We Have A Roller, and other tales

This weekend we had a couple of firsts. First, Finn has fulfilled his baby rolling requirements, i.e. tummy to back and back to tummy. He got caught up on his shoulder for a few seconds, but he made it. We just can't believe he's 4 months old already.

Second, Ben actually said "Finn." That doesn't mean he'll say it regularly, but at least he got it.

Ben is just so funny. Yesterday he was on a chair by the table while I was in the kitchen starting dinner. He spied the napkins and grabbed a bunch. I thought nothing of it because before he's just thrown them on the table. But this time, he wiped his whole face, which was not dirty by any means, with the top napkin. Then he got down off the chair and threw them all in the garbage. He got back up and tried grabbing another wad of napkins. I am now hard pressed to find a spot for them out of his reach.

This morning we're taking turns spinning each other in the office chairs. He does a very good job and I think he enjoys watching me spin as much as he enjoys spinning.

Finally, I had to post this picture for the aunt whom Finn looks like. I thought she would like this shirt and this would have looked kinda like her as a baby. (Click on the picture for a closer look.)


That's it for now, or at least until Ben does something else goofy. Have a good day folks.

Sharing Blocks

This morning I had Finn on the floor and gave him a small Mega Blok (is that an oxymoron?) to hold and suck on. Ben saw this and decided to help. He likes to hand you something and say dadoo (thank you), and Finn wouldn't take it of course, so there he stands, dadoo, dadoo, dadoo. I took it and laid it by Finn, so Ben got another one, which I laid down. Ben kept trying to regive those 2 big blocks to Finn, and I laid them on Finn's tummy. That seemed to satisfy Ben. He started making a pile of blocks next to Finn and sat nice putting them together. Ben is such a sweet little boy. I am so glad he is anxious to share his toys with Finn. We'll see how it goes when Finn can actually grab them and play like Ben can.

Just When You Thought The Potatoes Were Safe...

...Strucky has locksed again. (10 points to name the movie)

A couple days ago I bought a 5-pound bag of potatoes and used a few. I dutifully put the little plastic tie thing back on so junior couldn't get in it. Yesterday I went upstairs to grab my water and Ben started dragging the potato sack, stopping in the middle of the living room. I figured he couldn't get in, and he had worked so hard to pull it, I just left him there. A few minutes later I hear a thunk, thunk, thunk and something landing down here. Sure enough, he had ripped a hole in the potato sack, had taken the bag 2 or 3 stairs down, and was sitting there throwing potatoes down the stairs. (Many other things have made a trip down the stairs, but not food.) Thankfully he only managed 2 throws and had 1 in his hand ready. So I grabbed the potatoes and put them on the counter for the time being. I'm hoping he forgets about them for a while, because I really don't have a good place for them out of his reach, which, by the way, seems to be growing daily. It was kind of hard not to laugh because it was probably a lot of fun, but I didn't relish the thought of picking up 40 potatoes.

Books Go On The Shelf

Last night Jon was home with Ben while I went to Bible study. Jon was studying when Ben handed him a book, which they read through 3 times. We usually keep Ben's books upstairs. After I came home and the boys were in bed, Jon called me downstairs to show me his discovery. Click on the picture for a closer look.


Funny enough, as I write this, Ben has come to sit on my lap with this very book and is reading it upside down. Here's another picture of my studious boy. He may be just like his dad.

A New Baby

Congratulations to Nathaniel and Sarah on a baby girl! We think she looks like her daddy. Click here to see pictures.

One Moment In Time

Yesterday Ben parked his Bumbo by the sliding glass door so he could sit there and look outside while he played. There are a couple of squirrels who frequent our back yard and the birds are back. So this morning I started work, then I brought Finn back upstairs so I could get breakfast. I set him in the Bumbo to look outside. Ben came and sat down next to him, and they were both looking outside. It was so cute, I wanted to take a picture of the back of their heads. Then Ben turned and started talking to Finn, who was looking at Ben as though they were deep in conversation. It was just such a cute moment.

Our Smiley Babies

Another Weekend

Friday afternoon we had Finn's 3-month pictures. Much to my chagrin, I dressed the boys almost alike because that looks nice on pictures. Finn was all smiles and we got great pictures. When it came time to do their pictures together, Ben was very wiggly but did well. As much as he kisses his brother at home, he wouldn't give him even 1 kiss at the studio. All 3 of us were prodding, but he just wouldn't do it. Regardless, they are soooo cute. I know, I'm their mom, of course they're cute. It was very hard to pick what we wanted. We went to Old Chicago for supper. Great stuff.

Saturday was cold, so we stayed inside and did our normal stuff. Jon grilled and I got away with heating up some peas as far as cooking went. It was a pretty relaxing day.

Sunday started out cold but ended up beautiful. After church, Jon and Ben went outside for a bit. The only problem is that Ben just wants to run, so Jon can't just sit out on the deck and enjoy the weather anymore. And he can't go out without Ben or we hear about it. So Ben decided he was tired and laid down on the kitchen floor, of all places-not on the rug. So the boys took naps and we played inside. After supper I took the boys out for a walk. We had the door open, but it was hot inside and too nice to resist. So we walked around the block a couple of times. They both seemed to enjoy it. I didn't hear a peep out of either one of them. Ben loves walks, and it was a lot of new stuff for Finn to take in.

So here we are back to Monday. We shall see what kind of trouble we get into this week.

Ben's New Seat

So we brought the Bumbo up from the depths so Finn could start sitting in it. (If you don't know what this is, click here.) We've put Finn in it twice and he wasn't too excited about it. But Ben, who enjoyed it the first time around, is immensely enjoying it. He tried it out one night and found that his little butt and legs still fit in there. He even tried to pull Finn out of it, which he wasn't able to do, but he still managed to cause some screaming. Anyway, now Ben likes to carry the Bumbo around the living room. He'll put it down in some random place and sit for about 30 seconds. The great entertainment is that he tries to back up to it, and he usually misses the first two times. The other night he turned his body and ended up backing up to the side of it, and when he tried to sit down he completely missed it. He was semi crying and I was just laughing. I kind of feel bad, but it's just so entertaining and he didn't get hurt. Some things you just can't do for them.

Sockies

Let me preface this by saying that Ben is anti socks. He will not keep them on his feet for any period of time unless they are covered with shoes, which he's okay with because then he knows he gets to go somewhere. Let's begin.

Yesterday Ben took off Finn's socks. When they fall off, Ben is very good about giving them to me. (He has also started doing this when he takes off his own socks.) So Ben just pulled off Finn's socks and handed them to me like a good little boy, but since I was working, I set them on the desk. He kept trying to put them in my hands or on the keyboard. I think he finally got mad at me for not taking them, because he grabbed the socks and took them upstairs. So pretty soon I went up to change Finn and asked Ben where baby's sockies were. He proceeded to Jon's sock drawer and pulled out his dirty pair of socks (he only wore them a couple hours) he had stuck in there from Saturday. I remember him slipping them in while I was putting Jon's clean socks away. I laid Finn down on the living room floor and Ben laid his socks at Finn's feet. He really is a good little helper. Fortunately, I did find Finn's socks just laying on the living room floor among Ben's toys.

Children Conspire

People have talked about it, but I have now been a victim of my children conspiring against me. I don't care how young they are, it happens.

Thursday night Ben woke up crying. Jon checked on him and he actually looked to be sleeping yet. So Jon came back to bed. A while later it happened again, so Jon gave him some ibuprofen since he's teething, and Ben settled down. It happened a third time, and I got up to get him some Orajel. He had his blanket in hand and was ready to get out, so I just took him to rock him. Out in the living room, he started talking and looking around. A couple of times he went to lay in different spots on the floor. I finally took him to the couch to lay down with him. After finally finding a comfortable spot, he lay quiet for a while. Just as I thought he was asleep, he opened his eyes and let out this yell like he was being hurt. I asked if he was ready for nigh-nigh, and he put his arms around me. He didn't wake up after that. So there went an hour of sleep. I got back to bed about 2:00.

Then about 4:45, my darling little Finn, who has been sleeping through the night for almost a week, decides he needs to eat a bit. While that only took half an hour, my night was pretty much shot.

These two may be my biggest challenge in life, and they're not even 2. I have a long road ahead.

Our Weekend

Thursday was a beautiful day. Jon and Ben ran around with the soccer ball. I sat on the deck with Finn. He's a cool little dude with shades on. It was just nice to be outside. (Pictures to come. I now have the camera but not the cord.)

Friday was also a beautiful day, even nicer than Thursday. It was somewhere in the 50s. While we didn't get a walk in, Ben spent all afternoon running and screaming around the back yard, which was much better for him, I imagine. Jon was out smoking ribs and we had our neighbors over for supper. Ben had 3 guys taking turns chasing him down since our back yard is not completely fenced in. He was so worn out he was extra tired on Saturday yet. It is so fun to watch him. He cried when he had to come in.

Since we cleaned on Friday, Saturday was more of a lazy day. I did laundry and Jon worked on some homework. It rained all day, so no outside playing.

Sunday we had a good rainstorm, a little thunder, very windy. The rain was actually coming down sideways. I kept getting confused with the time since we didn't change all the clocks. I almost didn't get my kids to bed on time, though it didn't matter much since Ben played in his crib for probably another 40 minutes. He finds things to keep him busy in there, even in the dark.

So there's our weekend in a nutshell.

Randomness

I love the randomness of children. Sometimes I will come home and Ben will have a group of balls on the desk, or he'll have pop bottles set up in a tight group on the desk. By the way, he somehow hides things like these pop bottles until he's ready to play with them, because I won't see them and all of the sudden they're in his hands. Anyway, he has his 2 Little People zebras sitting on my stock pot on the shelf downstairs. He is playing upstairs right now and decided to throw his football down the stairs. I guess it can join the basketball and baseball on the desk. You just never know what you're gonna find when you walk in the house.

In other news, he can say phone now, which is his new favorite "toy." He loves to walk around with it and talk, though he becomes silent as soon as he hears noise coming from it. He is also saying fee for Finn. Those Fs are coming along.

Ben is really into stacking now. It's fun watching him figure out what toys fit into other toys.

As far as the pictures I mentioned, same old story: Have not uploaded most recent pictures and camera is also AWOL. I guess that will be another day.

Temps are supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow, so just imagine us strolling around outside. I'm really looking forward to taking the boys out in the afternoons when it gets nice out. I'm not an outdoor person, but I definitely have cabin fever. Ben is an outdoor baby for sure. He loves toddling around outside while daddy is grilling, or they play with the soccer ball. A couple weeks ago I took Ben in the backyard in the snow, and once he got used to it, he started walking. We walked for 45 minutes around our apartments and he cried when I made him go in.

Anyway, enough rambling. Have a good day.

Say What?

Ben has become quite the little imitator, which I guess is how kids learn words. When he hands me things, he now says dadoo (thank you) to me, and especially loves giving me random things when I'm feeding Finn. He says down (we go downstairs) and die for both light and cry. Usually it's quite clear which one he means. He says bottie for bottle. We were saying oh man this morning. That's close to amen, which he does with a southern accent-amayn. He will say all duh for all done and hand me his bowl when he's finished.

He is stealing spatulas out of the drawer. He just sticks his hand in and grabs, or off the counter if he strikes at supper time. He is currently sucking the trickling pop out of a can that he just damaged. He likes to pretend to drink out of things, but I thought he was making an unusual noise. Sure enough, the pop is very slowly seeping out. I guess I better take care of that instead of writing. He also has a couple cans on the swing. I guess it's nap time for them.

Ben has also decided he's big enough to go down the stairs like adults. He just puts his hand on the wall and starts going. He has tried going up that way with the railing, but he's just not tall enough. Like a good mom, I just turn my eyes and hope he doesn't fall. Should I be giving him a learning curve with stairs?

As for the little one, he is now sleeping pretty much through the night. He would probably sleep longer except for all the noise when the rest of us get up. Ben is usually concerned about baby when he gets up and has to see Finn, and he's certainly not quiet about it. Finn is trying to figure out his nap schedule during the day. I think he's transitioning to 2 naps, but it's a work in progress.

Since it's been a while, just a quick update for us. Jon started his last quarter this week. I think it was a bit odd for him not to have to worry about filling out forms and thinking about summer assignments and fall quarters. We're already making plans for graduation and after. Seminary has definitely gone fast and we got 2 kids and some good friends out of the deal.

I am still working in the mornings. Ben takes 1 afternoon nap, so I like to try to get something done or just relax. Lately it's been spending good quality time with Finn or trying to get him to sleep.

I need to get some food into Ben before he crashes. I'll try to get a few pictures posted this afternoon.