Vroom! Vroom!

It was all about testosterone today. A little background information... Van loves to watch the garbage trucks come to the house and pick up our trash. For potty training, we went to Toys R Us and picked out a 'big prize' for the end, when he was finished. He chose a garbage truck.

Needless to say, I thought he was going to love this event. It was called "Touch a Truck" and they advertised that the kids could sit in the trucks, honk the horns, play with the switches, etc.

I'd say, Van liked it. He's never been a huge cars/trucks obsessive kid. He likes to identify them, talk about them and watch how they work. The fact that he could sit in one and touch everything was fascinating, for 5 minutes. But it was still really fun and both boys had a good time! Score.

The biggest hit amongst the vehicles was...

A beloved motorcycle, of course! He might not have gone crazy for the cars/trucks, but the boy goes nuts for motorcycles. Look at the seriousness and how he wanted to believe he was driving. I fear him getting a motorcycle when he's older.

Both boys got in on the action.

He could have cared less about the tractor, but I sat him on it anyway. He thought it'd be cool to honk the horn.
When it came to the police cruiser, one of them wanted to sit in front and drive.

The other only wanted to be in back. Should I be worried?

Back at home, with the beloved prize. Thankfully, he's loosened up his grip a bit with the new toy. His brother likes to touch the garbage truck as well and is now regularly given visitation rights.

The funniest thing about today, Van's discovery of a one man band. He knew the concept because of the book 'Olivia forms a Band'. But when he saw this guy, he was awe struck and followed him around, then kept asking where he went (the guy either took a break or left). He would have traded all the trucks for another 10 minutes watching this guy play and sing. I foresee our next big interest. A band and some musical interest would be fun!

Tomorrow, Adam's family birthday. It's an exciting weekend!

Tatoos

This is what happens when you turn your back for 2 seconds:

Man, I love this kid.

Amazing Man

Happy Father's Day to Tim! I was lucky to meet you. I was blessed to marry you. I'm honored to watch you be a father.


I love you more and more every day. Thank you for being the best you can be, for me and for our sons.

xxxx!

Buddies

Just this week, Van started to truly play and interact with Adam. I'm in love.

Prior to this week, Van would acknowledge Adam, maybe play up sitting next to him or mimic him, especially if we were watching and giving attention to them because of it. But most interaction instigated entirely by Van was to observe and test the 'baby' out. (Van has also started calling Adam by his name vs. 'baby', although we're still at about a 50-50 split)

He's been sharing toys, trading toys (a new favorite trick to get the toy Adam has while looking like the good guy. Ok for now, as Adam doesn't know what's really going on, but we'll see how long that one lasts), hugging (A LOT), rolling on, talking to, and watching. A lot of watching.

And Adam does it right back. I think Van is his favorite form of entertainment and he could watch Van's antics all day long. Van spinning, gets a long look. Van throwing himself on the floor, gets a laugh. Van giggling, gets return giggles. And on and on.

This is why we had two. I'm in love. Please, please make me worthy of these two adorable, wonderful, heart-stopping baby boys.

Rowr!

I'm going to eat your ear, little one. Rowr! Rowr!

Don't worry, both ears survived the attack. Barely.

2.5 aint lookin' so good

This morning was awful. Awful, awful, awful.

Van woke up crying, calmed down, threw a fit before we even got to the stairs, pulled out of it, broke into another one downstairs after breakfast which lasted 20+ minutes, calmed down again, started another promptly thereafter... and on and on. Never for any good reason. Was just in a terrible mood and couldn't seem to control himself. I think we maybe had 10 minutes of NOT crying/screaming between 7am and 10:30am.

It felt like a battle, all morning long. My patience usually runs thin by about the 4th tantrum. By then, I'm struggling with myself as well as Van and how to best help him.

One second he's fine, the next he's on the floor screaming, pulling his hair, bucking. It's insane. I decided to go to our 'preschool readiness' class, despite his awesome attitude. And guess what, he was his usual happy, easy-going self, from the second we left the house. Lesson learned. Just. Make. It. Out. Of. The. House. And I'll survive. Amen.

If there's much more of this in-store for me as we turn 2.5, I'm in trouble.

Likeness

This picture reminds me of Pooh Bear and Christopher Robin.

It's the boots.

Outtakes

4 months & 2 years

We celebrated two birthdays this week. Adam is 4 months and Van turned 2. What an awesome time in our lives!

Adam is no longer willing to sit on the sidelines. A couple months ago, he would sit relatively content for long periods in his bouncy chair, swing (less so) or play mat. Very different from Van (although, was it Van, or was it my first time parenting that kept me holding Van almost all day long?). Adam has always been a very easy going baby. And he still is, but now he lets us know that being left out of the loop or alone for too long is no longer acceptable. He knows there's fun stuff going on, and he wants in!

Still smiling a ton and loving people, he usually captures most people's attention and holds it for quite a while. Who could resist that sweet baby smile?!

At our pediatrician appointment, we learned he's growing like gangbusters. At 4 months, Adam is 17 lbs. (90-95%) and 27 inches (97%). Compare this to Van at 6 months (16 lbs, 27.5 inches). Down the road, I think Adam will be able to hold his own against his big brothers rough play. Despite my constant worry over breastfeeding (I have a fear of losing milk supply, since it happened twice with Van), both Tim and I are incredibly thankful that it has been relatively easy this time and working so well. We have a happy, healthy growing boy.

And sweet baby Van...

34 lbs. 4 oz. (95+%) and 36 inches long (90%).

Van has been a really good eater (although, he likes to shun berries). However, a mom recently told me about some 2.5 year 'switch', where the kids shut down and stop trying new things. It freaked me out, since I have been such a creature of habit with his food and usually offering whatever is healthy yet easy. So I pulled my own 'switch' and have been determined to try lots of new foods and have variety, at least so he's familiar with it. He's probably wondering why he's barely getting his beloved peanut butter bread anymore! (don't worry, there are plenty of years to eat peanut butter)

He's counting everything and goes up to 10, loves to sing (twinkle twinkle, old macdonald, abc's and wheels on the bus are currently in his repertoire) and be sung to, and while he knows his colors, when asked what color something is, his first answer without even really thinking about it is 'pink'. The vast world is awaiting his every discovery... he points at and exclaims things with glee, and when we ask 'where?', he happily says 'right there!'. He has the BEST laugh. This morning at Starbucks, a dad and boy were at the play table looking for the Amelia Bedelia book and when the father found it - van squeeled and said 'yay!', then laughed and everyone joined in. Van continued to make good buddies of the pair and while listening to the father read the book, he stalked the kids snack (he's a good eater). Van is so open, friendly and fun. He's going to love preschool.

As for the two boys together, things are much easier these days. Now that Adam isn't so tiny, and Van has learned a lot about being careful, we have a lot of fun. Van still calls Adam 'baby', loves to crawl around and lay next to him, and gives him hugs and kisses. He'll lay down in Adam's play mat next to him and say 'same'. It's really amazing to see the two of them together. However, while I love this time, the true value in having a second child will be when they can play together and become best buds. I know it was hard for Van to adjust, and he did really, really well, so I hope in the years to come, he realizes that we had Adam mostly for him. To have an amigo to travel through life with.

Happy birthday boys, you are the best part of life for us.
xoxo

First Haircut

In preparation for his second birthday party, and because his hair was constantly in his eyes, it was time. Van had his first haircut!

He was great - not a tear, no fear, nothing. Just a happy guy, sitting in the chair with a bucket full of cars. As an almost two year old, sometimes his mellow personality and friendliness can amaze me. I'd love to claim these wonderful traits as my own parental handiwork, but in truth, it's all Van. He's happy, he's friendly and he's easy going. Things I love and that I hope he appreciates and values in himself as he grows.

Before: Oh, the fly-aways! But soooo cute.

During:

After:

We lost some of the adorable curl, which made me a little sad, but he's so cute with his cleaned up, big boy hair. What a handsome guy!

1.1.11

Happy New Year!

As I watch snow falling down, have two boys happily playing in the living room, and a husband out mountain biking, I feel very blessed for all we have seen, done and experienced in 2010. There was a lot of growing, new big changes and some creature comforts we were able to continue. Can't ask for much more.

I thought I'd capture some of our day on New Years, to remember what life was like at this moment. 2011 is sure to bring about additional changes and growth, and I look forward to seeing what our New Years day will be like a year from now.

We started the day with our bottle and some youtube videos (Van still doesn't watch TV, but he's allowed a few youtube sesame street videos, etc each day. I'm not sure he'd have the attention span even if we did let him watch a 30 min. show. Sometimes he leaves in the middle of one of his 3 minute videos.)

After videos and breakfast, it was off to play with our new trains from Christmas

Then bugaboo #2 woke-up and had some bouncy chair time. He's been grabbing up a storm and everything goes into the mouth. It's as if he's already teething!

Tummy time! Someone is already holding his head up.
(I find that particularly amazing, since I have not been great about giving him a lot of tummy time. But, he's apparently making up for it himself. Nice job, little dude!)

Swaddled nap time

Unswaddled nap time

A mountain of laundry (which continued to grow and ended up being as tall as Van!)

A trip to the park with daddy in cold, but sunny weather

Ending the day with our new 'special cups'. No more bottles! It will indeed be a different kind of year. It's hard to believe, but someone is no longer a baby.

Brothers

I love these two boys beyond words.

An hour in the life of a toddler

Starting off with some food... nevermind that we just had snack
before arriving at the birthday party.

"Hello sweet, buttery croissant. How delicious you are."

Digging for shark teeth fossils:

Playing with dinosaurs, coloring and doing crafts:

Time for a nap.
This is the life.

Friends

Friends... we have not forsaken you. We have not been swallowed by a black hole. We did not forget to pay our comcast bill and been living without internet this past month. We are here and we (ahem, I!) still plan to post on this blog. We've just been busy.

New baby, new tantrums, new bronze statue friends and outings have been taking our time.

Woodland Park Zoo - Van running wild and free,
Adam screaming in the stroller

I'll be back soon, with a bombardment of posts - going all the way back to Adam's birth. Yikes (I repeat, we've been busy).

xo,
L

And then there were two

Van, meet your new baby brother... Adam. My cup runneth over for these two. I didn't know it was possible to feel so much love.

Birth story coming soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the first token of brotherly affection: Van wanting to share his animal cracker. Adam looks like he wants it, too! I think these two will get along just fine.

xxxxxx,
mama

Cougar Mountain Zoo

As the waiting game continues for baby #2 (I'm already 2 cm dialated, but apparently, that doesn't mean I'll be in labor tomorrow), I've been trying to keep us busy. Last minute food shopping (if we run low on anything, I get it immediately - no waiting a few days to get to the grocery store), cooking and freezing food, continuous hospital stay prep, and lots of playdates.

Van had a blast at the Cougar Mountain Zoo today with some new friends and one of our favorites, Mr. Jackson. The zoo is super small, but 5 minutes from our house - I LOVE that.

Van running wild (i.e. wearing himself out, so he will take a good nap - hooray!) and being amazed at the statues

Feeding the deer

Feeding along side Jackson

Checking out the alpacas

It was a fun day.

19 months

Last 'birthday' as an only child!
Since I'm hoping for an early delivery, our baby vanders may only have a couple more weeks of the single-good-life. My belly is heavy and very uncomfortable, and I'm looking forward to delivery day with utter glee and total terror. What will our lives be like after d-day?!

As Van turned 19 months, he's showing more and more and more personality. He's testing everything, changing his mind and developing interests.

Some of the fun ones:
- When he plays with crayons, he will hand you a crayon and grab one for himself. They are both orange, his favorite color.
- He started spitting out food, randomly, like every 3rd bite. Did he take too big a bite? Was that particular bite bad? We have no idea. So we've been working hard on keeping food in the mouth and telling him to 'chew and swallow'. But when we do this, he makes a big show of it and exaggerates everything, which makes us laugh.
- He does not like fruit in his yogurt. This started happening during the food-spitting-out-phase above. Too bad I just bought a huge box of fruit flavored yoplait yogurts from costco. I blame tim, who pretty much only eats vanilla.- He is trying soooo hard to jump. His attempts, with his squat, complete concentration and push up of his arms, is the cutest thing to watch. Still no air, though. I'm worried though, as he has started to attempt jumps OFF of objects (steps, boxes, etc).
- He hugs. When sitting on the floor, he will come give you a hug in the front, and then will walk around hug you from the back.
- He's fairly tentative when trying anything for the first time. I don't think he's going to be our dare-devil child, but I still reserve judgment.
- He's gotten bossy. In a nice way. When he wants you to do something, he will tell you - usually using the word ('sit' he's very clear with, 'weee' is for read, etc). And then he looks up at you, innocent and expecting something to happen. When you ask if he wants you to read the book, he says 'yeah' shaking his head.
- He's a polite rascal and says 'peees'. (you might have to prompt him, but he says it)- He self-regulates. When he knows he's not supposed to do something, he says 'no, no, no, no' and looks at you for confirmation. He would just love for me to say 'yes', as he holds his cheese above his water glass.
- He's counting to three. As in: 'suh, sue, seeee' (usually accompanied by an attempted jump)
- He says 'I love you' by blowing a kiss.
- Reading continues to be a favorite activity. I LOVE that he loves to read. He now says 'reee' for read, and will bring both you and himself a book to either look at, hold while reading the other, or just to share.
- Btw, he's a great share-er. I'm not sure that will continue, but when kids come over, he brings them his toys and likes to watch them play with them. He seems to get a kick out of giving things to people.

Some pictures and activities from the past month:

Vashon beach bash - end of July

Loving some lazy Saturday morning daddy time

Seabrook for mama's 35th birthday - mid August

You are as sweet as can be at 19 months, Vanders. While I want you and your brother to find your own paths, he's going to have big footprints to follow.

We love you!!