Life Lately Feb. 2014

It’s been too long since I’ve updated on the boys. I think of random things to write down all the time and now that I’m catching up, hopefully  I will just stop and write a quick entry. Here is a random list of a slice of daily life.

They both have different names they like to be called by now. Pierce’s rotates amongst the trains and Blaine’s has stayed consistent as “Puppy”. A couple months ago he learned how to pretend to be a puppy by making a puppy whine sound and crawling to you. We do a whole bit about how he needs a home and if he happens to like monkey beds I have just the place for him. Currently he is “Baby Puppy” and Pierce is “Thomas the Tank Engine #1” (try saying that 3 times fast) formerly known as Salty formerly known as Paxton.

They call each other by these names which is absolutely endearing and, what I consider to be, another form of true brotherly love.

They can also quickly push each other’s buttons by not using the appropriate name. BJ and I realized we both say “No, sir” if one of them is doing something he shouldn’t. They have started using this with each other and it sends the other one over the edge to be called “sir” by his brother. They’ve also learned that girls are ma’am. I’m hoping that this will eventually stop being a button pushing opportunity and a learning opportunity for more manners with sir and ma'am

Pierce's "tommy paper" has officially become a security blanket. That's ok. It's a lot less gross than dragging a gross blanket everywhere. I wouldn't let him anyway.

They are playing more and more harmoniously with each other. I really need to get it together and have some random tasks ready to accomplish when this happens. It's wonderful!

They still adore their train table. And it's still in our living room. It's just so convenient to have it there. 

They can say most colors in Spanish. 

We're working on counting to 10. Blaine gets past five and then starts saying whatever number pops into his head. For instance: 1,2,3,4,5,19, 14,8! I'm not sure where he learned the teens. Maybe Peg + Cat? In any case, I'm trying to get 10 down first. I realize I should probably be working on more of this. I go in spurts between being really aware of how much they know and what we should work on to just not even thinking about it. I'm not worried, but they are such sponges that I'm trying to take advantage of their memories. We've also started working on a bible verse. I stomp a beat and say "Love the Lord your God with all your..." and then they can fill in "heart, soul, and strength." It's darling.

Papa also introduced them to the doxology a few weeks ago. They love it and often want to sing that for the prayer. Love it!

Pierce is fighting the nap. We had a good week last weeks, but most days now he just lays in bed for an hour or more and then comes down ready to hang out and makes it just find until bedtime. I'm not giving up because of good weeks like last week, but this is way earlier than I expected. Blaine is still pretty consistent though.

They have absolutely no interest in potty training.

We got over a foot of snow yesterday and they had a great time playing. Blaine had the idea of getting out his mower to snow blow like Daddy. It was darling!

Visit to Santa

I'm so behind on our posts! I think I can remember... We went to see Santa on a weeknight and headed to Bass Pro again. BJ got off early and I thought surely if we got there before 5 on a weeknight we'd be good. Wrong. It was still packed, but we got a Bass Pass and then met my parents for dinner at the on site restaurant. Our timing worked out well and we headed back to Santa again after we finished. We were a little late getting there, but I didn't know we'd be able to cut to the front of the line for the next group waiting. Since we thought we'd have a short wait BJ took the boys to look at the electric train set while I stood in line. It ended up that I got ushered forward and quickly called him to come over. The next thing I see is him carrying two screaming crying boys towards me. They were not happy to leave the train! We'd talked about Santa and I was prepared for them to be a little timid about him, but I hadn't seen the train debacle coming. So we went ahead, trying to calm them down, and in the end did a family picture with Santa since they wanted nothing to do with him and only to see the train. In the picture they look indifferent as oppose to angry so that's good I guess.

Afterwards we went back to the train and, I'm not kidding, they stood there just watching it for another 45 minutes. There was another little boy there (who coincidentally matched them in a striped sweater) and I named him their "brother from another mother"  because he was the only other kid there who could match their obsession. And he stood right between the boys- so cute! We finally were able to pull them away and got them on the carousel, but nothing could compare to the train. Not even the big man himself.