Thursday, August 31, 2006

Poopy Blog Entry

So, on Monday, Devin had three poopy diapers. As I took off poopy diaper #3, I exclaimed, "3!" And, I had a little conversation with Devin about poopy diapers. He liked exclaiming 3 himself! So, I started asking him how many poopy diapers he had. He would tell me "FREEEE" and hold up his hands like he was showing me three fingers. He was showing me 10 fingers, but I'm calling this proof of concept. He gets counting...

He'll also scurry to the changing table whenever I tell him it's time to change the diaper. He'll start trying to climb on the table. And, on occasion, he'll come to tell me he's poopy and run to the changing table on his own.

This may seem off topic, but it's not. Devin knows who Sponge Bob Squarepants is. He can even sorta say Sponge Bob. We have a little toilet seat with Sponge Bob on it, and every now and then, I'll sit him on it. He gets distracted by the cartoon characters and hasn't gone pee-pee in the toilet, yet.

pre-K

Trevor has entered a new phase at daycare. We've always called the daycare workers "Teachers" and we often refer to daycare as "school." But, now he's really no longer in Daycare. He really is in school. He's in Pre-school. They have a track now. They spend one year in Pre-school, one year in Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K), and then it's time for Kindergarten. They have a Kindergarten at our daycare, but we haven't decided if he'll go to public school, private school, or stay at Bright Horizons.

Anyway...

Now that there's a track, Trevor wants to get on it and advance as quickly as he can. Yesterday, he told his Dad and me that he was in Pre-K now. He threw little tantrums when we disagreed with him. Apparently, at the end of the day, he went to the Pre-K room. So, now he's in Pre-K. We tried telling him that he needs to be 4, and since he's not 4, we don't think he's really in Pre-K, yet. Daddy tried asking if they gave him a cubby in Pre-K, tried explaining that no one had told him that they were moving him to Pre-K, and I tried finding out who is pre-K teachers are. We tried to use all of this gentle questioning to help him realize that today when he goes to school, he'll still be in the Pre-school classroom. One of the things he used to convince us that he's actually in Pre-K is that his muscles are big enough now. We've been telling him he needs to get lots of sleep in order to have big muscles and grow up to be big and strong. And, he has been going to bed at bedtime with fewer fights lately. But alas, it's not just big muscles that get a kid into pre-K.

I haven't asked Daddy yet how drop off went. More on that later...

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Sting like a bee...

The bees seem a little worse this year than previous years at our house. It's probably my perception. We spent more time inside the firt 2 years that we were here.

Outside today, a bee was flying around Devin's face. He "swatted" at it a few times, and I started walking towards him so that I could help. As I got there, he swatted it right into his nose and held it there for a moment.

The trapped bee stung his little nose.

I live with 3 men...

I've always taken for granted that when I sit on the toilet, the seat will be down. Maybe there was a time when I was a kid that I didn't take it for granted, but that was a long time ago, and I might be making it up now.

But, someone at daycare, either Miss Dena, Miss Kelly, or Miss Jennifer, taught Trevor how to pee standing up. Maybe I should have taken that task on myself, but I wasn't ready. Now, they haven't taught him the importance of putting the seat down everytime. I'm ready for them to start working on that. Because I am 1 woman, living in a house with 3 men...

(it's going to get worse before it gets better!)

Bike Riding

Trevor can ride his bike. I expressed surprise that he could ride his bike, but he told me that I already knew he could ride a bike. He brakes with his feet on the ground, but I think braking with the pedals is coming soon.

Devin can drive the jeep!

I can't let him wear the seat belt or he wouldn't be able to reach the pedals, but he almost did the home track today with only a little backseat driving from me.

I miss myself

Trevor was watching one of the Trevor and Devin home movies tonight. It made him sad. He misses himself.

Originally, I thought that he was upset because he was watching the home movie, and then it was time for bed, and he wanted to keep watching the movie. But, that wasn't the case. Daddy told me later that Trevor started crying while watching the movie because he missed himself. He was crying hard, too. And, whimpering. He was really sad. I brought it up after I thought he was over it, and it made sad all over again.

On a happier note, when I took Trevor to bed, I read him the Rainbow Zebra. Then, he read me a book about a Tow Truck.

and I...

I think I was a freshman in college before I understood the difference between me and I, and the proper way to use each in a sentence. Trevor still says "I amn't," so he grammar is not perfect by any means. But, today, he caught me off guard by saying, "Mommy...Daddy, Devin and I are playing in the driveway. Come with us."

This isn't a big deal. I think that I use I and me correctly most of the time, and I'm sure he's picked up on the correct usage of the subjective "I" in a sentence. But, it was new for me to hear him use it properly.

It's the little things. I was pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and "Not at all" has persisted as part of Trevor's various conversations.

I got to read a book!

The Kite Runner

I negelected the children and their father to read this book today. It was a very good book.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Stats

Trevor and Devin followed me to the bathroom yesterday and stood on the scale. First, Trevor stood on the scale. He's up to 35 pounds. He said to me, "How tall am I? HOW TALL AM I?" I told him he was 35 pounds, but that's only how much he weighed.

Then, Devin got on the ssale. He's up to 25.5 pounds. After he got on the tiny little stage that is the scale, he started to dance. Trevor said, "it's not for dancing. IT'S NOT FOR DANCING!"

Thursday, August 24, 2006

A New pattern, a new diagnosis

Devin got another incident report for biting. He got moved to the 2 year old room. I think the move, the new kids, the new teachers are affecting his frustration level. I wasn't quite expecting this move, yet. He'll be offered the potty three times a day, but not forced to use it.

We also got confirmation that Devin is a carrier for thalisemia like me and Trevor. He was also a little anemic, but the doctor doesn't want to put him on iron until we know for sure he's iron deficient. He was so good when he gave that blood. He didn't even twitch, really. He was so good that the phlebotomist took an extra vial of blood! Seems like punishment, but I guess she knew what she was doing. Trevor was really good, too. He could have made it a very unhappy experience for all of us, but he quietly looked through a book and then accepted some stickers and a saf-t-pop.

Not at all...

Trevor wore his new jeans to daycare today. It's a bit cool, and all of his shorts are in the laundry. He did not want to wear those jeans and he threw a fit about it.

After daycare, I asked how he liked his jeans. He liked them OK, he told me. But, he didn't like the color. In fact, it was the color of the jeans that made him so opposed to wearing them that morning, he told me. Just to confirm, I asked, "You don't like the color?" He replied, "no, not at all" in a grown up little voice.

The jeans are blue...

So...

When it was really hot a few weeks ago, we brought in a fan to put in the boys' room because it was 94 degrees in their room at night. Very quickly, Trevor got used to sleeping with it in his room. Even as it's gotten cooler, he will wake up in the middle of the night to tell us to turn his sleeping fan on. Or, to put in "loud mode."

Well, tonight, well past bedtime, he stuck a plastic hanger into that fan. It made a loud noise, and then it busted.

I rushed upstairs, and we took the fan out of the room. He cried a little. Not a lot. I was almost expecting a tantrum, but he only whimpered for the most part. It hurt his fingers, hit him in the face, but mostly he was sad because the whole experience hurt his feelings.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Incident Report

Devin bit one of his friends at daycare today, and he got written up.

When I got in the car to ride home with everyone, we all told Devin that it's not nice to bite.

Devin responded by saying, "bite!" several times over.

Blogging Vikki

A Vikki Funny

New Phase

I think Trevor is in a new phase. It seems like the tantrums are fewer and farther between, and he seems more loving and thoughtful. The tantrums aren't gone forever, but it's nice that they aren't as frequent as before.

Fishing at our Pond

We went fishing at our pond with Grandma and Grandpa when they were in town. We were literally pulling fish out of the water, and it was indeed a good time.

I asked Trevor what his favorite part of the day was...catching the biggest fish he tells me. And, he did. It was a 10 inch long bass. Quite a large catch for a Spider-Man fishing pole. And, since Grandpa was helping, I think he pulled that fish in on his own. (If I had been helping, I would have "helped" too much.)

Devin can sign!

For the past week, Devin has been touching the tips of his fingers together. It was an odd little movement, maybe a little obsessive-compulsive.

But, I had a lightbulb moment over the weekend. I was outside with my neighbor, and I asked her if this little sign meant anything. It means "more."

We had a meeting at daycare yesterday, and his teacher confirmed this is a sign they are teaching the kids. I'm not sure he's using it just right. He uses when he wants more of something (food, normally) but it's not he's just eaten. It could be that he ate 12 hours ago, and he wants to eat again.

Daycare has also taught him how to fake sneeze. He says AHHHHHH as he slowly tilts his head backwards, and then CHOOOOO as he throws his head forward.

Cute, Cute, Cute.

The following might be a bad parenting story:
Devin was playing with markers yesterday just before we left to go shopping. As I carried him out to the car, I noticed something hard in his diaper. I reached in and pulled out a marker cap. Later, as we waited for the Wal-mart oil change guy to get us set up so we could go into Wal-Mart (long wait, a story for another day) Devin cried, arched his back and said Pee-Pee several times. I finally got him out (good thing, that wait for the oil Change guy was over 30 minutes!) Once he was out of his car seat, his pee-pee stopped hurting him.

Fast Forward three hours...

Devin has had lunch, went to a daycare meeting, waited 30 minutes at Wal-Mart, shopped at Wal-Mart, taken a nap in the car that had extended to a nap in the house. It's time to change his diaper. Inside his diaper, I find 2 additional marker caps. They had finally lodged between his butt cheeks and didn't hurt so much any longer. But, still...

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Devin Choose Trevor

Actually, Trevor was asking why Devin bites him. Then, he noted that once Devin chewed him. He elaborated that Devin bit him a lot of times. He wanted to know why Devin did these things. He guessed that it was because Devin is a bad baby.

At one point, I tried to tell him that Devin learns some bad things from Trevor. Trevor countered with, "why does Devin learn so many good things from me?"

I wanted to know who had been telling him that Devin was a bad baby who bit and chewed Trevor. He claimed that it was just true, and that no one told him that Devin was a biting, chewing bad baby.

But, while it's true that Devin has bitten Trevor, I have never seen him chew Trevor. Not at all. I think Trevor was making it up for the most part...

Conversation in the car

On the way home from daycare today, Trevor and I were talking. He told me that Nafisa is the pre-K teacher. So, I asked why she was watching him at the park if she's not his teacher.

Well, we got off track here.

"No, Mom, it's not a park, it's a playground!" He was adamant; passionate, even.

I asked what's the difference between a park and a playgound.

"You play at the park," he tells me.

"Do you play at the playgound?" I asked.

He told me that he did.

"So, what's the difference between a playground and a park?" I asked.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU!"

I explained that he didn't really tell me the difference between a playground and a park. He only told me that he played at both places. So, I asked again...what is the difference?

"I just don't know, Mom."

He sounded a little defeated.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Speaking of things I don't understand...

Cardinal Executives up bonuses

These 5 men, 2 of whom are new to the company and one of whom left on 7/31, gave themselves an extra $3 Million in bonuses this year. $3 million over last year!

I just don't get it...

I don't understand...

Why kids go through phases where they like to call their parents by their first names. But, Trevor is currently calling his Daddy by his first name. It's kinda cute. I can't help but think it's kinda cute.

He just now said to me, "Mom, can I call you Mom or Tricia?" I told him that I prefer Mom.

Then, he said, "Mom, can I call him Dev or Devin?" You can call him Dev, I said. "Why?" Trevor replied.

Ha Ha Ha...

Thursday, August 03, 2006

New Videos


Trevor's new JEEP Trick


Devin Says Cheese