What happened to my baby?

Marcus took his first steps on March 16th at 9 1/2 months old!  Since then he has moved quickly to multiple steps and is now very stable.  He likes to walk around following the dog or his older brothers.

Beatles and Spaghetti

For once, I cannot be blamed for this questionable influence...

The initial performance was spontaneous during dinner tonight but we did ask for an encore of the same song to be recorded for all time. 

Squeaky clean

Forgive me.  This is gross.  You don't have to read any further....

Marcus is very mobile.  I have to keep the half bath door closed when he is 'loose' in the house because he loves to stand up at the toilet.  Today, I heard him crawling in that direction but it didn't really register right away.  A few seconds later I realized where he was headed and thought I should check to make sure the door was closed.

Jumping up and running in there, I discovered that it wasn't... and that he was already standing up with his hands on the toilet seat.  AND, if that wasn't bad enough! he had a wet wad of toilet paper in his hands (yes, that's right!...  The last 'person' hadn't flushed-thankfully it was urine only, but still... eww!)  At this point, since everything immediately goes in his mouth, I can only assume that the urine soaked wad has already been there -- double eww.

So, I pick him up scraping his hand free of toilet paper.  Then I bring him to the sink, turn the water on and squirt soap onto his hand.  During the one second that I let go of his hands to check the water temp, he puts his soapy hand in his mouth, thus solving the dilemma of how to clean out his mouth.  It wouldn't have been the method I'd have chosen, but as I rinsed the bubbles out of his mouth, I figured it was probably pretty effective!

Basketball Art

Today, Zach presented Steve with this:

(It's crumpled because Marcus got a hold of it.)

Confession

I am not smart enough to be homeschooling my children.  It's true.  I'm not looking for affirmation, compliments or advice.  I've accepted it, for the most part.

Today I had to call Steve and ask him how I was suppose to teach Zach to solve a math problem (he's only in kindergarten; we're not even to the hard stuff yet).  I was, and still am, stumped.

Zach has been doing really well with addition and subtraction.  He has been solving problems by getting a number to 10; for instance 6+7 becomes (6+4)+3.  He is understanding the concepts and moving quickly through the book.  We have slowly gotten to more difficult problems and today we were presented with this:  

It looks like the book wants him to start with 10, take away 6 and then add it to the remainder (in this case, 1) to get 5; it would look like 10-6+1=5.  So that's how I was teaching him, but of course he is getting confused by the fact that we are doing subtraction and then addition to get the answer.  By the time we get to this problem I start to doubt myself and call Steve:

We proceed to have a discussion about which makes more sense: to do 10-9+8 or 18-8-1.  And then I think, "THIS IS KINDERGARTEN MATH!!!!  I SHOULDN'T ALREADY BE HAVING THIS TROUBLE!"  I arrive at the brilliant conclusion that we will skip math today and I will write a blog about it instead.

Future head banger

Over the weekend Marcus started 'dancing' to music.  I think he gets his coordinated moves from Steve.

Not the hairy one

At dinner tonight we were talking about babies and I told Eli that I had 3 babies.  I pointed to Marcus and said that he was my baby, then Eli and then Zach.

Me: "See, I have 3 babies!"

Zach: "No, mom. You have 4 babies."

Me:  "I didn't give birth to that hairy one!" (referring to Tek)

Zach: "Not the hairy one, I mean the bald one!"

I'm dancing

It's happening again.....one day your child is 'little' and overnight he grows up.  I know, I know.  Same story I've been spouting on and on about, but hey! it's my life right now.

So, Eli, who turned 3 years in September, has crossed a couple big milestones in the past 48 hours.  I mentioned in a previous post how during the Christmas rush he decided he wanted to start using the potty, and he had two days of moderate success but then he quickly reverted back to diapers and expressed no more interest.  Then, last Friday I asked if he wanted to go without a diaper for the day.   He agreed and he has made consistent progress ever since!  So while we're at home he is using the potty without prompting and without accidents.

But wait!  While I am doing my sophisticated "One-more-child-almost-out-of-diapers dance" I impulsively decided to strike while the big boy iron was still hot!

So, yesterday morning I caught him with a 'pat' (or pacifier) while he was upstairs playing (it's been one of those battles that I've kept putting off for another day when it seems more important).  All of sudden he looked ridiculously big with that thing in his mouth so I said that one day soon I was going to cut all his 'pats' and throw them away.  His response has left me spinning...

Eli: (with great enthusiasm) "Can I do it??"

Me: (mouth gaping, mind reeling with possible side-effects) "Urrr, uhhhh....okay?!?"

So we gathered all his pats (I admit to hiding 2 just in case) and proceeded to cut them and throw them out.  I save one carcass for him to hold if he needed it.

Last night, he went right to sleep and slept all night without one request for his pats!!

So now I am doing an equally sophisticated one-more-child-almost-out-of-diapers-and-no-longer-needing-his-pacifier dance.  It's a thing of beauty.

Africa

This morning the boys have been watching "The Crocodile Hunter" on tv.  When I came into the room, I asked where today's show was being filmed?

Zach answered, "Africa."

I said, "How do you know?  Did they say that?"

He said, "No, but there are hippos, elephants and crocodiles."  He implied, "Duh, mom!"

Moving on

For the books, I'd say Marcus is officially crawling, in the purest form of hands and knees with forward movement, as of December 30th his 7-month mark!  Not content with this achievement, today he started using the stairs to get on his knees and then to a very brief, and unstable, stand! 

(Please insert comment regarding: time, flying, too fast, AND slow down!)

Our year to host!

Last weekend we hosted the Miller-Rinas Christmas get together with Steve's family.  We had 28 people for dinner Saturday night and 40 people throughout the day and evening on Sunday.  Overall it went really well.  The big family tradition is a ping pong tournament (where almost everyone participates-even those of us who are lousy players) so our garage turned into a rec room with 2 tables to accommodate the games.  Steve was the reigning champ heading into the tournament but he lost in the final game to his cousin Nathan.  (Yeah, I know! I didn't know he could lose either!)  

The best part for me was that in the midst of total chaos, late nights, lots of people, tons of sugar and no routine, Eli decided that he wanted to start using the potty!  It was certainly not MY timing and he isn't 100% trained yet but we are well on our way.

Nathan-this year's champion!

The trophy presentation

We took out furniture and rearranged what we had to accommodate everyone.  

Christmas Pictures

I am not feeling very creative today (hence the witty blog title), but here are some pictures from our Christmas this year! 

6 years old!

Christmas card

This year's Christmas card is coming out to you via a blog post!!  Sorry.  

Enjoy the pictures and please know that we wished you all a very Merry Christmas!

It's about the process, right?

Motherhood is all about letting go, or at least for me it is.  Your life and plans no longer look quite the way you envisioned.  Most of the changes are for the better but for people who like to have control (ahem, you don't need to start pointing fingers), it can be difficult to watch your day unravel.  I confess that most days I do NOT go along with the natural flow our lives take as I continue to resist the forces at work, but I think that it is really important for our children to have times where they can create freely and enjoy an experience without us adults stomping all over it.  

(I know you have no idea what I'm talking about....I'll get to the point.)

Today, I had some leftover dipping chocolate and a half eaten bag of pretzels and decided that I would let the boys dip the pretzels and put sprinkles on them as a fun Christmas project and yummy treat.  I set the boys up and then let them go about creating a mess!  I was doing well not micromanaging until I spotted Eli pre-licking a pretzel before dipping it in the chocolate.  I immediately yelled out "No!" followed quickly by an explanation.  He didn't hear past my explosive 'no' but dissolved into tears and disappointment.  As I tried to fix the damage my response had done, I realized from his viewpoint he had been happily plugging along doing something super fun without restrictions or fear and I jumped in and ruined the moment for him.  I hate that I did that.  After offering him comfort and an apology I again stepped back and made two resolutions.

1.  I was not going to look over again at how they were dipping the pretzels.

AND

2.  I was also not going to eat any of them! (I recommend you do the same!!)

I Spy

We frequently play 'I Spy' with the boys whenever we are having to wait somewhere.  Let's see how good you are?!? (just humor me)

I spy with my little eye, something small, that moves around a lot and gets in tight places!

Can you see him?  

He isn't quite crawling yet but he does a combination of rolling and "inch worm-ing" to get around the house.  And he's fast!  Doesn't take my back being turned for long before has gotten himself stuck somewhere or other.

Number 81

Eli has been really into these little "Football Guys" that we have from Kaskey Kids.  He reenacts what he sees and hears from the games over the weekend.  Steve and I have been amazed at how much of the game he actually follows.  Frequently during the game he will yell out, "Oh!  He fumbled!!"  or when they kick a field goal he says, "Is it 'yes good'?.... It is!"  All of this football knowledge then turns around into pretend play with his little football guys.

This morning he came into my room with one of these guys and asked if it was "Number 81".  I looked at the number and said, "No, he is number 18.  See the 1 comes first that makes it 18."  He looked at it for a minute and then said, "No.  This is 81.  See the difference?"

Hands and knees

Look who started lifting up onto his hands and knees this weekend!  

(Is it possible that time is going even faster now??)

Tek Video

Here is a little video from the boys first seeing Tek. (This is my first video upload and I have no idea what I'm doing, which may be evident...let's see how it comes out.)

Christmas comes early

Last night we surprised the boys with their big Christmas gift, Tek.  Steve brought him home after he finished work for the day.  The boys reaction was subdued but slowly grew more and more excited as they realized he was here to stay.

Marcus slept through the unveiling but greeted Tek with a big smile once he awakened.

Eli was just excited to see a puppy and, as you can see from my blurry pictures, I couldn't keep up with his movements!  He does NOT like being jumped up on or having Tek in his face or being chased, so I anticipate a love/hate relationship between the two of them for a while. (Kind of like his father's actually.)

Zach thought that the puppy was cute but he thought that it was my mom's new puppy, Dodger. (whom we haven't met yet but will be coming home after Thanksgiving.)  After Zach understood that this dog was his Christmas gift, he said, "You mean we can keep him?!?" and then, "Uh, oh daddy!  You're going to have to pick up poops in the yard!"  Since then Zach just wants to be near Tek.  I'm sure the novelty will wear off but for now he is one excited boy.

For homeschool this morning I asked Zach to dictate a little bit about Tek.  He said, (with help for transitions), "Last night I was very happy because I had a dog!  I thought the Christmas present was going to be a dinosaur, but Mommy and Daddy got me a dog!!  We thought of names and we decided that it would be 'Tek'.  He is a black lab that is friendly and little.  I like it when he is with me."  Then he spontaneously wrote himself at the top of his picture, "Zach is plesd wf dady".

Seeing Tek for the first time.

"Oh! He's pretty cute"

Then, the motion started...

Wish I had captured Zach's face without the blurriness!

Big hugs for Daddy.

Never, EVER

Meet Steve.

Who has said, for all the years I have known him, that we will never, EVER own a dog.  He has a list of reasons why.
1. They're expensive.
2. You can't go out of town without dealing with them.
3. They poop in your yard.
4. They're expensive
5. They eat everything.
6. They require exercise.
7. They leave hair everywhere.
8. They're expensive.
Oh! and, 9. They're expensive.

I cannot state how strongly he was against us having a dog.  So this past September when he told me that he thought we should get the boys a dog for Christmas, I was very. Very.  Shocked.



So, Christmas came early this year (because that's when the pups were ready).

Meet Tek, short for Varitek, a former Redsox catcher.  He is seven weeks old and weighs 11.5 lbs.

I am pretty sure that Steve and Tek will never be best friends, but Steve has won major points in the eyes of his sons and wife.