Kid Activity Update

Kristin came up with the idea to set a timer when we want Cole to do something. For example, before it is time to go up to bed we "set the timer." This was working great for awhile but now I think it is starting to bite us in the ass a bit. We can't do anything now without setting the timer. We usually have to just set it for a few seconds, so we can get through a day. Recently Cole thinks he can take control of the situation and if the timer goes off before he is ready, he wants to "set it again."

Cole is obsessed with band-aids. If he keeps it up it may break our budget. Right now he is down to one on his forehead and one on his finger. You may have seen him at some point with band-aids on most fingers, his forehead and/or feet and hands and knees. When out in public and people ask Cole what happened, he tells a story about how he was jumping on the bed and fell off or pinched his finger...both true stories...both happened in early June.

Cole is certainly growing up and becoming more independent. On one morning, Cole was the first one downstairs. By the time Kristin came down she found that he had helped himself to a cookie for breakfast. I'm not sure when he decided he could do that, but he did. We can't be too mad though. He even got himself a bowl to put his cookie in. Nice to see he is at least neat about it. It looks like we will have to adjust our parenting a little and rearrange the pantry and put Cole snacks up top.



Since Cole is becoming so mature, we have started the elimination of nuks plan - again. We have Cole talking about how he is a big boy now and doesn't need his nuks. He agrees and we even have a plan to give them to another baby. On Monday it was Zoey Schilz, today it was Charlotte Kroner. Of course, when Kristin tried to have Cole pack up the nuks to give away, he panicked and couldn't go through with it. He has given up a couple, so I guess that is progress. We are also still behind in getting Cole to his big boy bed and are continuing to work on potty training. I keep hearing other parents achieving these milestones with kids younger than Cole, so I am starting to feel a whole lot of pressure to get Cole off his nuks, into a big boy bed and out of diapers...that is a lot to tackle.

Finally, I'm proud to say Cole's favorite song at the moment is "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister. He loves listening to it and even sings.

Henry is walking very well now. He cruises around the house, usually laughing all the way. He is still crazy about food and constantly wants to eat. We are pretty much down to a morning and nighttime bottle, but hopefully he'll be completely off the formula soon. It will be nice to cut down that Target bill. As I believe we mentioned previously, Cole has started to dunk his face under water. Well, Henry saw this and decided to copy him. Cole's achievement has definitely been watered down (pun intended) now that Henry also already goes underwater.

 

 

 

 

Killing Time

I certainly enjoy hanging out with the kids but on some days, for a variety of reasons, taking care of them becomes nothing more than trying to kill time until nap or bedtime. On Sunday I was sick and Kristin was babysitting her grandma, so I had to try to entertain the kids with limited activity and movement on my part, while keeping them safe. We luck out with Cole because he spends a good amount of time in the morning "reading" or coloring or playing with his letters - all pretty quiet activities and easy to monitor. 

Henry enjoys some quiet activities too (here and there)



Out of desperation, I also tried sticking Cole and Henry in baskets to keep them corralled. Cole actually stayed in a basket for about 30 minutes...that much closer to nap time! Henry is a little more difficult and spends a lot of time on the go, especially since his walking has really improved of late. I did manage to kill about 15 minutes by letting him play with a computer cord (safe enough, I guess).

Out of sight out of mind

Letting Cole and Henry play together while trying to do the lazy parent routine is becoming more difficult. Every time Henry picks up a toy Cole instantly wants it from Henry, which means he takes it and Henry cries. Then I have to yell at Cole and he makes a sad face and pouts off somewhere. It is all super annoying and I hate to see this glimpse in the future when the boys are constantly fighting. I'm hoping Henry continues to catch up in size and this problem inevitably takes care of itself, but for now it makes it very hard to parent from the couch.

Luckily this Sunday I was saved by my Mother. She came over around noon to help out and allow me to rest. It is also nice that she came over because being a lazy parent allows the kids to make an unbelievable mess (thanks for picking up Mom).

More pics from the weekend...

Cole playing "stick hunter." He, of course, put the sticks in a nice straight line.



Eating Popsicles with Great Grammie



One of my favorite Grammie Debbie traits is she will often call things by the wrong name. I believe Saturday Night Live wrote this skit about her (sorry, we may have made this comparison before, but I still find it funny). Below is the "phone" purchased for Cole's farmhouse. Let's see...a play and stop button, volume control and a picture of a TV. Hmmm, could it be a remote control? The music button even plays songs about a remote. Also pictured below is Cole's new backpack, which he and Grammie went shopping for together and he loves.Upon purchase Grammie told Cole it was a dog and they barked at it and call it the "red puppy." When they got home it took us one quick glance to determine it is very obviously a FOX. After three days of arguing with Cole he is finally open to the idea of sometimes calling it a fox, although he mostly still says, "It not a fox, it just a red puppy!"  When stuff like this happens, as it often does with Debbie, Kristin and I like to call it a "Classic Debbie move."

The phone/remote

The dog/fox backpack

Yep, he's a Hank

Henry has had some incidences that further solidify my notion that he is a naughty, wild little Hank. Or at the very least, a one year old who thinks and tries to act like he is four.

On one occasion, he and Cole were playing in the kitchen while Kristin was loading the dishwasher. Cole told Kristin, "Henry got hurt." Sure, enough when Kristin glanced at Henry he had blood flowing down his foot out of a pretty good gash on his ankle. In true Henry form, he didn't even notice, just soldiered on, growling and speed crawling around. Kristin had to sit on him to clean and bandage his wound and he fought her every second.

We went to Festa Italiana awhile back and Kristin and I were excited to eat some good food, walk around and explore. We packed plenty of snacks/portable dinner items for the boys assuming they wouldn't want/shouldn't eat any of the fried garbage we were planning on ordering. Our first dish was a four cheese lasagna pocket (not as fancy or as delish as it sounds, really just a piece of lasagna with some kick ass vodka sauce on top). We offered a bite to Cole, and as predicted he turned up his nose and ate a granola bar and some cherry tomatoes instead. Henry accepted his bite happily and then grunted and pointed each time he wanted more. Before we knew it, Henry had polished off a $7.50 lasagna pocket. We did NOT offer him any of our Saz's sampler platter - that is just too good to share.

Once again in the kitchen, the Hank was crawling around and suddenly started to cry (and yes, we now know the kitchen is not a safe play area). He had pulled open a drawer and cut his lip. So now he looks slightly off balance with a half puffy upper lip. He also typically has a small bruise towards the top of his forehead from banging his head on the ground, especially when it is the tile kitchen floor. I really hope that's normal. I think it is because when Cole is upset he also does a pretty good Edward Norton Fight Club impression, slapping himself in the head and face, so Henry has learned to copy.

Henry was pressing buttons on the TV and the receiver below it, Kristin told him "no" and picked him up to get him involved in something else. He didn't like that and wanted her to know so he bit her shoulder and then growled at her.

This one is probably my favorite Hank story. During a baby gym class he threw a ball at a much younger girl and then growled at her while she cried. In his defense he does not have the hand eye coordination to throw balls at people on purpose and the growling isn't to be mean...but the Mom of the baby victim certainly hated Henry and would remove her daughter whenever he crawled near her.

Hank's a climber. He stuck his toes in the gate and started his way up. Luckily we noticed when he was getting ready to toss his leg over.

Cole roughs Henry up pretty good when they play in Hen's crib together, but he's able to take it.

Deep Thoughts

To be honest, this blog is a bit of a pain. We gave Cole a pretty well documented two years of his life, so we feel we have to keep it going for at least another year for Henry. If we ever have a third, it may have to learn that life isn't fair. Anyway, to accomplish the blogging task, I often just jot down some thoughts, which have been compiling for awhile now. Below are some more recent thoughts regarding our kids and parenting (and some random pics of course).

The Replacements
At times I feel that I have really created a bond with Cole and Henry. They get excited when I come home from work and they look to "Daddy" to take care of their wants and needs. It feels great, until I realize that I'm totally kidding myself and can be easily replaced. Actually, I think kids love to replace their usual old parents with anyone new. For example; Aunt Jess and boyfriend Dan did some babysitting for us. When we came home Dan was reading a book to Cole in his rocking chair before bed. I walked in Cole's room and expected Cole to jump down, run over and give me a hug and demand that I read to him and not this other guy. This did not happen. I got a "Hi Daddy," a wave and a "bye bye." Kristin and I felt stupid walking downstairs, sitting on the couch and waiting for Jess and Dan to put our kids to bed.

What a mess
Damn kids are messy. Or we are running a messy embarrassing house...maybe a combination of both. Kristin was changing Cole and found a piece of candy in the foot of his footie pajamas. Then, I was changing Henry and found a smooshed black bean in his belly button...As Cole likes to say, "What a mess."

Being slightly anal with the crayons at Barnes & Noble story hour

Oh My Hair
"My hair, my hair." We hear this all the time. Cole has the most sensitive hair in the world. If you touch his hair you get a big scream and he starts in on how much his hair hurt. The wind blew once and Cole started going on about how it hurt is hair. What a weirdo...

The forehead bandaid is back in action as Cole's favored fashion accessory

The smell of urine in the morning
I hope this is not just our kids because then I think we would need some new ones. Their bedrooms just reek of piss, and sometimes shit, in the mornings. It is horrible and stinks up the entire upstairs hallway. The smell even floats all the way in our bedroom, unless maybe that's just Kristin. They each have a Diaper Genie in their room, but they just do so much peeing at night their rooms smell like a pig farm. In summary, I'm looking forward to no more diapers.

Baby muscles

Yet another possible career - boy band
This is kind of long, but you get a taste of the next Justin Timberlake.