Peanut's Secret Weapon

The boys have started to have small battles over toys and attention. Anytime I pull out a newly unearthed baby toy for Peanut to play with, that toy becomes Little Man's new favorite toy. The treehouse toy, the train toy, the cloth book, the stacking bowls - you name it and despite Little Man having ignored those toys sitting in bins for well over a year now that Peanut seems to enjoy them he just HAS TO have them. Peanut on the other hand will grab toys out of Little Man's hands or knock down whatever Little Man is playing with if it happens to be within his reach. I try to explain to Little Man that all he has to do is move what he is playing with away from Peanut BUT then it would be moving it away from where I am as well. Oh the difficult choices my children face!

So the battles, small and not overly difficult, are starting with Little Man usually on the victorious size because of size, age, and the ability to run!

Today, the tides of war are turning. Peanut pulled out his secret weapon. He was playing with a toy on his playmat and Little Man went to take it out of his hands and BURP - HICCUP- SPLAT - Peanut spit up a little bit. Little Man jumped back so quickly and yelled "Mama, Baege is trying to spit up on me". I said, "well just stay away from him then". But Little Man reached in again to get the coveted baby toy (that he apparently just had to have) and BURP - SPAT, more spit up. He pulled his hand back as if he Peanut were spitting up acid. Again, he didn't get the toy and was scared of the spit up so he just found something else to play with. Later in the morning Peanut was playing with his train and Little Man reached in to push the button and SPAT spit up all over his hand. He cried and ran to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came to me upset over the spit up I said "well, what did you learn" he said "Beage spit up on me and it no accident". I just laughed and looked over at Peanut who was smiling and drooling with a twinkle in his eye that seemed to say that Little Man may have won a few battles but he knew he was going to win the war!

Peanut Keeps on Growing!

Peanut is a VERY healthy baby boy! He weighed in today at a whopping 23 pounds 8 ounces and 27 3/8 inches long. The doctor was very happy with his sitting skills and his tummy pushing up skills (although we had to pry the table paper out of his mouth when she put him on his tummy). He giggled through his entire exam because of how tickleish he is and he showed off his two tooth grin multiple times. He has to see an eye doctor to make sure that his eye muscles are strengthening correctly and he might have a milk allergy. Although, if he has a milk allergy - it isn't stopping him from gaining weight and growing. He endured two shots and recovered quickly and slept the afternoon away. We get to start him on mashed vegetables and fruits here soon.

He is a happy, easy baby so far and is still taking 3 naps a day (although the last nap is only a half hour or so) and he is sleeping from about 7:30 pm until about 7:00 am. My absolute favorite part of the entire day is first thing in the morning, after hearing his morning coos, going into his room and getting his first thing in the morning smiles. Papa Bear and I fight for the privilege each and every morning. Oh how I love my Peanut!

A School Update

So Little Man has been attending his pre-school twice a week for two weeks now. His first day was a huge success because I was the co-oping parent. The second day was ended early because he missed me so much that he never stopped crying and after almost 2 hours of crying they called me to come get him. His third day he cried for 30 minutes and then had a great rest of the day and today he only cried for 12 minutes. It breaks my heart to leave him at school when he is yelling "Mama, no leave me! I want to go home and play with my toys!" I feel like the worst mom in the world while he is crying and the best mom in the world when I go to pick him up and he excitedly tells me all that he did. The first thing he tells me is what he had for snack. The next thing that he tells me is what bike he rode during activity time and then he usually sings me a song or two that they sang at school. I am not usually able to understand the rest because it is thoughts/ideas and moments told to me totally out of context. From what I have gathered from talking to his teacher, him and other parents here are some of the highlights.

1. He played with pumpkin seeds and went to the class garden and harvested a pumpkin.

2. Caught a cricket in the room, put it in a glass jar and maybe shook it a little to much - making it a not so hoppy cricket.

3. Learned how to glue things on paper - I was told he REALLY enjoyed the glue and that his entire paper was covered in glue. (so glad this mess was at school and not at home)

4. Sang Sticky Sticky Bumblebee - ok this one, I am not sure about. He has sung it to me twice and told me Mrs. H taught him but it wasn't anywhere in her curriculum so I just don't know.

5. Is now known as the class hugger. Has hugged Mrs. H multiple times and apparently has a little girlfriend, Ava in the class who holds his hand and he hugs all the time.

6. Painted with a feather, painted with corks, painted with brushes, painted with his hands and the kicker . . . with one of his classmate's hands. I don't really even want to know.

7. Sang to Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee - this might be the Sticky Sticky Bumblebee song with a little 2 year old confusion.

8. Played with rhythm sticks - this is a favorite for Little Man because he is allowed to hit the sticks as loud and often as he wants.

I am hopeful that next week he won't cry at all when I drop him off AND I get to co-op again next week so he is excited that it is soon his turn to have his mama stay with him!

Wordless (but not soundless) Wednesday

Semantic Stories

Last night Papa Bear stirred up a nice ground beef and mexican rice dish for dinner. Little Man was not diggin it and getting him to eat it was a down right chore. So Papa Bear says "Should we just give him some plain rice?" and Little Man chimes right in with "Yes! Yes! I want Airplane Rice!!"

_________________________________________

Today I brought out the safety scissors to work on teaching Little Man how to use them. There are some skills that I forget were ever taught to us because they come so naturally, but using scissors can be difficult for little hands. But he is good at shallow cuts along the edge of the paper and made a few continuous cuts too. He probably spent 30 minutes today working with his scissors. Later on in the day, while trying to open something to make a snack I yelled "Ouch!". Little Man, ever the nurturer, ran over and said "What's wrong mama, what's wrong?" So I told him that I got a papercut and he got his furrowed brow confused look on his face and said "No mama, you got a scissors cut. Scissors cut paper, right?" I could understand his confusion but I didn't know how to make him understand, so I just gave him a piece of poptart and he forgot all about it!

Mikey Likes It! (some of you won't get this reference)

Success! Peanut had his first meal of solids (rice cereal that was more soup than solid) at just 4 days shy of six month. For the last week, Papa Bear and I have felt guilty during dinner because Peanut was eyeing us with marked jealousy every time we put food in our mouths. We were trying to wait until his 6 month well visit next week, but I think he was just too hungry. So I mixed up a bowl of rice cereal to try again, this was my third attempt and I didn't really expect him to take to it. I expected him to look at the spoon like it was an alien and push the food back out of his mouth with a shudder and a gag but my to my surprise he opened him mouth to the spoon like a seasoned veteran and ate quite a bit. He followed his cereal up with a 4 ounce bottle of milk and then had a bath. He was out like a light at 7 after his last feeding. He was clean, content and rather rotund in his 12-18 month pajamas.

Oh and did I mention that he is an Eagles fan? ( We didn't let him watch the game today because we wanted to spare him that disappointment.)

The Airplane Park

Little Man loves all things that go, trucks, cars, trains and planes. So as a family fun activity we went to the Airplane Park this weekend. This is just a place near the airport where you can watch the planes take off or land depending on which direction the wind is blowing. And it was a good plan, but you know what they say about things not going the way you planned.

It started off well, we found a nice spot to lay our blanket down and get comfortable.

We even posed for a few shots together before the day went awry.

But then we learned that it best to go when the wind blows so that the plans are LANDING (engines being turned off) not TAKING OFF (engines firing up LOUDLY). With two little guys sensitive to loud noise our day went quickly south.

Peanut, even with his ears covered, was very scared of the loud sound and it didn't help that we were actually planning to nap him there. Even our Peanut can not sleep with that noise!

And Little Man hid his face in the blanket every time a plan came over head. He said that he wanted them to "coming in for a landing" so the could use their "quiet voices".

So we ditched the plan, vowed to only go back when planes were landing and went home to play in the backyard where planes taking off were no where to be found!

True to Form, but Not to Fit!!

In 4 short days, Peanut will be 6 months. I can't believe that he is already 6 months old. (Stay tuned for a true 6 month update after our doctor's appointment in a week) He is rolling over (front to back), getting stuck on back like an angry turtle, sitting up, playing with toys, chewing on everything and watching his big brother play around him. He is also the fattest baby ever!

True to form as we approach his 6 month mark, when he should start wearing his 6 to 12 month clothing (see when we moved him into 6-12 months at 3 months), we have moved him up to 12-18 month clothing. The 6 to 12 month pants were resembling tights due to their fit and the snaps were being left open to accommodate for his bulging belly. His shirts are riding up resembling those midriff shirts and the fit of the sleeves comes dangerously close to cutting off circulation. Don't even get us started on socks! We don't know where his thigh begins and his ankles start - we call this "thankles" which is similar to "cankles" except we can't find his calfs either. His legs are like tree trunks and the only indication of knees is that we know where his leg bends. Finding socks that both stay on but don't cut off circulation is my own personal moby dick, a quest I will always fight but never win. So I am currently flooded with memories as I pull out clothes I remember Little Man wearing and looking forward to making new memories in those clothes for Peanut.

Stay tuned for updated pictures of all of Peanut's chunk!

First Day of Preschool

Today was Little Man’s first day of preschool. He goes to a co-op school which means that each class a different parent stays in the classroom to help out the teacher. Today I was the co-oping parent so that made for a much easier transition for him. The only time he cried was when he learned it was time to go home and the only thing that made him calm down was the promise that he could come back tomorrow.

The first hour and a half of school is free time. And he played freely! He painted and painted then he helped some of the other kids with their paintings. Then he moved to play dough which he mashed and rolled and cut out. Then it was on to the trucks and buses and fire trucks and the water table. Oh the water table was a big hit! But then the highlight of the free play time arrived. One of the mom’s found a toad on the playground and sent it into our classroom in hopes that it would distract some of the kids that were having a hard time missing their parents. And the toad became Little Man’s best friend. He carried it around and rescued it from some of his more overzealous classmates telling them “no touch, you hurt it, no touch”. He even named it Mrs. H. The real Mrs. H (not the toad) thought that was just fine and was very gracious about it.

He enjoyed the playground and pulled a wagon full of girls around for a while. He climbed the …, well he climbed everything that he could climb. Next was snack time and if you ask him about school he will tell you all about snack. He had goldfish and grapes and cheese sticks. At the end of snack time they have rest time, but Little Man didn’t get rest time because he was still eating and eating and eating. He ate his snack, my snack and the snack of the kids sitting next to him. All of the other kids were laying or sitting on their resting mats reading books or listening to music and there was Little Man sitting at the table eating more of his snack. By the time he finally finished eating it was time for story time (Humpty Dumpty) which was an unfortunate choice because Little Man doesn’t like to hear about anyone getting hurt. So he kept taking the felt Humpty Dumpty and putting him back on top of the wall when Mrs. H put him on the ground after “his big fall”. Then it was music time where they played with rhythm sticks. He LOVED being allowed to hit two sticks together are hard and loud as he could and when Mrs. H asked what else they could do with the sticks he growled at her (thanks Uncle Mark) and so she laughed and sang the song with growling and playing the sticks. Then it was down to the activity room to climb on big climbing structures and crawl through tunnels and ride bikes in the hallway. The only time he cried was when he learned he was going to have to go home, but all it took was the promise that he could come back the next day to see Mrs. H and he was a happy little school boy once again.

We are both exhausted and will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow we will see how he does when I have to leave, but I think that painting and playing with the trucks is much more fun than staying home with me!

Wordless Wednesday

Rolly Polly Peanut

Today, at 5 months and 22 days, Peanut rolled from his tummy to his back. It was a stealthy roll and only noted because I know I put him on his tummy and when I came back to check on him he was on his back.

I put Peanut down for his afternoon nap on his tummy (oh, stop judging, lots of kids sleep on their tummy's, most mom's just don't admit it). Anyway, I put him on his tummy and 45 minutes later I heard him fussing and then he quieted down for about 15 minutes and then there was howling. So I ran upstairs to investigate what made my usually content Peanut howl with discontentment and there he was on his back like and angry turtle, stuck and struggling. I commended him for rolling over, scolded him for doing while I wasn't there to see it and then I put him back on his tummy and he went back to sleep.

So there it is folks, even with all of that weight, he can move when he really wants to!! I wonder if he will try it again though since he didn't like the results at all!!

Sippy Cups and Holding Our Breath

In my recent post about firsts, I neglected to get everything in because so many new things had happened in recent days. SO I am playing a bit of catch up and trying it get it all recorded before Little Man starts school on Thursday because I know that there will be stories a plenty come the end of the week.

Peanut is drinking from a sippy cup at less than 6 months! We figured this out kind of by accident, but it is going to be a bonus to switch him to a sippy cup as soon as possible because it is easier for him to feed himself that way and we will have an easier time of it when we wean him later on. Last week during dinner, he finished his ice cube quickly and to try to avoid freezer burn around his mouth I gave him a sippy cup of water instead of another ice cube. I thought that he might chew on it or play with it but the next thing we new was that he was drinking it. Just sucking it down as if he has always used sippy cups. He wasn't thrilled with the fact that it was water instead of milk but he drank anyway. So now in addition to his ice cube he gets sippy cups of water at times and soon he will get his nightly feeding in his sippy IF I can convince Papa Bear to give up that precious bonding bottle time every night.

Another mentionable moment is Little Man putting his face in the water in the pool. He has blown bubbles in the water all summer but he started holding his breath and dunking his head (with the occasional inhalation of water) this weekend. It was Sunday on our back deck but it might have been initiated because he started his winter 8 week swim lessons that he has done every fall/winter since he was 6 months old. He was very proud of himself and we are hoping that it means he will get even more brave during swim lessons this year! (Mommom, this is another video) Oh and yes, at the end the video does end as Little Man declares that he is going to take his underwear off and we thought that we would spare any viewers a surprise ending!!

Why I almost have a heart attack on a daily basis

Oh the life of a mom with boys (not that girls aren't just as active, I just don't know since I don't have any). I recently read a blog where a mom talked about the things you never thought you would ever say and then you have kids and you hear yourself saying thing like "Little Man, stop climbing up the railing naked, you are going to get splinters where you really don't want them" or " Get down from that window sill and how did you get up there in the first place?!" Little Man gives us scares on a daily basis, climbing walls, railings, tables, you name it. He jumps off anything and has no fear. We caught a bit on camera.

Scared yet?? Does it look like he might land on his face??

Well, he pulled it out and had a stellar landing. But he doesn't always land on his feet and I always hold my breath.

Oh the life of being a Mama Bear of boys....while it may be a little scary, really who can resist this face....
Or this one...

More Firsts for Peanut

Some firsts that need to be mentioned...

Peanut thinks he is ready for table food, but in hopes of holding him off until his digestive system thinks so too, he has been enjoying ice cubes. We bought the mesh feeder for Little Man, but he never took to it so it went untouched. We were excited to see it get some use. It is one of his favorite things and cries when the ice cube has melted and we take it away. He gets one every night at the dinner table now and loves it.

Peanut went for a swim. I know the summer is over and we had pools and beaches a plenty but either the water was too cold for him to enjoy it or he was sleeping (not that I am complaining). So before lunch Papa Bear put the pool up on our deck, ran the hose from our tap so we could make the water warm and the boys got to play in the water. At first Peanut wasn't that into it, but after a while he was splashing and playing and eating all of the toys!!

Peanut has really taken to the jumperoo. So much so that we had to move it up from the playroom to the family room so that he could be in it more often. He can be fussy and all it takes is putting him in it and off he goes! (Mommom, this is a movie, not a picture so don't forget to push play to see Peanut jump jump jumping)

Pray for the Goldfish

We had our "meet the teacher" session yesterday to help Little Man be more comfortable when he starts his 2 day a week school next Thursday. In theory he was very excited but in actual practice it took a little coaxing to get him in the door. But once in the door he was fascinated by all of the toys that he could play with. He flitted from one area to the next, putting baby dolls to bed, playing with airplanes, making pizza for Mrs. H. He loved the class pets (2 goldfish) so much that he picked up the large glass bowl and tried to carry them across the room causing me to jump up to try to rescue them and Mrs. H calmly with tons of teacherly love say "well Little Man, hold on tight to them". He proved his love for the goldfish, his crazy 2 year old strength and his potential to harm any class pet. The good news is that it took a lot more work to get him to leave than it did to get him to go in and again, in theory, he is looking very forward to school next week. I foresee a few tears next week, I am not sure if it will be him, me or the class pets in tears!

Not to Toot Our Own Horn or Anything....

....but Papa Bear has declared Little Man a musical genius already. Today, Little Man, Papa Bear and Peanut were hanging out in the kitchen when Little Man decided to show Papa Bear how he can play the "empty paper towel roll". First it was a flute and then it was a trumpet. Being a trumpet player himself, Papa Bear recognized Little Man's expert mouth position and motion (we have no idea what this is technically called). He ran downstairs and got his trumpet and sure enough, Little Man can play. To me it just sounds like rude noises coming from a brass instrument that is larger than the boy playing with it. However I know nothing about music/instruments and am completely tone deaf myself. All musical talent passed down to the boys comes entirely from Papa Bear. He plays the bass guitar, trumpet and piano at various levels. And as the resident musical expert of this house, he said that there are grown adults who can't make the proper mouth position and blow into the trumpet in a way that actually produces the noise. But Little Man can!!

The Waning Days of Summer

We are still trying to keep our days filled and Little Man busy as the summer comes to a close. That has been difficult because I am not nearly as much fun as the beach, sand and waves were so I am still getting the repetitive plea of "go to beach house, mama!" It doesn't help that my creativity and energy are somewhat lacking so our art projects, usually more thought out and planned, seem to just end in a mess which leads to play time in the bathtub which means at least an hour of time filled up. The finger painting leads to making hand prints which on this fine day, led to making belly prints, which led to painting ourselves instead of the paper. Which of course led to "go in the house, arms in the air, don't touch anything and straight to the bathtub mister!!"

But even though, as you can see, Little Man has no trouble making a mess he still doesn't like BEING messy. Today I had to put some hydrocortisone on a rash on his leg before nap. He insisted on changing from his shorts to pants so that he "doesn't get his sheets messy". There is no doubting that he is my kid!!

Peanut is all smiles and toothy grins these days. He does little baby crunches when you put him in a recline position and likes sitting up more and more. He is an eating machine and loves his nighttime bottle with Papa Bear. When he sees his bottle being warmed up he leans into Papa Bear and all but rips the bottle from his hands. He laughs at gross boy sounds reminding me that I am the lone female in a house of boys (also reminded of this when Little Man forgets to put the toilet seat down!) and loves to grab my face between his two pudgy hands and laugh out loud.

Making Handprint Beach Mementos

To make beautiful (at least in this Mama Bear's eyes) lasting momentos at the beach. Go to Home Depot or any hardware store and pick up some quick drying plaster of paris. Collect shells on the beach or purchase shells from a store down at the beach (we used a coupon to get free shells if we purchased $10 worth of fudge). Have your child make a hand or foot print in the wet sand (at low tide so the waves won't get it.) Have your child put shells in the print and then pour in the plaster. Let stand for 20 minutes or until dry and.....

Little Man's Hand

Peanut's Foot