Busy Boys at Work

Sometimes Justin can be so cute. He can entertain himself playing and be fun to observe. Once he knows he is being watched he changes his behavior just a bit though. I have wanted to get him doing his hammer play for some time now, but haven't been very successful.

TB, of course, wants to be JUST like his brother.

Ryan the Toddler

Evidently the medical definition of a toddler is a child who between 12 and 36 months of age (at least according to the online medical dictionary I used and we all know if it is on the internet it HAS to be true ;), right?) I know I always thought of it as a young child who is new at walking. That seems to be a popular definition, again according to the infallible sources of the internet. Either way, Ryan is now a toddler.

It took him longer than his brother, but not by much. Justin was walking a few days after his first birthday. Ryan is going to be 13 months old in four days. If I were learning to walk and had Justin constantly running around me, I would be a bit cautious too!

Ryan has been cruising forever. He has been confident in standing in the middle of the room. The walking just wasn't happening even though he loved to stand. He even loved to stand holding things. Here he is playing peek a boo.

Sometimes I swear that he is teasing me. I would try to get him to walk to me and he would get down and laugh. I just hope that he isn't as stubborn as his mother or we are in trouble.

Well today he was walking 7 to 10 steps in the playroom. He did it multiple times. It was so cute to watch how excited he looked. I finally clapped and said yay and then he went all limp noodle. I couldn't catch him on video. Finally, FINALLY I did. I wasn't the best walk of the day, but it is the one I got.

I am sure that before long I will wish that he weren't walking. It is only the start of more trouble.

And, speaking of trouble, how is this kid? Terrible twos has been replaced by Three year old from hell? It does get better, right? I shouldn't complain. Justin is normally a pretty good child. I think that makes it all the harder for me when he has a meltdown. Obviously in this case he is overtired and frustrated. Doesn't mean he is fun to deal with.

Sorry for all the video clips. Now that we are in Africa I figure I better keep Grandma up to date! Skip over them if you want. Don't feel badly. Sometimes I even find them a bit dull, but I figure better too many than not enough.

Before and After

Justin really REALLY needed a haircut. He hates getting it done, as does everyone involved in the process. My dad took Justin to Barber Mike. When it became obvious that just a trim wasn't very practical (didn't take long to discover that and I wasn't surprised), we just shaved it off. I think he looks older!

Here He Crawls

Here comes Tiny! Now that he can crawl he won't stay put! I was trying to take pictures to compare with pictures I took of Justin. Tiny didn't want to stay still to pose. He will be eight months old tomorrow. Justin was not quite six months when I took the pictures of him. Guess that is why he stayed put better.

Here is a pic of Justin (at five months, not a current pic).

Welcome August!

It has been a long week, yet it has flown by. I don't know how that happens. I continue to be up a lot in the night, but at least while Justin is in school I get to catch a little nap with Tiny on most days. There are only two weeks left of Justin's summer school and then I don't know what I will do to keep my sanity. Wouldn't you know that the movers are coming the week AFTER school gets out. Sigh.

This week I made it out with a friend to the fabric area of Tokyo. I bought some fabric as part of a Christmas present for my sister. Now assuming that she reads my blog, I realize this spoils the surprise. She won't know what kind of fabrics though. Justin saw them and wanted to know if he could have them. When I told them they were for Aunt Meredith he said that maybe she would make him a blanket with it like she made for Tiny Baby. So, here is the not so subtle hint for my sister. I think he would like to have some of the fabric on a blanket for him. How can she refuse?

Justin seems to be ready for toilet training. Sometimes he asks to sit on the toilet. I didn't think much of it, until he started to pee whenever I agreed and let him sit on the potty. Today I put him on the toilet three times and asked if he could make peeps. He did all three times. I am sure that people wondered when we were cheering for his penis in the bathroom stall at church! He isn't staying dry in between toilet trips, but I think he is ready to work on it if I try to take him on a regular basis. Great. We move in less than five weeks. Not exactly ideal. We will work with diapers (doesn't seem to bother him) and pull ups rather than underwear for now. Maybe when he is ready to poop in the toilet we will move on. Right now he will run away and tell me that he is NOT making poopies. Hmmm... Not at all suspicious to run off and say you aren't making poopies. I don't mind though. It gives me a few minutes of peace and quiet while he takes care of things. Peace and quiet are rare commodities when Justin is around.
Ryan continues to like to eat. Here he is chewing on a carrot. He loves these little teething food bags. Justin never really did. Correction: Justin NOW loves them and thinks he needs them too. Of course he does.
Ryan can now crawl. It has been a week now. Justin is already annoyed. He tries to explain to Tiny why big boy toys are off limits to babies. He likes to tattle on his brother too. Yeah, good plan. I will put Ryan in time out if he doesn't listen. Poor Justin.
Tiny enjoys being able to get to things. He has pulled a few things off of shelves onto himself. Oops. Guess we have to TINY baby kid-proof the house again. He is discovering all sorts of "toys" that have previously been denied him. Take the strap to Justin's booster chair, for example. Why have we been keeping that from him? How awesome is that? And it doubles as a teether. Ryan finds the most interesting things.

I got some goggles for Justin to see if that would make hair washing less of a drama. Short answer is no, it does not. I have not given up hope though. He may be a challenge, but he is a kid you can talk and reason with--usually.

I thought that I had posted this clip of Tiny, but evidently not so here it is.

Teeth, Toy Story, Toilets, and More

Last night I got to spend a few hours with my two boys. Justin woke up a little before midnight. Rob got him settled again, but it didn't last. I went back in a little while later (while nursing Tiny) and attempted to get him settled again. Justin coughed, Tiny woke up, and and the two boys started laughing at each other. I walked Tiny to get him back to sleep and sat with Justin for two rounds of his music. Wide awake still. Well, HE was wide awake. I sure was not. My arms were getting tired too as I was holding Tiny and wiping his runny nose so he could breathe. I decided to ask Justin if he wanted to go downstairs and rest on the couch with me and watch a show. He was more than willing. I put in Finding Nemo, something Justin has never watched more than about five minutes of. I figured it would last longer than an episode of Dora and maybe lull him to sleep. Nope. He was only semi-interested, but his cough kept him from falling asleep. I put in Toy Story, a show he has not seen before, and put Tiny down in his pack and play beside us. Poor baby got Justin's cold and is coughing too. He would settle himself though, so finally Justin got to rest on me. Maybe NOW he would fall asleep. Shortly into the movie, Justin exclaimed, "It's Buzz! I play with Buzz at school!" I guess instead of liking the toy because of the movie, Justin likes the movie because of the toy. He was hooked! Kind of funny since earlier this week I was talking to Kai's mom (Kai LOVES Buzz) and said Justin hadn't even wanted to watch Toy Story yet. Justin's coughing started again and disturbed Tiny. It was about 4 AM. I got Rob to deal with Justin while I tried to get Tiny back to sleep. I only got about two hours before Tiny decided he needed to poop and be up for the morning. Now it is 10:30. Tiny is taking a nap and I am sitting with a cranky Justin on the couch watching Toy Story again. He loves it. I opted NOT to try church with the boys today. When Rob gets back I hope that Justin will be ready for a nap and I can also sleep , leaving Rob with just Tiny to deal with. We shall see.



Justin got a new hat this week. Actually, he got two new hats, but I only have pictures of him with one of his new hats. I am happy that he wears them outside. It isn't a battle like it seems to be with so many kids. I think a lot of that has to do with Grandma being consistent last summer. Hat came off, Justin went inside. Some days here he doesn't need a hat, but in Namibia it will be critical! He has been really good about sunscreen too. That kind of surprises me because he hates lotion. Sunscreen is very similar as far as I'm concerned. I told him that we need sunscreen to keep his body safe in the hot sun and he doesn't complain. In fact, he would probably protest if I didn't put it on him.



Tiny still isn't crawling, but he manages to get around somehow. He raises himself on his arms, throws his rear in the air, and lunges forward. If there is something available, he will push with his feet to get some movement. He doesn't like to stay put. If interesting things are going on around him, he wants to be a part. In this picture, Daddy and Justin were having fun without him and he wanted to join in. After I took the pic, we let him loose. He has four teeth in, but four more are following. They make him miserable, and the rest of us suffer too.

This past week Justin has peed in the toilet four times. He has ASKED to sit on the toilet, and then peed. Good sign, right? I should be toilet training him. Great if we weren't moving in first week in September. We won't be in our new house until the end of October. That means lots of flying and lots of hotels. Sure, I want to be on a 20 plus hour trip to Namibia and working on toilet training--NOT! Maybe if he is interested he can have pullups at Grandma and Papa's house.

I think I will put up more of Justin's summer camp pictures on facebook. Enjoy!

Gargles and Dogs

Tiny makes the funniest little gargling noise. I think he sounds like some cute Star Wars type creature. Not an ewok, but something cute. I was so excited to get this on video, but unfortunately it didn't work out so well. He likes to throw his big head around and it got him a bit off balance. You can hear his heartless parents laughing in the background when he accidentally rolls over and it scares him. It was just kind of amusing because he does lose his balance so often because of his head. Whether he is sitting, being held, or on his stomach, Tiny likes to get that head back as far as it can be thrown.


FINALLY I was able to get a little of the gargle noise. It is much cuter when he is doing it happily than when he is doing it while crying.

Justin loves to read books to himself. Go, Dog, Go! is one of his current favorites. Here is the part where he has to stop and explain that the dogs do not match the trees that they are in. Guess I have him doing a little too much sorting and matching. I am turning him into an obsessive little monster.



This is one of Justin's favorite parts. He likes the "Do you like my hat?" dialogue between the two dogs. He even acts it out. Beware! It is hard to know if you are supposed to like his hat or not. Heaven forbid you like it when you shouldn't or vice versa. I like when he acts out this part of the book with his toys and changes the voices for the two different dogs.

Here he is with a segment from the dog party part of the book.

Too bad the lighting wasn't very good, but Justin is not one to let me move him to a better place to get things on video. You would think he would cooperate so he could watch himself later. He loves watching himself.

Quilts, Water, Jumps, and Cheers

This week Tiny got the little quilt that Meredith made for him. He really likes the fabric on it. Sometimes he tries to pick up the white dots off of the brown background. I am not sure if that is cute or sad because he obviously isn't ever successful. He has managed to grab onto the quilt and pull it over on top of himself as he rolls. That takes talent. Probably more talent if you are doing it intentionally, but still, we are all impressed, Tiny.


Justin continues to like to help in the kitchen. It can be hard to come up with jobs for him to do. Rob thinks that at some point in his life Justin will accidentally reveal to the world the strange things his mother has assigned him to do. Yesterday while I was cutting up watermelon I gave Justin some watermelon rind and his little scrub brush. I asked him to clean it so we could throw it away. He must think I am quite the clean freak! He did an okay job.
Doesn't Tiny look so cute relaxed and chilling with Dad on the couch? I ordered him some new shoes. He rarely wears socks long because he can (and does) pull them off.

Even though Justin gets plenty of time at the wading pool, Tiny does not. We went over for a bit on Saturday and Ryan LOVES it. I am going to need to find some kind of baby pool float for our pool in Africa.

Tiny likes the jumper, but he ADORES big brother Justin. Whenever he is upset I know Justin can cheer him up IF Justin is willing, I try to make it fun. Here he is cheering on the tiny jumper. Two different short segments.

Funny Boys

Justin loves letters and numbers. His ability to count helps make things easier for me at times. He understands first, next, last or #1, #2, #3. He doesn't have the fine art of negotiation down very well. When told that he has a two minute time out, he will often give me a counter offer of five minutes. Whatever works for him!

Poor Justin was having a hard time counting the train track pieces when they were in an oval. He is generally a pretty accurate counter, but since the oval leads back into itself he recounted the same pieces and made it past 20, but not quite to 30.



Tiny, unlike Justin at the same age, understands that the jumperoo is for jumping and not just standing. Ryan does have the advantage of a cheering section though. Go Tiny!

Pictures, Video, and a Pretty Good Week!

What a great week! Justin started the toddler summer camp program and he loves it. I probably love it even more. Too bad it is only 9 to 12 and not full day or sleep over. ;) Every morning when he wakes up, Justin makes sure to tell us that he has energy and is ready to go to school. Too bad he still wakes up around 5:00 AM. We have tried to convince him to sleep later, but he just isn't interested in sleep. Can't be my child.
Justin's "school" begins each morning at the wading pool. It is easy to convince Justin to get ready for the pool every morning. If only everything could be so easy with him.

The playground also reopened this week. Thank goodness! After school, Justin has lunch and a nap before we head back outside. He is enjoying the new equipment. He is still an outdoorsy kind of kid though and spends about as much time in the dirt and the sticks as he does with the playground equipment.

Tiny continues to be my ravenous beast. He loves his solid foods! So different from Justin at this age. He enjoys his foot too. I find green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash on his legs, feet, socks, ear... That baby food sure gets all over.

Tiny loves playing with Justin's toys. I suppose it is only fair since Justin is constantly taking Tiny's toys away or trading them out with Tiny and insisting that the trade is mutually agreeable. It is a good thing that Ryan is such a good natured little guy. He is starting to protest sometimes though. I don't blame him. Not only does Justin take things away from Tiny because they are "for grown-ups, not babies" but he sometimes finds that he NEEDS to play with Tiny's rattle or other baby toy.

This is a very LONG clip, so if you aren't Grandma, you might want to go ahead and just skip it.

My friend, Erin, gave me a little push car that her daughter has outgrown. Ryan loves it, but so does Justin. I am able to give Ryan some time with it while Justin is away at school.

Tiny Loves Justin

Trying to catch up with posts. This one will not be very interesting. Sorry. Pictures for Grandma though. :)
Luckily, Tiny loves Justin. Justin often decides he MUST have Tiny's toys. Of course this is most likely because he has no toys of his own, right? Here is Justin taking over one of Tiny's books and telling Tiny it is okay to have his big brother rip the book out of his hot little hands. Tiny likes his infant gym and guess what--so does Justin!
This ball is one of Tiny's absolute favorite toys. Justin has tried to play catch with Tiny. It is hard to be too upset with him when he is honestly trying to play with his brother. He seemed surprised that Tiny didn't catch it. He told Tiny to catch, but it still hit Tiny in the face. Tiny has a pathetic little cry that indicates a fear/hurt/surprise type emotion.

I have a game called Ring Around the Nosey that I bought several years ago on clearance at Toys R Us. The kids in my classrooms over the years have enjoyed it. Justin, Tiny, and I played with it for awhile. Justin cheated (and won) and Tiny doesn't play very well. We had a good time though.


Here is my sweet talking Tiny!

Video Clips of Rolling and Not Rolling

Even though Tiny has been rolling for awhile, I still want to catch it on video. I have not had success. He is more interested in me and the camera. When I turn my back, he immediately rolls.


Justin, on the other hand, is all too happy to show off for me. I am sure you are so impressed to see a two year old roll. ;)



I find it more interesting to watch how Justin plays with his toys. These stacking/nesting cups have numbers on them. It is helpful since Justin is about as good at visual spatial things as I am. Poor child! He has fun with them though. Warning: probably boring video if you are not Justin's grandmother, mother, or Justin himself.

Playing Outdoors

Now that spring seems to be here to stay, I have been spending a lot of time outside with the boys. The nearby playground is a favorite spot. Justin has really learned to maneuver the playground equipment well since we have been back in Japan. He owes a lot of that to his dad. I hate seeing him climb because that can mean falls! There have been some, but thus far nothing major. See how brave I am letting him go into the treehouse?
Justin really enjoys having other kids out on the playground with him. He has a lot of fun with Sammy, who is about Justin's age. I hope that in Namibia we are able to find some kids for Justin to socialize with. It is good to see him having so much fun doing such simple things.

Sammy's dad was out on the playground the other day and took some pictures. I think this one really captures my Justin. The poor little kid always looks a little bit neglected. I swear he doesn't stay clean and groomed for more than five seconds! Sometimes I take advantage of this and don't put forth much effort. The other day when I told Justin that I needed him to come over so I could comb his hair, he told me that he didn't need to be handsome because he wasn't going to church, he was going to the play park! True indeed, but it would be nice if he didn't look like he was in charge of his own grooming.

Tiny is still a pretty mellow guy. Once he starts crawling I don't know if he will be as content to just sit in the stroller. He loves watching Justin. I admit, Justin is entertaining!

Justin is intrigued by the big kid swings. I should point out that I do NOT push him high, or really very much at all. He is not ready for that and I don't want him to land on his head. He likes to swing with me or in the baby swings though. He can never get as high as he would like.

Tiny still likes things on his head when he sleeps. Don't cover up those arms and legs too much or he gets upset though. What a strange little kid. People look at me like I am a bit weird when I throw a burp rag or lovey over his face when he is screaming. It often means he is tired and needs his face covered. Sometimes he instantly stops crying.

One day when Tiny was asleep, I decided to help Justin with a "big boy" puzzle. Good, quiet activity, right? Not when he gets excited about getting pieces to fit. Needless to say, his enthusiastic cheering woke up the baby. :(

It's Been Awhile

It has been awhile since I have written. It has been nice to be back home in Tokyo, but taken awhile to get back into the groove of things and come up with a routine. With two small boys the routine isn't always set as well as I would like either. My boys do keep me busy. I am not sure how people deal with multiple small children. I do not do well.

Justin continues to make me smile and laugh while testing my patience at the same time. He has tried kicking me out of the house in the morning by commanding, "Mommy go work, Daddy sit on floor play!" Little does he know that there are days Mommy would like to leave and go to work (or go anywhere). Now that my mom has gone home and isn't here to help with the boys I don't even get to go to the bathroom by myself very often. Can't leave my boys alone together or who knows what would happen. Justin has a love/hate relationship with Ryan. When he is jealous he gets a bit rough intentionally. Other times he just loves him to death with too tight hugs, overly enthusiastic tickles and pats, or by sharing toys--especially stuffed animals on the face. He seems to enjoy waking the sleeping baby and then complaining about the crying. Sigh! Tiny, bless his heart, is pretty good natured. Now that he is more alert and smiles, coos, kicks, and reaches for things, Justin is more interested in him. That is good and bad. Tiny is definitely more interested in Justin. Whether he just likes watching his brother's antics or watches in dread and fear is anyone's guess. He has such cute smiles and laughs. He has expressive eyes too. Even Rob has noticed and mentioned it a few times. There are times when Ryan looks and me and we just connect with each other.

Justin has a doll named Bobby. I tried catching him being gentle and loving with Bobby, but as soon as the camera came out, Justin started beating the poor thing. Guess he doesn't want me to think I can expect him to be sweet with Ryan.

Ryan loves having a blanket on his head. If he had his way it would cover his face completely. I think he is going to be a sleeper who needs a blanket. The SIDS police will probably come and take me away. I don't mean to make light of SIDS and feel for people who have lost a child to SIDS, but I am getting really tired of hearing all the contributers. Pacifiers reduce the risk. Being premature increases the risk. Blankets increase the risk. Sleeping on stomach increases the risk. Increased altitude increases the risk. Co-sleeping increases the risk. The list goes on and on. I wonder how they know this. Is it antedotal? Could it be that babies with blankets or those who sleep on their stomach actually sleep without being held and therefore are more at risk? If a baby is constantly held by an awake and alert individual, wouldn't that be the best way to prevent it? There are just too many rules for me! I know, sleeping in the swing is bad too.

Justin and the concept of time out are getting to know each other pretty well. Justin generally hates time out, but he does like playing time out. He will plop his body on the time out bench and say, "Time out 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes..." He often chooses 18 minutes. Eighteen is still his favorite number for some reason. After giving himself a time out, he laughs. He says, "ha ha ha," just like that by saying it instead of actual laughing. He will call my name repeatedly and make sure to get my attention before he refuses to comply with his own time out. Sometimes I admit I am tempted to enforce them. :)

Ryan is often in Justin's thoughts. The other night when Rob asked Justin if he wanted to say the prayer Justin said that he did. Rob asked Justin who he wanted to help him. Justin paused for a minute and then shouted out, "I want Tiny Baby help!" He was rather pleased that he came up with this. From now on we will be more specific with his options.