Obsessed

I guess everyone has their hobby, and my boys as toddlers have very serious fixations.

When Stephen was a toddler, he LOVED putting things in his mouth.  I know all kids put stuff in their mouths, but Stephen was OBSESSED with putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.  Any time we went outside, anything not securely attached to the groud went in Stephen’s mouth: rocks, sticks, leaves, grass, flowers, dirt, pinecones.  When we went to the park, he was so busy eating the mulch he wouldn’t play on the playground.  When we went to the Royal Gorge bridge, he tried to gnaw the little rocks off of a decorative tourist trash can.  He ate laundry lint, a dead fly, and even a live bug…I told him to open his mouth once and discovered a bug wriggling its little legs on Stephen’s tongue.  He chewed absently on rocks and ate dirt until 3, and we finally (and tragically) wrested away his pacifier at 4.

Adrian’s obsession (as anyone who has played with him recently knows) is lights, or as he calls them, “ite!”  It is his only word other than mama/dada, and everywhere we go he enthusiastically points out all the “ite”s he sees.  When he wakes up in the morning, he instantly shouts “ite!” and points happily at the ceiling.  He throws tantrums because I won’t let him toddle into the street to look at stalled cars’ headlights.  He begs adults to carry him around to all the light switches in the house so he can flip them on and and off endlessly.  This morning, he discovered to his delight that he can drag his plastic chair up to light switches, climb on it, and flick the lights without anyone holding him.  Unfortunately for Eric’s new computer, it has a blue light that comes on with the power, and Adrian LOVES this light.  Whenever he is left momentarily unattended upstairs, he toddles immediately to the computer, stares lovingly at the light, and turns the computer on and off.  He knows the sign for “please,” but touching the blue computer light is the only thing that inspires him to use his manners.

Yay for “ites!”

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The gyro bowl

My twin sister, Beth, gave Adrian a “spill-resistant” gyro bowl for Christmas.  The inside bowl moves around so the bowl always stays upright.  Adrian has taken its spill-resistance as a personal spill challenge.  He now spills more with that bowl than with any other because he TRIES to knock it over.  It’s like he’s personally offended that this thing tries to stay upright.

This morning while I was getting ready for work, I saw the bowl (filled with goldfish) fly through the air and crash into the wall, effectively spilling most of the goldfish.  Another effective technique Adrian has discovered is throwing the whole thing down the stairs.  That makes a cool sound AND spills the goldfish, so it’s a double win.

Sorry, gyro bowl, but you’re no match for Adrian’s spilling skills!

Stephen, Drama King

Yesterday morning I actually got to sleep in until 7:30 (yay!) and was in a good mood getting breakfast going for the kids before school.  Then, I did an AWFUL HORRIBLE THING….I accidentally bonked Stephen in the head with his cereal bowl.  He cried, I apologized and tried to move on with the day, but he just kept screaming and screaming.  He went to his room and SCREAMED, then he came back down and SCREAMED how hungry he was, but he was so busy screaming he wouldn’t sit down to eat the cereal sitting at his place.  Adrian found the whole spectacle good for his breakfast entertainment.  I finally put Stephen’s shoes, jacket, and backpack in the car and then buckled him in (still screaming).  I got everyone into the car, and Stephen screamed all the way to school…all the way into the school…(see the pitying looks of the other moms as they watch me carrying a 17month old while dragging my four year old into school)…until the director of the preschool took him into class herself because of all the screaming.  Yikes!

He was just fine when he got home (apparently no concussion from the cereal bowl bonk), and it was a beautiful day, so we walked to the park.  Adrian discovered that his new love is going down the slide.  He goes down on his tummy, laughing all the way.  He even went head first a few times!  As soon as he gets to the bottom, he signs “more more” and toddles as fast as he can toddle over to the ladder to do it again.

Stephen found an abandoned red plastic wolverine ring at the playground and decided to keep it.  He said that he will keep it forever and sleep with it.  So now he wants to sleep with his blue blankie, his brown blankie, his huggable hippo pillow pet, and a few pairs of the superhero underwear he got for Christmas (seriously, he was SO excited about his superhero underwear and he sleeps with it.  He also gets upset if he mixes up the order of what superhero he is wearing which day).

The day ended well, but had a lot of crazy! 

Happy New Year!

With the a new year always come new resolutions…that are lucky to be kept until my birthday (January 30)!  But alas, what else are we to do except keep resolving to be better?  So here goes:

1.  I will blog more (yay!  At least once a week)

2.  I will read my Bible more (keep up with my MOPs Bible study)

3.  I will exercise more (3-5 times/week)

4.  I will start writing a novel (this is my reach one.  It’s actually an idea for a book of short stories)

I tried to get some ideas from Stephen for what we should do for the new year.  He suggested not going to the store anymore.  But after I reminded him that we wouldn’t have any food if we did that, he decided that we should resolve to drink more gatorade and watch TV.  Phew!  I can do that.

Adrian began the new year with his first kiss (es!).  He met his 6 month old second cousin and immediately began kissing (and kissing) her.  It was super cute!  (see the video on FB)

Happy new year to everyone, and hopefully my blog resolution makes it to at least Valentine’s Day!

Tonsil Time

Stephen got his tonsils out today. He has been getting strep throat constantly since March and his tonsils were so big he was beginning to sound like Darth Vader. Stephen was excited because we told him he could suck his pacifier, watch TV, eat popsicles, and drink juice all day after he got his tonsils out.
We arrived early in the morning, and Stephen began charming the nurses right from the start. He had to change into a gown and wear a surgical cap. I put a surgical cap on his “Huggly Hippo” pillow pet, too. They looked so adorable I wished I had brought my camera…silly me, didn’t think a tonsilectomy would be a photo opportunity! But you always have to be prepared for Stephen to look adorable.
The anesthesiologist told Stephen he would tell him a story about Spongebob while he fell asleep. Stephen giggled and went to sleep with no problems. The laughing gas was even bubble gum flavored! The doctors told me to give him a kiss and they’d take good care of him…I cried and prayed fervently in the waiting room!
Stephen emerged from the anesthesia kicking and screaming (a perfectly normal reaction for kids apparently). After he woke up a little, he was ready to rip out his IV, kick off his O2 monitor, and run out of the building naked (he flailed the gown off during his tantrums). His first words were, “I want to get in the car! Let’s go to the car!!” I convinced him to rest and watch Spongebob and Dora the Explorer until we were allowed to leave.
After we got home, he rested and watched TV. Now both the kids are taking naps…phew!

Big Brother

Life is hard when you have a big brother! When Stephen was a baby, he was always treated so gently. His needs were attended to IMMEDIATELY, no one tackled him, no one screamed in his face, and no one bit his toes. Well, life is not so easy for Adrian! At any moment a 3 year old may come hurtling toward him to alternately frighten and entertain him. However, Adrian loves Stephen and thinks he’s hilarious. Their relationship is like many of ours–the person we love the most also makes us cry the most! Depending on his mood, Stephen takes great joy in either making Adrian laugh or scaring him and making him cry. Stephen can get hysterical laughter out of Adrian like no one else. Half the things he does to Adrian we are about to stop but then realize that Adrian is actually enjoying the torment. Last night, Stephen put a green bucket over Adrian’s head. Just as I was about to rescue the baby, Stephen took the bucket off. Adrian emerged from the bucket laughing. I guess you have to be tough when you’re a little brother!

Little Mom

Tonight we went to “soup night” at St. Paul Catholic Church. Stephen ran around with the kids while I chatted with an older couple. Their grandaughter Madison, a 9 year old, asked to hold Adrian. She was quite the little mommy! She wanted to carry him everywhere with her. She asked me if he needed his diaper changed and was sorely disappointed when he didn’t. She wanted to put him on the floor to see him try to crawl, but unfortunately it was too dirty. She also got my baby wipes and carefully wiped the drool off his chin and wiped off his fingers after he sucked on them. Adrian liked her, too–he especially liked chewing on her long hair! I wanted to take her home to be my little nanny.

She reminded me of me at her age. I remember loving babies and wanting to take care of my little cousins, and I always wanted to change their diapers! I couldn’t wait until I turned 12 and could take the Red Cross certification to be a babysitter. Madison looked at me longingly and said that she couldn’t wait to babysit.

On the way home from church, Stephen tried his darndest to get me to laugh. He’s the best at getting Adrian to laugh. All his attempts at telling jokes included the words “stinky” or “pants.” I told him that he should think of a joke that didn’t have any “stinky” or “pants” in it, but he couldn’t think of any. He begged me to tell him what he could do to make me laugh. When we got home, he took off his clothes and then put his legs through the arms of his t-shirt. That definitely made me laugh, although it did still have to do with pants!

Mommy’s flowers!

Eric, Stephen, and Adrian went to Lowe’s yesterday while I was at work. When they came out of the store, Stephen cried, “Daddy! We forgot to buy Mommy flowers!” Eric told him they don’t sell flowers at Lowe’s, but Stephen insisted that they “have to get flowers for Mommy.” Eric drove over to Safeway where Stephen picked out a boquet. He was so excited to present them to me when I got home! He threw his fists in the air and ran around the house yelling, “Yay yay yay yay pink flowers!” He was very proud that he picked them out himself.

After dinner, Stephen said, “Mommy, let’s take a nice warm bath and sing songs and tell stories! Is that a good idea?” We took our bath, but after we got out, Stephen kicked his towel and said, “Mommy, you ruined my life!” I asked him how I had done that, and he said, “You didn’t get me the color cup I wanted for my juice. You ruined my life!”

No matter how thoughtful, a three year old is always a three year old!

Big Boy Helper

Last week I had my first successful shopping trip with a baby and a three year old! My WONDERFUL AMAZING mother has been doing most of my shopping since I had Adrian. Two weeks ago, I shopped with the boys but locked us out of the car, so it doesn’t count as “successful.” Stephen loves to grocery shop and find the things we need. I talk up his “big boy helper” role, so he is very proud of himself. On the way to WalMart, he was concerned because he didn’t have a “big boy helper” shirt. He said we should go back home and make a shirt that said “big boy helper” so everyone would know. I told him I’ll make him a nametag for our next trip.

After we got home, he helped me clean in his sweeping outfit.

I love him, which is good, because he told me we’re getting married after he turns four.