Patience Is a Virtue

Lately Justin has been trying my patience. I don't know what it is with him. I know that he has had a cold for the past couple of weeks, but I am starting not to be so sympathetic about that anymore. He can be SO obnoxious. I find myself sometimes hoping that he has a horrible ear infection or is in a great deal of pain because that would explain WHY he has been so hard to deal with. I don't want it to be a long lasting phase. I don't want my child to be a brat. I am trying to have patience and to make sure I spend quality time with him to minimize the jealousy he feels towards Tiny. He can be such a psycho Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. Charming and sweet one minute, spawn of the devil monster the next. It drives me crazy! I never know what Justin I will see!

Today he had a meltdown when we had to come inside. I have a rule that if he runs away from me, we have to come in. I can't chase after him very well when I have Tiny and it is basic safety that I trust he will come when I call him and not run off in the opposite direction. He thought he was being funny until I dragged him home kicking and screaming. I have discovered that when I start to video him, Justin calms down a bit. Guess he doesn't like to have a record of his misbehavior. Of course he doesn't cooperate doing cute things for me either...

After we had time to settle down from that incident, I asked him if he would like to make cookies with me. We had a pretty good time. Luckily, they weren't the best cookies ever because we could never duplicate the recipe exactly. The recipe called for 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar, I fill up a 1 cup measuring cup almost full and Justin gets most of it in the bowl. We needed two eggs, Justin got about 1 1/4 into the bowl so we added another. The whole process was kind of like that. He had a fun time though. He loves helping in the kitchen. I don't mind if I have the time. It can take me longer to reheat leftovers than to make the original meal when I have my helper.

Yesterday Tiny sat independently. He may have done it before, but this time it was long enough that I can say it officially. Before I never knew if he needed to be more upright, sit for a longer time period, catch himself and sit back up if he started leaning... Poor Ryan doesn't get a lot of time to practice though. So often I am protecting him from his overzealous brother. Justin wants to wrestle and play rough with Ryan, and Ryan would like nothing better. Justin does not get that Tiny isn't physically able to do that. When Tiny hits or kicks Justin, Justin gets mad at him and retaliates. Seems intentional to him I guess.

The playground is closed through the 14th of June because they are going to take out some of the old equipment and put in some new things. It is going to be a loooooooooong ten days. We usually spend quite a bit of time out there every day. The slide and the see saw are going to be replaced with newer, safer ones. The "bus" is going to be replaced with something else. It will be hard to beat the bus for fun. All the kids loved it.
I do love the way my boys laugh together and at each other. I love seeing how Justin goes from being totally clueless about a puzzle to doing it independently. I like trying to figure out his rules for Twister. I love Justin's big hugs and Tiny's smiles and squeals. I am amazed each day at how quickly Ryan is growing. He is my ravenous beast. He loves rice cereal and tolerates green beans, peas, carrots, and squash. He likes bananas and absolutely devours mashed potatoes. I don't remember Justin enjoying solids so much. It is hard to keep food away from Tiny.

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!

Zoo and Green Beans

Friday we went to the zoo. I thought that since it was a non-holiday weekday it wouldn't be too crowded. Wrong! I think that there were more people at the Tokyo zoo than live in all of Namibia. When we move to Namibia later this year we will see if I was right or not! We managed to get away from a lot of the crowd and see the major animals that we thought Justin would be expecting. He was quite excited to see the rhino, the green anaconda (which he said was "the biggest snake he's ever seen!"), the Galapagos tortoise, and the iguana. All of these animals are featured in youtube videos that he used to watch with Papa.

The zoo also has a petting zoo area. Justin enjoyed the goats and the sheep. He was so excited to see them, that he managed to trip and hurt himself running in to see them. He scraped himself up pretty badly and screamed to let everyone know it. After washing up, we returned to the petting zoo. A zoo employee took Justin by the hand and (in Japanese) consoled him. Justin ate it up.

Saturday was the sidewalk sale here on the Embassy Housing Compound. I had a large roll of stickers that I used as price tags for the items. I was VERY careful to always put the permanent marker up out of Justin's reach. We had an incident with a dry erase marker he found and I am still finding places he got. I knew I didn't want a repeat of that incident with a permanent marker. I didn't, however, keep the roll of stickers out of his reach. Surprise! When I asked him what happened, Justin told me that he made me a present with my circle stickers. How can I be upset about that? Tiny got into the fun too. He enjoyed the strips of waxy paper that were left after I removed the stickers.

Tiny got to try a new food. Evidently green beans are not as exciting as rice cereal. We will see if the next veggie is any better for him. If nothing else, I must admit that he is quite flexible. He has managed to kick the bowl out of my hand a couple of times.

Do you think he likes green beans?

Look! It's Ryan sleeping without something on his face.

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. :(

So What Does That Mean?

I bought these postcards for my sister last February. I thought they were very typical of Japanese things written in English (and French). I know the words individually, but I am not sure what meaning is intended. I finally got around to putting them through my scanner (a Fujitsu ScanSnap 9510 which I just love!) so I could put them up on my blog. Since my sister is one of the few people who reads my blog, guess they won't be such a novelty when they arrive in her mailbox. Oh well. She can eagerly anticipate getting mail from me. :) Guess I should send it soon...

Tiny continues to enjoy baby rice cereal. He is my ravenous beast. Now when I put him in the high chair, he starts whining. It used to be a great place to sit him where I could keep an eye on him. Now he expects he will be fed when he is there. When he sees the spoon moving towards his mouth he goes insane! His mouth goes wide open and he squeals while frantically moving his arms and legs. He probably burns off more calories when he eats that he is taking in.

Justin has a cold or allergies or something that is causing him to have what I call pulsating boogies. Yum! He is also drooling since he can't breathe through his mouth. Lovely. My whole house feels what I guess can be described as tacky. It isn't exactly greasy or slimy or sticky, but definitely gross. Guess I should stop typing and start cleaning. :)

Why doesn't Justin sleep?

Sigh. I just finished reading my sister's latest blog entry. I shouldn't do that before I write. It discourages me. It would be fun to be creative and witty with my entries, but I find myself struggling to even put together somewhat coherent sentences. I want to record some of my thoughts and the events of the week because I know otherwise I will forget them all too soon. I am going with the theory that something is better than nothing.

This week I decided to sort through my floppy disks. I mean, do I really need behavior tracking sheets I created for students over ten years ago? What about scoring software for a test that is now obsolete? So many things I found I just didn't need, especially not on floppy. Well, silly me was going to get rid of them. What was I thinking?!? Justin has decided they are the best toy ever. I mean, you can stack them, line them up, act out five monkeys jumping on the bed with them, build them into a birthday cake... The list just goes on and on and on. I think that I should think of a marketing angle and sell the things as the newest and greatest toy.

Justin has also been enjoying the wooden blocks that his grandparents sent him. He builds a lot of towers and animal playgrounds. He was particularly proud of this structure. I am not sure why, but for some reason this one is cool in his mind and he wanted a picture of it.

He has really been getting worn out this week. We have been playing out on the playground for a couple of hours each morning and then coming home for a snack. Justin will then ask to watch something on TV and totally crash within minutes. It isn't his normal nap time, but I won't argue with him sleeping. I will take peace and quiet whenever I can get it. If only Tiny would sleep at the same time so I could have a little nap myself. Not sure that I can complain about Tiny though. Right now I am up with Justin. It is almost 4:40 on Monday morning. Justin has been up since 2:00 AM. He appears to have insomnia. I didn't know toddlers got insomnia. Surprise!

Ryan turned five months old today. Yesterday I thought he turned five months. Evidently I don't know what day it is half the time. I had decided to start solids at five months. I think I started Justin at four months and he wasn't that into it. Tiny was ravenous! I had to make more! I tried nursing him when he still seemed hungry and he refused. He wanted that great flavor of rice cereal. He sure can track that spoon and get his mouth open and ready.

We received a huge box of hand me down clothes from my sister-in-law this week. Justin was quite excited. He loved piling them on the floor and making a cozy nest for himself. He also expressed that he liked to roll around in them. I don't mind too much when he does things like that until he takes clean, folded clothes and does it.

All in all they are good kids. They are so cute together. My favorite sound is the two of them laughing together. I try to remember that when my eyes get heavy and I have trouble focusing.

No Pictures?!?

I just went to look for some pictures to upload for this week. It doesn't appear that I took any. Oops. While a welcome change for you, the poor reader, it is an oversight on my part. I try to take pictures of my sweet boys. They are growing up so fast.

This week I was looking through pictures of Justin when he was 6 months and younger. I can't believe how fast that little baby has changed into a very busy, very opinionated toddler. His growth is incredible. He keeps me busy and is a challenge. I am sure that soon I will look back at pictures of him at this age and be just as amazed at how fast he grew. Hmm... I don't know if that sentence makes sense. I am still not getting enough sleep, thank you very much boys!

Justin received some wooden building blocks from my mother this week. When he saw them (mind you he walked right by them several times without noticing them before he literally sat on them) he was so excited and asked me what they were. I told him they were a present from Grandma and Papa. He exclaimed, "blocks!" and then added, "I can build with them!" We have been doing a lot of building and destroying and rebuilding.

His favorite books for the week include Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss' ABCs, and I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. He tries to read them on his own and has memorized a lot of them. He gets scared of some parts, like the "scary" alligator for A and has to read it from a distance. He is such a screwy kid that way. He loves things that scare him, but he doesn't like to be too close to them. He pretended he was a dinosaur and then needed me to hold him because he is scared of dinosaurs.

Tiny continues to be a joy. He is a good natured little fellow. He reaches out with one hand and holds on to a crib bar while he sleeps. He is experimenting with his voice and can be quite loud. He laughs at Justin and enjoys watching his big brother. Ryan even laughed when I used the syringe bulb to suck boogers out of his nose. Talk about laid back!

Yesterday it was pouring rain. Justin and I spent almost an hour outside. He loves any chance to put on his raincoat and rainboots to splash in the puddles. I am not quite as enthusiastic, but I do like to see him having such a good time. I also wear my boots so I can splash. I am sure people wondered about us being outside intentionally in that weather.

Hopefully this week I can remember to take some pictures and remember some of the cute things that the boys do. The amount of sleep Justin gets (and therefore the amount that I get) has a lot to do with it. There are some days when it is all I can do to function.

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.

Easter

Today was Easter. We had a nice Easter lunch with some friends from church. Justin was in heaven because he knows the kids who were there from his church nursery class. How fun is that? It was nice for me too. A delicious meal without the prep or cleanup. I could get used to that. :)

Justin was excited to look in his Easter basket and enjoyed more candy than he should have. He has been reading books about the Easter bunny with me and has really gotten into it this year. We talked a little about how we think about Jesus at Easter, but didn't go into that much. I figured if it came to Justin choosing between Jesus and the Easter bunny that he wouldn't make the choice I would want him to make. He's two years old. Getting candy from a walking, talking rabbit makes more sense to him than someone dying (not that he knows what that is) and being resurrected. Pretty big concept for adults. Hopefully this year he will get a little bit of the Jesus part at Christmas and be able to carry it over to Easter. For now we will continue to work on Jesus loves Justin and pictures of Jesus with children and other happy pictures.

We dyed eggs this week and he was thrilled to be able to watch the eggs change color. Better yet were the eggs that had his name written on with wax crayon. It was like magic to see the egg come out colored with his name on it! It did make quite the mess. I had the foresight to have us perform the messy task out on the balcony with Justin wearing only a diaper and an art smock. We had the table covered with a trash bag and plenty of wipes and water to keep things under control. Justin and I both ended up with dye on our hands and arms. Ryan was unhappy sitting just inside the doorway, so I moved his chair out with us and he promptly fell asleep. I was a little worried that he would get dye spilled on him and be green or something. Luckily, that didn't happen.

We also went to Nandemo (community center) this week for their mini sports club. Justin had a blast. He got kind of bored listening to some of the directions since they were in Japanese. The people running the activity had a lot of fun things, but they moved through a lot of them too quickly. The childen would have enjoyed doing some things over and over instead of once or twice. Oh well. If they have the time to plan a billion things instead of just a few, more power to them. Towards the end we had to make a less than graceful exit. Justin was not listening to me. It is important that he listens since I have Ryan with us (in our new Ergo baby carrier which is the best). If he doesn't listen, we are done. So I ended up carrying Ryan in the carrier and a screaming, tantruming Justin through the gym, down the hall, and to the stroller. Justin didn't even get his shoes and socks back on. I hope he gets it. I carried him home from the playroom once and ever since he has been so good about listening to me. We'll see. The gym is pretty fun. It has a lot of tempting things like a slide, trampoline, balls, bikes (and trikes and unicycles), balance beams... All that and space to run. So hard to listen to boring Mommy. (You may note that he has had a haircut in these pictures. Yay!)

Please Can We Get Out?

We have such good time at Nandemo, but eventually we do want to go back home.

I Love the Slide!

Justin has refused to go down the green playground slides for some time now. In the dry, winter weather he got a zap thanks to static electricity and decided to shy away from the risk. Well this week he decided to give it another go. Not too suprisingly, he loves it. He tells me that he loves it with the kind of attitude that sounds like he has known all along he would, but that I was the one holding him back. My silly little Justin.

Here he is on the playground with his friend, Ellington. When he first met Ellington he thought his name was Oxygen. That makes no sense. Everyone knows that Oxygen is a girl's name. :) Now he often says it as if it is three separate words. It is so cute. Ellington is such a good natured little boy. He is a bit younger than Justin and Justin sometimes gets overexcited and knocks him over or runs too fast when they are playing scream and chase. Ellington just keeps smiling. (Note how Justin is in DESPERATE need of a haircut!
The cherry blossoms are out and absolutely beautiful. Gentle breezes blow some of them down like soft, fluffy snowflakes. It is pretty and not cold like snow. I was standing out on the playground with Justin and Ryan. We were the only three people there. Ryan was asleep and Justin was actually being quiet. As the blossoms floated up, down, and around in the slight breeze I felt like I was in some sort of artistic foreign movie scene. I didn't see any cameras or hear any music or sound effects, so I am pretty sure it was just a rare, beautiful, quiet moment in my life.

The Glass Is Half ?

Okay, so finish the sentence. Are you a glass half full or half empty type person? I would finish the sentence so it reads

The glass is halfway across the room and Justin needs it with NEW water RIGHT NOW!

I do know that the laundry basket is not half full or half empty. It is constantly FULL. How is that possible? I can't do laundry fast enough some days. When my mom was here she did a million loads for me. Moms are the best. I love my mom. I'm not always so sure how I feel about being a mom though. The sick leave, vacation days, and work hours aren't very good. Maybe we should form a union. Wouldn't that be something?

This week has had its ups and downs. Occasionally I feel like I may actually even have my act together. Five minutes later, Justin will have me wanting to throw him across the room. He can be so stubborn and obnoxious. He acts like he is two years old. I wonder if he will outgrow that phase when he is three. I suppose I can't fault him for acting like a two year old when he is one. He can be such a sweet boy too. I love him so much. He and Tiny can just get going at the same time and often do.

Tiny now rolls from stomach to back intentionally. He thinks he is pretty cool. He is working on blowing raspberries and his constant spit bubbles are a source of entertainment for Justin. I love the times that Ryan and Justin are by each other, blowing bubbles and laughing. They look so cute together laughing and drooling.

Ryan slept all night in his crib this week too. He woke up for a 1:30 AM feeding, but otherwise was on his own. It was hard for me to sleep because I wondered when he would wake up. He has been sleeping in bed with me and Rob. Last night he was sleeping on his own, but when he woke up in the night to be fed I brought him in bed to nurse him and fell asleep before putting him back in bed. Oh well. I figure whatever works so I can get sleep. Tiny insists on having something on his face while he sleeps and I have finally given in. I worry about it, but I am sure that I am not the first mother to let her infant cover his face up.

Ryan is sleeping better than Justin is. Justin talks in his sleep and I hear that on the monitor. Justin gets up and does things in his sleep. Justin has vivid dreams and wakes up disoriented. Sigh. He was up at 4:30 the other morning and it made for a loooooooooooong cranky day. Generally he has been pretty good though, going down at 8:00 PM and up at 6:00 AM or so. I shouldn't complain.

Justin's favorite story of the week is There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and he loves reading the different versions of the story we have, watching it over and over (and over) on DVD, and acting it out with the manipulatives I gave him. I wish he would cooperate for pictures and video clips. He does such a nice job retelling the story, but the kid is stubborn around the camera.

Tiny's four month check up is tomorrow. I guess I will find out just how big Tiny Baby is getting.