Sharing

This is a first. Both boys are wearing the same size pajamas. It's laundry day, and somehow we went through all of Nathan's pajamas more quickly than usual. He was left with just really warm flannel footy pajamas, all just a bit too small for him the last time he wore them several months ago. I couldn't do that to him, so I fished through Patrick's drawer for some that might fit. The ones I found fit remarkably well, just a little long (but elastic around the ankles keep them from dragging). It seems that we are only a few months from sharing nearly all their clothes. I wonder if it will be easier or more difficult to have them sharing a wardrobe.

Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. Patrick is usually really good about sharing. He always willingly offers his brother part of his meals and snacks, sometimes even when he's not supposed to, like when Nathan's mouth is already full. There are the expected problems with taking toys away from each other, but Patrick is trying really hard to learn when that is inappropriate.

It's great that the two are playing together now, too. Sometimes they get a little wound up and play games that are a bit out of my comfort zone for them, like the open/close the door game, but it makes life a little easier when their games are less dangerous. I particularly like the game where Patrick mimics Nathan. It's hilarious to watch both of them scooting around the floor, like a crazy little choo-choo train. Nathan flourishes under the attention of his big brother as well. I can tell already that the two are going to be very close as they get older. It's a good thing, if they're going to grow up sharing a wardrobe.

You'll be interested to know that I finally got around to downloading pictures. I have pictures from Christmas, both places, and a few of Patrick riding his tricycle that Santa left at our house while we were gone, then a few I took of the boys yesterday. You can find them here (can you tell it's a lot easier on me to just link them?). Enjoy.

Halloween '08

This year we didn't do much for Halloween. We're still fighting snotty noses, coughs, and incoming molars, so we've been pretty low-key lately. The big excitement was Patrick's Circus Day at school on Thursday. It's their replacement for Halloween, where the kids could wear non-scary costumes to school. Nathan and I went for the festivities, both boys complete with circus-themed costumes. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the peanut (Nathan, wearing Patrick's costume from last year) or the tiger at school. I'm hoping I'll get some pictures from the other parents who were there or the teachers. It was just too difficult to wrangle Nathan, Patrick, and that huge camera.

For Halloween yesterday, the boys did wear their costumes for a little while so I could get pictures. We went a different route with the theme this year. Patrick is wearing a tiger costume, similar to the one I and my three siblings each wore when we were about Patrick's age. Nathan is wearing a pumpkin costume, reminiscent of one of Matt's favorite costumes from his childhood.

I think he enjoyed chewing on the tie for the hat more than being a pumpkin, but it kept him happy anyway.

Oops, maybe not. We'll call this his mean jack-o-lantern face.

But generally he really was happy in the costume. He's the cutest pumpkin I've ever seen.

Patrick absolutely loves his tiger costume. He asks to wear it all the time. I particularly like his fashion sense, pairing it with his camouflage boots.

I had to get a back view. The tail is adorable.
It seems that Amber likes playing with cats as well as children. Really, she was good with the boys in costumes. She wanted to sniff them endlessly, of course, and was kind of excited, but I expected both reactions. At least she wasn't scared of the boys looking different.

It was difficult to get a picture of that cute face underneath the tiger face, so I'm glad I have this one.

And the one picture of the boys together in their costumes, both looking at the camera. It's harder than it looks. Maybe next year they'll pose together voluntarily.

Random Pictures

I've been collecting pictures that I've wanted to post, but none of them related, so I've been putting it off. Well, it's time to show them off, even if they seem totally random together.

I was testing out my flash that was being finicky, and Matt decided to be silly for me. I'm glad the flash worked after all!

This dinosaur is his new favorite stuffed animal. He carries it around much of the day and refuses to sleep without his "di-uh-suh."

He also decided randomly the other day that he wanted to be a hat boy. For someone who has refused to wear a hat his entire life, this is hilarious to me. He even insisted on wearing this hat to the grocery store the other day.

Patrick got a gift when I got the box of birthday presents from my parents last week. He used this box as his little house all day long. He actually had fun closing himself up totally in the box and would get frustrated if he couldn't keep all the flaps closed. I felt like an awful mom closing up my kid in a tiny box, but that's what he wanted!

I don't remember learning to sit with my legs crossed this young. Isn't that something that's usually taught, not done instinctively?

I have several cute Amber pictures I haven't gotten around to posting. She's just such a cutie and loves posing for me.

Hehe. He was getting frustrated that he couldn't get the other sandal on, so he put on his boot instead. I love his unique sense of style.

Amber curled up on the couch

A hilarious doggy yawn

The Rest

Okay, I know it's a TON of pictures, but this should catch us up, other than the photos still on the camera. Sigh, it never ends.

Right at at the start of this nurturing phase, I got pictures of Patrick hugging Elmo. Now he hugs anything he likes a lot, including pictures in books, but it's sweet to see how it all started.

The runner-up for the picture I used to announce Amber's entrance into our family

Nathan has been sitting on his own for a long time now, but I've been too chicken to leave him long enough to get pictures of it. Until recently, he was still just unstable enough that I was afraid he would topple backwards eventually, and he always got scared when that happened so I wouldn't leave him alone. Now that's not really a problem anymore, so expect lots of sitting pictures. This is the first one.

See how good he's getting? I'm comfortable leaving him sitting there next to the dog even. Amber loves him so much and seems to understand that when he "pets" her that he can't control his hands that well yet. He obviously gets a little rough sometimes, but she loves the attention so much. And he loves her so much too; he can't keep his hands off her if she's nearby. He even puts up with the constant baths from her.

She gets so sad anytime her daddy leaves her. She doesn't sulk all day, but if the boys aren't around to distract her (like during naptime), this is what she looks like.

I know the rattle is pink. It's an Easter rattle. He doesn't care, so why should we?

Should I be jealous? I think she makes out with him more than I do these days! (And the parentals reading this...just don't think about it, ok?)

Nathan is also working on standing up. He clearly doesn't have the balance to stand by himself yet, but one of his favorite things to do is practice when he has help.

But he has yet to learn not to bite the hand that holds him.

Just laugh at this one. I couldn't have caught this moment if I tried, so it's lucky I got it without trying.

Okay, this next one has a long explanation. You know how it looks like Nathan doesn't have much hair? Well, it's finally filling in, but it's so fine and so blonde that you can't really tell. But he still has a few hairs that have been continuously growing since before his birth, and those hairs are getting long. Matt was playing with these longer hairs when we were playing outside and pulled it straight up to show how long it is. This is how long the longest hair is:

Isn't she beautiful? Look at that sweet face!

Such a happy kid

And a happy daddy.

By the way, I had tons of Patrick pictures from this lazy time outside the other day, but I used most of them in his monthly letter on Monday. You can go check those out if you feel bad that Patrick got left out.

Thirty Months

Dear Patrick,

It's been thirty whole months since you were born, a full two and a half years. On the bright side, now I can call you two and a half instead of two, which prompts many fewer odd looks from people when they compare your age with Nathan's. For some reason, two years is an acceptable interval between kids, but one and a half isn't.
Unfortunately, two and a half also puts you in the throes of the terrible twos. And terrible they are. The last few weeks in particular you have been exerting your strong will, particularly through disobedience. You have frustrated and exasperated both Daddy and me to the very limits of our patience. You seem to know which buttons to push and exactly how hard to push us. To say you have been difficult is an understatement.

Yet despite all you have put us through, I can't help but admire you as well. You have extreme persistence. I'm hoping some day you will put that trait to good use, instead of using it as a way to drive us crazy. You are also very creative. You manage to find ways to turn every punishment into a game. If we spank you, you laugh and start walking around the house spanking yourself. If we take your toys away, you shrug and find something new to play with, even if it's not officially a toy. Every time we put you in time-out, you make a game out of finding a way to play even in time-out, and the more disobedient it is, the better. In fact, we have moved your time-out location several times so that it will be more difficult for you to find a way to play, and you love the challenge and get more creative to turn punishment into playtime.

It's gotten to the point where I enjoy hearing you cry when you get punished because it's the only way I know it's working. And I don't know of any other way to let you know your behavior is unacceptable. Better yet, how about we work on not behaving in that manner to begin with? Then neither of us needs to worry about a punishment for you.

Daddy and I have had endless discussions about how to deal with you. We have brainstormed different positive rewards for good behavior; we have brainstormed better punishments that you may actually respond to. So far you have thwarted all of our best ideas. While I am at my wit's end with you, you need to know that you're not a bad kid--not by any means. You're simply mischievous and you enjoy testing your limits, over and over and over again. I'm holding out hope that this stage is just a stage after all and that a few months from now you'll outgrow it. Maybe at that point you will only keep the best qualities that I admire in you so much now.

And I will have patience beyond that of any other human. Except Daddy. And Nana and Grandpa who had to raise me. I'm sure that's where you got this after all.

The biggest event from the last month is the addition of Amber to our family. Can I just say that you were thrilled about this? You still are, every day. You won't leave your room in the mornings until Amber has come in to say hi to you. You love Amber with the overexuberance only a toddler can have. Fortunately, Amber loves all your loving, clumsy as it may be. She puts up with you when you play a little too rough with her (which always elicits one of those pointless time-outs) and hates when you're in bed--after she's enjoyed a little quiet time of her own first. Amber whines outside your door as soon as she hears you awake in the morning, reminding me that I need to release her beloved playmate as soon as possible. She watches over you like a mother would and plays with you like a sister would. I couldn't be more pleased to get to watch the two of you grow up together.
And I don't know if it's Amber or the visits from your ECI teacher or what, but your language is growing by leaps and bounds these days. Sometimes I wish I could follow you around with your baby book to write down each new word or phrase you say. It's all so fascinating to me to see how thrilled you are to be able to make yourself understood with words. This morning when we were playing outside with Amber, I mentioned Nathan had a dirty diaper and that we'd need to go inside and change it soon. You looked at me and asked, "Isside? Chay di-poo Gaga?" And I knew right away you'd understood exactly what I'd said, using the longest string of comprehensible words I'd ever heard you use. Pretty soon you're going to be asking me to explain electricity to you (ask Nana or Uncle Steve about that reference) and quoting whole songs and movies to me.

For now, though, I celebrate every tiny achievement, whether it's a new word or putting your shorts on by yourself (even if they are Nathan's shorts) or obeying me the first time I ask you to. We had a great morning this morning, and that gives me hope that we can have a great afternoon and maybe a great tomorrow and that not every day will be as trying as some of the ones I've survived lately. I have hope that sometime soon I will get to spend every single day enjoying the happy, sweet, loving boy that you let out to play every once in a while between tantrums. But know that I love even that puddle of screaming Patrick rolling around and kicking on the floor, even if I have to do it while sighing and wearing my angry face.

Love,

Mommy

A New Addition

Matt and I have a big announcement to make. Or rather, we'll let the boys make it:

I'm the big brother.

I'm the big brother.

And I'm the little sister.

Her name is Amber, and she joined our family as of yesterday. Technically she's not the "little" sister, as she weighs more than either brother and is a little older than even Patrick. She's a rescued beagle, adopted from the local beagle rescue society.

So far, she's been nothing but perfect. She already protects the boys and is perfectly gentle with them. She hasn't had even one accident in the house yet and adores all of us. The boys love her as much as she loves them, too, and Patrick already knows her name. He calls out, "Hi, Puppy!" to her every time he sees her.

For those of you who don't know, I grew up with a beagle. For me, it feels so right to have a sweet beagle sleeping next to me on the couch. Even Matt, a loyal Doberman lover, agrees that Amber is the perfect dog for us. Expect lots of Amber stories in the future, especially if she keeps letting me get pictures like this of her.