Wednesday: ups and downs

Today we drew "insect hunt" and "dust" from the hat.  I thought Isaac would enjoy dusting more...there's a cool mitten, it really doesn't take that long, etc.  No.  It felt like pulling teeth and involved tears.  Sigh.  He hasn't taken a nap the last few days and I can tell.

We found a bug while dusting.  Dumb ants.  Why do they think they can be in the house?

We went to the nature center to look for more bugs.  It sort of worked.  Joshua was kind of in a mood.  But we saw some water striders.

(Looking over the edge at the water striders.)

Another bug.  I also thought that taking pictures of the insects would be more appealing to Isaac, but he didn't seem to care.

At the end we sat by the pond for a few minutes.  There were a bunch of turtles.  Isaac and Joshua changed places.

Joshua sat up several times when it was nap time.  Needless to say, this is not conducive to sleeping.  I haven't seen him do this anywhere except in the crib yet.  Isaac started crying after Joshua woke up because "Joshua wants to watch Ipad" and I said no.  Because Isaac really wanted more Ipad time, even if it was playing games designated for Joshua.  Sigh.  There were a lot of tears over dumb things today.

We played racquetball this evening.  I'm right handed and have the racket in my right hand, but several times my left arm hurt after hitting the ball.  Ben told me I'm doing it wrong.

And finally, my smart move of the day: deconstructed spinach salad.  Isaac will happily drink his spinach, but won't touch it otherwise.  So we blended it up.  (He actually drank about half before racquetball and finished the rest with dinner.)  Then he just put the toppings in a bowl to eat.

Tuesday: life

This morning started with Isaac saying clever things, such as "I like socks when I'm not wearing them" and something else that we can't remember.

Today Isaac drew "make a volcano" and "declutter your room".  We started with the decluttering by taking many of his toys out of his bedroom.  I ignored his dresser since I know he still plays with all those toys.

He got all the stuff out and I was wondering about my plan.  The house was already a disaster; this wasn't helping.  But it was too late, everything was already out.  Then we put it all back in and Isaac had to decide if he wanted to keep it in his bedroom or not.  We disagreed about a few things, but for the most part we compromised or I let him do what he wanted...it is his bedroom after all.  He hit a minimum amount of stuff removed, so mission accomplished.

I had the volcano ready to go pretty early in the morning, but Isaac was having a good time playing with his sand, so we didn't get around to it.  He had his last swimming lesson.  My overall impression was "meh."  I felt like he did a lot of sitting on the edge of the pool, which is just cold.  We did go early so he was able to swim in a life jacket a bit, and I got him to do a few things that the instructor wanted him to do.  He doesn't like water in his face, and it's a problem.

When we got home he wanted to do the volcano.  It was late, but why not.  So we did.

Tuesday2: peas

While at the grocery store, I got some frozen peas for Joshua. I was hoping to get some green vegetables in him. It didn't work. However, Isaac ate a ton of frozen peas while I was getting dinner ready; he kept asking for more! So I guess it was still a good thing I got the peas.

Monday: 44 weeks

Joshua is 44 weeks old today.

His top two teeth are just starting to poke through.

Today we pulled "change everyone's sheets" and "make a rain cloud" out of the jars.  We didn't pull anything out until about 3pm, so it was good that the activities were pretty short.  (Also, Isaac suggested doing an activity instead of asking for TV.  It could have been that he saw the jars, but then he could see the TV too.  I'm considering it a win.)

Our first try at rain clouds didn't go so well because we had the wrong shaving cream.  I was going to the store later in the day anyway, so I picked up the correct kind of shaving cream.  I wish we had had a bit more time to go on the internet and look at the water cycle, but hopefully something still got across as I was talking about it.  If nothing else, it was a pretty fun thing to do.

After making blue rain we added yellow rain.  It turned green.

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.