Friday, March 18, 2011

Language Development


Our family members have made significant strides in language recently.

Ben is now cooing and ahhing and making other non-crying noises that generally melt my heart. It's terrific.

Zeke recently said his first 3 word phrase: "Throw! Hat! Guy!"
It was motivated by this crazy YouTube Video: Chicken Song
Zeke has been exploring two word phrases for a few weeks now, and my favorite is "Good. Work." which he usually says after he starts working on a poop.

Tina has lost most of her vocabulary and communicates largely with grunts and gestures. Her most common 26 word phrase is "Don't touch him! Don't!- Just leave him alone! Do you know what 'alone' means? Back up - no - just, just walk away Zeke. Get away from him!"

Mike is now very practiced at the following phrase: "Do you have enough chocolate?"

Below: Zeke identifies himself as a "Cool Dude."

Monday, March 14, 2011

Moments as a Mom

Here are some moments from my world that made me laugh:

Actual Conversation with Zeke
Tuesday morning. 3:20 a.m.
Tired Tina decides that she deserves an Oatmeal Cream Pie. Ben nurses and Tina eats the delicious Oatmeal Cream Pie, taking care to hide the wrapper under a burp cloth on the couch so that, if she forgets to throw it away, Zeke won't find it the next morning.
Tina forgets to throw away the wrapper.
Tuesday morning. 7:12 a.m.
Zeke comes into the living room, at full speed, saying, "Mama! Baby!" Tina is nursing Ben (again) on the couch. When Zeke approaches, Tina begins to burp Ben and quickly grabs the closest burp rag at hand. Zeke immediately sees the forgotten wrapper. He holds it up and says,
"This."
"It's a wrapper," Tina says, caught red-handed.
"Eat." He gestures with his mouth and hand.
"Yes. Mama ate it."
"Gone."
"Yes, mama ate it all gone."
"Treat!" he accuses.
"Yes, it was a treat," Tina admits sadly.
"Zeke!" he cries, insistent and pointing to himself.

Snacktime
I recently had the opportunity to take Zeke, Ben, and their six-year old cousin, Legoman, to the park. I brought snacks, some healthy and some not quite so. Of course, Zeke quickly found the two pouches of fruit snacks I had brought. I opened his for him and he jammed two pieces in his mouth. Then he held up the second bag and asked me to open it. I told him it was for Legoman and we went on an instant search of the playground to give it to him.
Legoman accepted the fruit snacks reluctantly and asked me what they were. I thought it was impossible that any American child under ten would not know what a fruit snack was.
It took Legoman 5 seconds to open the pouch, another five seconds to pull out one and put it in his mouth, and 3 seconds to empty the rest of the pouch and stuff everything in his mouth.
Then he was back on the swing, leaving me to wonder about the choking risks.

Playground
While at a park with Zeke and Ben, I nursed Ben on a park bench, using this amazing, gigantic nursing cover my sister-in-law gave me. Just as Ben and I were getting comfortable, I looked around for Zeke and noticed that he had gotten quite far away from my position, near a slide and ladder on the far side of the playground. I watched while he started up a really tall ladder that lead to one of the biggest slides there. When he was on the second rung, I detached Ben, cradled him close to me under the nursing cover, and made a run for it shouting, "Zeke! No! Come down!"
When I got there, Zeke had climbed to a spot taller than my head and two rungs from the platform. He was nervous and not moving, but happy that mama was there. I started shouting encouraging things like, "Stay right there! Mama's going to get you. Hang on!"
I needed to get him down but both my hands were busy holding Ben. For two seconds I considered placing my six-week old baby on the astroturf at my feet. Not a good option. I looked around and saw two women sitting on a park bench ten feet away. I hustled over to the closest woman, still carrying Ben under the cover.
"Would you please hold my baby?" I asked, trying to pull him into view quickly. "Just long enough for me to save my other baby," I said, not taking no for an answer. I was placing Ben in her arms before waiting for her answer.
Completely trusting this total stranger, I dashed away to rescue Zeke. Better than the astroturf option?

Friday, March 4, 2011

How Old is Zeke? Free! No, Two!


Happy Birthday to Zekeopotomus. He turned two recently, but he tells everyone that he is three. (It sounds like "Free!" whenever he says it.) In celebration of Zeke, here is a short list of awesome things about this little man:
  • He loves to jump.
  • He can be persuaded to do anything (even eat vegetables) if I provide sound effects.
  • He would like to live at the park, or, if possible, the Butterfly Reservation close to our house.
  • He is mad for the vacuum.
  • He wants to do everything Dad does, exactly as Dad does it. (Today he rolled his pack-pack around the house and announced that he was going to work.)
We love Zeke!
Grandma adds detail to the three layer carousel cake.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Status Report


Hello again!
I decided to climb out of my hermitage and make contact with the world. Mike has been back to work a whole seven actual business days, and I have not yet turned into a puddle of mush. Being the caretaker for two little boys instead of just one is much more work, but it is the same kind of work so I'm pretty confident I can do it. It's like doing twice the job for the same pay. I didn't even get a fancier title.
In more important news, tonight I made meatballs to go with our spaghetti. The meatballs were made of good seasonings, bread crumbs, onions, tofu, and egg to hold it all together (no actual meat). They were actually good. I have ideas for improvement for next time, but not a bad first run.