August 2007

Co-Sleeping

No, not us sleeping with the kids, the kids sleeping in the same bed, um I mean crib. One night after about 30 minutes of listening to giggles and grunting over the baby monitor, which turned into annoyed cries, I decided to check up on the boys, who share a room. Both were crying hysterically. Andrew had climbed INTO the crib and was crying because he could not get out, and James was crying because he wanted Andrew out of his space. We never had any problems with Andrew trying to climb out of the crib last year, but I guess he wanted to play with his brother even during nap time.

This happened once so we thought we were in the clear. Then came nap time one rainy Monday afternoon. I put them in for their nap, put in a load of laundry and heard an inoridinate amount of giggles 5 minutes into nap time. At first I thought I was just listening to Andrew 'read' James a book. Upon inspection, Andrew was wildly jumping up and down in the crib, next to James who was thoroughly entertained. Did you know a crib is also a trampoline? After a while Andrew tuckered out, and it appears he is forcing James to sleep standing up.

I removed Andrew from the crib, placed him back in his own bed, which now sits in the MIDDLE of the room at least 4' from any wall (that's another story). Two minutes later, more giggles. He was back in the crib. After placing him back in his bead again, he was back in the crib in under a minute. After 5 crib break-ins, I got curious. So I closed the door then cracked it a little bit so I could peak in. Andrew watched me cautiously from the comfort of his bed, sauntered over to the door and shut it do I could not see in. I waited a minute, then cracked it open and he immediately slammed it shut, just waiting for me.

Well, if I could not witness then I would get it on film. I set up the camera in the closet on the bottom shelf to get a good angle. Andrew climbed up on some blankets and snatched it, then climbed in the crib. I moved the camera further back on the lower shelf out of reach, he slammed the closet doors, then climbed into the crib. Finally on the 6th attempt I got him on film. Nothing too sophisticated, he just wedged his foot on the crib mattress, and pulled himself over the rail. I knew spending all that time on the Jungle Gym at the park and feeding him all of that fruit and protein would come back to haunt me. Alas, they once again fell asleep together in the crib. And when Andrew is not climbing in the crib, he is underneath the crib kicking the mattress from below, giving James the Magic Fingers treatment.

Are you noticing that the clothes are different in all of these pictures? We can't seem to break Andrew's habit. When I kept going in every minute or 2 to pull Andrew out and strongly advise he not climb into the crib, he got a little testy and emptied several of the drawers. This must be the Kazakh version of 52-pick up, except it was 144-Pick Up.

Finally the time came for us to split up the boys into separate rooms until Andrew agrees with me that crib climbing is a No-No. I think that day will come when the crib leaves the room, and we have 2 beds in the room---- far enough apart so they don't try jumping from 1 bed to another.

Potty Tails

I tried Potty Training with Andrew this month. Let's just say a 25-month Kazakh is not interested. Someone said you can train a child by not putting a diaper on them.....after 10 minutes of chasing a naked toddler and shooing him off the furniture and carpet I gave up on that and moved to real underwear. He did great for the first 2 hours, then 2 cups of juice broke loose. So I gave up until I can find some rubber pants. I also tried putting him on the real potty seat and not the cushioned Winnie The Pooh seat that goes on top of the normal seat. He fought the hard seat, but after a day or 2 he stopped his complaining, and after falling in once, he has learned to concentrate on balance and not whacking the toilet paper dispenser. After 2 weeks we had a delivery, and I am hoping it continues well.

James on the other hand is know as Lightning McPooh. I continued to put him on the potty after lunch each day and seconds after his tushy rests on the padded seat, he is done his business, often to his splash down surprise. Saves on some ookie diapers later in the day. I won't get too excited because Andrew had the same lunch time ritual before we went to day care, then regressed. But for now, I am happy with Lightning.

Shoe Fun

Anyone with kids will tell you that no matter what toy you buy a child, they are more interested in the box/bag. Once they do play with the toy they tire of it easily and play with something not intended as a toy. Case in point, Shoes. Andrew likes to put on my sandals and clomp around the house. His supreme look is my sandals and Rob's baseball hat...worn backwards. For now, James just enjoys taking all of the shoes out of the shoe stand and sitting in them, tossing them, sniffing them and occasionally chewing on them. It keeps him busy for an hour or more, but sometimes a wild shoes just up and bites him in the butt and brings tears to his eyes.

Food Fusion

James is starting to understand what happens to left overs in our house: Food Fusion. It's a ritual that started when I was growing up when my Dad would mix the partial boxes of cereal. Why this occurred we do not know, but it has become ingrained in my behaviour. So the other day James enjoyed a nice dinner of GreenBean-Sweet Potato-Chicken With Stars-Peach-Oatmeal surprise. Oddly, he chowed it down faster than the food individually. Must be Food Synergy.

Pot Heads

On a nice calm morning Andrew likes to get the pot lids out and wake up the world. He bangs them on the tile floor, on the cabinets, on the kitchen table and on the wooden indestructible coffee table. I tried to get him to bang them on the sofa for a nice muffled sound, but he was not having any of that. Now he has progressed from just 2 lids, to 3 lids.... and teaching James the fine art of the shell game for when they take their Brother Rumble Show on the road.

Art?

This month at DayCare was Animal and Emotions month. Andrew brought home quite a few gems and these were the prized ones to make it to the fridge for the month. Duck and Lobster underscore the important role that paper plates play in child crafts. the last one is about Emotions....Happy, Sad and Good Grief Charlie Brown. 'Emotions' would not have made it to the Fridge Hall of Fame, except whenever Andrew would walk by he would proudly announce "Habby!"

Party Time

Since we have lived in out house we have had either a summer or winter party. Each year they grew more and more elaborate culminating in t-shirts, posters and a street blocked by parked cars resulting in the neighbors putting their house on the market the next day....well OK, maybe that was just a coincidence.....but come on, it happened 2 times! Our summer party, Mowgapalooza-- named after our beloved late cat Mowgie, in our pre-child days featured beer pong, coolers of beer and dodgeball. Mowgapalooza went on hiatus in 2006 as we went to Kazakhstan, but it returned in 2007 with a more kid-friendly vibe....there were Swim Diapers for All!

High/Low

Recently one of my child-free friends asked what the Best and Worst part of having kids is.

• The Worst was an easy one: Liqui-Pooh. I always knew there would be dirty diapers, but Heavens to Betsy, I never knew there would be an aroma that would linger for hours. And while driving down the road without any kids in the car the aroma would somehow pop back into memory and be just as revolting.


• The Best was more difficult because it's not one thing, it's more like witnessing the boys see or do something for the first time and see the light bulb go on over their head. Watching Andrew watch me say a new word and then repeatedly try to form his mouth to repeat it, or the first time Andrew hugged me back when I hugged him for putting his shirt on by himself, or watching them laugh at the right time during My Friends Tigger & Pooh when Tigger makes a rubbery funny face, or the first time I went from being Mama to Mommy. Those are the best things you don't appreciate until it happens to you.

July 2007, the rest of the month

James had a major milestone...his first potty delivery. After a couple days of giving him a fresh diaper after lunch, only to have him deliver between the changing table and the crib, I decided to put him on the potty after lunch. Success on the 2nd day. He was taken back a bit with the first splash down, but subsequent deliveries were met with giggles and looks of surprise....or maybe he had just never been cheered on to do his business.

Top 10 things I Now Find In My Vacuum

10. Kitty Hair

9. Kitty Litter

8. Gold Fish

7. Cheerios or Rice Chex

6. Bits of partially chewed paper

5. Cat food a child has relocated from the food bowl

4. Spent Pasta

3. Shredded napkin

2. Dirt/Mulch

1. More Gold Fish

Sibling Rivalry ?

I never realized just how fast kid's fingernails grow. After getting clawed at one afternoon I decided it was time to clip James' nails. After a couple finger nails Andrew came running over and wanted his done, or so I thought. Successfully fending off Andrew until all 10 of James' were done, I started clipping Andrew's. He freaked out by nail #3. Turns out he didn't really want his finger nails clipped, he was just trying to save James from the Evil Nail Clippers, which for the record have never drawn blood.

Andrew like me, is not a happy camper when he wakes up from a nap, or in the morning. James on the other hand is quite happy to arise any time. One afternoon Andrew was wailing for 30 minutes after he got our of his bed by himself after nap,time, while James was happy to just spend the time crawling up and down the hallway waiting for the screaming to cease. I hope that Andrew soon learns to stay in bed to sleep off the grumpiness. This was also the day that 30 minutes into nap time, which was filled with cries, I went in to check on them and found Andrew had climbed INTO the crib with James. Andrew was crying because he didn't know how to get out, and James was crying because he wanted his space back.

Top Ten Things I Thought I Would Never Say

10. Put that down, You'll put your eye out (Rob actually said that in reference to a belt)

9. Don't Step on your brother

8. What just went up your nose? (Answer: goldfish)

7. What just went up your brother's nose?

6. Let's watch another episode of My Friends Tigger & Pooh

5. Have a cookie, and stop eating grapes (if you know what happens when grapes get processed, you'd understand)

4. Just how much Beefaroni did you eat to produce THAT ?

3. For the 10th time today, get your hands out of there!

2. How did you get your arm stuck in the toilet?

1. What went into the toilet to make you put your arm that far down the hole?

Andrew has discovered stuffed animals, after almost a year of being home. When we first got home we had a pile that people had either given us, or ones from when we were kids. He looked at the stuffed animals, and then us and could not figure out why we kept pushing them on him. One day he picked up a soft blue elephant and proclaimed he shall be named Bubbles. When I told him it was an 'elephant' he again looked at me like I was crazy because the word 'elephant' must surely be a made-up word. After our trip to Disney world, he finally figured out the stuffed animals. Now he sleeps with a good portion of the Hundred Acres Woods: Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Roo. Lately Andrew has discovered the Cow that moos when you either shake him, or turn him upside down. It looks like he is punching him out here.

Chow Time has never been a pretty picture. Here is Andrew a year ago after a major smorgasbord meal when he started feeding himself, and then now after spaghetti and chocolate ice cream. Not much improvement.

James is not that much better with eating, although we are still feeding him. This night he had a particularly difficult time with the cereal head wound and apple sauce (the shiny stuff on his face).
The Many Faces Of Andrew




Citizen Kane Andrew

June/July 2007

Go Fly A Kite
It's been a busy couple of months so I never got around to a June post, so this one will be chock full of pictures. A couple weeks ago there was a slight breeze so I decided to get out the Mr. Potato Head kite and try to launch it. Unfortunately our backyard is in a dip, so although it might be windy at the neighbors, it is not so in our yard. But Andrew did spend the better part of an evening running up and down the yard trying to get the kite to fly, after he got jealous when mommy tried. Alas there was to be no kite flight, but it did ensure a tired little boy who just about fell asleep in the tub and then slept through the night.

The seasons changed from Spring To Summer, so it was time for Andrew's Quarterly Haircut. He does not like having his haircut, so we try not to torture him too often. Here's the before and after pictures. In the After picture, you'll notice one of Andrew's favorite toys outside the glass door: his Water Table. You may see a wheel barrow, but Mommy sees money savings as we did not need to spend $60 on a cool water table from Toys R Us when a rain storm, a wheel barrow, some rocks and some old Tupperware will suffice.

The end of June we went to visit Rob's parents and Andrew discovered yet another cool toy:a sawed off broom. We offered him a ball to play with outside, but all he wanted to do was sweep. Unfortunately he chooses to sweep the mulch into the grass, but we are working on that life skill. I tried countless times to take away the broom but he was not giving it up. You can tell by his face that he means business. Don't try to separate a Kazakh from his broom.

Here's a family portrait of the men of the family. Oddly, Andrew was the only one looking at the camera. And he does have the coolest shoes of the bunch.

Once we arrived back from the family visit, my niece and I jetted off to Guatemala to pick up Little Brother James. It was a hellacious week, but once we were home a week or 2 he settled down and the scream-until-you-lose-your-voice bouts were not as common. Andrew shared his assortment of toys with James, with the singing bus being his favorite. Cousin Megan knows how to pick the winning toys.

Here's a picture of James arriving in Newark, and one of Andrew arriving a year and a week earlier.

Andrew had his second birthday in July. Soon after his arrival in America last year was his first birthday so he did not really catch on. Well, this year was not much better. Note the "Mommy will hold my breath until you stop screaming" face.His birthday is July 4Th, so we took the cake to a BBQ with us. I guess he is not really understanding the whole American Birthday Experience because he was screaming, while the other kids were eyeing up the cake.

If a birthday cake was not enough to celebrate, we were off to Lowe's later in the week. They have a really neat race car cart that both kids liked, although you would never know if by their "German-Mommy" faces here. We did spent about 30 minutes in the Home Organization aisle to develop their acquired love of organization that I am trying to infuse into them. If you spot a Kiddie Label Maker, let me know.

Aside from going to home improvement stores, they do play pretty well together. Here's what looks like a quiet moment, but Andrew was actually 'reading' a book by joyfully singing/screaming at the top of his lungs in some text which must be alien, and James was playing with the Winnie The Pooh telephone at full volume.

Andrew often gets confused as to what is a baby and what is a kitty cat. He likes to pat James on the head, but he has yet to feed him a liver flavored kitty treat.

Bounty Frequent Fl yer

I have come to realize that a large portion of my grocery store budget will be spent on paper products. I never envisioned going through a roll of paper towels every 2 - 3 days, and a 400-pack of table napkins once a week. Growing up we always had the crappy store brand napkins, not quite with chunks of wood, but they were good for exfoliating your face after meal time. As my brother and sisters moved out of the house and I was the only one left my mother switched to the primo napkins: Vanity Faire. We could use them for meal time, but for heaven's sake, not to do something like blow your nose. As I moved out of the house I continued the Vanity-Faire-no-Nose-Blowing tradition and enjoyed it for over 15 years. Then kids came along. I could either continue the Vanity Faire napkin habit, or save for college. So my kids will experience the face exfoliating napkins for many years to come. If you encounter a Frequent Flyer Program for paper products, do let me know.

To start off the day Andrew likes to do a little vacuuming, then begs for juice, then smiles. All before 7am.

Things I have learned about having 2 kids

1. The dishwasher gets run each day.

2. The washing machine get used at least once a day, and sometimes up to 7 or 8 times a day.

3. Paper products are like oxygen to children.

4. Sending the kids outside to play keeps the inside clean.

5. Juice = Sticky Floors = Daily mopping

6. Barfing is contagious.

7. Whatever yogurt 1 child has, the other one wants.

8. The older one will call the younger one "Baby", so don't bother naming the younger one.

9. Running errands now takes 2x the time.

10. Two kids are a lot more fun than 1.

Sometimes James dozes off towards the end of a meal. But as soon as we pick him up and try to put him into bed, he is instantly energized. Damn those energy sources found in Fruits & Vegetables!

When we first got home last year one of our friends got us this ride-on toy. It look Andrew a while to get the hang of it, and now he cruises around on it at lighting speed (also known as rounds-speed for our friend who got us the car). Even after a year, he has the same pose, but now he drives around carrying a frog bucket of markers on his arm.
Soon after James arrived home, we figured we needed to get him one of those toys that he sits in and plays with lots of toys. This became even more apparent as we tried to get him to crawl more to work off several of the chins and pudge he had developed in his leisurely lifestyle of Guatemala (sleep, eat, be held, repeat each hour). Well, he certainly did learn to crawl/slither well; in one weekend he slithered across the floor on 2 different occasions to break both the cat food and cat water bowls (now replaced with plastic ones), all while we had a grease fire on the outdoor grill (fire extinguishers are handy). So the next day I went out and bought this exersaucer. I never would have thought it would have over 50 screws, over 60 parts and require 9 AAA batteries. Three hours later the grand daddy of exersaucer's was complete. It keeps all 4 of us entertained, and Andrew out of the cat's hair. But both James and Andrew enjoy it, and it keep the cats safe. After a long day of playing, he is exhausted.

With the Exersaucer comes music, and with music comes Andrew's traditional Kazakh dance, which oddly enough looks like a 1980's Mosh Pit dance. He leaps up and down, spins around in mid air, body slams the floor, surfs the coffee table and screams incoherently. Further proof that the Kazakh Man has the same dance ability as the White Man. Hopefully James will have a bit more rhythm.

Andrew is practicing for super-model career.

Bath time has been an adventure with Andrew lately. Whenever I say "OK, time to brush teeth", he will roll over onto his stomach, stick his rear end in the air and point and announce BUTT! This has been happening for over a month now, so he is certainly confused. I have also been trying to teach him how to rinse the toothpaste from your mouth and spit after brushing. This is met only by giggles and repeated requests for "Mommy Do".

Andrew's morning ritual is now to wake up us, after James awakens him. He comes running into our bedroom around 6:15 and announces BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, the wants us to start an episode of Tigger & Pooh on Tivo so he can watch that as he feeds Tigger (our cat) and Fluffernutter kitty treats. It's a win-win situation for Andrew and the cats. We plan to get room-darkening shades for the boys' room to curb this early morning arousal.

After a long day of playing, Andrew heads up the stairs with a loaded diaper. After a really long day, the diaper is sagging so much, he is sporting the 'plumber' look. Thankfully I did not capture that on film.