So much has changed in 4 weeks! Asher went from crawling slowly, 2-3 paces at a time and then sitting, to chasing me down. I can’t leave his sight without him coming to find me. Although it’s mildly irritating, I do love how his face lights up when he rounds the corner of the kitchen and he sees me. When we’re in the play room, he crawls to the stairs, turns around, and waves “bye.” He climbed 3 stairs the other day, to my horror 😂. I suspect that Ash will reach his walking milestone earlier than Quinn did because he’ll want to try to keep up with the household. He gets upset when left in a room by himself, and crawls after us, crying. He can stand on his knees, and push up into Downward Dog. If he wasn’t such a chunk (he’s fitting into 18 months clothes at 10 months!), he would maybe already be there. Quinn affectionately refers to him as, “That big ole baby.” He is saying all of the important words—Mama, Dada, Bubba, ball, Grogu 😆(Baby Yoda’s real name). He can clap his hands, wave side to side, and efficiently finger feed himself. He is doing way more chewing, and way less choking, so we’ve left purées behind. I’ll be happy when he can use utensils himself because there’s rarely a meal that doesn’t get dumped on the floor or me. I call him Flappy Bird because he’s always flailing his arms about, and slaps the bowl or plate or spoon out of my hand. I would love to tape his hands down during mealtimes 😅. Unfortunately, his belly is still adjusting to all of the new foods he can now eat, making him a cranky little gas ball. I was excited when he seemed to be grasping the concept of his straw cup, but because it’s a leak-proof one, he has to bite it for the water to pass through. I would rather he not learn to bite things in order for liquid to come, if you know what I mean 😂🐄. He has bitten me while nursing a few times now. I was getting really frustrated and considering buying some formula, but he doesn’t like being told, “No!,” in a firm noise, and hasn’t done it in a while. He has, however, bitten me on the leg and shoulder, many times. Anytime his face comes near my body, I’m on edge. He cries when corrected, though, and it’s ironic to have to comfort the person who just harmed you 😂. Although he doesn’t like it, he obeys “No,” when told not to touch Sophie’s water bowl. I mean, he checks back every day to make sure that’s still the rule, but he goes elsewhere once confirmed 😆.
He’s always so happy to see me 😃.
🫣 stopppp it
His first experience eating a pickle 😅.
My biggie boy ❤️.
I know I say this all of the time, but it’s crazy how fast time is going. This baby phase certainly doesn’t last long, and while I’ve enjoyed (most of 😅) it, life gets easier as he grows. Like, four weeks ago, if Asher tried to crawl and splatted on his belly, I would have to help him up. Now, he can move freely from belly to knees to butt, and back again. The downside to his independence is he can now crawl across the bed, which makes his solo naps more stressful for me. I have to keep the monitor turned on on my phone and listen and watch for him to get up, so that he doesn’t fall off. It’s not a far fall, but still not one I want him to do, obviously. The first time I discovered that he could sit up on his own was at the end of a nap. I heard him on the sound monitor that’s in the kitchen, so I went in to check on him. When he was sitting up, and not laying down how I left him, it scared the crap out of me 😅. A few days later, it was nap time for everyone, and I had put him down first and then went into the living room to collect Quinn. He said he wanted a drink first, and while I was getting it, Asher had woken up. When I got into the bedroom with Quinn, Asher had crawled to the end of the bed! That’s when I started making sure I have the video monitor pulled up on my phone anytime he’s in the bed alone.
He’s 10 months old already!
Too bad she wouldn’t save him 😂. The moment he would wake up and touch her, she’d be gone.
We had a very nice Christmas with both of our brothers’ families and my dad. We got to visit at Mimi’s house the week of Christmas with her and my friends, Mollie, Iris, and Lisa. We saw my friend, Chris, the following week, and the boys received gifts in the mail from their Nana, and Kiki dropped some off at the house. They also received gifts from two of our neighbor friends! While it’s awesome having so many people who love them and want to buy them things, I’ve about lost my mind organizing after the toy dump that is Christmas 😩. Two weeks, a new shelf, a small purge, and several containers and labels later, and I might be seeing the light at the end of the disorganized tunnel. Between Christmas chaos and a baby who finds great joy in dumping out anything I’ve just cleaned up, it’s truly a wonder my head hasn’t exploded.
Mimi’s house 💜
Christmas morning, before
Anddddd after.
Ash was pretty psyched for his wagon, that was missing a wheel 🤦🏻♀️. No worries, Fisher Price sent us a brand new replacement toy, for free!
Quinn really liked his Spiderman pal and enlisted his help in gift opening 😅.
His play room surprise 😃
Quinn’s gift from Tina and Jim, our neighbors 🥰.
Their matching shirts from our neighbor friends, Ryan and Lill, parents of one of Sophie’s bff’s, Steele 😉
Quinn having a conversation with his aunt Lulu about opening gifts. She bent down to talk to him, so he bent down, too 😂.
After about 10 takes, this is the best we got 😆.
Kenobi’s first Christmas 😍.
Ash cuddling with his cousin, Emma 🥰.
They live in BFE, but it sure looks magical in winter 😍.
Ash riding in the back of the fire truck tent their Nana sent for them 👨🚒 👨🚒.
Let’s not forget about the decision fatigue that Christmas brings. Choosing gifts for people really shouldn’t be as stressful as it is, but here we are. On a related note, I read an article about how older women, especially, talk about how there are so many convenience items available now that make having a baby easier, that they didn’t have. While this is true, for sure, they do come with a cost. Take, for example, something as simple as buying a feeding kit. I picked that because it is something I bought several months ago, but there are probably even better examples. Anyway, you see advertised on FB this really cool spoon that is connected to a bottle type container that is used to store and administer baby food. So, like everything nowadays, you have to go to Amazon to find it. But there isn’t just one to choose; oh no. There are 16 different packages—some that have included little silicone pouches with holes that allow baby to eat even more foods without choking. So now you have to read through the 16 different listings, maybe read some reviews to see what others experienced while using them, assess whether they’re worth buying at all. It’s a time sucker. While I did really find the spoon contraption I ended up choosing to be helpful, was it really necessary? No. I still spent an hour of my life that I’ll never get back deciding to buy it. It takes a lot of mental energy, something I constantly run low on. Now, multiple that by the number of people we buy Christmas gifts, and it’s telling why Christmas is such a stressful event. Don’t get me wrong, watching Quinn at Christmastime was the most fun yet, so it makes all of the stress worth it to make him happy. But his and others’ happiness at receiving the gifts doesn’t negate the stress.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve already said this, but I know this time won’t be the last: Quinn. Talks. So. Much. So, so much. I have zero mental energy left at the end of the day, Christmas time or not. He’s either giving me directions of what to say, or what to make a toy say, or what tone of voice to say it in, or what to ask Asher, or making up stories, or asking me millions of questions, or his newest annoying habit: yelling, “No!,” at Asher every time he decides Ash is going to touch his stuff. Asher might not even be within three feet of Quinn’s stuff when he decides this 🙄🙄. Aside from being superrrr annoying, I’m afraid it is going to desensitize Ash to listening to, “No.” I rarely have to tell him, “No,” so when I do, he listens. I’m afraid that won’t last if he hears it 56 times an hour from Quinn.
He didn’t want Ash to touch his stuff, but he refused to take it to a table or couch, so I put the fence around him. It was a Quinn problem, so I didn’t think Asher needed to be confined 🤷🏻♀️.
Even though Quinn doesn’t want him touching his stuff, he’s very protective over his brother. He gets jealous when other kids take a liking to Asher. There’s a boy at the library who always talks to Ash and wants to touch him, and Quinn does not like that. Quinn is always asking us if we’ll keep him safe, and he, in turn, tells Ash that he’ll keep him safe. When Asher is asleep and then Quinn comes to bed, I have to remind him every time not to touch him. He can’t control his impulse to reach for Ash on the other side of me and grab his hand. It would be fine if he didn’t try to manipulate it like it’s a ball of play doh. I honestly don’t know why he rubs it the way he does. As an older brother, Philip didn’t care much for his brother growing up. Mine could’ve also done without me. We hope that their experience is different and that we can help mold a loving relationship between our boys. Or one of tolerance and civility, at the very least.
Quinn is so emotional some days and it can be overwhelming for us both. I struggle to share my calm, rather than joining his chaos. He gets his feelings hurt when corrected, especially by Philip. He always wants to play with Philip, but sometimes he’ll tell Philip to do something, like make his lion roar, and then get scared and cry. He tattles on Philip to me, which is a foretelling of what’s to come between him and Ash, no doubt. The strangest part is how he’ll be having a complete meltdown over something that seems trivial, and then fine the next after a few words of solace. The emotional whiplash is jarring.
Just as life mimics a roller coaster, Quinn and I were in a good place for a minute, so I wasn’t surprised when we came crashing back down. The sass that comes out of that boy’s mouth is something else 😳😡. He wants to argue about everything, and he has a comeback for everything we say—
*After the 20th time of telling him not to climb on things*
M: “STOP! You’re not allowed to climb on things.”
Quinn: “I’m allowed to climb on my stool!”
🙄🙄🙄🙄
Another time, and I don’t even remember what he was climbing on:
M: “If you fall, you’ll have to go to the hospital.”
Quinn: “But they’ll make me better.”
His newest favorite phrase is, “I don’t like you!,” and is said any time he is told to do or not do something he doesn’t like. I’ll bet the upgrade to that phrase will be coming along shortly, as he has said he hates some random things before. I know I won’t like it, but I also know he won’t mean it.
Unsurprisingly, the boys (and I) were sick with the stomach flu. You know, we had to meet our monthly illness quota to finish out 2022 🙄. It was like something from a movie. The cast:
Me: the idiot who was rendered motionless by shock.
Quinn: the kid who vomits EVERYWHERE.
Ash: the poor baby who becomes a victim of puke.
Quinn went to bed and slept for about an hour and half. I was in bed, but sitting up and not laying beside him (thank goodness!), scrolling on my phone. It was dark, so I didn’t see anything, I just heard Quinn kind of cough. I realized he was sitting up about 30 seconds later when I smelled the vomit 🤢. He said he felt okay then, so I asked Philip to get new bedclothes, and he got everything changed while I changed Quinn’s clothes. I didn’t think he had really gotten anything on him, but I didn’t want to take any chances with clean bedclothes. I got both boys back to sleep relatively quickly and laid down myself. About an hour later, Quinn sat up again and I was immediately up, too. He puked on his pillow, and as I scooped Ash up and moved him away, Quinn turned in the same direction, spewing down his clothes and on the bed. I sat Ash down, and in his drowsy state, he fell forward, the side of his head landing in Quinn’s vomit 🤮🫣😫. I picked Ash up and just sat there like, “WTF do I do now?” Like, I seriously had no idea where to even start 😂. It was midnight and I was bathing both boys while Philip changed the bedclothes again. Mind you, we only have two sets of bedclothes, so the second switch was a makeshift fix, to hopefully last until morning, when they could get washed and changed again. He must’ve gotten it all out with that last bout and was fine after. I got it a few days later. Ash had a day of grumpiness and runny poop, but that was the extent of his. Philip didn’t catch it, luckily.
Just before Christmas, I took the boys to the mall and a few days later, Ash was pouring snot from his face. I felt guilty, wondering if he caught something from taking him out. I honestly think it was from teething, though. He cut his eighth tooth, and the snot accompanied it.
Quinn loves renting this stroller.
While we were at the mall, Quinn noticed the playground for the first time. We’ve never let him play there before but I said that he could for a few minutes on our way out. I was really sort of anxious being at the mall alone with the boys right before Christmas, because that’s exactly the time of year prime for child trafficking. It is always super busy, which makes snagging a kid and getting away into a crowd much easier than usual. Or, that’s how my brain works, anyway. We were there right when Ash had just started crawling, so I was trying to keep him close to me while also keeping my eyes on Quinn. Being in public is the only time that Quinn’s constant chatter comes as an advantage 😂. It’s easier to keep track of him because I can hear him. For some reason, I am a kid magnet and often have other people’s children come up to me. This was no exception and a random child kept coming over to me and talking. I was trying to be friendly to that kid, but I also wanted to be like, “Go away, I’m having enough trouble keeping track of my own kids without an added distraction” 🤣.
I thought that my kids were having a competition for who could drive me the most insane. Asher snatched that top spot away from Quinn for a few days with his very intense separation anxiety, constant squealing (when he’s happy, when he’s sad, when he’s mad; he’s always squealing 😩), and using me as a crutch to pull to stand. Philip could hardly keep him engaged in play without him wanting to come touch or find me. I went to take a shower the other night after Philip got off work and I shut the bathroom door. Asher left Philip to play with dinosaurs alone, sat outside of the bathroom door, hitting it while crying for me 😳. It’s nice to be loved. It’s also nice to have ten minutes to yourself. Sigh.
This phase seems to have subsided, mostly. He still screeches like a pterodactyl when he gets upset, but we’re working on taming that.
Now, if we could just get Quinn tamed 🤪. He is still using any opportunity to get all of his screams out when we’re outside 🙄. Apparently, he also has pent up cries, climbs, and means, according to him. He was being particularly vindictive one day, but when he woke up from nap he said, “Mom, I got all of my means out.” Thank goodness 😆. We got him a climbing dome to help with all of his repressed climbing needs.
He had a period of refusing to do things that he was asked to do to help someone else—like getting a towel when Ash spit up on the floor, for example. I fixed that by refusing to do things he asked of me that he is able to do for himself—like getting a snack he can reach, filling his water, etc. he quickly learned and uses the phrase “You do things for me, I do things for you” 😉. I told him he is free to choose not to help me, but I am also free to choose not to help him, and that in our family, we help each other. He seems to have gotten it.
As always, Quinn provided lots of funny commentary over the last four weeks. He makes us a laugh a lot, but he also kind of creeped me out with his retaliation for a grudge we didn’t know he was holding 😂. One night, probably 6 weeks prior to this incident, Philip was sitting on the chair in the living room and tossed the Apple TV remote (tiny, barely a few ounces) onto the couch where Quinn and I were sitting. The remote hit Quinn right in the head, by accident. Philip immediately apologized and checked on him. For probably a week, Quinn would ask us why Dad hit him in the head with the remote and we would explain it was an accident. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Out of nowhere, Quinn went up to Philip and pulled his hair. He got in trouble, of course. Soon after that, Quinn took a shower with Philip. While in the tub, Quinn said to Philip, “You know why I pulled your hair? That’s what you get for hitting me in the head with the remote.” 😳😬🫣 Philip said, “Okay. I guess we’re even now.” 😂😂😂
That boy is funny. You never know what he’s going to say. You also never know what he’s going to turn into. He’ll come to me, hands shaking, and say, “Mom. My eyes are turning green. You know what that means: Hulk,” or “My eyes are turn red. You know what that means: Santa.” 🤣🤣
He sure loves dressing up.
Some other funny instances:
*Back story: Philip accuses me (jokingly) of putting holes in his socks. He went to put on his boots one day and a shoelace was missing. What likely happened is it broke. What he ASSumed, was that I took it for some craft project. While I’m a passionate repurposer, I didn’t take his stupid shoelace 🙄*
Q: “Dad, Mom is always putting holes in your socks. She took your shoelace. She takes bites of my ice cream. Why’s she always messing with us?!”
😂🤪
Q: “Mom, do you know who told me about the horn and the butt store?”
M: “What? What are you talking about?”
Q: “One time we went to the zoo and an elephant told me about the horn and the butt store.”
M: “I don’t think that’s true. You’ve never been to a zoo with an elephant.. and there’s no such thing as a horn and a butt store. ”
Q: “Yeah, it is true. He told me about the horn and the butt store and then he sprayed water on me!”
M: “Hmmm. That doesn’t sound true.”
Q: “Well, I’m just making stuff up.”
4am*
Q: *whispering* “Mom.”
Q: “Mom.”
Q: “MOM!”
M: “What, Quinn??”
Q: “I tooted on you.”
M: “Quinn, I am sleeping! Do not wake me up to tell me that.”
Philip told Q Mr. Toothbrush was gonna come.
Q: “I don’t want him to come!”
M: “Why?”
Q: “He’s rude!”
M: 😂. “What does he say that’s rude?”
Q: “He says shit!”
M: 😂 “He does not!”
Q: “Yeah. He says shit. Kids aren’t allowed to say shit.”
M: “You’re right, they’re not. So quit saying it.” 🙄
*Q threw a ball straight up in the air and it landed near the TV*
M: “You’re done with the ball. Did it hit the TV?”
Q: “No.”
M: “If you break the TV, we won’t get another one.”
Q: “Why?”
M: “Because it’s really expensive and Dad and I have told you not to throw balls in the house. And we just don’t break things.”
Q: “But there’s something else.”
M: “What?”
Q: “I’ll tell you in your ear.” *whispering* “We could have a repairman fix it.”
M: *sleeping*
Q: “Mom.”
M: “What?”
Q: “There’s a polar bear in here.”
M: “Hmmm.”
Q: “Yeah. It’s dangerous.”
*Laying in bed*
Q: “Mom, I have a toenail.”
M: “…..Yeah?”
Q: “Get it.”
M: *realizing he means a hang nail, I feel around on his toe*
M: “I can’t get it, Bud. We’ll have to get it tomorrow with the clippers.”
Q: “You can just bite it.”
M: “Absolutely not.”
*Giving Quinn some gummies from his Christmas candy*
Q: “Mom, how many are there?”
M: “I don’t know, how about you count them.”
Q: “No, you count them.”
M: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.”
Q: “Good job! I’m so proud of you!”
*At Walmart, buying a birthday cake for Marsha*
M: “Quinn, we’re going to buy a cake for us, so I don’t want you to bug Mimi for a piece of hers. You can eat ours when we go home.”
Q: “Well, I don’t want Mimi bugging me for a piece of our cake, either!”
Our December/early January activities:
We practiced identifying numbers and quantities using a tool I made with the characters Quinn is into at the moment—Bigfoot, yetis, Spider-Man, Hulk, werewolves, and dinosaurs.
Quinn was not using the correct grasp to write, or at least, not in the correct place. He wants to hold his writing instrument at the top, by the eraser. I got this aid on Amazon to teach him how and where to hold a pencil correctly. He hates it 😂.
We shoveled snow 😉.
I made Ash a tube for a snow drop with an oatmeal container.
I made a “snow” sensory bin with white cotton candy and Quinn tried to find candy while closing his eyes.
He kept cheating so I made him a blindfold 😅.
I made Ash a ribbon pull toy using a yogurt container lid and ribbon scraps. It was an exercise for his hands and mouth, apparently 🤪.
Ash had fun playing with and dumping a Christmas themed sensory bin. I had fun putting bows on his head 😆.
We went to playgroup to see The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow. Ash tried on her glasses 😂.
Both boys played in the tub with a popping snow sensory bin—cool whip, pop rocks, and snow ducks. Quinn didn’t like it 🙄. Three year olds don’t like anything if their little brothers do.
I made several pieces for our felt board to help work on vocabulary with Ash.
I also made a pirate map to go with the treasure chests Quinn got from Pap for Christmas.
We watched this pretty girl play her trumpet and then sing in the choir.
We finally got to watch Link in action. He has some good skills!
We had a snowman building contest with cousins and friends. Quinn ditched us to pet the dog 🤦🏻♀️.
However, in the spirit of the new year, I’ve taken on a challenge for the boys called 1000 hours outside. We do spend quite a bit amount of time outdoors, but I’m apprehensive that we’re going to meet our goal. It doesn’t matter though, we’ll give it our best shot. We’ve logged 7.5 hours so far since the new year started. We took advantage of those few unseasonalably warm days and logged some hours then.
They see this every day but it caused all kinds of excitement last week waiting for it’s arrival 😅.
I bought Ash a cow suit for no other reason than to amuse myself 😅. Look at that cute cow!
Did you know dinosaurs can ride a bike?!
It had rained all night, creating a huge water puddle in front of our house. Quinn thought it was the coolest thing ever to run and splash through it!
According to my weather app, the real feel was 68 degrees. It was perfect before it started raining again 🌧️.
We discovered this little bridge at the end of our block when we went for a walk with our neighbor friends the day before. Quinn couldn’t wait to go see it again.
He noticed there were huge water puddles in the field below our house, so went down there to explore. As we were heading down, we could feel the fog moving in. Quinn said, “What do I smell?” I told him I didn’t know and asked what it was. He said, “Cold.” 😂. He was right, it was.
The river is under that patch of fog.
He was soooooaked.
The fog started to blow.
We watched it blow off the water.
It started to rain as we were walking home. I put the rain shield on Asher’s stroller. Quinn and I got soaked 💦.
We went out again the next day. He amused himself by chasing the geese on his balance bike.
It was much cooler and we got stuck a train, trying to get back up to our house. Quinn was cold (because he refused to wear a coat 🙄), so I made him run and do exercises to keep warm 😂.
😑
We logged an unexpected hour yesterday because Quinn bugged me until I agreed to go out 😆.
I was worried that Ash might be cold, but he fell asleep on our walk so I think he was fine! 😆
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