Talkative Tate

As Tate has just turned 8 weeks old, we are moving out of the sleeping, eating, pooping stage and moving into the sleeping, eating, pooping, interacting stage, which is definitely more fun!

Mighty Mouse, Imaginary Friend

Do you remember Mighty Mouse's cry? It's, "Here I come to save the daaaayyyyy!" Lately, in our house, his cry would be, "Here I come to be your friiieennnddd!"

Landon has entered the stage in which he has an imaginary friend and he has chosen Mighty Mouse after being introduced to him by Daddy via his cartoons. Landon and Mighty Mouse go on adventures outside and I have to tie Mighty Mouse's shoes for him. Mighty Mouse picks out the books that I read to Landon before rest time. Earlier today, Landon informed me, "Mighty Mouse wanted me to color on myself, but I didn't want to." This makes me so happy that Mighty Mouse's power of persuasion might not be so mighty after all and that we'll hopefully avoid the "Mighty Mouse made me do it" phase in our household.

Because I really do like having Mighty Mouse around and would hate to have to kick him out ;-)

Said the Boy - Part 2

"It's not called throwing, it's flying," said the boy as he threw his toy car across the room.

"I'm not tired," said the boy after I carried him into the house sleeping, as I was getting ready to lay him in his bed.

Said the Boy

"This is too hard," said the boy who was steering the paddleboat, between his two parents, who were peddling.

"I can't pick up this many books," said the boy who took all the books off of his shelf out of his frustration at his mama.

Inevitable

There are 8 words you never want to hear when you are seconds from stepping into the shower, "Kimberly, Landon fell and his head is bleeding." Those were the words my sister, Nicole, screamed to me as she burst through the bathroom door last Monday. In the course of seconds, as I made myself presentable, several thoughts ran through my head, including, "I knew something like this was going to happen," to "I'm sure glad I didn't lock the bathroom door," to "I know that head wounds bleed a lot; maybe it's not so bad."

It was that last thought that was the most prevalent as I made my way to my grandparent's kitchen (we were at their house in Illinois for the Easter weekend), perhaps as a way of preparing myself. However, nothing could really prepare me for what I was about to see. Landon was screaming in Alan's arms with my mom and grandma around him. He had a towel on his forehead and Alan had blood on his shirt and pants and there were drips of blood on the floor. I panicked. "What do we do?," I yelled. Nicole pointed her arm back towards the bathroom and told me to get dressed (I had thrown on my pajamas).

I quickly changed and calmed down enough to have the presence of mind to get my purse, which had all of our insurance information in it. My mom carried Landon out to the car where she placed him, still screaming, onto my lap and told me that it appeared the bleeding had stopped. Alan drove way too fast to the urgent care center and in the minutes it took to get there, Landon had settled down and I learned that he was running with a blanket and tripped and his forehead hit the wheel of the exercise bike in the basement. When we got inside there was no one at the desk and not even a little bell to ring for service. Several of the receptionists returned to their posts and I sat down with one of them as Alan and Landon were ushered back. I could barely fill out the paperwork, as I blanked on Landon's birthday and my signature looked like chicken scratch. I was taken to where Landon and Alan were and nurses were already tending to Landon. I got my first look at the cut - about an inch long right in the middle of his forehead and not too deep. The nurses left and told us the doctor would be in shortly, which really was not the case. It took forever for the doctor to come - long enough for Alan to process with me what had happened and for me to help Alan take off his shirt, shoes, and socks and help him lie down on the bed. Yes, you read that correctly. Alan has a history of fainting and he started feeling really warm so we took off some of his clothes to prevent a fainting episode. The doctor eventually came in and it was determined that glue would be a viable tool for closing the wound, as opposed to stitches. Landon did amazingly well throughout the process, even joking with the nurses about his "Super Dog (i.e. Bentley).

So, while we knew it was inevitable that, as parents of one very active boy and a boy that's sure to be just as active as his brother, we'd be taking a trip to urgent care for a bleeding episode, we didn't know how well it would ultimately turn out. We have much to be thankful for - the pedals on the exercise bike have metal "teeth" all across them and we're so grateful Landon didn't hit one of those. I'm grateful that Alan was downstairs with the kids (Landon and my niece and nephew) when it happened. Who knows how the kids would have responded if they were by themselves downstairs and I'm glad I wasn't downstairs when it happened. It could have been very traumatic for all if that was the case. I'm grateful that I had just fed Tate and that he was ready to go down for a nap at that time and that there was pumped breastmilk in the fridge for him. We're thankful that we maxed out our insurance deductible with Tate's birth so that we don't have to pay anything out of pocket for this. One week later, Landon is doing great. The glue hasn't fallen off yet, but the wound seems to be healing nicely - which is another thing we're grateful for.

 

Landon was so self-conscious about his forehead, that I had to wait until he was asleep to snap a picture.

Where's the Fire?

Well, it appears our too-smart-for-his-own-good three-year old will use any means necessary to get out of rest time. Earlier today during rest time, he got up no less than 4 times declaring he needed to go to the bathroom. Grudgingly, I let him because as a new learner, you just never know, even though I know on several instances he's stayed dry overnight and is capable of staying dry for his hour and a half rest period.

Anyway, I was downstairs nursing Tate and Landon came down asking if rest time was over yet. I told him "no" and let him know he had a few more minutes. He came down 2 minutes later and said, "There's a fire in my room." I said, "What?!?," more out of disbelief than not hearing what he had said. Once again he repeated himself. Now, we don't keep matches in the house and our fire starter is kept out of his reach, but you still never know. So I run upstairs, still nursing Tate, in panic mode, because "What if there was actually a fire?" to find Landon sitting on his bed with no fire in sight. Relieved. Upset. And just a teensy bit amazed at his ingenuity.

Big Brother, Little Brother

Well, it has been almost three weeks since Tate has made his appearance and we are absolutely loving having him here! And, there must be something about having a newborn in the house that makes one recognize how grown-up an older sibling seems. So here are some updates on Big Brother and Little Brother.

Landon - The biggest news is that potty training is going beautifully! Yes, it probably was not ideal to go gung-ho with potty training with a newborn in the house, but Alan and I had procrastinated long enough. With the incentive of receiving toy cars for every time he pooped on the toilet (his biggest challenge), Landon rose to the occasion! He has been staying dry/clean for just about 2 weeks now and has even been staying dry at night!

Yesterday, when Landon was getting dressed, he wanted me to do the buttons on his polo shirt. Because I was doing the dishes, I couldn't tend to him right away. Next thing I know, he had done the buttons all by himself - for the first time ever.

Landon continues to blossom verbally. As a one year old, he talked a lot. Now, it's almost non-stop and when he gets excited about something the decibel level increases. And although he's been singing the ABC's for quite some time and has been counting for just as long, now he's starting to recognize letters, numbers, and letter sounds (the other day he told me, "Mommy, mmm, Mommy starts with the letter M"). I'm very excited because this summer I'm going to be doing some home-schooling work with him and I think he's really going to enjoy some of the things I've already found.

Tate - So much like his big brother was as an infant, yet uniquely Tate. As I type this, he is sleeping in a wrap, all snug and cozy. He very much loves to cuddle and be held. He's been sleeping very well; generally he'll go down about 9 or 10 pm and be up for the day at 5 am. Mommy is extremely grateful for this! When he is awake, he's very alert and loves to check things out with his big, blue(!) eyes. He's very strong and often pops his head up when being held over our shoulders. He still has a head full of black hair and, as of now, doesn't appear to be losing any of it.

We've been adjusting fairly well with our big and little boys and are excited to see how they continue to develop into their own beings and in their relationship with one another!