Easton's a Weirdo

Easton loves our art projects we do and keeps asking to do them. The other day we got a Fourth of July craft. I made the "mistake" of calling it that and now Easton thinks it's for July's (of The Alabamaws) birthday.

It was a door hanger:






And Dalton watched his favorite "Elmo's World" with his pal Elmo...I thought it was cute how he was laying on the floor like that.

He went and got Elmo to keep him company when the Elmo segment came on TV.

Thanks to Easton's hour long accidental nap yesterday, he was up for over an hour past bedtime. Just thought you guys would want to know that. Why is he so abnormal with the sleep stuff?

And he's crapped his pants twice today. What the heck? The first incident this morning was a gigantic brown egg. Gigantic. I literally wouldn't have thought there was anything left in there for the day. But during quiet time he said, "I needa go poo poo!" so I rushed up there and he already had something mushed in his underpants before finishing on the potty. This kind of stuff has been happening on and off with him lately and I have no clue why or what to do. Regression is frustrating, to say the least. The full on poo accident today was rare, but the little dropping before realizing he has to make a big poo is common for him right now. I hate it. What sucks is that we feel like he's potty trained...not training. Sometimes I think there's something deeper going on there.

And then art class. He gave no indications all week that he was nervous about today. Even walking into the building he did just fine. Jason joined us and he was excitedly telling his Daddy about how last week went and what they did. Then I took him inside. He sat down at the "texture table" and rubbed crayons over interesting objects hidden underneath the paper. He was doing great!


I went to leave and he started whining that he wanted to do something else, and go home. So I went and stood in the doorway again for a bit. And he'd do fine. Then I'd tell him I was gonna go back out to wait and he'd hold it together very briefly before falling apart again. We just sat out in the lobby area listening to him cry and playing with D:


I hated going back and forth sort of "rewarding" his crying...but I also felt really bad for the teachers and the other kids whose class he was disrupting. So, a total of two times I went back inside the class. And I just sat near the door and watched. He'd do just fine while I was right there. I watched him paint a piece of bubble wrap and then they made a print from it:


When they went back to sit on the floor for a story I told Easton I was going to go get Daddy. We'd see him soon and don't cry this time. He said okay and I believed he'd be fine. I watched through the window briefly and yeah, he was gonna be okay.

So I ran downstairs to Jason and Dalton in Kindermusik and planned to switch. But J said, "No, I'm having fun." Well, duh...I want to have fun with D too. But that's okay...I watched them briefly:


And then went back up to watch Easton finish up his class. He did fine the whole remaining 15 minutes without me right there. So, I guess that's something. Not as good as last week, but not as bad as the first time either. I think he's having an off day...bad sleep last night, pooping his pants, the art class...

Frustrating.

When Wee Laddie and Easton finished class we headed down to watch the last 5 minutes of Dalton's class through the glass wall. Easton got there and shouted "Daddy!" so loud that the whole class noticed him. And Dalton too...he came over to say Hi to Wee Laddie and Bubba:


Then we came home. I put Dalton right down for his nap. It's hard keeping him awake in the car but it's also necessary or he won't go back down. So I got him down and then Easton and I went to finish up our car cleaning project from last week or whenever. This time we vaccuumed and then cleaned the floor mats:


I'm not sure a 3 year old--at least not my 3 year old--could ever handle a hose and not end up soaking wet.


After a few bites of macaroni he's having his quiet time with his Toy Story figures...and I'm hoping he's done pooping--at least in his pants--for today. Sheesh.

A Morning with Friends and Food

We ended up going to two grocery stores yesterday afternoon. Easton was soooo hyper and was driving me crazy. He got to buy some Yogos at Wal-Mart but after his behaivor while shopping he didn't get to eat any when we got home. I'd warned him first. Rascal.

While I was making dinner I asked Easton to pick up the toys so that when we got home from swimming they'd already be taken care of. I heard him putting them away so quickly and I thought Dalton was with him. But when I went to peek at the progress I found that instead Dalton had escaped from the living room and was dipping wads of toilet paper into Easton's full potty. ICK!!!!! I had to strip him and wash him in the sink. Then I had to clean up the bathroom, of course. And stick his pacifier and paci clip in the wash. Sooooo gross.

I'll admit that we have a disgusting habit of not emptying Easton's little potty after each use. He's pretty much always taken himself to the potty so I'm rarely right there to empty it...if it's #2 I do, because I have to assist in the wiping. But anyway, yeah, I empty it a few times a day when I'm in there anyway. And it hadn't been recent. So Dalton got all kinds of nasty and the bathroom was icky too.

Once I got all that taken care of we sat down to dinner. Appetizing, no? Dalton ate a TON o' food. I was impressed. Easton told us a bit more about swimming lessons and how his teacher says to him, "C'mon Easton, let's give it a try!" before she takes him out for a swim. After dinner we rushed to swimming lessons which was mostly pointless.

We got there with time to spare and E had his first turn with the teacher. So they went out and did the "motor boat motor boat" game and then she dunked him. All was well. She came to get him for his next trip out when all of a sudden the spotter who sits behind them shouted, "Everyone out of the pool!!!"

We were perplexed. The first thing that crossed my mind was that she'd spotted a turd floating by...the pool is full of kids after all. Jason joked that maybe she'd seen a shark. But no, it was lightening. It's an indoor pool. Never in my life had I heard there was a risk with lightening and indoor pools. But you can bet I had J Google it when we got home. So instead the children all got their towels and went to sit on the bleachers with their classes.

Easton, another kid, and his teacher Stephanie waiting for the other kids to retrieve their towels.

We saw them playing Simon Says and I Spy. They practiced their crawl strokes, back strokes and diving hands. Then they gave each kid a butterfly coloring sheet and sent them on their merry way.

What a waste. I am definitely a safety conscious lass, but this was new to me. Bummer.

But they did get to bed on time :)

After a little time doing our own thing, Jason and I had some couple time last night playing word games on the computer in the basement. We hadn't done that in ages and it was fun.

This morning we had plans for two of my very best childhood friends to come up: Kelli and Tonya. And Kelli has a 3 month old cutie, Connor.

I even made snacks!


My boys were excited to see the baby, Easton is good with babies but man, you gotta watch Dalton close. He doesn't know to be gentle and he likes to throw stuff too. Easton was Dalton's age whenI started watching Baby John and he was MUCH better with babies.

The boys weren't quite on their best or even their normal behavior but they weren't too bad. Dalton was a little crankier than usual. And the boys had a couple more "incidents" than usual...big bunch of rascals.

But here is Easton and Baby Connor:


And even though Dalton is over a year older, I know he looks forward to the day he can play with Connor. He kept saying, "I want the baby".


That kid is sure a cutie:


It's funny that Kelli and Ton drove all the way up here becuase there's two of them down where they live and then me all the way up north here. But I guess with my kids and the ages they are it's really all for the best. Thanks for making the drive, girls!

We spent the morning with them and now it's quiet time and I'm finishing the leftover snacks for my lunch. Yum!

Edited to add: I was talking with my friend Jessica that maybe Easton is feeling extra tired which was maybe why he was a little out of sorts. He often goes into hyper-drive when he's tired to keep himself awake. That must've been what he was doing. He did some quiet time in his room with books and then Legos and then was watching a DVD in my room. I went to check in and found this:

He's never fallen asleep in front of the TV before and he's certainly not fallen asleep in my room since he was an infant. When something like this happens you know he has to be wiped out. At least I feel better about his semi-wildness this morning.

Whew. :)

Conversations with Spidey, Hulk and Mommy

Just a long collection of video clips from the other afternoon. You don't have to watch, of course, it's nothing exciting, but if you want more of a glimpse in to life around here...this is a good lengthy (NINE MINUTES!) example:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Last Month of Youth

Ack! I turn 30 in a month from today. I will no longer be a twenty something. Jason and I will both be "in our thirties" for the first time. 30's a big one. Whoa.

Well, anyway...this post isn't going to be about all that and my wrinkles and chin whiskers...I just had to point it out being that it's the 25th.

This post will be the usual. But I did want to ask:


Anyway, back to yesterday...the boys had some peek-a-poo playing and tickle fun during lunch:










I just love how my boys genuinely seem to enjoy one another. In the mornings when Dalton finishes his nursing he stops and asks, "Bubba?" and then hops down and wanders down the hall to find him. And Easton's usually happy to see his baby too. But who wouldn't be happy to see this face?


Yesterday after quiet time we played Spiderman and climbed for quite awhile...


This pose just looked so "typical Spidey" to me:


After we played for a bit I talked the boys into going to Target...I wanted to get Easton some goggles...

I'm not sure if they'll end up working, we'll have to cut them if we do keep them.

My mom and Lauren joined us for dinner last night. I make really delicious chicken enchiladas, if I do say so myself.

Dalton didn't sleep through the night last night, but I wasn't expecting him to. He didn't eat all that great during the day. He made it till 4 when he started to make noises on and off till just after 5 when I fed him. Then he went back to sleep till 8. It was a good night for him so I'm happy.

This morning Easton woke up and started calling before his clock said 7. He seemed genuinely surprised that it wasn't 7 yet, so I think he didn't even look at his clock, the stinker. Oh well...we've had a good day anyway.

We went to breakfast at Atlanta Bread. I'm trying to be sure to keep using my Mother's Day gift cards given that I have the tendency to simply collect gift cards. So we did breakfast, Easton ordered a pecan roll like he always does but then he ate nearly all of Dalton's muffin top instead. Goober. But it's not like Dalton could eat the pecan roll--we don't do nuts with him yet. Somehow they both got full enough and we went to the library.

The library is right next door to a fire station and they do carseat checks on Wednesdays. Since we just switched things around I thought, hey, may as well have an expert check it out. There wasn't a single thing we were doing "wrong" or could do better. Nothing. She was so impressed at how tightly Jason had the seats in there. She was like, "we check for this and this and this and these seats aren't going anywhere". They don't budge even a little.

They also checked out the boys' placement when in the seats too to make sure the straps are at the right height and that it's tight enough:


Once again they said we were doing everything right. She even asked me, "Did you take a class?" Like a carseat class. And no, we didn't...but I have my "Carseat Girl" friend (Hi JessicaOI!). Reading the manuals help too, of course. But anyway, it's nice to have a certified expert giving us the thumbs up on our car safety! Plus it was cool to be at the fire station, the boys got hats and climbed all around the car while the ladies inspected stuff:




Then we were on our way...


We headed to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of craft stuff...even some Christmas crafts already!

When we got home the boys put on their fire badge sticker and their "I visited the fire station" tattoos:




We had a little lunch and then some quiet time. Easton and I read all his new library books, then he played quietly by himself for a long time, till he got hurt and I heard him cry out and then as I was rushing up the stairs he started knocking on his door to be allowed to come out. He knows he can't leave and he knows he's not supposed to call for me (but that doesn't always stop him from calling). He has taken to knocking on the door which I find quite amusing. And the fact that he was hurt, crying, and knocking was too cute. So he moved into my room to watch his new roller coaster DVD he checked out from the 'brary this morning.

I expect Dalton up any minute and then I think we'll run to the grocery store for a few things and then swimming lessons tonight!

Our Tuesday

Swimming lessons went well last night, in fact, they went swimmingly. :) Easton wore his wet suit. And while he looked super cool, I really am not thinking it's helping to keep him warmer. You see, wet suits need to be skin tight so that the thin layer of water inside can get warmed by your body temp and keep you insulated.

Well, yeah, I've never seen anything be tight anywhere on Easton. So, it's completely non-efficient for warming purposes...we're just hoping maybe next year...or at least that it's not making him any colder. And it was totally worth a shot, he loves his "new special suit from my friend Gramoo".

He was a great boy at swimming last night, the class was smaller, only 4 kids were there. But you can tell he's so much more "cold blooded" than other people. The other kids just sit on the side of the pool where Easton is practically convulsing. He shivers and shivers, and it sucks because you can't control it. He doesn't complain too much usually...especially not at swim class, but we still feel bad for him. That boy needs some meat on his bones.

Oh well.

This morning when we woke up we decided to take the car for an oil change and that means breakfast and playing at the McDonald's next door:




Slam dunk!


Dalton wants a turn to dunk:


We came home and decided to do a painting craft that was safe for even Baby Dalton: pudding painting!




This is exactly why we went edible:


Easton doesn't really like pudding. But he does like finger painting!


A bath was definitely next on our agenda:


The Bublet helping wash Big Bubba:


And then they played Spiderman and "the evil Doctor Octopus is on the loose" (it's from a book we have):


Dalton, who never wants to get out of the tub actually asked to get out. So I got him dressed while Easton stayed playing in the tub for a few more minutes (I was right close by) but Easton got carried away with his fun and splashed the whole bathroom. We are very big on consequences over here so he had to clean it all up:

But that plan totally backfires because the dude loves to help and clean up. Oh well.

We had some lunch after bathtime and then they're doing their quiet time. And I'm on a posting frenzy as there are 3 new posts below this one.

My word!

It Only Took 16 Months...

...for my Diddlebug to finally sleep through the entire night.

He's done great (on occasion) in the past, 10 hours has been his max, I think. He's slept through my night before but never his bedtime till morning time.

The books define "sleeping through the night" as a 5 hour stretch. But he's been doing that since we were allowed to stop waking him in the night when his bili levels were better. Other people call sleeping through the night sleeping through the mom's night. Like maybe 11-6 or 7.

But to me, truly sleeping through the night is what Dalton did last night. When he goes to bed to when he wakes for the day. 7:45 p.m. until 7:05 a.m. Glorious!

On Friday we began some mild sleep training with him (again). We've had "doctor's orders" to continue the middle of the night nursing but Dalton had gotten a little out of hand. And you know what, his weight was still falling on the curve even with nursing twice a night. If I thought continuing middle of the night feedings was truly in Dalton's best interest, I'd have no problem continuing them for as long as he needed it. Yeah I like my sleep as much as the next mom, but like all mom's I'd also do anything for my children. Anything. Even 16 months without sleeping through the night.

So yeah, Friday we stopped feeding him when it's dark, comforting him in other ways...I'm okay with feeding him around 5:00 or so when it starts getting light, and assuming he'll go back to sleep. But last night he didn't need any milk or any comforting.

Okay, I know I'm totally going to regret even mentioning this with the jinx factor and all. And I'll have you know I'm disabling commenting on this post...and please don't cheat and go to another post to comment on this or send me an email.

I'm just stating all this for informational purposes, not that I expect it to happen from now on.

It was just a big thing at our house and I wanted to get it on the blog so that when it happens again, be it next week, or in 16 more months, I'll know when the last time was.

The end.

(There is 2 more new posts below this, so read on...)

Our Climber

We've been discussing what type of class(es) to put Easton in this fall once soccer, art, and swimming are over. Obviously the child is quite an acrobat...but we're not sure how keen we are on men's gymnastics (yes, we're like that).

So then there is just the tumbling option at a dance studio or something. But someone isn't necessarily a fan of going to watch him at dance recitals...

I was like, he's obviously interested in such things, and skilled as well, right? So Jason was all, "How 'bout climbing lessons?" but if you ask me, the kid doesn't need any instruction...climbing team is more like it.








By the way, he got himself all the way up to the top.

There is another new post just below this so make sure to scroll down.