Sunday: 41 months

Isaac recently turned 41 months old.

 

Odd things - this month he has started to fake burp really loudly all the time.  The last day or two I've only heard it once, so I'm hoping it's on the way out.  He also has a sudden obsession with winning.  Everything is a race.  He gets rather sad when he doesn't win, but we're trying to show that it's ok to lose too.  The problem is that when he loses it suddenly turns into a tie.

New abilities - he's been dressing himself for a while - I forget exactly when that started.  He can sometimes get zippers done.  Dressing himself often leads to odd clothes combinations, but that can be learned later.  He really likes soft pants and shorts.  I am not allowed to call shorts pants...they're shorts.  He has started getting some of his own snacks, but still asks first.  He likes to make his own flavored water.  He's had two nights of wearing underwear to bed; there have been many nights that he has been dry.

Family - He's recently told me that my lap is the best place.  :D  He still loves hanging out with Ben.  He doesn't really play with Joshua much, but has asked for him to watch TV with him.  And knows how to help him stop fussing.  Isaac is also very conscientious that small items stay away from Joshua.

Attitude - We still have some rough days, but most of the time he's pretty laid back and happy.  And silly.  (Above he is drinking Cheerios from a bottle, his new favorite past time.)  He will often listen and obey, although it isn't always without "discussion" first.

Saturday: alternate realities

Say every time you made a semi-important choice an alternate reality was created, a reality in which you made the opposite choice.

That means there would be a reality in which you always made the right choice.  I wonder what that would look like?  But then there would be one that you always made the wrong choice.  Ugg.

(I don't feel like I've made a very wrong choice recently, it was just an interesting thought.)

Friday: a game, a surprise, and milkshakes

First off, we have a game.  Can you tell what Ben and I made over the last two days?  (Hint: it is based on a book.)

Secondly, as I was finishing our Duplo creation up I looked behind me to check on Joshua.  He was standing up!  This was the first time he had managed to pull himself to standing.

We drew "clean high chair" and "make milkshakes" out the jar today.  The high chair was more of a pain than it should have been because I wanted to clean it outside and it had just rained so I didn't know how to deal with holding Joshua.  But it is mostly clean.  We decided to wait on milkshakes until Ben was home, and then Cheryl was around too so it was a milkshake party.  We also used up the ice cream, which gives me some nice freezer space back.

Thursday: scooting

Joshua went all over this morning.  From the table to our bedroom door and then back to the steps.  Here's a quick video showing it, because it's pretty silly.  (Isaac and Ben are having a conversation about which side of his belt he will be wearing.)

We drew "do puzzles" and "clean duplos" from the jars.  I know, cleaning duplos isn't very work-like, but it gave Isaac something to do while I dealt with the boys' closets.

Wednesday: excersise

For the first time, on a work day, in 2.5 weeks, we didn't pull any activities out of the jar.  It was a mistake.  We had a work thing (make curry) and a fun thing (go to the playground), but the day still didn't quite seem to work.  Maybe in the future if we have such days I'll just say what we're going to do when Isaac pulls the paper out of the jar, instead of doing what is actually on the paper.

In other news, we just renewed our gym membership and went to play racquetball today.  I'm out of shape.  Big time.  But you have to start somewhere, right?  Also, I got to wear my workout shirt that I got two Christmases ago.  I was pregnant then, and then when I wasn't pregnant I wasn't working out.  It is super comfortable though!  It might make me more excited to work out.  And maybe more laundry will get done too, as an additional side effect.  One can hope.

Tuesday: 10 months

Joshua is 10 months old (soon)!  (The 28th is in the middle of the week...so I figured I could take his pictures anytime.)

Sleep: He is down to two naps a day, although sometimes it's just one.  He's often been sleeping through the night, but once or twice a week will wake up.  He goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps until about 6:30am.

Eating: He's been eating several new foods recently, and with summer coming on I'm hoping to add a bunch more.  Some new ones include watermelon, cheerios, and parsnips.

Moving: This past weekend I'd say he really starting moving.  It is a scoot while sitting, but has become very effective.  I just put the baby gate up today.  He is still pulling up to be on his knees and working on standing if we stand him up somewhere.

Attitude: Still very calm.  There are times he refuses to be put down though.  He is happiest at home.  He is serious when out and about, but not unhappy.  He enjoys playing with his toys.

Family: I think Ben is his favorite, but he likes me a lot too.  And Isaac makes him laugh the most.  Above is a picture when Isaac was coming into his bedroom.  Usually he bounces and does a silly sound, but this time he lunged.

Monday: Memorial Day

We went to the parade this morning.  I like the Memorial Day parade because it is just the right length and it is easy to get in and out.  And it is good to pay respect to those who have served in our country.  I briefly told Isaac about the purpose for the parade, but I'm not sure he got it.  The thing I forgot about this parade is how people stand up for most of it.  One of these years I'll get front row seats.  (Also, I took some pictures but my phone is acting up and won't let me access them right now.)

After the parade Joshua was downstairs in the big room and managed to scoot about 20 feet...that's the farthest he's gone yet. It took about 45 minutes, but every time I looked in on him he was somewhere else.

We spent this afternoon with Ben's family.

Isaac tried to play croquet, tried being the key word.

Then he decided he wanted to go on a boat ride.  He asked both grandparents and since nobody objected, that's what we did.

Joshua wasn't a fan of the life jacket.  He and Ben went inside shortly after this picture was taken.

He got to drive too.

Sunday: more balloons

Balloons are still being enjoyed this weekend.

In other news, I helped teach Isaac's Sunday School class today.  We learned about the Holy Spirit, since it is Pentecost.   Yup, trying to do that was about as hard as it sounds, although there was a good lesson laid out for us.  It compared the Holy Spirit to the wind and there were a bunch of activities.  Then we went outside to feel the wind...and it wasn't windy.  Luckily, we got some breeze at the very end.

Joshua is pulling himself onto his knees all the time now.  If you put him by something stable (or, for that matter, not stable), he'll start trying to climb it.

Saturday: comparison, flowers

Last night was was delaying going to bed and looking through old blog posts.  I found a handy one on what foods I had given to Isaac.  And realized that it might be time for another comparison picture.

Joshua's on the left, Isaac on the right.  The shape of their face seems a lot different to me.  And the hair. :)

Aunt C also planted some flowers for us today.  They're beautiful.  Much better than the weeds I've been growing the last few years. :)

Friday: balloons

We pulled the following out of the jars today: Balloons and make freezer meals.  We just got the balloons yesterday, so that one was good.  I was also looking forward to it.  (The nice thing about making the activities myself is that I look forward to most of them.)  Freezer meals...blah.  I wasn't feeling it.  I had the ingredients for some, but the kitchen was a mess.  I thought I'd see what happened.  We went to the park in the late morning with friends and by the time nap time was done it was too late.  Bummer.  I put it back in the jar, because I do want to do it sometime.

Anyway, balloons!  We had a good time with them.  (It should be noted that Isaac kept asking to take silly pictures today.  I guess they were a hit too.)  A nice thing about this activity was that Joshua could enjoy it too.

Isaac is hiding in there too.

There were two black balloons in the pack; they're Isaac's favorites

An untied balloon, about ready to be released.

And released!

Ben got in on some of the action after work.  He made a really big balloon.

Then we made a Joshua sized balloon.  And made his mohawk even mohawkier.

Throwing a balloon up.

We ended the day with many balloons in the room.  Maybe between 40 and 50?  Possibly as low as 30.  It's hard to tell.  It was a 100 pack and with a long weekend, we might end up finishing the rest.

Today we drew out "put up a curtain" and "take silly pictures".  We bought the curtain, but didn't put it up.  A few days ago we had drawn out "help with VBS" but didn't have anything to help with, and today we did.  So we tested about 400 tea lights to see if they work.  It was a really good activity for Isaac...I wasn't expecting to get through so many today.  There is about 1 in 20 that doesn't work and one silly one that won't turn off.  Guess it's a good test of the battery.

On to the pictures...there's a lot.  I set up the timer on the camera with burst, so each picture type had three options and I choose the best.  They're not as silly as I envisioned, but it was still a lot of fun.

1) Making sure it works.

2) Ties

3) Hats

4) Towels

5) The little red tabs from the tea lights.  Joshua has a baster bulb.

6) Flip flops

7) Puzzle pieces.  When looking back at the pictures, Isaac laughed the most about this one.  I didn't see why it was so funny.

8) Stuffed animals

9) A lot of stuff

10) Sitting backwards

Oh, then we took a break for nap time.  I also got a picture of Joshua standing by himself.  He's just starting to do this and not really very stable yet.

11) Duplos.  Isaac is playing the harmonica.

12) Silly faces

13) Backwards

14) To the right

15) To the left

16) More red tabs.  Sigh.  How long before I can sneak them in the trash?  I tried once already.

17) Throwing balls

18) Throwing balls again

19) Balls dropping from our heads.  Isaac followed his ball and did a face plant.

20) Paper bag heads

21) Screaming while standing in bags

21b) More screaming in bags

22) Jumping.  This was mostly just blurry, but you can kind of tell Isaac's feet were off the ground.