Friday, December 30, 2016

Friday: 5 years old

Isaac is five years old today!  Five!  A whole hand.


Likes: building things (circuits, duplos, etc.), mazes, running, gymnastics, screen time, treats.  He actually seems to like almost everything, really.  When I ask him what the least favorite thing was of the day he often doesn't have one.


Growing up: Isaac still wants to be a Big Puppy Dog when he grows up, and this month he has been extra Puppy Doggy.  He tends only to be a puppy at home or other places that don't have peers.  If you call him the wrong name in the wrong place you will be corrected.  Isaac still does a good job with his chores, although he does periodically tell me how much he doesn't really like them and in what order he doesn't like them.  He does like the money though.  I also feel comfortable that he will make the correct decisions in most situations...at least, any of the situations that he might find himself currently in.  He also has a good sense of timing now and realizes that things might not happen right away, but that they will still happen.


Social: Isaac likes a ton of people.  He enjoys playing with Ben.  He plays with Joshua and understands that Joshua is littler and has different rules sometimes.  He likes his grandmothers and CC.  He can play alone with friends.  He still seems to love me the most.


I'm super proud of the kid Isaac is turning out to be.  He's a lot of fun, helpful, and loving.  And silly.  Don't forget that he's silly.

Thursday, December 29, 2016

29 months

Joshua turned 29 months yesterday.


Attitude: oh, it's rough being two.  Sometimes he's so happy and sometimes he's so sad.  He can go back and forth so quickly.  If he's hungry things tend to go poorly.  During those times he wants to be picked up and carried still...it tends to be a bad time to want to be picked up because I'll be making food and it is easier with two hands.  However, there hasn't been too much blatant misbehaving this month; he's only had time-out a few times.  He is often very willing to help out with whatever task needs doing.  When I make a decision for him (i.e., that he should put mittens on), he will often want the opposite.  That's often ok with me, so I agree.  He then changes his mind again to what I had originally said.  That's fine too...but I wish he wouldn't be so dramatic about it.  I agree with what he wants; there's no need to scream.

Likes: Joshua likes so many things!  Bears, music, dancing, gymnastics, Duplos, coloring, robots, reading, putting people to bed, running, treats, and playing with Isaac.  It is not hard to keep him occupied.


Sleeping: sleeping is going better than it was last month, but there are still days.  Getting up once with him isn't uncommon, but isn't daily either.

Food: We're still having trouble with food.  He likes strawberries and crunchy beans and bread products.  Everything else is hit or miss...it's really annoying when he likes something one day but then won't touch it the next.


Potty training: it's still going well, and it could still use improvement.  As expected.  I ran out of the more absorbent underwear one day and gave him Mickey Mouse underwear, which is now his preferred underwear.


Talking: Joshua is communicating better and better each day.  He's pretty good at counting and with minimal help can get to eleven.  I've heard some letters come out of his mouth, but I haven't noticed that he can recognize them.  He sometimes does nice complete sentences, but more often just does the minimum noun/verb combo.

People: Joshua recognizes and names a bunch of people, even out of context: mainly some friends from church, Ethan/Leah, and both sets of grandparents.  He often will ask to see one grandparent or another.  He loves Isaac and often copies whatever he's doing.  (But not so much that he doesn't have plans of his own.)  He will go back and forth between preferring Ben or me.

Time: Joshua likes to know what we're going to do any given day, but I've been trying not to tell him as often because if there is something fun at the end of the day I won't stop hearing about it for the rest of the day.  Furthermore, there are usually tears because the activity isn't happening now.  Yesterday I ordered some plane tickets and he was ready to go on an airplane for the next three hours, and rather nervous that we would go without him.  Isaac and I told him repeatedly that it wasn't for a long time yet.

Praying: when asked what he would like to pray for, Joshua always thanks God for bears, airplanes, and rocket ships.  Sometimes we'll get something else, but those three things come first.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Wednesday: pop

After an experiment today, there was a half can of squirt remaining.  I let the boys drink it.  It's not their first time to have pop, but one of the first times.  (Note: Isaac calls it 'soda' not because he's from the East, but because that's that the experiment called it.)

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Tuesday: low key

Today was a rather low key day.  Isaac got a hair cut, we played with Christmas presents, we just did normal stuff.

Near the end of the day we tried out the new headsets that the boys got for Christmas using some music on Ben's phone.  They work as expected, check.  Well, Joshua was not so excited about the idea of turning off music.  (He would listen to music a lot more than we actually turn it on.)  So I put my phone* in the bag that the headset is normally in, looped it over his arm, and he happily sat with Ben for quite a while.

Isaac finished his chores and wanted music, so we did the same thing for Ben's phone*.  Isaac got the duplos out and they happily played and listened until it was bedtime.  It was very nice.


*there are other ideas for not using our phones as the music makers, but first we need to see what they get for the next set of presents and/or get some repairs done on a device.  We were planning to do the repairs anyway, but I've just been slow about going about it.

Monday, December 26, 2016

Sunday/Monday: presents

In the morning Joshua threw his animals on the chair and wanted me to take a picture.  It is probably the first picture request I've had from him.


Before opening presents.

Watching Jacob and Isaac shoot each other with nerf guns.

Headphones!  Joshua was rather excited to have them.  He tried wearing them today while playing with some duplos, but they kept falling off.  They're not made for so much head moving.

Presents.  And bubbles.


Joshua enjoyed his backpack, even though it is about 3/4 his size.  A lot of things got moved around in it.

The kids played a game in the evening, with the help of Jamie.  Isaac did very well for the first 30-45 minutes, but then his attention span waned.

Both boys enjoyed playing with some lab supply toys today.  Some test tubes, beakers, funnels, and colored water...what more could you want?  (Actually, we didn't give them water until the very end.  Even without the water it was fun.)

Christmas

Look!  The animals found baby Jesus once again.



What can we learn from the animals?  It doesn't matter if you're...

...a fish out of water or a sheep scribbled on by a toddler
...a giant camel or a tiny donkey
...whether you've lost your ears or your legs have been repaired many times
...shiny or plasticy
...normal or weird

...Jesus came to the Earth for you, to later die on the cross, defeat death, and allow us to come into heaven with him.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Saturday: Christmas eve

Today we opened presents as a family.  (Unpictured: I got a new space heater for the basement and some legos and to sleep in!  The legos have a light brick that I'm excited to see. And since I slept in I didn't take a nap and so it felt like I had two extra hours today.  It was awesome.)




Isaac was as excited as a 5 year old can get to get the laser maze.  There was jumping and falling on the floor.


We went to pick up McDonald's for lunch.  I didn't make the boys wear their hats or mittens, but of course they were cold in the car.  (I did offer to let them wear them and they declined.)  I told Isaac to put his wipe on his head.  Even though I suggested it, turning around to see it made me crack up laughing.

We went to church, but getting out the door was surprisingly hard.  Joshua...I'm not sure what Joshua wanted but it wasn't to go to church.  Isaac knew he would have to go to big church and so wanted to bring laser maze and starting crying when we said no.  We got there in one piece though and it was a nice service.



J: mushroom?
I: maybe
J: Maybe?
I: Maybe it'll be a mushroom.  You'll see.
Joshua eats the mushroom that he already has.
I: The mushroom's all gone Joshua.  You put the toothpicks in here.
J: all done?  Oh!  It's a mushroom?
I: Meat?
J: Mead?
I: Meat.
J: I eat it?
I: Yes.
I: drop it.
J: drop
I: eggs?
J: Please more Isaac!
I: Eggs Joshua?
J: something one more, one more, one more.
I: eggs
J: Eggs