Meat-a-saurus and other adventures

Sand is AWESOME . . . (Gavin, Brady, Aidan)

Some new friends of ours had us over for a casual dinner a couple of weeks ago and to return the favor, we came back to their house (they have a yard and grill - we live in an apartment - not as easy to eat outside), but brought the food! Stealk for the adults and kabobs for the kids with caprese salad, mango and salsa and chips - YUM! The adults were eating at a table and while food was set out for the 5 kids, they would eat, then play, then climb on our laps, then eat then play some more.

Mom and Brady goof around

At one point, Aidan had climbed on my lap and was eating tomatoes and cheese and mangoes off of my plate. He had started to grab for my steak and i gently moved his hand away. he eventually climbed down to play with the other kids some more. I looked down to have another bite of my steak, and my plate was pretty much empty. hmmm, i could have SWORN i had more steak left . . . i turn around and look and Aidan is in the doorway to her house and is holding my steak in one hand as he gnaws on it. Of course i said, "Aidan stole my steak!" and everyone bursts out laughing at the sight of him just chewing away on it. This is the kid who nearly ALWAYS chooses veggies over any meat on his tray, so i guess it just really looked good to him!

Aidan and Brady play with push toys(that IS a cleaning cart). And wear yogurt tubs for hats.

While Gavin has been the most obsessed with pushing things on wheels, the other two have finally caught up with the craze. So much so that we went on a little spending spree for some new toys. I found a cleaning trolley (complete with brooms and mops and buckets) they can push - since they love swinging our brooms and mops around and nearly knocking each other out with them. Curt found a baby stroller that was NOT super girly pink, a motorcycle they can pedal/push, and a trike they can push each other in and of course ride/pedal when they get bigger. Tess and Marie took them to the park the next day and i guess the boys FOUGHT over who got to push the baby stroller so much that she decided to buy them ANOTHER baby stroller (yes, SUPER girly pink with light up wheels!). Now just one of them is left out of the baby strolling - never mind the other 3 toys they can push . . .

Look at that booty . . . Gavin IS World's Strongest Baby

Aidan has now gotten himself labeled as the squirrely one in the bunch. the other day as we were starting their naps, curt & i realized we didn't have Brady's frog. yes, panic! we had put everyone down and had the music going as curt and i tear apart the house looking for this damn frog. i was in our bedroom and as i walked out i could hear aidan and brady giggling and i see that the overhead light to their bedroom is ON! Aidan had stood up in his crib and turned it on, the little sneak! he was standing in the corner of his crib with one arm over the edge like, "Yeah, i'm cool" and a huge grin on his face while Brady was standing in his crib laughing his head off. Sweet Gavin was laying in his crib very still and probably thinking "Turn the damn light off!"

Daddy's takin' us to the zoo today, zoo today . . .

We also took the boys to a zoo for the first time ever. Yes, the Doha Zoo is not as majestic as say, the Henry Dorley Zoo, or the Houston Zoo - but it has animals, yes it does! It only took us about 30 minutes to wheel the stroller around, which was just about the perfect amount of time for the boys to be cooped up. Brady kept giving the "more" sign as we would leave each animal pen. The first animals we saw were the SIX giraffes (including a baby) that came about as close as they could - VERY COOL. then some cheetahs, where some dude walking around with his teenage son had his hand ON THE WIRE CAGE as the cheetah was rubbing his head on the cage, probably thinking "if i look like a cute kitty, this fool won't know what hit him when i bite his fingers off!" we saw ostrich, a lion and lioness, oryx (national animal), some monkeys and a chimpanzee. and birds - TONS O' BIRDS. they had one huge pen that had geese and flamingoes and ducks and chickens all making the MOST racket. the kids LOVED it.

Gavin loves to slide!

We then took them over to their playground area to wear them out before we went home for a nap. The playground area has a little kids jungle gym with slides and then a BIG kids jungle gym with slides, etc. After some time on the little kids area Brady went to the swings and Aidan heads his little tail to the big kids area. I see him attempt the stairs and don't think much of it as i'm helping gavin off of the slides. I see Aidan has NO TROUBLE with the first set of stairs, so I begin heading his way. I then see he is headed to the TOP of this play area by himself. I call to curt for him to watch Gavin and TAKE OFF to get Aidan before he hurts himself. he sees me running and RUNS FASTER up the steps and to the two story slide which he then tosses himself down. just as I reached the top. All i could think was "i hope he was ready for that!" he of course loved it. And was then carried to the swings with me.

This is the slide Aidan went down by himself at the zoo - what a daredevil!

It is so funny how DIFFERENT each of the boys are. Aidan is by far the most fearless, and Brady the most cautious. and Gavin the most passionate. :) A couple of weeks ago we were at a little playground area in the next compound and some kid had left a stuffed dog under the jungle gym area. Brady begins making "woof' noises and pointing to it, but will NOT go within 20 feet of it. He is CONCERNED. in the meantime, Aidan just walks right over to it (brady's concern getting more intense) and grabs it and pulls it out to play with it. Gavin was playing in the sand, not noticing what was going on. :)

Don’t Negotiate with That Terrorist!

Curt on the bike trip in Indonesia

This entry should have been over 2 weeks ago, but time in an airport actually allows for indulging my blogging and traveling to and from the US in 6 days makes me too sleepy to finish what i started. :)

While Curt was riding water buffalo in Indonesia, grandma V and I were holding down the fort. The boys did really well, even if they said “Daddy” at every opportunity – while brady was the most vocal about it, I am certain Gavin felt curt’s absence the most acutely. By the end of days, he needed to sit in my lap with more books than normal and would then turn in to me to snuggle and have me walk him down the hall – very unlike him when the whole family is together.
Gavin became our cautionary tale during this time. I was baking some biscuits (refrigerator ready, people) to go with dinner and he was playing in the drawer below the oven. He and the boys have played in there DOZENS of times while I have been cooking. Apparently, below the door to the oven (when you pull out the drawer) is a vertical metal panel that is as HOT as the inside of the oven itself. You can see where this is going. Suddenly Gavin begins crying REALLY hard and I can tell just by the way he is holding his hand, he didn’t run over it with the drawer, but that he must have burned it, though I have no idea HOW. I scoop him up to comfort him and pat my hand around to find this SAFETY HAZARD! Of course we begin first aid at home (cold water, lots of kisses) and within an hour the blisters that are formed on all four fingerpads are nearly as thick as his sweet little fingers themselves! He was somewhat inconsolable for about an hour – I think he was more scared than anything, though I’m SURE it hurt a lot, not knowing exactly WHY his hand hurt and how suddenly it was hurting was probably more difficult for him. Of course, had I known it was that hot there, I would NEVER have let him play there. The drawer is now duct-taped shut. :)

Cars in sandboxes are cool (Aidan, Gavin)

The day after Curt got home, one of the blisters popped while we were at the pool, and the skin was SOOOOO red and raw underneath that we decided to take him to a real Dr (the local clinic had given me sketchy advice I had ignored – they wanted to pop the blisters the DAY AFTER it happened!) to make sure we had all the ointments we needed and were doing everything we could. He had been using his hand to eat and hold spoons and toys until the blister broke, so I knew there was no long term injury. The dr. helped clean it out really well and gooped on plenty of ointment and then wrapped his hand like a mummy. Did this slow Gavin down? NO. He just shoveled food in with his left hand a little faster. :)

A few days after my mom had left we were at dinner and Gavin was being incredibly fussy. He did NOT like his hand being wrapped in plastic (to avoid food all over the mummy hand), he did NOT like his hand being wrapped in general and was just letting us KNOW about it. Basically making dinner NO FUN for anyone. He eventually had ripped the plastic AND the bandage off, but was still crying and throwing his body around his booster chair. I decided I would feed him to avoid getting black beans and rice all stuck in the now popped blisters. He began making cute faces at me between bites, so I would make them back. After the SUPER annoyance he had just made for the whole family, curt busts out with “Don’t negotiate with that terrorist!” and I almost died laughing.

Could this sweet little face say "no"? (Brady)

Since then, Brady has learned the word “no”. He hasn’t really said it to us about stuff yet, but he likes to practice. The first time, we saw him climb on the couch and read through a book saying to himself, “no.NO.no.noooo.no.NOOOOO.” he sounds like he is from MinnesOOOOta. Very funny. Aidan LOVES to walk like a monster, which my mom taught him when she was visiting. We have some sweet monster PJs and she taught him to make a growling sound and put his hands out like a zombie with claws as he walks around – it is HYSTERICAL! The boys have also begun really learning how to wash their hands. In the bidet. It is SUCH a pain to lift them up as high as we need for the sinks and then we are crushing them with our bodies as we lean them forward to soap hands, while they are just supporting themselves so they don’t feel like they are tipping over, so I decided to just do it in the bidets we never use. They LOVE IT. It’s their own personal, Aidan/Brady/Gavin sized sink! Gavin has begun an infatuation with turning the electrical outlets on and off - i know, safe (they all have switches that have a red light on them when you want to turn them on for power). We have all of them covered in the house, but each of the boys has them right at crib level in their room and Gavin’s are always the opposite of how we left them the last time e put him down for nap/bed.

Grandpa reads to the boys (A, B, G)

I have been in Boston for a conference for the last 5 days and while it was SOOOO good to see some old friends, eat some chowdah, attend some sessions and just have some time where no one was looking to me for shoes/diapers/food/refereeing/etc, I MISS them so much! I did get to see them on skype twice, which helped a lot, but by the 3rd day when I would see other people with their toddlers/babies, it took all I could do to not go and pick them up for a snuggle. (I didn’t though, I’m not like the people who always touch/pick up our kids). Curt was so sweet and put together a lovely card for me with lots of recent pics of the boys. It was so fun to do a PMA (Proud Mom Alert) with people who indicated any interest (fools) and show off the fam – especially the one of curt riding a water buffalo in Indonesia! J As I type this I am almost home on the plane and I REALLY hope we land early enough to get me home before bed . ..

Aidan is a pacifier ADDICT - those are on a cord to keep them together in the dipaer bag!!!

Curt may have gotten to wear cool hats on his trip, but I had some yummy wine in the North End of Boston!

Goodbye Daddy, Hello Grandma!

Grandma V and Aidan play at the park

My mom arrived last week to generously help out while Curt was "jet setting" to Indonesia with a group of 18 students for an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) to do a service project with one of ROTA's schools on the island of Java. It didn't take long for the boys to remember grandma and to get in the groove! They have certainly said "Daddy" a lot more often (and more emphatically!) they don't seem completely devastated he is gone yet. Gavin definitely wants more snuggle time with me in the evening, and I really think he has noticed Curt is gone the most. His monkey brothers are so excited about all of the new words they are learning they are practicing talking ALL THROUGH their afternoon nap. Gavin still manages to fall asleep, but you can tell he would like to sleep more THANK YOU VERY MUCH. we have done everything we can to try to get them to take their afternoon nap (because they are NIGHTMARISH by 530PM if they don't sleep) - short morning nap, put them to bed a little later in the afternoon - and still they chat for over an hour (at least they aren't crying), jump up and down in their cribs (2 more head wounds from tryign to run from one side of the crib to the other), throw thei rpacifier at each other, etc. It's RIDICULOUS!



Brady digs swinging . . .

One of mom's first forays into a trip with the boys was to take them swimming the first friday she was here. As we were getting them ready, Aidan and Brady both had a full on meltdown - for 45 minutes - crying, whining - it was OOC. I was pondering if they deserved to be taken swimming, or if i didn't get them into some different environment if I would be charged with infanticide. They have NEVER been like that and it was pretty awful. At least when we finally put them in the car they settled down and it was like nothing had ever happened. Do toddlers have the memory of a goldfish? :) They LOVED splashing around the pool at the Rec Center with our friends the Schellenbergs and I have definitely seen some increase in water confidence. Previously Brady would ONLY allow one of us to hold him in the pool without crying and freaking. He allowed BOTH Jen and my mom to hold him even though he was NOT into splashing or kicking or swimming. It's still a big step for him. Aidan and Gavin were over the moon with being able to walk on the steps, sit in the warm water, splash and kick and be thrown in the air and dragged through the water - too much fun!

Gavin Slides!

My mom taught Aidan a pretty cool trick - to walk like a monster. We have these awesome PJS with monsters on the pants and a huge monster face on the shirt and she got him to figure out how to make his hands into claws and hold his arms out like a zombie and make a grunting noise. It. Is. Hysterical.

Brothers' Day at the park

In other news, we have all kinds of communication going on. Sometimes it's positive, and sometimes not so positive. Like when Brady tried to headbutt me this morning b/c he was angry i wouldn't pick him up AGAIN. That gets you in the naughty hallway . . . it's one of the few places they don't really "play" in our apartment, so it feels more like punishment. :) Anyway, all of the GOOD stuff is GREAT! People are learning their animals like snake, dog, cat, cow, bear, pig, duck, chicken and the family favorite - Elephant where they all put their arm up in the air like the elephant's trunk would go (that was my addition!). Aidan has learned his brother's names and uses them ALL the time! Today he went over to where Gavin was playing and crouches down a couple of inches from his face and says "gabin. gabin. gabin" about 5 times. Gavin does not respond and Aidan sighs and gets up and does something else. So cute. Brady sounds like "Bay-bee" with an occasionaly "r" sound in the first syllable. And every itme we say "Can you say Aidan?" he says "me!". I also caught Aidan talking in his sleep the other night. I had gone in to make sure pacifiers were in close proximity to hands/mouths and put blankets on everyone when Aidan, who is SOUND asleep, rolls over and begins saying in full day time voice "blah-baybee-rath" and then goes quiet again. I just stood there giggling and wondering HOW his brothers can sleep through that all of the time and being thankful, of course, that they can!

Where Brady has figured out there is a name for everything (and he wants to be sure he learns it) Aidan is talking in full sentences. We don't know what he's saying, but he is using inflection and hand gestures and pointing. When that kid learns to talk, we are all going to be in trouble. Not only will he have LOTS of stories to share, but I doubt there will be many family secrets.

Aidan wrestles with Gavin . . . Gavin LOVES it!

The boys are also DEFINITELY talkign to one another. They will have an exchange and are waiting to hear what the otehr has to say, or they will come in and out of the kitchen while one is in his high chair and then they will LAUGH at what the otehr just said! When my mom and I were giving baths the other night, I had Aidan out to lube him up and get him diapered and he and Brady are calling back and forth to each other in sentences and then cracking each other up.

I got some great video today of Brady and Gavin wrestling around with each other for a few minutes, i will try to get it uploaded this week - they are 50+ pounds of fun!