boys will be boys

While I'm sure that toddler girls are just as capable as boys when it comes to injuring themselves - WOW, do these boys know how to get into precarious situations. Which result in injuries that make their mother cringe. Yesterday it was all about W and his climbing escapades in (the safety of?) our living room. All of this happened while I was at work and Jerry was home with them. The first fall happened while he was there watching them. I had mistakenly thought they were ready to safely enjoy the little 6-8 inch high stools they'd been given as gifts when they were born (puzzle-piece'd letters of their names on the tops).  I brought them out of their closet the evening before in an attempt to give them something "new" to capture their attention for more than 5 minutes. Well, yesterday morning, W was standing on this stool and fell off, somehow scraping the side of his head on the edge of it, resulting in a big scrape at his temple. Jerry confiscated the stools and put them back in storage. Then yesterday afternoon, he was changing G's diaper in their bedroom and W was playing alone in the living room. When suddenly he apparently had pulled his little toy piano next to the couch, climbed up on top of it and tried to fling himself onto the couch, but slipped and ended up with a huge bruise underneath his eye on the same side as the temple scrape.  Jerry called me at work, to warn me that W wasn't going to look very good when I got home. He was right. W looks like a boxer who's been through a round or two.

At least we haven't had any biting episodes since we've committed to always being present with them when the boys are together, scolding any attempts made toward open mouthed aggression.  A good thing, since they've been invited to their first play date this Sunday morning with the 2 year old son of one of the physicians I support. Should be interesting. At least the weather is (finally) supposed to be spring-like and we can hopefully spend the time outside.

Losing fingernails?

The moral of this short story is that I need to give Jerry more credit than I do. I'm ashamed to admit that I find myself generally assuming that I know more than he does when it comes to parenting. Well, we noticed this weekend that 2 of little G's fingernails look like they're coming off.  In my experience, this only happens when there's a severe injury to the nail bed, like fingers are smashed by a heavy object or slammed in a car door - basically, a severe accident must have happened.  But - I did think it was really odd that there was no bruising and we hadn't noticed him being upset about his fingers.  Jerry said he think it's probably because of the hand-foot-mouth disease they had over a month ago.  Honestly, I thought this was ridiculous and that he probably didn't want to admit that we'd somehow missed a severe injury.  But, I was curious enough to Google it and lo & behold, this is a thing.  According to Wikipedia, fingernail loss can happen in some kids who get HFMD, about 4-8 weeks after they're sick.  I'm guessing there were blisters in/around the nail bed of those 2 fingers and they disrupted the nail growth.  And now, the nails are about to fall off.  Amazing.

the biting/the hitting

Augh. I can't believe that I didn't think of this before, but I finally checked the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) site for professional/scientific advice about toddler aggression.

And it turns out that while independent play is a good thing, toddlers who are with their playmates should not be left unsupervised.  Meaning, we should not be leaving W & G alone to play together while we're in the kitchen or doing laundry or whatever else.  Especially since they've both been aggressive with each other.  I can't believe I didn't think of that.

So the new thing as of this morning is that if they're awake together, there must be an adult actively supervising at all times.  This means that if Grandma is working in the kitchen, the boys need to either be in their highchairs watching her or we need to babyproof the kitchen so that one or both can play in there.  Or - we need to completely babyproof a second room so that they can have truly independent play, safe from each other's aggression.  Changes on the horizon...

have to keep up!

So I know I'm busier than usual, with this grad school class on top of normal work & parenting.  And so I do give myself a break on not updating this blog as often as I'd like.  But.   I want the boys (and Jerry & me!) to someday have a good source to read about all the milestones and remember stories of their childhood.  So - must keep up!

They absolutely love the indoor playground we've taken them to twice now.  Yesterday we went there after I got home from work and G actually went down the enclosed slide!  I was up at the top with him and he could hear his Daddy down below and he went for it.

What I will likely remember most from last night:

• W wanting to be held & walked around and the way he held tightly to my shirt at the shoulder/neck.  I love being a source of comfort - a good part of being Mommy.  
• G getting bear-hugged out of nowhere by a little boy who told me later that he's 4.  Which I kinda doubt - he wasn't much taller than G.  And G took the hug in stride, just looking at this little boy in wonder.  
• Out of all the many many toys and activities available, G spent 20 minutes focused on a push broom that someone had left out against the wall.  He was determined to play with it and I was determined to not let him.  I won (lol), but he proceeded to have a little tantrum on the floor.  It must be really hard to have big emotions, but no words to communicate about it.
• Jerry having about enough of the loud noise & chaos toward the end.  It really can be a lot.  But, that's parenting!