Wednesday, May 31, 2006

No-uh!

Trevor's been adding emphasis to many of his words lately. My favorite is: No-uh!

Brothers

If you're a long time reader, you might remember reading that whenever I would drive up and Trevor was in the driveway with his dad, he would run to the fence and make himself as small as possible, giving me the distinct impression that he thinks I'm a crazy driver.

Lately, Daddy and I have been driving in together, so we haven't given Trevor the opportunity to run away from my "Volks" (this is what Trevor calls my car). But, today, I drove my own car, and when I drove up, Daddy was already home. Both Trevor and Devin were standing in the garage in the spot where I normally park my Volks. Trevor immediately ran out of the garage and away from my spot. Devin didn't know enough to do the same. Trevor yelled at Devin, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" a few times. When Devin didn't listen, Trevor ran up, grabbed Devin's hand, and pulled him out of the way.

Brothers...

Sunday, May 28, 2006

More Pics

You may have already seen them, but I added more pictures to The Roths go to Disneyworld

Devin's Rosetta Stone 5/28/2006

Jee-Jee: drink
Me me me me me: Give me that
Moh Moh: Milk or Drink
Wa: Waffle
Deh, Jeh, or Yeh: Yes
No: no
No no no no no no no: Seriously, no

Devin the Monster

Devin is going through one of those so-called "stages". And, it's making him mean, ornery and mischievous.

When we got to Mom and Dad's house, Devin was a little shy with everyone. But then, he started hitting everyone. Then, he pulled hair. Before we came home, he had started making this face. With intensity and mischief, he bares his bottom teeth, rares back his arm and then takes a swing.

I hope it's a stage. Trevor is getting the brunt of it, but me and Daddy get quite a bit, too. It's embarrassing when your toddler hits you in public!

Trevor is doing pretty good with this stage. We try to redirect Devin from mean-ness to nice-ness by telling him to hug. Trevor allows and even sometimes initiates the hugs. We asked Devin's daycare teachers their thoughts on this behaviour, and they told us that Devin had been pretty mean the previous week in daycare. They're the one who suggested we redirect him to hugs.

Well, I hope this "stage" is over soon.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

My young 'uns.

Ever since we got back from Walt Disney World, Devin's wonderful sleeping patterns have disappeared. Now that he knows the word, "no", telling him it's bedtime results in a string of no's. "No, no, no, no, no, no." Just like that.

The first time he woke up in the middle of the night once the bad sleeping pattern emerged, he told me "momil." If you remember, that's his way of saying, "can I have a drink?" At that point, I got him a little sippy cup of water. The next time his bad sleeping patterns caused him to wake up, he told me "momil" again. So, I handed him his sippy cup again. Now, in the middle of the night when he asks for his sippy cup, I give it to him, and he won't give it up. He holds it close like his favorite stuffed toy. But, he doesn't have a favorite stuffed toy. He's just got that sippy cup he really loves.

Now, Trevor has all sorts of fears. At first, it was cute. It's still sorta cute, I suppose.

A week or two ago, rather than moving all the scary toys out of his room, I covered his bed in quilts. I gave it a roof and a front wall. This worked for awhile. He's still sleeping in his bed house, but the novelty has worn off. Now, he tells me that he doesn't want his room to be downstairs. So, tonight, he helped me lock the doors. Then, we checked underneath the bed, in the closet, under the desk, and in the corners of the room with a flashlight. I gave him the flashlight to sleep with. He seems ok now. It's a new novelty. I think it's going to be OK. But, I'm looking forward to the time when his fear goes away. The other thing he's been doing is closing all the doors all the time. He closes bathroom doors, his bedroom door, the mudroom door, and, when he's desperate, he'll go all the way upstairs to close our bedroom and closet door. But, the closet door...he only closes that when he's feeling very brave. That's where we keep the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. They have scary, bloody eyebrows.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Devin

Devin's language acquisition skills have recently picked up considerably, it seems.

He now uses yeah and no correctly about 70% of the time.

Why, just last night, I asked him if he was ready for bed, and he said, "no!" I asked the same question different ways, and he kept answering "no!" He fell asleep on my lap, but I'm pretty certain that wasn't quite his plan.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Charlie and the Chocolate factory

Since the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have parents known what a good movie it is to show kids?

We watched the new version as a family the other night. We've been trying to make Trevor listen to us, and it's been more of a challenge than normal. But, after watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, things have gotten easier.

In this movie, bad things happen to kids who don't listen. One fell into a Chocolate River and got sucked up into a big tube. Another turned into a blueberry, another fell into a trash bin, and another got shrunk. It seems the idea of not listening and turning into a blueberry is the most alarming to Trevor. If he's not listening, we tell him, "You're not listening to your parents." It's this phrase that seems to be the key for him...especially the part about the parents. Then, we remind him what CAN happen to kids who don't listen. They COULD turn into blueberries. He starts listening. Not all the time, but more than before Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And, it's not like we're being dishonest. It COULD happen in some alternate universe.

Daddy wouldn't let me tell him this story...

The other morning, Devin got up, and he was standing at the top of the steps. I'm not sure what had his attention, but he seemed content.

Then, he came into the bathroom where I was. I hadn't turned on the light, and it was hard to see. He was holding his fingers out to me and making noises that indicated he needed help. I touched his fingers in the dimly lit bathroom, and then I understood...

He was poopy, and he had discovered this himself by sticking his hands into his diaper.

Yuck...

I wiped our hands off, and I took him around the waist, held him out in front of me (just in case the poopy was not from inside the diaper) and walked downstairs to change him. On the way to the changing table, he said, "poopy."

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

If you haven't noticed...

there's a link to the right called "The Roths go to Disneyworld!" Click it to see pictures and notes to myself for our next trip. Or, just click below:

The Roths go to Disneyworld

Another cute Devin habit...

We had a step stool that we used to reach high cabinets, lights, and then when Trevor started potty training, we let him use it to get up to the toilet, if he chose to potty on the big toilet.

Then one day, Devin and Trevor started fighting over the step stool, and I also noticed that our old ugly step stool was old and ugly and didn't really match our bathroom decor at all. So, I went to Target and bought a cute little step stool that would fit quite easily between the tub and the toilet if it stayed in the bathroom for extended periods of time.

I didn't get rid of the old stool. It has its place. It's still old and ugly, but it's a little taller and Trevor likes to use it reach things he can't normally reach. But, I've digressed now, having written a couple of short paragraphs on step stools.

The new really cute thing Devin does is carry the stool from room to room. Both Trevor and Devin actually do this, and it's nice to have two stools so they don't fight over the one old ugly stool. Devin likes to carry his step stool into the living room, put it in front of the couch or the chair, and then climb up onto the furniture. Then, he sits and smiles like he's really done something. And, I suppose he has.

(Stool...does it still sound like a word to you?)

More language acquisition...Devin

Devin can now say:
Go
Knee
Bubba
Bubble
More Milk (momil...it also means water, apple juice, drink)
Nose
Poopy
Baby
Mama
Dada
He's got a sound for Trevor. It's a consistent sound, 2 syllables, something like Yeh-yeh. I've been trying to teach him to call Bubba since that's just easier.

He also says something like meh-meh. It means something like, "I want."

Blank-ey

Last night, Devin and I were sitting on the sofa for about a minute. All of a sudden, he hopped up and walked away. Just a few moments later, he came out of Trevor's room with a blanket. He wanted back on my lap right away. He just wanted to be covered up. He did the same thing tonight. It's pretty cute.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

The Cling-Monster has returned!

Devin does this new thing at daycare, and it's pretty cute.

When we drop him off at daycare, he dives into his cubbie for his coat so that he doesn't have to stay. Then, he cries and cries and clings and clings.

His teachers tell us that he calms down within a couple of minutes of being dropped off. That's good.

Bedtime has also become a pretty good challenge. I put him into bed, and he climbs off the bed. Then, he pulls his blanket after him. I try to move away, and moves closer to me. It's almost precious. Almost...

Monday, May 01, 2006

More Scary Toys...

Trevor...

The other night, he picked up about 8 toys and a Monkey Pillow and put them outside his room. Because they were scary.

The next night, he picked up the shirt he'd worn that day. It had a dinosaur on it. He chucked it out of the room.

I tried to direct this fear into picking up his toys. I gave him two bins, one for scary things and one for regular toys. I wish I could say this worked perfectly well. I ended up picking up the toys, and then sitting the scary toy bin outside his room. And, just about every night since then, the scary bin sits outside his room at night.

If this is some sort of stage, I should expect Devin to be afraid of things that aren't really scary in January 2008.

He's Pushin' it!

"You're pushin' it!"

Parents say this all the time. I suppose a kid might wonder what that means, and as a kid, I'm sure that I did.

As a parent, I get it. Boy, do I get it!

We tell Trevor to stop doing one thing, like "Stop hitting the table with the spoon." So, he listens and stops hitting the table with a spoon. But, then he starts hitting the table with his fork. He's been this way for maybe three months.

So, I did the math. I should expect this from Devin sometime around 11/15/2007. Probably sooner. He picks up a lot of bad habits from his big brother.

New Word

I suppose it's not a new word. Kids say it all the time in an effort to be grammatically adventurous and grammatically correct.

Several times now, Trevor's had told me, "I amn't!" I would tell him that he's being hard to get along with, and he exclaims, "but, I amn't!"