Pushing a walker

yardWalker
Originally uploaded by mandy&john

Alex is getting pretty stable on his feet these days. Mandy found this outdoor walking/riding toy on the side of the road this weekend and brought it home for our budding toddler. Of course Chris dominated it for the first day it was around. He started losing interest today and Alex finally got a chance to enjoy it.

He made it pretty far on one foray before I thought to go get the camera. On this clip he spends half the time being proud of himself. He'll be walking soon, but unlike Chris, he's going to wait until he knows he can keep his balance.

Chris-isms

Now that our little parrot is starting to branch out and try different phrases, he's saying some funny stuff.

Everyone is "sweetheart." Mom, Dad, Alex (especially after Chris has knocked him over, stepped on him, etc), the dog down the street that bares his teeth at us, the firetruck, the train, the worm, etc.

Three little boys fishing at the pond today got a "Look! So sweet!" from Chris.

Tonight as we put him to bed he said "Chris and the giraffe are tired. We had a rough day."

The "rough day" was a day spent outside in the sun. At one point he mistakenly decapitated a worm he had been holding. He ran over to us and said "Uh-oh, the worm is broken. He needs to go home to his mommy so she can fix him." Then proceeded to put both halves of the dried up worm on the dirt and dump water on it to send it home.

My personal favorite:
Chris was pulling on the outside of a fire door at a restaurant. It didn't open. After a while he came over to us, whining. We said "Stop whining and say what's wrong." He said "I want to open the door, because I can't!" We're thinking that's the story of his life these days. I want it... because I can't have it.

Brothers

The boys have been sharing a room for a few months now. It's gone very well, and they both seem to sleep better when they're together. Last week we started having some issues, though. Naptimes became play times. They'd be up there for hours, laughing instead of sleeping. it's cute, and we're happy they're getting along, but they need to sleep. We've been pulling Alex out of the room until Chris falls asleep, which is not a long term solution, but we thought Chris was the ringleader, and if we took his new toy (Alex) away, he'd go to sleep.

Last night we figured it out a little more. We put them down, and Alex promptly throws his pacifier and elephant overboard and then cries for them. So Chris gets out of bed and gives them back. So Alex starts laughing. So Chris starts putting on a show for him. Pretty soon they forget how it started. When John went in to address them last night, Chris said "but Alexi needed his pacifier!' Then when John left, we heard it over the monitor "Uh-oh, Alexi, you lost it already!" Explaining the situation to Chris (don't get it for him or it becomes a game and he needs to sleep) worked for last night. Maybe he's just trying to help? It's unclear. Regardless, we're happy they're enjoying each other, and hoping the going to sleep thing gets straightened out really soon.

Fun with Fractions

Last night as we were putting Chris to bed he jumped up with just his diaper on and said "Look! I'm half naked!"

I said, "Chris, I think you're a bit more than HALF naked."

He looked confused for a second and then said, "I'm five-halves naked!"

It's nap time!

I think Alex just demanded that I put him down for a nap.

Chris was already asleep, and Alex was sitting in my lap. He started wriggling, so I plopped him onto the kitchen floor. When I looked up he was leaving the room. Alex is at a stage where he does not want to be in a room by himself, so I thought this was a bit strange, but I figured as long as he was happy, it's fine. So he crawled into the living room and started crying. I assumed he realized he was alone. I went to get him. When I got there I found him climbing up the gate and shaking it and sobbing. I picked him up and he quieted down. Then I walked back toward the kitchen and he started crying again. So I opened the gate and he quieted down. I put him down in his crib and haven't heard a peep since (it's been an hour and a half).

So I guess he's figuring out how to communicate with me, even if he can't talk just yet!

Independence, or We Should Have Seen This Coming

Christopher went through a little phase a while back where he wanted to do everything for himself. I think it was tied to learning the language for it, but just about anytime we tried to do anything for him, he'd protest with either "No, I do!" or "No, Chris do!" This is typical of toddlers from what I hear and has faded now that the novelty of the words have worn off.

His little brother, on the other hand, has taken this theme to it's logical extreme. Where Chris couldn't (or just wouldn't, by the end) hold his own bottle until he was a year old or so, Alex has been feeding himself for months now. He obviously can't mix up a bottle of formula, but hand him a bottle and put him down on a blanket and he'll happily drink it by himself. Now that he can crawl he'll even come back to a bottle later and pick it up himself.

Now, as he is learning to eat solid food (He now has at least 5 teeth) we're seeing hi independent steak assert itself again. For a few weeks, he was happy to let us feed him while he played with a spoon. A few days back, though, he started screaming at every meal. This was not long after he had forsworn the jarred stuff, and he was still having some trouble chewing (even soft pasta). After a few meals of trying different kind of foods and lots of screaming from Alex, we just piled a couple things in front of him and let him choose. He loved it.

We soon figured out that he'd eat anything if you stuck it to a spoon or fork and left the utensil on the table in his reach.

Maroon

Maroon is my favorite color. It always has been.

Chris has been starting to figure out the basic colors.

Sunday morning I was walking downstairs, complaining that I couldn't find a sweatshirt that fit (common problem these days). John asked which one I was looking for. I said I had a maroon one and a green one and I couldn't find either.

Chris came chasing after me saying: "Mommy, I found maroon for you!" After I finished laughing I asked him where he found it. "In your drawer, Mommy," he answered. Who finds clothes in a drawer?

My son may not know "red," but at least he knows "maroon!" Success!