As I type, Caleb and I are in another stand off. He had a plate of rice and beans tonight for dinner and he wanted to make his brother laugh so he dumped the entire plate upside down over his arm......REALLY!!??!!!???? I couldn't even respond I was so mad so I stared him down and when he was done cracking up I told him he would pick up every piece of rice and every bean off the floor and table before he did anything else (I put the dogs outside so he didn't get any help). If he wanted to "not finish" he could go to bed....he has been in bed twice and he is half way through. After about 10 min in his room he thinks he is ready to attack the mess again so he gives it another go. The first round of clean up consisted of him holding the food above his head and dropping it onto his plate. I told him not too, he did it again and started cracking up...Time Out! After time out he started grabbing the food by the handful, half of the white rice sticking to his hands and then shaking them....rice everywhere.....Time Out! Let me just mention that Robbie is laughing this whole time as hard as Caleb was when he first dumped the bowl over. The only words that Rob can get out between fits of giggles is "He is YOUR son"......Really Rob?.....really helpful. So here we are 2 self dismissals and 2 time outs later and Caleb seems committed, the table is more table than rice now and the floor has been cleaned....I WIN!
Outside of these moments Caleb is doing WONDERFUL! He has lost all of his baby fat and it is crazy looking at him cause he is no longer a toddler, he is all Boy! His neck is getting really long and his legs are long (the 1 inch heel of the boot helps), all of him seems so mature! His vocabulary is constantly improving and the discussions between Braydon and him have some real depth now, I love it. Caleb has also really taken to Austin in the last two weeks. I often find him over by the baby, stroking his cheeks, talking sweet or bringing him toys! and he always passes on what Austin is saying, he feels obligated to be AJ's personal translator. Ex. Yesterday, Austin "awahhha!" "Mom, Austin wants some ice cream! or even better "ughhuaeew" Caleb then announces "mom, I think he has a poopy diaper!" It is a sign of what good friends they will be when Austin gets bigger!
Austin is rolling backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards, he is crazy. I can put him on the floor of the living room, come back 5 minutes later and he will be at the opposite end of the room. His excersaucer is of much interest these days and the only thing missing is a Doorway Jumper! This kid loves to bounce so I have to get to a second hand store (poor kid, if it isn't his brothers hand-me-downs it is someone else's) and pick one up for him! I know he will love it! AJ also got some quality one on one time with his Aunt Alice this weekend, we stayed with Alice and Bob and Alice was gracious enough to watch AJ for a few hours! Lets just say, she needed a drink when it was all over, his puking kinda kept her on her toes....Sorry Alice!
Austin has a big weekend coming up! He will be getting baptized this Sunday and we are having a pool party after to celebrate. There will be fam coming in so stay tuned for pics!
Braydon is TALL! Just like Caleb he is all boy, long and lean! I am constantly struck by his ability to remember things, his sense of direction and how quickly he picks up on things.
Ex. We are driving into a part of town that we had never been too and he says..."hey mom, I don't know this place". Then as soon as we get back to our side of town he tells me where we are in comparison to what he knows...."this is close to swimming" and "now we are close to school"
Picking up on things...Ex. Rob and he were playing catch about two weeks ago and Rob told him to stand sideways when he throws, they spend another 20minutes playing catch and every time he has thrown with his dad since then he goes right to his sideways stance.....I am impressed!!
We did take the kids to get haircuts even after the MANY phone calls telling us that you all loved it long and I will say when the hair was gone I was sad too. I think we will let it grow again for awhile. sorry for the set back :)
Thanks again to Alice and Bob for letting us stay and do the beach this weekend! We had a blast!
*****my apologies for all spelling and grammar errors throughout the blog. I pump out 10minutes of story and rarely if ever reread....it has been suggested that i start proof reading.....no guarantees : ) ***********