Carson's new tricks

Carson is doing some funny things recently. Andrew being the first born with two attention to detail parents wasn't allowed to be very creative at meal times. We didn't/don't like messes. Sometimes as soon as Andrew's face or hands had anything on them, they were soon wiped. Not so much with Carson. Perhaps it is just too much to try to eat ourselves and pay attention to what two little boys are doing. Carson has been allowed to play and truly experience food and know that eating food is fun too.

Carson is now requesting that his glass of milk or water remain on his high chair at all times. (I always moved it so he wouldn't accidentally spill it.) After all he is a big boy now, nearly 2 and at times likes to show that. So now when he is done eating he plays with his cup and bowl, pouring water from his cup into his bowl and vice versa. This continues until he tires of it or he drops the cup or the bowl or it becomes way too messy and I put a stop to it. Here he is today, the mad scientist.




Carson enjoys playing behind our futon couch in the play/sun room. He climbs up over the toys and squeezes in behind the futon. He likes to sit on the windowsill and rest his feet on the base board of the futon.
Then he does this dive over the back of the futon to get down.
I know I had written a post about his before. I tried to explain the bizarre position I found Carson in when he was supposed to be taking a nap. Well here he is in that position. He has been doing this more frequently. I'm not sure how he gets up there. His right leg is hanging down pinned between the crib railing and the wall and his upper body rests on the end of the bed and his left leg lies across the top of the crib railing. He isn't able to get down from this little perch of his. He calls "Mommy. Mommy! MOMMY!"

He truly is so much fun.

On being a Mom

This is an email message I received from a friend/past co-worker of mine. Though I really have just begun this journey of being a mom, I really needed to hear this now. I need to just enjoy every moment I have with these two special little boys. Right now they love hugs and kisses, love spending time with us, love helping us do different things ~ but they probably won't always. I need to, like she says... not be in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

On Being A Mom

By Anna Quindlen

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One boy is toilet trained at 3, his brother at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow.

I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language-mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts.

It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

How much time do you waste, I mean spend, on your home computer each day?

less than 1 hour - 4 (40%)
1-2 hours - 5 (55%)
2-3 hours - 0
more than 3 hours - 0

I thought for one week I should keep track of the actual time I spend on the computer for this poll post. But I never did, not even for one day. Maybe I am too afraid of what it would actually reveal! I know I spend a lot of time on the computer. If I were to guess, probably close to 2 hours and maybe more some days but a lot of that time is after the boys are in bed.

I really wasn't into the blogging world a year or so ago. Then I began checking our friend Sarah's blog daily. Her blog was the only one I really looked at until I started my own. I really enjoy blogging and reading other people's blogs. It can kind of get addicting. You can read one blog and then often the blogs have links to blogs they read and it just snowballs from there. I usually only read blogs of people that I know but recently started reading people that I don't know. I think I will stop that.

I am really quite amazed with the blogging world. I started this blog in Feb. I'm not sure when I added the counter of how many total visits this site has had but so far 5753. (now that includes the many times I would check the blog to see if there were any comments left! but now I found out that I can be emailed when a comment is left, so I am not checking my own as often. Isn't that pathetic! I do LOVE to read your comments though!) Then my cousin Jackie mentioned this flag counter that she found. So I added that. This counter is nice because it only counts the new people, it doesn't count each time you view it just the first time. I added this only a few months ago and 538 US visits and one United Kingdom. That is really fascinating.

Then there is emailing, which it seems I am not doing as much of now that I started blogging. Or I often look for different items on eBay (right now purses and Lucky jeans) I have been looking for a new purse, so searching many different websites. I think my favorite are the Lill purses. I love all the different fabrics they have. The price is more than what I really want to pay so we shall see. But I have had fun frequently designing my own purse there.

Now, after saying all this, I really can't complain about not getting things done around the house. The past two weeks, I have spent some of Carson's nap time on the computer. I realize that this is valuable time and I probably should do other things while Andrew is at preschool and Carson is napping. Once I get on the computer, I end up thinking, I will just check one more thing....and before I know it, Carson is awake. So on that note, I am off to clean the bathroom!

"It didn't work."

Andrew has of course passed his cold along to Carson and Chad as well. I'm staying strong. I'm not getting it! A neighbor mentioned that she heard of putting Vicks on children's feet and then putting socks on to help with cough and congestion at bedtime. So we gave it a try last night. I had Andrew sit on his bed with just his feet over the side of the bed and put the Vicks rub on his feet. Carson climbed up there too..."Me. Me. Me." so we put it on Carson's feet as well. I explained to Andrew that the cream was supposed to help him breathe easier and so that he wouldn't cough so much.

Around 11:00, just after Chad and I had gone to bed, we heard Carson crying faintly on the monitor followed by the dreaded barking croupy cough. Chad went to his room. We were trying to decide what to do as far as sleeping, knowing it probably wasn't going to be a good nights sleep. Carson was so sweet; giving hugs with his short little arms, whispering "ya" behind his paci, which sounded very hoarse. I ended up taking Carson back to his room and we both slept in the "guest bed" in his room. He was very cuddly, wanting to be right near or on top of me. He actually slept pretty well and not much more coughing. I didn't sleep so well, but that is ok.

Andrew was quick to report this morning to both Chad and I at different times "It didn't work." I think that is the first thing he said to me this morning and I had to think about what he was talking about.

I just checked on Carson, to make sure he had actually fallen asleep for his nap. This is what I saw....
He hardly ever sleeps like this anymore. I love it when babies sleep like this; on their tummies, with their cute little bottoms up in the air and legs tucked underneath them. I thought it was especially cute since he has on this football outfit that says "end zone" on his bottom.

Nature

I really do enjoy the change in seasons. I welcome each new season gladly. The only season I really tire of is winter, which makes welcoming spring so much fun! I do love fall. Bringing jeans and sweaters and sweatshirts out again. But man, where did summer go?! It went so fast!! Anyways.....this morning it was raining ~ which we really needed ~ and now the sun is out. The temp is in the upper 60's and just soo pleasant.

This past Sunday, we spent the afternoon outside. Andrew rode his gator a lot as well as other riding toys. I enjoyed watching a butterfly and hummingbirds amongst our flowers. Chad and I were discussing and measuring out where we would like to put in a garden next spring. Such wonderful weather and care free time. Isn't nature great? Here are some pictures of the butterfly/hummingbird garden we planted earlier this spring and the butterfly (and bee) that frequent them. I wasn't able to capture any of the hummingbirds. The feeder is right outside the window where our computer and desk is. I love to hear the hum/buzz as the hummingbirds dive into the garden.




Here, Andrew pushed on the gas; which I wasn't ready for and neither was Carson!! I won't post the picture Chad took of Andrew's bottom as he took a leak in the woods. Boys. Yesterday as I was pulling weeds in the front flowerbeds and turned around and saw Andrew with his pants down in the front yard! Mooning all the men working on the house next to ours. This must be stopped.

P.S. Andrew is now home from preschool. I asked him if he went potty at preschool. He said, "yes, in the grass." Okay, this really has to be stopped!!

Four days of pre-school

and Andrew has a cold. That didn't take long! I knew he would be exposed to many more germs this year and expected more illnesses than usual but already!! He woke up during the night last night, coughing, crying and grabbing his throat. I asked him if he wanted a drink. He said "No, I want some medicine." He seems pretty good today, coughing occasionally. Hopefully he won't get croup, which both boys are prone to.

Pre-school has been good. He enjoys going everyday and I love the "MOMMY!" I'm greeted with when I pick him up. Friday he said "MOMMY! Your home!" when I picked him up. :) He is pretty tired when he comes home - at least that is what I am blaming his behavior on. He doesn't listen well, he is really rough with Carson - hitting and pushing, and easily has meltdowns. I don't want him to take a nap after pre-school because then he wouldn't fall asleep until 10:30-11:00 like last night.

He picks up things from other children so quickly. A phrase he is now saying that I haven't heard him say is "I don't like girls!" Yeah right! You have 5 girl cousins and you love playing with all of them!! Also he will make a comment and then do this fake laugh and say "It's a joke!!" He also is doing some karate (?) moves. I think some of the children have seen the animated movie Kung Fu Panda and are doing some karate moves; at least I know our neighbor was. Which is fine, but Andrew does this really aggressively and I just don't like it. I never know when he is just doing these karate moves or when he is actually going to make contact with someone.

We are all still adjusting to this new routine. I have a hard time getting lunch around at 11:30, it just seems too early for lunch. I have enjoyed going grocery shopping with just one child. Carson doesn't really seem to notice that Andrew isn't around. Most of the time Carson is napping while Andrew is gone. It will be nice that he doesn't have pre-school on Mondays, that way we can kind of ease into the week.

What is your biggest clutter problem?

I really don't have a clutter problem. - 0
Clothes - 0
Dirty dishes - 0
Mail - 3 (27%)
Toys - 6 (54%)
Everything - 2 (18%)

Our biggest clutter problem is mail. It clutters our kitchen island and table. At times I do my best to not let it bother me, but it really does! These stacks of mail can be ridiculous at times! I get the counter and table cleared off (I love it when there is absolutely nothing on these two surfaces!) but they never stay cleared for long. The biggest thing is probably the medical journals that Chad gets. I guess I just need to find a crate or something to chuck these in and let him go through them on his time. Sometimes I bring the mail to our desk, which is currently in our bedroom. So I don't really like cluttering our bedroom either. Hopefully our basement will be finished someday and we can move the desk down there.

Toys definitely clutter our house as well. But I am ok with this one. They are not overwhelmingly cluttering our house. Each night before bedtime (or after bedtime, we peacefully do it) or sometimes during the day as well we all clean up the toys. I guess I can tolerate this clutter more because we have 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old boys and I figure that toy clutter just comes with that.

First day of Preschool

Today was Andrew's first day of preschool. I have never done anything so easy with him! He was to be at preschool at 12:15. I knew this might be a bit of a crazy time, since this is typically when we eat lunch. I decided to not go to the first MOPS meeting of the year this morning that I attended last year. It was from 9:30-11:30. I just thought it might be too hectic and a little overwhelming for Andrew all in one day. Thankfully Chad was home for lunch today and helped me encourage Andrew to hurry up and eat ~ he was eating the peel off the apple slices and then eating the apple. Chad helped me get Andrew ready and then Carson was able to stay here and finish eating while I took Andrew to school.
Isn't this door the cutest thing??! It is outside the preschool by the larger "adult" doors. He thinks it is pretty neat. (not the best pictures of him but we were running late.) We walked down to his classroom and he was off! Exploring everything, hugging his "swimming pool friend" and not caring at all that I was leaving him. I'm glad he was so excited and wasn't upset that I was leaving. Had he been upset, it would have been much more difficult for me as well.

Here he is playing with the little kitchen table and place settings (kind of dark picture). "Here is my favorite spoon! Lighting McQueen!"

Carson is napping, the house seems so quite. I've managed to get a few things done but soon it will be time to go pick Andrew up, 3:15. I think I will enjoy this quiet time each afternoon. It will help me feel re-energized and able to take on the world ~ well at least two active little guys!

Andrew's Big Day

Thursday was an exciting day for Andrew. After lunch; Carson, Andrew and I went to Andrew's preschool open house. During this time Andrew was able to see his classroom, meet his teachers and some of the other children that will be in his class. He had a great time. Recently he had asked me if I was going to stay with him at preschool. I explained to him that I would drop him off and pick him up but would not stay. He wasn't too sure about this until I mentioned that he would be learning new things and meeting new friends. He responded with an enthusiastic "New friends?!" He is a very social little guy.

He loved this sand table they had in the classroom, as did Carson. They have a nice rug and couch for story time, two computers with educational games ~ something he has not been exposed to and I'm pretty sure he will enjoy; tables and chairs and an area with a little play kitchen. They also did a hearing, vision, and speech screening on him ~ which he did "perfect" on, said the speech therapist and then she said something like, which is too bad because he would have been really fun to work with.

A few weeks ago at the swimming pool, Andrew met a little boy that he really liked playing with at the pool. They played together probably 3 or 4 different times. We found out at the open house that he was going to be in Andrew's class! It was so cute when they saw each other they gave each other big hugs.

Then we were off to meet Grandma and Grandpa K. They had wondered if Andrew would like to come spend a few days with them. So we met them half way and Andrew went on home with them. Chad, Carson and I will be going there Sunday morning for the rest of this weekend. Andrew was really looking forward to this time. I'm sure he is having so much fun, I wonder how many tractor rides he has had already. (Perhaps I should have them blog about his time there! :) .) On the way to meet Grandma and Grandpa, Andrew said "But I'm going to miss my brother." Isn't that sweet! I said we would miss him too but we would see him soon.

I enjoyed spending the day with only Carson. He talks a lot and I think I notice it more when Andrew isn't around. Our conversations were often like this... Mommy? Yes, Carson. Daddy. (sometimes pointing to something that is Daddy's, sometimes a question as to where Daddy is) Or.... Mommy? Yes, Carson. Chair. or, Dog. or, Horse. or, Ball. I would then repeat whatever he said and he would say "ya". (I should keep track how many times a day he says ya, Mommy and Daddy.) We have asked Carson where Andrew is and he usually points outside and says "bye". It will be fun to see how they respond to being together again.

Chad and I were able to have a "date night" tonight. A neighbor friend of ours offered to watch Carson so we could go out. We had dinner out and ran a few errands before picking Carson up. We also rented Bucket List (good movie) to watch after Carson was in bed. So nice to have some adult time!

What is your favorite Olympic sport to watch?

Swimming - 3 (18%)
Diving - 0 (0%)
Gymnastics - 7 (43%)
Beach Volleyball - 5 (31%)
Track & Field - 1 (6%)
Basketball - 0
Soccer - 0
Other - 0

I really enjoyed watching the Olympics the past two weeks. Not sure what I will do between the hours of 8pm -11 or 12 now! :) I always enjoy watching gymnastics, weren't Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin really fun to watch? But then there was swimming ~ Michael Phelps is incredible! The way he would quickly come from behind and win by fingertips. Women's beach volleyball was really exciting as well. Winning Gold two times in a row! I did enjoy watching Track & Field too. One of my favorite races to run in High School was the 4 x 100 relay. Both men and women U.S. teams dropped the baton in these relays. What was up with that? That is something that happens in Junior High meets not the Olympics!

I guess you get what you pay for

I was really excited about the price of the peaches we got on Monday. Not so excited after we tasted the peaches. They just weren't very flavorful, not sweet, and really mealy. Just not good. I debated about canning them, hoping they might taste better after canning them. But decided we didn't want to put all the effort into canning peaches that just weren't good.

So last night we cut them, took the pits out and put them in the composter! This really upsets me (ok, I am over it now) but it does. I love having fresh produce but it drives me crazy when I don't use it and the produce goes bad. Chad on the other hand, gets a little twinkle in his eye and a smile comes to his face as he sees me putting these items in the used ice cream bucket so he can take it out to the compost. He got this compost container sometime this spring and he has made compost "tea" from the liquids and watered plants with it. He hopes to also fertilize the lawn with it once we have enough.

Perhaps we could have made jam with these peaches, but honestly they were NOT good. I did can the tomatoes I got from the auction today. And Carson and I have enjoyed the musk melon (cantaloupe), Chad and Andrew aren't big fans. And I'm sure the potatoes will be yummy. So not a total waste.

Produce auction

Today the boys and I went to a produce auction with friends from church. What a neat experience!! All the produce there was locally grown and the majority of it was from Amish farms. The boys enjoyed seeing all the massive quantities of produce and the Amish buggies and horses. One other friend and I watched the children while one of the other ladies did the bidding. (I had no idea what the auctioneer was saying!) She asked us what we would be interested in and bid on those items, then we split up the produce. Some of the lots up for auction were huge ~ 100+ melons. But that is how you get the deals apparently. I got the above produce for $19.00!! 1/2 bushel of peaches for $7.00! Melons for $0.25 each!! 5# bags of potatoes for $1.75 each! Looks like we will be doing more canning.

Daddy's day with the boys

Saturday the boys spent some time solely with Chad. They first went for a Gator ride/walk with Chad while I went to the farmer's market. When I arrived home, they soon left for the park. I was spending the morning/early afternoon making salsa. I enjoyed the quiet for just a little bit and then it was just too quiet! So I turned on some music with a nice mix of mellow followed by upbeat to keep me going peeling the tomatoes and dicing the other veggies.

After the park the boys and Chad watched a little bit of Kenyon College's football team practice. Then the three of them ate lunch at Wendy's. The pictures below were taking on Sunday. Chad brought home Andrew's frosty and Andrew got it out of the freezer yesterday. I thought this moment between Andrew and Carson was just too cute! Amazing that Andrew would so willingly share his frosty with Carson and equally amazing that Carson let Andrew feed him bite after bite!

That's a big bite!

"Corn jelly"

The boys and I were heading outside. I was husking some corn for lunch while the boys played.

Andrew asked "Are we going to have corn jelly?"

Me ~ "Corn jelly? What do you mean?"

Andrew ~ "You know, you cut it off and stir it up."

I'm not sure if he is thinking of the last time we all ate corn on the cob and he didn't like eating it off the cob, so we cut it off for him. Or if he is thinking of this past Saturday when we did corn for the freezer for this winter. So Andrew ate "corn jelly" today for lunch.

Anything you can do I can do better; I can do anything better than you

Have you seen the commercial with Eli & Peyton Manning with this song playing? It is a really cute commercial. It shows these two brothers growing up, playing football together. No, I don't really think Andrew & Carson will play NFL football. (but they might) And I don't think either one of them has the attitude of "anything you can do I can do better; I can do anything better than you", at least not right now.

But Carson definitely thinks he can/needs to do everything Andrew does. In the above picture, Andrew got out this Cincinnati Reds hat and so of course Carson needed to wear at hat as well. (Maybe instead of NFL football they will play for the Reds and The Buckeyes!) And below, Andrew often likes to lay on the couch after eating breakfast and be covered up with a blanket. He gets down from his chair (after impatiently saying "I'm all done!!") and runs over to the couch. I'm cleaning up his breakfast dishes while he curls up on the couch impatiently saying "I'm cold!!". This morning Carson needed a blanket as well to cover up with.
Just today in the mail, Carson got these crocs. I got them off of eBay. He likes to try on Andrew's crocs. The first pair Andrew got, Tric and Justin got for him and they were a size 6/7. Carson's tennis shoes are a size 5 1/2 but Andrew's old crocs were still really big on him. So these crocs are only a size 4/5 and they are sooo cute! They just seem so tiny but still fit him. Carson was really excited to see them when I opened the package saying "shoes! shoes!" I think he was also excited because they were similar to big brothers.
The past two nights Carson has been left behind while Chad and Andrew have been out. He was not pleased with this. Tues. night was a health fair for Andrew's preschool screening. Carson and I dropped Andrew and Chad off at the health department and went on to run some errands. As Chad was getting Andrew out of his car seat, Carson was patting his chest with both hands saying "Me! Me! Me!" As we drove away, Carson was crying and saying "Daddy." followed by "Me! Me! Me!" Then last night as I was giving Carson a bath, Chad and Andrew went to Lowe's. After Carson's bath, he came out to the living room asking "Daddy?". I told him that Daddy and Andrew went to the store. Again he began patting his chest with his little hands saying "Me! Me! Me!"

He wasn't very happy to be left behind with Mommy. But I enjoyed the time with just Carson. We read a lot of books together, something I don't very often do with just Carson. He was so cute. He really likes cows, horses and dogs right now. He would point to these animals over and over, saying their names and making their animal sounds. He even tried to give these animals hugs by hugging the book and at one time I think he was trying to ride the horse as he put the book between his legs. Several times after we turned the page from on these animals to continue reading the book, he would say "dog. dog. dog" and turn the pages back trying to find the dog. This makes me wonder how he will respond to Andrew going off to preschool in a week and a half.