Evening activities

Almost every evening our family (mostly the boys) engages in "horseplay". This involves a variety of activities in which the boys climb on Jason or myself and do other physical activities such as running around in circles, throwing balls around and so on. Tonight I decided to take some pictures of our fun, so here they are.

General rough and tumble play...

 The airplane takes off...At one point during this activity, Jason tried to do the airplane with only one foot which prompted Sam to say, "Stop Daddy, that's not a good idea."

 In mid-flight...

 Matthew interrupted the fork-lift...

 Abby was already in bed, but I had to post this picture of her with a hat I knitted for her...

Abby's nap time

Getting Abby down for a nap usually takes around 10 minutes, 5 if I'm lucky. So that means that I need to find something for Sam and Matthew to do for 5-10 minutes, basically unsupervised, so I can work with Abby for a  little bit. Unsupervised Sam is usually easy. Put him in front of some kind of screen (TV, Kindle Fire, computer) and he's happy. Matthew, however is a different story. Sometimes he'll sit in front of a screen, but more often than not, he'd rather be doing something else.

So here's how it goes. The boys follow me upstairs when it's time for Abby's naps (I say naps as she takes 3-4 a day). I'll go in her room issuing a stern command to the boys to keep quiet and partly close Abby's door, then swaddle and rock with her. The boys, then entertain themselves. Sometimes they decide to play chase. And they run back and forth in the hallway outside the bedrooms, squealing and laughing with delight. My stern command apparently went unheeded. Abby get's heavy eyelids, then I put her in her crib and pat her for a few minutes (or none at all if she is very calm). At this time, I hope and pray that their squeals of laughter don't occur right as Abby is about to fall asleep which will nullify my previous 3-10 minutes of work. Sometimes Abby manages to nod off without interruption and other times I have to start all over. Ahhh, the frustration. Ahhh, the opportunities to work on patience. Once I feel she is sufficiently sleepy, I race toward the door, hoping again to open and close it between squeals of delight.

While the squeals and running around are disruptive to Abby's sleep sometimes, they also have their benefits. For example, since I can clearly hear the boys, I know they are okay, not bleeding from a gash in the head at the bottom of the stairs. I also know they are not fighting and are basically happy. So that's a positive thing. When I don't hear squeals and the pitter-patter of little feet in the hallway, things get more interesting.

This is what's usually happening at that point. Sam has figured out how to 1) turn on the computer in Jason and my bedroom, 2) open Chrome, 3) open YouTube and 4) find something to his liking (for example, Cars videos, Berenstain Bears, etc.) and is watching videos on the computer. Amazing, isn't it? He usually is watching the said videos in some other language (really, I'm completely serious), but at least he found something to keep him occupied for a few minutes.

Matthew is doing one of the following: 1) This is his most common activity...He's in the bathroom, washing his hands and hair and shirt. Yes, this means he is usually pretty wet by the time I get to him. 2) Sitting by the computer pulling paper out of the printer. 3) Sitting on Jason and my bed, turning on and off my bedside light or 4) He's gone downstairs and has closed himself in a closet (Yes, this freaked me out...I ran around the house screaming for him one day...no answers... and found him shut into the dark coat closet).

So after 5 or 10 minutes, I have gotten Abby down for her nap, the boys had some time to themselves and we go on with our day...until Abby has to take another nap.

Our beautiful baby

I know I am just a proud parent, but seriously, Abby is so adorable! I finally captured her hair in all it's glory. It just stands up. The only time it's not standing up is right after a bath, then it's laying flat, but as it dries, it slowly stands up. It really has a mind of its own. Our little brunette is also turning quite blonde. When I comb her hair little brunette locks fall out and what remains are little blonde hairs coming in. We'll see how blonde she turns out to be.

The boy who cried poop

So at church three weeks ago I was holding Abby when she began to get unhappy. So I took her out of the sanctuary for awhile. I really don't recall taking Sam or Matthew out of church until both of them were at least 9 months old...but for our little Abby, it's pretty much a weekly occurrence. Anyway, I went out and held and patted until she fell asleep (which is why she was crabby) and I guess that Sam, after I left, told Jason that he had to go potty. Jason, thinking he was just wanting to go out and find Abby and I, told him that he'd have to wait. At that point, Sam yelled, "I have to potty! I have to potty! I have to potty!" An extremely embarrassed Jason took Sam out at that point. Sam is a smart little boy and he knows that the word "potty" gets him quick attention.

This week he tried it again. Jason was standing with Abby at the back of the sanctuary when Sam decided to try his "I have to potty" trick with me. He was whispering, and I acquiesced as I know that sometimes he does have to potty at that time in the morning. So we went out to the bathroom. He did his deed and we returned, then a few minutes later, Sam said "I have to potty" again. I told him that he'd have to wait until after church, at which point he said, "I have to poopy!" and started pulling down his pants revealing his Thomas the train underwear. Oh goodness, I rushed him out of the sanctuary and back to the bathroom which resulted in nothing. He didn't do anything. Back to the sanctuary. The a few minutes later, again, "Mommy, I have to poopy!" and started pulling down his pants. I yanked his pants back up and told him the bathroom is closed until after church. He tried to tell me that it wasn't, but I was very insistent that they closed and locked the bathroom for the rest of the church service, so we couldn't go until that point. He believed me and we had a relatively uneventful church service. Then at the end of church, Sam again said he had to go poopy and started pulling down his pants so I rushed him out of there and back into the bathroom, which produced a little trickle of No. 1, but no No. 2. Goodness, so we're dealing with the "boy who cried poop" once again. I remember Sam pulling this trick a while back. I have my little trick too and you can bet that next Sunday the bathroom will be closed for the entire church service.

Some time outside

Today it was 53 degrees. 53. On January 10th. So I got the boys in their shoes and coats (no boots, mittens and hats today!), Abby in her winter suit (she is a baby, after all) and outside we went to play in the driveway and take a walk. I had wondered what an outdoor playdate with all the kids would be like and now I have some idea. Last week we played outside one day and Abby napped most of the time, but the rest of the time I bundled her up and held her. Today she was content to sit facing out (kangaroo-style) in the sling while the boys rode the tricycle, little scooters and played in the wagon. Matthew eventually got into the wagon and said, "Ride" in his little persuasive way (he really doesn't have to ask too forcefully for me to comply with many of his requests...cuteness can get a person very far...as Sam well knows too and I'm sure Abby will learn soon enough). So Sam climbed in too and we walked down to the end of the block. Abby was quite content in her little pouch and it really wasn't too much work for me. Certainly no more difficult that a pregnant me pushing a double stroller with two little boys in it up the hills around our house (stroller= 30lbs + Matthew = 25 lbs + Sam= 31 lbs = 86 lbs total). When we returned from the end of the street, Matthew said (again in his cute persuasive way), "Again!" and Sam hopped out, got on his tricycle and we did another lap. Abby fell asleep in her pouch (she was sitting upright, but it doesn't matter if she's in the right mood) on this lap and continued to sleep until we went inside after a few more minutes of outdoor play.

Bedtime and other tidbits

It's just after 8PM and all the kids are in bed. All the kids are in bed. Two of the three appear to be sleeping at the moment, and the last one is at least in bed reading quietly to himself. Abby, while not much of a napper (at least for anything longer than 45 minutes unless she is being held...she's a cozy cuddler) is a great night sleeper and is moving to an earlier bedtime which means my workday ends and "on call" begins around 8PM. Pretty good deal. Abby has slept 9 or 10 hours consecutively a few times over the past two week, although 7 hours is more her norm. Which is better than both of the boys at her age!

Over the weekend Matthew got the stomach flu. Poor kid. He slept in past 7AM Saturday morning and when Jason went to check on him he had gotten sick in his bed and apparently slept through it as he didn't cry out. He got sick a few more times in the morning and we tried to get him to use a bucket. There was one successful attempt in the bucket, the remainder ended up on the floor, on himself, and on Grandpa Don, unfortunately. Later in the day Matthew seemed to be doing much better but still complained of tummy troubles at times. We would then ask him if he needed the bucket, to which he would reply "Yea", then hold the bucket up to his tummy and after a few moments, say, "Here you go" and hand it back to us. Apparently it served a different medicinal purpose than we intended.

The kids and I made our first trip to the Y this morning in which Abby went to the kids' area along with the boys. I had taken everyone to the Y before, but I always kept Abby with me and went mainly so the boys could play for awhile. Despite wanting to keep Abby away from child care areas for at least another month or so to avoid her catching anything, my sanity was slowly wearing away from not being able to exercise or really leave the house, so we ventured out and Abby did fine. She didn't hardly cry at all, the boys had fun and I got some exercise. I dropped off the little ones in the child care area and then Sam and I went to the area for big kids. He wanted to be carried as we walked there and laid his head on my shoulder, saying he was sleeping. When we got to the big kids area I set him down and he stood there with his eyes closed, apparently "sleeping" despite greetings of "Hi Sam!" from the child care workers. He stood, sleeping, for a few moments while I looked on, then I said, "See you later, Sam" and headed out. I'm not sure how long he slept, but when I picked him up he was reading and had a picture to take home which he had colored. So he didn't sleep the whole time. And I think he's actually sleeping now. That makes three.