My how things seem to change

I was looking back at some of my previous post and I noticed this one: Everybody's Different.  Some things have really changed and some not at all.


Thing 1 is not the aggressor anymore.  He will still take toys, but it isn't as often now.  He loves to snuggle and be rocked before going to bed.  But is usually very good about putting himself to sleep, or back to sleep if he wakes up.  He is usually the first one to go to sleep after being put to bed.  He eats pretty well now.  He does the signs for more, all done, please all the time now on his own, but also when you ask him to.  He will give you kisses when you ask.  He still doesn't like strange women, but is getting better about not just screaming.  He will now sit in your lap and just look at them sideways.  He is still very busy and likes to be on the move.  He is mellowing in his old age.  I would even go as far to say that he is the mellow one now and not on the difficult side.  He can show that he has some patience even.


Thing 2 - oh man talk about high maintenance!  Whew!  He is demanding! Always wants to be the center of attention.  Does not share well, especially hugs or kisses.  He will give them to you but not willingly.  If his brother or sister want hugs from mom, dad or grandma - he does not like it!  And is very vocal about it and will try to pull you apart, or put himself in between whoever it is.  Even if Nathan and I hug or kiss, he doesn't like it.  It's weird.  He is still very vocal about food - if you are eating ANYTHING or even if he thinks you are - he wants some.  It makes it hard to get dinner ready since he will be fussing at you and pulling on your legs, shorts or pants to get at what you have.   He has no patience.  He has started hitting and will bite every so often.  He seems to be the one with the really bad temper now.  He still can be a little sensitive.  He is really good about taking directions.  If you tell him to go to his room, or upstairs, or sit down, or go get in his chair to eat, he is pretty good about doing what you ask him to do.  Unless it is coming inside from playing outside.  He refuses.  He hates to be held or rocked before bed - he will putz around in his crib awhile before he settles down to go to sleep.  He is usually the one that wakes up at night and has a hard time putting himself back to sleep, but doesn't want to be held or rocked or helped back to sleep.


There are still some things that haven't changed - they are still different from each other and still have very different personalities.  I'm expecting them to flip flop several times on some of the traits yet still be different at the same time.

Two Hands

Thing 1 always seems to eat with two dainty hands.  Most of the time he will take his time eating and enjoy his food.  He takes bites and most of the time will chew it.  If he is eating break or a waffle or something along those lines he will even tear off small bits to eat.  He often looks like a little rabbit or chipmunk eating.  It is really cute.


Where as Thing 2 shovels.  He will reach out and snatch his prey, I mean food and shovel it in as fast as he can.  He really looks like a snake striking.  He will be sitting there looking at you then turn to eyeball his prey and strike at it lightning fast!  His hand just appears out of nowhere.  


Here is Thing 1 enjoying a french fry.

Coming in already

I posted about The Girlchick having a tooth that was loose It's loose.  Well now it seems that it is still just barely loose and the new tooth has already started to come in behind it.  I called the dentist and they said to try and work it loose.  I don't see that working any time soon since it is pretty much at the same stage as when we discovered it.  So off to the dentist we go.  She is SO not going to be happy about it.  Her first loose tooth and she is going to be traumatized since the dentist will likely pull it out to make room for that HUGE new tooth coming in.  That's the other thing I'm a little worried about - the new tooth takes up more than 2 of her current teeth.  I'm a little concerned that even when the baby tooth falls out there is still not going to be enough room.  I'm hoping it's a perspective thing since her mouth is tiny that the tooth just looks really huge.  I had to have several teeth pulled when I was a kid to make room for all of my adult teeth, I really hope this isn't the ONE thing she gets from me.  If you know or have seen our daughter - she is all her daddy.  If I hadn't given birth to her I wouldn't be so sure I was even her mom!  


I've given her instructions to play with it anytime she remembers in the hope that it will loosen up a bit.  Fingers crossed!

Update on The Girlchick

I posted awhile back that we had our last meeting with The Girlchick's Montessori teacher and that she needed to be tested for the gifted and talented program or tested out of Kindergarten.  little girl growing up.  

We have been really struggling on what to do about this for her.  We meet with the councilor at the public school where she would be going.  We asked about the G&T program and what it would mean, and what it would for her, also we asked about having her tested out of kindergarten (which we really didn't want to do).  The councilor wasn't that helpful, her main answers were: you know your child best, and telling us that she had been in the school for awhile that she had never had a child test out, and that 90% of incoming parents tell them that their child needed to be tested for G&T but only about 40% actually make it into the program.  It was a little frustrating, since we asked her what incoming kindergartners on average know, and what they know when they end the school year.  It turned out that The Girlchick already knew what most of the kids knew when they ended the year.  The only thing she didn't do at the time and was just starting to do was write a story with a beginning a middle and an end.  

We went back and forth on this for a few months on if we should just put her in and hope for the best, or if we find a private school that would be willing to work with her on a more personal level.  One of our main issues, was that she is not emotionally ready to go into first grade.  She still has temper tantrums and fits, and she does not do well with a lot of change.  Plus if she isn't challenged with work to do, she has behavior issues.  If she wasn't challenged in public school were we willing to put up with the behavior issues we feared she might have?

So after a few more meetings with the public school we decided to enroll her in private kindergarten.  We had really hoped to be done with paying for her daycare/school until she went to college, but it looks like we have at least one more year to go before that happens.  Both N and I really want her in public school, but I hope that the rest of public school is going to go a little better than our first intro to it.  I was really not impressed.  Our elementary school is supposed to be really great, and people move into our neighborhood for it.  I hope it gets better.

Never alone

I have decided that I will never pee alone again or have a meal in peace, or just simply enjoy my meal while it is hot instead of scarfing it down as fast as possible.


If it is not the boys trying to open the door while I am using the rest room then it is The Girlchick.  I could have been sitting with them for the past hour and they would have been ignoring me, but the minute I get up to go potty, they are on me!  knocking on the door, or screaming at the door to be let in.  Or if I happen to forget to lock the door just coming on in and then proceed to want to sit in my lap!  Hello I'm trying to pee here!


Meals for me and N are pretty funny.  We used to be able to tag team with The Girlchick - one would eat and the other would take care of her.  With the boys that method usually doesn't work.  I can count on one hand since they were born the number of meals I have been able to just sit down and enjoy and not rush or not finish because one of the kids was having some sort of issue or meltdown or just being a kid and being bored.


I hope one day the time will return when I can enjoy a meal again...... maybe when they are all grown and out on their own - when does this happen?  I hoping when they are all 18?  Cuz man if they have to come back and live with us after they have gone off to school......  I need to think about this and come up with a plan to make sure once they leave for college they don't come back!  :)  

It's loose!

The Girlchick's tooth that is!  She has a tooth that is loose!


The last two days she would mention that her tooth hurt, the first time she said it I thought it was just something that was too cold that she bit into.  The second time I thought it was something hard - she was eating an apple.  But last night at dinner she mentioned it again when she went to bite into something.  I asked her to let me look at it and show me which one it was.  Sure enough it wiggled and she was SO excited about it!  Then she wanted to see it and said she was so excited and she was nervous, which I just thought was the cutest thing in the world!  It's the bottom left front one.


She let me check the rest of her teeth and the top two front ones and the other bottom front one are not going to be far behind.  they don't wiggle yet, but if you push on them just slightly you can see them move.  :)


Big girl is growing up WAY too fast!  sigh....... 

Little Bully

When Thing 1 & Thing 2 were younger Thing 1 was the bully of the two, he would just take what he wanted, mainly toys.  He was always the more outgoing of the two and the more high maintenance.  Thing 2 was always pretty mellow and would go with the flow.  


But it seems now Thing 2 is getting his revenge.  He weighs more then Thing 1 by about 2 lbs, and in a little body that makes pretty good difference.  He throws his weight around and is not afraid of taking back what was his, or wasn't his in the first place.  He also now pushes his brother around and seems to like to hit.  Thing 1 isn't really a hitter unless Thing 2 really pushes his buttons.  If they are both in baby jail and Thing 2 gets a bee in is diaper he will push Thing 1 around, push him down so he can use him as a step stool, or just torture him and Thing 1 can't get up because Thing 2 out weighs him.  Not sure how to handle this yet.  Right now we stop him, tell him no and tell him to be nice.  I think we may need more drastic measures soon, cuz this really ain't working.  

Busy but good weekend

If you've ever read any of my posts you will notice a theme, I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do, I always beat myself up for not spending enough time with my kids (that goes back to the whole not enough time thing) and I always try to be the best parent I can be, but more often than not - I'm not.   I know these tributes about myself, I try to learn from them, but I have a pretty thick head so learning isn't always the quickest.


So this weekend seemed to be non stop.  There was a lot of things that just needed catching up on around the house, hubby got a new job so he is busy trying to catch up and finish everything up at his old job, The Girlchick had gymnastics, tried to have a date night, it just seemed like it was super busy.


We also got to meet our friends, The Hensley's, first baby that we hadn't had a chance to meet yet.  They came over for a visit on their way back to Austin.  It was great to see them and catch up a bit.  


But I've decided that I just need one more day to my weekend to get everything done chore wise to get ready for the coming week and then one day to just relax and have fun.  Luckily with my new job I get to work a condensed work schedule and get to have every other Friday off.  I'm pretty excited about that fact.  

Happy 4th of July!

It was a busy day at our house!  First the annual 4th of July parade in the neighborhood.  Always fun and exciting!  Then we had a play date with The Girlchick's future Husband Big E.  They are so funny together and what they talk about.  How many kids they are going to have (2 sets of twins, one boys and one girls), where they are going to live (with Big E's parents), and how The Girlchick is not ever going to change dirty diapers - that is Big E's job!  Just too funny! The boys decided the afternoon was just WAY to busy to take a nap, so they were a bit cranky, but were still able to enjoy everything.