Everyone has a cold

We've been battling colds around here since Christmas. Mine came on slowly with a slightly itchy throat early in the week and gradually progressed to severe congestion. At least the throat pain is pretty much gone. The congestion came on yesterday afternoon. Almost suddenly my nose was blocked up and I couldn't smell or taste anything. Which was unfortunate because Jason and I went out for a wonderful dinner last night for our anniversary. The rib eye I ordered had a wonderful crust on the outside and was perfectly cooked to medium and I'm sure it tasted great too. I saved over half of it to have in the coming days when my smell and taste return.

I woke up this morning with one partially unobstructed nostril and a very dry mouth. Fortunately the kids slept wonderfully and I wasn't too groggy from my Benadryl-assisted sleep. How the kids slept wonderfully I don't know as almost every time I look at them there are rivers of buggies running from their noses. Not surprising since we probably have the same cold and I blow my nose about every five minutes. Sam is starting to learn to blow his nose and occasionally gets a kleenex to wipe his own nose which usually ends up smeared all over the place. It's a start though. Matthew is in the phase where he hates having his nose wiped. Which means more smears all over his face. Yucky. Poor kids. Winter and colds are a hard, nasty time for children it seems. 

We ventured out to the Y yesterday when Matthew didn't have a runny nose at all and Sam's seemed to be getting better. I guess it improves as the day goes on. I always hesitate to take the kids to the Y or any public setting when they're sick as that's how things get spread around. But I felt our sick status was really not bad, so we went. As I waited in line to drop the kids off I could see a few other kids playing with buggies running down their noses. Ugh. What to do? Keeping kids at home all winter would be insanity. I dropped the kids off and went to ride the bike. I almost killed myself on the bike as I hadn't worked out in a week and was somewhat under the weather. As I was finishing up my workout I briefly thought I might pass out and wondered what the Y would do with the kids if that event should occur. It didn't and I shakily made my way to the locker room and then retrieved the kids.

Back to the colds, the poor kids, there are hardly any options for relieving their symptoms. Saline drops in the nose, a humidifier to help with breathing, and that's about it. I guess Sam could try some other medicines now that he's over age 2. I may have to try to find something for his cough. We probably won't make it to the Y today with both kids having bad runny noses this morning. We'll see how things go as the day goes on. Have a Happy New Year!

Two things I learned

1. Matthew doesn't digest paper. I will not provide further explanation for that.
2. Cars don't make you happy. Sam and Jason were looking at old cars for sale on the laptop. Jason was scrolling on some car websites and Sam would point out a car and then Jason would click on it to see more details and pictures of the car Sam selected. Jason asked Sam, "Will buying this car make you happy?" Sam thought a few seconds then said, "Nope."

Merry Christmas!

We are swimming in a sea of new toys and Christmas cheer! The kids are delighted and much occupied with all their wonderful gifts, which is very nice since we didn't go anywhere today and probably tomorrow too due to runny noses and Matthew's fever (which is pretty mild, fortunately). Except for Target. I've experienced a sudden urge for more totes. The sea of toys has me itching for organization. Jason purchased a few totes yesterday when he made a trip to Menards, but I've been on an organizing frenzy and believe I need a few more to become properly organized. This morning during Matthew's much longer than normal morning nap I organized the pantry and some more toys. But there is more to be done. Everything must have a place. And I will spend the rest of my years trying to teach Jason and the boys where the proper places are or re-putting away things. Maybe one of the kids will take after me, but you never know. For Jason, something is put away if it's out of sight. Whether that means it's under the couch or ottoman or in whatever drawer happens to be closest, you never know, but it's put away. In marriage and parenting, you must choose your battles.

Sam has a number of new favorite toys and bounced from toy to toy today. Although he managed to find some time to help me clean the counter, dining room table and bathroom. I just can't stop him from helping me. He got his own washcloth, dipped it in my cleaning bucket and went away wiping down dirty surfaces.When Jason got home this evening he asked me what Sam's favorites seemed to be and I just couldn't say. He really played with almost everything he got for Christmas.

Matthew's favorites seem to be a barn book he received (I'm not sure if he prefers reading or chewing it more), or some of the car toys he got. He also really likes some little animals he got with his John Deere riding toy. Again, anything that is good for chewing (or has tags) seems to be a winner.

We really enjoyed Christmas. I have reached the point in my life where I enjoy Christmas more because of the opportunity to see the kids' unabashed joy upon opening their presents than anticipation for my own presents. They haven't reached the point in their lives where they temper their excitement about Christmas as that is the Midwestern-male thing to do. They also haven't reached the point in their lives where they beg for certain toys and are disappointed when they don't receive those toys. They simply are overjoyed to receive anything (except for maybe clothing...that doesn't get much attention, although I sure appreciate it). What a fun Christmas we had. Jason was asking for days ahead of Christmas if we could let Sam open some of his gifts early. I had to repeatedly tell him no, that we had to wait for Christmas. I had to repeatedly tell myself no, that Matthew couldn't open his John Deere riding tractor early. Growing up, I never knew life would come to this, but it sure is an ironic and enjoyable change of perspective.

The wrapping paper mystery

A few weeks ago I was in Target admiring the nice wrapping paper. However, the practical side of me said that we didn't need any more, we already had a few rolls at home that would certainly get us through this Christmas season.

But then one of the rolls ran out. Then another roll. Then I lost a roll of wrapping paper. So we were out. How, you might be wondering, does one lose a roll of wrapping paper? It's not something small and easily tucked into a pocket or drawer like stamps or keys or a hot wheels car. It's about 3.5 feet long. I looked under the couches, not there. The closets, not there. The laundry room, which for the smallest room in the house, houses a lot of stuff like extra batteries, cleaning supplies, mailing supplies, diapers, in addition to the usual laundry room items, a washing machine, dryer, sink, detergent, drying rack, dirty and clean clothes. Not there.

I'm trying to put things out of Sam's reach these days to avert mess and chaos, but I often put it somewhere out of sight and it's done so quickly that I don't remember where I hid it. Shortly after Matthew was born we were looking for our security box to put his birth certificate into. I had absolutely no recollection of hiding it anywhere when we moved a year ago and was certain I had nothing to do with it. We looked in Ken and Cheri's garage and basement where we had stored stuff before we moved and could not find it. Jason vaguely remembered hiding it somewhere and fortunately we found it, along with our important security-box items.

Back to the wrapping paper. I'm sure I hid it somewhere, yes, it was me and not Jason, but I have no recollection of where I put it. Another sign of age and sleep deprivation. Well, maybe it was Jason. So we ran out of wrapping paper, and right before Christmas we have to venture out to a store to buy some more along with the throngs of last-minute Christmas shoppers. So yesterday morning we went to Target to buy some wrapping paper and toothbrush heads. I was admiring the pretty wrapping paper again when Sam got excited about Mickey Mouse paper. I was not planning on Mickey Mouse. How about the gold paper with Merry Christmas written in calligraphy all over it? Beautiful. Sam was insistent upon Mickey Mouse. I thought about the joy I'd experience with the gold wrapping paper and Sam's joy with having Mickey Mouse. It was obvious that he was much more joyful about the Mickey paper. We purchased it and now Sam wants to play with the roll of Mickey Mouse paper. So I must hide it somewhere...

Playing outside

Today it was a balmy 30 degrees so I decided to spend some time outdoors. I bundled the kids up in their winter gear. Matthew was wearing a borrowed snowsuit as he outgrew the other one we had. Unfortunately, this one doesn't cover the feet as the old one did, so we had to find something else to cover his feet. The natural thing would be boots or some kind of shoes, but since Matthew isn't walking yet I don't have any for him. I tried on Sam's boots from last year but they were much too big. So we resorted to mittens on his feet. Mismatched mittens as I couldn't even find a matching pair. You can't see them in the picture, but Sam claimed that Matthew looked like a monkey.

Sam was bundled up in his snow pants, coat, hat, mittens and boots. We played in our driveway awhile, then ventured down the street for a block. Matthew was riding in the sled while Sam walked beside me. We didn't venture too much into the snow as it's really much too deep for Sam to enjoy. We just played in the banks on the side of the street and driveway. After our walk down the street I decided to shovel the driveway some and got out shovels for myself and Sam. Matthew was sitting in the sled still and since he wasn't crying I assumed he was okay with the arrangement. After a few minutes of shoveling Sam wandered into the garage and said he wanted to go inside. Since we hadn't been out for very long and I had spent a good deal of time getting the kids ready for playing outside I wanted to spend more time outside. However, Sam had other ideas. He went to the steps leading into our house and proceeded to undress himself. I shoveled some more, then noticed Sam was almost completely undressed, except that he couldn't get the snow pants off over his boots. I relented and we went inside.

You don't have to teach kids to misbehave

Our old pastor used to say that you didn't have to teach kids how to misbehave, but you had to teach them how to behave. His point was that we are born with a sin problem. Today there was some more evidence to support this statement. It was about 5:45PM. I was putting away dishes and getting dinner ready. Matthew was playing on the floor by the dishwasher (or where ever else he rolled or scooted to in the kitchen) and Sam was playing in the pantry. He likes to close the door to the pantry and search out interesting items on the shelves.

After a few minutes Sam abruptly left the pantry. Usually his evacuation of the pantry is a result of my cajoling, redirecting or distracting. He doesn't usually leave on his own without good reason. I didn't think too much of it as I hadn't heard any loud crashing or anything of that sort. I continued putting away the dishes. Moments later Sam rolled into the kitchen riding his digger/dozer. There was some crunching noise as he rolled by the pantry--well, he was probably 3 feet from the pantry. I wondered where some sand or rocks came from that he was apparently rolling over and worried about scratching the floor. I immediately had him stop and get off the dozer so I could examine it and the surrounding floor. I knelt down and looked closely at the floor to see it was sprinkled with green decorating sugar. I followed the trail to the pantry and saw, shall we say, a large pile of it in the pantry next to an almost empty bottle of decorating sugar which used to be almost full. I asked Sam what happened and he fessed up that he spilled the sugar. And apparently he knew it was not a good thing to do since he had ran away and not told me what happened. This was probably the first incident of spilling that I did not see him commit and how did he respond? He ran away. Typical human nature. Hope no one will notice. Hope the blame is pinned on someone else.

I told Sam to stand back so I could clean it up. I felt Sam knew what had happened was wrong, but I also knew it was the result of an accident, so I didn't engage in any disciplinary action. I just put the decorating sugars up higher in the pantry. Anyway, I swept up the sugar from the kitchen floor, then I went to get the hand vacuum and started vacuuming. Sam, bless his little heart, finished up with putting the dishes away (at least the ones he could reach). I didn't ask him to, he just did it.

The pictures are of what we got from Santa this year. Matthew rolled right up next to the trunk of the tree and started pulling on the string of lights, so I pulled him out and then took his picture. Safety first, Kodak moments second. What a great present!

First Christmas program

Yesterday we had our first church Christmas program. On Saturday we had practice. When we arrived the little kids were going to their Sunday school classes for some crafts while the older kids practiced their part of the program, then the little kids were going to practice. Sam ran into his Sunday school room, sat down at the table and was ready for his activities. He didn't even notice that I slipped out to the kitchen to help prepare food for Sunday's brunch after the program. The teacher said she would come and get me if he needed me, but he seemed to be doing fine. I wasn't sure how it would go as I've always stayed with him during Sunday school and other church activities.

Two hours went by and I was still in the kitchen and Sam was still practicing. I snuck into the church sanctuary at one point to see how Sam was doing and he was in the front, practicing the songs with all the rest of the kids. After awhile Jason called to say that I was needed at home, so I went in to get Sam (they were finishing up) and was greeted by some of the other parents telling me how good Sam was. I was surprised. He sure is growing up fast. He melted down at the end when the teacher tried to put Sam's sheep costume on him...he didn't want anything to do with it. Other than that he began his stage career in good form.

When we arrived at church the next morning, however, Sam had a death grip on me and would not let me leave without some serious crying and screaming. We went to his classroom to practice the songs before church and he would not leave my side. I tried guiding him toward the other children and would stand nearby, but that resulted in crying and screaming. Then we went to put on the costumes and Sam again would not let me put him down without extreme protestations and would not put on his sheep costume without extreme protestations. I managed to get on his furry sheep shirt, but the sheep hat was not going to happen.

When the children's portion of the program started, Sam and the other kids were supposed to go to the front of the church and sit in some chairs in the manger scene. Sam went up there without me, but cried very loudly and desperately for mommy. It was awful. The first picture is fuzzy, but I think you get the idea (we're still figuring out the new camera). My options were to either take him back to our pew or sit up front with him as some other parents were doing with their wee ones. I sat up front with him. That's the second picture. He was consoled in a few moments. So we both got to be a part of the program. Poor Sam. He did so well in practice, but wasn't ready for the big show without some assistance. I wasn't really all that surprised that Sam wasn't ready to participate in the program without me, I was more surprised that the practice went so well. Someday, when Sam is older, I will look up at him  in the Christmas program and reminisce about how I used to have to sit up there with him and he wouldn't leave my side. As it is, I am still needed.

Craft time

After an unsuccessful trip to the bookstore for Christmas shopping (unsuccessful because I forgot my wallet), we returned home for some craft time. Today's craft: coloring. Sam isn't too crafty, preferring instead to play with cars, but he actually got into the coloring for maybe 20 minutes or so. Matthew (after an unsuccessful attempt to nap) also got involved with the crafting, but he mostly played with other toys at the table. He did get his hands on one marker and proceeded to color his face and we are thankful for non-toxic, washable markers. I didn't get a picture of the colored-on face, just a close-up of his cuteness during table play.

At one point Sam decided he wanted to fingerpaint, so he got the fingerpaints out of the cabinet. He said something like, "Want to paint" and I said something like, "No, put them back" and the next picture is Sam's interpretation of "putting them back".  Notice the symmetric placement of the paints with the wine bottles. I don't think my dad ever imagined that the wine cabinet he made for us would be multi-purpose in this sense, but here it is. Usually the paints are stored in the cabinet on the left.

All about Matthew

I thought today I'd write some about Matthew as his posts are often limited to sleeping and other bodily functions. But he does other stuff too. Like yesterday and today it sure seems like he is waving. I got some video of it. You can determine for yourself what he's really doing. Maybe he's just flailing his arms around. That's entirely possible.

And he is eating like crazy these days. Two weeks ago he decided that he likes solids. For about a month prior to that I would mix up some cereal, he'd eat a bite or two and be done. He just wasn't interested. He would chew on the spoon for a long time, but didn't want any food on it. I wasn't too worried because he is obviously sturdy enough without the solids, but I was hoping he take to them pretty soon and give me a break from providing milk.

So now he's eating probably a few tablespoons of cereal and a few tablespoons of veggies or fruit once a day. His favorites seem to be peaches and sweet potatoes. The peas always get a funny face out of him and reluctance to try any more. We'll keep trying though. Matthew also likes to be involved in the solid feeding. So here's the strategy. I use two spoons. I scoop up a little bit of food and hold the spoon about 8 inches in front of Matthew. When he's ready, he reaches out and grabs the spoon. I push it toward him so he ends up grabbing the handle and not the scoop. Then Matthew and I direct it into his mouth. He holds onto the spoon for awhile, chewing and sucking while I load up the other spoon with some more food. Then I hold the new spoon in front of him. When's he ready he drops the old spoon (hopefully on the tray, but often on the floor which I why I cover it with newspapers) and grabs the new spoon. This process repeats until Matthew is done. It's really pretty easy to tell when he's done. He simply will not look at the spoon with more food on it again. He plays with his bib, makes fists and squishes around the food in his hand or looks around, but he very distinctly will not look at the spoon with food. It's amazing how kids can communicate at such a young age.

On a final note, I finally finished Jason's sweater. I started it two months ago and it's done. 

Stir crazy

The kids haven't left the house since last Thursday. Jason says they don't understand they've been in the same place for almost a week, but I think Sam may be going a little crazy. Or maybe he's just driving me crazy. Yesterday before his nap we started heading upstairs and he laid down on the stairs. He then started trying to go up the stairs while laying on the steps with his feet first. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Imagine sliding down the stairs on your belly, head first. Then imagine that in reverse. That's how Sam attempted to go up the stairs. He met with little success.

I think he's managed ok, though, since he's got to spend a good amount of time in the basement with Jason lately. Jason has been getting things prepared for drywall installation (which started yesterday). He's enjoying using a tape measure and screw drivers and basically he mimics everything that Jason does. Except for using the saw. He is terrified of the saw. Jason doesn't use it when Sam is in the basement, but he expresses some fear just hearing it below us. I think he's more scared of the saw than the vacuum.

Matthew seems to be doing fine being cooped up indoors. We're reading lots of stories and playing with cars. He enjoys trying to stand at the ottoman. We usually spend some time in the kitchen and I get out the measuring cups and bowls and the kids play with them. Matthew usually just chews on the items, but a few days ago Sam decided to mix up an imaginary birthday cake. It tasted good. We also set up a car wash...a tub half full of soapy water. Then Sam takes his cars and plays in it for awhile, saying the cars are getting a carwash. Such are the days of winter. 

Let it snow!

So I'm sure you heard we got an excessive amount of snow yesterday. Yes, the Metrodome collapsed. Yes, we got maybe 15 inches of snow since Friday night. I went to the grocery store Friday afternoon for a regular quick trip and was overwhelmed by the harried shoppers stocking up on essentials for the weekend's innundation. Come on, this is Minnesota, people! 15 inches of snow does not mean a being snowed in for a week!

The kids enjoyed watching the snow plows come by yesterday morning and again this morning. The first picture is of them looking out the window at the plows. I don't think Matthew could see very well, but he sure was excited to be standing next to his brother. He's still pretty precarious when standing on his own, so there's always a adult close by, but he is getting steadier each day. He also is getting up on his hands and knees a lot more and I'd put him at about 2 weeks from forward crawling.

Sam opted not to help Jason with shoveling and the snowblower, preferring instead to watch from inside the house. He did mention wanting to build a snowman and we will probably try that sometime when it warms up. It's supposed to be in the 20s by mid-week, so we will maybe venture out at that time. Otherwise, we're staying in as the single digits really aren't appealing.

The second picture is our deck. There is quite a lot of snow on it from the past few storms. I guess we won't be using the sliding door anytime soon. The other picture is out our front door. I tried to take a picture of the mailbox, but...you can't see it. It's not that it's a bad picture (well, it is kind of a bad picture, but I really didn't want to spend much time outside), I can't see it either. It's just to the left of the driveway, maybe you can make out a piece of it. 

The mystery kitchen smell

Have you ever had a smell coming from somewhere that seemed to be inexplicable? We have for about the past week. It was coming from the garbage/sink area. Our garbage is a slide out cabinet just to the left of our sink. I first thought it was the garbage and changed it daily for a few days. The stink remained. Then I suspected the garbage disposal. I thought I had perhaps gotten some grease or something down the disposal when I was cleaning up after the pot roast that we had earlier in the week. But I vaguely remember the smell starting before the pot roast. Regardless, I tried to clean the disposal. Did a round of bleach. No change. Tried baking soda and vinegar. Boiling water. No change. Yuck. Finally last night I stuck my head directly over the disposal and it smelled...fresh. It wasn't the disposal.

I had thought the smell was worse under the sink so my next thought was something with the plumbing. I briefly entertained taking apart some pipes, but Jason deterred me. And the garbage area still smelled, even when there was no garbage in it. Hmmmm....What could it be? I was fearing some plumbing in the walls or floor or something. Being a novice, I really had no idea.

Then today I removed the garbage can and looked deep into the cabinet behind it and saw...two diapers. Two old, smelly diapers. I experienced a strange blend of disgust and relief. I had found the culprit. On occasion Sam throws away the dirty diapers for me. He likes to help out and I can only assume that the diapers didn't quite make it into the garbage can and instead were placed behind it.

I sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda over the area and hope that takes care of any lingering odors. The mystery smell is no longer a mystery.

Just browsing

I've been trying to post this for about a week or so, but have been having problems. Hope this works. Anyway, it's very cute how Sam intently looks through the farm equipment catalog. Jason suggested that we post a video of it. So here it is. It doesn't totally capture the intensity of Sam's browsing as we recorded him after he had already been looking through the catalog for a few minutes. You can get the general idea, though.

Bedtime

Last night Matthew was starting to act fussy and otherwise tired around 5:30. I was hoping he would make it until Jason got home from work, but then at 5:33 he let out a huge yawn, so I decided it was time for bed. He will have to see Jason another day.

We went up to Matthew's room and I put PJs and a new diaper. I then started the bedtime routine by reading a story. Matthew wasn't much into the story, but that's not too out of the ordinary. We then said a bedtime prayer and I shut off the light. The next part of the routine is rocking and singing Jesus Loves Me a few times. I was cradling Matthew when I started singing and rocking, and he started kicking, arching his back, whimpering and basically thrashing about as best a 7 month old baby can thrash about. I wondered if my instincts and read of his tiredness were off and I was putting him to bed too early. Partway through the second Jesus Loves Me, though, he went completely still and was out. He sure puts up a fight, but when he's really tired he is quickly and surely overcome. I placed him in his crib and went downstairs.

Jason returned home shortly and then we had a big dinner of leftovers accumulated through the week and some ooey gooey cake. Sam ate some cucumber, a little pasta and lots of applesauce and ooey gooey cake. We then played a little bit, but I could tell Sam was tired too as he was being more obstinate than usual and had gotten up early and didn't take a good nap. Sam started his usual routine of trying to stand on the couch and ottoman. This is a constant battle for us. Every evening he tries to do this and we still haven't figured out a good way to deal with it.

So last night I told Sam that if he stood on the couch he was immediately going to bed. He slyly looked at me and got on his knees on the couch. He started lifting up his leg to put his foot on the couch and smiled at me. Then he stood. "Ok, bedtime," I said. It was around 6:30. I picked him up and there was much screaming and thrashing about, and believe me, a 2 year old can thrash about a lot more effectively than a 7 month old.

By the time we were mid-way up the stairs, though, the thrashing and screaming had ended. We had an uneventful bedtime routine and Sam went to bed around 6:45. I guess he really was tired.

Random acts of Sam

This morning Sam went over to the basement door, opened it, and yelled "Mickey Mouse!" then he ran away. I closed the door and asked him what was going on. He came back over to the basement door, opened it, and yelled, "Mickey Mouse!" and ran away.

After Sam's nap he was cuddling with BaaBaa in the crib for awhile. I said that it was time for BaaBaa to go to bed as we had to go visit our friend down the street. Sam gave BaaBaa a big hug, placed him in the corner of the crib, gave him a baboosh, covered him with a blanket, kissed him and said, "I love you BaaBaa."

Tonight I was telling Jason about our day and I mentioned that Sam was really good today. I said to Sam, "Right, sweetie, you were good today?" He said, "Thank you."

I forgot to mention this earlier, but Matthew has two teeth now. Both bottom middle teeth have popped through, as the second one came through over the weekend. He's handling it like a champ, but drooling a lot.

Church strategy

Our new church doesn't have a nursery for children to attend while their parents attend church. When Sam was littler, I always wanted to keep him with us for church, although our old church had a nursery. I just didn't want to part with the kid and he was so well behaved at that time. All it took to keep him occupied during church were snacks and something to drink. Life was simpler then. Fast forward 6 months or so, and Sam is an all-out toddler, with the short attention span and antsy-ness that goes with his age. Sitting still for 5 minutes is a challenge, let alone a church service that is an hour or more.

So we have tried a number of things to make church successful. Our definition of success involves 1) Jason and I can worship with some focus, 2) Sam is relatively quiet and 3) Sam is somewhat occupied. Matthew really isn't much of a problem, although he has started talking a lot more lately. He also just gets excited and smiles and laughs at the people behind him. It's quite cute, so we generally don't try to contain his excitement too much.

So how do we negotiate a successful church outing? Well, we bring some books and a drink for Sam. We brought cars once, but that was a mistake. They are much too noisy on the wooden pews. I also tried to bring little animal toys, but Sam wasn't really interested in them. I tried loading up my bag with novel items (floss, chap stick, random junk from Jason's junk drawer, etc.) but he wasn't really interested in that either. We tried crayons and paper but that worked for about 1 minute, then he was on to the next thing. So we stick to books. Books with lots to look at. Books that Sam likes and have a lot of pages.

Jason does a really good job of listening to the sermon but keeping Sam occupied with the books. He turns pages slowly and points to various items on the page. Today was an especially effective. Sam didn't have to be taken to the lobby and he was pretty quiet. He didn't even say, "All done now" until an hour into the service. A few weeks ago, Sam said "All done now and started walking to the aisle 10 minutes into the church service. That was not a good day. However, today he waited until after communion. He really did show a lot of patience for a two-year old in waiting until an hour into church. Other than a short attention span, Sam loves Sunday school, so he is very excited for church to end so he can go to Sunday school. He loves Sunday school. He runs to Sunday school after worship is done. At least he enjoys part of the experience at church, and the worship for adults part is developing his self-denial and patience. Good virtues for a growing little man.

Need date night

During breakfast today I was telling Jason that I wanted to go on a date. We haven't had a date together since the middle of October. Not only do I want to spend quality time with Jason that doesn't involve sitting in front of the tv when we are both too tired to do anything else, but I'd like to have a conversation or just peace and quiet that doens't involve a discussion like the following:

Sam: Duck-orse! Duck-orse!
Me: Dinosaur? You want a dinosaur vitamin?
Jason: No, he means Duck-horse.
Sam: Duck-orse, duck-orse!

I'm usually right when it comes to translating Sam's talking, however in this case, I think Jason was correct. You may be wondering why Sam is saying Duck-horse. We have this barn toy that is magnetized so it sticks to the fridge and there are a bunch of farm animals, each in two pieces, with a separate piece for their front and back. The kids are supposed to try to match up the animals in the barn (one at a time), then the toy sings, "You made a match, look what you've done, you made a match, make a horse sound!" (or fill in whatever animal the child matched up). But if the child matches up a front of a duck with the back of the horse, the toy says, "A duck-horse, that's silly!" Sam was playing with the farm toy while our muffins for breakfast were baking.

It's not that I don't like such topics of discussion, I would just like some one-on-one adult conversation with Jason that doesn't involve such discussions. That's all. Some variety.

Addendum: (1:13 PM) This is a sampling of our lunch conversation:

Sam: cracker!
Me: cracker, please?
Sam: cracker, please
Sam: (takes cracker and smashes it on his head, in his hair. pieces of it crumble down his shirt and onto the counter)
Me: Sam, No! Don't smash the cracker!

Matthew has a tooth!

Today Matthew required a clothing change early in the morning (must have been around 8:30) as he couldn't limit himself to his diaper. I had done some laundry yesterday so I had some clean and freshly folded clothes in the laundry room and grabbed a change of clothes.

I cleaned up breakfast dishes, then the kids played for awhile in the living room. When I went over near the kids I smelled something yucky. Since it was around the time of day for Sam's morning BM, I asked Sam if he had a dirty diaper and he told me that Matthew pooped. Ok. Back to the laundry room. Another dirty diaper and another change of clothes.

After Matthew's nap we went to the Y. Things were fine until about 15 minutes into my workout I got paged. I figured it was for Sam since he had yet to dirty a diaper for the morning, but not Matthew as you already know what our morning was like.

However, when I got to the kid's center the staff member informed me that Matthew was very dirty. I looked over at my little guy who was sitting on the floor happily playing with something. His back was facing me and I could see a 4 inch stain on his shirt, above his diaper. Yuck. He soaked through his undershirt and his outershirt and was a mess. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought a change of clothes since I figured Matthew was done with dirty deeds for the day. I was wrong and Matthew was cleaned up and strapped into the carseat wearing only a diaper. I surrounded him with a cozy blanket and his carseat cover, so he was still warm, but the naked little guy was quite a sight all packed up in his carseat. I took Matthew's picture when we got home in memory of our eventful morning.

The staff member also asked if Matthew was teething because she said that frequent blowouts are sometimes associated with teething. I was so flustered by the whole ordeal that I forgot about what she had said, but later in the day I was playing with Matthew and he grabbed my finger to chew on it and, ouch, a tooth had broken through! So Matthew is 7 months, 3 days, and he has his first tooth.

The other picture is from Thanksgiving when Matthew tried on the new hat I knitted for Sam. Fits him pretty well too. I forgot to post it earlier, so here it is.

Hodge podge

I couldn't think of a cohesive topic to write about today, but there have been a number of things I've been wanting to write about so here is a hodge podge of recent happenings.

Matthew has taken quite strongly to playing at the ottoman. While he still can't stand completely on his own (he stands next to the ottoman, balances himself with his hands while my hands hover within a cm of him), he exhibits such joy at being able to play at The Ottoman. The squeals and laughs are continuous when he is standing next to his brother playing with cars.

Matthew's favorite time of day seems to be when Jason returns home. He saves his most expressive squeals for when he sees Jason's face upon returning from work. However, half the time, Matthew is already in bed when Jason comes home. Poor kid, he misses the highlight of his day.

Sam started playing today with a little RC bulldozer that he received for his birthday. He previously has been scared of it and it's sat on the shelf for over two months now. It has ridged plastic tires and spins around when it's not being directed with the RC and is probably one of the noisiest toys we have (thank you very much, David and Alicia). Today, though, he rediscovered the joy of his RC bulldozer and he played with it frequently. Toward the end of the day I was about to go crazy, but fortunately Sam stopped playing with it and after awhile something brought on the worst tantrum we've seen for awhile. By that time I was too tired to go crazy about the tantrum.

Speaking of crazy, today when I was getting Sam ready for nap, he picked up a small plastic basket, put BaaBaa in it and said that BaaBaa was going to nap in the crib (basket). I looked down at BaaBaa and thought, completely seriously, BaaBaa is going to outgrow his crib soon. I don't know what has happened to my reality.