four Bs in a pod: April 2010

EditI know it's been forever since I've posted a proper update on the boys but they both seem to grow and change so quickly that by the time I'm ready to blog what I was going to say is obsolete.

Calvin is changing the most drastically so I'll start with him. Around the end of March he figured out how to pull himself up to standing and now there is just no holding him back. Every time you look at him he's standing up on something new, including all of the toilets for which he has some sort of fascination. That boy is bound and determined to get into trouble and does so with the biggest grin. The other day he was standing up underneath our kitchen table (another favorite spot) and managed to flip himself over one of the iron bars and get himself stuck. His little feet couldn't quite reach the floor but his head hadn't yet come crashing down to the floor, but was about to any second. I, of course, shriek and rush over to rescue the baby from doing a full on flip over the bars, meanwhile Calvin is laughing hysterically. Seriously! He has also managed to make it up two stairs before being caught. He is mischievous with a capital M.

We're working on introducing table foods to Calvin now and moving away from his baby food. This is still relatively new and seems to work better some days than others. He's pretty good at breakfast and will eat a piece of toast and banana usually every day. Lunch and dinner are a little more touch and go but he will usually eat cooked carrots, pears, peaches, cheese, chicken and any kind of bread. He's still working on pasta (harder to pick up) and yesterday he had a few bites of hamburger. Also, a lot of food ends up on the floor, in his hair, in his seat, etc. So, for now, I'm still feeding him a little baby food each meal until he can get the table food thing figured out.

It's been so fun to discover more and more of Calvin's personality. I mentioned mischievous above and I definitely think that's an apt description. He seems to know exactly what's going to get a reaction, which is what he strives for. He loves to be in the mix. Recently he has started having "conversations" with us using screams, babbles, grunts and groans in place of words. Once he realizes that we're "listening" to him (by repeating whatever noise he's made) he gets so excited and shows us his signature open mouth grin. He definitely loves his new found mobility and enjoys trying to keep up with his big brother but, at the end of the day, he's still happiest when he's in my arms (unless they're restraining him from something taboo, like licking the bottoms of our shoes).

Tyler seems to turn into a big boy more and more each day. Suddenly he's showing initiative to do things on his own and a chorus of "I can do it all by myself!" can be heard around our house. This is at once awesome and terrifying for all of us. While Jim and I are so ready for some of the next steps with Tyler it also means letting go of some control which can be scary. We're working really hard on keeping the bigger picture in mind. Yes, there is now soap and water all over the walls but he is enthusiastically washing his hands "all by myself". And while some days Tyler is the picture of confident independence, other days the changes he's going through are just too much, the emotions too intense and it is all we can do to get a coherent sentence out of him. Ah, life with a three year old. :)

On the potty training front things are progressing really well. A few weeks ago Tyler informed us that he no longer wished to wear a diaper at nap and night time because "underwear are softer" so we have ceased using pull ups altogether. And...this week he went poop in the potty for the first time!! He has yet to recreate this miraculous event but will now at least sit down and try, whereas before there was not a chance. He earned a pair of Lightening McQueen sunglasses for that feat and we now have a wooden train set on top of the tv to encourage similar such incidents.

I was all set a week or so ago to blog that Tyler's naps are on their way out. For a while now he's had the option of taking rest time instead of a nap, which means he plays quietly in his room for an hour. If he gets tired he'll open the door, turn off the light and go to bed. If not, I'll come get him after his hour is up and he just goes to bed earlier that evening. Most weeks he would end up napping about 80% of the time. Then for a week straight he didn't nap with one exception. On the day he did nap he was up until almost 10:30 at night, way past my bedtime! Jim and I thought this was it for naps but then he came down with a little cold and has since been back to napping almost every day. While he's still back and forth on this, the main difference is that he can now handle himself on the days he misses a nap.

Before Calvin was born Tyler and I would attend one or two classes a week together. When Cal was born we took a break for a while and have recently started back up. Both boys are in a music class together, the same one that Ty took when he was younger. I also signed Tyler back up for his gym class that he loved. However, this time around, since he's older and I have to hang with Calvin, he's in the class with no parents, just the teacher and the kids. Today was his first class and he did great but I had a harder time that I thought I would. He is the youngest of the four kids in his class and it was so hard for me not to be right there to help him out. He did and learned things today that were brand new to him, for instance walking single file in a line behind the teacher and drinking from a water fountain. I know this probably sounds crazy but just watching him interact with a teacher by himself for the first time without me made him seem like such a big boy and still my little baby all at the same time. And I was ten feet away from him the whole time! Lord only knows how I'm going to handle him going to preschool two morning a week next year. Tear. Anyway, we know the teacher from our previous sessions and she is amazing. She spent some extra time with Tyler since all the other kids have been in her class previously and already know the drill. He had a blast and is so excited to go back next week.

These days I'm really noticing how much of a boy Tyler is. He likes loud race cars, crashing his trucks into each other, playing tackle football, riding his bike "real real fast!", squishing bugs with his best buds William and Vincent and just getting dirty in general. And I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. I adore both my rough-and-tumble boys and cannot wait for all the adventures we have together this summer. Stay tuned.

Okay, so I'm super behind on blogging. I have a million updates to post but first I had to blog about the amazing weather we've been having. Typically, in Minnesota, we get average of ten inches of snow in March. I personally don't think it starts to get really warm until the end of May. This March we've had ZERO inches of snow and yesterday it was 81 degrees!! We've been loving it and have been spending as much time outside as possible. Our windows are open and we even had to turn on the fans last night. All our plants are sprouting up and our bushes are getting fat green buds already. And it's only the beginning of April!! I have no idea what the next month will bring but for now we're just reveling in this unexpected gift. We love you summer!!