It seems this little whim of mine has garnered quite the familial following. Thanks family for reading (and the pressure to post more frequently...)
As usual I have let many days lapse since the last post. It's not a lack of "things" to post, just a lack of time. You see, this is the first evening this week I have spent away from the sewing machine (I made a lovely little baby carrier for a friend). Furthermore, I should be doing actual work right now. I'm REALLY behind in updating the curling website. Since I'm not working though, I'll fill you in on the "things". I had planned on several entries but I'll condense and do one for now.
The birth of a goat. Did I get your attention with that one? It was very cool, very random, and totally amazing. Just luck that we got to see it. I think I've mentioned the storage lot with the goats that's just up the street. Anyhow, one of our evening walks stopped us by the fence to feed the goats. All but one went away, and to make a long story short, a few minutes later there was a brand spankin' new goat.
Alex's 3rd Birthday. We had such a fun day. I made dinosaur shaped muffins for breakfast, we rode the train at Zilker, had lunch at Hula Hut, opened lots of presents and even managed to squeeze in a little cake right before bed. He's such a sweetie and so proud to be 3. Our good friends Monica & Gabriel spent the day with us along with Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Michael.
I was going to post some musings about birthday cakes and how I never can seem to get them done at a reasonable time, and a few other things, but oh well.
My sunflowers are about ready to go into the ground, if it's nice, we'll do it this weekend. Otherwise it will wait just a little longer. I've decided to try and sprout some carrots too, fun, fun, fun!!
Oh yeah, Ben can say "bye" now. He's such a ham, and a darn cute one too!!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Flip Side
Every coin has two sides, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, every day has a night, and the list goes on and on and on. I looked over some of the past posts and realized that they all only tell half the story. I really don't think that most people want to hear the "bad" side of Alex and Ben, but I think I'd be at fault if I neglected to mention it at least once. I'm not looking for sympathy or advice or anything else. Mostly I'm just bored at the moment, putting off many things that I should be doing in favor of wasting time for your entertainment! Which means that today's topic is all about the temper tantrums. And it goes something like this...
Ninety-nine percent of our days start off with two happy boys. This lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to maybe half an hour, really just as long as it takes us to change diapers and do the few "upstairs" chores of our morning routine. Then we go downstairs, maybe the action of going down is symbolic. It seems that as soon as we set foot on that last step, happy goes out the window and isn't seen again for at least an hour. For whatever reason, Alex feels it necessary to be upset by EVERYTHING in the morning. Routine is not a factor, we can follow the exact same routine and he still falls apart. To make a long story longer, Alex generally ends up in time-out back up in his room at least 2 or 3 times during the course of breakfast. When breakfast is finally over he turns into mister happy and is usually pretty OK for the rest of the day. The really bad part is that EVERY single day starts off bad, which puts me in a very bad mood thinking about what I am going to have to put up with ALL DAY long. So, my very sole wish in the world right now is ONE single little morning of peace. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon, but hey, I can always dream. I guess it's just part of the whole "terrible two's" process that kids go through, but I am really tired of it and as Alex is days away from being 3 I hope he is getting a bit closer to outgrowing this incredibly obnoxious stage. I love him dearly, but he sure is trying sometimes!
Ben is still little enough that he hasn't gotten onto that extreme emotional roller coaster yet. His fussing in the morning is simply his stomach talking. The sooner I get breakfast into him, the happier he is. He does have his moments though. He is a super grump when he is tired (guess he gets that from me) and man can he pitch a fit when you tell him no. He also likes to randomly lay down on the floor and cry for a minute, then he gets up, runs off and is fine.
Yes, I am sure that at some point I'll look back at this and shake my head, thinking they really weren't that bad. In all fairness, no they aren't that bad. I've been around plenty of other children who are far worse than my little A-man. Fortunately he keeps his really bad attitudes for home and is always a perfect angel out. Unfortunately, no one except mommy and daddy EVER see the "other" Alex.
Ninety-nine percent of our days start off with two happy boys. This lasts anywhere from 5 minutes to maybe half an hour, really just as long as it takes us to change diapers and do the few "upstairs" chores of our morning routine. Then we go downstairs, maybe the action of going down is symbolic. It seems that as soon as we set foot on that last step, happy goes out the window and isn't seen again for at least an hour. For whatever reason, Alex feels it necessary to be upset by EVERYTHING in the morning. Routine is not a factor, we can follow the exact same routine and he still falls apart. To make a long story longer, Alex generally ends up in time-out back up in his room at least 2 or 3 times during the course of breakfast. When breakfast is finally over he turns into mister happy and is usually pretty OK for the rest of the day. The really bad part is that EVERY single day starts off bad, which puts me in a very bad mood thinking about what I am going to have to put up with ALL DAY long. So, my very sole wish in the world right now is ONE single little morning of peace. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon, but hey, I can always dream. I guess it's just part of the whole "terrible two's" process that kids go through, but I am really tired of it and as Alex is days away from being 3 I hope he is getting a bit closer to outgrowing this incredibly obnoxious stage. I love him dearly, but he sure is trying sometimes!
Ben is still little enough that he hasn't gotten onto that extreme emotional roller coaster yet. His fussing in the morning is simply his stomach talking. The sooner I get breakfast into him, the happier he is. He does have his moments though. He is a super grump when he is tired (guess he gets that from me) and man can he pitch a fit when you tell him no. He also likes to randomly lay down on the floor and cry for a minute, then he gets up, runs off and is fine.
Yes, I am sure that at some point I'll look back at this and shake my head, thinking they really weren't that bad. In all fairness, no they aren't that bad. I've been around plenty of other children who are far worse than my little A-man. Fortunately he keeps his really bad attitudes for home and is always a perfect angel out. Unfortunately, no one except mommy and daddy EVER see the "other" Alex.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Conversations
Prior to having my own beautiful boys I never really paid much attention to the development of language and verbal skills. Now, it's quite fun watching little kids discover this part of the world. Alex didn't really say anything until about 19 months. He would do animal sounds before that and occasionally he would say ball or trash. Then it all came flooding out. By 22 months he was putting words together into simple sentences. By the time he was 2 he was telling you his life story. He talks ALL the time about everything. His latest mission is to teach Ben to say "Alex".
Friday was a very bad day for Alex, nothing made him happy. We were having a houseful of company for dinner. In the frenzy of trying to calm all of the little Alex meltdowns, I was making no headway in getting the house clean and do the prep work for dinner A friend (with a brand new baby) wanted to take us out to lunch. With 4 kids in the mix, we scheduled a time that worked for everyone, it just happened to fall on this very bad Friday. So everything got put on hold and I grumpily got the kids in the car to head to lunch. I was very happy to get lunch, but at the time I was wishing I could have left the kids at home this particular day!
So in my crummy mood, the boys actually decide to behave in the car. Ben is babbling, lots of da-da-da sounds coming out. Alex tells Ben "No, my name is Alex. Say Al-ex." I kid you not, the next sound was Ben saying his not quite right version of Alex. Thus began the first real conversation between Alex & Ben. Alex got Ben to say "Alex" a couple more times, and then launched into a diatribe about the macaroni and cheese that they would be having for lunch. Ben would respond at the right time with whatever sounds he deemed appropriate.
It was so sweet and helped a little to get me out of my funk. Lunch went well, the boys did great and by the time I got home everyone was really happy. Our little dinner party went off without a hitch and fortunately for me, my day ended on a much happier plane than where it began.
Friday was a very bad day for Alex, nothing made him happy. We were having a houseful of company for dinner. In the frenzy of trying to calm all of the little Alex meltdowns, I was making no headway in getting the house clean and do the prep work for dinner A friend (with a brand new baby) wanted to take us out to lunch. With 4 kids in the mix, we scheduled a time that worked for everyone, it just happened to fall on this very bad Friday. So everything got put on hold and I grumpily got the kids in the car to head to lunch. I was very happy to get lunch, but at the time I was wishing I could have left the kids at home this particular day!
So in my crummy mood, the boys actually decide to behave in the car. Ben is babbling, lots of da-da-da sounds coming out. Alex tells Ben "No, my name is Alex. Say Al-ex." I kid you not, the next sound was Ben saying his not quite right version of Alex. Thus began the first real conversation between Alex & Ben. Alex got Ben to say "Alex" a couple more times, and then launched into a diatribe about the macaroni and cheese that they would be having for lunch. Ben would respond at the right time with whatever sounds he deemed appropriate.
It was so sweet and helped a little to get me out of my funk. Lunch went well, the boys did great and by the time I got home everyone was really happy. Our little dinner party went off without a hitch and fortunately for me, my day ended on a much happier plane than where it began.
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