Laundry Days

TJ has been so fun lately. He's really growing up right now. I love the phase he's in. Some days I want to tear my hair out because he is SUCH a two-year-old, but he can also be wonderfully charming and sweet and clever. Lately he has learned to say his own prayers. It's so darling, my heart melts; and his "prayer voice" is hysterical.

Last Fall we worked with him on getting potty trained. He did really well for a while, and then it just petered off and he decided he wasn't all that interested in it. He's so strong-willed, I decided not to fight him. This summer, he has decided for himself that he wants to wear underwear. It's the funniest thing. He has a collection of red briefs, and he is really motivated to keep them clean and dry. He still asks to wear diapers sometimes, but not very often. This is one time when his stubborn independence has worked FOR me. Not so much so when he decides to pour his own cup of milk. Yikes.

The red obsession has not abated. If anything it has intensified (the red briefs and his desire to keep them clean is another example of how his stubborn idiosyncrasies can work for me). I do entire loads of red laundry. When sorting dirty clothes, my piles are: whites, darks, mediums, and reds. It thrills TJ to no end when other people wear red as well, so Rob, Andy and I all have more red shirts than we used to.

I took a picture of TJ's closet after I did laundry this weekend:

He also really likes pink and salmon. He calls it "light red". In fact, the second shirt from the left is one of his favorites. It has a picture of a lobster on it, and the caption "Snappy". I like to put it one him on his grumpy days. For some reason I get a kick out of seeing him throw major temper tantrums while wearing it.

Andy turned 3 months old 2 weeks ago. I did take lots of pictures that day, but could never get one without his hands crammed in his mouth. The kid is a little turkey. The pediatrician told me he is definitely a high-needs baby. The vindication has made me feel a whole lot better about life. It hasn't changed anything, but knowing that it's not all in my head makes me feel like less of a failure. Just the same, I can't wait for him to get a little older.

Long HOT Summer Days

We've been really busy, but not with blog-worthy things. Mostly we're just trying to keep cool. We've had 23 days in a row of 100plus degree days; it actually rained this week and broke the streak--one day stayed in the 90s--but now we're right back up in the over 100 degree days again. Last Saturday Rob's work had an outdoor party to welcome the new residents; it was 111 degrees (with humidity!) that day; some welcome, huh? It's been really hard on TJ to not be able to play outside much. We've been going to the pool tons, but he really misses just being able to run in the yard. Some days he still tries. I love this picture, because it's so easy to see just how HOT he is.
I took a photography class some time ago, and have been tinkering around with cameras and lenses and reading photography books while I nurse. Not to mention I have such cute little subjects to photograph... I've been reading alot about the technical aspect of making photos, and playing around with it. I'm rather pleased with some of the effects that can be achieved through aperture adjustments.
And I've been busy stalking Andy in an attempt to capture one of his elusive, darling smiles. He's been smiling for more than a month now, and this is the best I've managed yet:
It's hard to get a picture of a smile, because he only smiles at people, not at mechanical objects like cameras. And I have to say, that when we're sitting and having a smiles session, I'm loath to interrupt it with a camera. I love this shot of his pretty eyes:

And aren't my men handsome? I'm so happy Rob has some sons in his life. He's such a good daddy.

Andy keeps getting cuter and cuter. He's relapsed in a horrible way this week: he had been sleeping through night, and this week he stopped. It's actually been pretty rough, he's been up way too much wanting to eat and party and socialize. His smiles are so darling, but not between the hours of 1 and 5AM. Unfortunately, I've been seeing way too many of them, though.

Gotta love those eyes. A set of chocolate ones, and it looks like a set of blue ones, wouldn't you say?

Yes, he's still here.

Today I mopped the floors. TJ figured if I was doing it, it MUST be fun. He kept asking for the mop, and saying "TJ have a turn, TJ turn?". I gave him the mop when I was finished, and he "mopped" for the next hour!!! Now, can I teach him to effectively clean toilets? When does it stop being fun? How can I harness this wonderful energy?

Please note the outfit. He dressed himself today. Okay, he dresses himself most days. All-red days are particularly funny to me; he tends to insist on a red shirt most days, and he loves these silly red socks. But he'll usually allow me to temper the look with, say, denim or khaki shorts. Not today. Pick your battles, eh?

4th of July

This year was our first 4th of July in Oklahoma. We mostly just took it pretty easy and hung around the house, watched a movie, and caught our breath; life has been hectic lately. I didn't want to keep TJ up late enough to see the real firework show (it started at 10, and TJ's usual bed-time is 7:30), so we invited some friends over for for a swim at the neighborhood pool and little fireworks in the front yard. The pool ended up closing early due to "weather" (ha ha, only it wasn't so funny), so we just let the kids run in the backyard with the kiddie pool and the hose as the adults bemoaned the heat.

Fireworks were fun. TJ was timid and wanted to stay close to dad, but overall liked the fireworks. Particularly the red ones. Last year fireworks just made him cry at first, and I'm not sure if he ever really warmed up to them, so he's definitely come a ways from last years' reaction: although he still didn't want to hold a sparkler (this actually does surprise me, he's such a spunky kid).

2 Months Old

Andy turned 2 months old this weekend. He has made alot of progress during the past month, and we are all getting more sleep. In fact, his night-sleep has made leaps and bounds, and he is sleeping through the night 75% of the time; when he does wake up, he generally eats and goes back to sleep. Bliss. Life is looking so much better than it did four weeks ago. He's also gotten really smiley this month. I STILL haven't gotten a really good picture of a smile, despite numerous attempts; although some of these are definitely happy faces, and you can see the echo of a smile contained therein.

He's gotten more aware of the world, and is looking around and interested. He can push his torso up to an up-dog (or push-up) position easily, and is ridiculously strong. He has rolled from his tummy to his back many times now, although I believe it's always been an accident and has scared him (this usually happens in the middle of the night, and is contributing to the 25% of NOT sleeping through the night). But the biggest acheivement of all is that he went from being a really difficult baby, to a really nice baby. He overcame his illnesses and ailments, started on reflux medication, and it has really helped him. Now that he's feeling better, he has really calmed down and is settling into his own skin and adjusting to the world and being alive.

The rudiments of a schedule are starting to take place: he is starting to wake up roughly the same time every morning (between 6:30-7:40), and he is ready for bed about the same time every night (8pm or so). I'm also seeing daytime sleep just beginning to organize. It's really bothered me not having a schedule; in fact, I think the hardest thing about a new baby for me is the lack of structure and a schedule. It makes me realize just how structured I have become.

One night just before I went into labor, I sat down and wrote out TJ's schedule, such that a stranger could have taken care of him easily-- the point is that TJ had a set schedule; he gets up the same time, eats the same time, naps the same time, has similar activites at a set time every day. And that's the way I like it. Infants have no such set routine until the parent helps them form one. I'm in that process with Andy, and life is definitely getting better. He is a really pleasant little chap.

Kitties

TJ loves cats. Curious George used to be the only television show he was interested in, but about a month ago Rob recorded a documentary about kittens off of Animal Planet; now he asks for the kitties more than he asks for the monkey. I can't remember exactly when the cat-love began, but it was prior to Christmas, since one of the things I looked the hardest for for a Santa gift was a big stuffed cat. Anyways. Sufficient to say that the cat-love has gone on for a while, and he's had time to accumulate a menagerie of cats.


You may notice he has two of the little white calico cat; the first rather mangy, the second a recent and miraculous acquisition--it's his favorite that he hauls everywhere with him, and I've learned the hard way how important it is to him: in late February the cat fell out of the car (unbeknown to us) during a long, busy Saturday of errands. We did not notice his absence until bedtime. Now if you know TJ, you know how important it is to him to have all of his precious treasures present for bedtime. The sorrow and devastation was sudden and absolute. In the face of such tragedy, there was really nothing to do but jump in the car and start searching (after an Internet search confirmed that the cat had been discontinued, and was sold out everywhere). I drove from Edmond, to the Mercy campus, to downtown Oklahoma. It took at least an hour. It was a blustery, cold day, and I'll never forget the relief I felt when my headlights lit upon a small black and white lump in the parking lot of the Indian restaurant we'd had dinner at. He'd been run over, and was definitely worse for the wear, but I'd found him. The first thing TJ said the next morning, was, tearfully, "the white kitty-cat?". I felt like a super-hero when I presented it. Just before Andy was born, I came across the second white cat at the bottom of the clearance rack in PBK. Remembering that night(and since he won't sleep without it), I bought the last two they had in stock.
TJ plays with his cats all the time.





He carries the white one around everywhere. He sleeps with all of them. He watches TV with them (George, or one of the many cat documentary and nature shows now filling our DVR). He even eats with them at the table. He likes to line them up in rows


And study them intently until he has them arranged just right















The past couple of days he's been carrying his cat around in this little red bucket


I just love this kid.



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