Saturday, October 31, 2009

More observations

TJ had some sort of a bug last weekend (nope, not H1N1). I kept him home from church on Sunday in an effort to avoid passing the germs on and to encourage him to rest. His comment? "When you are sick you sleep a lot AND you are tired."

Last weekend we had a clear, starry night. Apparently, my mom was outside pointing out a few constellations to the boys. The next morning, TJ informed me that "There's a star shape that's a dipping spoon." I had to have him repeat that a few times before I figured out he was talking about the Big Dipper.

TJ had tubes put in his ears last Tuesday. It did not go well, but that's another story, and none of it was his fault. I asked him afterward if he could hear better and he said, "Not really. The sound effects are all off." I really don't know what that means, but at this point, I think his hearing is worse. He goes to see the ENT for a follow-up on Monday, and I am anxious to see what he thinks.

The other night, we had the news on while we ate dinner (No comments, please. It's usually the only time I can actually sort of catch the news). The top story was a child around 2 or 3 years old had been found wandering near a busy intersection. No one knew who he was, and he was unable to tell them his name. I thought that over. Sam is exactly that age, and in my humble opinion, is smart as a whip. He's known for over a year what an octagon is, he knows all of his letters, numbers, colors, etc. But I suddenly doubted he knew his name. I said, "Hey, Sam, what's your name?" He stopped eating, looked at me in disbelief, and said, "Sam!" I laughed and agreed that Sam was his name, but then I asked what his 'long' name was. I got a blank stare and silence in response. I prompted him, "Is your name Samuel William Baron?" He smiled and said, "Yep, that sounds right!" I told Bill that if a policeman just happened to guess his name, we'd be all set. I guess we should start working on that. Maybe I'll make him memorize his phone number.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Post Family Farm





Last weekend, we made our annual pilgrimage to Post Family Farm where we were joined by the Milanowski family. It's not much of a pilgrimage, actually, since it takes less than 15 minutes to get there, but anyway...

The boys had a great time. It was cold, but the ground was dry, which I always appreciate while trudging through the pumpkin patch. I think Sam managed to trip over every pumpkin vine he came across. I know why...he was too busy studying their elaborate sprinkler system to notice where the vines were. Sam also chickened out on riding the pumpkin train. Even Nolan and cousin Audrey were game to try that, but Sam was content to watch.

Our two pumpkins look great on the front porch. Bill and I are debating whether we are going to carve them both or not. I hate pumpkin carving, and am trying to find a way to not be available when it comes time to do that!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

You Snooze, You Lose

All 3 of my boys seem to think afternoon snack is a buffet. They each want a little of this, and a little of that. Here's what they had for snack today:


TJ--a whole honey graham cracker, one package of fruit snacks, two big marshmallows, a few chocolate chips, two candy corns, and a candy pumpkin.

Sam--1/2 of a cinnamon graham cracker, a small handful of peanuts, a few chocolate chips, two candy corns, and a candy pumpkin.

Nolan--1/2 of a cinnamon graham cracker, a couple chocolate chips, and one candy corn broken into tiny pieces.

They each have their own bowl with their snack in it, and they are very particular about what I put in their bowls. Today, for some reason, TJ decided he didn't want his cracker. Don't know why, he just didn't want to eat it. So, I told him to bring it back to me and I would put it away. He came to me a minute later and said, "I can't. Sam and Nolan are sharing it." I went to investigate and discovered that, sure enough, Sam and Nolan had divided the cracker and were happily munching away on it. I was surprised by two things: that they shared, and that TJ didn't flip out when he found his brothers finishing his snack.

I hope they still eat a good dinner!

He did it! He did it!

It only took 18 months. Nolan is finally on the growth chart for weight AND height! Dr. Conner took one look at him today and commented, "Well, I see he has discovered food, huh?" Nolan was stripped down to his diaper and his chunky legs (probably inherited from his Mama) and his chubby tummy were very visible.

Fully clothed, Nolan weighs 23.8 pounds, which is the 23rd percentile (I think...it's hard to remember all these numbers!) He is 30.7 inches, which is the 7th percentile. He is definitely still a short little guy. I don't think he is ever going to be tall...I think he is built a lot like TJ.

Nolan is learning new words all the time...new ones for this week include "Shishies" (fishies) and "Suzy". He calls both Maggie and Suzy "Suzy", so apparently we need to work on saying Maggie's name next. He still won't say Sam's name, though, which is odd since Sam is his most frequent playmate. He rarely plays with TJ, but has a whole song made up for TJ ("TJ! TeeJay! TEEEEEEE JAAAAYYYYY"). It's very creative.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Chucky Warms and Wet Slippers

Sam has had his moments lately where he is angry, obstinate, or grumpy. Not sure where Mr. Sunshine went, but hopefully he'll be returning soon. Despite his moods, Sam still wakes up a pretty happy boy. This morning was no exception. Bill said Sam hurried into the kitchen and said, "I'm hungry for breakfast! I'm hungry for Chucky Warms!" Can you guess what he was actually trying to say? Yep, the always nutritious "Lucky Charms". I think from here on out they will always be known as "Chucky Warms".

TJ has always loved to wear slippers when it gets cool out. That's fine with me, because we are a no-shoe household, and the hardwood and ceramic tile floors are hard on socks. TJ used to burn through slippers pretty rapidly too, but last year my mom found the perfect solution. She bought him a pair of Crocs that are lined with fleece (or something else really warm). They don't mark up my floors, he only wears them inside, they are almost a year old and still look and fit great. The problem is, TJ takes them places (like to Grandma's) then forgets to bring them home. On Tuesday night, I realized his slippers were missing. TJ seemed vague on where he might have left them, so I looked everywhere....under his bed, IN his bed (things get lost in all the stuffed animals), in the basement, at Grandma's....no slippers anywhere. I was stumped but figured they'd turn up eventually. Then on Thursday night, TJ showed up at the dinner table wearing one slipper. I asked him where he found it, and he said, "the bathroom". That made no sense to me. The bathroom is pretty small, and I had been in there multiple times that week. I would have noticed the slipper right away. I asked TJ if he found both and he said, "No, just this one." But he seemed rather uncomfortable so I pressed him for details. He suddenly blurted out, "The other one isn't dry yet!"

What?! I went down to the bathroom and in the cupboard underneath the sink found a damp slipper. I asked TJ what on earth had happened. Turns out, TJ was watching me too closely. On Tuesday evening, as I was putting Nolan in the tub, he peed on MY slipper. I washed it and set it aside to dry. TJ decided his slippers needed a washing too. From what I understand, he filled the sink and dunked his slippers, then stashed them in the cupboard to dry.

It took 3 days for them to both dry properly. He has been told not to bathe his slippers again.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

And that's that

This afternoon, my sister Amanda stopped by to return some books she borrowed. She was only here briefly, as she was on her way to meet her husband at church. As she was leaving, she called down the hall to Sam, "Bye, Sam! Be a good boy!"

From down the hall we hear, "You be a good boy too!"

Amanda and I laughed. She said, "Sam, am I a boy?"

"Yep."

End of story. Amanda tried to tell Sam she was a girl, but he was not convinced.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

18 months old

On October 1st, Nolan hit 18 months. I can't believe how fast time is going, or how rapidly he's changing! He's such a character these days! He's finally using walking as his sole means of transportation, which is a relief. No more child hanging on the back of my legs. No more wet, sticky hand prints on my wood floor (WHY are his hands always wet and sticky??). I'm sure I'll eventually miss the crawling stage, but for now, I'm happy to be past it. He's finally grown into size 12-month clothing. He's got a chubby tummy, but is still very short compared to other kids his age.

Nolan talks ALL the time! Unfortunately, about 99% of it is not in English. I think he sounds like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. Bill says it sounds like he is talking backwards. Nolan understands everything we say and is quite content to make up his own language. He signs a few things, so that helps when he is desperate for milk or crackers, etc.

He is a sweetie. I love him to bits, and am so happy he's the baby of the family. He fits that role perfectly. He's my little Bug.

Rocking the bear:

Ditching the bear:

Stealing the bear's chair:

Not sure what's so funny, but he sure is cute!

Pet Project

Bill informed me awhile back that when he got a new job, he was going to buy some fish. We've had an aquarium that's been empty for several years, but I still thought it was a strange way to celebrate employment. Anyway...the boys have been campaigning for a pet, so when Bill landed his job, the boys were thrilled to hear we'd be getting fish.

They assisted (interfered) every step of the way. We are now the proud owners of two fish, Angie (named for Angie, TJ's friend down the street from our old house) and Puka (named for the dog we pet-sit, whom the boys just adore). Strange names for fish, but I digress. Here's hoping neither Angie or Puka goes belly-up anytime soon! Bill said he'd buy more fish once he felt fairly confident that these two were healthy and thriving.


TJ requested I take this picture. He wants to bring it (the photo) for show and tell, since I nixed the concept of bringing the fish to school. Let me tell you, fish are not the easiest things to photograph!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Satellite

Bill and I had DirecTV back when we bought our first house in 2000. After TJ was born, we decided we wanted to save some money, so we 'temporarily' cancelled our service in 2005. It was supposed to be for the summer. Only, we never called to turn it back on. We just learned to live without it.

With Bill's new job, his employer will reimburse us for the cost of our internet. Which means we have a little spare money each month. We decided to go ahead and get DirecTV again. Bill even got an DVR (since I never seem to sit down when my favorite shows start) and we got the HD package. Now we can finally see what our HD TV looks like! It's kinda nice!

We told the boys we were getting satellite today, and TJ was excited. He said, "All right! Now I can watch Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and Destroyed in Seconds!" Ummm...those are not normal shows for a 5-year-old to watch. I asked him if he wanted to watch Nick Jr. or Noggin, and he said, "Oh yeah, that too."

The satellite service was installed while I was at work. This afternoon, I picked TJ up from the bus and we drove back home (we walk when it's warm, but it was raining today...) and I told him we needed to see where the man attached the satellite dish to the house. We couldn't find it. Turns out it's bolted to the deck. TJ spotted it awhile later. "Mom! Mom! I found the telescope!"

Storms

Sunday night, we had some pretty loud thunderstorms roll through. I was sound asleep when an extremely loud and long clap of thunder rumbled near our house. I woke up and my heart was pounding, the thunder was so loud. Not a pleasant way to wake up. Bill whispered, "Wow. That was really close." I wondered aloud if the boys were going to wake up. Bill said he couldn't imagine how anyone COULD have slept through that.

Just a moment later, I heard the door creak. I sat up and saw TJ in the doorway. I said, "Hey, Buddy, did that scare you?" He came running over to my side of the bed and said....."I have to go to the bathroom." I almost laughed. TJ still wants supervision about half the time. I followed him in to the bathroom where he mentioned that the thunder was pretty loud. He wasn't that upset about it. I walked back into his room with him and noticed Sam was sitting straight up in bed. I said, "Sam, did the thunder wake you up?" And he said, "Have you seen the way my pillow is?" Again, I held back the laughter, encouraged him to lay back down on said pillow, turned on their CD player (like their father, my children insist on having some sort of racket on while they sleep), and I walked away.

The thunder continued, but I never heard another peep. Nolan never stirred, TJ had gone potty, and Sam had examined his pillow. All was right in the Baron household.