Two (plus) Year Old

Vincent turned 28 months old this week (that's something like, 2 and 1/3 years) . Wow! Time is flying by so quickly. I won't hide it, we are knee deep into the terrible twos with this kid. But, with all the challenges this age brings, he is still such an amazing, fantastic, joy in our lives. My mom-of-a-two-year-old mantra is, "He really is a great kid..."

And, let's see some of the great things about this kid!

Sitting up high on a bar stool without us having to stand right next to him to make sure he doesn't fall (although he did actually fall off last week & was totally fine). And, using a regular cup. He still mostly uses a sippy cup, since it's less of a mess.

Makes a joke by putting a mini bagel in his mouth to look like a big smile.

This morning, David let him mix eggs for breakfast. He actually whisked those eggs perfectly, in a circular motion, rather than just pushing them side to side like he had been doing just a couple weeks ago. And, when his right arm got tired, he switched to his left.
He loves books. We read A LOT to him. We're constantly amazed by the way he seems to memorize many of his favorites. This evening at bedtime, he practically recited the whole book, "This Is Paris" while I read it to him.

And Some Photos...

A couple times now, I have been able to put Tyler in the bouncer, all bundled up (and strapped in, unlike in this photo), and he slept for more than an hour. He usually sleeps in the Moby wrap with me during the day. We have a smiler!
Vincent has really taken to nursing his doll, Paul, in the past few days. He has a "nursing pillow" and gets himself all set up to nurse. He'll even pull the stool up to the sofa.

Last night before dinner, Vincent was doodling, and look at that...circles!

The Next American Idol

This should speak for itself.

Easter Story

After reading my friend's blog post about her 26 month old son, I feel I must share a positive story about Vincent.

So, you saw the Easter pictures, and saw that Little Man got many treats. I was floored and so proud of the display of self-control he showed us that day. He kept going back to his little plastic container of treats & eating a little thing here and there that morning. After lunch, he walked over to the container and asked me to open something, to which I said, "Well, let's save that until after naptime." He put it down, showed me another thing and I said the same thing. On his last attempt, he had three little cookies he held up. I allowed him to have one, but said the other two were for later. He tried to get another, but I reminded him that they're for later. So, he put them down and walked away.

Fast forward to naptime...about 45 minutes, maybe an hour, after I thought I got him down & left his room, he opens his door. Totally awake, but willing to get back into bed. He did not have his usual "freshly awake from a nap" look, which tells me he never fell asleep. What was he doing in there? Too sugared out? Too excited about Easter? He continued to open his door for another 20 minutes or so, until we decided to scratch the nap (since he did stay in there quietly for so long). When we asked him, "All done napping?", he happily replied, "Ya!" and ran out of his room and straight for the treats. He picked them up, looked at me for approval before diving into those last two little cookies. That's some good toddler self-control, if you ask me.

Mama Food

Those of you moms out there with more than one kid, what do you eat? Okay, even if you have only one kid, maybe you are experiencing the same thing as I am - bad eating habits. Well, the truth is, I think we eat pretty well around here, even when it's not the best stuff. But, I'm on a downward spiral. As I'm juggling two kids, making sure Toddler is fed a nutritious meal that he will actually eat & getting Infant breastfed when he's demanding it, I tend to forget to feed myself. That's what I did today. Yeah, my stomach was telling me I was hungry, but sometimes it takes a break from growling, & I forget to eat.

When I finally ate, it was cold mac 'n' cheese, out of a box and Trader Joe's corn chips and salsa. Um, does salsa count as veggies? Not if it's pineapple salsa, huh? And, what about the corn in the chips? By the way, both of these items are yummy!

6 Week Stats

Tyler had his check up today. Big boy!
Weight: 11lbs, 4oz - 65%
Height: 22 1/2" - 50%
Head Circumference: 38.9cm - 50%

Sacked out after nursing. Tried out the Bumbo on Tyler this weekend.
Who's this????

Happy Easter!

We did a little mini hunt at home in the living room (raining out). Just a few eggs with little treats inside. Then, we had dinner at our friends' house. Delicious. I made crab cakes...very proud of myself for that!

Vincent and his "booty." That's his Halloween basket turned Easter basket. Thanks Auntie D for that! Yummy organic dried cranberries. Dried little fish? I know, it sounds gross, but my dad made these for calcium, and Vincent loves them. We're weird.
Buster loves them, too. Gotta have a PEZ dispenser - his first one!
What the Easter Bunny brought: Play-dough tool box, dino stickers, Curios George rolling stamp pens, two mini cars fom 'Cars' movie, PEZ, and gummi worms.

And, lastly, Vincent meets the Easter Bunny!

My Other Hunt Boys

Have I mentioned how cute David and Vincent are together? Well, they are. David has taught Vincent some "chores." And, they have this morning routine that's really delightful.

Chore #1 - vacuuming (REALLY? Is that how it's spelled? That's what spell checker told me). As soon as David says he's going to vacuum, Vincent will run around the living room picking up his toys off the rug (they don't necessarily get put away). It's cute and sad at the same time. He's frantic about it for some reason. He's afraid of the vacuum, but also really enjoys vacuuming with his dad. So, he runs around frantic trying to get all the stuff picked up before the vacuum comes out so he can be picked up by David ASAP. David carries him around the house while he vacuums & Vincent helps him with the the hose attachment.

Chore #2 - cleaning the bathtub before baths. Vincent doesn't really do anything but watch, I think.

Chore #3 - making coffee in the moring. Vincent gets to push the button to grind and brew the coffee. I think he puts a few bean in the hopper, too.

Chore #4 - putting the flatware away. He has a stool that he stands on and has gotten good at putting them in the correct spots.

I think that's it. There are other things here and there that he'll help us do, like feed the cats sometimes, or gardening. Having children is useful!

Six Weeks

Tyler is six weeks old today. He must've known that this morning when he woke up around 2am, as he decided to keep us up for two hours. He didn't want to miss his birth time of 2:28am, I suppose, and was so excited he stayed up past that.

There are all these things you'll hear about newborns when you are a parent. Like, "fussiness peaks at 6 weeks," "spit up peaks at six weeks," "six weeks is the magic number," "it gets easier after six weeks," and so on and so forth. I don't know. Like, what does that mean, exactly? Is it like a bell curve, where it gets harder and harder until the 6 week mark, so that week 5 is really the hardest? Or, does it mean that week 6 is the hard week, and you're just waiting to get to week 7? Of course, these are all approximations, right?

There is a developmental milestone right around now - the social smile. That means baby will smile back at you when you smile at him. So, this week was pretty hard. Tyler's eating and sleeping were wackier than usual. But, yeah, within those wacky days, there were a few "real" smiles here and there. So cute. I don't have a picture yet because they come pretty unexpectedly, and don't last for more than about 30 seconds. They're also usually followed by some fussiness and/or crying. Also, I woke up yesterday morning, looked at Tyler and thought that he looked much bigger. Is it just my imagination? We'll find out on Tuesday just how big this boy is.

One thing I do know for sure, and I'm not being biased at all (wink, wink), Tyler is one heck of a looker! Man, is he delicious!

Pickin' A Winner

Just some random stuff...On Monday, I had such a hard time getting Vincent down for a nap. It was past 2pm by the time he fell alseep. By 4pm, I decided to try and wake him up. I went into his room with Tyler, and the two of us layed down next to him. I stroked his hair and his back, but the kid was OUT. So, Tyler and I left.

I had my 6 week postpartum visit this morning. I took Tyler with me, but he woke up as soon as we got into the room. The nurse asked if I could have a med student in the room with the doctor during my check up. My response, "Only if he'll hold my baby for me..." So, he did, and Tyler slept. Whew.

Vincent loves to hang out in our room with us when we give Tyler a diaper change. And, since he had nothing really to do, picking his nose seemed like a good idea. I now have a battery operated Thomas The Tank toy that he is only allowed to play with during Tyler's diaper changes.

WHAT?!

It's April! There was snow on the ground this morning when we woke up. Sheesh! Enough of this winter. At least it is melting rapidly.

We also woke up to a sick toddler with a fever of 102 - super. I'm so paranoid about Tyler getting sick right now. We had thought about going to L.A. this weekend, so now it seems that our decision not to go was a good one afterall.

One of Vincent's favorite things to play with these days is play dough. We've gone through a few containers of it. This morning, I decided to try making play dough myself. This is the recipe I used:
Home Made Playdough
2 cups flour 1 cup salt 2 tablespoons cream of tarter 2 cups of water 1 tablespoons mineral oil food coloring Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until stiff. Allow to cool, then knead.
And, here's Vincent playing with it!

On the Tyler front, have you seen this position for holding a gassy baby? It really helps get some of the gas (and poop!) out. And, babies look super cute in this position.