The Halloween Thomas Twins

Halloween kicked off the start of what we think will be a really fun holiday season with the boys. They are old enough to understand the concept of holidays now and really take part in the traditions. Of course they were Thomas the Train this year. I found darling costumes on Amazon and ordered them back in August to make sure they wouldn't see out or anything. Excited much? I had thought about getting two different characters, but quickly thought better of it after envisioning the fights that would ensue. Not worth it. So the Thomas Twins it was. I had waited to even show them the costumes thinking that's all they would want to wear after seeing them. I had visions of pushing two Thomases through Target, etc. So we got them about a week or so before and they thought it was really cool, but there was no obsession. Pierce was of course reluctant to put it on as it required changing clothes, but they both thought it was pretty cool once on. And I was delighted to find they even happily wore the conductors caps that came with it which made the whole ensemble for sure.

We took them to the Monster Masquerade with Nana and Papa the week before to show them off a little and enjoy a Halloween party. It turned out to be fairly claustrophobic and lame, but the boys still looked adorable. Halloween morning was Nova Tech's annual costume contest. BJ dressed as Sir Topham Hatt and when the boys walked in and saw him dressed that way they immediatley recognized who he was supposed to be and grinned with wonderment. I knew they didn't think BJ was really him or anything, but it was more that they were delighted to see two of their favorite people combined. They all 3 looked perfect together!

We had our annual driveway party on Halloween night and everything went really well.  They loved the fire pit and did really well with it. Nana and Papa came over for an early dinner and sat with the candy while we trick or treated. We made it down one side of Prince Edward Island. Pierce was into the first couple houses, but then hung back due to all the "peeeeople". Our sweet little introvert. But Blaine was right up there at every doorstep with all the other kids. But even he finally wore out by the 8th or 9th house. I think we ended up carrying them both back.

We got back to the fire and after a bit I took Blaine in to change a dirty diaper. As soon as we walked in I noticed the whole right side of his face was red and swollen. He had gone into the Bakers' entryway and, I hadn't realized it, but BJ told me later it was to pet their dog. We've recently concluded that poor Blainey is definitely allergic to dogs. So strange, but I'm really hoping he'll grow out of it. So the bedtime wheels began turning so he could get a bath, even though I was ready to let them stay up and hang. They had enjoyed several pieces of candy outside, so I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get them to sleep. But trick or treating must have really worn them out because I think they were both snoozing by 8:15. It was a great night!

Pierce November 2013 Update

Pierce has become so verbal in the last couple of months. He seems to have caught up to Blaine in his knowledge and usage, although he is naturally a little less chatty. In fact, a lot of his word usage these days comes in the form of bossy demands. It's actually quite cute though. Some of his favorite phrases include "ow way, ow way" (out of the way), no mommy, wiy he-uh (right here- usually pointing to exactly where he wants me to sit), no bayne. It's just something about his little high pitched voice that makes it hard to get annoyed. He can name every single train he owns and sadly Percy is no longer "Poopy" for either of them. Some other favorites...
gapeys- grapes (my fault for adding a "y" onto a lot of words)
wattles- waffles (adopted from Blaine)
stee-wy- Steven the train
sand-ich
chicky-way- Chick-Fil-A (favorite restaurant)

Pierce is our routine child. I am finding more and more how tough it is for him to adapt to change and I have to say I get it. They're both that way really, but Pierce definitely is not a fan of change and has quite the stubborn streak in him. This can come in the form of changing clothes, new types of shoes each season, Daddy coming home from work, number of trains he is allowed to take with him. etc. Once he gets something in his head it can be really hard to modify.

But he also has such a good natured and fun loving side in him. He loves trying to make Blaine laugh and is my nap time ham, often denying both of them sleep with is crazy jumping and antics. He's scaring me lately into thinking that he may be trying to be done with naps. He is so hard to settle down and if I finally give up after a couple hours he makes it just fine until bed time. I.am.not.ready.to.give.them.up. We'll see..

His new thing lately is to repeat fun phrases he hears in his shows and try to say them in the same voice. And he is scary good at it. He can even imitate Diego. It cracks us up.

Pierce is also our introvert right now. He's just not a big fan of groups of people or strangers. If we go to a playground and there are others there he runs around saying "people,people". He's just annoyed that they're there. I've also found that if he gets worked up in a situation where there are others (playdates, family gatherings, etc.) he calms down so much better if I remove him from the situation a bit. This doesn't do as much for Blaine, but Pierce calms down so much more easily just being removed and soothed for a bit. I love learning little things like this as their personalities further develop.

Although he loves playing with Blaine and making him laugh, he also gets easily annoyed. Blaine is learning how easy it is to push his buttons and the two of them can go around. The most common offense is when Pierce states something he wants, for instance "A Turtle's Tale" (one of his favs) and Blaine spits back "No tur-tur tayle" then Pierce melts down and keeps saying it and Blaine keeps saying  no. I have no idea. For some reason, Pierce thinks Blaine calls the shots I guess. It's funny for about a minute and then gets pretty exhausting- especially in the car.

Pierce's stubbornness continues with food, but we are trying to be consistent, especially with dinner time. I'm not offering other options and we're trying really hard to institute the no thank you bite with him. It goes in spurts of working or not. Mostly not it seems. The kid will completely skip dinner on occasion.  Drives me nuts. But, in his defense there are still many of his favorite that are healthy. Namely fruit, yogurt, and cereal. He's a Holloway in that he'd eat cereal all day if I let him.

He still has his sweet Pixie grin that can melt my heart even when I'm at the end of my rope. And we comment a lot about his cute scurry. He runs and walks with little steps and it's so darn cute.

Blaine November 2013 Update

Man, this kid has grown up lately. I feel like at some point every day I look at him and think how old he looks. Like when did he turn 5? The fun thing about Blaine lately is how much he's been talking- as in non- stop, all the time. And we love it! He talks in full phrases and sentences and absorbs everything. I can't even list everything he says anymore, but his pronunciations are my favorite. Here are a few lately...
no kee you and lately no tank-to-you- no thank you (He says this as no everytime. Very sweet.)
Yuh wecome- you're welcome
babana- banana
babana bed- banana bread (a breakfast favorite)
fwack- train track
fock- fox (Definitely his most R rated word. We're still crossing our fingers he doesn't feel the need to say that one in the church nursery!)
Behw-wy- Beary
Dowy- Charlie (his favorite train)
hodju- hold you (aka me)
wattles- waffles (a huge fav lately)
muttins- muffins

I'm consistently blown away by how smart both boys are and how much the pick up that I don't even realize.

Blaine continues to be our emotionally sensitive and compassionate one. Throughout our week with Grant he was very aware when one of us was crying or sad and just wanted to address it and talk about it until he could see we were ok. We were even just hugging in the kitchen one time and he came up and asked "Mommy sad?". So sweet. He has also turned into our extrovert. He is friendly to everyone he meets and really seems to enjoy being around people in general. For some reason this always surprises me because I would expect him to be the shyer of the two since he is more sensitive.

He's still a good sleeper, although he can take awhile to settle down at night. He is usually ready for his nap and is definitely the easier of the two to get to sleep for the nap, but come bedtime he's more wound. He usually just chatters a bit to himself and goes to sleep on his own. He also started using a blanket at night which is really cute. He switches between the sailboat blue blanket and the blue monkey blanket. When we check on him at night he rarely has it on him, but it's still sweet. If you ask him where he wants he lays down on his tummy in the front top corner of his bed and firmly states "right heaw". As soon as he wakes up, his first request/demand is "downstay-uh" to go down.

Blaine also continues to be our good helper. He loves helping me cook in the kitchen and is great at pouring in ingredients. We've noticed that he is just happy when he is helping and has a task to achieve.

He has also started/continues is "wee sad" routine. If one of us hurts his feelings (or sometimes completely out of the blue) he hangs his head and freezes in one spot. And I have to say, I'm amazed at out how long he can do this. If you ask him what's wrong he says "wee sad". Then I usually ask him why and every time he sadly responds, "People". Then I ask, "People made you sad?" and he responds "yeah". It's a pathetically cute routine he does. Sometimes it's based on hurt feelings, but more often it's just a random thing. Attention getting I guess? Still really cute.

He's becoming even closer buddies with Pierce who he now affectionately calls Picky Weil which is out he pronounces Pixie. He'll sometimes cut it down to Pick for short. I find it quite appropriate based on Pierce's eating habits. He remains really sweet and patient with Pierce and is often willing to give up a toy that Pierce wants.

He's still our better eater and is very good about trying foods. We're trying to institute the idea of a "no thank you bite" and he usually does this without prompting.