My Poor Little Ones

We have snot, coughing, and more snot.  I just love this time of year.  The two little ones seem to be miserable which makes me feel so bad for them.  They have these horrible coughs that sound so giant from their little bodies.  Cade has had to miss two speech sessions this week due to the sickness.  Hopefully it gets out of here quickly and doesn't infect the rest of us.

3 Little Words

I was just telling the boys goodnight as Mitch was preparing to read them a story and Cade looked up at me and said "I love you".  That was the first time he has ever said those words and they were very clear.  I'm not going to lie, it was overwhelming to hear my son utter those three little words after spending so long not talking.

A Normal Day Around Here

So this morning Drew didn't have school.  I had great visions of the boys sleeping in and having a nice relaxing morning.  Normally on school days I end up having to wake them up but on non-school days they don't have any problems getting up early.  This morning was no different.  Drew and Cade were up much earlier than normal and I was disappointed my morning hadn't worked as I had it planned out in my head.  So, I told them they could watch cartoons in my room with me for a little bit before we went down for breakfast.  A little while later I woke again because Mace was awake.  When I got up I realized the boys were gone.  They had sneaked out without telling me and went downstairs.  As Mace and I walked down the stairs, I was scared of the make-your-own-breakfast mess I would find on the counters but I was pleasantly surprised that I found them void of any supplies.  As they sat on the couch watching cartoons I asked them what exactly they were doing coming downstairs without telling me and Cade handed me a wad of plastic.  I grabbed it and studied it a minute trying to figure out what in the world it had come from.  What exactly had they been doing?  It was strange because the bottom was full of white little crystals.  Then it hit me.  They had gotten into Mitch's candy stash.  He had an unopened box of Sour Patch Kids in the pantry and they had helped themselves to the whole thing for breakfast.  What a healthy way to start your day when you are two.  They seemed pretty proud of themselves though that they had only taken one box of candy so I guess we have that going for us.  They didn't wipe everything out.

Then a little later Drew and Cade were upstairs playing and Mace was downstairs with me.  I was cleaning up the kitchen from the actual breakfast I fed them and Mace headed into the pantry.  I was calling for him because I needed to run some dirty towels up to the laundry room and didn't want him in the pantry alone while I was gone.  He didn't come and it was pretty silent back there.  I headed back to grab him and threw all the towels on the floor and screamed when I saw what he was doing.  He was standing at the toilet with his hands inside of it.  Gross yes, but it got so much worse when I got closer.  Drew has had the tendency not to flush the toilet lately.  It's so nasty and I don't know why he all of  sudden started doing that.  So Mace had been playing in a toilet full of pee.  Nasty, nasty, NASTY!  At least he hadn't thrown a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet again.  I would not have been very happy about fishing out a pee soaked roll of toilet paper and having a pee covered baby.

The best thing about the morning was realizing that these two incidents didn't even really strike me as crazy or out of the ordinary.  I didn't even text Mitch and let him know.  Well, I guess I did make Drew send him an apology email.  But with three active little boys in the house right now, we're constantly finding ourselves part of crazy situations like these.  I now think of these times as amusing stories to share instead of stressful situations.  The alternative of losing my mind doesn't sound all that appealing to me.

Is it Really That Time Already

I cannot believe that I just had to bundle Drew & Cade up in winter coats, hats and gloves to play outside after lunch today.  It is really cold out there!!  I still want more glorious fall days to be able to play outside and enjoy before the bitter cold temperatures of winter move in.

It Made Me Happier than I Thought it Would

I feel like in a pinch I am really bad about coming up with something quick and easy for dinner.  If I don't make up a menu for the week I'm totally lost at dinner time.  Ask Mitch; I think it drives him crazy when he asks what's for dinner and I say I have no idea.  It is especially difficult because the defrost on our microwave doesn't work.  It just cooks the meat no matter what you try.  So everything I think of I can't ever make.

Mondays are terribly busy days around here.  We get home from speech when I would normally like to be sitting down for dinner.  So, I'm working on finding quick and easy things to be able to still get a good dinner on the table for us.  I'm finding that the easiest way I'm able to accomplish this is by putting something in the crock pot so it's ready for my hungry kids right when we get home.  Over the last few months as I've made crock pot meals I've doubled the recipe and made one for dinner and put the other in the freezer for later when I need a meal.  Today as I was struggling with what I was going to do for dinner because I hadn't yet made my menu, I decided to get one of those meals out.  It was awesome.  I had no prep time at all and we're going to have a great yummy meal tonight.  It's really little things like this that make me so ridiculously happy.  It wasn't that much extra work when I froze them because I was already using all the ingredients and it made no extra dishes (big plus).  Just a bonus meal to use on a day like today when I don't have time to whip something up.  {happy sigh!!}

Boys Update - September

The boys are growing up so fast.  I thought I would give an update on each of their little lives.

Mace
Mace has grown so much in just the last month.  His baby days are definitely gone now.  He loves walking all over the place exploring everything he can.  This week he has been working on going from sitting to standing without holding on to anything.  He's doing awesome.  The first time I saw him try was over at our neighbor's on her driveway.  He wanted to go get the cat and tried three times really hard to stand and walk.  On the third time, he was able to take off walking.  It was so fun to see although a little scary on the concrete.  He can reach the doorknobs now and is trying with all his might to open them when the big boys leave him behind.  He has added "kitty" and "door" to his vocabulary.  He points to what he wants and says "dat" (that).  He clicks his tongue and whistles and loves dancing to music.  I love watching his little dance moves.  It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face no matter your mood.  He still wants to take two naps most days although if you can get him through the morning he'll be fine with one.  His nighttime bottle is gone now and we'll just give him a drink of milk from a cup if he wants it before bed.  I'm worried about writing this for fear of jinxing it but he's been sleeping through the night consistently again which is wonderful.

Cade
Cade is becoming very grown up now.  He is talking up a storm and is trying lots of new words that we can't even figure out.  His therapists all say that is a really good sign that he's trying to say new things even if we can't figure any of it out.  I was able to have my first real conversation with him this week.  It made me smile so big to actually talk with him.  Here's our conversation:
   Mom "What's your favorite color"
   Cade "Green"
   Mom "What's your favorite food"
   Cade "Apple"
   Mom "What's your favorite thing to do outside?"
   Cade "Dig"
   Mom "Would you rather play outside or inside?"
   Cade "Outside"

We continue to do therapy both through the AEA and through a clinic in town.  Combined he has six sessions a month and we see his vocabulary continue to grow leaps and bounds.  He has many two word utterances and the other day even said four words together.  My mouth about hit the floor.  During therapy yesterday he counted to six.  I was not aware that he could do that so what a great surprise that was.  If we allowed him to, I believe he would play all day outside digging in his hole at the back of the yard.  He also is very helpful when we are out working on projects.  He wants to get in there are be of great assistance.

Drew
Drew is becoming so grown up now.  He is very independent and slightly stubborn like his mom.  He is able to carry on such grown up conversations now and sometimes blows me away with what he's able to talk about.  He continues to work on his reading and spelling and is doing a really good job.  He's also super good at adding and subtracting.  We've been doing lots of drawing and coloring and he's enjoying that more.  He doesn't like to get too crazy when he colors though.  I think he did a whole coloring book in blue because that's the color he likes.  I notice that about all his art projects he brings home from school too.  They are only ever one color.  He still loves school and loves playing with his "crew".  He says that all the boys are friends and they are all a crew.  He has come home with some interesting phrases he's learned from some kids and I have had to tell him we won't be using those in our house.  Luckily nothing bad though.  During indoor class activities he's still pretty shy and doesn't like doing his sharing time.  He answers the teachers questions and then I guess she relays his answers to the rest of the class.  I'm really interested to see what they are going to say at his conference in November.        

Happy Birthday Mitch

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday.  Over the weekend we were able to have both of our families over to celebrate with a football game and good food.  His gift from everyone was a giant seafood boil.  To say he was excited would be putting it mildly.  It was a great time getting to spend the day with everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITCH!!!!!

A Change in the Air for Naps

I remember when Drew was two and decided he didn't want to take a nap anymore.  We had a gate on his room so he still had to stay in his room for a couple hours and he would eventually fall asleep after looking at books for awhile.  Then after he turned three he was completely done with any nap attempt.  Cade has now also gotten to that point.  Sometimes he'll get out of his bed and then lie under it.  I'm not really sure what that's about but he has taken multiple naps on the floor in the last few weeks.  Most other times, he makes his way down to the playroom.  If Drew is resting with his stuffed animals in the guest room, Cade will just play by himself.  Otherwise the two of them play or read books.  I'm not ready for Cade to go from 3 hour naps to nothing.  He's not even 2.5 yet.  I used to work with people that would talk about how even their kindergartner still took naps on the weekends.  I don't understand that at all.  Why do my kids want to quit when they are two?  

Jab to my Heart

I was just talking with Drew as he was unloading the dishwasher.  I was giving him suggestions of what his reward could be when he gets his reward card full of punches.  He looked at me and said, "Daddy is the best Daddy but you are cranky all the time.  One time Daddy let me have the marshmallow cereal that you don't let me have."  Really?!?!  Yesterday he informed me that he liked Daddy best because Daddy always buys things for him.  Gotta love that he tells you what's on his mind.  I guess I'm going to have to develop thick skin for the next few years.

Making a Change in Dinner

Dinner together is something that is very important to us.  From the time that our kids were at least 9 months, they sat with us at dinner and ate what we ate for the most part.  It was important to us that from the beginning they learn about family meal time.  There are foods of course that little ones cannot feed themselves either because they are not ready to use a spoon and plate or because mommy doesn't like them to make super big messes.  Take applesauce or messy spaghetti for example.  That means of course that we have to eat our food while at the same time feeding the baby and making sure the older children have everything they need.  This causes some problems for impatient hungry little babies.  Mace is now screaming when he wants another bite if it has not been given to him fast enough.  This is through no fault of his own though.  For a year he was able to communicate with us in no other way than to cry.  That was the way he let us know he was hungry, tired, or dirty.  Now we have to break that reinforcement and get him to communicate with us in ways that do not cause pain to our ears.  (I'm not kidding...you should hear this kid scream.)  I remember going through this with the other two as well.  To break the yelling for food cycle, we introduce signing to our kids.  Drew only ever had a few signs because he talked early.  With Cade's talking issues he has quite a few that he learned and uses.  Tonight we taught Mace to sign "more".  When he yelled for a bite I said "more" along with showing him the sign.  He immediately did the sign and got a bite and gave us a big smile.  This happened three times tonight and he did the sign right away every time we showed him.  It's just amazing to me how quickly they can pick up on things.  He has also recently started giving high fives and waving bye.  It's fun that you can show him something one time and see him start to do it.