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
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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:
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:
Monday, June 15, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, May 18, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, May 1, 2009
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...
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...
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