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.

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!

Another Week with Kids

I love the way Tiny sleeps. Just give him a blanket (or burp rag, or hat, or towel, or shirt...) and/or cover his head and face and he sleeps pretty well. Certainly better than Justin did or does. I love it when I am near him when he wakes up. He opens his eyes and is immediately happy if he sees me. Even as I type, he is in the same seat as the picture with one blanket over his head and another clutched in his hand. So precious. Now looking at the next picture and seeing Justin out cold you might jump to the conclusion that he is a great sleeper. WRONG! He has been having night terrors and other funky sleep things going on lately that have made it hard for Rob and me to sleep at night. Evidently even though Justin appears refreshed in the morning, it must take something out of him too.

I know that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two NOT watch TV, but Ryan disagrees. Look at the way he contorts his body to see the screen. He can roll front to back and back to front now and thinks he is pretty cool. Sometimes his arm gets caught under his body and that ticks him off. He has a set of lungs and knows how to use them. I wish he would use them more often. The other day I caught Justin shoving foil from some candy into Tiny's mouth. Was Tiny screaming? No, he was laughing. He also laughs when Justin sits on him. Hello!?!? Why do you encourage him, Ryan? Ryan thinks that Justin is the best toy ever. I don't know if he is as good as TV though. TV is pretty awesome.
Ryan has also started using his Jumperoo. He likes it better than the swing or the chair. He jumps in it only a little so far. I have to raise it yet again. He is a tall dude and ready for setting three of four. At this rate he will outgrow it by next week!
I continue to be amazed that people have more than two children. My brother and his wife are expecting their fourth. How on earth do they manage? I can't get enough sleep with two of them! I look forward to the day I can smile again instead of clenching my mouth closed to keep from yawning or drooling. I wonder what it is like to NOT have a full laundry hamper. I think there was a time in my life when I didn't have to vacuum at least once a day. Oh well. I have grown rather attached to the little buggers--MOST of the time.

Here is a clip of Tiny making Tiny type noises. I would say that it is pretty boring if you aren't family, but Rob would probably tell me it is boring even if you are family. I am not sure which clip it is. I tried taking several, but the boy just didn't cooperate. I figured it didn't matter which one I uploaded.

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.

Countdown to Japan!

Today is Monday. Since we are leaving early on Thursday morning for Japan, I was relieved that Ryan's passport has FINALLY arrived. Yes, I went in to apply for it on January 7th. Yes, it went through the special issuance office and should have been done more quickly. Right now I don't care that it took way longer than it should have. I am just happy to have it in my possession. Packing is underway, frequent flyer numbers and special meal requests have been added to the reservations, and things are looking pretty good. Now I am just hoping that we can be relatively healthy. Today Justin was coughing so hard that he threw up on me. A nice compliment to the boogers that he put in my hair and the sour milk smell I share with Tiny Baby. Please just let us be healthy for our flight. The main leg of the trip is already a hellish 10 hours and 45 minutes. At least we should be able to survive the trip since my dear mother is coming along to help me with the darlings.

Once we get to Japan the fun will continue. We have another child and lots more stuff to try to cram into our tiny apartment. It is going to be interesting. I have a feeling that there will be rubbermaid containers out on the balcony We do have a couple of storage rooms in our apartment. Unfortunately some genius thought it was a good idea for the doors to swing into the room, greatly reducing the amount of usable space in the small rooms.

Of late I have not been enjoying Justin. Even my mother has called him a vile, slimey creature. He truly is disgusting. He looks like he has been neglected for quite some time. It doesn't take long to go from tidy and neat to smelly and nasty. Talk about a kid only a mother can love. Love is the key word, he certainly is not very likeable.

I have been enjoying Ryan. He is such a cuddly little sleep buddy. Yes, I do hope to get him sleeping on his own once we adjust to the time change in Japan, but I am going to go with the flow. I stressed so much over Justin and didn't enjoy the cuddle period as much as I could have. Now I try to treasure holding this (not so) tiny baby in my arms. Two months old tomorrow. He is not so little. He has grown and changed so much. I haven't taken as many pictures of him as I did of Justin. I guess now I am dividing time between the two of them. I also am holding Ryan a lot to protect him from his brother's love and also his jealousy. Here is Ryan trying to sleep in the swing. Justin kept sharing balls with him and then wanting them back.

Snotty, screaming, even puking, I love my boys. They bring me joy even when they are not bringing happiness.

Two Kids Almost TOO Many!

So far Ryan has been an easier baby than Justin was. I will keep my fingers crossed that he keeps it up. Of course some of it may be me. My mom agrees that Justin was harder and we can't figure out why it took two of us to care for Baby Justin and we were STILL constantly worn out and sleep deprived. Now Ryan gets held a lot, I admit. (Though Justin was held constantly or he screamed.) I am afraid Ryan will start screaming when he isn't being held. The problems with putting him down are (1) Justin is likely to hurt him intentionally or accidently. His "help" is often anything but helpful! (2) If I put Ryan down and he cries when Justin is asleep or otherwise entertaining himself it gets Justin all worked up. I do NOT want Justin getting up for the day at 3:00 AM because he hears his brother. WE will see how and if things change when we get to Japan. I am bitter that the boys will have to share a room. That is not at all ideal. Justin is an interesting sleeper. Sigh.

Ryan sleeps with me at night. I don't know if that is good or bad. I know everyone has opinions. Do you know what? I don't care! I cared when Justin was little and Justin ended up with me a lot but I felt guilty about it. Yes, at some point I want Ryan in a crib and that will likely be a pain, but for now this is working well for us. He sleeps longer at a time with me (and thus I get more sleep) and he doesn't cry so Justin doesn't wake up. I am trying to enjoy my tiny baby. He is growing up so fast and there will be no more babies for me. Pregnancy is the worst!

Justin is a jealous one and needs to take the few toys Ryan has away from him. Justin constantly insists on "tummy time" with Ryan's toys. He wants to help and tries so hard to be gentle. He will touch him so nicely with one hand while leaning on Ryan with his other hand. Yeah, 30 pounds is too much to rest on your brother. At least Ryan is a sturdy baby at over 11 pounds already. He will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Congratulations to all of you who manage more than two. Two take up my time! I had a 20 minute stand off with Justin today while Ryan had to cry on his own. I told Justin to put back the (three) boots he had thrown from the laundry room into the kitchen. He refused. He would agree to complete the task at the end of 2 minute time outs, and then would laugh and not do it. FINALLY he did it. He kicked each boot into the laundry room so it was just barely in the room. He did it though. He is as stubborn as his mom. It is going to be a long year in the terrible twos and probably a long 16 more years.

My Two Boys

The other day Justin very clearly pointed to the door and said, "Tiny Baby, go home!" I told him that Ryan was at home with Mommy, Daddy, and Justin. That wasn't the news that he wanted to hear. "Oh my, no!" was his response and then he attempted to fling his body on the bed. He missed and fell backwards onto the floor. Oops. That didn't make things any better. We try to teach him how to be a good helper since he wants to be involved. I am happiest when he helps with his baby doll, also named Ryan. What a creative boy I have.

Not a lot is happening here. Record cold is keeping us indoors whenever possible. One of our highlights (shows you how slow moving things are) was Ryan's first bath.He was not amused. He cried more for the bath than he did when Justin hit him with a plastic baseball bat. Ryan was much happier when I got him out and wrapped up in a warm towel. At least he isn't as difficult to manage in the tub as Justin. Justin is learning that Mommy can be a bit more assertive in bathing him now that he can no longer pull me off balance and into the tub with him. Ha! Non-pregnant Mommy is a lot more capable.