Two Little Monkeys (a.k.a. Halloween 2008)

The Best Toys

The best toys are the simplest ones. I actually got some things done yesterday, thanks to this box and these laundry baskets.

Super Letters

Connor was playing on the floor the other night when I heard him start saying, "eye" over and over. I thought maybe something was wrong with his eye, so I asked him to come over to me. When he came over, he had a little toy in his hand (a construction barricade), that looks like the letter "I" when turned upside down. We sing the alphabet all the time & we try to reinforce letters when they watch Super Why on PBS, but I had no idea any of it had sunk in! We discovered that he can also consistently identify "O" and "R".

How did this happen?

I don't know how I got so lucky, but I just have to brag on my amazing husband for a minute.

Ryan works so hard at his "real" job, then comes home & helps me with the boys. On the weekends, he is usually working on the house. The current project is custom building the vanity (cabinets) for our master bathroom in which he already built a custom tile shower.

He actually enjoys being in the kitchen. He makes dinner at least once or twice a week. He bakes bread from scratch. Last night he made eclairs. And they were heavenly. All day I've been thinking about the rest of them sitting in the fridge.

He empties the dishwasher, cleans up after he cooks, and helps keep the house clean in general.

He even takes me out on a date every now & then.

Seriously, could it get any better?

Naptime Wars

Nap War I
The boys sleep in cribs at home, but they sleep in pack n plays (a.k.a. porta-crib or playpen) at daycare. When I picked the boys up from daycare on Friday they informed me that Isaac climbed out of his bed during naptime. He was quietly playing when they went in the room at the end of naptime, so no one knew if he slept at all. I suspect not. Thank goodness he hasn't tried to climb out of the crib at home yet. We are going to begin preparing for toddler beds just in case.

Nap War II
The boys fell asleep in the car on the way home from church today & got about a 15 minute nap before we could get home & get them out of their carseats. We brought them in & put them directly in bed. 45 minutes later they were both still awake. We got them up, gave them something to eat, and let them play a little. Finally, around 2:30, we decided to try again. After 30 minutes I could still hear Isaac back there talking. I went back to listen at the door & heard him saying, "Connor sleeping". After an hour I finally let him get up. So, no nap for him again today.

Broccoli

Tonight, while I was eating dinner, I asked Isaac if he wanted a bite of my food (it was a Thai curry). He looked and me and said, "want broccoli".

I nearly spit the food out of my mouth from laughing so hard. This is a child who eats VERY few vegetables (same with his brother). He will occassionally eat canned green beans and canned mixed veggies (mostly the carrots & potatoes), but those are not consistent. He does love asparagus though. In any case, he has developed a very recent affinity for broccoli & will ask for it spontaneously. So, I made him some broccoli. He likes it steamed with nothing on it.

He only ate a couple of bites of the rest of his dinner, but inhaled a fair amount of broccoli.

Silly Bath Time

The boys really enjoyed bath time tonight & they were totally hamming it up for the camera. (You can click on a picture to see a larger version.)

Potty Chair

We've been thinking lately that Isaac is showing some signs of readiness for potty training. In preparation for this introduction, I bought a potty chair. This potty chair will go in our guest bathroom since that's the one we use for bathing the boys. We had guests over for the weekend when the chair arrived, and I didn't think it would be polite to put the potty chair in their bathroom....so it has been in the living room by their toys for the past 3 days. Obviously Isaac has no idea what this contraption is for, but he's found some creative uses for it.

1. The removable bowl makes a fine hat.
2. It makes a perfect tunnel for toy trains.
3. It's a great place to keep a barking toy dog.


4. It's fun to sit IN rather than ON.

New Olympic Sport

We just bought the boys a new slide. On the first day, we let them play with it in the house. Connor is totally obsessed with it & will slide over and over (and over and over...). He is the most proud of himself (and usually claps for himself) when he "sticks" the landing.

Best Dancing Yet

If you thought the previous dancing post was funny, wait til you see this one! He kept pushing the button on the toy until he found just the perfect dance mix...
If you don't laugh at this one, you need to have your funny bone checked.