Nerding out on language development

Adin is in a really fun phase of language development, when he says new words and phrases everytime I turn around. I read this fall that during the language burst between 18 and 24 months, kids can learn a new word every 90 minutes! I think Adin is pretty close. He started saying, "Mormor" and "hotdog". He received an Elmo doll on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning he walked around calling Elmo and looking in boxes. Today he picked up a DVD case and said "Elmo World" (the name of the segment on Sesame Street that features Elmo). At lunch time, I heated up a hamburger and he started asking for a hot dog (or maybe he was trying to say hamburger!) When he saw me starting to heat one up for him, he started saying "thank you". It's funny how the words he's been saying for a while are crystal clear, but the new ones are fairly muffled. This was so nice to hear, partially because when Erik was one and a half, I know he could say those exact words! He called my mom and left a message saying "Thank you Mormor [for the] chocolate" I had to prompt him with each phrase, it's not that he could say four word phrases. So even though I work hard not to compare what each boy does at a particular age, it's nice when I know Adin's in the ballpark, at least!

Erik the snow bunny

Before I tell about Erik in the snow, let me tell you about Christmas morning. We looked out the front window. A bunny had tamped down a trench under our bench and was huddled under the bench, sheltered from the falling snow. Very cute. After the bunny hopped away, I put a carrot and some lettuce under there, but I haven't seen the bunny again.

Anyway, it's been fun to watch as each winter Erik is more playful in the snow. The first winter I didn't take him out much. When he was one, he was so small that when I bundled him up he couldn't move very well, and didn't know what to do anyway. Last year, Erik went out and played a little more, but then Adin was a baby so I couldn't really go out with Erik. I would send him out and watch from the window. He like shoveling but would shovel the snow from the snowbanks onto the sidewalk. Also, he refused to wear snowpants and that made it harder to play a long time.

This year, he has warm snowpants and boots and he loves to play outside. He'll ask if he can get bundled up. He still loves shoveling, but mostly has learned to shovel into the snowbanks. He just came in from outside and his cheeks are cold but his fingers are toasty warm. Yay!

Decoding One-Year-Old

Adin has been calling trains "ugg-ah" and saying "beep" for their noise. This puzzled me for about a month until I figured out why. When I push trains I say, "chugga chugga choo choo". Most little kids call trains "choo choo" but Adin picked up on the chugga part and it became uggah. Then we were reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book and Thomas always says, "peep peep" at the end. So I think that's why Adin says 'beep' for their noise. Now you too can decipher toddler speech!

Where is everyone?

The past week we have had family staying with us, sleeping in the basement and on a pull-out couch in the back room. Last night no one stayed with us. This morning after breakfast, Erik went downstairs, which he hadn't been allowed to do when people were sleeping down there. He came back up and tearfully asked me, "Doesn't any of our relatives want to stay with us?"

Christmas Program

The program went well. The 3 and 4 year olds decorated puppets to carry during "Los Posadas", the walking from inn to inn, asking for a room. Then they stood up front and sang "Away in a Manger". It was super cute. Erik did the actions and sang. A friend who was sitting closer to him than I was told Joe that Erik was even fairly on pitch. My favorite part may have been when he saw me sitting with my Kindergarteners and called out, "Mama!"

Adin was not impressed enough with his brother's performance to stay in worship. He went down to the nursery. He must be about to go through a growth spurt because he is eating like a football player. It's very funny. We'll give him a toddler sized plate of food. He'll eat it, then point to various things on the table saying, "more more". I'm pretty sure he ate more than any one of us at dinner tonight.

Maybe he needs some raisins

Since it got cold, Erik has had red, chapped lips. He licks them, which makes it worse. At first I tried to remind him not to lick, but it just frustrated him. He hates lotions, creams and everything I can think of. Sometimes I put stuff on while he is sleeping and hope he won't wake up. Yesterday, I did find a tube of lip balm which I tell him is lipstick and he has let me put it on him so far. The night before I was basically forcing him to let me put vaseline on his lips at bedtime and he was so frustrated. I asked him why it bothered him so much. He said, "it makes me feel not regular!"

Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel

Today after church I asked Erik if they practiced any songs for the Christmas Program. Um, he wasn't sure. I asked if they sang any songs about Baby Jesus. No, he didn't think so. pause. "I think we sang a song about the baby before Jesus." "What baby was that?" "I think his name was Messiah, or something."

Personal growth

On Saturday Adin started saying, "Erik". He was saying "eh" and I thought he was saying 'Erik' but Saturday he started saying "Eh-uk"! He will point to my seat in the car and say "mama", the passenger seat and say, "Papa", and Erik's seat and say, "Eh-uk". Today when we got back in the car after dropping Erik off at school, Adin pointed to Erik's carseat and said, "Erik school" (no r in Erik or s in school but still!)

Adin also began saying, "blankie" last week after he heard Erik saying it. He has a crocheted blanket that has been his favorite. Today when we were going to walk to the library, I asked Erik if he would like a blanket over his legs. While he was thinking about it, Adin said "bankie" so I went and got a quilt. No no no! A yellow quilt is not 'bankie', only the white crocheted blanket is 'bankie'. So he snuggled under his favorite blanket on the way to the library.

Erik has been showing new levels of restraint and maturity regarding his brother. Today while I was in another room I heard him ask Adin, "Can I play with that?" instead of just taking it away! Fabulous. And when they were in the double stroller on the way to the library Erik told me, "he just hit my head, but it didn't hurt." In the past he would have freaked out, even though it didn't hurt. Hooray for baby steps towards getting along.

Passing on skills

 

 

 

My mom was showed Erik how to make an apple pie. He enjoyed helping and I think brushing the milk on the crust and sprinkling sugar on it was his favorite part. I'm not sure if he ate any or not.

Moving on 'Adin time'

It's fun for Adin and me when Erik is in preschool. Most days we come home and Adin gets to play with whatever toys catch his fancy, without Erik getting upset. Today we came home and parked in front of the house (instead of in the garage). This change in routine seemed to intrigue Adin and he toddled off down the sidewalk. So we had a 20 minute walk down our street. He pointed out cars, doors, and trees. One house had two balloons tied to some plants so we went up and he pointed back and forth to them for a while. That drove the dog who lived there absolutely bonkers so we kept walking. The only hard part was yards with a steep hill in front he wanted to climb and I felt we should probably stay on sidewalks. It was so nice to just follow our whims.

Then we went back to the car and drove to the library for Baby Storytime. I took Erik a lot his first and second years but this was the first time I took Adin. He was mildly frustrated at first going slowly through the books with the group, but there are balls to roll and it's no problem to get up and walk around. Everytime we started a new book, song or fingerplay he came right back and sat down in my lap. It was fun to see him get the routine. A friend from church happened to be there so we got to chat a little after storytime was done.

Adin has just begun to put two words together. He has said, "mama nana" when I was eating a banana and "mama wawa" when I gave him some water. Yay! Love those checking off those milestones. He is imitating tons of words as well. I believe he said "ra-ra" today when I showed him a carrot! Ok, so you'd probably have to be a speech pathologist to connect those two, but I do!

More pictures

Trick or treat!





I'm terribly biased, but I think Adin looks so handsome in this picture.


Erik built a crane at the neighbor's this week. Impressive.

Adin at play

Adin stumbled across a little stuffed chick or duck he got at Easter. I was reading the paper and watching him out of the corner of my eye. He gave the duck a drink of water from my water bottle. Made it walk around. Brought it in the bathroom and tossed it in the bathtub with the rubber ducks. Took it in Erik's room and put it on Erik's bed and tucked the blanket around it. So cute! Then he brought it in the back room and tossed it behind the couch.

He has a book he's wanted to hear over and over. It's a board book with tabs to pull. Each page has the same cadence: ask a question, give two choices, make a comment. So he brought me the book and I read it to him, then handed it to him to read by himself. He was babbling on each page with the correct cadence. It was so cute to hear him babbling with the same intonation I had just used!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween will be slightly subdued this year since the kids are getting over the flu. We'll probably take them a couple places. I bought the kids each a pumpkin a couple weeks ago and yesterday we carved them. First Erik looked at pictures online to find the perfect face. Then I gave him a Sharpie and he drew a face on his pumpkin. They've been sort of practicing at school so he knew what to do. He did give his face ears, a belly button and a bottom (in front). Then I cut out the eyes and mouth. It was very fun and he was quite proud of it. The teeth he drew were quite pointy, so I said it looked like a vampire. He's not familiar with vampires, so after a couple minutes he said, "I think they are really called vam-pirates!" When Joe came home he told Joe it was an umpire! I cut Adin's to look like Count von Count from Sesame Street. I'm pretty proud of mine, too! I'm glad Halloween is tonight because the Count is going to fall apart pretty soon.

Adin has been saying "Pumpkin" so we decided we'll dress him in the pumpkin costume Erik wore when he was 18 months, instead of his new fire fighter jacket. Joe put him in his costume and he looked and looked at himself in the mirror. It was very cute. He even tolerated having the hood up. He drew the line at the cute little mittens, though. He hates mittens like poison.

Nope, we ended up having two adorable firefighters.

Fever

Joe took Adin to Urgent Care this morning with a fever. He may have an ear infection, and he has ILI (Influenza Like Illness), possibly H1N1. So he's on antibiotics and Tamiflu. Oddly, the doc told Joe that we may be able to get an rx for Erik for Tamiflu, since it was probably too late to get him vaccinated. However, when he called to ask for that, he was told they are prioritizing kids under two, and not giving rx to kids who are asymptomatic. Adin is feeling much better. He asked Joe for a bath when he got home from the doc. Our friend, Nurse Natalie, later told us that's one of the best ways to reduce a fever. He had a nice lunch and has been playing and seems to be doing fairly well.

When I grow up...

Since Erik started preschool he's been saying, fairly consistently, that he wants to be a teacher. Today at church he saw a big, tall bell tower out the window at church. He really wanted to go ring the bell. I told him there was a lock on it, and only Pastors Erik and Pam got to decide who rings the bell and when to ring it. I told him when he grew up, maybe he could be a pastor and then he could make the decisions about ringing his church's bell. (He likes to make the decisions.) He thought and thought about that in the car on the way home. Halfway home he said, "When I grow up, I'm either going to be a teacher or a pastor. I'm going to think about it for a couple minutes."

Church doings

When I got in the car to drive home from church I said either scenario A had happened in the car or scenario B. Joe said, "A". Adin piped up from the backseat, "B". Whenever he sees letters he says "B" (or maybe he's saying P, it's hard to tell).

Then Erik suggested we swing by the pizza store and pick up a pepperoni pizza, or maybe cheeseroni.

I'm very excited about the last couple weeks of church. At some point last year we decided that Erik was too hard to entertain in church and he started going to the nursery every week. Last week he saw the drum set was out and he wanted to stay. He was mesmerized during the music and I was able to entertain him during the quieter sections of the service. He's not that interested in drawing but when I pull out an activity sheet during church it's able to keep him engrossed enough to last the service. Yay!

Bedtime Theology

I know who else is with me...I'm not scared of Him.

After brushing his teeth, Erik climbed into bed and requested some stories from the Bible. We've worked our way up to reading about Solomon building the temple, and Elijah telling the widow God would make her flour and oil last to make more bread. Erik had some questions about how all that worked, of course. He wasn't familiar with the idea of God living in a building on earth so he thought the temple must be in heaven. And he wasn't sure how God could help the widow make more bread. We agreed that God was pretty amazing. Then Erik said, "I think God lets us do the easy part."

So then we said some prayers. We thanked God for lots of things, said God was amazing, I told God I was sorry for being grumpy today [and was just a little disappointed Erik didn't follow my lead and apologize for his temper tantrums]. Then we said Amen. Then Erik said, "Thank you, God, for making Sesame Street."

He wanted me to stay for a couple minutes as he tried to fall asleep. As he became sillier I left and he wailed, "I don't like to be alone." I came back in and explained I was still here, just on the other side of the door. He said, "And I know who else is with me. God. And I'm not scared of Him!" [I think in some Bible stories we'd read earlier this week, the people were scared by their encounters with God.]

I'm definitely enjoying this age of God being very easy to talk about.

Forever and ever

Erik has been very affectionate this evening. It's nice to get a break from "I'm not your friend anymore" and hear, "I know one thing that will never change. I'll always love you"!

Last week Erik's preschool had a Pizza Night. We watched a little Clifford DVD before we left and I paused it when it was time to go, telling him we could watch more after the pizza party. We enjoyed our pizza and cookie, then went up to the gym to run around a bit. After a while, Adin kept making a break for it, and it was about five minutes before it was time to go, anyway. So I told Erik we were leaving. He was very upset. I reminded him about the DVD and told him we could have a popsicle while we watched. He calmed down and came down the hallway, but he told me, "I have three feelings." I asked what he was feeling. "I'm mad, and sad, and happy."

Erik's been telling us lately that he doesn't want to be our friend anymore when we say things he doesn't like. Michelle reported that he told her today: "sometimes I tell my mom and dad I don't want to be their friend anymore but I really do".

Today

Adin was his usual chipper self today after sleeping most of yesterday. He had a fever of 102.1 yesterday, but today was just fine. He even said some new words. He's been saying "wa-wa" to ask for a glass of water or to ask me to run some water on his toothbrush. He also says "mine" when he shows me his toothbrush. He loves Erik's backpacks and spent a lot of time wearing Erik's blue Thomas one. Adin kept saying "backpack". He also imitated some new words when asked, but I don't remember what they were.

Erik told me today that he wants to be a teacher when he grows up. He must love preschool!

Sands through the hourglass

Yesterday in the car we were listening to a kids' CD and the song was about a kid who was jaded when he, "hit the big 1-0 [10 yrs], I feel so old. Candy just doesn't taste as good anymore." When the song was over, Erik said to me, "he's really going to feel old when he's 13."

Bert and Ernie

Lois took Erik to see a musical last night, "Bert and Ernie Goodnight". Erik had a great time and has told us a lot about what Bert and Ernie did. He wanted to act it out over and over. Joe told him he could do it at Michelle's. She set up a stage and an audience for him. Her report on the performance: Ernie was asked from the audience what his favorite food was and "cookies" was the answer. He also doesn't want to live on the moon. Adin wants to hug all the audience members.

Words words words

Adin is very impressive in his understanding of things we say to him. After ECFE class, Joe told him to blow a kiss. He blew one right at his teacher, Cindy. She melted, of course, and then Adin said, "Wow!

Our neighbor boy frequently asks me if Adin has any new words. He's always disappointed if I say no. Often when I pick up the boys from the neighbor's house, Gavin tells me something he heard Adin say, and a lot of the time, it's, well, a stretch. Like when Gavin heard Adin say "A, B, E, D". Although, I must admit that Adin's big thing today was to point to letters on my shirt and say, "A, B, B, B, B" and then laugh like a maniac.

Life is complicated.

I forget how we got on the subject, but Erik and I had a talk about the banking system today. He asked lots of questions and in the end he said, "this sounds really complicated." I agreed. He was quiet for a while and said, "I think you may have to explain this to me again when I'm older. Like maybe when I'm four or five or something like that."

Ride

The other day I took the boys to the local strip mall to play on the motorized car kiddie rides. For the first time, Erik requested that I put money in. I was torn, knowing how lame it is and that he would find it disappointing, but also feeling that it was only $.75 so I should do it. We found a ride that he and Adin could both sit in, although Adin was a little scared and I had to take him out. The look on Erik's face was priceless, sort of a "this is it?" But I was thinking, "Those three quarters could have bought me a can of caffeine at work tomorrow."

A.K.A. cavities

Erik used to spend vast quantities of time on the step stool in the bathroom, washing his hands and brushing his teeth. Those days are over. Now, when we tell him it's time to brush teeth or wash hands we often get a tantrum.

At the end of one very long day, the anti-tooth brushing tantrum was just spinning into a Category 5, when I decided not tonight. So I told Erik, "Fine. Don't brush your teeth."

And he wailed, "But the holes!" and sadly got out his toothbrush.

To infinity and beyond!

Erik loves playing with these blocks at our neighbors' house. Adin is his usual grinning self.

Last night Erik was playing with my mom, pretending to fly an airplane. She asked him where they were going and he said, "To the African Savannah".


He's been pretending to fly a plane a lot. He's always the pilot and makes announcements: the plane is about to take off, sit in your seat, put on your mask, sit in the jump seat, are you buckled in?

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Just got back from a morning at the State Fair. Erik was a lot of fun. We saw pigs, and cows but he loved the sheep. We petted a couple (and washed hands after, of course) and watched some of the sheep show. The horse barn was not open so we missed that, but we looked in a tack shop. I told him he could pick out a horse (they had those Schleiss ones) and he played with one for a while but he wanted a white cowboy hat! He wore it all morning! So cute!

Then we stopped and listened to some live bluegrass music. One of the musicians said the band had been there five years, and this year she was going on the ride where they shoot you way up in the air. Erik asked me if it was scary, I said yes, and he freaked out. He thought it meant right there at the concert. We kept walking and passed an arcade that had kiddie rides in front. We were there about 20 minutes. There was a fire truck, an elephant and an apple car with a worm driver.

At 11 there was a juggler he wanted to see, but right outside the stage was the library tent and Erik and I stayed there. He spun a wheel and answered some questions to win prizes (a book and a library card holder), he finger painted on a fan and sat and listened to several books. I kept asking if he wanted to go see the juggler, because I knew he'd been looking forward to it. By the time he was ready to go, the juggler was done and it was dancers. So we watched them for a few minutes and then he wanted to go back to the fire truck ride. On the way we passed the carousel and had a ride (in the sleigh, the horses are too scary). By the time that was done, Joe felt he had to start heading back so he could go to work.

Erik was very sad to leave the fire truck, and was not even soothed by some chocolate chip cookies. However, eventually he got over it and all in all had a great morning.

Adin was pretty tired and passive during the fair. He enjoyed the animals and the kiddie rides. I think he enjoyed the juggler. He napped quite a bit and ate a lot of Joe's food. Our only disappointment was that the man who was there a couple years ago cutting silhouettes was not there this year. We had really wanted one done of Adin to match the one of Erik at the same age. Oh well. I can take a picture and mail to the guy.

Family Fun

Adin has been continuing to delight us. When he wants to go outside, he'll bring us his shoes, or our shoes, or Erik's shoes. He is learning about using gentle touches. When he sees a baby in a stroller at church or on the bus, he wants so much to touch the baby. We try not to let him, because of germs, but when he manages anyway, he always pets them very gently. When we are walking down the street he points and babbles at every pigeon and dog he sees.

Erik points at every bus and says, 'our bus is coming!' We visited a friend last night and there was a sort of secret passage in the back corner of her backyard that lead to a play area with swings, a teetertotter and a play house. He was completely enchanted by the house, as was Adin. Adin played and played in the kitchen, opening and shutting the doors, pretending to push buttons and splashing in water in the sink. Erik used a 'broom' I had made out of maple leaves and swept and dusted and sang at the top of his lungs. He would ask me, 'what else can you think of that I could clean?'

This friend had a box of legos that she keeps for when her grandchildren come to play. Erik and Adin have used Duplos but we have not yet given them regular Legos. Erik loved them. I had to sort out the biggest ones, as he couldn't get the little ones to stick. He built all kinds of things.

Which reminds me, he's also begun to draw and explain what each line is, but then at the end ask me what I think it is. So today he drew a window washing robot and an elephant. He takes all the bedclothes he can find and piles them up on his bed and says it's a nest. Then he doesn't want us to move them back. He loves when we all come over to his nest and then it's a family nest. Today he and Joe were in the nest first, then Adin and I joined him. He said to Joe, 'I'm a twig and you're a stick and mama and Adin are leaves' in the nest!

Fair and Equal

Yesterday we went to Target and Erik was a good listener so at the checkout, I bought a little $1 box of 6 choc chip cookies. I told him I would have 2, he could have 2 and Adin could have 2. When we got in the car and I gave him his 2, he told me, "Next time we have a treat with six treats, I have all of them because I like sweet things." I told him I like sweet things, too, so maybe I should have all six. No, he said. "I'll have three and you can have two." I suggested I could have three, he could have two and Adin could have one. "No, we can all have two." pause "but I want the most."

I just brought a bag of garbage out to the curb. When I came back in, Adin was in the kitchen, with the Better Homes and Gardens cook book open to a picture of three different types of cookies, saying, "Mmm. Mmmm. Mmm."

vocabulary burst

About a month ago a friend posted on his blog that his 15 month old daughter had some unusual vocabulary words. I thought to myself, "Wow, Adin is 14 months and he's barely saying anything yet." Not that it's a problem but just being aware of how much Erik said at 15 months.

Well, what a difference a month makes! Last Thursday I jotted down all the words, signs and gestures that Adin is doing right now.

duck
night night (waves)
banana
more (says occasionally)
hi
no (shakes his finger back and forth)
outside (says 'side')
milk (signs)
mama
Erik
Adin
Papa (or bapa or dada)

things he's said or signed once
cracker
shoe
go
help
yeah

Pretty impressive! He's so amazing how much he understands. I feel like I can give him any instruction in our daily routine and he understands. Get your shoes, change your diaper, go downstairs, give me a kiss,... It's not always perfect of course. Today I told him we were going downstairs and he went straight to the door to the upstairs. But still quite genius-y, don't you think?

Bon Mots

I have been writing down funny or agrammatical things Erik has said. But I write on whatever paper I can find, rather than in a book, so I don't have them all together.

Tonight I went to garden and lost track of time. I got back just after bedtime. While I was washing my hands, Erik came into the bathroom. He said, "I heard the door and I said to myself, 'hmm, Is that Papa or Anne?' " Very cute inflection on the "hmm", too. He does usually call us Mama and Papa, but will sometimes use our names if he hears others do it.

He was asking me if I heard a sound. I said, "I heard it earlier but I don't hear it this exact minute." He said, "You hear it later?" Neat how he processed that.

If I find my other scraps I'll post them, too. Joe is going to put our pix from our trip to the Landscape Arboretum online. Start preparing yourself for the cuteness now!

Good teeth

Erik had his first real visit to the dentist today. He went in January, just to sit in the chair and meet the dentist. He was a little nervous, but I told him she would count his teeth and tickle them with some tools. He brought along a stuffed bear so she could show him on Mr. Beeps before doing anything to him.

They are working on the road we take to get to the dentist so instead of taking 3 minutes it took about 20. We just crept along. I think that made it harder for Erik, he just sat there thinking about how scared he was.

We got there about 3 minutes late, so they were ready for us. Margo, his dental hygienist, came out and talked to Erik and she was obviously fantastic with kids. She showed Erik the chair and the booster that Mr. Beeps would have to sit on, and Erik could sit there too. Once I saw he was ok, I had to go around to the other side of the partition for my own cleaning, which was hard. But I could hear him chatting with Margo and he could see my feet.

She told him about the magic chair and had him say "abracadabra" to make it go up and down. He got a big kick out of that. Then she put a "napkin" around Mr. Beeps' neck and one around Erik's. She put sunglasses on Mr. Beeps and took a picture of them together in the chair. It's so cute! Margo had Erik say "Magic Chair ride" or something to make it tilt back. When he got a little freaked out she tilted it back up til he was comfortable.

He let her count his teeth and polish them with tutti fruity stuff. I guess there were monkeys on the head of the cleaning tool and Margo told him they would spin around so they could get some exercise. He thought that was hilarious. They didn't take x-rays or give him a fluoride treatment, because he's so young.

Margo gave him a little prize, a notebook. Then the dentist checked him out and gave him a big prize, a plastic guitar! He was thrilled and so am I.

Erik in a talent show

We just returned from a week at Camp Arcadia in Northwest Michigan (the LP). I will have some fun stories to put on here, but in the meantime, here's a video of Erik with his little class performing in the talent show.

The class was called the Ark and Erik loved it because he loved Miss Janice, the teacher. They did coloring sheets, heard Bible stories, sang songs, made bead necklaces, and went on field trips. They went to the Craft Shop to fingerpaint, went to the kitchen to have cookies and went for a hike in the woods looking for animals. Imagine Erik's delight when they found Jodie, the Puppy Girl. Miss Janice showed the kids how to put a treat in their open palm and Jodie would lick it right out of the kids' hands. Afterward, Erik got to hold Jodie's leash and walk her around camp, although, I think Jodie was leading Erik more than Erik was leading her.

While Erik was in the Ark, Adin was in the nursery. Adin did great, he was calm and happy and I was never paged to come get him.

Funny Adin

Adin has three molars now. It's been pretty tough getting them in, poor little guy. He saw Erik and me eating lettuce in the garden and wanted to try some, but I told him he really needed good molars for that. (Aside, I was thrilled that Erik tried lettuce! I had to show him how to move the lettuce to his molars.)

He is just starting to shake "no". I'll ask a question and he'll sort of wiggle. He thinks it's pretty funny.

Funny Erik

Yesterday Erik came down to the garden with me and helped me pull weeds. He was so funny. First he used his shovel and dug up a bunch of dirt. Then he used a hand rake and raked the dirt. Then he got my little watering can and asked me, "Mama, is it ok if I water your dirt?"

Yesterday morning I took the kids to the store to buy diapers. When we got home I found Erik had left his blanket laying on the floor next to a water bottle. The cap was loosened and the blanket was soaking. So I hung it up in the bathroom, sort of grumbling a little. I came back into the dining room and Erik said, "It's ok, mama, everybody makes mistakes sometimes."

This morning we got off to a rocky start. Erik was very physical and was alternating between pestering Adin and banging household stuff around. I was alternating between snapping at him to stop and trying to redirect him to some other way to burn off his energy. We went in his room to get him and Adin dressed. He put his sheet around his neck and told me he was a bad guy. Why? Because he stood on chairs. I said, "that doesn't sound like something a bad guy would do, that sounds like something a good guy would do when he was making a mistake." I was sort of suspecting this bad guy persona was because of all my nagging and I wanted to backpedal! So every time he said something about being a bad guy, I would say something about how much I loved him even when he was being a bad guy. Pretty soon he stopped snarling and started smiling.

Adin update

Once again, Adin has made a little hop up in his language. He seems to understand better and will follow simple directions like sit down or give it to me. If I ask where Erik is, Adin will look for him. He is also trying to communicate more. Today when he woke from his morning nap he signed "milk". He says more things that almost sound like words, like "nuk". He does a few actions to songs like, "wheels on the bus" and "pat a cake".

Erik update

Erik had a tough week a couple weeks ago but he seems to have come through to a new level of play. He does a ton of imaginative play during Adin's naps. Usually, we get out the moon sand and he bakes cakes. Today he gathered up random stuff he could find and took a trip to Canada to go fishing! He put on Joe's fishing hat, and used my scarf as a fishing pole. He talked about how he had to travel to get there. We discussed bait (worms vs. minnows). He used an unopened pack of diapers for a variety of purposes; most memorably it was a dancing seat, just in case he wanted to dance.

Sometimes we go outside and garden. He uses a pointy bulb planter and pretends it's a jackhammer. Yesterday he discovered how to open the screen door by himself and he was in and out a dozen times fetching things. He has become more willing to help and will get me a bucket for weeds or a nuk for Adin. He will sometimes put away silverware out of the dishwasher.

Good night, world

Joe worked this evening so I did the bedtime routine alone with both boys. I got them in pjs, teeth brushed and we read a book in Erik's room. Then I told Erik he could look at a book by himself while I gave Adin milk. Adin heard that and went to Erik's door to open it. I picked him up and he tried to sign "milk". Then we went to the window waved goodnight to the world and he pointed to the shade and said "down" (sort of). I pulled down the shade and we went to the rocking chair and he was excitedly signing "milk" and saying "down". It was so fun to hear and see such clear understanding of his bedtime routine.

He points to things (like a cup) and points to himself as if to say, that's mine. We have a picture of him on the hutch at my eye level which is his eye level when I carry him. He likes it when we walk by, he'll point to it and want to hold the picture. It's very cute.

Update on Adin

Let's see, Adin is walking very well. He can pivot, go around things, squat in the middle of the floor and then straighten, climb stairs and is just learning how to go down stairs.

He is imitating a few more words. Yesterday I told him I was putting on my shoe, and he said, "shoe"! Um, off the top of my head I can't remember what else he'll say, but he's definitely communicating more.

Super day

We had a great day today. The kids and I went to the YMCA first thing. I was there about 20 minutes and the childcare worker had to come get me b/c Erik needed help on the potty and Adin needed a new diaper. I took care of all that, and Adin just looked so tired I decided we'd just go home.

Adin took a long, fabulous nap. Erik and I played with moon sand, not a good thing to play with when Adin is awake. We had a quick bite to eat and then met some friends at a playground. These were friends from Barnehage, which ended last week. We were supposed to meet at 10, but due to napping and lunch we arrived at 11:30! Luckily, there were still a few people there. The kids had so much fun we just stayed for an hour and a half!

On the way home, they were hungry so I poured some fish crackers into Erik's cup holder and told him to pass one to Adin when he held out his hand. That was fun to see out of the corner of my eye & in the rear view mirror.

Back home, we played in the back yard for about a half hour and ate apples. Then naptime! It just feels like it's been an idyllic day. Which is good, because sometimes the days feel more nightmarish! But I don't post about those!

I won!

I won a fake parenting award! I'm so honored.

More May Day

 

This was the finale.

 

Here are the boys on the way home.

Happy May Day

Yesterday we joined Emily and Dan at the May Day parade in Minneapolis. We ended up on opposite sides of Bloomington Ave, but chatted on cell phones and they got to watch Erik's wide eyes during the parade.

 

Erik's favorite part of the parade came early on when the marching band had a tuba! His favorite musical instrument!

 

A large group called Sprout. They wore green and passed out little tastes of sprouts. We declined.

 

 

Bears that came by right before the finale.

Thanks Bonnie!

Here's an old picture of Adin in a sweater that my friend Bonnie knit. You can't imagine how soft this sweater is. When Adin outgrows it, I want to make it into something for me to snuggle.

Digger

Erik got a shovel for his birthday. He's enjoyed walking down to the community garden with me and digging. It's great because there's nothing planted so he can dig as much as he wants!

Caught red handed

I fed Adin while Erik was watching Sesame Street. Then I got Erik some pizza and jello. He started eating but needed some help in the bathroom. When we were done, I came back into the dining room and found Adin had helped himself to Erik's pizza.

Taking turns

I'm not sure why I start a new post for each separate thing, but oh well.

So we were out in the backyard this afternoon, and Adin was interested in the little slide. That, of course, meant that suddenly Erik was also interested in it. So they took turns on the slide. Erik prolonged his turns by sitting at the bottom and top of the slide as long as possible. When Adin was done with his turns, I had to lift him out of the way so he didn't get hit by Erik sliding down. Adin would wriggle and fight to get back down so he could take another turn.

Finally, I hit upon the idea of having Adin walk around to the back of the slide and wait back there for his turn. He reacted by pushing Erik down the slide! Luckily, Erik found this hilarious and wanted Adin to do it over and over again.

Adin loves Erik

Today, Erik went down for a nap at 1:30, Adin at 2:00. Adin woke at 3:00, Erik at 3:45. When Adin and I heard Erik wake up and cry (his usual response to waking up from a nap), Adin's head just snapped up, he slid off my lap and crawled like lightning to Erik's room. The whole time he's calling to Erik. He crawls to Erik's bed and starts petting Erik, putting his head down on Erik, squealing with joy, just doing everything he possibly could to show Erik love.

Erik was not yet ready to receive love, so I took Adin out of the room. Oh, how he protested. If I set him down, he just crawled back. I brought him in the bathroom (one of his favorite places) and he crawled out. I brought him back in and shut the door. Adin banged on the door, cried and called out to Erik. I relented and let him crawl back to Erik's bed.

Fortunately, by this time, Erik was ready to receive the love. He laughed every time Adin patted him.

Erik's bedtime story

Here's the story Erik told me at bedtime tonight:

Once upon a time there were four little pigs and four big bad wolves. All the pigs had houses. The wolves blew them all down. They went in the houses and tried to eat the pigs. The pigs ran away. The wolves ran after them and tried to eat them again. One pig built his house of bricks. The other pigs built their houses of straw. The pig went to bed and dreamed the big bad wolf turned into a big nice wolf. And it came true! Then there were four big nice wolves. They didn't blow the houses down. The end.

Celebrating Erik's birthday at Barnehage

Laura makes the kids a crown the week we celebrate each of their birthdays.



Here's Erik during circle time, trying to decide who to throw the ball to.



Here he is bravely standing in the middle of the circle while the class walks around him and sings "Hurrah for deg".

Adin is walking

Adin has been taking a few steps the last few days. He's become much more confident in the last week. I've been trying to get video of him walking but he just sits down when he sees me with the camera!

Erik's first poem

"Red means stop
Green means go
Let's go drink
some hot cocoa."

1st word

We keep a row or two of rubber duckies on the window sill in the bathroom. Adin will often reach for one as we leave. Today he got one, I said, "do you want a duck" and he said "duh...k". It was very exciting!

First Haircut

 

 

 

 

Sweet!

 

I put out a cup of pudding for Erik. Guess who found it first?

Hands

We sing a table prayer in which we hold out our hands, singing "hands, hands, hands, thank you God for hands", point at the food and say, "food,..." and then we all hold hands and sing "family,...". Today I was reading Adin a book about body parts, when I came to the hands page I started singing the table prayer. He looked at me, smiled and held out his hands. Then he reached out to hold my hands (for the family part). It was very sweet.

Say what?

Erik's Grampa comes over once a week and watches Adin while I take Erik to Barnehage. Most weeks Grampa brings a snack to share with Erik, and usually it's blueberry muffins. This week, after Grampa left and we were eating lunch we had the following conversation:

Erik: Do you know how to make nuts?
Me: Well, you don't really make nuts, they grow.
E: I mean the kind Grampa bringed.
Me: thought: Grampa brings muffins not nuts. said: Uh, I don't know how to make those.
E: I mean the circle nuts.
Me: I have no idea what you are talking about.
E: Kind of like a bagel nut.
Me: Doughnuts! and then laughed until I fell off my chair.

at the neighbor's

This is so funny. Michelle had to put up the gate to keep Adin out of the kitchen while the kids painted. See Adin peeping over the gate. I'm sure it kills him that he's not in there with Erik.



I love this picture. You can see Adin's blue eyes and that his head tilt is pretty much gone. Yay!

Funny Erik

This morning, out of the blue, Erik started yelling at Adin, "grow up! Grow up right now! Don't be a baby anymore! Stop saying baby words!"

We made corn meal muffins and as he stirred he said he wanted to be a baker when he grows up.

I was feeding Adin and heard Erik singing to himself in the blue room. I couldn't understand the words. Then he asked if I knew the song. I said "no". He came over to me with the worship bulletin from yesterday and asked if I could sing the song. He'd been making up a song to go along with the one printed on the front.

At dinner, Erik asked if Joe and I thought God was a mixer. I said "no, why?" "Because he mixed up the words the people tried to say" [in the Tower of Babel story]. I said, "oh like a cement mixer" and said he thought God was a word mixer.

Last night Erik picked up two sticks and used them as musical instruments. He pretended one was a violin and the other a bow. He hummed the music that his violin was playing. Then I realized he was humming "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". Now that surprised me!

Stinky Steggy

Today, Elmo wanted a dinosaur. He went to the vet to ask where he could get one. She explained that they are extinct. A couple hours later, Erik asked me why dinosaurs are so stinky. I explained they didn't take baths (they were afraid to wash their hair) and so they were stinky and that's why Elmo couldn't have one. Well, I explained that after I was doubled up laughing for about five minutes. My life has become The Family Circus.

On an adorable note, Erik went to a meeting with Joe tonight and Adin crawled all over the house looking for him, whimpering. I showed him some pictures of Erik and then he was happy.

Potty update

Erik went a week in underwear at night with no accidents! Then he had two nights in a row last week where he woke up wet. Then we put him in a diaper the next night and it was dry in the morning! I know we've been extremely lucky with training him, it's kind of hard to decide now what to do at night.

We went to a Macalester/Augsburg basketball game yesterday. Erik and I spent most of the time walking around the new athletic bldg. We looked in the natatorium (swimming pool), the weight room, and ran around the track. It was fun to see how excited he was about running 50 or 100 yards and how fast he thought he was. I showed him how to do a handoff for a relay race and we did 100 yard relays. We watched some men practice throwing, running and catching frisbees.

Erik worked really hard at being quiet today in church. Everything about him is physical, he taps his feet to the music, would like nothing better than to touch all the instruments, microphones, the water, bread and wine or juice. We had another church member give positive feedback after church this week. Last week the woman we sat with said we could sit with her anytime, she loved kids. This week the man who was doing the communion prep commented on how much fun it was to watch Erik. I really appreciate comments like these. We do get the occasional indirectly negative comment and the positive ones are definitely treasured.

Adin is a solid cruiser. Friday he was watching Erik take a bath and he let go of the side of the tub and stood on his own for half a minute! I had my hands out to catch him if necessary, but he was rock solid. He loves his own baths now that he can sit with Erik. He splashes away and does not seem to mind having his hair washed. When he's done he lets us know by trying to get out of the tub so we have to keep our eyes peeled!

Adin will imitate lots of sounds and gestures now. I wouldn't imagine it'll be too long before we hear his first true word! He says "dada" all the time but indiscriminately. I've heard him say "mama" and he often says things that sound like words - hi, all done, Erik. This is an exciting time. He can do so many fun things and is on the cusp of doing so many more.

He drives Erik crazy when they are playing. He wants what Erik has, Erik wants what Adin has, it's frustrating. I often hear Erik ask, "Don't you know this is my special book [or toy]"? As in, 'you can play with the other books, but not this one'. When one is napping and the other is awake, it isn't long before Adin is crawling to the door of Erik's room, or Erik wants to go upstairs and wake up Adin. They really miss each other when they aren't together!

Erik and Bob

 

Here's Erik with a 36" Bob the Builder puzzle we did together.

Viva Italia!

 

Here they are in their matching Italia hoodies from Zio Paulo and Zia Amy.

Last night I was helping Erik get ready for bed and listing what we would do next: brush teeth, put on diaper, pajamas,... Erik said he wanted to go to bed like I do. Huh? Wearing underwear! So he wore underwear to bed and slept through the night, no accidents! Tonight he asked for a diaper. Which is good, I bought a big box of nighttime diapers a week ago and would have been annoyed if they went to waste.

Adin had his nine month check up on Friday. I can't believe it. He weighed 19 pounds, 7 ounces (25th percentile) and was 30 inches long (90th percentile). The questionnaire I filled out asked if he played Peek a boo or Pat a cake. We play those and he enjoys them, but I didn't think he played them himself. However I checked when we got home, and he does! He'll cover his face with a lovey to play Peek a boo (so cute) and he'll clap his hands and raise them up high for Pat a cake! Today he was imitating me when I said the "p" sound and we often hear him say things that sound like real words.

I have more videos to post but I can't find them on the computer!

Adin is crawling

I finally uploaded the video I took of the kids last week, after I finally bought more video tapes! I tried to adjust the volume during production, but I'm not sure it worked. Sorry if it's sort of loud there at the end.

Brothers

Erik's feelings toward Adin appear to be fairly mild. He ranges from being mildly amused and affectionate to being mildly annoyed and threatened. (Adin just purely adores Erik, no matter what.) Now that Adin is more mobile, he crawls toward Erik and whatever Erik is doing. Erik instantly responds with outraged, "no, he'll ruin it" or "I'm using this" or "no no no no no". I can pretty much persuade him that Adin doesn't mean him any harm, that he can offer Adin another toy, that they can take turns, etc. Also, if Adin makes it close enough he will touch Erik which Erik also protests.

Today at naptime, Erik was laying in his little toddler bed and Adin crawled over, pulled himself up and stood there reaching for Erik. Erik must have been overcome with affection because he reached over and gave Adin a one armed bear hug that lasted so long I had to separate them. I couldn't have been more delighted.

Erik amazes me

Erik woke up with a cold yesterday that steadily got worse. Today when he woke up he was pretty much clobbered. He didn't have much energy or appetite, so we read books and watched TV. After his nap, his temperature was up a little so Joe gave him some Tylenol. He perked right up and was lots of fun this evening.

We watched a "Wallace and Grommit" movie downstairs and towards the end (during the thrilling conclusion)he went upstairs. I wasn't really listening, but I thought he said he was going up for a minute and would be back down. When the movie ended he wasn't back so I went up. I heard a clatter as I came up the stairs and I was a little concerned. I found him in the bathroom. He'd pulled down his own pants and underwear, moved the footstool over to the toilet so he could climb up, got his potty insert and put it on the potty, climbed up, did what he needed to do, climbed down and tried to hang up the potty insert (the clatter was it falling into the tub). I was astounded. That is a lot of steps for such a little guy to take care of. I'm so proud of him!

I know there was something else I was going to tell you, something he said. Oh well. If I remember I'll post again.

Adin

Today I saw Adin crawl on all fours across part of the dining room floor. It was so cute to see his busy little legs.

This afternoon he was pushing a button on a musical toy and when the music played he clapped!