Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Some news...

Well not major news but some news none-the-less. First my bright and beautiful daughter is really trying hard to roll-over, today she went both ways with the exception of getting her arm out of the way she made it all the way over. Well on her way to walking and her first pair of heels. My son was playing with his aqua doodle this morning and drew some pictures, first he drew a smiley face with lots of hair and then said, "It's a picture of me." He then had to sign his work, he wrote his name even though one letter was backwards but he did a great job. Now we just have to work on the signature so when he becomes a hall of fame hockey player or international track star he can sign all those autographs.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The next step in potty training

For a while now we have been trying to get my son to put his stink (what we call poop) in the potty. He usually would just wait for nap time or nighttime to get a diaper on. We took that luxury away and are going cold turkey to no more diapers. He is doing ok, although we just started he has made through a nap dry, and last night he was wet once in the middle of the night and then this morning. I am hoping he realizes what needs to be done.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Aww Nuts! & "Turn off the TV Dad!"

My son invented a new game today, "Aww Nuts!" It involves three poker chips with numbers on one side and stickers on the other. The simple basis of the game is to toss it and hope it lands with a number up, otherwise you say "Aww Nuts!" and tap yourself in the forehead in a Homer-esque way. I just hope we weren't playing for real money as I will be seeing a guy with a baseball bat in my near future.

When it is bedtime my wife takes my son up to bed while I stay down with our daughter. When they are upstairs I usually turn the TV on and turn the volume off initially so he doesn't hear it. Well the other day when I turned it on, he simply heard the click of the TV over everything else. Suddenly I hear from upstairs, "Turn off the TV Dad!" I was stunned. So after some quick thinking, I say "OK," and then quietly followed up with a "click". Then I hear a very nice "Thank You!" So every now and then I have to pretend to turn it off.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Ants in my pants

My son was running around the other day. I asked him if had to go potty, he quickly said "No!" So as he is wiggling and running around, I asked the all important question, "Do you have ants in your pants?" He said, "No." Then he proceeded to check in his pants to make sure there were not any ants. First he looked and didn't see any, but he jumped up and ran to the bathroom turned on the light and checked again and confirmed that there were no ants in his pants. I asked "Are you sure you don't have ants in your pants?" He quickly looked again and then dropped his pants to his ankles and said, "See! No Ants!"

Friday, July 18, 2008

The agony of leaving

My son loves to go and do things, go to people's houses, to the mall, places to play, etc. He has a great time and loves every minute but the last. As any typical three year old he never wants to leave and most times he says he wants to sleep there. Today we went over to a friend's house that has three boys (one 5, one 4, and one six months). He played with the two older boys and their dad outside in the pool and sprinkler while my daughter and I stayed in with the 6 month old and his mom. He had a blast and for anyone following his eating habits he had what is now called a "ham dog" (basically rolled up deli ham on a hot dog bun), I was stunned because he usually will not eat things like that. Maybe we can now try turkey dogs, roast beef dogs, etc. Well when it was time to go I heard the usual complaints of I don't want to, I want to stay, I want to sleep here. I know he was having fun but it was past his nap time and he was getting tired. He was seriously mad at me, but it turned out OK, I guess he is just like his Dad that never wants to leave a casino.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Meal Time Turnaround

Well after much struggle and dismay to get my son to eat meals at appropriate times or without a fight, things have begun to change. I am superstitious and fear this will end that change but I am willing to post it anyways. He has been agreeable and actually started eating quicker than his usual 30 minute marathons to eat a few chicken nuggets and snap peas. I am grateful as my daughter has been wanting to eat at the same time so he is left in the kitchen while I feed her.

On the other hand, when it comes to wanting something he usually asks right when I need to help my daughter as she is fussaling or needs a change or needs to eat. I guess I will have to deal with that until the two of them move out.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Picture Post

I know some of you wanted to see pictures of the kids so here is a post full of pictures:








A quick little update to the band-aid story. My son was at my parents house and Busia took him to the park, before they left my son asked, "Should we take the band-aids?"

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The kids work in tandem

My wife has just went back to work and I am home with the two children, beyond the other parts of life and home-ownership causing distraction, it hasn't been too bad. I have learned one aspect in these first few days of 1 vs. 2, they work in tandem to try to get me to run off screaming. Granted my baby girl is only 10 weeks old at this point she knows what she is doing. If I am doing something with my son, rebuilding his train track or playing a game she fusses. If I am feeding her or trying to get her to relax and go to sleep my 3 year old son wants me to play with him or get something for him. I am currently searching for their manifesto to see what they really want, because as far as I am concerned if they both are good I'll give it to them. I am not sure how I like being outnumbered but the timeout chair is still a great ally in the fight against a pre-schooler. We did have our first trip out this week, a short run to the store where they give lots of samples, which my son liked and well my daughter she just smiled and was along for the ride. It is getting a bit easier but at the same time more tiring as well.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Boo-boos at Busia's

The other day shopping my son saw various Thomas stuff, for example he needed some more toothpaste and saw the Thomas toothpaste and we had to have it. If he is brushing and Thomas helps I am all for the extra money to pay for it. There were some other items we had to get as well, like Mr. Bubble bubble bath. One item I chose to get was some Thomas band-aids for when he gets his next boo-boo and needs a band-aid as character ones are much easier to convince a 3 year old to wear. Well a day or two later he saw them in the cupboard and asked, "why do we need band-aids?" I simply explained that we need band-aids for when he gets boo-boos. He quickly responded, "We should take them to Busia's house."

Monday, July 7, 2008

A Big Update




I have been busy and unexpectedly busy all at the same time. Between doctor's appointments and trying to do some fun family activities before my wife has to go back to work it has been busy around here.

The bathroom I have been talking about a while ago is finally finished. I will take pictures and post a before and after real soon. We have also visited Ikea and added some new furniture which was needed and with slip-covers that are machine washable it seems like a good fit for the two kids, plus we can get new ones relatively cheap to change color/look or replace a severely damaged one.

We have gone to the zoo which my son absolutely loves. We also have gone to a butterfly house which scared my son somewhat as they fly all around and even land on you, he did have fun. We even found time to drop both kids off to go have a quick dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Biaggi's. My son recently got a new bike (two wheeler with training wheels) to replace his tricycle.





Fourth of July we went to my parents house along with some friends and some of Nick's friends to watch a great fireworks show which he really enjoyed so much that at 11:00 pm he still wanted to be outside and play.

This same weekend came the unexpected busy as we had a basement flood, so we are in the process of getting things fixed/replaced/put back to normal. This has taken up a good portion of my time to be able to do other things and such.