Rain, Pain, and a Clean Car

Guess what? It's raining here today. But, it's warmer than it was a few days ago. Tell you what, though, I'd take the cold temps with sunshine over this gray, wet, gloom.

But, as a true Seattlite, I took our car through the wash at Costco today. Tyler was scared.

After the wash, we got a little treat at Starbucks. Big boy hair, big boy chair.

Today was also the first time I was late (only by like 1 minute) to pick Vincent up from school. As I was walking down the alley to greet him, I heard a squeaky voice say, "How come I have to wait...Oh, there she is!"

As for "pain," I've been feeling queasy today. I think I got hit with whatever Tyler had the other night. Blah. No, I'm not pregnant. David felt the same way one day before & is still a little under the weather.

*Adding this a few hours later:
After dinner, we headed to Bellevue Square to let the boys run around and to look at the TV mount for our Kinect. Tyler barely ate dinner, but half the time we were at the mall, he kept asking for a snack. It didn't help that there was a cupcake place right there, bright and pink. We opted to get frozen yogurt at Red Mango...my new obsession.

Tyler's 1st Haircut

We've been talking about taking Ty-Ty in for a hair cut the past few days.  I've noticed a little bit of dandruff on his scalp, and thought maybe it's time for the first cut.  I was trying to hold out until he turned 2 years old, for who-knows-what reason.

So, after dinner tonight, I called the nearby children's haircut place and they had a spot open! We even ran into our friends there; their daughter, 4.5 years old, and a friend at school got a hold of a pair of scissors...

Anyway, here are the "before" shots of Tyler

And, here's the "after"

Ty did a great job! He cried at first, but then seemed okay once he sat in David's lap. Halfway through, he asked to play with their box of cars, which made him happy. He didn't like it when she tried the clippers on him. He looks like a little boy now!

Another Rough Night

I suppose my post title says it all.  Although, it wasn't quite as bad as two nights ago.  There were no messes to clean up, thankfully.  Just a certain 22 month old who woke up sad and needing extra comfort in the middle of the night.  I stayed with him for a short time, and David stayed with him for a longer time.  He asked to pee a couple of times, which we each took turns taking him.  Finally, I had to put my foot down.  I put him in his crib and did not pick him up again.  I was very loving towards him, stroked his face and hair as I comforted him without holding him.  He was pretty upset, but eventually went to sleep.  I think.  I mean, I know he eventually fell back to sleep, as did we, but I can't remember if that was it, or if David had to go back again to comfort him.  I'm sure you can forgive me for not remembering the exact details.

This morning, Vincent was up around his usual time, but as he opened their bedroom door, it woke Tyler, too.  He was a bit cranky, but when asked if he wanted to go back to sleep, he replied, "Hungry."

On Wednesdays, Vincent goes to preschool and Tyler and I have a class at Seattle Central.  Usually, Ty only sort of likes being there.  Today, he was mostly content. At one point, he saw from across the room one of the teachers getting the snacks ready, turned to me, grabbed my face & got up close and whispered excitedly, "Booty, Mommy."  As in Pirate's Booty.  As expected, he ate snacks happily, then actually participated in circle time, only stopping briefly to play with some toys and climb the slide, then coming back to sing and dance some more.

This week, I also started to play some Chinese story CD's in the car for the kids.  We've been listening to Disney stories that I borrowed from the library in English, so I thought maybe it's time to try Chinese.  The set that my mom gave me a few months ago is a bit advanced, even for me, but the kids seem to be into it.  At least Vincent, from what I can tell.  Tyler seems to like the funny music.

Oh, and I almost signed Vincent up for a toddler hip hop dance class at the community center.  But, it's been cancelled due to nobody signing up.  Yes, hip hop dance.  You should see this kid dancing to the Kinect Dance Central game!

4 Year Check Up

This morning, Tyler and I accompanied Vincent to his annual check up.  I only just remembered about an hour before the appointment that this visit will include vaccinations.  I'm still slightly traumatized by the scene he caused when he went in for his flu shot a few months ago.  I had two choices here: 1)prepare him, knowing he may possibly get so worked up ahead of time that he completely loses it when we arrive, or 2)surprise him with the shot once there, so he has no time to process the information, which may also cause a total crazed meltdown.  But, then there's the part of me that thinks either options could have positive outcomes. 

I chose the former, because, as his mother, I know Vincent doesn't like surprises (unless, of course, it's a super good one). 

While getting him dressed, I dropped the shots bomb on him.  He seemed to take it alright, but said he's a bit scared.  When the time came, he did great.  Cried a little after she started poking him, and barely made it through the last one, but it was over before he knew it.  He complained of the pain here and there, but was so happy to choose 2 stickers and head to the community center to play with friends.

Here are his stats:

Weight, 32.4 lbs, 5-10%

Height, 39 3/4", 50-75%

Passed hearing test

Normal eyesight

Normal blood pressure

Normal pulse

All-in-all, we have a healthy 4 year old boy! 

His doc did mention something about his speech.  WHAT??!!  I was shocked, but took it in stride.  He said that we can be referred to a speech therapists now, or wait 6 months and see how things improve.  I opted to wait, but honestly, in 6 months, will I be able to tell if there's an improvement?  I answered, "yes" on the parent questionnaire this morning when it asked if he speaks clearly.  I guess I was wrong, so maybe I won't be such a good judge of it later.  I really thought that the way he speaks is just how all 4 year olds speak, and that he mispronounces things here and there.  Now, I just need to be able to help him along, but not be such a freak about it.  Mmmm hmmm.  Sure.  Not going to obsess.

As for Tyler, he stopped puking yesterday morning.  He was slightly warm at bedtime last night, but seemed fine this morning.  At the community center, he was having a bit of a rough time, with lots of crying and needing me to hold him.  He was chewing on a finger with his back teeth, which leads me to think he's teething.

I have a sitter this afternoon; David and I have a date.  Woop! Woop!

Last Night's Adventure

If there's one solid advice I can give to parents-to-be, it is to never let your guard down, especially when it comes to sleep.

Our boys are pretty decent sleepers now.  They aren't your 12 hours at night & 2 hour nappers, but we really have little to complain about.  Sadly, last night, they threw us for a loop.

At about 12:30am, Vincent woke up crying & very upset.  He had, for the first time since I can remember, (sorry for this!) pooped in the middle of the night.  I guess it's been a good thing that he still wears a daiper at night.  David took care of it all and we went back to sleep.

Thirty minutes later, Tyler started crying.  Good ol' David went to see what's up.  Vomit.  I'll spare you the rest of the details, but we were up for the next 4 hours.  Vincent slept through it all, though.

This morning, both boys woke up only slightly later than usual, and happy as clams.  Vincent went back to preschool, after 2 weeks off, and David and I took Tyler to Costco.  Everyone was a little out of sorts all day, but all took naps.

The second half of our day consisted of TV watching, a delicious steak dinner that I cooked, and a trip to Target.

Sleddin' & Wheelin'

Last winter, David and I got the boys all outfitted with winter gear, hoping to get them out to the snow for some sledding. It turned out to be such a warm winter, we had to take back everything and wait til this winter. Our efforts this year payed off.

This morning, we headed out as soon as we could, and made it up to Snoqualmie Pass.  There, we found a parking spot and a little hill nearby to test out all our gear.  It seemed like there had to be a larger hill somewhere further in, so we tried hiking up the path with some of the other people with sleds and inner tubes.  We got up a short way, and realized that it was best to just turn back. Vincent kept asking to go back, and it seemed like we would have to keep hiking.  On the way back, we found one other little spot to try, but that ended quickly with the boys crashing into a small tree, both crying, and me getting stuck, knee deep in the snow.  Luckily, we all got over it pretty fast.

Check us out!

David pulling the boys on the sled.

Vincent takes a bunch of solo runs. He did such a great job!

Tyler playing in the snow.

Me and the boys.

Last run of the day.

After all the fun, the boys sack out on the ride back to town.

When we got back into the city, we went for a late lunch at Genki Sushi, where we pigged out on rolls and udon.  Then, we stopped at home to drop off sledding gear and pick up riding gear. Yup, this is the "wheelin'" part of our day. We went to BYOB (Bring Your Own Bike *or other wheeled vehicle*) birthday party. So fun! Tyler got on our little Radio Flyer scooter for the first time in months, and he did great!

And, since we just got back from the mountains, the boys rode around in their long underwear. Vincent even had a whole discussion with a friend about how he's wearing long underwear, and Vincent disagreed, and pulled the pants down to show him his actual underwear underneath.

Happy 2011!!

Ahhhh, it's a new year, once again.  As we were winding down 2010, I had several images of myself sitting down and documenting all sorts of memories for the past year.  And, now, here I am, January 1st, and I did nothing.  No year-end recap of any sort.  I did start a list of highlights for each month of '10, but not every month got filled in, and then I sort of forgot about it.  And, I did spend about 5 minutes one day thinking about what albums I was going to vote for being the best this year for KEXP's Top 100 Albums of the year.  I came up with 2; the only two new albums we purchased in 2010. 

With that said, I will tell you two things about the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, one for each year:

1) Our New Year's Eve night out - I was able to get us a babysitter for last night about a month ago.  Sweet.  I thought that I also made us a reservation at my new favorite restaurant, La Bete, a few weeks ago.  I asked David to give them a call 2 days prior and double check if I actually did make that reservation.  Nope.  But, lucky for us, the General Manager is a friend, and he squeezed us in for two seats at their food bar at 9:30pm.

We ran into 4 friends there, had front row seats to watch the talented Tyler Moritz cooking, got to toast in the new year with some old friends, and were able to see fireworks shooting out of the Space Needle at midnight.  Not to mention the awesome food we ate.  It was a great night.

2) I woke up this morning with a bit of headache.  Ack!  But, half a cup of coffee later, I was ready to start getting the house set up for our New Year's Day breakfast!  We had over about 10 other adults and 8 other children.  I cooked up a bunch of sausages, eggs and microwaveable mini pancakes.  We were busy, but it was a great morning.    Tyler passed out soon after everyone left, and Vincent is with David at the elementary school playing with his birthday R/C car.  I have a cat on my lap, while typing this post. 

Which leads me to my new year's resolution.  My 2011 resolution is to post on this blog everyday.  I might even change the name of the blog to reflect this goal.  Hmmmm.  So, check back often, as I will have lots to say about everything, anything, and nothing.

Happy New Year!

**After Tyler woke from his nap, I took him out on the trike to find David and Vincent.  The boys ran around the school yard, and Vincent pushed Tyler on the trike a little.