Blaine December 2013 Update

Age: 2 1/2 years

Favorite Food: He's been a good eater lately. He's willing to try most foods (not veggies) and his favorite game is to barely get it in his mouth and exclaim "I yike it" with a huge smile. Ironically he usually hasn't had time to taste it yet! 

Favorite TV show: Justin Time (He'll like and watch others occasionally, but this is by far his favorite.)

Favorite toys/activities: He still loves trains, but the obsession is definitely less than what Pierce's is. He's really enjoyed playing with the little people set at Nana's house and he and Nana affectionately named the blue and green girls Sally and Susie respectively. 

New tricks: He likes doing little roundoffs in the basement after going down the slide. He's also gotten really good at swinging on the trampoline bar. I'm quite impressed with his upper body strength.

Favorite phrases: "Hodju Mommy", "No bedwoom tiiime. I sweet boy downstayuhs." "Owive, hodju" (He wakes up saying this sometimes and I guess he genuinely wants the Justin Time character to come hold him. I'm slightly offended and also worried at what this means. Unfortunately since no such thing can be done, it usually starts our day on the wrong foot.)

Personality traits: He's still the more sensitive of the two. He also is quite the chatter box. When he's in a great mood it's non stop chatting. He'll repeat everything and just say anything that comes to mind. My mom noticed the other day that when he and Pierce are playing alone Blaine jabbers non stop, but it's really not in any real words. :)

Other quirks: Lately he has not wanted to sit down for any meals. I have to give him the choice of coming to sit down or have some bedroom time (which he never wants). Eventually he always chooses to come sit down and usually eats a great meal. Not sure what this is about. He goes to bed with several loveys now: Beary, Charlie, Tiny, and blue blankey. I'm worried the entourage will continue to grow from here.

Pierce December 2013 Update

Age: 2 1/2 years

Favorite Food: Breakfast! (quaker oat squares cereal which he calls "bwown sugar ceweal", waffles/pancakes with "wip keem"), bagels, yogurt, grapes.

Favorite TV show: Justin Time, Thomas, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Winnie the Pooh (I love hearing him say all the characters!), Chipmunks Christmas

Favorite toys/activities: Trains. Enough said. He also has a new found love for jumping. We call him Tigger. He loves the basement trampoline and jumping on the downstairs couch at Nana's.

New tricks: 

Favorite phrases: "No Bainey", am-pit?, 

Personality traits: He has become quite fun loving and seems to be more of the class clown between the two. Although he is more introverted around other people, once he warms up he loves making other people laugh and even does this super fake social laugh if others are. He has a rambunctious streak in him at times. He was also the one that spent a couple weeks napping in the pack n play because he basically threw a frat party for Blaine and wouldn't let him go to sleep. At other times, though, he still has his softer quiet side where he likes to snuggle (hand in my armpit still). And whenever he says "I wove you" or other sweet mimic phrases he says it super breathy and quiet. It's so cute! 

Other quirks: He doesn't like sleeping with anything in his crib except his train loveys. Every now and then he'll let me cover him with his train blanket, but not usually.

Tiny the Elephant

Blaine has another new lovey. They seem to be adding up quickly. During his scary shadow episode I found a soft, plush elephant they had each received in a gift basket from OBC. I thought maybe that would do the trick. It didn't, but the soft, blue elephant stuck around. Before long he was appearing downstairs in the mornings and had to be included as part of the crib entourage. A couple days later I asked Blaine what his name was. He thought for just a moment and then looked right at me and confidently said, "Tiny!". I was shocked that he had come up with such a cute name so quickly. And, as BJ later put it, what a great grasp on irony! I shared the story with our family and we all agreed how impressive and darling it was.

Well a few days later the boys were downstairs watching their new favorite obsession show while I was upstairs getting ready. I walked by the hallway and just happened to hear Justin say the word Tiny. I quicky came downstairs and my suspicions were confirmed. It was an episode where Justin has a little elephant named... Tiny! I cracked up! But I was still impressed that Blainey applied it to his own toy. So now he is one step closer to being like his hero, Justin.

Scary Shadows

A few weeks ago Blaine experienced his first real fear. We had been watching Daniel Tiger (of all safe things) and there was a part where Daniel sees a big shadow on the wall that scares him, but it turns out just to be his mommy. Neither of the boys had acted scared of affected at the time, but I had noticed Blaine watching very intently as I thought back later.

Later we were getting ready for naps and Blaine kept saying "scawy show-a". I was thinking he was saying scary shower and I kept reassuring him that showers are fine, although I was puzzled since it was random and they never take showers. Finally Pierce repeated him and I understood Blaine had been saying scary shadow. I quickly put everything together and did my best to explain that Daniel had just seen his mommy and that shadows weren't scary at all. I told him that they come from the sunshine and that we can even make little shadow puppets with our hands. I was trying to think of everything I could to make them seem harmless. So I put them down and went about a normal naptime. They chatted in their for a bit, but after awhile Blaine started crying hard. I figured he must have lost his paci or something and quickly went back in. He was standing up sobbing and talking about the scary shadows again. He broke my heart! I called BJ to see what he thought. I knew Blaine was tired, but I knew he would probably be scared no matter what. So I ended up with the idea of having him sleep in our bed where it was lighter and different. I could see how exhausted he was. So I layed him on my propped pillow and cracked the door. He didn't protest and within minutes was fast asleep right where I had layed him. It was precious!

Bedtime wasn't too bad that night and ever since then he talks about them quite a bit, but takes himself through the whole spiel that goes something like this... "No scawy shadows. Come su-shine. Make puppets." I'm so proud of him for being brave!