More Adventures

Yesterday I took the boys to the Wild Animal Park again -- they had a great time! Now that school is back in session, there weren't too many other people there and the weather was great. Thomas said "Hi" to all the animals, and Jack was so excited to ride the "Journey Into Africa" bus/tram (that's free for members!). There is a little playground at the park, which I think is almost as much fun for the boys as many of the animal exhibits. Now that Thomas is trying to walk more, he doesn't appreciate being cooped up in the stroller for too long, so he loved being able to get out and move around the playground. It's a great way for the boys (and me) to get some fresh air, exercise, and do something a little different than usual. I'd like to make a point of going once every couple of weeks especially as the weather continues to cool down.

Let's see -- Thomas is trying to walk on his own, but is still very wobbly on his legs. I've seen him take about 4-5 steps on his own, then he starts getting unbalanced and topples over. He really, really likes holding onto someone's hand and walking all over the house -- again and again and again, but I can only take so much of it! It's sweet, though, because he'll reach toward me and say "Wa?" (which I take to mean "Walk?"), and it's hard to say no to that.

Thomas is developing a decent set of manners :). When he is given something, he pretty consistently says his equivalent of "thank you", although it comes out sounding more like "tank ye". He actually likes saying it so much that sometimes when I give him a toy, he'll hand it right back to me and hold out his hand expectantly so I can give it to him again and he can say "thank you" for it.

Jack has been a handful lately. He's very sweet and funny and loving when he's had enough sleep, but when he doesn't get enough sleep he can be so difficult to be around! I understand that he's tired and crabby (and he's not at the age of reason yet, so he can't realize that and try to act nicely in spite of feeling crummy), but it's frustrating to deal with his whining, picking on Thomas, and general bad moods when I know that he just needs to take a nap (but he won't!). He does really well when I ask him to stay in his room for quiet time (I give him books to "read" when it's obvious that he's not going to nap), but his mood for the entire day is sour because quiet time just isn't the same as sleep time. Eventually I know he won't need that nap during the day, so there is an end in sight -- I just hope it's not too far off!

On a brighter note, I've caught Jack being very kind to Thomas several times recently (without any prompting), and that really warms my heart. When Thomas is crying, Jack often tells him "It's OK, Thomas. It's isn't so bad." And once when Thomas was wandering around saying "Dada Dada Dada" (which he does a lot!), Jack must have thought that Thomas was missing David, because he told Thomas "Oh, Daddy's at work, Thomas!" in a consoling tone. And Jack is good about sharing toys with Thomas because he thinks it will make Thomas feel better / be happier -- and of course I'm quick to praise him for being so thoughtful.



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Back from the Wedding

We made it!! Kim and Michael's wedding was SO beautiful! We had a wonderful time, and it was awesome to be part of such a lovely and holy ceremony. Jack and Thomas were real troopers. They didn't get much in the way of naps, but they slept great at night and were generally very well behaved. I myself was a little surprised at how good they were, considering all the running around and messed up schedules. Jack had such a good time, actually, that he asked me on Monday (with a hopeful twinkle in his eye) "Go to Aunt Wheetah's wedding again tomorrow?" -- he wanted to do it all over again!

It will be interesting to see how much Jack remembers of the wedding as he gets older. I'm sure he'll remember all the cool toys that he got to play with at Michael's house. That made a huge impression. And also wearing the tuxedo. He put it on early Saturday for pictures, took it off so he could have lunch without getting his tux all messy, and then put it back on for the wedding. He may also remember walking down the aisle (which I had to help with on the way up, since he was being pretty nervous and I was afraid he might start crying if I pushed too hard). And I think he'll remember the wedding cake and running around in the grass outside of the reception place. He had so much fun chasing the flower girl and the other kids that came to the wedding!

Now that we're back, pretty much unpacked, and nearly caught up on sleep, it's time for us to refocus on getting our house fixed up to sell. We have so much to do!! I think we found a guy to rebuild our deck. He's very knowledgeable and his price was a little better than the other bid we had. He also offered a handful of unsolicited (but very helpful!) advice on how to make the outside of the house look more appealing for buyers. Hopefully by next spring we'll have most of our repairs done, and the market will be a little more seller-friendly.

Here are the first couple of pictures of the boys from the wedding ... I'll post more as we get them!

Trying to Catch Up

Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures to upload right now, although I should have some great ones after my sister's wedding this weekend!

The boys are doing really well. Thomas took his first steps the other day! I know it won't be long before he's racing around after Jack. He also waves bye and says "Bah bah", which is probably his newest word. And it's funny because he'll say "bah bah" to something (like a cup or fork) just before he drops it from his high chair. His first word was definitely "dada", although it included not only David but also just about everything else :). Although he can say "Mama", he really doesn't use it to refer to me yet. One of his most favorite words is "Hiiiii" (with a really long "i" sound) and he loves calling it out to anyone new that we see.

Jack is also becoming a lot easier to understand :). He still does a lot of rambling, but he's putting his thoughts together much more coherently. He's also getting really good at comparisons and opposites. He loves to compare himself to Thomas -- "Thomas is eating fast, and I'm eating slow" or "Thomas is getting all messy and I'm nice and clean". It's funny! He also likes to say how much he "looooves" something. Like, Jack says out of the blue "Jack loooves coffee!" (even though he's never had it!). And when he says something is very big, he actually drops his voice and makes the words "very big" sound all big and dramatic. Sometimes we ask him questions and try to keep him talking just to see what will come out of his mouth!

We're all excited about Kim and Michael's wedding in a few days! I've tried to explain to Jack what a wedding is, but it's a little beyond a 3-year-old's comprehension level, I think! He does seem to understand that we'll be going to mass and then we'll have a big party afterward (with cake!). He has a little tuxedo, since he'll be the ring bearer, and he looks like such a little man in it! I just hope he doesn't balk at putting it on when we actually need him to, or isn't otherwise more stubborn than usual. We'll see!

Fire Truck

Thomas is more of a climber than Jack ever was, and when he discovered that he could climb into the red fire truck all by himself, he was pretty excited. Jack thought it was cool to have someone ride shotgun with him, too!

Pudding Paint and Wild Animal Park

I've been trying to think of fun things to do with the boys lately. I feel like I've been in a crazed cleaning and planning mode lately (trying to clean out cr*p so we can get ready to put our house on the market), and I tend to spend most of my free time doing chores around the house. I do spend time playing with Jack and Thomas, but many times I feel like there is so much work to be done that I have them play by themselves while I do chores or they "help" me do stuff. They actually enjoy helping me, but sometimes that ends up being more work for me (i.e. Thomas is often faster at dismantling clothes piles, stacks of books, DVDs, etc. than I am at organizing them!). So, I probably don't have them help as often as I should. I have to remember that somtimes the speed of doing a chore isn't as important as being joyful in my work, and teaching the boys to pitch in (because, let's face it, there will always be more chores to do!).

Anyway, on that note, I made pudding paint for Jack and Thomas a few days ago. You just make up some vanilla instant pudding and use food coloring to make different paint colors. I had them use spoons and pastry brushes to paint a big white platter, and they had a blast! They couldn't believe they were allowed to eat the stuff, too!

And today we took a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We have memberships there, but it's been several months since we've gone. I had to run some errands this moring, and after those were done I drove straight to the Park. Jack kept asking me where we were going, but I told him it was a surprise. When we got to the Park, Jack said "I cannot believe it! We're at the Park!". :). Then we took a sarafi tour bus ride around the park, which Jack thought was amazing. Thomas sat on my lap, and he squirmed a lot. He also thought it would be fun to compete with the tour guide over the speakers to see who could be the loudest. Yeah, he won. :). I felt bad for the people sitting right next to us!! I just couldn't keep Thomas from squealing and shrieking during the ride. At least he was happy, though!

And we got to have a picnic lunch there, and see some more animals up close in Keeper Talks. It was a cool trip! Jack walked his little legs off (and I think he may actually be napping!), and Thomas is screaming from his crib as I type (apparently he's counting his 20-minute nap in the car as his nap for the day -- d'oh!). But they should both sleep well tonight, anyway!

We're still here!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted an update. It seems like so much has happened in the last few months -- it's an overwhelming thought to summarize it all!

Basically, we're having a good summer so far. We enjoyed a week-long camping trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains last month (I'm posting some pictures of our adventures there). Next month, Kim is getting married and we're all excited about that! We're also trying to get our house ready to sell (no rush, but we hope to move within a year or so, depending on the housing market). My contribution is to de-clutter as much as possible -- and that's been taking a good part of the time and energy that I have leftover after taking care of David, the boys, and the basic day-to-day stuff. I guess we've been slowly accumulating stuff since in the 3 years we've been here, and now I'm taking a cold, hard look at everything to determine whether or not we really need it anymore. It's a good feeling -- have less clutter and unnecessary furniture will make the house appear larger when we show it, and it also means we'll have less stuff to haul to a new home.

Mostly, I'm just excited about the prospect of having a house with a backyard for the boys to run around in. I can't wait!! It's definitely a good motivator for me to work diligently on getting the house ready ASAP.

There's a bunch of other stuff going on, but my few minutes of free time are up, so I'll have to post again later!

Jack and Thomas enjoyed their birthdays yesterday and today. Thomas marked his birthday yesterday by successfully climbing up our stairs. He was a little scared at first, especially once he was on the middle step and either had to go up or down to reach level ground, but once he figured it out, he couldn't get enough of it. Now, he can roam the house at will! Actually, he hasn't figured out to go down the stairs yet. He parks himself at the top of the stairs and calls out with a "help me" cry. I've showed him how to slide down feet-first, on his tummy, but I think I'll have to show him (i.e. physically slide him down) a few more times before he's comfortable with it. So far, his favorite places to explore are the kitchen and the shoe rack. The only frustrating thing is that he's getting into a lot more stuff now (and often in a totally different area than Jack), so I'm being kept on my toes!

Jack had a good birthday today. The first thing he said this morning was "Jack wants cake and ice cream!", before I could even wish him a happy birthday. We did share a chocolate shake today, but we're saving the birthday cake for his party on Saturday. Jack did manage to break a fan today that I had put in his room to keep it cool during "nap time" (that's in quotes because not a whole lot of napping has been going on lately!). The fan has been in there for at least a week, since we've had unseasonably warm weather recently, and it was inside of a carefully constructed baby-gate cage that I didn't think he would really mess with. Well, somehow he reached the fan over/through the cage and knocked it over, which caused it to be broken beyond repair. I am definitely glad he wasn't hurt in any way, but I'm frustrated that I couldn't keep him from the fan. Thankfully, my Uncle Larry is going to install ceiling fans in our bedrooms this weekend, so we won't have to worry about this much longer! I can't wait! In the meantime, their room may be a little toastier than they'd like, but I can't risk putting another fan in there.

Anyway, both boys are doing very well. Tomorrow they go in for their well-child checkups, and I look forward to seeing how their heights and weights are doing. They seem to be growing very well!