Our Version of Normal

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Bye-Bye Baby Beds

Andy finally converted the boys' cribs to toddler beds last Saturday morning. We put them down for their nap in their big boy beds and closed the door. I expected them to get out of their beds and play a little, but I never expected them to do what they did. After all, they take naps on cots at school so this isn't that different, right? Wrong! I guess school is different because the teachers stay in the room.

So what did the boys do? They destroyed their room! We heard them giggling and then heard a series of loud thuds. Andy went to see what they were up to and then called me in to see for myself. Both of them were on top of the changing table, and everything that had been on the changing table was on the floor, along with everything in the drawers of the changing table, in their beds, and on the shelf above the changing table.

They never did take a nap that first day. We gave up after 2 hours of giggling and playing and let them out of their room. However, they continued their destructive behavior into the afternoon. They love the swinging door between the kitchen and the dining room, swinging it back and forth and going from room to room. But Saturday afternoon, the door had had enough. It sheared off the hinges and fell against the dining room table, almost knocking Andy's brand-new computer, which he had just gotten that morning, off the table.

The boys' favorite activity now is watching Elmo videos. They got a few Elmo videos for their birthday and that is all they want to watch. Within about 5 minutes of waking up in the morning, Ben says, "Elmo?" Same thing when we come home. Henry is interested in other shows and movies, but Ben only wants to watch Elmo. The beanbags we got them for their birthday are definitely coming in handy though. We can usually get them to sit on the beanbags to watch Elmo. Otherwise, Ben would stand right in front of the tv with his nose almost touching.

When we are not watching Elmo, we have been enjoying a few "cool" days, meaning the temperature stays below 100 degrees. The boys love to play outside and I got a chance to use my new camera, which takes great pictures. I just need to learn all of its features. Hopefully I'll have lots of great pictures to share soon.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Welcome to the Terrible Twos!

We have officially entered that dreaded zone known as the "Terrible Twos." Ben and Henry turned 2 on Friday and we had a birthday party that afternoon. Since it was around 103 degrees, the party centered around the kiddie pools. I got a few pictures of boys playing in the pool and then completely forgot to keep taking pictures! Fortunately Gee, Mamo, and Aunt Nikki took pictures so I will have to get them to email some to me soon.

On Saturday, we went to the Patterson twins' 2nd birthday party where I did remember to take pictures. Elmo made an appearance, scaring most of the kids, including Henry. Ben was a little unsure at first, but was the bravest of all, inching slowly toward Elmo to take a closer look.

On Saturday morning, before the Pattersons' party, we watched the boys playing with their new toys and wondered what they think happened on Friday. This birthday is probably the first celebration resulting in gifts for them that they are actually aware of. So from their perspective, lots of people came over, they got to play in the kiddie pool all afternoon, they got lots of presents and were allowed to pull tissue paper out of bags where they discovered new toys, and they got to eat cupcakes with lots of icing! And the next morning, the new toys were all still here for them to play with! Then they went to another party where Elmo made an appearance and they got more cupcakes! I hope they don't start to think this will happen every weekend.

In non-birthday news, Henry went to see the developmental pediatrician on Thursday and has officially caught up to his actual age. So no more developmental appointments for him! Ben's appointment is this week, as well as their 2-year appointment with the pediatrician. They have also been reading a lot lately, which is entertaining to watch because they read aloud, "Read read read read read read read..."

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Our Little Ducklings

Guess I'll start with an update of what we've been up to the last several weeks. The boys moved up to the Ducklings class for the summer. In the fall, they will move up to the Robins class. The biggest change we have noticed is that they are much dirtier when they come home. The Ducklings get to play on the big playground where there is sand. The first couple of weeks, they had sand in their hair, ears, shoes, etc. We have started tossing their crocs in the bathtub with them each night!

A few weeks ago, Andy and I went to an engagement party for our friends Ray and Courtney (see pic below). What a great party! We started out at a beautiful home in Lakewood where we had drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Then we headed to Lakewood Country Club for dinner. It was a fabulous evening, made even better by Andy's parents who agreed to keep the boys that night in Fort Worth so we could stay out late and not be awakened at 6:00 am by two toddlers. We can't wait to see everyone again in Lake Tahoe for the wedding! And no, we are not taking the boys with us.

While Andy and I were getting ready for the engagement party, Ben and Henry were in Fort Worth with Mamo and Papo. They headed over to Fort Worth after their nap and went to ride the Forrest Park train. Mamo was kind enough to share some of her pictures (I can't find my camera, thus the limited number of other photos) - looks like they had a good time.

We decided to open up the house to the boys last week. They were limited to the living room and the front bedroom before and it had gotten to the point where they would scream when we walked toward the front of the house. So we removed the gate between the living room and dining room and are letting them wander around. As a result, we have learned that we need to keep a few doors closed. Ben heads straight for the bathroom to play with the toilet or the laundry room to put the cat's food in her water bowl. Henry doesn't seem to have an obvious pattern, but is able to find something he shouldn't be playing with in every room.

Henry did learn something new this past weekend. When we put them in bed Saturday night, Henry only had his pajama top on because he had stepped in the cat's water bowl and gotten his pajama pants wet. Before I go to bed, I always check on the boys. When I looked into Henry's crib, I saw an odd shape in the corner. I reached over and picked it up - it was a diaper. So I reached over to Henry and felt a bare bottom. Rather than put the diaper back on him, I got Andy to come see what Henry had done. Then Andy started to put the diaper on him, but we realized that he and his bed were completely soaked. So we changed Henry's clothes and the sheet in his crib and put him back to bed.

For Father's Day, we went to lunch with Andy's family at Ojeda's, Andy's and his dad's favorite Mexican restaurant. By the time we left, it was past the boys' naptime so they both fell asleep in the car. We got home and put them in their beds, but no luck. Their powernaps just re-energized them so they talked/cried/screamed for two and a half hours before we gave up on naptime. Also, Henry managed to remove his diaper again. Are we going to have to start using duct tape to fasten his diaper?

So that's about it for now. The boys' birthday is coming up so that will probably be the next post. Hopefully we will have pictures to share!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Big Boy Haircuts and Mother's Day

I am beginning to realize that my babies aren't really babies anymore. I guess that officially ends when they are 2 and we start tracking their age in years instead of months, which is less than 2 months away now. But it is time to get used to the idea that they are little boys now and not babies. So we took them to get their hair cut on Saturday. They've had their hair cut before, but I had wanted to preserve their "baby" hair so it was really just a trim. This time they really got it cut. By the time it was done, there was more hair on the floor than when I get my hair cut. Ben was really good through the whole thing, but Henry did not want to cooperate. Here they are after their haircuts.

After the boys woke up from their naps, Andy gave me an early Mother's Day gift. He took the boys outside to play so I could take a nap. While they were outside, Andy got the kiddie pool out for them. Of course, they were wearing their pajamas and had on regular diapers instead of swim diapers. So by the time I got out there, they were soaked and their diapers were hanging down to their knees. But who cares because they were having a blast.

For Mother's Day, in addition to letting me take a nap, Andy got me a beautiful bouquet of tulips. Ben and Henry gave me their handprints with a poem that they made at school and a bag of candy (Andy says that is all they could afford). This morning, we went to church and then met Andy's family for lunch at Peggy Sue's, where Andy tied a napkin around Ben like a cape. He wore it almost the whole time we were there.

Happy Mother's Day to Gee, Mamo, Aunt Christi, Aunt Nikki, and Aunt Kellie!

The Adventures of Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley came to visit us in February. He arrived on a very cold day in Dallas (about 30 degrees). In fact, he was lucky he made it to our house that day because the roads were icy. When Flat Stanley arrived, he was very tired because he had traveled 770 miles to get to our house.

While Flat Stanley was with us, he traveled to many other cities, including Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Galveston, Phoenix, Glendale, Las Vegas, Denver, and Cheyenne. Here are some pictures of his adventures!