Sam is still obsessed with cars, though it is evolving into more specifics then the general fascination of a few years ago. Car rides are consumed with car talk. Recently I pointed out an antique car to him and he asked me what antique meant.
"Old," I said, "and special, but very old."
"Oh."
So today en route to camp, he pointed out a car to me, "that's an old one. And that one is young. And mom, this car over here, he's ready to retire."
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
The Binky Thief Strikes Again
Chris and I had a blissful night away on Saturday, while my parents had an overnight at our house with the kids. Naturally, Vivian woke up in the middle of the night and ended up in bed with my parents. In the morning, my mom found Sam with a binky in his mouth.
His entirely believable excuse this time: "Vivian threw it out of her crib and it landed in my mouth!"
His entirely believable excuse this time: "Vivian threw it out of her crib and it landed in my mouth!"
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Little Miss
This kid is giving me just a few grey hairs. Seriously, I now pull one or two out silvery strands a week. Vivian wants to be moving a lot. She wants to run, climb, and jump over anything and everything, with very little sense of fear. I have found her on top of the dining room table, staircases, picnic tables, playground equipment, etc. Usually when she is discovered she is surprised to be removed and indignant that she cannot complete her task. She is the quintessential child that you cannot take your eyes off of.
Vivan also has a very defiant streak and will purposefully continue to do something she is not supposed to do, in plain sight. Earlier this week it was eating crayons (which she does on pretty much a daily basis). This time I happened to be sitting next to her trying to eat my dinner.
"Don't eat the crayon, Vivian." She looked at me and stuck in it in her mouth. I took it away.
She picked up another crayon and put it in her mouth.
"Crayons are not mouth toys, give it to mama." I take it away.
She picks up the next crayon and chomps down on it.
"NO Vivian, not for your mouth," take the crayon away.
She picks up another crayon and sticks up her nose, where it stays. She smiles. Sam shrieks with laughter, which is all the reinforcement she needs. Before I can retrieve it, she has one in each nostril. I take all the crayons away. She has a temper tantrum.
We live on the second floor and on occasion she will go to the baby gate at the top of the stairs and maneuver it until she releases the latch. The other day I found her halfway down the flight of stairs, carefully taking one stair at a time, walking down them like a little adult going out for the day. She has tried this several times since then but now I am attune to the noise of the gate opening.
She doesn't really talk very much, saying a few words in English and a few in Spanish (her daycare provider is Spanish speaking). However, she has perfected yelling, "STOP!" at her brother. Usually it is irrelevant to the situation, yelling when she is frustrated at something entirely unrelated. Once in a while she will follow it up by hitting him. Sam will be playing nearby and Vivian will become frustrated with her toy or by not being allowed to do something (cut with scissors for instance). She will walk over to him and scream "STOP!" with her little hands flailing. Sam will immediately yell, "Mom, Vivian is yelling 'stop' at me!" (in case I didn't hear her), then looks at her and yells, "don't yell 'STOP!" to which she immediately responds "STOP!" A lovely exchange between siblings, particularly in the car.
Getting dressed is a whole other ball game. It is like an activity that I have created specifically to torture her with on a daily basis. When I am working and need her to be ready in the morning, it usually takes both Chris and I to get her dressed in a timely manner, by which I mean under ten minutes. It starts by me retrieving her clothes, her spotting me, and leaving the room. I then say, "Vivian, time to get dressed!" and she takes off through the apartment to the corner of the kitchen where the washing machine is. I get her and bring her back to the starting point. Sometimes I manage to get one or more items of clothing off. Sam will sit on the couch and cheer like this is a sporting event. Once it is time for the diaper she is verbally objecting, in the form of wails. She squirms, rolls, and more times than not, gets away. Sam will call out, "good move Viv! Nice side roll!"
Then she runs. Someone brings her back and holds her down and gets her clean diaper on. By the time her clothes are being forced on her, she has executed a few more escaping maneuvers, and she is yelling loudly. This happens every.single.time. that I dress the child, morning, evening, and any necessary clothes changes in between. Hence her wearing very little clothing this summer.
I'm glad she has confidence, especially as a girl, but her idea of how the world should be and what she should be allowed to do, is pretty amazing.
Vivan also has a very defiant streak and will purposefully continue to do something she is not supposed to do, in plain sight. Earlier this week it was eating crayons (which she does on pretty much a daily basis). This time I happened to be sitting next to her trying to eat my dinner.
"Don't eat the crayon, Vivian." She looked at me and stuck in it in her mouth. I took it away.
She picked up another crayon and put it in her mouth.
"Crayons are not mouth toys, give it to mama." I take it away.
She picks up the next crayon and chomps down on it.
"NO Vivian, not for your mouth," take the crayon away.
She picks up another crayon and sticks up her nose, where it stays. She smiles. Sam shrieks with laughter, which is all the reinforcement she needs. Before I can retrieve it, she has one in each nostril. I take all the crayons away. She has a temper tantrum.
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| "Just thought I'd check out what's happening outside, mama." |
She doesn't really talk very much, saying a few words in English and a few in Spanish (her daycare provider is Spanish speaking). However, she has perfected yelling, "STOP!" at her brother. Usually it is irrelevant to the situation, yelling when she is frustrated at something entirely unrelated. Once in a while she will follow it up by hitting him. Sam will be playing nearby and Vivian will become frustrated with her toy or by not being allowed to do something (cut with scissors for instance). She will walk over to him and scream "STOP!" with her little hands flailing. Sam will immediately yell, "Mom, Vivian is yelling 'stop' at me!" (in case I didn't hear her), then looks at her and yells, "don't yell 'STOP!" to which she immediately responds "STOP!" A lovely exchange between siblings, particularly in the car.
Getting dressed is a whole other ball game. It is like an activity that I have created specifically to torture her with on a daily basis. When I am working and need her to be ready in the morning, it usually takes both Chris and I to get her dressed in a timely manner, by which I mean under ten minutes. It starts by me retrieving her clothes, her spotting me, and leaving the room. I then say, "Vivian, time to get dressed!" and she takes off through the apartment to the corner of the kitchen where the washing machine is. I get her and bring her back to the starting point. Sometimes I manage to get one or more items of clothing off. Sam will sit on the couch and cheer like this is a sporting event. Once it is time for the diaper she is verbally objecting, in the form of wails. She squirms, rolls, and more times than not, gets away. Sam will call out, "good move Viv! Nice side roll!"
Then she runs. Someone brings her back and holds her down and gets her clean diaper on. By the time her clothes are being forced on her, she has executed a few more escaping maneuvers, and she is yelling loudly. This happens every.single.time. that I dress the child, morning, evening, and any necessary clothes changes in between. Hence her wearing very little clothing this summer.
I'm glad she has confidence, especially as a girl, but her idea of how the world should be and what she should be allowed to do, is pretty amazing.
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| A top the dining room table when I returned from the bathroom. |
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Mind of Her Own
In so many ways this child has a mind of her own. I could write, and probably will, several posts about her personality. In this stage of development it is either her way or the highway. Preferably, one shoed, shirtless, and doing what her little heart desires at any given moment, usually pretty unreasonable (read dangerous) activities.
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| Working at the tool bench, sitting on the Sit n' Spin, with one shoe on. |
Friday, July 18, 2014
Vivian Scootering
Vivian has a little scooter that she has learned how to ride. She doesn't like to be slow though, so she will pick it up and carry it around if she feels the need.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The Binky Thief, Continued
Vivian woke up at some point last night, Chris actually retrieved her and she ended up in our bed, maybe around 1:00 am. Somehow though we all slept until almost 7:00 am, possibly a household record. Anyway, Sam's bed at first glance looked binky-free, however, when I went to change his sheets tonight, there was a binky under his pillow.
My mom was over when I asked him how it had gotten there. It went along the lines of, "well, I was sleeping in my own bed, when a binky fell out of Viv's crib, and right onto the floor. And then I fell out of my bed and onto the floor. With all my blankets. And then the binky jumped into my mouth and started sucking. And I got back into my bed."
My mom and I lost it around the self-sucking binky part. Really???
Tonight Vivian was put to bed with one binky. I gave Sam several stern warnings and already Vivian has cried once. I gave her another binky and searched both of their beds, one of them is lying on top of the original binky. Not sure where to go with this one- it's a binky addiction.
Monday, July 14, 2014
The Binky Thief
Sam gave up his super-size binkies a few months ago, around the
time that he turned four. We had upgraded from the regular binkies when he was a year or two, because he was stuffing them wholeheartedly into his mouth, so for a long time he had teething pacifiers that were huge. Then they were discontinued. The manufacturers for some reason stopped producing them, and at last search, they were seriously going for $25 a pop. It was understood when these binkies were lost or broken, they would be gone and not replaced. So they came to a timely end, when one-by-one, they started to break slightly in the rubber nipple piece, and according to Sam, were no longer comfortable to suck. He gave them up a little reluctantly, with few tears, (one bad night of an hour crying before bed) and that was that. We still have two that are around the house that he holds occasionally for comfort.
Meanwhile, Vivian still takes the baby pacifiers, and falls asleep with one, and to go back to sleep puts one back in her mouth and dozes back off. Well these have been disappearing left and right. I have even replaced a few lately. Chris and I try to put her down with at least five in the crib, so we don't have to be disturbed in the night when she wakes up and can't find one. There have been several nights lately where I have been crawling around on the floor between the hours of 11pm and 4 am, tearing apart the crib and not locating a single binky. Chris and I then accuse each other of losing them and subsequently not putting her down with them.
On two recent mornings, I have spotted a binky in Sam's bed. On further inspection, I found several binkies stored in and around Sam's bed. Like under his pillow, by the headboard, under blankets, stuffed animals, etc. The stinker has been stealing his sister's binkies from her crib (I'd like to think not directly from her mouth). Chris and I confronted him this morning:
"Sam, how did Vivian's binky get from her crib to your mouth?"
"Um… magic?"
So we have had conversations over the course of the day around the theme of not taking his sister's binkies from her crib, that he is a big boy, that he gets other things she doesn't ("but that's not fair mom, she gets binkies ALL the time"), and finally, if he took one more binky, they were all going up high on a cabinet that no one could reach (not sure how this was even relevant to him but it resinated).
The most frustrating part might be that he must have stealthily crept across to her crib, taking the binky, which woke her, then myself, then Chris, by which time Sam was back in his bed sleeping soundly! When the rest of us were bleary-eyed in the morning arguing about why the baby wasn't sleeping, Sam was snoozing peacefully in his bed. We shall see what tonight brings...
time that he turned four. We had upgraded from the regular binkies when he was a year or two, because he was stuffing them wholeheartedly into his mouth, so for a long time he had teething pacifiers that were huge. Then they were discontinued. The manufacturers for some reason stopped producing them, and at last search, they were seriously going for $25 a pop. It was understood when these binkies were lost or broken, they would be gone and not replaced. So they came to a timely end, when one-by-one, they started to break slightly in the rubber nipple piece, and according to Sam, were no longer comfortable to suck. He gave them up a little reluctantly, with few tears, (one bad night of an hour crying before bed) and that was that. We still have two that are around the house that he holds occasionally for comfort.
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Sam's relinquished binky
|
Meanwhile, Vivian still takes the baby pacifiers, and falls asleep with one, and to go back to sleep puts one back in her mouth and dozes back off. Well these have been disappearing left and right. I have even replaced a few lately. Chris and I try to put her down with at least five in the crib, so we don't have to be disturbed in the night when she wakes up and can't find one. There have been several nights lately where I have been crawling around on the floor between the hours of 11pm and 4 am, tearing apart the crib and not locating a single binky. Chris and I then accuse each other of losing them and subsequently not putting her down with them.
On two recent mornings, I have spotted a binky in Sam's bed. On further inspection, I found several binkies stored in and around Sam's bed. Like under his pillow, by the headboard, under blankets, stuffed animals, etc. The stinker has been stealing his sister's binkies from her crib (I'd like to think not directly from her mouth). Chris and I confronted him this morning:
 |
| Vivian's binkies |
"Um… magic?"
So we have had conversations over the course of the day around the theme of not taking his sister's binkies from her crib, that he is a big boy, that he gets other things she doesn't ("but that's not fair mom, she gets binkies ALL the time"), and finally, if he took one more binky, they were all going up high on a cabinet that no one could reach (not sure how this was even relevant to him but it resinated).
The most frustrating part might be that he must have stealthily crept across to her crib, taking the binky, which woke her, then myself, then Chris, by which time Sam was back in his bed sleeping soundly! When the rest of us were bleary-eyed in the morning arguing about why the baby wasn't sleeping, Sam was snoozing peacefully in his bed. We shall see what tonight brings...
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Polar Bear in a Bottle
We were driving this morning when Sam commented, "the poor polar bears."
"What's wrong with the polar bears?" I asked- thinking that he was up on his knowledge of endangered polar bears due to global warming, but no…
"Well, I think they are going to get put in a bottle," he said pointing to a Polar Soda truck.
"What's wrong with the polar bears?" I asked- thinking that he was up on his knowledge of endangered polar bears due to global warming, but no…
"Well, I think they are going to get put in a bottle," he said pointing to a Polar Soda truck.
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| Similar to this truck, but with a picture of a bottle on it also. |
Monday, July 7, 2014
July 4th
This July 4th we actually celebrated on July 3rd and 5th, as Hurricane Arthur rolled up the coast and through Massachusetts on the fourth. The city of Boston rescheduled fireworks to the third, and didn't even play the traditional 1812 Overture as a conclusion, as a thunderstorm broke as the fireworks ended. I taught the morning of the fourth (international program!) and we headed to Cape Cod and into the storm. It was slow going, very wet, and extremely windy, but well worth the drive. We enjoyed a great weekend with friends and all the fireworks that were not lit on the fourth were shot off on the fifth. We watched on the lawn, overlooking a bay and we had a view of at least four towns. All the kids stayed up for the fireworks, though Vivian clung to me.
