Bailey was leading the charge with the fingerpainting, but the boys were not following her instruction.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Keeping 'em close
Griff didn't want his hands in the paint so he kept them in his lap or behind his back.
Friday, February 22, 2008
catching up
Long time, no posts. A variety of reasons -- bad weather, general busy-ness chief among them.
The boys are excellent. They both have snotty noses, but haven't really been "sick." Allan has had to be back on his oxygen, though. Any little touch of something is enough to pull him down just a little.
Allan has been a real busy little guy. Monday night was Dad's night out and I figured it was going to be a long one when I got home a little before six to find that Allan had just gotten up from a nap and Griffith was still sleeping. After nearly 3 hours. This is not looking good for being in bed and asleep by 8:30. Sigh.
As it turned out, Griffith was not the problem. He was trying to go to sleep at about the usual time, but Allan was wholly uncooperative. First he found the drum and was beating out the alphabet in Spanish. Get up, turn the drum off, give him a quiet toy, sit down, get settled. A-Beh -- what? Okay, so he's figured out how to turn the drum on. Fine. Get up, turn off the drum (adios!), stick the drum in the kitchen out of sight. Sit down, get settled. Beep-beep-beep. Allan has pulled his cord loose by crawling in to the nursery. Get up, get Allan, reconnect the monitor, close the door in to the hallway. Sit down, get settled. All is quiet for a while, then rattle, rattle, rattle, beep, beep, beep. What the --- ??? Allan, bound and determined to get to the nursery, has managed to push on the hallway door which hadn't quite latched and gotten it to open enough that he could crawl through. By this point I am ready to SEND HIM BACK. Honestly he reserves this sort of behavior for when I am least able to respond to it. Willful.
Griffith is a real big help around the house and with his brother. Yesterday, Allan drank an ounce of apple juice from a bottle (something he rarely does -- go Allan!) and we were all very encouraging of Allan. The bottle was sitting around later and Griffith got it, walked over to Allan and put it in his mouth so that he could have a sip. It was so sweet. Another example of Griff's sweetness: Allan spit up yesterday while I was in the kitchen and Griff yelled "uh-oh!" and came running in to the kitchen and got a dishtowel and took it back to wipe up. No joke. Oh, yeah, and he said, "yuck!" (amen) and "mess" (although he says it with two syllables -- just like Bailey).
The boys are excellent. They both have snotty noses, but haven't really been "sick." Allan has had to be back on his oxygen, though. Any little touch of something is enough to pull him down just a little.
Allan has been a real busy little guy. Monday night was Dad's night out and I figured it was going to be a long one when I got home a little before six to find that Allan had just gotten up from a nap and Griffith was still sleeping. After nearly 3 hours. This is not looking good for being in bed and asleep by 8:30. Sigh.
As it turned out, Griffith was not the problem. He was trying to go to sleep at about the usual time, but Allan was wholly uncooperative. First he found the drum and was beating out the alphabet in Spanish. Get up, turn the drum off, give him a quiet toy, sit down, get settled. A-Beh -- what? Okay, so he's figured out how to turn the drum on. Fine. Get up, turn off the drum (adios!), stick the drum in the kitchen out of sight. Sit down, get settled. Beep-beep-beep. Allan has pulled his cord loose by crawling in to the nursery. Get up, get Allan, reconnect the monitor, close the door in to the hallway. Sit down, get settled. All is quiet for a while, then rattle, rattle, rattle, beep, beep, beep. What the --- ??? Allan, bound and determined to get to the nursery, has managed to push on the hallway door which hadn't quite latched and gotten it to open enough that he could crawl through. By this point I am ready to SEND HIM BACK. Honestly he reserves this sort of behavior for when I am least able to respond to it. Willful.
Griffith is a real big help around the house and with his brother. Yesterday, Allan drank an ounce of apple juice from a bottle (something he rarely does -- go Allan!) and we were all very encouraging of Allan. The bottle was sitting around later and Griffith got it, walked over to Allan and put it in his mouth so that he could have a sip. It was so sweet. Another example of Griff's sweetness: Allan spit up yesterday while I was in the kitchen and Griff yelled "uh-oh!" and came running in to the kitchen and got a dishtowel and took it back to wipe up. No joke. Oh, yeah, and he said, "yuck!" (amen) and "mess" (although he says it with two syllables -- just like Bailey).
Water war
Griffith finally figured out how to squirt water from his bath toys and gave Daddy a real soaking.
What? I'm not doing anything.
The look of innocence would be more persuasive if he didn't have the mug in his hand.
Clearing the way
Griff pushing Daddy's chair out of the way so that he and Allan can do circles around it.
Helping hand (II)
It isn't a good picture, but this is Griffith giving Allan back the little car that he had "dropped."
Ten thousand dollars worth of toys
and all he wants to play with are the vacuum cleaner and the styrofoam inserts that came out of the boxes of frames.
A helping hand
Griffith was very sweet and got Allan's bottle of apple juice and brought it over to him.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
snoozing
After being an absolute pill all day, Allan racked out tonight post-bath. Almost makes you forget what a brat he was earlier. Almost.
Dangling on the gate.
Thank goodness for Griffith making sure that Daddy is doing it right in the kitchen.
Thanks, Heather !
Griff is now learning to ride, thanks to you. Unfortunately, that means that Allan has to learn to tuck-and-roll out of the way.
Otis the elevator man
The garage elevator goes up and down and dings at every floor. Great. Just great. Don't they make silent toys ???
Flotsam and jetsam
Big Al and I are snuggling in the living room listening to the rain and the wind outside. And to Griff kicking up a fuss on and off with his dad in the back bedroom.
The weather has been odd. Thirty one day, sixty the next. Windy and wild. We hardly know what to expect. The boys didn't get out today because it was so windy. And you never knew when the rain was going to come.
Jay and I had an invitation to a baby shower Friday night, but, try as I did, we couldn't come up with a baby-sitter. Jay stayed and helped with dinner and baths and headed out for the party and the boys and I settled in. We did our now-standard couch snuggle which is a very delicate balance. Just as Griff was drifting off (Allan was already out) a knock came at the door. You.Must.Be.Kidding. It was nearly nine on a Friday night. I just sat. (Sort of like we used to do when the Jehovah's showed up at the door back home.) Again with the knocking. Fine -- "Go away!" says I. Again with the knocking. By this time, Griff has roused. I set Allan down on the floor. He starts to cry. I peep through the blinds on the door. Nope. I don't know you, Kenny Rogers. Buzz off. "Go away. I don't know you!" Kenny Rogers waves some papers at me. Allan howls. Griff jabbers. "I am putting babies to sleep!!! Go away !!! I don't know you!!! Buzz.Off." Finally Kenny Rogers manages to communicate that he is the guy who is supposed to deliver the formula for Allan. The insurance company has changed providers. And has told poor Kenny that he has to get this to me tonight. Kenny and I made up (he has a four year old and was terribly sorry that he had effed up bedtime. ) Still it was the better part of another hour before both boys were down and out. So much for my early bed time.
Saturday Dad headed out early (ish) with our dining room table. When people hear what Jay does they always say, you must have beautiful furniture. Um. Well. Um. We are the epitome of the cobbler's children having no shoes. The dining room table, while nice, looked like crap. Scratches and rings. You name it. Ridiculous. The last time we had people over and couldn't find a decent table cloth was the end of it, though. So we loaded it up and sent it over to the workshop. It will no doubt look lovely at the end of this, but, as of today, we still have no table. The boys like having the dining room clear, though. While Jay was out this morning, I set up the chairs with blankets over them and we played Cave and Tunnel. Allan was far braver -- he immediately crawled in and out and around everything Griff was far more suspicious and would start in and back out. Chicken.
Miss Miranda came and took care of the boys on Saturday afternoon while I cleaned the upstairs bedroom. We still had boxes of Xmas ornaments out. The floor had places where we had spilled formula and medicine. The whole thing was, in a word, filthy. After three hours of work, it finally was acceptable, though. As God is my witness, it will never be that way again. I went up to use the bathroom last night and Jay had left his socks on the floor and I thought I might commit homicide.
Griffith spent a fair amount of time yesterday stepping up an down on the step that Bailey gave him for Christmas. He was pretty hesitant about letting go of me. In fact, my index finger was purple from him gripping it as he got up and down. As you will see from the pictures, though, he got a lot braver. Up until he banged his forehead on the door. Nice goose-egg, pal.
Team Al and Griff did their first international webcast. Grandma and Grampy got their webcam up and had Jess, Lottie and Joe for the weekend. We set high noon as the time to call. The first hurdle was that they could see us, but not hear us. What ???? Okay, no problem. We worked out that we had turned off the volume on our computer so that it didn't disturb the boys. Problem solved. Sorta. The next problem was that Grampy's mic wasn't working. We never did get that straight. Jay and Grampy were on the phone while the cousins made monkeys of themselves on the video. Still, it was pretty successful for a first outing - the boys were very interested in the antics of their cousins and the cousins seemed amused with the boys. Next time we'll get it all straight.
The rest of the day was in-and-out. I would go for a while, then Jay. Griffith was an angel. He napped in the morning and again in the afternoon. Allan, on the other hand, is my difficult child. Despite being tired, he refused to sleep. And didn't want his brother to sleep, either. Griff did his typical fight, fight, fight, collapse. Allan, on the other hand, whinged and whirled and kicked and squawled. Every time that Griff was close to out, Allan would howl or something. I finally got Griff laid down and went to get a fresh diaper for Allan. I first had to disengage Mr. Busy-fingers from pulling his brother's curls (jealousy is a cardinal sin, Allan). Then, by the time I made it in to the nursery and back with a diaper, Allan had crawled across the floor and was milliseconds from a "slam dunk" on the basketball game which would have caused all sorts of commotion. BRAT.
What else? Griffith has learned to say "Al" and calls for his brother when he isn't in the room. Allan has become fascinated with the garage and will have cars go around the curves over and over again.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
The boys are looking forward to this weekend when they go to stay with cousin Bailey while Dad makes bookshelves for the living room. Bailey took care of Jacob Scott last weekend and it kept her quite busy. She was already thinking ahead to the boys' visit, though, and told her mom,
"And there are going to be TWO!'
The weather has been odd. Thirty one day, sixty the next. Windy and wild. We hardly know what to expect. The boys didn't get out today because it was so windy. And you never knew when the rain was going to come.
Jay and I had an invitation to a baby shower Friday night, but, try as I did, we couldn't come up with a baby-sitter. Jay stayed and helped with dinner and baths and headed out for the party and the boys and I settled in. We did our now-standard couch snuggle which is a very delicate balance. Just as Griff was drifting off (Allan was already out) a knock came at the door. You.Must.Be.Kidding. It was nearly nine on a Friday night. I just sat. (Sort of like we used to do when the Jehovah's showed up at the door back home.) Again with the knocking. Fine -- "Go away!" says I. Again with the knocking. By this time, Griff has roused. I set Allan down on the floor. He starts to cry. I peep through the blinds on the door. Nope. I don't know you, Kenny Rogers. Buzz off. "Go away. I don't know you!" Kenny Rogers waves some papers at me. Allan howls. Griff jabbers. "I am putting babies to sleep!!! Go away !!! I don't know you!!! Buzz.Off." Finally Kenny Rogers manages to communicate that he is the guy who is supposed to deliver the formula for Allan. The insurance company has changed providers. And has told poor Kenny that he has to get this to me tonight. Kenny and I made up (he has a four year old and was terribly sorry that he had effed up bedtime. ) Still it was the better part of another hour before both boys were down and out. So much for my early bed time.
Saturday Dad headed out early (ish) with our dining room table. When people hear what Jay does they always say, you must have beautiful furniture. Um. Well. Um. We are the epitome of the cobbler's children having no shoes. The dining room table, while nice, looked like crap. Scratches and rings. You name it. Ridiculous. The last time we had people over and couldn't find a decent table cloth was the end of it, though. So we loaded it up and sent it over to the workshop. It will no doubt look lovely at the end of this, but, as of today, we still have no table. The boys like having the dining room clear, though. While Jay was out this morning, I set up the chairs with blankets over them and we played Cave and Tunnel. Allan was far braver -- he immediately crawled in and out and around everything Griff was far more suspicious and would start in and back out. Chicken.
Miss Miranda came and took care of the boys on Saturday afternoon while I cleaned the upstairs bedroom. We still had boxes of Xmas ornaments out. The floor had places where we had spilled formula and medicine. The whole thing was, in a word, filthy. After three hours of work, it finally was acceptable, though. As God is my witness, it will never be that way again. I went up to use the bathroom last night and Jay had left his socks on the floor and I thought I might commit homicide.
Griffith spent a fair amount of time yesterday stepping up an down on the step that Bailey gave him for Christmas. He was pretty hesitant about letting go of me. In fact, my index finger was purple from him gripping it as he got up and down. As you will see from the pictures, though, he got a lot braver. Up until he banged his forehead on the door. Nice goose-egg, pal.
Team Al and Griff did their first international webcast. Grandma and Grampy got their webcam up and had Jess, Lottie and Joe for the weekend. We set high noon as the time to call. The first hurdle was that they could see us, but not hear us. What ???? Okay, no problem. We worked out that we had turned off the volume on our computer so that it didn't disturb the boys. Problem solved. Sorta. The next problem was that Grampy's mic wasn't working. We never did get that straight. Jay and Grampy were on the phone while the cousins made monkeys of themselves on the video. Still, it was pretty successful for a first outing - the boys were very interested in the antics of their cousins and the cousins seemed amused with the boys. Next time we'll get it all straight.
The rest of the day was in-and-out. I would go for a while, then Jay. Griffith was an angel. He napped in the morning and again in the afternoon. Allan, on the other hand, is my difficult child. Despite being tired, he refused to sleep. And didn't want his brother to sleep, either. Griff did his typical fight, fight, fight, collapse. Allan, on the other hand, whinged and whirled and kicked and squawled. Every time that Griff was close to out, Allan would howl or something. I finally got Griff laid down and went to get a fresh diaper for Allan. I first had to disengage Mr. Busy-fingers from pulling his brother's curls (jealousy is a cardinal sin, Allan). Then, by the time I made it in to the nursery and back with a diaper, Allan had crawled across the floor and was milliseconds from a "slam dunk" on the basketball game which would have caused all sorts of commotion. BRAT.
What else? Griffith has learned to say "Al" and calls for his brother when he isn't in the room. Allan has become fascinated with the garage and will have cars go around the curves over and over again.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
The boys are looking forward to this weekend when they go to stay with cousin Bailey while Dad makes bookshelves for the living room. Bailey took care of Jacob Scott last weekend and it kept her quite busy. She was already thinking ahead to the boys' visit, though, and told her mom,
"And there are going to be TWO!'
Friday, February 15, 2008
All is well with Thing One and Thing Two. We are still limping along without Flora who continues to have problems following her knee replacement surgery.
On Wednesday, our scheduled sitter had a death in the family and the substitute for her had a wreck (it was very slick and snowy) on the way to our house. Miranda came to the rescue after she finished her classes at noon. Unfortunately, we had something of a repeat on Thursday -- our sub nanny got sick and the woman in charge was on the road and didn't get the message so we were solo again. I got Wednesday morning, but Dad got Thursday until about 2:30 (I had to be out of town in court.) When I got back, Dad and the boys were busy erecting the new baby gates in the bath and bedroom downstairs. Dad isn't a big fan, but gave in. The way the bathroom door and hall are, there is no way to have a gate that swings out. It would be forever in the way. And, unless we can have the bathroom door open, that hallway is very dark. There is a similar problem with the "guest" bedroom (which we are using for the time being.)
The retractable gates are great in a lot of ways, but they aren't short enough to step over and you have to use both hands to open them. They claim to be good for up to 200 pounds of pushing force. Griffith and Allan seem hellbent on testing that claim.
The weather was actually pretty nice yesterday so after Dad left, I loaded up the boys (who hadn't had a nap) and we went for a run/walk. I managed to tear the stupid plastic cover for the stroller so I just had to wrap them up snugly and off we went. After about 25 minutes the boys fell asleep. Since there is no way to get them back in the house without waking them, I just kept running until I couldn't any more and then we walked. The nice weather is so hit-or-miss that you feel like to have to take advantage when you can.
We had a good time last night. The boys made bourbon brownies for their dad. The attempt at making a heart from Hershey's syrup was well-intentioned, but didn't work so well. They were quite tasty, though. They also managed to sneak out and buy 2 dozen roses (one for each, naturally) for me. Sweet little guys.
As you can see from the pictures, we had quite a good time -- playing with hats and all. Griff has been exceptionally loving of his brother. Not that Allan appreciates it. Griff will come over to his brother and put his head on his back or belly and pat him. A lot of times it is random, but frequently it is when Allan is upset and fussy about something. Griff is clearly trying to console him.
Tonight as we were going to sleep Griff kept reaching over to rub Allan's hair. He also kept trying to hold Allan's hand and pat him on the back. Allan (suspicous as always) was having none of it. We are going to have to work on him. We have managed to make Griff empathetic. Now we have to make Allan receptive. Nothing is ever easy.
On Wednesday, our scheduled sitter had a death in the family and the substitute for her had a wreck (it was very slick and snowy) on the way to our house. Miranda came to the rescue after she finished her classes at noon. Unfortunately, we had something of a repeat on Thursday -- our sub nanny got sick and the woman in charge was on the road and didn't get the message so we were solo again. I got Wednesday morning, but Dad got Thursday until about 2:30 (I had to be out of town in court.) When I got back, Dad and the boys were busy erecting the new baby gates in the bath and bedroom downstairs. Dad isn't a big fan, but gave in. The way the bathroom door and hall are, there is no way to have a gate that swings out. It would be forever in the way. And, unless we can have the bathroom door open, that hallway is very dark. There is a similar problem with the "guest" bedroom (which we are using for the time being.)
The retractable gates are great in a lot of ways, but they aren't short enough to step over and you have to use both hands to open them. They claim to be good for up to 200 pounds of pushing force. Griffith and Allan seem hellbent on testing that claim.
The weather was actually pretty nice yesterday so after Dad left, I loaded up the boys (who hadn't had a nap) and we went for a run/walk. I managed to tear the stupid plastic cover for the stroller so I just had to wrap them up snugly and off we went. After about 25 minutes the boys fell asleep. Since there is no way to get them back in the house without waking them, I just kept running until I couldn't any more and then we walked. The nice weather is so hit-or-miss that you feel like to have to take advantage when you can.
We had a good time last night. The boys made bourbon brownies for their dad. The attempt at making a heart from Hershey's syrup was well-intentioned, but didn't work so well. They were quite tasty, though. They also managed to sneak out and buy 2 dozen roses (one for each, naturally) for me. Sweet little guys.
As you can see from the pictures, we had quite a good time -- playing with hats and all. Griff has been exceptionally loving of his brother. Not that Allan appreciates it. Griff will come over to his brother and put his head on his back or belly and pat him. A lot of times it is random, but frequently it is when Allan is upset and fussy about something. Griff is clearly trying to console him.
Tonight as we were going to sleep Griff kept reaching over to rub Allan's hair. He also kept trying to hold Allan's hand and pat him on the back. Allan (suspicous as always) was having none of it. We are going to have to work on him. We have managed to make Griff empathetic. Now we have to make Allan receptive. Nothing is ever easy.
Bowling for bears
Griffith (Mr. Destructo) will not roll the ball in to the pins, but, instead, creeps up very close to them and gently, oh, so gently, bumps them with the ball.
Trying it on for size
The boys love to try on hats. This one is a Polygamy Porter hat from a brewery in Salt Lake City. Its slogan? "Bring some home for the wives."
Navigating the maze
Both boys love crawling under the table and in and out and around the chair and table legs....they just need to get a little faster and we will enter them in the dog trials.
Checking it out from all angles
My boys both are fascinated with where the batteries go, off/on switches and screws, etc. Guess that's why they were so much help to Jay with the new baby gates!
Loving on his brother
Griffith does not get the credit he deserves for being a little sweetheart. This is a shot of him having come over and laid his head on Allan just giving him a little love.
Griffith on the prowl
Griffith has taken to doing more crawling these days. He has reverted because it is fun for him to crawl with his brother. Yesterday, they were playing 'chase' in the living room and having a grand time. Griff is still too fast, though, and once he would get too far ahead, Allan would simply stop, sit up, and wait. There is only so far that Griffith can go before he has to turn around and come back. No sense in wasting too much energy.
Daddy's project for the day
We had a babysitter snafu and Dad had to stay home for part of the day. He put his time to good use by putting up two new baby gates. The "spring-loaded" one was tearing up the paint on the door jamb and the boys are about big enough to pull it down. There is no room for one on the bathroom door (it would block the hall) and keeping the door closed makes the house seem dark. These are fancy retractable gates -- good for 200 lbs of pushing pressure (allegedly). The drawbacks are that they take two hands to open and are too high to comfortably step over. Still we don't have much choice.
Bourbon brownies for Dad
Griffith and Allan made bourbon brownies. Allan insisted on making a heart with Hershey's syrup. Unfortunately, by the time that Dad made it home, the heart had turned in to a blob. They tasted good any way. And the effort was appreciated.
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