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We had such a good day today, I almost forgot it started at 4:30am. I don't know why Jack has started waking again, but it's really annoying. It's usually just once, but last night was three times, so we were letting him cry, which woke up Bobby and then Bobby promptly runs into Jacks room, pulls over a stool and starts to get Jack out of the crib. !

We were at Jakes playing one afternoon and since the husbands were working late she invited us to stay for dinner. Then after sitting down, totally unprompted, Bobby said that we have to pray first. And then he led the blessing. Of course, dinner was a total chaotic disaster, but I was proud of him for that part at least.

I've always said how Bobby likes putting the lego models together from instructions so much more than free play with them. He'll play with the bat mobile, but not with the pile of bricks we have. But maybe it was just an access thing. We dumped the big box out onto a blanket and he went to town! He made all sort of inventions and it was really great. And that's what his teacher alluded to at our conference - not that he doesn't like art, he just needs to see the stuff.  Our crayons are out, but I cannot leave markers or paint just sitting there!

The boys are playing with each other in earnest these days. Its great to see and makes me so happy. Of course, I am just waiting for one of them to break a bone, but for now, they are really enjoying each other.

Jacks new thing is reaching in kitchen drawers that he can't see, and sometimes hanging on them if he can wiggle them open far enough. So thats just great.

Jack loves LOVES his blanket. Bobby never had a stuffed animal or blanket, so I think this is adorable. He goes and gets it at bedtime and loves hugging with it. Bobby technically has a blanket that he stole from grammys third floor only when he saw Cash and Cooper had one last summer, when Bobby was four. And he's pretty indifferent to it in general. I don't know what the difference in them was.

Jack loves climbing up to the top bunk alone, bouncing on the mattress, and then swinging his legs over the rail and dangling down the lower full mattress to get down. If you try to spot him, he'll get back up and move to another spot.  Side note, I hate changing bunk bed sheets. It's the worst.

We have these two little kids chairs.  Jack got his for Christmas and while they are more often upside down being climbed on or creating a fort wall, Jack sits in his occasionally. And only his. One is beige (was beige) and one is brown, and he only goes to the brown one. It's really interesting.

Jack can do a somersault and stay about 90% straight from where he takes off. I should probably splurge on a Little Gym class before Baby Petunia (this weeks name) comes.

If I stop running, will this child be calm and docile? Is it nature or nurture? A gender thing? These boys are so busy and will not sit still. And I've always thought it was because I was so active. Not exactly cause and effect, and of course there are anecdotes to all points (and of course -toddlerhood being the main cause), but they came out easy and moving and haven't stopped since.

The name fights have begun. I will share them, just so you can see how I will be bullied out of my choices.  First Ricks;  Mark Paul, or Mary. That's it. Sorry Grandma Dailey, nothing personal, but not happening. Mine: (and these have been mine since before Bobby) Luke, Charlie, Henry, (Ale)Xander, Tucker. OR- Libby, Caroline, Sadie, Campbell, haven't gotten too far on girls - way too many choices.

We also have to get serious about looking at a new car. The 4Runner is just so narrow. That and I seem to have the widest car seats ever. I'd like to put these two next to each other even now, but one would tend to lean away and theres no shoulder belt, let alone latch in the middle seat.  So what do we get rid of: a 2002 with 140,000 miles, or a 2006 with 260,000 miles? Actually the older for sure, it needs tires and probably a slew of services, but has been a very good mom car and could last another 100K for sure. So looking at used cars, do you pay more for a newer used car, or spend less for higher miles. Seeing as how, I'll probably have this car for 10 years, it's not bad to make an investment, Just have to make Rick see it like that. And then in five years, when business is really kicking, he can get his luxury sedan. We just need to do this, because house buying is put on the back burner, but more because the safety features between a 2002 and 2010 car are light years apart.  (Just thinking out loud, thanks)

This month also marks decision time for kindergarden.  We have to send in our letter to return to our current school which we applied for and did the evaluation testing.  Or, we have to start the process for the public school. Which seems cut and dry: check school reputation, budget, priorities (length of day, class size, uniforms, art, technology, music, language) etc. But we also have two schools in Laguna Niguel that, even though out of district, are only about two miles away and we can choose to apply to either of those. How does one know what to do? We want to be locked in by first grade, so we have one more year of wiggle room, but surely we can use this several thousand in tuition elsewhere. And then Jack enters school and we start all over again!

So that's todays update. I'm going to try to do better, especially when the Grannies are out of the country, but even when you all are here, I'm so bad about picking up the phone. Heck, I'm bad at blogging. Once they're in bed, all I want to do is sit around myself and go to bed early!

Tuesday (posting on Wednesday of course)
For as bad as yesterday was, we had a good day today. Yesterday was like all of December, except I take a lot of blame for that crappy time, but yesterday I didn't lose my cool at all and there was still nothing I could do to make them happy. It was just time for bed around 5pm, but we still had 2 hours to kill. We've all been sick but are pretty much all better now, but we spent this week weaning from too much tv while sick. But Tuesday, the tv didn't even come on, not even for the Olympics. We managed a successful grocery store run with no whining or squirming, which is huge because they do not like to sit still no matter how fast I am. Then we got 2-3 hours outside time before we went out to dinner with Mia and Jen and their kids. Bobby has the worst table manners. He never stays in his seat and just gives me so much grief, and he influences the other kids to be cheeky, which is the worst part.  Regardless, good day and we got to bed on time still and Jack slept through the night to 6:15am! Bobby of course woke up at 3:30 to pee and then came in our room demanding that I read a book to him. Sleeping was rough for a while, but I think Jack is back to normal, making it through the night, usually only until 5am, but maybe that is changing too.

Maybe what has changed is that Jack is weaned. YAY. It wasn't that hard actually (at 18 months it shouldn't be) But we cut out the nap nurse for 7-10 days. The plan was a week then work on the bedtime feed, but then he got sick and cuddly and it's so easy when we're tired in the middle of the night. But Rick was big help and jumped in when he could, so now we just substitute books and drop him in the crib and there's been no major whinging.

And now the updates/boasting portion:
Jack loves books. LOVES them. If he has a book or a basketball in his hands, expect him to be backing up into your arms.

The trampoline is still a huge hit and gets lots of use.

SoCal - where the leaves fall off the trees in January

The bunk beds are great. I don't expect Jack will be in there until Christmas but that will certainly be interesting. He has figured out how to climb up to the top bunk alone. And to get down, he won't accept any help. Hence, my new gray hairs.

Always camera first, help second

Because he loves to climb, other moms on the playground, ask me, how did he get up there? (when there's only a rock wall or rope ladder) And he's fast, at running - obviously, but also just at disappearing when I look around at something else or talk to someone, he'll disappear around a car or into a garage on the street. So many panicking moments, that are created by about 10 seconds of eyes off.

Jack is not talking much. Almost not at all. But it's almost as if you can look at him and know he's playing us, like 'you know what I want, I'm not going to say it.'  A couple more words have started coming out lately, but not because you ask him a question.  "What is that?" gets nothing, but if he sees a bubble, he'll say so, e.g. If you ask him what an animal says, nothing, but if he sees a lion, he'll start roaring. And he's really good at mooing. But what he's really good at is signing. He loves to pound his chest like a gorilla, or tweet like a bird or raise his elephant trunk. Along with more and done and he expects instant results when he gives you a sign.

Did not fall for the paint in the ziploc activity

Talking, bad. Eating, terribly picky. Being awesome, nails it. Jack is just a really fun and cool kid. When he got better from being sick, it was so obvious. He perked up so much, was smiling, bouncy around and that's how he always is.  Jack has to be benefitting a lot from seeing a lot of 3,4,5 year olds around. He just wants to do what the big kids do and nothing holds him back from trying it. And our friends are great at including him too. What's interesting to see is how Bobby will push/hit Jack when they play if Jack pisses him off, but in a larger group, Bobby is great about "watch out for my brother" "let Jack do---" All we've ever said is that Bobbys role is to take care of Jack and not hurt him. So now we need to implement that in the home!

I can do it too! (I swear I didn't dress them alike on purpose)

Bobby is getting more into art, well drawing here and there at least. He likes chalk. He likes drawing with markers in both hands.

I never said it was amazing art

We skipped organized baseball this year, for many reasons, but since he's not even 5, that's totally fine. I do want to find some summer camps, especially once Baby Porkchop shows up. He really likes building lego sets still - very instruction oriented. He would much rather play with the couch cushions and what not than the loads of toys we have, but the bat cave and superheroes get some action (just like a doll house)

Stupid loaner lion from school

We are waiting on results from his kindergarden evaluation, but he's right on track or a total stud if you ask me. Fine and gross motor skills are great. Bobby can do the monkey bars, yay! Hopping and scissors and all that stuff. Memory and differentiation and sounds - he has all the basics a 4.5 year old should. We are working on him writing (easy) and spelling (hard) our last name...

Kite flying = non stop running

20 Weeks

It's a….

Surprise.

It seems we're in that phase where all the toilet paper rolls will all have been rerolled and the tissue boxes all have clean but scrunched up tissues on top of them. Sorry guests. 

Jack is a climber. I need to just not have any furniture anywhere near the counters, but the house is not that big. He can scale everything anyway. Including the oven handle. Bad news there.  And once he gets up, he seems to bee line for the knife holder. Or the sink sometimes.

Sometimes it's easier to just not fight it

What goes around comes around. There are three babies under 4 months on our street, all with big brothers, so they end up here a lot. And that is totally fine, because Bobby disappears for hours sometimes too. I just hope he's not watching tv over there, but you can't control it all, and when Jack is sleeping, I'm not going to complain. I'm sure I was the same with Jack, although he was a summer baby so got a lot of ergo and outside time.

Boy Day

Sometimes, V comes and sees me, even when Jack is asleep, so I don't get all my laundry and DVR watching done, but it's okay and then Jack wakes up and we're all happy.  She is seriously outnumbered on this street. The only other girls are 6 months, 7,9, and 10years, but she really seems to like me and my house, which is a little weird b/c there's not that much to play with here.

Lunch date

Big news in the house this week is that we got bunk beds! I was going to wait until summer, but now Pop can stay on the bottom - cancel those Ritz reservations! And I think Bobbys friends are nearing the sleepover age. Maybe. Maybe. Either way, Bobby loves them. He sleeps up top every night without incident. They are a bitch to make and change sheets - as if I weren't bad enough at that already. 

It did come with a ladder which Jack LOVES. He also loves jumping on the top bunk, so we are all on super high alert anytime he disappears down the hallway. It makes great forts though so that's a bonus.

Adding a few grey hairs 

Update

It's as if they read my blog I make liar of me. Jack is totally into books now. He doesn't like to be an audience member when bobby is being read to, but he loves flipping through board books with someone and pointing things out. 

Look at that form. He loves basketball and basketballs. 

We had a real sporty day the other day and bobby got to try out his new racket. He's not half bad of course. But could use regular practice which is tough with the ever so slight downhill grade on our street!

This is how I've spent a lot of grandmas visit. We pushed through our regular schedule so jack has gotten a few car naps. Which is fine because 5:30 comes early. And he's a terror in the bowling alley and just wants to walk down the lanes. This is during indoor trampolining though which I know he would adore. Toddler time goes a few more hours so we might make an appearance. 

I 

Catching Up

Halloween - good, Batman and Robin. don't ask me to recap. I knew I was bad at blogging this period so I tried to be more descriptive in the flickr pictures.

Thanksgiving - nice to play it low key. Lucky we had wonderful friends to cook us dinner (Thanks Jen!) and send us home with leftovers (my second favorite part).

Christmas - seemed like we were waiting for it forever, then I was too exhausted emotionally and physically to do all the things I wanted. Rick went away for two weeks in early December, but it actually went by really fast - too busy to notice. We skipped the boat ride, but did do a train ride. We watched the boat light parade, did some tree lightings, toured lots of Christmas lights. Bobby was one of the three kings in his school pageant. 

Okay, this is even boring me. Christmas morning was pretty fun. Jack wasn't into it for the presents, but enjoying climbing as usual and batting some ornaments around. Bobby opened his tennis racket first and Jack just played with that most of the morning. The Hess truck was a big hit.  Some lego sets got big reactions but it was cute to see Bobby open his blue guitar which he had asked the two Santas for. 

We went to the Safari Park in there sometime, Long Beach Aquarium, lots of playgrounds, the beach a few times, but have spent a lot of time with our friends just playing and playing some more. There's a pretty solid revolving door of kids throughout all of the houses on our street. Which means my garage is full of ride on toys, trikes and scooters that aren't ours, but will make their way home soon.

Maybe I'll try to blog more often to get some interesting details in here next time. But at least I'm putting up a lot of photos (hint hint!)

Bobby...

Bobby is a handful to say the least. I really blame myself for any issues, but he has some good moments too.

We were listening to Blue Christmas by Elvis, and he asked me if it was Captain Hook.

He suggested "we should make a fake daddy, then he could sit at work and we would hook it up so when someone checked on him, it would say 'I'm fine, thank you'" You'd have to hear him say it in his little voice.

He has a creative little mind and is fun to hear him tell stories. He is also a smart little punk with an amazing memory. Don't ask me for examples (my memory is crap).

He loves Lego. He builds them all alone and I don't even supervise anymore, if it's wrong (which it isn't) who cares. I wish he would build from scratch or play with the models he builds, but he does a little and will more in the future I'm sure.

So many blogs in my head, so none written down.

October 12: The first time jack slept through the night. 7:30-6:30; and then woke up happy.  Originally, I would have said - and that was the last time that happened, but it's gotten much better. At 15 months, we'd had enough of the waking up, so he just had to cry through it. He was always good at falling asleep on his own, he just wouldn't stay asleep. So then we got through that and he would make it until 5:30am, then daylight savings blah blah blah, mama is tired. Recently his molars have finally come through the skin, and we've had a lot of 3/4/5am wake ups.  We are in between two naps, but generally down to one. If he sleeps in the jogging stroller for 30 minutes, he can get a long regular afternoon nap.

Other than that, he is a freaking awesome kid. Seriously, he is so happy and smiley and easy going.

He's doing his age appropriate behaviors - naming body parts, dancing at every piece of music that comes on, he waves at garbage trucks, when he hears the train horn miles away, he points to the sky, he loves to look for the moon and stars. He's really good at stacking and building. 

He copies everything Bobby does, good or bad. In the bath, on the trampoline, with toys, making noises, he is a complete mimic for good or bad.

The doctor thinks he should be saying more words, but he communicates with grunts and whines and points just fine. His comprehension is excellent and I'm not worried.  We are trying to read more books but it's still not a productive venture.  He is really into the lift the flap books.

He does the cutest palms up shrug the shoulder 'where is it?' move when looking for something in a book. And sometimes he does it on purpose like he's quizzing me.

He also can pee on demand which I'm fascinated by. I've tried putting him over the toilet with mixed success. But once he gets his diaper off, he will stare down at his legs and do this little grunt strain and usually get something out. Hopefully that will help us in the future…

Which reminds me - he LOVES being naked. LOVES. When I take off his pants for a diaper change, he tries to get away and take off his shirt. When he gets naked, he will take off down the hallway going to nowhere in particular but just needs to run fast!

He loves to go outside so much. He will make a break for any open door. I am glad we have this mild weather because he is often outside before 7am. He loves to walk our street and makes himself comfortable in all the neighbors front yards, especially with their Christmas and Halloween decorations.

He also LOVES screwdrivers, scissors, and knives. The biggest tantrums he throws are when you won't give him some dangerous item or make him get off the counter or some other dangerous perch.

Alright that's enough Jack for now until I remember more.

Bobby, how do you spell boo? 

B: "b - o - o - exclamation point"

He keeps saying he doesn't want to cut his hair which would be fine but it is in this horrible bowl shape right now and I don't think we can get to a longer style from here. Maybe I'll tell him batman has short hair. 

Gotta love the Mac. These guys flew up to San Francisco yesterday and apparently were killing time on the iPad while they waited.  So that leaves Jack and I for a long weekend just the two of us. I fluctuate between being lonely and just right. I thought Jack might miss Bobby more, but not yet at least.  We had a nice little morning. We had a great run, real easy feeling with the stroller. Not much of a nap for Jack but good fresh air. Then we stayed at the playground forever, went and got a bagel and some groceries. Then hit up a garage sale in the neighborhood. We got 16 books, 2 puzzles and 2 shirts for $2! It was around noon when we got back, but hey, there was no rush to get home like there normally is on Saturday mornings.  I could tell he was tired so we played for a bit, took a shower and went down easily for a (hopefully long) nap.

He is a really great kid. This is how he I knew he was tired. No fussing or whining, just moving a little slower and getting flat to play.

I must be a little crazy and/or stupid. I can't tell you how many times I put these puzzles together. I try to bribe Bobby or Violet to do it, but otherwise talk about an exercise in futility. He just loves to dump them out over and over. You'd think I would move them, but he is starting to try to put them back together. Watching me do it a million times must have rubbed off.

You saw Jack trying to ride the scooter, well now, the three wheeled one is no good and he wants to get on the Razor.  He also climbs on to any tricycle or bike he can. And I don't know why, I guess because we lived on such a busy street in NC, we don't have a lot of scoot on toys. I'm hoping Carolyn maybe hasn't given hers away yet and I can steal it in a few weeks. My back is getting quite sore walking this child around on toys too big for him. We may have a little adrenaline junkie on our hands.

Jack has also reached his cleaning phase. And his trash phase. He will pick his wet diaper up after changing and march it to the trash can. Same if you give him a scrunched up piece of paper. It's really cute. He also heads over there with sippy cups and legos, so you have to watch him. We also had a close call with the very tiny apple tv remote.

There are somedays I'm not sure if these kids are going to kill each other or I'm going to kill them first.

I know Bobby is only 4, and that is the peak (?) of ego, but I just want him to take the higher road and share! And include the little ones. And fat chance for a while. I feel like I'm losing the battle with him sometimes.

Jack will launch his food if he's done or doesn't like it. Had a good arm too. This freakin carpet is going to cost us a million bucks.

So I moved our upholstered chairs away from the bar/island b/c Jack was climbing from the coffee table to the chair to the countertop. But now he has managed to scale the tall and very tippy stools. He also loves ladders and rock walls at playgrounds and will make a non stop cycle up those and down slides. This does not help my socializing.

Jack will go hang at the front door as soon as he wakes up and pretty much several times a day. And cry and whine until we go outside. We compromise to the backyard. Sorry neighbors. 

I don't think Jack is ever going to sleep through the night. Whenever it gets good (i.e. only waking up twice, usually within 90 minutes of each other- 12:30/2) it will get bad and really bad again. I don't see any teeth and now he has a sniffle, but he is not sleeping well at all. I thought he was getting ready to go down to one nap, but I'm not so sure. Or maybe I'm not just willing to make it at 10am like he wants. A better nights sleep would help move that to after lunch.

Jack loves dogs. Jack loves Halloween decorations. Both of these things cause him to dart into the street as top speed. He will walk down the street and just make noises at the hanging ghosts and witches. He loves them.

Batman and Robin should have a good time this year. I have a feeling there will be a lot of superheroes on our street.

Oh Bobby

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Christmas." I think he has his eyes on new toys and I keep saying maybe for Christmas. Wishful thinking that it's anytime soon. 

"If you watch a lot of tv, your eyes will e bad, and then you can't hit the baseball" wonder where he got that life lesson from. 

Walking

So Jack never held hands when he learned to walk. I never led him around hunched over and all that. He has basically never held hands when walking and pulls away if you try to hold onto him. I actually hope he gets past this as he needs to get led around parking lots or say, hold his hand while he's running down a hill.

All this to say, he walked a good quarter mile today - no stroller or push car. In shoes too! Which helps not have crazy black bottoms of his feet.

Boots were not totally hated

I just really messed up with this ones feet/shoes. I skipped the soft sole stage for no reason (socks were fine in winter and then didn't get around to getting any) and now the crocs and sandals are a little too hard to walk in, causing occasional tripping. Today was better though, no real falls. Bobby had some pretty cool shoes so I'm hoping to get Jack into them soon. We'll have to see! 

Bobby got his first real pair of sneakers for school. He had 3 successive pair of those colorful Saucony, but they were a bit more show than support. But now, he is in Nikes. Nothing going to hold this speedster back now!

And now he wants to use a fork! All the time. As if feeding with my wall to wall carpet wasn't bad enough. And I hate useless plastic kids forks, so I've done away with those and now jack is armed with stainless steel points. Awesome. And I'm about to rearrange all my furniture because he just climbs and climbs up to the highest points where he should not be. 

 

Please note the "smoke protector" that B insisted the ghost have in his bedroom. 

At some point I guess I'll have to teach them to share, rather than providing two of everything. 

This would also remedy itself if jack didn't copy EVERYTHING Bobby did. 

Remember when my kids used to go to bed 7/7:30. Wasn't that nice? Then summer happened. Sigh.

School seemed to go well today. Didn't get much out of him, but that's normal. Luckily we have the best teacher there and she actually emailed me 3 photos of him. Not group shots either, Bobby. We met her when she was a substitute for us at the camp before he went last year (summer '12) and she was awesome and nice then and now she's our teacher! You'd think anyone who teaches preschool would be, and they generally are, but we got a good one.

Bobby has names to learn too!

Bobby has a bit of teenager in him. Whoever taught him, "I hate ___" and "I'm bored" at the beach, we need to have some words. He doesn't know how to use either really, but that doesn't stop him. And he seems to have dropped hate, but not before teaching it to Liam. I am pretty mortified at that. He says I'm bored too, with the perfect attitude too, but not at the right times really. Hopefully we can get back to having a sweet four year old. He is obsessed with Candy Land and Lego and that has all made Rick panic that he's lost his baseball skills!

Bobby loves to get a hold of my phone and take pictures of himself, and when I say pictures, I mean about 200 in rapid fire.

Jack is so rad. We are trying to teach Bobby how influential he is. good or bad, he has a mini-me who copies everything, lately, it's been screaming for fun. He has figured out he can sink down sideways and lay down and he is so impressed with himself. I'll put up the video if it's any good, but i was more worried about him going under so it may not be that good.

Swinging fool

Jack continues to be great. All that tip toe walking has made him a very fast runner. The kid can move. Still interesting in toilets and climbing on everything. Does play nicely alone when given a chance.

Boys will be boys

And he has a good arm. Mostly demonstrated with food, but combined with his temper, he can launch things if he's angry. 

Love our evening games 

I know pajamas are supposed to be tight but its been a solid 85-90 here so without air conditioning, out house has been a solid 80-85 too. So loose or no clothing is the norm. And lots of outside time, but that is true for jack regardless. 

Unimpressed at the Lego knight

He wears shoes a little better but still fairly infrequently so it's not helping the situation.

Loves to climb into chairs and sit

He is quite the mimic. He tries to throw the frisbee and swing baseball bats and golf clubs. He will slam his body into the wall after Bobby does and he tries to make noises in the fan like Bobby does. He has figured out how to blow raspberries on my stomach and he cracks himself up doing it.

Jacks first cone ever

He is talking a bit in the words that only we can understand. Bobby, booby, dog. Maybe a few more but not so clear. He does know words like ball even if he doesn't annunciate them yet.

Hanging out watching the gardner

He's a good napper which is nice and will be nice when Bobby goes back to school this Monday.

Selfie.  So big.

We've had a good summer since we got back, lots of playing outside and with friends. Bobby is really into Legos and is building quite the collection. We really need a better storage system, but the kitchen counter is doing just fine. Bobby is really into Candy Land and has some interest in "shoot some ladders."

Just a few of self shots he took 

There's more interesting stuff going on with them but I never bother to write it down quick enough.

My little SoCal dude

One of the dads on our street apparently broke his elbow on our street basketball hoop, so Rick and I were talking about it.

Bobby: So he broke his arm
Us: Yep
B: And now he takes it off
B: And he has to get a robot arm