to my company's summer outing where they had rented a large moonwalk for the kids. We could not get LR out of it. It must have been 100 degrees in it, but he bounced and followed the big kids around in it for at least an hour. Right away he found an 8 foot ramped ladder which led to a steep slide. He went up and down it 3 times before he tumbled a little on the fourth try. Then he was slightly more tentative, but only slightly. As soon as other kids he wanted to follow started doing it again, he was right there with them. And if he wasn't on the slide he was throwing himself around in the big jumping area. He was the youngest kid in there by about a year. That's our little daredevil.

On the way home we picked up a second bouncer from a mother of twins from my group. When we got it home, I couldn't get LR out of it. He's wearing his Mr. Potato Head glasses while sitting and playing with all the toys hanging on it. He was content for at least 10 minutes on the kitchen floor which is why it's still sitting there and will sit there until he starts ignoring it. Guess I put his bouncer away WAY too soon!

At swim lessons on Sunday the teacher guessed he was two and a half years old. I told her that he wasn't quite two and she was shocked because of how well he speaks. The past week he's shown a huge improvement not so much in vocabulary, but how he uses it. There's a lot more comprehension going on now instead of just mimicking. It's very cool to have little conversations with him now.

Great Beach Day

We had an amazing day at the beach with friends D & H and their son King J. The weather was perfect and the boys had a ball. If I were less exhausted, I would write a nice long post; however, it's bed time. The sun really wipes you out!

We went to Rye Beach in NH. It was an hour drive up and Daddy got the drive the new minivan for the first time. The boys watched Animusic 2 while the adults chatted. They stayed awake and then loved every minute of playing at the beach. LR was a little concerned about he sand in his flip-flops at first, but got over it quickly. King J kept running straight into the 61 degree water. LR was much more tentative. He thought the water was too cold, but Daddy managed to get him to play in the water for a bit. LR and I built sandcastles and dug big holes which we let fill with water. Both boys barely made it back to the car and fell asleep immediately. I took this picture of them when we pulled into the garage at home.

G'night!

ABC's

Last week LR started singing the ABC's all by himself. He tends to skip E and mumbles a little around L, M, N, O, P, but gets the sounds right in general. He also sometimes gets sidetracked by the S. It makes such a nice hissing sound that he has to stop and do his snake impression for a while. Then he might start over at the beginning because he can't remember where he was. Tonight he sang it 5 times in a row in the bath. It was very cute and we clapped each time he finished.

Opening the gate was not a fluke. He did it again tonight and Daddy had to chase him down. Luckily, we were watching for it, so he wasn't far behind. We'll figure out a fix tomorrow and will have to remember to tell the nanny.

For dinner we had corn tamales which he called corn "Ta-Mommies." I thought it was cute enough to include in a blog entry. Oh, and I took a first pass at shaving him down again. His hair had gotten long and it will just take a few evenings to get it all off. In the meantime he looks a little weird with clumps of short and clumps of long hair, but this is better than restraining him while a stranger cuts his hair. He even tried the shaver by himself (with the guard on). He had it turned the wrong way, so he couldn't do any damage.

Daddy's 33rd birthday

On Thursday LR managed to unlock the gate and let himself out into the world beyond the yard. I was watching, so I went out with him, but it made me nervous. I watched him try it again Friday with no luck, so I'm hoping it was just a fluke. Maybe the gate wasn't very securely locked. In either case, it's going to be hard to let him run quite as free in the yard anymore unless we add some other security measure to the gates.

Today is Daddy's 33rd birthday! We marked it by running down south of Boston to buy a minivan, the Honda Odyssey. It's the closest to a luxury vehicle we've ever owned. It's even got the all important DVD player with wireless headsets for the kids - only two, so I have the feeling we'll have to buy one more for our "bonus" child. We also checked out a store which carried one of the triple options we're looking at. First of all, triple strollers are ridiculous. They're heavy, unwieldy, and pretty inflexible in terms of configurations. There are very few solutions for our combination of kids. When I asked the MMOTA (Mass. Mothers of Twins Assoc.) for advice, three women with our exact combination of kids answered that they all us the Valco Runabout with a toddler seat attachment and love it. Unfortunately, it won't work for the time the twins are in infant carriers unless I want to take them in and out of their car seats to put them in the stroller. *sigh* So I need a double Snap n' Go for them while using the Bugaboo Cameleon for LR and just bring someone with me, I guess. In an emergency, when I'm by myself, I can take the twins out of their car seats. Sounds like fun in the middle of winter! Where do I sign up?

Our neighbors, T & T, invited us over for a BBQ this evening and their teenage daughters entertained LR outside while we sat on the deck and enjoyed a really pleasant dinner. Daddy and I even got a chance to talk! I had been battling a migraine for 24 hours and it finally went away during dinner. Was hoping I'd see an end to them now that I'm out of the first trimester, but no such luck.

LR is going on 2 weeks of sleeping through the night. Don't know how the family visit changed his routine so significantly, but I'm glad it did. I really need the extra sleep. LR continues to amaze us with his vocabulary. He's repeating whole sentences now and can usually tell us exactly what he wants or is thinking. He often gives running commentary in the car and when the salesman couldn't find the keys today, LR helpfully chanted "find da keys, find da keys," growing progressively louder until it got embarrassing. Not for us, for the salesman. We thought it was pretty funny.

No Pants

Yesterday, by the time I hopped out of the shower, I could hear LR calling "Mommy! Come in!" from our bedroom. He was hanging out with Daddy on the bed while they de-grogged. I think he actually meant "come out," but it was close enough. I emerged from the bathroom without my jeans on yet and crawled into bed with the boys. LR looked at me and said simply, "no pants." I started laughing thinking that it was a good thing he's not in school yet, otherwise I'd be the mom who doesn't wear pants.

See the People

Every morning when LR woke up during the family reunion, the first thing he said was "see da people?" He wanted to go downstairs to see what group of people were in the house today. I think that may be part of the problem he was having with sleeping through the night. Since everyone went home last Monday, he's been sleeping though. It's been really wonderful to not have to get up in the middle of the night with him. I'm thinking we need to alter his bedtime routine, however, so that we brush his teeth after he has his milk, not before. Unfortunately, he still uses the milk to go to sleep and I keep reading articles about 2 year olds with rotting teeth. For now I'm just happy that he's sleeping through. We'll tackle the teeth next month.

After Grandma Nese and Papa left, Grandma W and Granddad B arrived. They were not as terribly delayed getting in, but I hit accident traffic trying to pick them up. The reunion week was an incredibly bad travel week. Very few travelers made it through unscathed with 3 separate parties being delayed at least 24 hours. The day after they arrived we all packed up and went to the New England Aquarium. The place was packed and not as cool as I had hoped for. We also missed connecting with Aunt K's friend who was diving in the main tank in the morning. The kids loved it though. Penguins, jellyfish, and sharks ruled the day. On the way out the grandparents bought both boys stuffed turtles which they both loved.

In the picture Granddad B is reading the airplane book that the other set of grandparents brought from Oshkosh on their way. LR absolutely loves the book. His favorite page is "M is for Messerschmitt." I can't get over the way he says it. It's adorable. Then he always follows it by saying "looking for a dogfight" which is part of the second sentence on that page. The nanny must have been reading it to him since I came home from work on Monday and that was his new trick. He knows about half of the planes already. I think "J is for Jenny" is his other favorite page. He also follows each plane's name with the word "plane": China Clipper plane, Electra plane, Ford Tri-plane plane.

Another wonderful gift LR received was a Mr. Potato Head from Swingdaddy, Lady M, and Bud. He played with it often during the week and you can see him playing with it with Grandma W in the last photo. It comes with many more options than it did when Daddy and I were young. Not all of it fits into the butt of the potato anymore. He needs his own carrying case!

Tonight he sang the whole alphabet with me from "A, B, C" to "sing with me." It was awesome to have our first sing-along.

Explanation of Previous Post's Title

*laugh* I forgot to explain the title of the last post. On Sunday night we went out to eat with Grandad B, Grandma W, and Uncle D. We had to let LR run around a bit outside while we waited for a table. There was a pot of flowers next to a prickly bush and I encouraged him to smell the flowers. After exhaling on the flowers a few times, he turned to the bush, stuck his nose in and declared, "smells tasty!" That was it. Sorry for any confusion.

Smells Tasty

Wow, what a long time between posts! My apologies to Daddy's side of the family. My whole family has been visiting for a little over a week and it was wonderful. It started with Aunt K coming in last Saturday (after a 24 hour flight delay) followed within hours by Papa and Grandma Nese in their plane. Then Sunday Aunt Lady M joined us and we expected Uncle SwingDaddy and Cousin Bud, but they were also delayed in Dallas by 24 hours. I have no idea how SwingDaddy survived on so little food and so few diapers that night in a hotel with no crib, but he did. They arrived Monday tired, but recovered quickly. Here is a more detailed review of their adventure.

We did little more than let everyone acclimate for the next few days, but we did manage to catch a concert on Wed night at the Hatch Shell. Daddy was wonderful about finding the event and getting everything together for us to go. Bud was thrilled with the orchestra's performance, but LR was more interested in the boats. Daddy and I each took a turn chasing him down to the edge of the Charles River. He outran Grandma Nese and managed to get a foot in the water just before we left. He is getting so quick!

About mid week he learned how to do a somersault by himself. When I expressed concern about him breaking his neck, Papa comforted me by saying, "kids don't break their necks, they just dislocated them." Thanks goodness for medical people in the family to make us go from cringing to white-knuckling. LR also learned how to jump and practiced a lot, especially at the Hatch Shell after watching a couple of girls jumping.

Despite some tension between the cousins, they had a great time playing in the sprinkler outside a couple of times. Bud was much more adventurous with the spray than LR was. LR was more content to slide into his little pool.

There's so much more to report about this week, but I'll have to do it over the course of a few posts.