Tuesday, June 30, 2009

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.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

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.