Misc updates

Even since we stopped giving Ethan bottles (yes, this was recent and yes, he's 2 1/2), we've been having a really hard time getting him to drink any milk. He drinks everything else from a cup or a sippy, but he would not drink milk. Then Gamma had the greatest idea...she brought over a cup that has a cow on it and we use it just for milk. He wasn't quite sure at first, but we kept trying each night at dinner. A few days ago, he drank the whole cup..and he has every night since!

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I knew it would be a sad day when Ethan stopped saying 'Go go gi gi' for motorcycle. We used to try to get him to say 'motorcycle'...."Ethan, say 'motor'"...."Motor"...."Say 'cycle'"...."Cycle"...."Say 'motorcycle'"...."Go go gi gi"...How it made us laugh!! But now, a 'motorcycle' is a 'motorcycle"...and it makes me sad. I asked him the other day to say 'go go gi gi' and he stated sternly, "I don't say 'go go gi gi', I say 'motorcycle'"....my little boy is growing up and leaving his creatively made-up words behind.

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Ethan loves to cook with me. It's awesome and I can't wait until he can do more of it...ie, measuring, cutting, stirring. Right now, he helps "dump" and he can help stir too. Last night I asked him what he wanted to do this weekend and he said "Make more banana bread with you, Mommy!" So, we thawed some "yucky bananas" from the freezer and baked ourselves some banana bread last night and he devoured some for breakfast this morning...very proud of himself because he helped make it with the "little beer" (the little beer is the vanilla which comes in a tiny brown glass bottle, which I suppose looks kind of like a little beer!)

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Gramma Nana sends Ethan emails through my yahoo account. When we get one, he sits on my lap in front of the computer and I read it to him while he sports a huge smile across his face. Last night, I tried to have him dictate a response. We've done Skype with my parents on the computer a few times, so I think he was confused. "Hi Gramma Nana" he waves to the computer. "I can't see or hear her" he says. "Good luck" he says with his arms up in the air (My mom is running a half marathon today)..."Where is her? We will look for her"...he says. We're still working on the concept of email...but I think the Skype thing really has him confused!!

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Ethan's vocab is off the charts...he knows so many words and speaks in full sentences most of the time. His narration cracks us up.

Last night, after making banana bread, he said to me, "Clean those dirty dishes please, Mommy!"...look at those manners...we're working hard on them.

Daddy put Ethan to bed last night and asked for a big hug after books. Ethan said, "It's not a big hug, it's a big squeeze (which is what we call it most of the time!). A big hug is like a big squeeze" Funny.

He's still been really into sleeping on the floor for some reason. Typically, we'll cover him up in his bed and then he'll ask to sleep on the floor and we'll move everything from his bed onto the floor and get him set up. Last night he was in bed and said to Daddy, "Actually, I don't like my bed very much. I will sleep on the floor"...before we went to bed, we found him back in his bed, but most mornings he is still on the floor. What's with that?! I know he loves that race-car bed!!

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I was reading the Star Trib the other day and my jaw dropped when I saw an article about Apple iPhone's "baby shaker" app. I haven't seen it myself because just the description made me want to vomit. I poked around Apple's website yesterday and I think I know who to direct my letter to. I started writing it yesterday and am hoping to finish it this weekend and mail it on Monday. I don't even have the words...and I know they pulled the app only two days after it was listed for sale, but what. the. hell. are. they. thinking?! I will post some information here on this later...

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I remember posting about Owen and Dylan's personalities when they first came home from the hospital. Oh my, have they turned a 180. Dylan used to be so mellow, Owen screaming every time someone wasn't holding him or looking at him. Now it's my dear little Owen who just hangs out. If someone isn't right up in Dylan's face all the time, he gets so pissed. It's a good thing though...he's just really curious about the world around him and wants to interact so badly. He's even really making at attempt to sit up....he wants to see see see everything...and this laying on your back in a bouncy seat or swing is just not working for him!

Dylan rolled over, back to front, for the first time on Thursday. He had a little trouble swinging that noggin over too, his body was almost all the way around before his head followed, but he did it! Ack, mobility...it freaks me out...but I'm very proud of him!

Maybe all that activity is making him more hungry...my gosh, this boy can eat. He wasn't doing so great on rice cereal at first, he would cry for the first couple minutes until it got into his belly, but now, he is pouncing on the spoon. It actually makes the feeding pretty hard, bc I don't want that spoon going too far into his mouth, but he can grub on that crap really well now.

The boys have consistently been sleeping through the night now. Sleep. I love sleep. Last night, however, D woke up at 3am. He had moved himself from vertical in the crib, to horizontal in the crib and was pretty much head to toe to the sides of the crib....uncomf. I moved him, but a few minutes later he started crying again. I figured this big boy could be hungry, so I got a bottle and brought him to bed. Afterwards, he fell asleep next to me, and like his big brother Ethan, flailed around whacking me in the face several times. I didn't sleep very well with him in our bed, on the tiny little piece of bed that was left for me, and I wonder how anyone can do the "family bed" thing every night?!

It is always Dylan who squawks in the night or let's us know they are awake in the morning. Owen is so chill these days that he can be wide awake in the morning and just lay there and suck his thumb. When he first starting sucking the thumb I was worried, thinking that it would become a habit and I could never take his thumb away from him. But it is so nice for him (and us!) to be able to soothe himself back to sleep, or soothe himself while we are with another one of our kids. I'll cross the other bridge when I come to it...for now, it's awesome! Dylan sucks his pointer finger and middle finger instead of his thumb. He doesn't do it a lot though, most of the time he sucks on his bottom lip!

I inadvertently proved one of Dr W's theories on Thursday night. Andy got home and we all went outside. Around 6 I noticed that the babies were drifting off to sleep. They were due to eat at 6 too. It was SO hard to get Owen to eat before bedtime. I almost skipped rice cereal to just do a bottle, but I hate to break our new routine so I got a few bites in him before his bottle. He was totally crashed out during the bottle, but wide awake afterwards. He was totally overtired and wired. I brought him downstairs to put him in the swing thinking that would help him drift off again because he was just screaming every time I put him in his crib. He'd burped, wasn't hungry, and wasn't wet, and I knew he was tired. He sat in that swing with his eyes WIDE open. Eventually, I just had to put him back in the crib and let him yell it out. It was only 5 minutes, but it felt like forever.

Dylan and Owen are starting to nap more regularly. In fact, I just put them up in their cribs at 9 when they started looking sleepy. Dylan yelled once, and it's been quiet ever since...45 minutes. They still take some naps in the swings downstairs in our living room, but they are getting much better at sleeping in their cribs for naps...I love routine and schedules so I couldn't be happier about this!! Not to mention that they are much more fun when they are well-rested.