Toddler Math

Today, a miracle occurred. I was trying to get Darius down for a nap, and Taye was playing on the bed, when suddenly this happened:



I knew that I would come to regret it, but I chose to be happy. I can only remember one other time that they both napped at the same time (other than in the car - and thats no break!) I even fantasized about actually taking a break. You know, lying in bed listening to my music, and *maybe* just maybe falling asleep. Then I remembered - we are going to Rochester in two days, and then three days after we get home we are having a birthday party with 40 people. You could say I have a lot to do! They slept for an hour and a half, and I cleaned, and I STILL have tons to do. Then, to top it all, Taye did not fall asleep tonight until 11:45pm. How in the world a 1 1/2 hour nap makes a child stay awake 3 1/2 hours later, I do not know. It must be that new toddler math. Go figure.

Whats the fascination...

with sticking things up your nose? A few weeks ago, mom and I were talking in the livingroom while the boys played. Taye came running over, fussing, sniffling, snorting, and pawing at his nose. I assumed he must have stuck something up there and took a look. I didn't see anything, so I figured maybe he just had a loose hair on his face (which he hates) and wiped his face, then put him down. He kept snorting for a minute, then let out a huge sneeze. A macaroni noodle flew out, and landed in my lap. Mom and I started laughing, and before we knew it, he picked it up, said "mmm" and ATE it!! So gross. Since then he has stuck a piece of a crayon, a pea, and a cherry pit up there. He always gets upset, and I keep thinking he will learn and stop doing it, but so far it doesn't seem to have sunk in.

I forgot to add this yesterday...

We were playing out back and I was pushing Darius on the swing. I was pretending he was kicking me, yelling "ow!" and 'falling' across the yard, which he found very funny. This, of course, attracted Taye who asked me to pick him up. So I adapted the game, and had Darius kick Taye in the butt every time. I thought Taye was going to choke he was laughing so hard. Another fun game was born...

High-five!

So Darius has recently learned to clap, and thinks its the funniest thing ever. He will also do high-fives now. This has rekindled Taye's interest in high-fiving recently as well. Today the three of us were playing in the back yard, and high-fiving and it reminded me of something. Several months ago, I would guess Taye was 18-19 months old, I was lying with him in bed, waiting for him to go to sleep. He was almost out, eyes rolling back in his head, etc. when out of nowhere, he bolted upright. Then he took my hand, looked at me and said very cheerfully "high-five!" and slapped my hand. Then he laid down and fell asleep. It was so funny!

Fun and Games

I learned a new fun game today - its called throwing a wipe at your brother. We were coming home from Market Basket, and the boys were in the back seat laughing almost the whole way home. I looked back a few times and finally figured out what they were doing. Darius had gotten a hold of a wipe, and tossed it into Taye's seat (we find he does that with a lot of things he has no use for). Taye laughed and threw it back into Darius' lap. This went on the whole ride home, they were both hysterical.

Another fun car game is grabbing your brother's hand and pulling until it slips out of your grip. Thats their oldest game. Another new one is that Darius wil clap (his new favorite trick) and Taye will stick his hand between Darius' so Darius is basically slapping Taye. They both think all of these game are hilarious.

I remember asking Jean once when Darius was a baby (or maybe even before he was born) if she thought they would be sad when Darius turned one and we had to move his seat around. We can't fit them right next to eachother if they're both facing forward. Jean guessed we would move them apart even before that because they would fight and drive eachother (and us) crazy. I think I can remember twice that they fought, both times Darius was trying to grab something from Taye. More often than not they play in the car. I hope they don't miss it too much when we move him, but I know I will. I can't think of anything better than my boys having fun together. Well, except maybe this:





But, they don't just play in the car, they are starting to play together a lot more now. They will sometimes share the cozy coupe when we're on the porch, although it is not unheard of for Taye to drive off, knocking Darius down (and sometimes running over toes) in the process.



Darius also really loves to chase Taye. I'll hold his hands and say "Where is he? Go get him!" and Darius will take of 'running'. Taye sees him coming and runs away, laughing the whole time. When we catch him, Darius will dive on top of him, and as soon as Taye can break free he'll run away again. This will be even more fun when Darius can chase Taye himself, and I can just watch! Darius also likes to catch Taye in the bed. He will scoot over next to Taye and then throw himself onto Taye. He's pretty good at pinning Taye down too. We're having a blast. I'm so glad they can play together now, I love the ages they are at, they make my day.

Kissapalooza 2007

We have been having a total lovefest at our house in the last couple of weeks. Taye has miraculously started giving kisses. I try not to abuse the priviledge, but I am loving it. I think the fact he held off for so long just makes it that much sweeter now.

The other night, Darius, Luis, and I were sitting on the couch and Darius was giving us both kisses. He was also eating a pretzel stick, so usually this is what his kisses looked like.



He even shared his pretzel with us, isn't that sweet?



Here is a nice one of Darius and Dada.



Darius seems to have fallen in love with Drue. The other day we were over there and he would just light up every time he saw her, and lean over to give her kisses. Jean took pictures, but I don't have them. If she sends them to me I'll post them on here.

The boys are both so kissy lately, they even give eachother kisses. Which is just so yummy.



Darius apparently thinks its funny!



Speaking of love, Jean told me the sweetest thing yesterday. She said that she and Luis were talking the other day, and somehow they started talking about luck. She said something to him about being lucky, and he said he is not lucky. She told him he's lucky he met me, and he said "That wasn't luck, I was waiting for her." He went on to say that he was waiting, and when he met me he just knew I was the one he was waiting for. She said he was completely serious, saying it like it was such an obvious fact. He is so sweet, I think I love him. That makes me want to kiss him right now!

Happy Father's Day Dada!!

We had such a nice weekend. The weather was gorgeous all weekend long, which hasn't happened in a while. We have been getting a lot of weekend rain. Saturday we sold our elliptical machine for $300 - woohoo! Not a bad start to the weekend, I'd say. Since we were in the area, we got the Subaru inspected at Larry's (Dominic passed us, fortunately). Then we headed to the Dorsey's. Drew had to work at summer camp all day so it was just Jean and the kids at first. We stayed until almost 8pm, mostly playing in the yard. I swear we spend about 90% of our time outside these days. I love it!

We just finished fencing in the back yard at home, so now we have even more space to run around in. The back yard has actually shaped up really nicely. We put a slide off of the back stairs landing, which is just awesome. We have Joshua and Andrew's old swing set, which we're just going to repaint, and hopefully hold off the rust for a few more years. We have Darius' new Little Tikes rocket slide that he got for an early birthday present. And an assortment of other toys. Mom just got the boys some toys today, one of which was a tee-ball set. Taye is actually pretty good at it. He likes to knock the ball off. At one point, he even found his Tonka work helmet, and put that on before strolling up to the plate. He really cracks us up sometimes.

We had two visits from puppies today. In the morning we were on the porch when we noticed that Dunkin was wandering around the neighborhood, so we called him up onto the porch. Then in the afternoon, we were in the backyard and Fran next door came over with the cutest little puppy. Her name is Sophie, and she belongs to one of his kids' friends. He said she is a chocolate lab, but I really think she must have some spaniel or setter in her because she had long floppy ears and curly fur on her ears and legs. Anyway, she was so cute with Taye. He loved playig with both of the dogs, he'd just run around with them laughing. Darius is not so sure about dogs, he likes them, but only on his terms. Even with Dammit when she was over, he would laugh and reach for her when he saw her, but if she came near him or barked when we weren't around, he would cry and cry. So I guess you could say he loves them as long as we are holding him!

We didn't do much of anything today. Luis actually slept in, all the way until 8:30...which I kind of feel is like a waste of sleeping in. But then again, it is about 5 hours later than he usually wakes up, so I guess its ok. We made him banana pancakes and eggs for breakfast, and then around 10, the four of us went for a walk. We were heading to the Strawberry Festival at the church, its like a craft fair/bazaar type thing. We decided to take the long way and travel my normal walk route before reaching the church. The boys and I have been going on hour-long walks in the mornings lately. So anyway, we got to the church around 11 and it was just ending - oh well! After that we just stayed home. We played outside ALL day, only coming in to eat, and finally for baths and bed. It was a great, relaxing day. In fact, we were so relaxed that it JUST occurred to me I didn't even call my own father! I feel really bad, if you ever read this - sorry dad!!! I'll call you for your birthday.

Speaking of whom, he just told me the other day that they will now be moving to Arizona within the next year, and possibly in as soon as a couple of months. We obviously knew it was coming, but not so soon. I think it sucks, I think my kids are going to be missing out on having their Buppa around. I just don't get how anyone can want to move so far from their whole family, no matter how nice the weather may be.

I have some cute stories and pictures I want to share, but not tonight. I find myself staying up so late these days, as much as I always say I am going to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I just feel like now is the time to get caught up on all the things I need/want to do outside of mothering and household duties. Anyway, I can feel that I am wearing myself out, and it is already almost midnight, so I am off to bed. And I will go ot bed early tomorrow - really.

Owwww!

I must be really lucky, or else some kind of freak. I have mastitis! Mastitis is most common within the first 4-6 weeks of breastfeeding. I have breastfed for two years now, Darius is eleven months old! My doctor was completely flabbergasted, I am too. And let me tell you, it hurts! Especially nursing him on that side, its like he is biting me every time he sucks. I feel a lot better now that I have been on antibiotics for 24 hours though. And he has a new cute trick. Sometimes when he is nursing now, he will unlatch and say "Ahhhh" like someone would do after a long, refreshing drink. It is very cute, and makes breastfeeding worthwhile again, lol.

Lucky...

Something happened while we were out tonight. It was a small thing really, but it made me so happy and proud. I'm probably making more of a deal out of it than I should, but whatever, I'm happy :o)

We were at Job Lot, and Taye found this horrific Uncle Sam red, white, and blue flag tophat made entirely out of glitter. We are not in the habit of buying toys for the boys every time we're out, especially not junk like that. So when it came time to leave, I had to somehow get it away from him (Luis had strategically offered to take Darius from me "since my back must be hurting" only moments before - thus leaving the Taye wrangling to me). I was prepared for battle, or at least a speedy exit. I thought for a minute and decided to give Taye an opportunity to handle the hat himself. I pointed to the pile of hats on the shelf, and told him it was time to go, so put the hat back with the other ones. He trotted over, plopped the hat on the pile, and laughed. I picked him up, and we walked out of the store with him happily yelling "bye!" to anyone who cared to listen. It blew me away, and made me once again believe that I must have the best kids in the world. Or maybe I'm just the best mother in the world (ha!)...at least I must be doing something right.

It also made me think back to the other day. I had to take Taye to Dr. Mele's to check out the swollen lymph node on his head (no worries). I decided to head to Natick early, grab lunch at the mall, and let the boys play in the playspace for a while so we had more to drive for than just the doctor. When it was almost time to go, I gave Taye the old 2 minute warning. Two minutes later I told him I was going to buckle Darius into the stroller, and then we have to go. He repeated "have to go," waited for me to buckle Darius, then helped me push the stroller to the car.

I'm probably shooting myself in the foot even writing about it, I've probably jinxed myself for all eternity and now we will never be able to go anywhere or do anything without a tantrum. Eh, probably not really. In fact, I've decided I don't believe in jinxes anyway. Not even the dreaded baby sleep discussing jinx. To prove it, I'd like to say that Darius has been taking a 1 1/2-2 hour nap EVERY DAY lately. I think he is finally at the stage where it will become a regular thing. I am SO HAPPY! He has been in a much better mood lately (now that he is actually well rested) and we have had some really nice days. I had forgotten what its like to have a chunk of free time in the middle of the day. My house is no longer a pig sty (well, not always anyway), I have been READING, and Taye and I have had some fun times playing together.

All in all, I think our life is really starting to settle into a nice pattern. I'm happy, we're all happy. I love my boys, and I am the luckiest Mama ever.

Kid Expo 2007

First of all, how much do you love this picture? I, personally, can't stand it :o)



This weekend they had the Kid Expo at MWCC. We heard they were going to land a helicopter, so we thought we should go. It was a lot of fun. They had people from tons of different businesses giving away junk, they had music and these amazing kid dancers. They had a place to paint tiles, face paint, a puppet show, raffle, and lots more. Best of all, they had a fire truck, police cars (and dogs), police Harleys, and of course the helicopter. Taye got to climb all over everything! He had a blast, I can't wait until next year when they can both really enjoy it.

We have a walker!

Darius has started walking a lot more lately. He took his first steps a few weeks ago, but now he's really getting into it. He will wak from me to Luis and back again. Usually he gets so excited after a few tries that he will start forgetting to balance and lunge toward us instead. You can see how proud of himself he is. He laughs the whole time, and has such a look on his face. I just know in a few more weeks he will be getting into mischief with his big brother. He is already able to do so much, it amazes me. Today he scooted over to the Cozy Coupe on the porch, opened the door, pulled himself up, and got inside. I couldn't believe it (he couldn't either!) He just kept looking at me, and laughing. He is so fun to watch, and psst...don't tell, but he has taken a 90 minute nap twice this week. I know I just jinxed it now, but it has been so nice, and he seems much happier now that he is getting a proper nap. Taye did the same thing at about the same age.

We spent this past weekend at the Kreams with the dogs. It was a nice weekend. I don't know what it is about their house (maybe the lighting from all their windows) but I always get such nice pictures of the boys when we're there. Here are a few of my favorites from this weekend.


Taye completely passed out Sunday night. He slept from 4:30, until 6:30 Monday morning. I guess staying up until after midnight Friday night really wears a boy out!



This picture is just too delicious for words.



Taye's new favorite game, he does this at home too.



This one makes me mad at my camera. Doesn't it know how IMPOSSIBLE it was to get both boys looking at the same time, and to keep them from trying to escape (and fall off the window seat in the process?!?!) WHat the heck is this focused on? Not my boys, thats for sure!