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.