RazNoggle

Well, I figure it’s time to update y’all on the recent cute antics of the lads. When they aren’t barfing and throwing fits they’re really pretty fun. We bit the bullet and have been putting the boys down for bedtime in the same room. Before we’d been putting Myles down in our room then transferring him once Qade was asleep. Well, that’s not going to fly this summer at camp, but I’d been putting it off. I think that I’m the most resistant to change when it comes to ‘what works’ for us. Ha! Not willing to add any extra battles to my day even if it would be a big pay off in the end. BUT it hasn’t proven to be nearly as bad as I expected. Myles still goes to bed first, and then we have our story time and wind down with Qade in the living room before he goes down. There has been a couple of nights where Qade thought it would be a great idea to wake up his brother and have a jumping party in the crib, but that gets shut down really fast! Besides Myles is usually NOT in the mood for partying at that point. So it’s going good, and I’m encouraged, but not at all willing to try it with naps yet. Ugh!

Myles words are coming along nicely. He actually has quite a few and mimics just about anything you’d say to him. One thing that just makes me smile is his very hearty “Take-oo” whenever I say “There you go!” So after diaper change, or giving him a cup, or helping him get on the horse (Daddy) I’ll say, “There you go” and he’ll reply with gusto “Take-oo!!” So cute! He says and signs for please. He also says shoes, but it sounds like “zoose” and he’s ALWAYS excited about those because it means that we won’t be going bye-bye without him. He has settled solidly into his phase of “must have mommy!” and if he sees me put my shoes on, or sunglasses or anything that might indicated I’m leaving, he will plant himself in front of the door and say “bye-bye!” very pathetically. Poor lad. He’s usually fine within moments of being left, but it still makes me feel bad. Not bad enough to stay, but ya know. Myles also says his own name. This morning while I was changing him, he pointed to his belly and said “wha-at?” I told him it was his tummy, but then he said “My-a” which is as close to Myles has he’s gotten. We sometimes play a game where I’ll point to me and say “Mommy” then point to him and say “Myles” cute! Have I told you he’s obsessed with his toothbrush? Well he’ll carry it around slobbing it for hours. It’s major freak out if one of us takes it from him too, let me tell ya!

Qade seems to be getting more “big boy” by the day. Hopefully that will transfer over to potty training when we start it up again in a few weeks. *sigh* I’m not excited about it, but perhaps that’ll change. He still hasn’t shown the least interest in going in the potty again, but we’ll see. I’d SO like to have him day-time dry by camp, but that might be too optimistic. Anyway, he sill loves to “esercize” with us, and has his own exercise mat that he hops around on. He sings “Sunshine” to me if I ask him, and he’s getting more and more of the words. Also the other day when he was sitting at the table waiting for dinner I heard him hum through the entire alphabet song ON KEY! While playing with his “bike” in his grandparents back yard the other day he told me, “I need to move my vehicle.” Ha! Only he said “behicle.” He is doing much better these days at playing nicely with his brother. This “nice” play usually includes spreading toys with a million pieces all over the floor, but at least they’re getting along. Plus he’s also very good at cleaning up these messes, thankfully! Qade’s favorite imaginary game to play these days is to pretend he is a kitty or a dog. It’s usually a kitty. He’ll crawl around on all 4’s and talk in a high squeaky voice, which is annoying but it’s not the same as whining. He’s been doing this a lot more since we brought Liam home.

Well, I suppose I should stop. I can’t tell you every fun thing that they do just like I couldn’t tell you about every rough moment. Glad for you, but if you ever want a really good sample you’re welcome to come visit. Have a great Lime-green Thursday!

P.S. While writing this ode to my great boys, Qade crawled up on the table and got the salt and pepper shakers which he kindly shared with his little brother who sat on the floor happily shaking the salt out all over his pants and the floor. Happy times!

So tonight our darling, sweet son, Myles, has his first ever (I think) screaming, fit, meltdown. Guess why? Water. Yep, the lad wanted juice, of course, and instead got ice water, and so did Qade. Qade thought the ice water was pretty cool especially since he could see the ice floating in the cup. Myles on the other hand was NOT impressed and promptly began letting me know in very unmistakable tones. And if the screaming didn’t cut it, he also threw his cup a couple of times just for emphasis. Well, littlest buddy soon found himself where all good fit-throwers do, in bed. Yep, in his room with the light on, but no company. Poor guy. It was actually pretty hard on me, because he so seldom has issues like this… like I said, I think this was his first massive fit. So once he finally popped in the thumb and stopped screaming at the top of his lungs I went in to comfort him, and me. Well, he wanted down immediately and “talking” to me the whole time made his way straight back to the scene of the crime, and commenced a repeat performance. What in the world?!? So I put his cup “up high” and rocked him because the thumb popped right back in. THEN an amazing thing happened. Qade wandered over to us with his cup of water which Myles reached for. Hmmmm… thought I, then asked Qade if he would let Myles have a sip. I was totally expecting Myles would throw Qade’s cup the same way he threw his, but when Qade gave it to him, he started slurping water like it was the best thing he’d ever had! Talk about one astonished Mommy! I still can’t figure it out. They are both on their second cup of water, switched cups, and doing just fine. Go figure. I guess sometimes it just takes a little big brother know how.

Recently in our house these are some things ears have heard…
“Don’t worry, Mom” (didn’t think I would hear that one THIS early!) ~Qade
“Cackr” ~Myles
“Okay, Mommy!” ~Qade
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” ~Qade (this of course was in response to a time out)
“Qade NOT whining!” ~Qade (the answer to the question, *Gasp* “Are you whining?” ha)
“Myles whining.” ~Qade (he does feel compelled to let us know when his baby brother is whining)
“It’s okay, Myles” ~ Qade (comforting the littlest lad, so sweet)
“Ah-Duh!” ~Myles (this is said loudly and often whenever he feels he should be released from his high chair)
“Da-duh” ~Myles (his cutie-pie version of “thank you”)
“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, I wanna show you somethin’” ~Qade (he was VERY excited about showing me something, but I don’t think he had the “something” in mind first, because we looked around for quite awhile before we found something)
“Mommy, “wotion” popped” ~Qade (sure enough I went to his room where some lotion had indeed “popped” all over the wall, dresser and floor)
“Hiiiiyyyyy” ~Myles (he says hi every time he hasn’t seen us for a little bit, after nap, in the morning, when Stu gets home from work)
“Ewww, Gross!” ~Qade (he was copying Mommy’s reaction to the nasty stuff being cleaned behind the bathroom faucet)

Our lads are quite vocal these days. Qade is so fun to talk with, and Myles is mimicking words like crazy!! I love hearing the voices of my little boys. Even when they are loud and screaming voices, I’m still thankful that they are here in my family now.

So today Stuart and Myles feel under the weather. At least Myles doesn’t seem to have the cough that Stu is dealing with, but he has had a temp, and been altogether not his chipper little self. I’m enjoying more snuggles consequently, though, so that is a silver lining for sure. I thought I’d do a post to update you on the boys a little bit. I haven’t really done as well posting Myles’ little accomplishments. He is walking, and running, everywhere now. He and Qade get the biggest kicks out of chasing each other around the house. It’s all fun and games till one of them crashes or just decides he doesn’t feel like doing it any longer… then Mommy usually has to intervene. Myles has 12 teeth! He still has his big wide smile and gaps between his teefers that make him look so cute!! I’m not looking forward to our next teething session because that was the WORST one with Qade, but perhaps Myles will surprise us. He certainly has before. As far as communication goes, Myles is verbal! I’ve been trying to teach him signs, because that helped A LOT with our first little lad, but Myles isn’t really going for it. However, he does talk… so I guess it all works out. He said “Ah-done” and “up” (only it’s more like “uh-PPPPPPPP” with a little spit involved, ha!) and he says “bye-bye.” He got a little helicopter from his Auntie, and when it’s done playing it will say “Bye-bye” and Myles will answer it. Very cute! The other morning as I was feeding him his oatmeal, Stu came out and kissed his head and said, “Good morning!” Myles replied with a “ga-monin” I was in shock! Myles also says “Ball” which is one of his very favorite play things. He also will say please when prompted, so he’s coming along in his language skills. Oh, I almost forgot, Myles likes to say “ta-da!” too. That is totally cute! He has a bit of an ornery streak in him when it comes to pestering his big brother. He certainly knows what buttons to push. I will occasionally hear a very irritate shriek followed by 4 running feet as Myles has “stolen” one of his brother’s precious cars and is running for his life with a rather hysterical Qade on his heels. We’re learning lessons about playing nicely, and sharing, and being kind, but well…. it’s slow going. And sometimes Mommy just has to laugh at the looks on BOTH of their faces. I know, bad me!
Qade is growing leaps and bounds in his own language skills. He is very fun to have conversations with now. Sometimes we have to remind him to use his “words” because he thinks that he can revert to “Myles-isms.” They do seem to communicate together, though I don’t think they have their own language. When he does talk like a “big-boy” he uses complete sentences and will actually talk to us about things. One thing he has recently picked up is “okay.” Sometimes when we ask him to do something he’ll say, “Okay!” He will also ask us if we are okay. That’s cute! We’ve been working on him (a lot) recently on his whining. He is making progress, but it has been hard on all of us. The “whining chair” was instituted and he really dislikes having to sit on it. Also he does much better when we remind him immediately not to whine. I get discouraged sometimes because there are days that feel like a battle from “son up to son down” ha ha ha! Still that’s where Stu helps me out so much. When I’m at the point where I’d like to just go stick my head in the snow, he will continue on and work consistently with the boys. Yay for teamwork!! I knew I picked a good Daddy for my little ones, but he still amazes me! We have learned recently that Qade’s attention span is about as long as a FOX news “anchor” so in order to pass along instructions we have to help him focus. He knows that he is supposed to look at our eyes when we are talking to him, and he’ll even repeat it “Wook at Mommy’s eyes” but even while he’s saying it, he’ll be looking out the window, at his little brother, up at the ceiling or more often at the floor. So now we cup our hands around his eyes (kinda like race horse blinders) and it has helped a heap at getting him to look at our eyes and focus on what we are saying to him. I know that he is making progress and I need to stop now and then to look back. It’s like I told a friend of mine in the same boat, we’re always moving on to the NEXT project parenting-wise so sometimes it’s hard to notice the victories that we do have along the way. I love my Monkey #1 and even though we plod through some difficult days he still is such a joy to us, and he’s a sweet little boy too.
Stu was noticing today just how athletic Qade has become in recent months. His balance and coordination have really improved. Sometimes I’m not sure that’s positive since it gives him even more climbing skills! For example, Start got me some magnets for Christmas that I put “up high” on the fridge because they’re chokable for Myles. Well, Qade had asked for them, and I told him they were Mommies. SO yesterday I was talking to Stuart in the office when I distinctly heard the bathroom door close. Hmmmm…. what could that Lad be up to? So when I came to check I found that he had fished his stool out of the bathroom to try and reach the magnets. Finding that inadequate, he had pushed over a box that has a little desk for him and Myles in it (yet to be assembled) and climbed up and did indeed have all 6 magnets in his paws. I was actually too proud of his ingenuity to scold him for taking the magnets down. I actually don’t mind if he has them when Myles is sleeping. Still, I’m gonna have to keep an eye on that dude as he is figure out things for himself.
So to end this incredibly long blog all about US I’ll just say that I hope you all have a fantastic New Years Eve and New Years Day! Watch football to your hearts desire, if you enjoy that (ugh) and eat lots of yummy things because the “resolutions” have to start the next day!!!!

Qade the little entertainer hasn’t been disappointing lately. He and his Daddy have this “fist bump” they do where Stuart will tell Qade to “hit the rock” and then Qade bumps his fist. Well, one day Qade put out his little fist and said, “Hit the little rock, Daddy” Ha!! Who knew he even had the size concept down?? He’s a fun, funny kid. The other night at dinner, out of the blue, he said, “My chill pill.” He then pretended to pick up a “pill” from his place mat and eat it! I was rolling with that one! We occasionally tell him to “take a chill pill” when he is having issues. He saw my vitamin by my plate and assumed it was my chill pill and he needed one too. I gave him a flintstone kid vitamin with dinner last night and he told me it was his vitamin chill pill. It’s amazing to me what our child will come up with. I know I don’t give him enough credit.
Stuart and I were recently organizing our sheet music and books. Qade sat happily on the floor examining one book after the other and telling me each time he picked one up, “This book is my favorite!” Now he’ll pick a random person he knows like Uncle James and pick a book out of his collection and say, “This is Uncle James’ favorite book.” Silliness!
Myles is our sneaky lad. He is learning what is off limits in our house to him, but that won’t stop him from touching now and then, just to check if it’s still a “no-no.” Usually all I do is say his name and he goes running (yes, he’s getting quite fast on his little feet) in the opposite direction. He’ll adopt this “I wasn’t touching it, oh no” look on his face as well. Hmmmmm…. Myles walks everywhere now. He rarely crawls at all, and is surprisingly sturdy. He will hang on to Qade’s shirt and walk around with him, just to be annoying. Qade squeals about it the whole time which is probably why Myles gets a kick out of doing it. Typical little brother. He IS indeed learning how to push Qade’s buttons and thinks he’s quite something when he gets a reaction. Ah, little people… they remind me so much of myself it’s terrible. Ha ha!
Myles is going through that phase that Qade also went through where it’s the most fun thing ever to empty drawers. I remember this with Qade, but you see then it was only one against one. NOW however, Qade thinks it’s great fun to join Myles and since he can reach the higher drawers EVERYTHING ends up on the floor. Imagine what a happy camper I was when I went to their room one day to find the entire contents of their dresser strewn about as well as 2 under-the-bed rubbermades that had “organized” clothes in it. Oh, and every book was off the book case too. Yep, happy day. I’ve started to learn though, and Qade and Myles both get to help put things back. Qade doesn’t enjoy it, so hopefully it’ll act as a deterrent from destroying things in the first place. Though I have a feeling that when that little brother begins to have such a blast being a destruct-o-matic that he won’t be able to resist.
It’s always an adventure. We’ve been 2 days on our “potty sabbatical” and doing great! Qade doesn’t seem to care a bit, and I’d rather change diapers than deal with the constant battle at this point. The holidays will certainly be “happier” for this mommy!

So here is my promised post on more happy topics.

My boys:
This is always a happy topic, even when it’s not. I’m very thankful for my lads! They bring 100x more smiles than they do frowns so I can’t complain. Myles took his first 2-3 independent steps the other day. Nov 3. Qade actually egged him on, unknowingly, and was in shock as he watched his little brother walk. Myles was standing at my knee and at Qade’s invitation to come over and explore the bathroom (something they shouldn’t be doing) he turned around and walked!! Qade got this surprised look on his face and said, “Miles walk?!” It was hilarious!!! I had to laugh out loud before I closed them out of the bathroom. Qade can open that door so he thinks it’s great fun for he and Myles to go in there for some extra “fun.” Myles is pretty proud of himself when he stands unassisted now. He will get this “Woo-hoo, look what I’m doing” expression on his face. He can balance for quite some time, but then he usually psyches himself out and sits down laughing. The other night he was standing at Stu’s knee totally leaning on the chair, but he’d raise his hands up with this HUGE grin and look at us like, “Look, no hands!” So funny!! We’ve been helping him practice standing, but I know it won’t be long before he takes off running after his brother! Myles loves to chatter all the time now. When I go get him up from his naps there’s a running commentary going on before I even reach the crib. Of course, I don’t understand what he’s saying, but I pipe in anyway.
Qade’s vocabulary, not to mention his memory, is really taking off! Stuart got some body armor stuff to wear running in the mornings, and when it came he put the logo sticker on Myles back. That was last week sometime. This morning Qade noticed the logo on Stuart’s shirt and asked him what it was. Stu told him it was a logo, and Qade responded, “logo on Myles.” He has a great memory! Lately he has added an “a” to the end of a lot of his words, so now I’m often “Mommy-a”. Maybe he’s secretly Italian. Ha ha ha! Coloring has become one of Qade’s most favorite things to do. When we go to restaurants that pass out crayons and a paper he’ll actually sit there for most of the meal, barely taking time out for his food, and color that paper till there’s hardly room for any more color. He knows the colors Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow, Red, Brown, Black, White, and sometimes Purple. He counts to three and sometimes five. He knows that he is 2 and Myles is 1. He also remembers names MUCH better than me. Qade now LOVES going to Sunday School! Yesterday as they were walking to the car after church, Qade was telling Stuart, “Church fun!” He also likes to tell me that he likes things. “Qade like chocolate milk!” It’s cute! He is also caring of others and will say, “Are you okay?” whenever he feels it’s appropriate. His manners are a little TOO good because now if ever we ask him to do something his response is, “Say Peeeeees!” And yesterday after that he also added, “Say, yeah” I have no idea where THAT came from. Out of his head I suppose. We have to work on him with that some because he needs to obey without a bunch of stipulations. He also thinks it’s the coolest think in the world to say “Ya Wecome.” He LOOKS for opportunities to say it, but it’s still in context. He’s our big boy for sure, and way too smart for his or our own good, but we’re all learning together, and having a very fun time.
So there you have it. Great reasons to smile. Have a fun Monday!