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!