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!

Guess what Tiny has been enjoying lately? That's right, he loves the swing. Justin likes to make sure I know that Tiny is just a baby and can't go fast like he can. Justin constantly reminds me that even though Ryan is getting bigger, he is still just a tiny baby. Justin, on the other hand, is medium. When he can't do something by himself, he is "too medium" and not too small or too little or any of the more common things children tend to say. Luckily, Justin agrees that Ryan is big enough to swing so everyone is happy.

Justin and Ryan seem to like each other. They can already crack each other up and seem to like to be on top of each other, hitting at each other, squealing at each other... Justin gets so mad when Tiny kicks him or pulls his hair. He doesn't seem to find it fair that Ryan doesn't get punished for actions that are off limits to Justin. To protest, he will often go into baby mode. He will lie on his back and say, "Goo Goo! Ga Ga! I'm a baby!" That lasts until it is no longer convenient to be a baby. Lucky me.

Since we are moving early in September, we are not bothering to work on the whole toilet training thing with Justin yet. What's the point? Leaving here and then traveling to various homes and hotels across the US before a hellish day (as in about 24 hours) of flying to our new home in Namibia. We will worry about it there. Well, Justin has started showing interest in poopies. He wants to see his, the baby's, anyone's. He will rate them in terms of color and size. He will tell me he is having one and that he doesn't want to sit on the toilet. Once he is finished he does want to sit on the toilet so I don't have to put on a clean diaper. Doesn't work that way though. Sometimes he requests to sit on the toilet. Yesterday he said he needed to sit on the toilet and he actually had to pee. He was so excited. Great. We will probably be missing our toilet training window of opportunity and our child will be a freak and need therapy. Just one of many ways I will screw him up for life. Good thing I have a second child to try to get it right--or at least better. :)

Justin came home from school on Friday looking just exhausted. He fell asleep almost immediately, and when he woke up he asked for water. He had a temp of just over 103. He drank and drank and continued to run a fever unless he was on motrin. He didn't have much of an appetite and was extremely needy, but nothing else seemed to be wrong. It just made for a long weekend. Sunday afternoon he seemed better, but since he didn't sleep well, I am keeping him home from school today. I am very disappointed. He had a slight fever again this morning, but is acting pretty normal. He is tired of being cooped up and is quite obnoxious.

Meanwhile, Tiny's two top teeth finally broke through last week. I swear they were the slowest teeth in the history of baby teeth. He had a HORRIBLE night last night and I had no idea why. Surprise! This morning I looked in his mouth and it looks like he is getting FOUR more. Two more on top and two more on bottom. It is going to be a very, very long week I fear. He hasn't been nursing well and I end up smelling like sour milk as my clothes get soaked with milk he is crying for and then rejecting. Ah, motherhood.

Guess I better tend to the whiners. Not that I can do anything to soothe them right now, but at least I won't feel as guilty if I am trying.

Tourist Pics?

Rob and I went to Asakusa and I took some less tradiional tourist pics. I thought my sister might enjoy them. I think she could get a job making these kinds of signs for the Japanese public. The first was taken on the metro. Thank goodness for THIS sign. How often do you see this on a crowded Japanese subway? I certainly never have. Guess the sign works!

I also enjoyed the pooping pigeon signs. Don't feed them or they will poop on you. They shoild only be eating worms. Check out the poor victim on the sign. It just isn't worth the risk.

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.

Mommy's Hair!

Not too surprisingly, my hair started falling out after I gave birth to Tiny. I have a lot of hair to begin with, but it is just EVERYWHERE now. Hopefully eventually it will calm down to more normal fall out levels. Ryan is six months old now. Sometime it has got to get back to normal, right? Well my hair is everywhere and in everything. Justin comments on his discovery of "Mommy hair" and is even so kind as to return last lost hairs to me. I guess I could try to attach them back on?

I have been getting more and more grays. Rob says it makes me look distinguished. I tell him that only men look distinguished with gray hair. I decided that instead of letting the grays continue to creep I would take a shot at covering them up. Not only are they gray, but their funky texture makes them stand out when they are short, calling even more attention to them. Sometimes I can get Rob to pull out what I refer to as flocks of gray, but he isn't very good at it.

I selected Nice and Easy shade 120, natural dark brown. I wonder if ANY hair dyes have the word fake in the color name? Natural seems to be a key word. Why, you may ask, all the detail about shade number? Well, if this works out I will want to do it again. They have a tendency to change the pictures and that makes it hard to remember exactly which 'natural' shade I selected. Now I can check back on my blog to see.

Justin will probably continue to find Mommy hairs in the tub, in his bed, in his cereal, on the floor... Hopefully they won't be gray ones though.

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.

A Long Week with Little to Show

This past week was a long one. Monday morning Tiny had his six month check up. He is now 70 cm long (27.5 inches) and 8.09 kg (17.8 pounds). Tiny isn't as big as I thought. He started out big, but he is lighter than Justin was at this age and I believe (I looked it up, but forgot again) just slightly longer. Guess we just know a lot of small babies, because he seems big! Of course shots come along with the 6 month checkup, but Tiny did pretty well. In fact, Tiny was probably better behaved than Justin. Justin. He is a whole other story.

This week the playground here has been closed as they install new playground equipment. That means no playground time for Justin. We usually spend significant time there. We tried some other locations on Monday and Tuesday, but they weren't too successful. The playground is fenced in so nicely and is a safe place. Justin wants to explore and wander and that is hard for me to do with Tiny in tow. That leads to him disobeying me and that means coming back in. Running away is NOT okay and means we immediately go home if he does not come when he is called. That usually means carrying Tiny in the Baby Ergo (which I love by the way) and holding a kicking and screaming toddler under one arm as I head back home. The variation is pushing the stroller with one kid and carrying a baby or a screaming toddler. Neither choice is a lot of fun. Monday, June 15, 2009 will be Justin's first day of "school" as he begins the toddler summer camp here on the Embassy compound. I made him a calendar to count down the days. I think I have been looking forward to it more than he has!

Tuesday I did have a good moment with Justin. He fell asleep on the couch. He hasn't been sleeping well. He has suddenly developed a fear of being in his room alone. He screams and screams. He wants someone right there with him. It hasn't been pretty. He wakes up several times in the night too. As a result he is overtired and so are we! A good mother would probably get him up to his bed, but I was just thrilled that he was quiet and let him sleep right there!

Wednesday was a busy day. I went (with my two boys) to a friend's house. I hadn't been there before and finding places in Tokyo can be crazy, even with directions. It took me just over an hour to walk to a place that should have taken somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. We ended up calling her from just around the block to get directions from where we were. Yay! Now we know where it is! The walk back was going much better. I knew where I was going. Justin and Tiny were both actually being great. We would get home, have lunch, and maybe I could get them both down at the same time for a nap so I could have one too! Then at Roppongi Crossing, waiting for the light to change, I collapsed. I came to and saw people around me, asking if I was okay. I was totally embarrassed that I had passed out, and was helped up, and started on my way again. I don't think I was out very long and perhaps it even appeared that I had just tripped. I am not sure. I probably didn't take two steps before I passed out again. This time when I came to, someone was holding Tiny and someone else was holding Justin while people were checking on me. I was assured that Tiny was fine and that he had not hit the ground or stroller. Justin wasn't upset, mostly interested. An ambulance arrived and my vitals were taken. The paramedics looked more like workers in a radioactive environment all covered from head to toe with protective gear. Kind of freaky. I was able to convince the paramedics (or whoever they were) that I was okay enough to take a cab to the Embassy doctor rather than get hauled away in an ambulance where I would be admitted for heaven only knows how long. Rob thought it odd when I called him and simply told him I needed to be met at the gate. I didn't think I could get to the health unit on my own.
EKG was fine and there seemed to be nothing really wrong with me. My blood pressure was low, especially in the upright position. My blood sugar was a little low and I had a slight fever. My main problem was the stiffness that was letting me know I did indeed fall. Rob took the rest of the day off (and half of the next day) so I could rest. I was so proud of Justin during the incident. After was another story. Once we got home he became a monster for his poor dad. I am fine, don't worry, Mom!

Thursday I was supposed to go to IKEA with a friend, but I cancelled. Friday was probably the highlight of my week. Justin has developed a love of cooking. I have to sneak into the kitchen if I don't want his help. His help means it takes me a lot more time and that there will be a lot more mess. Quality sometimes suffers as well. Not that I am a great cook or anything, but I do have higher standards than Justin as this picture shows.

On Friday, Bimala came over and spent four hours cleaning our house. She worked her buns off for all four hours. Things looked sooooooooooo much better. I think she is a miracle worker. She is going to come once a week. It was great to spend time with my boys and not worry about trying to get things done around the house. Tiny doesn't crawl yet, but that day will come before I know it and even with Justin out of the house three hours a day, I think I will be busy.
Saturday Justin and Rob went out to try to burn off some of Justin's energy while Tiny and I got our produce for the week. In the evening, I took Justin over to Daly Hall to watch a movie on a big screen. He hasn't ever been to a theater before and I thought this would be a good introduction. It was The Tale of Despereaux (or whatever the title of the cartoon is). He lasted almost 45 minutes. He got to cuddle with Mommy and eat popcorn. He wasn't interested in the movie, but who can beat 1:1 time with Mommy and food?

So, while I am not thrilled about this past week, I guess I can't really complain. My poor cousin's family is sick with the swine flu. She has seven kids, two (twins) not much older than Tiny. One of her kids (I don't think much older than Justin) is in the hospital. All I had was a little tumble. Neither of my kids got hurt. Justin doesn't seem traumatized, just interested in my boo boos. I fell in Japan, a very safe country where people came to my aid rather than walk on by, or worse yet, do harm to me or my children. Rob was able to take time off work to help out, Justin will be heading off to school, and someone else is cleaning my house. I think I have it pretty good. That might not be my attitude when (not if) the boy(s) wake me up in the night. :)

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.