Summer ROCKS!

Gavin, Aidan, Brady


We had a fantastic summer vacation this year! My mom was kind enough to accompany us to and from the US and we had a niiiice loooong 15+ hour flight to Houston with the boys. They each slept about 4 hours of that flight and considering we trapped them in between the seats and the bulkhead the rest of the time they were pretty darn good.


They had LOTS of fun swimming in Aunt Pam's pool with Grandma and Grandpa and following their kitty Chloe and puppy Sadie. They did NOT adjust to jet lag as easily as they have done in the past. The first night, they woke up at 3AM and were UP for the rest of the morning. Aunt Pam was kind enough to hang out with us a for a bit - we took the boys out for a walk in the cul-de-sac at 3 AM so they wouldn't wake up the rest of the house. Curt and I then let Pam go back to sleep while we trapped them in our room trying to get them to watch cartoons and fall asleep between 4 AM and 6 AM when we finally felt like it was "reasonable" to be up. RIDICULOUS.
Brady, Aidan, Gavin had no idea how much FUN hoses can be!

They proceeded to wake up crying for a few hours a night for the next 4 nights in a row, with one child dropping off and learning to sleep again each night. Gavin was our favorite son this particular week. :) We even tried to drug Aidan and Brady with Benadryl in the middle of the night to help them sleep. it got uglier . . . bleh. The good news was that they were in great moods during the day even if they tortured us all at night.

Cousin Collin reads to Brady

Curt and I flew on our own from Houston to Iowa with the boys and they were pretty nice to us. Gavin snacked and read the Sky Mall the majority of the flight. We were welcomed to Iowa with rain pretty much every morning which usually cleared for a sunny afternoon. The boys are outside FANATICS and asked to go out at every point of the day. Between pointing out birds, the neighbors dogs (Hobo is now on the list of people/animals Brady asks about), squirrels, mail trucks, etc they barely had time to push the lawn mowers that we had to get THREE of in order to not break Aidan and Brady's little hearts. Basically there was one. And after Aidan got to push it, curt and I thought we could teach sharing. We then told him he would be giving it to Brady for his turn. Aidan, after practically ripping it out of his little hands, proceeded to follow Brady aroudn as he pushed the lawnmower screaming and crying and pointing at him. The minute he would stop, Aidan would try to grab it again. We then tried to give Gavin a turn. He preferred to lay on it or push it so her could lay on the ground and watch the wheels. This must have made Aidan and Brady angry because he wasn't playing with it "correctly", so they would try to push it with him either laying on it or with his head two inches from the wheels. We had to put it in the top of the garage because we COULDN'T get them to stop crying (at one point Brady actually threw himself in the grass and just CRIED). Aidan was still upset on the 15 minute car ride to the Carroll's for having it taken from him.

The next day, Brady saw it in the top of the garage and asked for the "mwer" about 80 times, so we got it down. The environment proceeded to disintegrate almost immediately, so grandpa said "They are $13, i'll be back in 20 minutes" even though Curt and I were CONVINCED we could teach them to share. In retrospect it was fun seeing all three of them mow the yard for as long as their little legs could carry them . . . :)

Aidan helping himself to some homemade salsa

We had a chance to go to some area parks, the Des Moines zoo (feeding the farm animals is FUN!, unless you are Brady), and of course the pool with the "bucket". The first time we went to the pool Brady asked me if Aunt Pam, grandma and grandpa and Sadie would be there. That was obviously his most exciting memory of a pool, and he was a little crushed they wouldn't be there to play with him. He did enjoy the bucket (and still asks for it) that fills with water and then dumps out a deluge of water on unsuspecting swimmer below. He didn't like getting hit with it, but he loved watching and hearing kdis scream when it would happen.

Mom, Gavin, Brady, Aidan and Jadyn enjoyed some pork chops and have moved on to popsicles! YUMMY

We also had some fun playing in sprinklers in Iowa. The first time we ran the sprinkler at the Kenoyer's, the boys had their lawnmowers and Aidan would drive the lawnmower over the top of the sprinkler so that the water would stop going up and then he would take it off when anotehr brother would walk over to see why the water had stopped, spraying his brother full on. It made for GREAT entertainment for the adults! I don't know if you remember, but hose water is COLD. And of course, our skinniest child (Aidan) was the only one who LOVED it. he would purposely put his head in it, or would be the one to go and rescue balls that had been kicked in the spray zone. LOVED it.

Gavin popped out the lens - fun way to see the world!

Gavin began saying some real words on our vacation. he now has mastered "help please, all gone, blue, green, ball, car, grandpa" and "ouchie". He still LOVES reading and will basically bring you as many books as you are willing to read before bed. he also likes figuring out how things work. Drawers, wheels, straws, you name it.

Brady likes his new sunglasses!

Brady is a parrot. He has been stringing words together in sentences for a few weeks now and will say things like "grandpa truck byebye" (grandpa went to work in his truck), "ride ina car" (i want to go for a ride in the car), "hidenseek" (the squirrels are playing hide and seek). the other day he wanted me to wave a fan at him after he had hit himself in the head with it a few times and says "mommy do it" as he hands me the fan. It is so COOL seeing the boys put these pieces together. he also goes through a near daily list of all of the people he knows so that we tell him where they are and what they are doing. The nice thing is it is usually in the morning so we can just say "they are sleeping". :) He also has developed quite a little temper and screeches when things don't go his way. His sadness is almost palpable when he has taken your discipline very seriously (which is rare, he STILL giggles when you say no, or the first time or two he goes on the naughty mat - INFURIATING).

Aidan covered in grass and apple. YUM!

Aidan still seems to need mom the most. He is definitely talking and using lots of words, though not quite as clear as Brady. He also speaks in sentences and loves to play on the phone and wear mom and dad's shoes. Aidan also seems to hold his frsutration longer than the other two, so he may have stopped crying, but he will have such a serious ANGRY look on his face like he is BROODING over the injustice. you can't help but giggle a little bit. He is also by far the squirrely-est. When he would see a brother set a toy down he had tried to steal earlier, he would race over, yoink it from wherever/whoever and then run away clutching it to his chest and he looks back to see if anyone was in pursuit. Gavin rarely would go after him and Brady nearly always did. Because the brother HAD set it down, it was often hard to tell if it was truly a theft or if he had rightfully claimed it. I'm sure this is only the beginning.

Brady, Gavin, Aidan play in the cool mist in Houston

In more recent news, the three boys have become lemmings. We have 2 lady bug chairs (see pic on earlier post) that are up against the couch. They LOVE climbing up the ladybug chairs and climbing/launching themselves onto the couch. over and over and over again. it is adorable and we got tons of giggles, but it also winds them up like nobody's business. and of course they prefer to do this before nap/bedtime and hopefully with something hard in their hands so they can accidentalyl hit themselves/a brother over the head. Yesterday at lunch, Brady and Gavin were tryign to go over at the same time and fall in the same direction. CONKED HEADS!! The funny part was both of them just lay on the couch for about 10 seconds rubbing their heads. they had some nice red marks, but no one cried (until we tried to ice them). we have gotten to see all kinds of acrobatics as they get more and more daring in this game. keep your fingers crossed they will remain (relatively) injury free.

Plain tuckered out - Brady, Aidan, Gavin

The countdown is on . . .

What could POSSIBLY be keeping the attention of my ENTIRE family? (Gavin, Brady, Curt, Aidan)

Oh right. Baby Einstein Video.

After a long hard day at the ranch (i.e. the weekend) dad and the boys were chillin' watching a Baby E. video. We have to put the coffee table in front of the TV or they will stand 2 inches from the set (if we are lucky they are that far away) and then fight b/c someone can't see. THey have finally reached an age where they will watch for the full 20 minutes. And Aidan is our addict b/c he is now turning the TV on whenever he can so he can watch (not just play with the buttons like Brady and Gavin do). we have lots of tape on the front of our TV now.

Gavin recently had his follow up visit to the nuerologist at the public hospital. Long story short - the dr. thinks the seizures are solely from fever and that we just need to anticipate and plan for fevers. so we didn't learn much. The LONG version is that we also didn't feel so comfortable in some of the others things he was suggesting due to some comments he made. Like when he asked us MULTIPLE times if we (curt and i) were "blood relatives" (OK, so it is more common here even if it doesn't make sense biologically). Like when he said he thought curt looked like he was from New England from the size and shape of his head. Like when he told me I was "dangerous" after I told him i grew up in TX (ok, so he was right on that one)

Gavin and I also started a fun game when he is in the lower high chair where i put my t-shirt over his head and cover it completely. He now asks for it by grabbing my shirt and trying to pull it over his head as he laughs like crazy. Curt is worried he will do that in public and people will think we are perverts or something. It's just too fun to stop doing though! :)

Bath time - that tub is getting too small! (B, A, G)

Tonight was lots of fun in the bath! Aidan decided to hug on his brother a bunch. Gavin was allowing it even when Aidan was alittle rough for our taste. It then devolved into an all out wrestlemania while brady looked on. This is one of the few pics that doesn't show penises. :)

The boys are also showing lots more emotion with each other - both affection and annoyance. The other day Aidan was set on the naughty mat for trying to climb the drying rack for the umpteenth time. Of course he cried and complained and a few seconds later, BRADY shows up, gives him a kiss and then sits on the mat with him and they begin to talk. I guess with the extensive amount of time Brady had spent on the mat in the previous week, he knew Aidan might want a friend to visit with him. :) OK, so it was REALLY cute.

Aidan and Gavin - What? You aren't supposed to sit in the library cart?

Aidan loves riding the motorcycle - i bet he can't wait until his feet can reach the pedals!

How cute is Gavin? He likes his cape! :)

Gavin's tantrums have toned down a little bit, but he has decided he doesn't like to come to the table when it's time to eat. After his complete meltdown teh otehr night where he screamed and cried everytime we came near him for dinner, we have been much more easy going about bringing him to the table. He will start to make his way into the dining room and then if he sees one of us at the door, he will run the opposite direction babbling like crazy and hide by the couch. It's the WEIRDEST thing. Sometimes (when he has hidden long enough?) he will come to us and wait for us to pick him up and will be as sweet as can be . . . i'm not quite sure what to make of it. but he's still pretty dang cute (when he's not throwing a fit).

Juliette and Brady on some other kid's trike

One of my RHDs saw this picture and laughed and said "He looks like such a badass". This is sweet little Juliette - she seems to have a crush on all three of the boys, depending on the day. She speaks THREE languages as fluently as a 2 year old can - English, French, Russian (russian mom and french dad). The boys may be a little out of their league! :)

Brady has a WORD EXPLOSION right now. It is ridiculous and so adorable at the same time. he has begun to sing the ABCs when we do, the Raindrop song, etc. He loves repeating words after us and is learning colors too. He is also bringing his brothers their lovie (though it's usually b/c he stole it from their crib) when they are upset or sometimes if they are jsut sitting on our laps. Aidan is getting there - the other day out of nowhere he sings ee-i-ee-i-oooo with us. and we hardly EVER sing that song to them! Gavin is still babbling a lot, but only a couple real words now and then. He is still asking us to name pretty much everything, so i'm sure when he starts talking, it will be in paragraphs. :)

Just a few days until our month long vacation. I truly hope that I neglect this blog while we are gone - if only b/c that means i'm having lots of fun with my family and maybe my husband and I are getting out on some date nights!!! Pray for curt, my mom and i on our 16 hour direct flight from Doha to Houston this friday. Let's hope the boys are good to us and our fellow passengers . . ..

Happy Mother's Day!

Are you lookin' at me? (Gavin)

Happy Mother's Day! This mother's day was spent with me at work (sunday-thursday work week and all), but we DID have a fun filled family weekend. People were getting over illness (mom and dad included) with only snots to contend with, so we did a family grocery run that ended with Brady trying to crawl out of the cart and falling on the tile floor. Seemingly no concussion, but MAN did it shake him up! We hope the silver lining is he won't try to climb out of things like his crib, amusement park rides, etc in the future. :) On Saturday we went to our new pool with a friend (Thanks Jill!) and the boys and they just LOVED it! Lots of people, outside, cool water. it was THE BEST. Gavin loved kicking, getting splashed and for me to jump in from the side while i held him. crazy kid. We also went to a picnic along the corniche with some friends. LEss relaxing for us as the boys were continuously heading for the parking lot, garbage can, other people to beg for food. One woman pulls out a KitKat bar and just hands it to Brady. I could NOT beleive it - who gives other people's kids candy??? (well, other than child molesters) Curt says as he is coming to move Brady away "He doesn't know what that is" and she looks at him like HE is the crazy one . . . (sigh)

Our new "tent" (Gavin, Aidan, Brady)

This tent is getting it's money's worth - the boys have tried to drive their baby strollers in it, their trike, etc. They like to read books in it, play with the balloons we filled it with, squish it on one another, play in it like it's a fort with a blanket over the top, etc. loads of fun!

Gavin, Aidan, Brady heading to a picnic on the Corniche and singing "Lemon drops and Gum drops"

We haven't had a good pic of the three of them in awhile, and this one doesn't look like it will be either :( They all wanted baseball hats on to go to the picnic - not sure why as they ripped them off as soon as we got out of the car . . . They were certainly the life of the party though!

Brady is pooped without a morning nap today

Down to one nap a day is good for the most part. We still have some EXTREME whining around 10 -1030 am that can stop ANY day now, but we really are enjoying doing some longer morning activities. The bad part is dad and I are so exhausted we sleep almost as much as the boys do during THEIR afternoon nap! THis shot is just after the fall out of the grocery cart incident, so we weren't sure if his crying for 20 minutes wore him out or if he had a concussion. or both. either way he took a 25 minute nap (because he just NEEDED it) that morning and then still slept a couple of hours in the afternoon. Hallelujah!

Yes, that is a cheerio in Aidan's ear. Yes, he put it there. And ate it when i pulled it out.

Aidan is just FUNNY. He was SOOOO proud of himself for having found a nook to put something in. and then to have it stay there. and then to be able to eat it after i got it out. He hasn't put anything in any other body part, but i'm sure this is just the beginning.

Brady and Daddy ROCK OUT!

Brady's hair spikes THE BEST by far of the three boys. His hair is so light it is like filaments that stand up straight all the time in a big poofy mound on top of his head. he has the best bed head - makes you just want to snuggle in with him!

Aidan does a little light reading (he set the pillow up for his head)

Gavin and mom read a favorite book - "Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck"

I think Gavin is on the verge of beginning to talk like Aidan and Brady are. In the last couple of weeks he has been pointing at EVERYTHING for us to name, much like Brady was doing in January/February. Books now take much longer as when we get to the end, he goes back through for you to name things over and over again. And he is our puzzle boy. He loves to sit at the table in the mornings before breakfast and point at the pieces or show them to us and have us name them over and over again. He has also been having a lot more full out tantrums that Touchpoints (child development book) says is an indication they are getting ready to go through some new milestone of development (T. Barry Brazleton says that reverting to "disorganization" in behavior is how toddlers/babies are then able to "re-organize" at the higher level of development. Says this has been shown in chimps. If he's right, Gavin will be writing poetry before the end of the month . . .) :)

A hand-me-down potty makes a nice reading space (Aidan)

For my reflection this Mother's Day I am realizing a few things. 1) in some ways i think having all three at once is the ONLY way I could have had a family. I think of how TOUGH those first few months are and thank God we only had to do it once. I really don't know if I could have handled having another kid knowing what hell you are walking directly into and having no way of knowing if it will be better/worse/the same hell you had the first time. even if I still get the googly baby eyes when i see newborns. :) 2) I am more patient with these boys than i am with ANYTHING and ANYONE in my life. I feel like I owe it to them since they were born onto a "team" they didn't get to decide they wanted to be on for themselves. For the most part, I see their (sometimes insanely annoying) behavior as the way they are learning about the world and their path through it. the least i can do is shepard them along at the pace they need. 3) I have a completely amazing husband who is such a good dad. He may not always have the patience for their shenanigans (like when they decided they didn't want any dinner last night, so decided to throw food and then cry while we cleaned them and then closed them off from the kitchen so we could eat in "relative" peace. I think curt was thinking about moving to New Zeland) but he loves them with his whole being and shows it by doing all the little fun/boring stuff you do as a parent to provide for your kid (and not just in the way you go to work to provide for your family - i mean diapers, games, tickle fights, sucking snotty noses, etc) 4) I am much more able to enjoy any time we have away from the boys than I did before. I was so exhausted at times, that it felt like more work for curt and I to get away than anything else, even if I always came back from our time happy and refreshed. Now, our routine is such that i don't feel like I'm always on my last leg before we are going to have a night out. THAT is a very good thing. :)

This and That

Sweet Gavin
Last week Gavin had another febrile seizure. He had his 18 month vaccinations the day before and while he hadn't HAD any fever, his legs were SOOOOO sore the next morning (3 shots) that he wouldn't put any weight on them until cold compresses had been applied and he had had his tylenol. Apparently, just after his nap his fever spiked in a very short amount of time and he had a seizure in his high chair. Tess called us freaking out, which of course made me FREAK OUT. We turned around from going to pay for our tax work and came to pick Gavin up to head to the Dr. By the time we got home, he was doing better, but was obviously confused and not feeling super great. By the time we got to the dr. he was eating raisins and giggling. We have a nuerology appointment in mid-may just to make sure there is nothing else we should be worrying about.

In the meantime, i spoke with a Dr. who works at Cornell here in Education City who is a professor of nuerology who was very reassuring. Basically, the brain creates pathways when kids are young to help it learn how to respond to things (to blow kisses when you do, to learn to clap hands to a beat, etc). The way dear Dr. Basim explained it to me is that his brain has begun to develop pathways to respond to fever. Unfortunately, when a fever spikes in Gavin, the brain is "learning" to respond by having a seizure if it goes up very quickly. At this point, it may not be how HIGH the fever goes, but how quickly it begins to rise that is the issue. So he said we just need to avoid spiking fevers. OK, easy to say, difficult to do since kids don't come with a warning bell system. Needless to say, the more spiking fevers he has, and the more seizures he has, the more likely his brain will respond to a spiking fever by having a seizure. This does not mean he is more likely to have a seizure disorder (i.e. epilepsy) later in life, it just means until he is about 5 or 6, we have to be hyper-vigilent about every illness and vaccination. . . Forgive me my psycho-ness when I talk about fevers . . .

Brady is a Wild Thing and Aidan knows what happens if you Give a Pig a Party

Explanation for the footy PJs when it is already in the mid 90s during the day and in the high 70s at night: Aidan seemed like he had developed ring worm on his feet recently. After he had woken up from a nap i noticed he had these WEIRD rings all over the bottom of his feet. NO IDEA where he got it from, but thanks to prompt application of jock itch cream and having him wear socks for a week, we don't think it passed on to everyone else, and it seems to have gone away . . . i think this might be the first time we haven't had illness/fungus passed from one kid to the next - score one for mom and dad.

Brady shows me his tongue

Brady has become quite the mimicker these days. You can pretty much get him to try to say anything you ask him to - "oopsie daisey" "hey you" "night night". Tonight when we were leaving Applebee's, he points at the sign as i'm buckling him in and says "apple.apple.apple" I finally realized he was pointing at the apple symbol and of course gave him lots of praise for recognizing it - very cool to see your kid putting the pieces together. When we drove into our compound Brady says something to the effect of "hmmm HOME" but in the sing song manner we do when we say "we're Home!". All of the boys are mastering "ouchie" - it's MUCH nicer than the whining or crying we used to have with little bumps and bruises. Brady hasn't quite figured out that you are supposed to directly refer to the body part that has been injured and pretty much always rubs his head even if it's his fingers that have been mashed or his foot when he tripped over something.

It may look disgusting, but it is SWEET POTATOES (Aidan, Gavin)

While Gavin is a bit more delayed with talking, he is DEFINITELY understanding what we are saying and asking him. He is pointing to lots of items in books, and pretty much all body parts - even mommy's belly button when she isn't expecting it! I've decided to start getting the boys to do some "chores" around the house. We are starting small - they each take their PJs to the laundry in the morning. So far we are 2 for 3 . . . :) In other exciting news, we are down to one nap per day. We basically just decided to do it after NO ONE slept sunday afternoon and they were a little bit of a nightmare that night before bed. For the last 2 days they have stayed up all morning and are going down around 1230PM and sleeping until 3 or 330. And they have been doing really well at bed time! they still walk themselves down the hall to go to bed, but they aren't in complete breakdown mode where they just NEEDED to be asleep - thank goodness for that . . . We have both noticed even Tess and Marie seem more rested with them sleeping this long in the afternoon :) I'm looking forward to this - now we can make some attempt to go out and about in the morning without feeling like we will all suffer for it later - VERY EXCITING! :)

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!