Preschool

K has officially started preschool. So far so good. He's doing well potty wise at school, and I think it's helping in that respect too. He's noticing the other kids use the potty too and it helps to get him to realize his parents aren't crazy, and really, truly, everyone goes potty. Eventually.

On Fridays they have outdoor play days. The teacher said that they had a few tears when he noticed I was gone after dropping him off, but that they got him into doing some crazy carpet sledding. She said it took him a few tries to get down the hill, but then there was no stopping him! Apparently they had a good chuckle because he went from being timid and shy to right in there playing in no time! One extreme to the other she said!

Tomorrow is another preschool day, let's hope I remember everything this time! The kids aren't the only ones learning a few things about preschool, let me tell you!

And, a little T update. He's growing like a weed. Like his Aunt hadn't seen him in a week and a half and noticed how tall he's gotten so suddenly. Heck, I've noticed and I see him everyday! I can see it in how his chubby little round face is slimming out. Well, and everything else too! And he's getting really good at using his "please" signing when he wants something and is even saying "Dak-u" when he gets it! One proud momma here!

Potty trials

K is now almost 3 1/2 and still not using the potty. This would not be a problem if he would just stop pooping in his Pull-ups, then take it off in the middle of the carpeted living room and leave a big mess. Plus, I know he has the ability, he simply has no desire to try.

So, today we were at the toy store and went through the potty section. He seemed very interested in picking out a potty, but couldn't decide on which one. At one point he had three different ones off the shelf and a fourth he was looking at. He even seemed quite interested in the pink princess potty chair, he loved the sound it makes. If it'd help him use the potty, I'm all for it, the only problem was it had no "pee guard" for boys since it was - of course - meant for girls. I also should point out that we have a potty. We bought one for him two years ago when he first started showing signs of being interested in the potty. Must be part of the age, because T is quite interested in the potty right now too, even insisting that we take his clothes off so he can sit on it and try.

Tomorrow K and I will go back to the store and see if we can't get him to pick out his own potty chair. And at this point, I have no problem bribing the heck out of him if it means he will finally find some reason to use the potty! So the grand master plan is to buy a new potty and just reward the heck out of him all weekend and see what happens.

Melt My Heart!

Today was a bit busy, K had a meeting with the Speech Therapist this morning, an initial consultation. His communication is a little behind, he has quite a vocabulary, but is not talking in sentences very often. So we got some reassurance that I wasn't making it up along with ideas to help him out. She wasn't too concerned, but enough to want to see him in a few months, as well as gave us a referral for the Hearing specialist to get his hearing checked. As a just in case kind of thing.

After that we went next door to the library, a bit of K and mommy time since T was with his Gramma for this whole morning. So I picked out some books to read while K played with the other kids that were there with their mom. K picked one out that's in French, but he had to have it so I guess his Dad will be reading that one to him! I did pretty darn well in plain high school French, but my French Immersion friends think I mangle the language pretty bad.

When we were done at the library, we went to Gramma's to pick up T and were there just long enough for the dishwasher repair guy to show up. We were in the middle of changing K's bum and he had to run out of the bathroom to see who was at the door and flashed the poor repair guy! He just laughed, asked if he went as a streaker for Halloween and then after K's bum change, got K to help him with some of his tools.

Shortly after that, we went home, put T to bed, had some lunch and watched Toy Story 3. We read a few stories from the library in anticipation of naptime. Naptime didn't happen. Grump time happened. K just played in his room and came out a few times. Then he needed a bath and T woke up. So I fed them some snacks and packed them into the car and we went and grabbed a few groceries. It was very quick - went in, got our stuff, got out. K helped with the self check-out scanner, he thought that was pretty neat.

Then we had dinner, put T to bed, watched some more Toy Story, cleaned up and had stories.

So as I'm leaving, my little guy who barely says 3 words in a sentence, AND has never talked about anything that has happened in the recent past, goes:
"Mom?"
"Yes K?"
"Fanks for Liblary"!
"Aw, you liked the library today!?"
"Fanks for Shopping"!
"You're welcome, bub"
"Fanks for Groceries"!
"Well, you're welcome. Now go to sleep."

Up to Date!

Poor little blog has been long neglected. Let's see if I can fix that.

I've had such high hopes for this blog, and plans change, but maybe I just need to keep at it and see what develops, what kind of personality it has. Or maybe I'm overthinking things and I just need more coffee.

Anyways, things sure have changed. We've moved provinces, being closer to friends and family is great! No, really, it is! Both boys have had their birthdays, so we now have one 3 year old and a 13 month old. I could go on and on about stuff we've missed, so we'll skip the rest and move on to where we are.

"Little" T is a 27lb baby monster. A cute one. Seriously. He's always so happy and rarely does anything make him cranky, but when he is he goes from happy to cranky in 2 seconds. One of his favourite things is waking up in the morning when his brother barges in and getting the windows opened so he can look outside and point. He excitedly dances in his crib, like if he just goes fast enough he could launch himself right out!

Needless to say, he loves food. Even non food. If it's carpet fluff he'll try to eat it. He loves the cat food, so poor Morris has had to have his food moved to the bathroom, two steps away from his litter. Poor Morris, but it's easier to keep an eye on the mobile baby there than the kitchen. And, he's walking. And running. And tormenting his brother while getting tormented, they think it's great fun, I think it's loud.

K is in the middle of potty training. Oh joy! Oh rapture! Oh... carpet cleaner. He gets the idea, but still has trouble catching himself most days. If we have the right (expensive) incentive *cough* bribe *cough*, he is fine. It's a work in progress.

He loves his brother. He'll play nicely by himself all morning, but at the first hint that T might be waking up, he runs in and slams the door open and jumps right in the crib and then I can't stop the chaos until someone goes to nap. He loves Ninja Turtles and Transformers lately, though Buzz Lightyear is a close one the last few days. He pretends to "transform", making weird noises while shifting his arms and legs around, then darts away all transformed. Children. What strange creatures. Entertaining though!

The personality on this one is shining through. He plays shy at strangers, except other children. With other kids he runs right up, shouts "Hi!" in their face, then pretends to fall to the ground dramatically, then jumping up and doing a forced laugh.

He's loving learning. He wants to know everything. Right now he's working on phonics. He asks all the time what sounds the letters make. And counting past fifteen, we're getting into the twenties now.

Well, the older one is being quiet, better check what's going on before the chaos of the day starts!

Talking and Singing

These days T loves to talk. "Ah-Mah-Mah-Mumumum..."and on and on... It is really cute to just see him go on for ages entertaining himself with the noises he can make. He also started clapping yesterday, which is exciting, now that he's getting more coordination, I hope to start teaching him a few signs. They helped so much with K, and I often wish T could talk and tell us what was up!

He is also growing like a weed. We pulled out a bunch of K's old 12-18 month clothes to re-supply T's wardrobe since he's been growing out of everything so fast! Some are still too big, but that's good because he'll have room to grow, but some of them are already tight!

K is really into singing the last few days. He asks for Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the bus. He loves the part about the babies on the bus and when the moms go "Shh, shh, shh" so he requests it again and again...

I found a book for him at Value Village that was about trains. Actually, it's just a train, but each page is a picture of the car on the train. He now knows "Engine", "Sand Car" (and I'm amazed with how clearly he says this one), "Cattle Car", "Dining Car", "Sleep car" and "Caboose"! I could hear him last night in his room going "Engine... Caboose!". He's also been reading "Good night Gorilla" a lot lately and last night when we tucked him in and I said "Good night" he said "Good night Gorilla!". He can practically read the whole thing himself now, and describes even the pages with no words with his own description, either in words or actions, it really is amazing to see him develop!

Time for Clean Up!

I'm so proud of K this morning, he's learning to clean up! He wanted so badly to play with a drum set, but I told him he had to clean up the blocks and trains he dumped on the floor first. We worked on that off and on for about half an hour, with me reminding him that I'd let him play drums if he just cleaned up first. Finally I went and helped, he had done most of it already. By the time we finished, he had changed his mind and wanted to play with a magnetic alphabet and number set. So I gave him that and he played happily while I worked in the bedroom, changing sheets and cleaning. Then he put it all away and gave it back to me and asked for his alphabet cards! Wow! We have been working on cleaning up at night, making him clean up all his toys before he could get dessert. The other night he didn't do anything and totally freaked out when it was bedtime and he didn't get his cookie! I rescued him though and got him to clean up the few toys in his room, and then he had a cookie. But, he has been really good about making sure we "Kweem up!" after dinner since! I hope it's sinking in!

We've also started swimming lessons for both boys. Well, again for K. But last Saturday was T's first lesson! He doesn't seem too impressed yet, but at least he's not screaming the whole time like some of the other babies there! You'd just think for a babe that loves bathtime so much, that splashing in the pool would be better, but apparently not. At least not yet.

T also cut his second tooth this week. The first one is still coming up, and now the second has just come through. I think he's still got more coming through though since he loves to shove anything he can chew on as far back in his mouth as they can go!

Lately we've all been sick off and on, the colds and things are making their way through the household. I hope it lets up soon, we have lots of work to do in the next few weeks!

We have teeth!

Well, Tiernan does now! His first tooth, bottom right (his right) has cut through today. And it has made for an exciting week! Last week I was at the docs for a check up and asked her to look at Tiernan as well since he started with a nasty cough the night before. She said he had Bronchitis and gave him some antibiotics to take for the next 10 days. So we started that and he started having "digestive issues" that involved many frequent and stinky diaper changes. Poor guy. And then all week this week he's just been grumpy as can be, making me want to pull my hair out or run away from home or have my reproductive abilities disabled. At times, all three! At least now we know what the issue is (or at least one of them) and today has been better. No fewer grump attacks, but at least I can help him out now that I know what's going on.

Kenton has taken to singing his ABC's now. He wants to sing them, but doesn't really know the words, so he just goes "W X Y Z, na naw ABC, nex... sig a me!". He's also showing much interest in the potty in the last couple of days, wanting to sit on it (and sing ABC) now and then. So that's progress! I don't really want him to learn and then back track when we move, but I think it'll stick more if he's initiating anyways.

Today we were having lots of fun setting up a fort with the couch cushions! He loved it and called it his castle. I don't really like doing it with our couch, but he saw it at his friend's and loved it, so I didn't want to say no. Once we've moved we'll probably be getting gifted a couch from family to use in the kids' play area, so they can use that one for forts to their hearts content.