Fantastic Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas this year! We had a visit from Gigi and Grandpa the weekend before Christmas with a "Shertzer Christmas" on Monday complete with prime rib and opening gifts. They left Wednesday before the weather got bad and made it home safe.

We had a great Christmas Eve and day with the boys at home this year. Jack woke up at 5:00am Christmas morning, but Ben slept until 7:00am (surprisingly he didn't get into the wrapped gifts at all). All the toy picks were big hits and the boys have been very well behaved the past week.

Ben delighted us with his spontaneous version of "Oh Christmas Tree" on Christmas Eve (while he was admiring the tree). Lyrics: Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Oh I love you, Christmas Tree. =-) The boys also enjoyed playing with Dad's train (pics below).

Aaaand... we had snow!

The Huber clan and families came over Christmas Day in the afternoon and we had cookies and Secret Santa gift exchange which was fun. Then we all dropped into bed exhausted but happy, ready to get up the next morning and drive to Little Rock to see the Maloney/Peresta families (with a short visit in there to see the Shertzers).

Ben and Jack had a great time playing with their new toys, and then we got to enjoy a baby shower for Emma and Rob's cousin Grant and wife Jessica's baby-to-be Owen. Emma is now taking over a small part of Jack's room with her new blankets, clothes and toys!

Not sure when the big move to put both boys in Ben's room will be. Jack has been waking up in the middle of the night and "playing" for about an hour or so. It will be interesting to see how it works having them both in one room. I am thinking I'll wait until February and see how they are doing then.

Ben has been singing up a storm and is really impressing us. He will sometimes even sing along to things on TV. I'm sure he knows more than he shows. The other day I asked him to pick a magnetic letter up off the floor and as he handed it to me and said "Here's the letter H. Here's the orange H." I can't get him to write letters yet though. He's more mechanically inclined and wants to be busy with his hands and activities.

Jack is getting smarter every day. The past two weeks he has started shaking his head no if he doesn't want something or in response to questions. He is also now playing "boo" spontaneously with us and Ben, and can say "ball", "hi", and "hot" (and "boo").

He can also sort of show us what he wants. If he's hungry, he'll go to the kitchen gate and shake it. If we let him in, he'll either go to the pantry where his Cheerios are (for a snack), or he'll go to the fridge which means he wants a meal. He has also been using a fork and spoon over the past few days (correctly)!

If we say "let's go change your diaper" he will head into his room, and if we say "wanna go outside?" he will go and get his coat and shoes.

He's just learned to climb up on things too, so we have to watch him. The other day I peeked into the living room and saw him standing on top of the coffee table. Yikes!

More updates and pics to follow! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a safe New Year's Eve!


Christmas snow!


Ben loved the snow...


Jack did NOT love the snow...


Playing with the robot Ben got from Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer


Playing with Daddy's train on Christmas Eve after their bath


Jack woke up early Christmas morning and beat Ben to the new play kitchen




Baby Shower for Emma and Owen (Ben was taking a nap):


Rob, Manda, Jack, Jessica and Grant (and Emma and Owen)

It's a GIRL!

Okay, so the ultrasound was a long time ago. I'm a little slow at posting.
Yep, we are having a baby girl this time. Not sure how I'm going to change the name of the blog or if I can. Gotta look into that.

Anyway, her name will be Emma Katherine Shertzer and I imagine we'll see her some time shortly after St. Patty's Day.

Jack will be moving into Ben's room with him after Grandpa Huber finishes the bunk-beds (with stairs instead of a ladder). Not sure how I'm gonna work naps and bed time yet (Jack takes a morning nap and Ben takes a long afternoon one), but we'll just have to do whatever we have to do. Still need to paint above the chair rail in the boy's room - some neutral color like taupe or a gray-blue. It's like peachy-terra cotta right now. Doesn't exactly scream "boys". Also looks like that $5.00 can of pink paint I bought when pregnant with Jack will come in handy now for Emma's new room!

Jack has 12 teeth now including all 4 first molars. No canines yet, but Ben was like that too. Jack is sleeping from 5 or 6 pm through until 6am which is heaven! Ben goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and sleeps until 6 or 6:30am. Both boys are eating pretty well. Jack has always done well. Ben stopped eating much at a certain age and became picky but is now starting to ask for bites of things we're eating and trying new stuff again. Hooray! No more food issues thank goodness. I have been giving them some amount of either probiotic chocolate or the Omega chocolate every day. I know that is helping.

Jack is finally starting to say a few words. He just started playing peek-a-boo yesterday - hiding his eyes and then uncovering them and saying "boooooo". =-) Rob swears he said "heater" the other day, and he will point to the dogs and say "duh". Occasionally I'll think he's said a new word, but can't get him to repeat it. His non-verbal communication is getting better too. If he's hungry, he'll go over to the high-chair and shake it. When Ben says "Good Morning Jack" or gives him a kiss and says "Good Night Jack", Jack will wave at him and smile. Also, yesterday I tried to give him a bite of something and he shook his head no and turned it away. Sometimes if you ask him a question he'll shake his head no. He hasn't done that for yes yet though.

Ben is getting better about the sibling rivalry thing and Jack is starting to play with Ben more now that he's a bit more steady on his feet. This week Rob is taking Ben to a martial arts meetup of my Mommy's group. Hopefully that will be fun for both of them. Ben has been asking to go to the playground and see "the kids". I'll probably take him to one on Monday as well. He really enjoys it. I have to remind him that he can talk to the older kids 'cause they can tell him their name and say "hi". He tends to just laugh really loud in their faces to get their attention like he does Jack (which I do NOT encourage - ha!).

Ben is still talking up a storm and doing great when we correct his grammar. Complete, detailed sentences. Very cool! He's very good at creative play too. I gave him 3 cardboard wrapping paper rolls the other night and he has "made" all sorts of things out of them. Currently he's calling them lights (I guess like florescent ones??). Yesterday I pulled the strip of carpet out of the kitchen so I could mop and he rolled it up and made a tunnel out of it. At the moment he's using it as a dance pad. =-)

No joy on the continuation of potty training. Ben was pretty much trained and was starting to even do poop in the potty and then all of a sudden decided he was NOT a "big boy" and wanted to wear diapers (I'm sure because of Jack). When I tried to start up training again I set the timer for every 15 minutes and he would sit on the potty, but if he had to go 5 minutes later he'd just pee in his pants wherever he was. I need to look into this and do some research. I would imagine it's fairly common. He's not quite 3 1/2 yet. It sure is a pain cleaning pee of of the floor several times a day though. Plus lots of laundry.

Both boys are getting tall. Ben's 2t pants are definitely too short now and getting too tight. Most 3ts are starting to fit him, but he needs 4t shirts for the length and the sleeves. Jack is in 18 month everything. The pants are still a smidge long, but mostly fit perfect.

We're gearing up for Christmas here. I tried not to go too overboard. They have more toys than they can play with now and we don't have tons of room. "Santa" (aka Gigi and Grandpa Shertzer) got the boys a play kitchen complete with microwave, oven, fridge and lights and sounds. Ben LOVES pretending to make cookies with the cookie sheets in the kitchen and loves playing in the water in the sink, so I thought this would be perfect. I bought him a cookie set so he can pretend to cut the dough, put the cookies on the sheet and bake them, then put the icing and sprinkles on top. It even came with a spatula and oven mit - all kid sized! Also got him another playdough set and "Hi-ho Cherry-o" game and a couple of Disney DVDs I think the kids will like. Got Jack the Crayola toy where they color on it and it plays music. The faster they color, the faster the music goes. I hope he likes it. Also got him a twin sized Mickey Mouse comforter for the bunk beds. Ben has his Sponge Bob one. Oh! Also got Jack a pewter baby cup with his name and birthday. Just like Ben's I got him his first Christmas. Kind of a family tradition. Rob and I both have silver ones from when we were babies.

I guess that's all for now. When the weather was so great last month we spent lots of time outdoors. I'll have to check out the pictures to see if there are any especially good ones.

We had family pictures made and there were lots of good ones. Hopefully they look better when you click on them.
(thanks to my sis-in-law Aimee @ elementalphotography.com)




with cousin Havyn

Cute Boys

Just now I have been watching Jack press the music button on Ben's "Sit-n-Spin" and then dance around in a circle until he falls down giggling. Of course when I got up to get the video camera he stopped and came to investigate the camera instead. Oh well, it made my day to watch him anyway.

Jack has the other top 1st molar coming in. Still don't see the bottom ones poking through yet. His new thing to do is say "Moooo", or rather "MmmmmMMM". When I ask him "How does a cow go?" he will make the MMMmmm sound and then start to giggle.

Ben is sitting on the couch eating a huge green lollipop that he got while trick-or-treating. I promised him if he took a nap nicely without throwing a fit he could have a treat when he woke up. Guess what was the first thing he said when he woke up? "I get to have a treat!"

Last night Rob took me out for my 40th birthday. When we got home Dad said Ben had gone to bed at 6:00pm saying "If I go to sleep, when I wake up Mommy will be home." =-) His normal bed time is 8:00pm.

Here are a few pictures of the boys from Halloween:

Smart Boys

Just a quick update before Ben wakes up and while Jack is occupied with Cherrios and some apple pieces...

We have been having a bit of an issue with sibling rivalry. Ben is constantly trying to get Jack to react in any way since he can't really play with him yet. This involves Ben screaming at him, doing a very loud fake laugh, or just walking over and pushing him down (which of course makes Jack cry). He's gotten better though. Rob and I explained to him that if he wanted to get Jack's attention he just needed to say "Hi, Jack!" or that he could give him a hug and a kiss (carefully).
Yesterday in the car, Ben was playing "peek-a-boo" with Jack and making him laugh, so there's improvement. We're always sure to positively reinforce the GOOD behavior!

Jack is just as bad. If I have Ben on my lap or am reading him a book, Jack will come over and try to push Ben away and will get mad and start crying. Hopefully they will be able to play together nicely by the time Baby #3 arrives!

Jack has a new tooth - his first, first molar on the upper right side. His gums are very swollen where the other first molars are coming in and he's been chewing on his hands, drooling like mad, and not sleeping well. No canines yet, but Ben got all his first molars before the canines too. I think I read that was normal.

New Benjaminisms recently:
radido (radio)
pinano (piano)
"Mom, I did it! Booray!"
"Mommy, can you close window? It smells like dog poop." (while riding in the car)

Me: How ya doin' Ben?
Ben: I'm doin' great! (or rarely: I'm just doin' okay.)

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but Ben is now in a booster seat in the car and Jack has graduated to riding facing forward in Ben's old car seat. The swing and baby car seats just got put in the attic a couple of nights ago for baby #3's use.

Playtime:

Ben has disassembled his tool bench and stripped it down to where there is nothing on it. Luckily he hasn't figured out yet how to take the legs off (or hasn't wanted to). His new activity involves tying things to other things and dragging them around. Like, he'll tie his video game remote (that was given to him - but it doesn't have a power cord so he can't play with it) to Jack's ride-on car and drag it around. He really loves it when Jack tries to get it too. He loves his Playdough play set and will sit quietly for a good 1/2 hour or so with that. He has also been enjoying jumping on his "new" bed. He graduated to Rob's old twin mattress set after he fell out of bed one night. I figured he needed some more room. We have yet to find the bed frame for it, but for now the boys are enjoying it on the floor.

Jack is really good about keeping himself occupied if Benjamin leaves him alone long enough. He loves putting things in and taking things out of other things. He has also been enjoying Ben's Magna-doodle drawing tablet. He is showing some interest in figuring out how to actually ride on his ride-on car that sing and makes noises when you push various buttons. Yesterday he was dragging around one of Rob's old pull-toys from when he was a kid. He was rolling it around in circles and giggling. I got some video of that.

I'm expecting some words from Jack soon other than Mama and Dada. Sometimes when I tickle him and say "giddy giddy giddy" he'll pretend to tickle himself and also say "giddy giddy". I'm so impressed! he he

Jack is also getting a lot more steady on his feet and can practically run now.

We've been playing outside this week since the weather has been so nice in the afternoons. Jack took a spill off the edge of the deck - just enough to scare him. It's a bit of a challenge keeping him in the "safe zone" outside and he'll wander over to where all of Rob's tools and the lawn mower and wood stack are which are off limits. Still, I can manage to sweep the deck and the other day I managed to weed an entire flower bed and re-mulch!

Baby #3 is officially due April 1st, but since Ben was a week early, and Jack was 2 weeks early, I'm expecting him or her to make an appearance around St. Patty's Day. The gender ultrasound is November 9th at 10:30am, so I will update that day as to whether this will continue to be "4 The Boys" or will change to "The Shertzer Kids" or something like that - hopefully a more clever name.

Gotta run. Ben is bored with cartoons (he woke up after I had written the first 2 paragraphs). Forgive any misspellings - I'll try to come back later and update with pictures and maybe video if I'm lucky!

So Many New Things... So Little Time (and memory)

The boys have been doing so much over the past month, but I have not been feeling great and so haven't posted.

Ben is talking up a storm! I had to get some video of him the other day because he was just chattering non-stop about this, that and the other without a pause. He's been a very good little boy. His terrible 3's stage only lasted a couple of weeks. Now he is back to responding to requests with "Okay, I will". He's really good to his little brother (most of the time) and will give him toys if he hears Jack crying - or he'll tell me "Mommy, Baby Jack crying". Lately they have been running back and forth in the living room - not really chasing each other but just making lots of noise and giggling a lot. Sometimes Ben will stop and hug Jack and they'll fall down and laugh. Got a wee bit of video of that too.

Ben also did a poo in the potty all by himself finally. I had just been reading online about what to do when your 3 year old is potty trained for peeing but not pooping and all the articles said that it's a power struggle and the more you try to force it, the worse it will be. And then what do you know but I went in to help him pull his pants up and he said "I'm not done, I'm poopin'!" I thought, yeah, yeah, heard that one before... but sure enough he did! Hasn't done it since, but it's a start. He still won't go in public toilets though, but won't go in his pants either - just complains and dances around. Guess we just have awhile longer to wait on that.

We just bought a "booster" seat for him for the Jeep which he seems to like. We'll get another for the Suburban and then Jack will get his old car seats (which he has already been enjoying). New baby will get the old baby rear-facing seat. Man, we are getting lots of use out of our original baby purchases like the car seat, high-chair, pack-n-play, swing, walker, etc. Go us!

Jack is getting smarter and cuter every day. He's really walking around everywhere now (started August 22nd) and seems to love the new freedom. This week he has been making himself laugh by picking up a big inflatable ball and throwing it to watch it bounce and then going after it to do it again. He also loves for me to read to him and likes the touchy-feely books.

At his 1 year check up he was in the 90th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight which the pediatrician said was good (he is 25 pounds). She also commented on how healthy he was because he has never been to the doctor (never been sick). He only cried for maybe 30 seconds after his shots and then was fine.

He has 4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth now and eats just about anything we put in front of him. Seems to get diaper rash after eating anything with egg in it, but other than that, he's a great eater! Doesn't like milk at all, but the pediatrician said that wasn't a problem as long as he got 3 servings of calcium per day and suggested we try calcium fortified orange juice. I tried cheese and yogurt but they were no-gos. Not a dairy guy (which is the only deviation from him being a total Daddy's boy).

He's been a great sleeper - goes to bed about 5pm and wakes up about 6am. Sometimes he wakes up at night but he puts himself back to sleep usually so we rarely have to get up and return his paci or "sleepy bear".

ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention that Jack will clap whenever someone says "Yay", "Good Job", or "Good Boy", even if it's someone on TV. Also when Ben kisses him and says "Good night" Jack will wave at him.

When Shertzer Baby #3 gets here we'll be moving Jack into Ben's room. Grandpa Huber has offered to make the kids a bunk-bed with stairs instead of a ladder, and Gigi has offered to buy a twin mattress since we have 1 already. I think they will LOVE it. Just hope Jack is in the mood to stay in bed by that time. Ben was really good about it, but Jack seems a bit more independent and aggressive, so we'll see.

Here are some pictures for your amusement from the b-day party through this week:









You da man (he's getting so big!)


Ben found my sweater. =-)

Quick Post

I need to get the boy's birthday party pics posted (and I will someday soon), but just wanted to pop on and say 2 things:

1. Jack took 3 steps this morning. I was lying on the floor in his room and he walked 3 steps and then fell on top of me giggling! We've seen him take 1 or 2 steps over the past week or two. Won't be long 'til he's off and running.

2. On our way to Gymnastic Joe's this morning I was trying to distract Ben by suggesting we sing the ABC song. So I started singing and SO DID HE! I had no idea he knew how to sing it since he never has before - even in part. But after we sang it all the way through he said "Do it again!" so we sang it 3 times. Makes me wonder what other things he can do but just chooses not to. Hmmm...

Picture Post!

I finally got the pictures off the camera and there were a lot of ones I loved, so here they are (at bottom).

Ben

He is putting sentences together so well and describing everything, plus giving us orders: "Daddy, put your shirt on!" "Mommy move! I can't see TV!" "Daddy, get Jack. He turnin' off TV!"
We are correcting him and trying to get him to pronounce everything properly, but I still think it's cute when he says "Good Mon, Mommy!" instead of "Come on".
He has learned that he can get out of trouble now simply by saying "I _________ for YOOOOU." For example - if we just said "Don't turn on the TV", he'll turn it on and say "I turn on TV for YOOOOU" in his cutest sing-song voice.
He is also singing and dancing more lately. Used to be that when you'd ask what he was singing he'd say "I'm singin 'hmm hmmmm hmmm hmmmm'". =-) Now he'll say "I'm singin' itsy bitsy spider" (which incidentally is also the song that "makes the poop go away").
Still cannot get the boy to eat any fruits or vegetables, so I've been giving him that V8 Fusion which has the veggies in it. I donno what happened to my little boy who would eat anything including mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, avacado, etc. Now that he's 3 he just looks at everything and says "I don't like that".
Potty training is done for peeing, but pooping... not so much. I have tried bribing him with stickers and marshmallows but he has an aversion to sitting on the potty to poo. He also will not go on any potty other than *HIS* which makes going out tricky.

Jack

I saw him take 1 step yesterday. Probably was an accident, but he has been "practicing" standing up and bouncing, swinging his arms, or just moving in different ways to keep his balance. He sits down rather gracefully now. He's also walking while holding onto something with only one hand. Won't be long now.

He is eating solids now and we have introduced milk. I am slowly adding milk and decreasing formula now. I'm up to about 1/2 milk and will continue to increase a little every few days. So far he's shown no problems with the milk, but then Ben didn't either. Solids we've given him: peas, cooked carrots, mashed sweet potatoes, corn, toast, animal crackers, peaches, pears, bananas and apples. I think Rob even gave him some turkey lunch meat the other day. He LOVES eating by himself now.

I think of a million cute things during the days to write down here and then when I sit down I forget what they were. We just enjoy the kids so much every minute and feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time and watch them grow up.

Okay, photo caption time:


The boys in their matching pjs from "Mimama"


Why you don't leave the peas within baby's reach ("who me?")


Jack playing with the fridge magnet letters


Jack playing in Ben's room (probably his favorite place in the house)


Jack looooves Daddy's hugs


Sooo cute!


Ben getting ready for the "Paci Fairy" to come


Ben confused as to where his paci went and what is this?


Still a little too short...


Maybe he's ready for bunk beds?


Proof that kids can entertain themselves with anything (my old gardening gloves and a couple of broken wheels)


Ben-in-the-box (would have been funier if it were Jack)


Ben reading his Thomas book (or looking at it anyway)

Jumping Jack Clap

Hello, Rob here at the e-quill. Amanda wanted me to update everyone to the latest happenings with "Baby Jack." Jack clapped his hands by himself for the first time this afternoon! He also has one new tooth on the top right, which makes four altogether, one on top, three on the bottom.

Last night, Ben was eating his dinner together with Mommy and picked up a piece of broccoli from his mac-n-cheese (that she had just put on his plate) and said, "Mommy, I don't like broccoli." and put it on her plate. Also today, after Amanda repaired a clear plastic piece of Ben's play vacuum cleaner, with tape, Ben said, "Oh my God! You fixed it!" The silly things that kids pick-up from their parents, huh?

Big thanks to Mi-mama and Gigi for the gifting of diapers, food, clothes and DVDs for the boys this past month! (and kudos to Grandpa Shertzer, Grandpa Huber and G-daddy too!)

Rob

It's Potty Time!

Ben

So we just finished day 4 of potty training with Ben. He is doing GREAT! He didn't like sitting on the big toilet in the bathroom, so I took his Sesame Street potty seat and put it on our camp toilet and put it in the living room. At first we had lots of accidents first thing in the morning which have improved every day (After the very first accident he looked down and said "Oh mine God I'm wet"). Today NO accidents except for poos (and he was having trouble with that today). Here are the stats so far:

Day 1: 10 accidents - 4 successes
Day 2: 6 accidents - 8 successes
Day 3: 6 accidents - 11 successes
Day 4: 3 accidents - 11 successes

He has been asking to go "pee pee" and I am on the alert to make sure I get him to the potty right away. My only regret is that I only bought 6 pairs of "big boy" underwear - and they are hard for him to get off and on (and even for me).

Jack

Our little blue-eyed boy is getting around all over the place. He doesn't seem to love crawling although he's very good at it now. Mostly he just crawls so he can get to something he can pull up on so he can stand up. BIG fan of standing now and also sort-of bouncing while he's standing (and jumping if he's in his crib). Cute things he's doing lately are tilting his head to one side (and if you mimic him he will laugh and tilt his head the other way) and pointing and saying "gooda gooda gook" or "talking" while pointing as if he's trying to tell you all about ... something.

He's now sleeping from about 5pm to around 4 or 5am when we give him a bottle, then he *usually* goes back to sleep until about 6am. LOVE that! Ben didn't sleep this well until he was almost 2!

Brothers

The other day Ben sat in his green camp chair and asked me to put "Baby Jack" in the chair too. I was kinda nervous, but did it anyway and then they looked so cute I had to run and get the camera (see pics below). Then a different day Ben asked to put some pants on (I had him in just undies while we were potty training the first couple of days) so I said "Okay, go and get some pants and put them on." You can see the result below - although I *know* he can put his pants on properly - I'm sure he did this on purpose.

Enjoy the pictures! FYI the boy's b-days are coming up. Ben will be 3 on July 28th and Jack will be 1 on August 11th. Can't believe how fast the time is going.











Mr. Funny Pants:


Ready for a piece of Daddy's b-day cake (Rob turned 40 on the 17th!)


Rob takes excellent candid shots:

Another Quick Update

Jack is crawling now, but sometimes with one foot and one knee. =-) He is also pulling up on everything and seems to prefer standing and wants to get around that way. A little wobbly yet to attempt walking. Currently he is standing up playing with the door knob. He also won't stay away from Ben's door while he's taking a nap, and he keeps turning off the TV. Big fan of paper, grass, bugs, anything he finds on the floor or ground or within reach. Everything goes in the mouth.

Yesterday Rob was blowing on a train whistle and then handed it to Jack who promptly blew into it himself. Genius baby! I got a little bit on video today of that too. If it was easy to transfer to here I'd do it. Maybe I can get Rob to and add it later.

I think he (Jack) might be left handed. I try to hold things for him to take with his right hand, but he keeps taking them with his left. No bigee.

Those top teeth STILL have not made an appearance. Maybe they'll come in while I'm in Reno.

I have finally stopped saying "Mommy is going to..." and switched to "*I* am going to..." so that Benjamin would stop saying "Benjamin go to..." It apparently worked because whenever he says that he corrects himself and says "I" instead. He is getting really good at annunciating his words and putting together full sentences. He will also correct you if you call him anything other than Ben or Benjamin. Rob called him "Bennie Bob" the other day and he said "Not Bennie Bob, BEN-A-MIN!"

He (Ben) loves his bath foam (soap) and I use it to bribe him to take a bath when he doesn't want to. He's a big fan of "outside" so he gets very dirty and sweaty and we have to take baths a bit more often. He doesn't like coming inside though. Doesn't help that it stays light later now.

The other evening there was a double rainbow. I was holding Ben and I said "Oooh. I like rainbows." and Ben said "I like rainbows too!" =-) Sometimes he'll say stuff like "Yay! It not raining anymore!" or "I want go to park, play with kids." Pretty complex sentence there! As soon as I have some moolah coming in again I want to put him in some kind of program a couple of mornings a week. He LOVES playing with other kids at the park. We don't have an accredited Montessori program here though. I looked into the "New School" but apparently you need to put yourself on the waiting list as soon as your child is born. Yikes! Should put Jack on now. They take them starting at age 2.

Both boys birthdays are coming up! Jack will be 1 on August 11th and Ben will be 3 on July 28th. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I'm soaking it all in - even the tantrums - because I know I will miss them someday.

June Update

So much for Jack's top teeth coming in! Still nothing yet up there. Jack has started crawling but it's obvious he would much prefer to walk. He can crawl normally, but gets lazy and either reaches out and drags himself to whatever/whoever he wants, or uses one foot and one knee which is kinda funny to watch. Mostly he crawls to get over to something he can pull up on so he can stand. Right at the moment he is trying to pull up on one of the baby gates. Awhile ago it was the fireplace (eeeps!). He is such a good baby and can entertain himself for a long time if he's not hungry/tired/in need of a diaper change. He's been "dancing" lately too (bouncing when music comes on). I've got to try to get some video of that. It's cute!

Ben is a talking machine lately. The other day I was taking them somewhere and while buckling his seat belt he said "Ben want drive Mommy." I said "You want to drive?" He said "YEeeah!" I told him he was a bit young yet. He's also been singing lately although most of the time I'm not sure what it is he's trying to sing - except the Muppet song that doesn't have any words. In the car one day I started "singing" that and it went like this:
me: do dooo duh do do
Ben: buh duh buh duh
me (smiling): do do do do
Ben: buh duh buh duh

Now he does it on command - although Rob informs me it is "muh nuh muh nuh".

Ben is also a very good cleaning helper. He often pulls a wipe out of his wipes holder and proceeds to "clean" all the windows he can reach. =-) He also likes to pretend to call people on all of our cell phones, or his pretend ones. Although, if you try to get him to talk to anyone for REAL on the phone, he gets very shy. He is getting better about that though.

This morning we went to the park and he ran up and went down both "big" slides all by himself. When other kids came to the playground (much older and bigger kids) he was so excited to follow them around and do whatever they did. He cried when we left and kept saying "Ben want play with those kids!". I am going to try to find him some class or activity to participate in with other kids. I really think he would enjoy that. Or maybe I can find a preschool for him that will let him go partial days. I don't want to give him up for full days!

Guess that's it for now. I'll try to post pictures soon.

Quick Update

I'm sitting here watching Jack eat sweet potato puffs. Ben is taking a nap.

Jack's two front top teeth are going to come in just any second now. I can see them under his gums (which are red). He's been a bit cranky the past couple of days but is happy and laughing today.

It's so cool to see in his eyes that he understands more now. He has also been trying to do things that make us laugh - like if he does something and we laugh, he does it again to see if we'll laugh again. Too funny!

He is an eating machine but has gotten taller instead of fatter. He's in 18 month clothes at 9 months old. WOW. I need to get him a couple of 18 month jackets and elastic waist pants and try to find some shoes to fit him 'cause he can FLY in that walker.

He is now able to sit up without falling over and can go from sitting to his knees (or one knee) and get back to sitting position, or lying on his tummy. He can get up on hands and knees and rock but doesn't do it much. No crawling yet...

He is sleeping about 12 hours at night without waking and taking 2 naps per day. Wish we had gotten this lucky with Ben. =-)

Speaking of Ben, he is such a little sweetheart. He is still the most polite child - always says please and thank you without prompting (well, we sometimes prompt for the please) and it is rare that I have to send him to time-out. He has been practicing pronouncing his words too - if you repeat what he says he will try to say it the correct way. Still working on his "guh", "juh" and "chuh" sounds (they currently all come out like "schuh"). Doing great with forming complete sentences though!

Okay, Jack wants my attention so I'll catch up more later and post more pics.

Happy Mother's Day

As I type this Jack is flipping around in his crib. He likes to work his way around and turn on his musical toys. We'll think he's gone to sleep and then this music starts on the monitor. He is now pushing himself up on his hands and knees and can also get on his hands and knees from a sitting position (no crawling yet). He mostly sleeps on his tummy now which made me a little nervous at first, but Ben did the same thing and hey, we all slept on our stomachs from birth anyway.

Ben is saying the funniest and cutest things now days. Yesterday I put in "Pride and Prejudice" for the 900th time. Ben heard the music and turned around and walked over to me and said "Mommy, no this movie". =-) "No this" is how he tells me he doesn't want to watch or do something. I wish I could remember all the funny things he says and does. I need to keep a notebook handy so I can write them down as they happen to post later.

Here are a couple of pics from this week. Hope all my Mommy friends have a fantastic day!

Flippy/Pinchy and Talky Talkerson

Jack

Rob has been working with Jack on crawling. This morning he said he actually made it up on his hands and knees! What this has lead to is nap time fun because Jack keeps flipping over on his stomach and pushing up instead of sleeping. We have had to wait until he falls asleep on his stomach and then flip him over on his back at night. During the day I let him sleep on his tummy and just keep checking the monitor every 10 seconds.

He is also Mr. Pinchy lately. I think he has the hang of the "pincher grasp". They say that is an indicator of when to start solids, so I started giving him sweet potato puffs and apple/strawberry puffs. He thinks they are need but weird when he goes to swallow them and they aren't quite liquid like his baby food. Keeps him occupied for quite awhile though!

Speaking of swallowing, I heard him choking on something last night and turned into super Mom, ran over and had him upside-down with my finger in the back of his throat within a millisecond. Turns out Ben had given him his new baby shoes which I hadn't taken the tag off of yet and he had proceeded to chew on it until he got it off and into his mouth where he was gagging on it. He also had a big wad of it stuck to the roof of his mouth. WHEW.








Ben

Ben is talking up a storm and using more and more complete sentences. He still misses consonants quite a bit so I think probably only Rob and I know what he is saying most of the time, but it's neat the way he tells me about everything going on or things that happened while I was out of the room, or while someone else was with him.

Yesterday I heard him count to 14. He won't do it if you ask him though. Makes me wonder how much he really knows. I can quiz him on like 1 thing every once in awhile, but if he knows you are trying to quiz him he says "No Mommy, no." Funny little guy.

I took him to Wal-Mart with me the other day and asked him "Ben, do you want to pick out some big boy underwear?" to which he answered flatly "No." So then I said "Ooooh... look Ben! Thomas the Train underwear! Do you want some Thomas the Train underwear?" Response? "No." Well I bought them anyway along with some rocket glow in the dark ones and tried to get him interested in them when we got home. He was mostly interested in opening the packages and that was about it, but he did want to try on a pair of the rocket ones - over his PJs. So, I thought "what the heck" and let him do it. I figure some interest is better than none.

I have not tried potty training yet, but got lots of advice from the checkout lady at Wal-Mart. She was actually very nice! I think I will try stickers as a reward, and if that doesn't work I'll try chocolate.


Ben put his bunny to bed.


Letting Jack play with his toys.


Family

We all went out to dinner with some others from the chocolate group to the restaurant where Matt works (last night). Here are some of those pics...