A Tale of Two Cuties

I have been forgetting to record the story of the boys' youth, which was the whole purpose of this darn blog, so here is the blog equivalent of a dissertation to make up for that.

Carter is now a little over two and he is currently into flower picking. Luckily, he picks the tiny weed flowers that have popped up all over our lawn so everybody wins. He spends his days playing with his garbage trucks, dump trucks and riding around in his car, which he now calls a pickup truck. He always asks Gabriel to ride in the backseat so they can go "grocery shopping." I pick Gabe up and put him on the back drink holders of the car, and Carter and he ride off. He loves it when he gets out of that car, and I say, "Oh shucks! I wanted to ride some more." If I forget to say it, he stands there and commands me, "Say Oh shucks!" He goes and usually buys grapes and ice cream and then brings them back to us to sample. He's pretty much into anything that goes. He and daddy go to the airport to watch the planes take off and land. Along the way, they stop and look for all types of trucks, trains and railroad tracks. He always likes to tell us whether a plane is taking off or landing when he sees them in the sky.

Carter also plays a lot with his kitchen. He plays restaurant and serves us all his plastic food. He enjoys slicing his velcro fruit with his "sharp knife." Lately, he has been serving his racoon, and Tigger Tiger "milk" by lifting up his shirt, putting two of his Lovey Dog blankets across his chest and sticking the racoon and Tigger Tiger under the blankets. Sometimes he puts them on his belly button and gives them milk from there too. He also likes to stuff racoon into his shirt and say he has a baby in his tummy like mommy. Everyone in our family has been accused of having a baby in their tummy at one point.

He has really taken to singing, and is remembering more and more details/lines of songs. He has a galloping-like dance move that he does whenever music is playing. He has wonderful ears and always likes to ask, "Was dat noise?" whenever he hears a sound. He used to do a quick look to the right and then to the left every time he asked that question which was so cute, but that has sadly disappeared. He's growing up so quickly :(

He is becoming easier to feed because now he requests certain food favorites and I can say, "eat your ______first and then you can have _____." He's still very finicky and we still have to use our thinking skills to figure out how to get him to consume the most nutritious food before he demands his old standby, milk. Last night he only ate his meat pie with cherry jelly on top of it. Today, he didn't want his oatmeal, so I cut a grape in half to make two green eyes, made a nose with a banana, and a mouth with a nectarine slice and presented the oatmeal to him calling it, "Oatmeal Carter." He seemed to appreciate the gesture, and he did eat most of it.

He is getting much better at sharing with Gabriel. He still says things are "his" but if you tell him that it's Gabriel's turn, he usually assents. He is very fascinated with his brother and always likes to have him around. Now, whenever I do something fun to Carter, such as giving him a ride, he promptly tells me, "Now it's Gabwiel's turn." He loves watching Gabriel's reactions.

Gabriel is doing great as well. He is almost six months. He doesn't wake as often in the night. He still spits up, which is annoying because you just have to expect that when he goes down on his tummy, you will have to clean something up. A bib is obligatory, and I go to work with a puke stained shirt every morning. But he is definitely more rotund than Carter, so I am not at all worried about it affecting his weight gain.

His current goal is to become mobile and talk like his big brother. He has started scooting himself backwards, and today I noticed him lifting himself up in the plank position which is what Carter did right before he started crawling, so maybe he'll crawl soon. He, like Carter, loves to go after the little fish that rattles from the Lamaze fishbowl sea creature set. I don't know what it is about that fish, but he's some kind of wizard. Both my boys were very drawn to him. He is getting better at sitting up on his own. I just make sure his periphery is clear and padded so when he inevitably tips over, he is not hurt.

Gabe is babbling and spitting a lot. He is a little more tempermental than Carter was. Carter was pretty even-keeled and serious in front of strangers. He almost never got scared of them. He would stare at them seriously and it would take a little doing to get him to crack a smile. Gabe is either a complete charmer and smiles easily front of strangers, or he bursts into shrieks of terror depending on his mood.

He loves to hear pattycake, Peek-a-boo, Georgie Porgie, Ba Ba Black Sheep and Row Row Row your boat. He, like Carter, is mesmerized by his father and the other day just burst into tears when Daddy left the room. Carter didn't have a lot of separation anxiety so this was a complete surprise for us to experience.

I could keep on writing since everything they do is interesting to me, but I feel like my fingers have had enough, and I have an opportunity for a nap, so I will end it with that. More to come though, so stay tuned :)

Travel

Well, we finally attempted a family road trip and it went well aside from the wailing that ensued when we tried to put the kids to bed in the hotel. Normally we just shut the doors and pretend we don't hear it when we put them down for the night, but that's hard to do in a hotel room when they are right there five feet away from you and two feet away from each other. At least no one complained to the front desk. It's pretty amazing how much two little ones can trash a hotel room too. Ok, I'll admit it, I had a part in trashing the room also. But we didn't get fined for staining the carpet so that's good.

We had a very nice time though. The only way to do a trip with the kids is to have a very loose agenda. I got to do a little bit of everything I love to do on a trip -talk to my husband in the car, listen to good road tunes, read, eat, shop and also got to spend some time in a Mc Donald's playground. We tried swimming, but that didn't go over too well for some reason. I guess I need to sign Carter up for swimming lessons to get over his current aversion to pools.

Chica- for Mom and Dad

Adios Shaggy!

He has only been on this Earth for 5 measly months but has already had 2 haircuts!! Carter had his first one at around 15 months!

The magical moment

Hey everyone! Well, it's been a difficult month to say the least, and since I strive towards being as impractical as possible at all times, I capped the month with one of those "themed" birthday parties. Half of me thinks themed birthday parties are cheesy and unnecessary, but the other half of me ruled on the day that the Garbage party was conceived. I was driving home from a birthday party one day and was talking about a cute invitation I had seen for a train-themed birthday party. It said "Two-t Two-t!' Get it??? ha ha- I still think it's genious! Anyway, I was thinking about doing a train themed party, but I worried that Carter might want a train party later on in life, and I didn't want to squander the opportunity for a birthday that he wouldn't even remember. My husband then said that perhaps we should do a garbage truck themed party since he also loves the garbage man/truck. Instantly I started to ponder it and decided that it was a winner since I knew he probably wouldn't request that one later on.
The party didn't go without its hitches. I wanted people to come expecting to eat, but didn't want the late night party that we had last year since the family was coming over the next day. So I scheduled it at one, which is naptime. So, most people decided to come late, which was fine, I just felt like a moron for scheduling it at 1 in the first place. Then, there was the dead frog that a kid found in the sandbox, the umbrella that almost tipped over and crushed the guests, the fact that I left too much to do for the day of and was scrambling around like a chicken with its head cut off the whole day and the nuggets we ran out of. I could go on and on, but alas, the kids were active and enjoying each other and the adults seemed to enjoy each other too. I was relieved that the kids enjoyed climbing into the "dumpster" play yard that we filled with recycled trash and treats, and they liked drawing "grafitti" and hitting the trash monster pinata. I was also relieved that we only ran out of chicken nuggets and those were easy to replenish. But the most fabulous moment of the whole day was watching Carter's shy smile slowly appear as every guest gathered around and sang "Happy Birthday." Words cannot express how much it warmed my heart. He talked about it all evening saying, "People sang." So, I have learned my lesson as I sit here exhausted in a truly "trashed" out house. Themed parties are completely unnecessary. All you need is a crowd of people to stare at your little guy and serenade him next year. But will I heed my own advice?????????

4 month stats

Gabe is in the 50th% for weight and 75th-90th percentile for height. Where have I heard this before? And Gabe is losing his hair bit by bit and it is turning fairer just like Carter's did. He is still not on much of a predictable schedule with anything, but I know he'll come around when he stops all of this spitting up. At least he is not fussy anymore. Normally he is as sweet and cuddly as these pictures minus the drool show. Enjoy!

The latest haps

Well, all is going really well in our land. I am not the walking zombie that I expected to be once I went back to work, and both boys are thriving. I really enjoy this new life. It would be hard to do all by myself, but with so much family around and a modern-thinking husband who does not retreat to his man cave when he gets home from work, I am able to keep it from getting ugly.

I have bit the bullet and become semi-domestic. I am a little closer to being a real mom. A real mom cooks, cleans, does laundry and of course, mothers her children. Before having #2, I was only a half-mom becuase I didn't do any cooking or cleaning. However, it became obvious to us when faced with a picky eater and a screaming newborn whose mother needed her husband home ASAP and not out looking for food to pick up on the way home, that I needed to change things.

So I have begun to explore new "quick" recipes, and learn how to feed a child who, has steadily been marking off his list the things he is willing to eat since he turned 1. I have been pleased with how most have turned out, although I am still bummed becuase I have not yet found that magical meal that only takes 30 minutes to prep, cook and clean. This week I chose to make a souffle since it has so many protein/iron rich eggs in it. Since Carter asks for birthday cake every day, and the souffle was made of sweet butternut squash and carrots, I decided to up the chances of him trying it by calling it "birthday cake souflee." And luckily for me, he bought it for now. I don't expect these little tricks to last long. He caught on quickly that "banana mush" was really just a banana mixed with anything he normally hates and he even was able to tell that there was pureed chicken and applesauce mixed in with his ice cream one day. (I got desperate) But some time has been bought for me to continue experimenting with new things for him to try. I have also had success with edamame due to it's cuteness when you push the beans out of their pods and they go flying onto his tray, and like it because it has so many nutrients.

So that's what I've been up to. Here is what the boys are up to:
Carter- has developed a fondness for youtube videos relating to Elmo, Thomas, and Caillou. He still loves watching trucks in action. He is really into this Russian video of a train who gets distracted by nature on the way to the station that we randomly stumbled upon. He sings songs all day. He loves "Happy Birthday," Firetruck Song (which he has customized and changed to Garbage Truck song, "Silent Night," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Elmo's Song," "Choo Choo Train," and "I've been working on the Railroad." He is obsessed with ladders and turns everything (coffee tables, his high chair, etc) into a ladder for him to climb. He loves the books Silent Night, Franklin Rides a Bike, and 10 minutes 'Till Bedtime. He is really happy when Gabe is awake and comes around to play with him frequently. He has become more able to follow along with tv shows/movies. Unfortunately, now there is no turning back. I get about 45 requests to watch Horton Hears a Who each day.

Gabe is starting to sleep in his crib finally. He still wakes up more frequently than when he is in the swing, but at least I don't feel like I'm fostering any bad sleep habits. His colic has disappeared and he is 100% pure heaven to be around. He finally likes tummy time even though he still spits up every time he is placed on his stomach. He recently has begun to "talk." He seems to be more vocal than Carter was at this age, perhaps becuase Carter was tongue tied and I didn't have his frenulum clipped. Or perhaps, he may just be more extroverted. In any case, it's really funny to listen to him. Unfortunately, it just reminds me how fast he is growing and this, of course, makes me so sad. Gabe likes to bounce on my knee, play pattycake, peekaboo, and be tickled. He loves exploring my face and hair. He can roll over both ways although he rolls from tummy to back with the most ease. He hates being dressed after having a bath.

Anyway, that's all for now.