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.