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!  

the boys

W loves cords.  He is absolutely enamored with them.  Anytime he can find a new one to play with, he does a little "chitter" with excitement.  And then promptly locates the end that is attached to some object and tries to either detach it or drag it along behind him.  And of course is frustrated when that something is too big to drag behind him.  Example: this morning they were up much earlier than usual and so breakfast was finished earlier too - and W wanted to be with me.  I took him to the office where I was working on the computer.  Lo and behold, he was able to flip the paper shredder over and proceeded to try dragging it around by its cord.  He didn't get very far in this endeavor and needless to say was extremely upset when I took it away from him.

For the first time last night, we witnessed both G & W riding their "vehicles" forward instead of backwards and/or instead of essentially walking with the vehicles under/between their legs.  Last night W was driving the rocketship and G was driving the tractor.  Lots of fun in the living room, driving between me & Jerry on opposite sides of the room.

We also took a family trip to Walmart yesterday.  The boys did pretty well, each in a separate cart.  I was with G, since W is typically so attached to me and I want to make sure G doesn't feel left out.  We had to stop by the tricycle department to give the boys a spin on those.  Their legs aren't quite long enough and I'm sure it'll be awhile before they can figure out the pedalling motion anyway.  But it was fun to see the boys sitting on trikes and imagine the future.  

a really good weekend

I didn't have a panic attack about my class this weekend!  The assignment wasn't as difficult as previous weeks and/or I'm getting used to the rhythm of the class.

I went out for dinner Saturday night with Kris, while Jeff and their kids spent time at our house with our boys and kept Jerry company as he finished cutting/laying tiles in the kitchen.

Yesterday I was able to go grocery shopping/errand running while all 3 boys slept.  :-)  Then came home to cook 3 things for the coming week: tuna hotdish, roasted rosemary/lemon chicken (Thanks, Pioneer Woman!), and slow cooker pork loin

Later on, Jerry and I worked on grouting the tile floor together.  I'd been waiting for that day for a loooong time - and it was finally here!  I love how it looks and it's just so much easier to deal with a finished kitchen floor.  Fun waking up to it this morning.

Meanwhile, I most importantly had a lot of good quality time with the boys interspersed with all of the above.  They've become very generous with hugs and kisses.  I'm loving the huge "arms around my neck, face buried into my shoulder/chest" hugs they're giving me lately.  The 18 month well child visit (in only 2 months - time is flying WAY TOO FAST) will ask whether they can stack blocks.  And since we didn't have blocks, I got some.  And they're loving them.  I also got another book for them - about the monkeys jumping on the bed, because I love that little song.  They're so curious about everything.  I got video last night of them inspecting every angle of the vacuum cleaner and figuring out the length of the cord (W!).  I love these little guys so much.

weekend update

We ended up having a really great weekend, though there were times in the midst of it when I felt the opposite.  Jerry was grumpy on Saturday night and that led to my feeling annoyed on top of the stress/anxiety I was feeling after spending most of the day researching/writing for my class.  But the rest of the weekend more than made up for that:

Fish Fry on Friday night - G is SOOOO his father's son, very friendly & flirty with all of the strangers within his scope of vision.  He even stretched his body out around to catch glimpses of extra people he could smile at.  It felt like he singlehandedly entertained the whole place!  The servers know us well by now and this week our server brought oyster crackers in little plastic cups to help keep the boys entertained.  It was just a really fun time, especially after having been sick last week.

Saturday morning we got to go over to Ethan's house to visit.  The boys played very well and for the most part stayed out of trouble and were happy to explore "safe" things.

Sunday morning I was up early @ 5:30, so I decided to just get up and do more research/writing.  Then after the boys woke up and we all had breakfast together and I folded some laundry, I went to go study @ Target's Starbucks and then @ Barnes and Noble once they opened.  And something clicked - I finally found my groove and wrote up my answer to our discussion question and posted it.  And an immediate weight was lifted.  Called up Jerry and came home to spend time together.  He told me the boys had fallen asleep together on the living room floor while playing - a first for them!  He even took video to capture the moment.  When I got home, they were awake so we played and did more laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, convinced Jerry it was time to let me cut his hair, organized the boys' room and organized the office.  Amazing what the release of stress can do for my motivation!!!

The four of us plus Grandma & Grandpa went to visit a family friend at hospice later on, thinking the boys are at a good age to give her encouragement.  It ended up going fine, despite my hesitation.  In fact, the boys had an awesome time exploring/running in the hallway after our visit.  They're not used to having such a large area to run around in.  There was precious laughing/giggling/chasing with each other going on.  Priceless.

To top it off, Jerry and I got to go on a little date, using a gift card to have dinner @ Buffalo Wild Wings and then shopping @ Walmart.  Whoo hoo!