Creative Kimpire: Q: 4y, 1m; A: 17.5 months

My beautiful sunflowers 🌻

Quinn hasn’t even started school yet, but he already seems so much older than before. Maybe it’s his newly acquired skills, or overcoming some long held fears, but our new sleeping arrangements definitely contribute. It’s been a week and a half since he started sleeping on his mattress on the floor at the foot of our bed. He’s allowed to come up into our bed if he wakes up and gets scared, which has happened every single night 😂, but he has to start out there. I talked it up when I moved his mattress (well, actually, Ash’s mattress because it was easier to take the bottom one off of the bunk beds) like it was a big promotion for him since he’s a big boy now. We chose some stuffed animals for him to keep beside him that will make him feel safe (an enormous parrot, a turtle, and baby Sophie 😂), and I put a Dino night light lantern on the floor beside him, too. He was really excited about it the first day, and even wanted to nap there. However, once it was bed time, he wasn’t happy about it. I still lay with him until he goes to sleep, which keeps taking a long longer than it used to. Part of that is Sophie’s fault because she’s an excitable idiot who gets worked up when people lay on the floor 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️. When she decides it’s either time for me to get up to get her nightly can of green beans, or she assumes that’s what I’m doing if I move a quarter inch, she gets all wound up and pounces on the bed 🤬. I always say some choice words to her about it, but she never seems to care. Or stop 🙄. I’m holding out hope that once he gets more used to this new situation, Quinn will go back to falling asleep quickly. He usually wakes up between 2 and 3 in the morning and resumes his spot between Philip and me. However, last week he stayed in his bed one night until 6am, so maybe we’re making progress 🤷🏻‍♀️. Philip has had to lay with him a few times when I was still nursing Ash (against my will) to sleep and it was time for Quinn to lay down. Vacation helped normalize that for him because none of the beds at the condo were big enough to fit all of us, so Philip slept with Quinn and I slept with Ash.

and THIS is why he needs promoted to his own bed… who sleeps like this?! 🤦🏻‍♀️

He even sleeps like a maniac on the couch 🤦🏻‍♀️😆.

A month ago he couldn’t climb that ladder…

And he would’ve been afraid to be in the tree like that. Now, he climbs up the ladder, into the tree, and comes down the other side via the rope swing 😳.

😳😳😳

He wrote his name for the first time ❤️. He wanted to mail it to Mimi, but we didn’t have any stamps at that time, so we took to her at Playgroup instead.

It’s convenient having an older toddler to help teach a younger one. It’s like when you already have a trained dog and then get a puppy, the potty training happens much easier 😂. Those first borns are something feral, but when the second arrives to already established boundaries, that job is a little bit easier. I’m always impressed with how fast Ash has started learning things from seeing Quinn do them. He can follow directions to pick up his mess, go get something from another room or take something back to another room, and put things in the trash. He tells me when he needs to wash his hands by going to the sink and saying, “Hands.” Unfortunately, he gained this ability after he came to me with his hand covered in shit from sticking it in the back of his diaper right after he pooped🙄. I didn’t realize and picked him up, spreading the love 🤢🤬. He’s only 18 months and already knows how to unwrap a sucker, something Quinn probably hadn’t even tasted at that age, but that’s a different subject 😆. He takes his empty cup to our water cooler to signal he needs a refill, and he even moved his stool the other day so that he could get to the bacon that was on the counter, just out of his reach. He assists in getting dressed by pushing his arms through sleeves, raising his feet during diaper changes to put his shorts back on, and stepping out of his pants for removal. I enjoy this independent baby phase much more than younger ones (well, minus him being able to open play doh containers. That’s annoying. He takes a bite and then leaves them to dry out 🙄), but I’m also being reminded of how quickly it goes. One day I won’t have any babies, just big boys. I sorted through the boys’ clothes this week and it almost made me sad to get rid of another size that Ash has outgrown 😕. On the one hand, I loveeee clearing things out of this house, but on the other, it means he’s growing up. Half of the time, he walks to the bedroom by himself, saying, “Night night,” when he’s ready for bed. I mean, he completely expects me to follow him 😂, but he goes. He used to cry when he woke up in the morning to an empty bed, but now he just opens the bedroom door and comes out to find me. His smile when he sees me is radiant. I find myself grinning just watching him toddle around, and thinking almost everything he does is adorable. I don’t say it aloud usually because I don’t want to give Quinn a complex. People don’t say that about him so much anymore now that he’s big 🫤. One of the funniest things Ash does is sing along to The Wheels on the Bus, Halloween edition. He knows all of the sounds made by witches, fairies, ghosts, pirates, and zombies. He has tons of words in his vocabulary, and understands even more. When he wants to, he’ll go to the couch in his room and lay down to be changed when I tell him we need to check his diaper.

Cleaning up water he spilled 🥰.

Vacuuming the deck. I didn’t even know that was needed, but Ash was on top of it 😉.

Not only can he unwrap a sucker, he can also hold it with his toes 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄.

Quinn has been watching a show on repeat where a preteen girl gets a baby delivered to her doorstep, and then she has to take care of it. He keeps telling me he wants a baby. I told him the only baby he is ever going to get is Ash, so he decided he was going to take care of him and I wasn’t allowed to do anything. He wanted to feed him and put him to bed, but declined changing his diaper 😂. Any time I did something for Ash, Quinn would get mad and tell me, “I’m doing Ash!” 😂. He even tried picking him up 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️, but I had to stop him. Ash isn’t that much smaller than Quinn weight wise. In fact, we’re guessing that Ash will be bigger than Quinn eventually. When that happens, he had better watch his back because I saw what’s in his future the other day. They were both playing in our play fence that is housing the 3 million stuffed animals that we own at the moment. It wasn’t very clear what happened, but I know Quinn’s feet were involved and Ash was screaming and trying to bite him. I told them both to get out and calm down. I separated them, which is lucky for Quinn because Ash grabbed his doll instead and walloped it about 5 or 6 times 😂. That boy was big mad. I texted Philip while he was at work and told him what happened and said I should’ve let Ash whip on Quinn like that, just this one time, and maybe he would quit his shit 😂. I was joking. Mostly. 😜.

Feeding him

Trying to put him to sleep 😂

They’ve been really into playing in the fence, so I took that opportunity to make a letter search game for Quinn. He was onto my motive though, and said, “Mom! This will help me be able to look for my costumes!” That boy is quick sometimes 😂.

I was surprised Ash took his frustration out on his doll because he usually loves them. He says, “Baby,” in the sweetest voice and then gives it a hug.

🥹

No, really, Quinn is a sweet big brother about 75% of the time. When he’s not being kind, it’s usually just because he’s in the moment, full of energy, and forgets to be gentle. He wrestles with so many big boys, he sometimes forgets that Ash isn’t one of them. I probably get more worked up about them wrestling than Ash does, but I want to prevent someone from getting hurt, rather than punishing Quinn after the fact.

They’re both super lovable and like giving kisses and cuddles. Ash has been conditioned to now pat his head and say, “Nice,” anytime he gives someone a kiss 🤣. I guess he picked that up from me doing it whenever he would try to give Quinn kisses. I would kind of tousle his hair and say, “That’s so nice.” It cracks me up every time he does it now.

Ash likes being funny and is starting to understand humor. He loves a good argument over ownership, and takes every opportunity to steal something and proclaim, “Mine!” Philip and I laugh at him and argue back, which encourages that behavior. Quinn gets seriously offended though, and he squabbles back and forth with him in an increasingly loud tone 🙄. We have to remind him it’s a game to Ash, he doesn’t really mean it.

Another of his favorite games is dumping shit out everywhere. He had a bag of Veggie Straws while we were riding in the car the other day and he decided he was done with them, so he dumped them out…everywhere🙄🤬. He proudly announced, “Mess!,” afterwards 🤦🏻‍♀️. That’s a word he hears often. He does well putting items back where they belong when I guide him, at least.

Another mess he was eager to show me—the crayons he put out onto the floor. At least he didn’t dump the whole container that time 😄.

Ash loves copying anything Quinn does. If Quinn transforms into a werewolf, Ash does, too. If Quinn puts on a costume, Ash brings one for me to help put on him. If Quinn pretends to be a zombie and eat his dad, Ash does, too. You get the picture.

Making his bear eat my food, just like Quinn was doing with the blue bear to the left.

Shooting the werewolf 😂.

Wanting to climb the tree because Quinn does. Thanks to Megan for taking this lovely photo of us ❤️.

😍👨‍🚒 👨‍🚒

Ash’s costume is a little too big right now, but he likes to put it on anyway 😆.

This was the morning after we got home from vacation. The kitchen was packed with all of our crap, but that didn’t stop them from bringing their toys into play. Ash is always down for watching to see what Quinn is doing 🥰.

After the poopy hand incident, I got Ash a Hulk onesie to wear so he can’t access his diaper 😂. He was very psyched when he saw himself in the mirror.

We never know when Iron Man riding a dinosaur is going to make an appearance 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Ash wearing Quinn’s robe 😄

Ash is really good at decking himself out 😆.

Ever since Quinn turned 3 and developed an opinion on what he wears, he has only worn shorts a handful of times. No matter how hot it is or where we go, he wears jeans. He only wore a pair of jean shorts the first two days on our vacation, and then he went back to his jeans. Since we’ve been back, he has started noticing that everyone, especially Ash, wears shorts every day. He has been changing into his jean shorts and then saying, “We’re all shorts boys!” I have to remind him that I’m not a boy 🙄. We may have gained some insight into why he doesn’t like wearing them. He had them on one day when Savannah, one of the girls who lives next door, came over. He didn’t have a shirt on because he was pretending to be Hulk. When she came inside, Quinn said he needed to go change. He took clothes into the bathroom and came back out wearing just a pair of jeans, still no shirt 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️. Apparently, the shorts are what was inappropriate to him 😂.

That boy does some funny things. He was bugging me about wanting candy one day. I told him, no, he hadn’t eaten much of anything that day, so he wasn’t getting candy. A few minutes later he told me he had to poop. The timing was suspicious, so I warned him that he wasn’t going to get potty candy just for trying. He claimed he really had to, but I knew he didn’t. I told him to go set up his potty seat, anyway, and he did. He yelled for me a few minutes later, and when I went in and asked if he pooped, he said, “I think so. You better check.” When I told him he didn’t, he threw a fit saying he wanted candy 🙄. I knew this was a ploy from the beginning.

Speaking of poop (there’s always a poop story or 2 nowadays 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️), Quinn, Ash, and I had an amusing conversation one night:

M: “Ashy, is that your butt that smells like that?!”

A: *giggles*

Q: “Mom, go change him! I don’t wanna hear that smell!”

M: “You don’t wanna hear it?”

Q: “No! Go change him!”

M: “I don’t know if he pooped or just tooted. We’ll see in a minute.”

A: “Poop!” *giggles*

He did not poop.

It was funny that Quinn got that sense wrong because he’s usually really good with language. He even uses adverbs correctly most of the time 😄. The other day he told me, “Mom, Ash learned a new word! He said ‘thank you!’ He didn’t say it very clearly, but he said it!” A few other words and phrases he has picked up are ridiculous, apparently, and I assume. I’m not sure that he knows exactly what the latter two mean, but he uses them correctly. Anything he doesn’t like is called ridiculous. When the neighbor girls aren’t playing the way he wants them to, he says they’re being ridiculous, for example 😂.

While his vocabulary is most likely advanced, his pronunciation abilities are on target, and he lacks the “L” sound, among a few others. He always struggles with “un,” which made for a fun interrogation the day he created a new superhero called Funky Bird. The “n” wasn’t coming across very clearly, making it sound as though his friend was Fucky Bird. We went back and forth about his name several times before I realized what he was actually saying 😂.

Funky Bird is a much better name than the other make believe person/creature he usually talks to, who he has deemed Dubba. I don’t know who Dubba is or how he came to be, but he’s a favorite friend who often accompanies us in the car, keeping Quinn occupied in conversation.

I appreciate Dubba’s efforts because I get tired of answering constant questions while driving. He was pelting then at me for five straight minutes while I was trying to follow the GPS to a store in Wheeling. I’m not even sure what all was said, but I know the conversation involved water balloons. When I told him his dad and I used to have to fill balloons in the sink when we were little, and then take them outside, he asked how we carried them all. I told him we would put them in a bowl or a bucket, and he said, “That’s adorable,” unsarcastically 😂.

He does have a small grasp on sarcasm, though. When we were at the beach, he had taken his shoes off to walk in the sand, and when we were leaving, he asked Philip if he got his shoes. Philip said, “What shoes?” Quinn replied, “Dad, why are you like that?” 😂😂😂

He said something funny to his dad on another day. His snack of choice lately has been graham crackers and slices of cheese 🙄. He asked Philip to bring them to him when he was watching tv, and he did. When he went to hand both foods to him, Quinn said, “Dad, I deserve a plate.” 😂 I don’t even know where he learned about deserving things, but he probably did need one, anyway.

Like any kid, Quinn can be lazy if you let him, asking me to bring him everything he wants, even when he knows I’m busy 🙄.

Me: *In the bathroom, giving Ash a bath*

Quinn: *yelling from the couch*

Me: “What?”

Quinn: “yelling again*

Me: “I can’t hear you. You’re going to have to come in here.”

Q: *Comes in bathroom*

Q: “Will you get me a Graham cracker, please?”

Me: “No, I’m busy, but you can get it yourself.” 🤦🏻‍♀️

It’s amazing how fast laziness can be overcome when there’s a toy at stake. I took the boys to Sam’s Club and the mall last week. I pushed Ash into the mall in our umbrella stroller, so when Quinn wanted to get a fire truck stroller, like we’ve done several times before, I told him no. He cried that his legs were sooooo tired and he couldn’t possibly walk anymore. I told him that was fine, we could just go ahead and leave. Right then, he remembered there were stores that sell toys and he needed to visit them. I countered that we should probably just go since his legs were so tired, but he said, “Mom! Guess what! My legs just charged up! They’re all good now!” 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️. When I told him we could go to a toy store then, he decided to look a gift horse in the mouth and question why I was letting him get a toy. I said, “You’re right, maybe I shouldn’t…” He didn’t even make a good case for himself when he responded, “Well, you’re the parent.” Now, where is that reasoning other times?? 🤦🏻‍♀️

They always like playing at the mall 😊.

We've had lots of fun, spent many hours outside, took a few trips, and spent time with family and friends in the last few weeks.

Ash helped me wash my car 😄. Quinn told me it was too hot to help 🙄.

He was fine with coming outside to get painted like Hulk though 💚 💚.

I made them take a bath in their pool.

Ash is fun to blow bubbles with.

He plays badminton by putting the ball in the birdie and throwing it 😆.

Quinn is getting good at hitting it though 😃.

Before we left for vacation, the boys committed an entering without breaking crime and played in the back of their cousin, Coen’s, truck he just got 😂. Coen wasn’t home but I sent him pics.

Kate was an accomplice.

We also attended their bonus cousin, Jax’s, birthday party. Kiki finally got a pic with all 6 of her grandkids and bonus grandkids ❤️. Three 4 year olds and three 1 year olds.

Quinn had a blast at Playgroup with distant cousins/friends, Lawson and David, two weeks ago. They beat the crap out of each other for a good 30 minutes 😂🤦🏻‍♀️.

We played at the blue park one evening and watched Ash reach for big dreams 😂.

We visited Grand Vue Park again, this time with Dad. Ash practiced his Hulk Stomp 😂,

And Quinn thought the swing was cool.

We visited Hovatter’s Zoo with their older brother and his family. We had never been there before. It was awesome and totally worth the drive! They got to feed many of the animals, some right out of their hands!

When I asked Quinn which animal was his favorite, he said the giraffe.

The aviary was awesome. There were so many birds! Quinn got one to land on his stick to feed it, and three landed on Philip’s head 😂.

SO. MANY. PARAKEETS.

They got to feed llamas and alpacas.

One of them tried to eat our stroller 😂.

There were several babies and they were so cute 🥹.

🥰🥰🥰

Baby zebra 🦓

Baby baboon

I swear these deer were posing like this for my pic 😜.

Quinn did a good job feeding them.

Asher got his fingers nibbled many times because he wouldn’t open his hand. The bottom left pic makes me laugh every time I see it 😂😂😂.

The same thing happened with the goats.

Ash got made because I told him to stop eating the popcorn and feed it to them 😂.

This crazy cow like animal, whose name I forget, really liked being petted on the side of his nose.

🐮😄

Some animals, like this camel with terrible dental hygiene, had to be fed by dropping food into a tube that transported it to them by its slant.

One of the mommy monkeys (for lack of proper names) shoved her baby out of the way when it tried to get the food we sent down 😅.

Of course we had to add another stuffed animal to our collection 😩😄. Alright, I approved this one because it is so cool 😉.

We got to feed more alpacas at the Paden City Labor Day celebration.

It looked like one was kissing another, so I had to add some emojis to the pic I took 😄.

Quinn was brave and rode one of the rides there. I was surprised since he had to do it alone.

Both boys enjoyed the train ride.

❤️

Quinn was over it quickly and wanted to go play at the park.

There was a little girl, probably twice Ash’s size, who was trying to climb on this equipment and her mom came and took her down, telling her it was too big for her. While I would prefer he didn’t, I knew there was no way Ash was going to to stay off and he went right over to climb it 😬.

We had a cookout with my family yesterday. The littles got to paint a shirt. I had planned that activity for the 4th of July for them but we ran out of time to do them.

I picked a sunflower for Kate to use as inspiration to paint. It turned out nice! I didn’t get a pic of Lincoln’s. I don’t even know when he did it 🥴.

I did get a pic of the two biggest littles riding on the little toys though 😜.

And one of the bigs helping the littlest little—well, for now 😉. Since it’s no longer a secret, I can say we’ll be adding a new littlest to our extended family in March 2024. My brother and Lori are expecting ❤️.

Sophie PUPdate 🐾

I love dog ears. They’re easily near the top of my list of favorite things.

She’s a goober.

This is her “Stop talking to Dad and go get my green beans” face.

It was storming one night so Sophie and Ash went to hide in the bathroom. That reminds me of my Grandma because she used to babysit my brother and me when we were little and anytime it stormed, she made us go into the bathroom 😆. She was always really scared of storms.

Sophie gave me a nasal cleanse when we got back from OC.

Soph had to get her vaccinations before we left. Quinn always thinks it’s hilarious when Sophie rides in the car.

I started this post with sunflowers and I’m going to end it with some. I have a billion pictures because I take new ones like everyday 😆. They’re so prettyyyyyy. They’ve been food for many insects.

Bees 🐝