June - Winding Down

The heat continues. On Monday I took the boys for a run. It quickly turned into a jog/walk/crawl by the time we made it to Grandma's house. You can see Reid's rosy cheeks from the heat. I was really hoping to run more this summer, but I hate making the boys suffer through the heat. Looks like I need to figure out an alternative workout plan.

The frequency of the boys crawling out of the cribs greatly increased last week. I told Eric that I thought it was time to convert them to toddler beds. Even though it makes it easier for them to get in and out, at least it's less dangerous. 

In the end, the boys approved. They've had a few falls, but that's mainly because they act like crazy monkeys crawling in and out of their beds during nap time. We were awoken one morning when we heard a thump and cry when Reid rolled out of bed by accident. Eric and I have been taking turns standing vigil outside their door and popping in anytime they leave their bed during nap time and bed time. I'm definitely not ready to abandon naps, so hopefully we'll get them re-trained.

I tried to get them to sit next to each other AND smile. Almost got it: 

Hand-washing has turned into a favorite activity. Of course, it's the splashing that's the draw.

Here is what their beds look like now. Reid was awake a littler earlier, so Eric took him downstairs. Aiden was still snoozing: 

On Tuesday, the boys helped Eric wash the cars while I worked on a t-shirt quilt. (Candace- I'm actually making progress!) 

Our thermometer showed a high of 105.4 degrees that day. Yes, it is much more tolerable as a dry heat than if it were humid too. But, it's still way too hot. We have several wild fires burning around the state which is really sad and scary. I feel so awful for the people who have lost their homes. 

I took the boys to the grocery store. While I strapped Aiden into his car seat, Reid climbed into the front seat and turned on the car power (not the actual engine). He was thrilled because it caused the DVD player to start playing the Baby Einstein video that was loaded up. His #1 goal when he enters a house is to turn on the TV or find the phone, so he was very excited about this accomplishment. (During this trip to the store, Reid also decided he should hop out of the little car-cart every time I stopped to grab something. I started grabbing items on the go, to keep him from escaping. So much for relatively easy grocery trips. I was trying to give Eric a break, but Uff-da.)

Reid brought his booster seat over to the couch while we were watching a Rockies game. I couldn't get him to completely sit in it for a picture, but his version of stadium seating was pretty cute. 

Watching Sesame Street with my boys: 

More sewing, while the boys hung out. Eric was outside, so Reid was watching him: 

Aiden watched Eric from under the table: 

 Reid then crawled under the table to retrieve some Cheerios:

And paused to figure out what Mama was doing. He did push my foot down while I was sewing, but luckily not too much and I was just sewing straight lines:

 

We did get a little rain yesterday.  

Aiden was telling me about the "ice" that was hitting his forehead: 

Reid too: 

Then Reid ran back and forth between the flower pots saying, "Dirt! Dirt!" 

Watching the drops: 

Getting wet socks: 

Wednesday evening Eric and I went a Rockies game. The Rockies have not been doing well this season. The highlight of the game was when one of my co-worker's husband caught a foul ball. He was sitting right next to me. It skimmed off of my glove, but I couldn't make the catch. This was the first time he's caught a foul ball, so no hard feelings. I did make Eric stay through the entire agonizing game since we were sitting in a prime location for foul balls.

Reid has gone through another growth spurt which means he can now reach the light switches. I'm sure our energy company will be thrilled with this achievement: 

The boys and I went over to my friend Annessa's this morning to play with her boys. The mamas were able to do a little catching up too, which was nice: 

This afternoon, the boys were jumping on the bed. Aiden pretended he was going to go to sleep and tucked himself in. Reid tried to join in. Lots of giggling:

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I made a list of some of the boys' common word and phrases:

Reid:

- Go/There go (Usually he's handing us something and means "There you go.")

- Come ("Come over here, with me." He'll also motion with his hand at the same time.)

- Go (If it's accompanied with a push, then it means he wants you to move in a certain direction.)

- La-la (Water)

- Yeah/Yeth (Yes)

- Apu (Open)

- No-tay/ O-tay (Not okay/ Okay. Grandma picked up on the "No-tay" last night.)

- I see Momo/Elmo? (He wants my iPhone so he can play with an Elmo app. He usually only stays on that app for a few seconds before he switches over to Angry Birds or Temple Run. He needs help with most of the apps, so what usually keeps him occupied is the switching back and forth between apps. He's a pro at that.)

Aiden:

- Garage (Wants to push the garage door button to open or close it.)

- Wid (Lid. He's very emphatic that he should get to put the lid on his sippy cup. He usually wants to dunk his hand in first, so I find myself trying to sneakily get it done when he's not looking. P.S. He must take after his Uncle David, who also had trouble with his L's.)

- Bed? (He wants to go jump on the guest bed.)

- Pie (This is a contraction of "Up" and "High". He usually says it to Eric when he wants to be lifted way up high.)

Both:

- Up (Pick me up and hold me.)

- Share! (They say this to each other if they want to take what the other has. As in, "SHARE! NOW!")

- Turn!/ My turn! (Ditto.)

- Please! (Ditto.)

- Beep, beep! ("Move out of the way.")

- Uh-oh! Oh no! (Usually nothing serious is wrong. Just something dropped or something out of place. It can be a give away when they're getting into trouble.)

- NO-NO! (They're two. What do you expect?)

- They've both started singing nap time/bedtime songs with us. It's a little off-key and sometime the words don't come out at the right time. But, what they lack in accuracy, they make up for in enthusiasm. They're favorite number is two, so when we sing "Take me out to the ball game," they love to yell out "TWO!". With the hand gestures, as well. ("One, TWO, three strikes yer out...")

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I just discovered a funny new blog: Honest Toddler. I currently get most of my news through my Twitter account, because I rarely watch TV anymore. (Keri from 2.5 years ago watched WAY too much TV.) While I follow a lot of news sources, I also follow some athletes, actors, comedians, etc. I can't remember where, but I saw a re-tweet from Honest Toddler's twitter account @HonestToddler and also found his blog. Not as much written is on the blog; mostly he's on Twitter. Here's a sample:

Honest Toddler ‏@HonestToddler

Toddler Tip: Work on your midnight death scream. If hearts don't palpitate, you're doing it wrong.

Always good to have a little humor to keep difficult times/stages in perspective.