Up To Date

I have to post this so that it is still up to date. Here are a few snaps of the kids over the last week or so. Den has started using this inflatable bathtub in the upstairs tub and after I gave her a bath last night, I know why. She is a wild girl in the tub. Splashing around, exploring the edges of the tub, it's a bit un-nerving. I think last night will be the last time she is bathed on the kitchen counter!
So Eddie is hit or miss with his nap these days, even though he still usually needs it. Last Saturday, he climbed up in his chair at the dining room table in anticipation of a snack. We look over and he is doing the 'head-nod' thing. He recovered and then kept doing it, insisting he was fine. I moved him to the couch and he protested, saying he didn't need to sleep.



Less than 5 minutes later I found him like this.

On Sunday, while I was feeding the baby and Den was making dinner, Eddie helped himself to a small snack. btw, he can reach and open the pantry in the kitchen, and I've made sure his snacks are at his level--both good and bad aspects to that decision.
G'parents Ohio got Eddie two different train sets by Brio. One makes a figure - eight with a bridge and the other makes an oval with a zoo. We put them together and he has loved playing with them all week.



All the while I was writing Josie's 7 month update, I was trying not to talk about the following stuff we're experiencing:



Eddie has offically entered the "terrible-twos". It's not really bad at all, it's just you have to rethink how you react to his behavior and retool how you get him to do what you want. I've been doing great the last year or so, and both Den and I are going through some growing pains as we adjust to this new mini-teenager in the house. He knows when he is doing something wrong and not only does it anyway, but does it because it's wrong.



Say, I'm not supposed to throw this hard toy that resembles a ball, but let me see how close I can come to hitting my sister in the head. Time out? I don't like standing at that wall, I think it would be funny to run across the hall to the other wall for my time out. No good? Lets move down the wall. Laughing all the way.



Let me cry crocodile tears anytime I object to something--say eating dinner. It works for my playmate. Doesn't seem to work for mom and dad, they ignore me. I try anyway, at some point I'll wear them down.



It's sooo funny to get all ready for bed, make mom and dad think they will have at least an hour before they decide to crash from exhaustion and then I'll go running across the floor of my room, swing open the door, laughing hysterically and try to go running down the stairs. Usually they hear me running for the door and meet me at the top of the stairs.



I think I've really pissed mom off after a full day of this type of behavior (it builds on itself ya know) let me see if I can push her so far over the edge, she wonders if preschool 5 days/week isn't a pretty good idea.



I really do want to figure out how to think like him so I do better with him. Or least understand his thinking--that would be a start.



Josie is making huge progress physically--in the last 2 weeks her balance while sitting really solidified--she would be able to try and catch herself if she started to fall. She also started to be able to get herself to a sitting position and seemingly an instant later she was crawling away.



It happened that quickly. She was working on it all -- getting to a sitting position, she'd rock on all fours, could scoot herself around crawling on her belly and then one Monday of this week she was off and moving. We also decided to move the mattress in her crib down as she was showing signs up trying to pull herself up. Not a day too soon, as on Wednesday, Cookie walked in to find her STANDING in her crib!

She is typically sleeping better (here's where I'll regret writing this), she will often stay asleep from her now 7pm bed time till midnight or 2am (maybe cry out once for a pacifier), be fed and sleep again until 5 or so. Just have to eliminate one of those wakings and I'll be doing well. I did get her to put herself back to sleep on Tuesday, as I was just tired of trying to soothe her back to sleep--she needs to learn this skill anyway.

She is doing a lot better with food--well in terms of being able to voluntarily swallow it (push it into her mouth with her tounge instead of out of her mouth). She is starting to protest ocassionally when she is constrained by a contraption such as a swing, exersaucer, etc. so her time in thosse is limited--I'm sure by Christmas they'll be history.

She wants what Eddie has--it's pretty funny--except that I can see the fights brewing already. sigh.

In addition to being able to open doors, Eddie can now climb onto the kitchen stools! Course this means he can access so much more than he has figured out--and we want to keep it that way. He has really picked up a lot of what we say--a real parrot. Lots of it is worked into his daily vocabulary. "Actually..." or "just a little bit" or "I'm sorry, it's..." if he's made a mistake with something.

Den is reading him books tonight (he got home at 8pm instead of midnight). I had told Eddie that Den would read to him when he got home and sure enough, Eddie heard the front door open and calls out "Daddy's home!", comes bounding down the stairs, all the while talking about how daddy was going to read to him. Mind you, I had just spent the last 30 minutes reading to him.

We're headed to the library tomorrow, hope it goes well. Last week Josie was due for a nap, so it was a bit of a problem.