Extra: a tickle monster conundrum

As we were getting in the car to go to church Isaac starting telling the Big Tickle Monster (BTM) to go away. I promptly told him not to worry; BTM wasn't coming to church with us.

I instantly regretted saying that...after all, church is for everyone! Even BTMs. But at the same time, I want Isaac to run away from bad BTMs, especially since he's only two.

Our solution? Isaac told Little Tickle Monster a Jesus story. (Literally. "A Jesus story" is what he said.). I told BTM about Jesus. But I don't know if he was listening or not.

Sunday: 32 months

Isaac was 32 months yesterday. I know, a weird milestone. But it's easy to take his pictures when taking Joshua.

Potty training - he regressed when Joshua was about two weeks, but I think we're slowly getting back on track.  He likes to take his pants off and I've started to make him put there back on himself.  We've had many tears over it, even though he's really pretty good at it.

Pictures - Isaac likes to be in pictures, but crinkles his nose when smiling for a camera.  We've been working on relaxing his nose, but now he relaxes it while touching it, which isn't much better.  (see above photo.)

The tickle monster has evolved into two tickle monsters.  Big Tickle Monster is still mean, but Isaac knows to tell him to to go "far far away" and doesn't make his super scared face any more.  Little Tickle Monster is basically another Isaac that does the same things as he does.  The other day he was leaving his room and said, "come on Little Tickle Monster, come on!"

Talking - he is still hard to understand (for non-parents), but he has so many words.  He sometimes is getting some new sentence/tense construction which is fun to hear.

Toys - he really likes marbles (although we've been working really hard on getting them to stay in his room).  Duplos are still a lot of fun and marbles and duplos together are really fun.  Play-doh has also been a common toy.  Playing in the sand is always a hit, but we don't do it all that often.

And one last picture - he kept hiding in this Isaac sized box.  Oh, and he's tall enough to reach light switches now.  It's actually kind of nice.

Extra: sleep

When you're tired, what's worse?

1. Getting all comfortable in bed only to have to deal with a screaming baby five minutes later
2. Waiting five minutes to get in bed, only to have the baby calm down immediately. (And so you could have goe straight to bed.)

Of course, the worst is when both happen.

Saturday: pictures

Nothing to exciting today.  Isaac and I got groceries in the morning.  I needed quite a few things, so it took a while.

Flurry enjoyed a box.

Joshua was sleeping on his stomach on the couch and it was time to put Isaac in the bath, but Ben wanted to go in the basement.  I was a little afraid he'd push himself off if left alone so Ben decided to try and bring him downstairs on a Rubbermaid lid.  It didn't keep him asleep, but it does look funny.

Friday: this and that

First up, some pictures from the beach yesterday.  They turned out really well.

The boys chased this seagull for about five minutes.  That'll show seagulls not to come near our food.

Our plans today changed because of the weather.So we ended up doing errands instead of something fun.  One of the errands included going to Joann's...it was so busy.  I needed some fabric cut and we waited at least ten minutes.  Then we went to check out and waited another ten minutes.  But Isaac did a nice job of entertaining himself while not being destructive, so it ended up ok.

This evening Joshua and I had the hiccups together.  His were rapid, mine were slower.  But it was rather funny.

And finally, a conversation:
Amanda: One...two... (get over here and brush your teeth!)
Isaac: Mom say three?
Amanda: No, you don't want me to say three.  Then you'll get a punishment.
Isaac: A mint?? (Hopeful)
Amanda: No, a punishment.  It's not something you want.

Obviously, I don't get to three very often.  And when I do he usually quickly does whatever he's supposed to do and I let it slide.

Thursday: 1 month

Joshua is one month old today!  Usually I expect to combine the weekly and monthly photos together, but this time they were rather far apart (week-wise) and one month is a big milestone.

Joshua's puzzle has been started.  I like his tongue sticking out in the top picture.

And his largest stuffed animal is a bunny, so that's what we will be taking pictures with.  Isaac proceeded to run to his room and get his monkeys, but I thought I'd wait a few days to post them.  (Really, I need to figure out how many months he is and don't feel like doing it now.)

This morning we went to the beach.  Well, we went to the sand by the beach.  It was rather cool, but I took advantage of the temperature and dressed Joshua in a sleeper that I really like but might not fit for long.  Although if the weather stays this cool we will see more of the long sleeved items.

Isaac and Ethan took a while to warm up to each other, but then they were off running all over the place.  It is hilarious to see them playing together as they think they're so funny.  One person will do something so then the other person will do it too and they'll both laugh.

Extra: headache

Isaac: I have a headache.
Amanda: oh yeah? Where?
Isaac: on my toe.

Apparently I've had a lot of headaches lately and Isaac picked up on it.

Wednesday brotherly love

Isaac, unprompted: I love my baby brother
Isaac gives Joshua a hug.
Isaac pokes Joshua repeatedly.

Tuesday: and now for something totally unrelated...

...to children.  I know, hard to believe.

Ben and I were talking the other day and it turns out that he really likes the inside part of apples and only eats the skin because it's good for you.  I, on the other hand, love the skin and eat the inside because it's there.  (I love cooking with apples because I can just eat the skin.)

1. How did we not know this before?
2. We should really be taking advantage of this.
3. What part do you like best?

Monday: 4 weeks

Joshua is four weeks old!

I turned him over for some tummy time and he happily stayed like that. :)

We saw Nathan and Liz downtown for a bit this morning.  We walked around Hope, but then it got hot.  We also stopped at the bookstore, but the line was super crazy long, so we didn't get anything.  We took naps (well, the kids at least took naps at my house) and then we went to Dad and Pat's for dinner.

Saturday/Sunday: visits!

Nathan, Liz, and Evelyn are in the area, so they've come over for dinner (along with Dad and Pat).  It's been nice to see them...and see how big Evelyn has grown!

Isaac did great with Evelyn and even remembered her and her name this morning.  I have a feeling that once Joshua gets to the exersaucer we're going to have so many toys out.

Addendum: trapped

It's 5am, I just started feeding Joshua and I'm out of mindless things to do. So I'll talk about one of the things on my to-blog-about list.

Since Isaac has been out of his crib, it's easier to give him good night hugs after he's in bed. It started out with him saying, "do this thing?" with his arms extended to me for a big hug. And a long hug. I loved it.

But then it morphed. To being trapped. To being trapped twice and it being a struggle to have him let me go. I don't like it.

I did manage to escape being trapped last night though because he had a train book that he wanted to read. The book is luckily from the library because the story makes no sense. They're based on the Thomas videos and use pictures from the videos, but seem to leave out key details in the text.

Friday: nice day

Today was a nice day.  Joshua slept excellently last night.  Aunt C came and played with Isaac in the morning.  Dinner was provided to us by a friend.  So I was able to take a good nap and get some of the chores done that required two hands and no little bodies.

Joshua still only does ok in the swing.  Sometimes the best thing for him is to not have it swing but just put the birds on.

Flurry has started to appear more again.  I think she's resigned herself to another loud child being around.

Thursday: feeling better

I love feeling better!  I woke up with a different headache this morning.  (Lack of sleep?  Joshua fidgeted and cried with both arms in the swaddle.  And with one arm in the swaddle.  And with zero arms in the swaddle.  And in the backup sleeping location.  Turning the light on for a few minutes finally calmed him down once.)  But it left within a few hours and then I had more patience.

Isaac and I started a big puzzle (500 pieces).  My challenge is finding pieces that go together fast enough so he has something to put together.  Tomorrow he wants to work on the trees. :p

Isaac also learned the excellent skill of putting the pacifier back in Joshua's mouth.  Of course, it was often accompanied by "Open up, Baby" in the sweetest little voice.  (We're still working on calling him Joshua instead of Baby.  Guess that's what we get for calling him Baby for so many months.)

Wednesday: sick

I was sick today.  I had a low grade fever and headache for most of the day.  (Tylenol did help at the end of the day though.)

Luckily, Joshua took some good naps, Isaac was willing to watch some extra TV, and Ben was working from home.  So I was able to take two naps and now I'm feeling much better.

We also got our pictures back...here are some of my favorites

Tuesday: happy birthday

Isaac slept in today.  I actually tried to wake him up and it didnt work.

These tears came from the following: "I need to get my hair wet to go downstairs."  "No."

We went to the park with some friends.  We almost went to the inside playground because we knew rain was on the way.  We ended up going to the outside playground and Isaac was enjoying playing in the rain so we stayed after the others left.  We ran in puddles for about another 15 minutes and got soaking wet.  But it was worth it.

Isaac gave me some marbles for my birthday.  He's been into birthdays lately and has also given me assorted puzzle pieces (but not a whole puzzle).

Ben brought dinner home.  I was having a hormonal afternoon and if he asked me what I wanted to do for dinner I was going to cry.  (I cried anyway.)  I told him that for my birthday I wanted him to just figure it out.

Monday: 3 weeks

Joshua is 3 weeks old today!

With much regret, I'm getting ready to put away the newborn clothes.  Although I really like them, so I might try to keep them around for a little bit longer.  (The cloth diapers just add so much bulk.)  Joshua has helped the past few days by getting several outfits dirty so that he could make sure to wear them all at least one more time.  And here is Joshua with Frog...I got it so he and Isaac could have something in common.

The standard three week picture.

He fell asleep.  He is still sleeping a ton, but it does make the transition to two children much easier.

Isaac covered his Duplo table in Duplos.  I helped...and he kept telling me that I was a good helper. :D  It made me feel useful.

Although it looks like Isaac is squishing Joshua here, he's actually giving him a very gentle hug.  (Although I took it with burst mode and the last picture made it look like Joshua was punching Isaac.)

And lastly, Isaac wanted to take a picture of the wall.  Rather boring, but he accomplished his goal well.

I also got a ton of things checked off my to do list today!  A lot of them were very small things (under five minutes), but Dad and Pat came over this afternoon to help out and so the house looks very clean too!