Raising the Barrs

Sniffles

2012-02-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

Usually when a cold is going around, Matthew suffers with it for days and Jamesie shakes it right off, but this time, James has had an extremely runny nose and a cough for a couple of days now. But as you can see it doesn't seem to be getting to him too much. He is still mostly his usual cheerful self, but is also more fragile than usual -- more easily frustrated and upset by little things, which is not at all typical for him. Hopefully he'll be on the mend soon!

Not this Week

2012-02-11T23:34:00.000-05:00

These photos are from last week's trip to the dinosaur museum! :)

Last night, the boys took a long time to fall asleep. We had left the room, and then I assumed Jamesie got out of his crib, because I heard the boys talking, and then I heard Mattie say, "Tuck me in, Jamesie! Tuck me in!" (So cute! Too bad James probably couldn't hear him.) Then there was some thumping around, so I went in and turned on the light to see two little boys right next to each other with their knees tucked under them, lifting their heads up from the pillow with expressions of equal parts feigned innocence and delight at not being asleep. :)

We gave Jamesie a chance to go to sleep on "the big bed" with Mattie, but he just couldn't settle down; he kept climbing around and over Mattie, so we eventually had to put him back in the crib. (Though the few moments when they were lying next to each other patting each other's back was extremely adorable!)

Two Views of Transition

2012-02-10T01:13:00.001-05:00

At age 3, James will transition out of the Early Intervention program into the Preschool program run by the local school system. (This is not an actual preschool and is not related to the boys' preschool; it's just the name of the division that serves children ages 3-5.) So, we had our first meeting with the Exceptional Children staff on Tuesday.

I found it really stressful. Mike didn't.

The meeting included our early intervention coordinator, the Preschool program coordinator, their teacher of the hearing impaired, the evaluation person, and James's current hearing therapist, Karen.

We were informed that he qualified for what is called a 504 plan due to his hearing loss. This means the school system pays for accommodations to help him hear in the classroom (for instance, an FM system for his teacher), but does not provide any therapy or other educational support. In order to qualify for those kinds of services, he would need an IEP (Individual Education Plan), and get that, he apparently needs to have a demonstrated delay or effect on his ability to learn in a regular classroom. James's current therapist disagreed with that; she said that those requirements were not intended to apply to hearing impairments, and that other counties had interpreted the regulations differently. So apparently they're going to check into that.

According to the Preschool coordinator, he would have to be a year behind in his skills to qualify. (That seems really ridiculous to us, and I think the staff there kind of agrees, but they have to follow the state rules.) Karen instantly said that there was no way that he was going to test that far behind; she hasn't completed her current evaluation of him, but at the last one he scored above average. Apparently there are some other possible ways to qualify (e.g., if he's not saying age-appropriate sounds clearly), so they're going to do a full evaluation to see what happens. I had the strong impression that these folks do their very best to get kids qualified for services if it's at all possible within their guidelines. Even though the atmosphere was a little adversarial (in the most polite way), I think they're all very nice people. (However, I was really glad to have Karen there being such a strong advocate and cheerleader for James!)

So, I found it stressful because it feels a bit like a lose-lose situation. Either the school system doesn't provide James with therapy that he would probably benefit from, or in order to get it, he gets slapped with a label, which makes me very very uncomfortable. So on the one hand it would be okay if they found some problems that qualified him, but on the other hand I don't want him to have any problems! I mean, it's clear to us that his language skills would be more advanced if he were consistently hearing well, and there are definitely some things that we worry about, but I suspect that he's still pretty much age-appropriate with maybe some gaps here and there.

Mike, on the other hand, went into this meeting having already concluded that James wasn't going to qualify for anything, so it didn't much matter. (And that's true; James is still going to get whatever hearing or speech therapy he needs, we'll just have to go to Durham and pay out of pocket to do it.) He was just happy to show James off and have everyone say nice things about him (which they did).

So, we'll see how it goes. The first step, though, is to get his hearing back to his usual levels; the evaluator doesn't want to do any testing until he has "clear ears." The ENT doc is out of town until next week, so hopefully we'll know more about a plan soon.

The White Bear Chronicles, Part II

2012-02-09T23:59:00.001-05:00

Mattie says about White Bear: "He can do an obstacle course. And another one. All by himself, with nobody holding his hand. He's a good boy. He listens to me. He can do big things!"

Home Haircuts

2012-02-09T00:30:00.000-05:00

One of the ladies in the local twins group sent out an email about her friend who had started a "come to you" kids' haircutting service. So, we gave it a try, and she was great!

Mike said she won the boys over with stickers and letting them pick out what color comb she used (of course Mattie wanted orange!) And they even got a treat at the end. :)

James's expression is not so much due to the haircut, but because he was intently watching his Scooby Doo. :)

Pyromania

2012-02-07T19:54:00.000-05:00

...is what I call Mattie's latest piece of preschool art.

(So that must make James's "Purplemania.")

Techno-kids

2012-02-06T23:48:00.000-05:00

From this morning...

James: "I want monkey! I want to play monkey computer!"
Matthew: "Do you mean the iPad, James?"

Halftime Show

2012-02-05T23:17:00.001-05:00

Tonight's big excitement at our house was not the Super Bowl, but our friends coming over to play -- and Mike invited C to play the drums. Of course, Mattie and Jamesie didn't want to miss out on that, either! (Even E joined in for a few minutes on the maracas.)

They all had a great time, and as you can see, rotated through the instruments. C was quite pleased to have her own microphone, and Jamesie even sang some of the ABC song and Old MacDonald.

C suggested that we should invite people over to hear their band, but the adult consensus was that a bit more practice might be required first. :)

(Of course, when we invited J & Y over, the Super Bowl was also supposed to be part of the festivities -- and we realized right before they arrived that the sound wasn't working on our downstairs TV. Yep, not our finest hosting moment!)

Don't Rock the Boat

2012-02-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

I thought the kids were having fun playing on the rocking gator, but I was informed that it was a boat. :)

Twin Tag

2012-02-03T23:19:00.000-05:00

The boys were playing their own version of tag this evening. They'd stand at opposite ends of the hallway, facing each other, and then one would run down the hall and tag the other one in the chest. Then they'd run around for a minute or two and then return to their positions at the end of the hallway. So cute!

(And Mattie went poo-poo in the potty tonight and the other night -- yay, Mattie!)

Ruh-Roh

2012-02-02T23:44:00.003-05:00

And in case all the ear stuff wasn't enough, James has also not been eating well the past few days (drinking his milk okay, but generally not interested in anything solid -- or he'll hold it in his mouth for a while and then spit it out).

But none of it seems to bother him; he's been his usual cheerful and active self.

We've been using his FM system (the wireless microphone that goes directly to his hearing aids) more to try to compensate some for the loss caused by the gunkiness, and it seems to be helping some.

Mattie once again was crying at preschool dropoff, and then stopped right away and had a great day. (He saw a black fire hydrant and a gray fire hydrant, he says.)

My husband has added a new show to the boys' rotation -- a bit to my dismay, Mattie now really likes Scooby Doo. (There's not even a pretense of educational content there! He likes the one with the "haunted knight", which he called the "honked knight." Too cute. And there's a part in there where the word "Jameson" is written on a box, and Jamesie pointed to it and said, "That's me!" I don't know if someone had previously said that to him, or if he just spontaneously recognized his name in there!)

And a word of warning for our fellow parents out there -- in addition to the old Scooby Doo shows that we grew up with, there's a new version of Scooby Doo out there, which to my surprise was not actually appropriate for children. (For instance, in the episode we partially watched, one of the featured characters was a woman in skin-tight skimpy clothes with a huge bust and rear end, with the "camera" focusing on them for unnecessarily long periods of time.) I couldn't figure out why that kind of stuff would be in there, and then I realized that their target audience for the "modern" version probably isn't actual kids, it's stoner college kids.

P.S. The boys say thanks, Grandma, for sending the stickers!

P.P.S. Happy Groundhog Day, y'all. It sure didn't feel like winter around here today.

What, No Pictures?

2012-02-02T00:37:00.000-05:00

I know, we've been too busy over the past few days to take any pictures! Crazy, eh?

But a brief update. Mattie cried only at dropoff at preschool on Tuesday, and was fine almost as soon as the door closed, according to his teacher (and according to him: "I didn't cry at preschool!") So, yay!

Today he had one of his toy animals on a train, and the horse was riding the train to preschool. Mattie said, "It's a special day at preschool. His mommy is coming after snack time." (That's how we talk about the parent of the day sessions, to make it clear that mommy or daddy won't always be coming to preschool -- but hearing him say it made me a little sad that we didn't get to go on Tuesday!)

Jamesie went to the audiologist today. His ears are still very gunked up, and the audiologist told Mike that that isn't normal, and she paged the ear doctor (who was in surgery so couldn't talk to her right then. In case I hadn't mentioned, James actually saw the ear doctor on Monday, but unlike his previous visits, James wouldn't hold still to have his ears cleaned out or even fully examined, so the visit was basically pointless. Just flushing away another $70 for the copay and another two hours of Mike's time.) But she assured Mike that she's going to coordinate with the ear doctor to try to get this taken care of as soon as possible (which unfortunately probably means another trip to the operating room for James). She said that it would be one thing to be waiting around to see if this clears up for a kid who had neurological problems and wouldn't be picking up language anyway, but it's not right for a smart kid like James who wants to learn. I'm glad she's on board, because I am so angry at how we have been dealing with this for months and months without the doc taking it seriously until just recently.

She did a bone conduction test, and the hearing from his auditory nerve is the same as always. But because of the gunk, he's not hearing speech until it reaches 90 decibels. By comparison, a Google search tells me that 90 db is the sound of a lawnmower. A LAWNMOWER. This is absolutely ridiculous. Have I mentioned how angry I am that poor James has been living with this for months while we're supposedly seeing the best doctor in the state? (We have actually asked, without really pushing it, for recommendations of other doctors, but everyone seems to hmm and haw and say Dr. B is the best. And he is a nice guy and I'm sure he knows his stuff but I think the current situation has not been handled well.)

Grrrr.

On the bright side, James and Mike made a visit up to the NICU and saw many of our favorite nurses. (James's primary and Matthew's primary are both expected babies in March -- how exciting!!)

Not that Kind of Lottery

2012-01-29T11:51:00.000-05:00

The boys "won" the lottery to be in the three day a week preschool class next year (MWF instead of T-Th). I think they'll be happy with that, although Mattie right now is back to crying at preschool (and in fact, the teacher doesn't want us to do parent of the day on Tuesday because she thinks that will make it harder for him to adjust. I don't buy that, but I guess we'll go with it.)

In other news, I'm traveling for work. I can't complain about the amazing weather here in San Diego, but I also can't wait to get back to my boys today! (Too bad I'll arrive after the twins should be asleep.)

Boys and the Bubbles

2012-01-26T00:12:00.000-05:00

The boys had fun playing with their bubble-makers today!

Crazy Restaurant

2012-01-25T00:13:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, Daniel and Matthew were entertained for at least a half-hour playing Crazy Restaurant. They'd put the toy tomatoes in the play ice maker, Nora would ask for some water with ice, they'd turn the ice maker to put out the tomato, bring it to Nora, and she'd say, "What kind of crazy restaurant is this??" (Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.)

P.S. Alas, Matthew seems to have caught Daniel's tummy bug -- poor Daniel was sick on Saturday night and a bit on Sunday night as well, but we thought it might have just been a bad reaction to some fast food. This morning, Mattie threw up twice (earning him a ticket out of preschool for the morning, which he did not mind a bit), but then was perfectly fine until tonight, when he threw up his milk right before bed (of course, on the night that Mike is out of town for work). He doesn't seem out of sorts otherwise, fortunately.

Butterfly

2012-01-22T23:12:00.001-05:00

The train ride passes by mirrors!

It was a double-bonus museum weekend for the boys! Matthew was very excited to go to what he now also calls the dinosaur museum. :) As usual, the train ride was the main event, and the boys were excited to get to hand their tickets to the conductor. (After doing so, James then took off to the train without us! Good thing you don't have to go through security at this station.)

Jamesie's butterfly

The other high point was that purely by chance, we ended up in the Butterfly House when they were doing a butterfly release. Now, I imagined that they would have some big container of butterflies and they would open it up and a cloud of butterflies would come flying out, but no, that's not how it works. They bring out a box with netting around it, and then take each butterfly out individually. They set it on someone's hand or arms, and then after a few seconds or a minute or two, the butterfly launches. It wasn't too crowded, so each of the boys got their own butterfly -- and they were great about following the "don't touch it" rule. It was really neat!

Lap Dog

2012-01-22T22:56:00.001-05:00

Daniel wanted Abby to sit on his lap. As you might guess, that didn't last long. :)

More Marbles

2012-01-21T23:07:00.001-05:00

(I know, too many photos, sorry!) The cousins had a blast at Marbles today (along with half of Raleigh; it was rainy weather, so the place was packed!)

The ball room was a hit, like before, but they also explored some new sections. Mattie spent quite a long time playing with the play hose and hanging in the doghouse. (Meanwhile, James had found a net in the play fishtank, and was roaming around the room scooping up balls with it.) Later in the afternoon, even though I tried to whisk Mattie by the water play area before he saw it, he zeroed in on it and ended up playing there with some orange boats for probably 45 minutes, and couldn't have been happier. (And oh well, a wet shirt isn't the end of the world!) Jamesie liked the market area with the play vegetables, and also the oversized building blocks. And Daniel enjoyed the fire truck and the water, too.

(It's kind of funny that some of the things they spent a lot of time playing with are exactly like the kinds of things they have at home!)

Mattie also really liked sitting in one of the play cars (though he was disappointed to find out that it didn't move around like the ones at preschool). But he made me sit in the backseat, and informed me that he was in the driver's seat. (Heh!) I asked where we were going, and he said, "To Grandma's house." And then he handed me back some imaginary milky, and then poured me a refill. ("I'm taking care of you!") Too cute.

And Abby Too

2012-01-20T23:30:00.002-05:00

The boys were very excited to hear that Cousin Daniel was coming to visit this weekend! Mattie was telling me how he would share his trains with Daniel, and then at dinner he said that he would share his juice with Daniel ("I'm going to save him some!"), and that Daniel would help him vacuum. Awww.

The World According to Mattie Bear, II

2012-01-20T23:20:00.026-05:00

At dinner tonight, Mattie said, "This is a good meal!" Mike replied, "Thank you, Matthew!" But then Mattie continued, "I made it for everyone. By myself. While you were at work." (Ah, wouldn't that be nice!)

Mattie's preschool teacher told me that she asked him whether he cried when he got his owie, and he said yes. Then she asked him if his mommy cried when he got his owie, and he laughed at her -- he didn't understand why mommy would cry from his owie. (Oh, child, if only you knew.)

One of the funny things that Matthew does sometimes is to self-servingly attribute mental states to other people: "Daddy wants to vacuum the rug!" "Jamesie doesn't want a turn." "You're not hungry." (I think he knows it's just wishful thinking.)

Mattie built a "sleeping castle" out of his blankets and pillows on the floor the other night. When I picked them up to put them in his crib, he said, "Why you being mean to the sleeping castle?"

[This photo is actually from a couple of days ago, so his cut here looks worse than it does now -- and the redness is actually from where the stitches were coming out, rather than from the cut itself.]

He's Got Your Number

2012-01-20T23:15:00.006-05:00

Jamesie got to go to preschool in Mommy's car the other day (since Matthew was at the doctor for another look at his cut.) That night at dinner, I asked how his day was, and he told me all about how he rode in the blue car, and ate his Cheerios, and then Matthew came to preschool!

James usually rides in a rear-facing seat, but the one in my car is front facing, so I think he enjoyed the new view. :) He was such a good boy -- it was fun to have some one-on-one time with him.

Pooka Button

2012-01-19T23:13:00.002-05:00

I didn't think we'd be people who handed over an expensive technological device to toddlers, but here we are. We followed in the grandparents' footsteps and got an iPad. One of the main reasons was to use the FaceTime video chatting feature with family, and that's actually been really cool -- the boys have gotten to see some of their Colorado cousins in action!

Of course, the boys love their toddler games -- we have the same ones that Grandma has on her iPad (Zoo Train and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox -- what's not to love?), plus a drawing one. (This is the problem with FaceTime -- the boys get bored with just talking after a few minutes and want to "play the monkey game.")

James in particular is crazy about the iPad. When he wants to play, he says, "I want to push a button." Except that it comes out "pooka button", which I think is so cute. (But, Mike insisted that we be responsible parents of our hearing-impaired child and emphasize how to say it correctly, so now James is getting the "sh" sound in there.) He's good at the games, too!

But he occasionally gets a little like Gollum with his Precious (sorry to those of you who are not Lord of the Rings fans) -- he'll push Mattie away, and generally want it all to himself. Mattie has actually been pretty tolerant about this, although the other morning we let them play for a couple minutes before preschool, and Matthew looked at me and said rather sternly, "Jamesie wants to be a good boy and share!" as if he wanted to make sure that I enforced that! (Which we do. And also hide away the iPad when it's not time for them to play with it.)

Soccer Ball

2012-01-15T23:59:00.001-05:00

We took James's new soccer ball (thanks, Auntie Nora & Uncle Adrian!) to the park today. He enjoyed it! (Some other kids borrowed it while James was playing on other parts of the playground, and had a great time with it, too. We figured that was only fair, since usually James is the one who adopts any unattended ball in the area.)

I've noticed that the world seems full of sharp edges and pointy things ever since Mattie got his stitches. Mike was running around with the boys in rose garden (brick pathways, with lots of raised brick corners), and I "encouraged" them to go run in the grass instead!

Our neighbors invited us and some other friends over for a chili dinner tonight. The boys were very good, and despite being the only little ones there, entertained themselves well without damaging (as far as we know) Lakshmi's house. :) Their game for the early part of the evening was playing with a huge exercise ball, and for the later part of the evening they were each carrying around a pillow and laying down on different parts of the floor to "go night-nights." We stayed until past the boys' usual bedtime (they'd had a late nap), but then James announced that we wanted to go ride-rides in the red car, and marched over to have his shoes put on and headed for the door. So we took that as our cue, even though we ended up missing some of the entertainment for the evening -- photos from our friends' trips to Spain and Peru. Yes, so the boys are not only curtailing our travel, but are even limiting our ability to live vicariously through the travels of others! :) (That's okay, they're worth it.)

The Good Kind of Roller Coaster

2012-01-14T21:10:00.001-05:00

Mike wants to get a playset for the backyard, so that the boys will have more to do outside without having to drive somewhere. So we went to a couple of sales places today to get an idea of what's out there. (They were conveniently located near each other!)

At the first place, Matthew and James especially enjoyed the "roller coaster" (second and third pictures). I have to admit, it was pretty cool, though I wonder who would have enough space to have it in their house!

The first place also had a lot of playsets set up indoors -- on a concrete floor. (You can see a bit of it in the third picture.) That strikes me as a concussion and lawsuit waiting to happen. Fortunately, even though it was a kind of chilly day, it was sunny and nice enough to be outdoors, so the boys did not mind at all playing on the outside versions.

After playing for a while at the second place, Mattie was getting tired, and decided just to play with the rocks. Mike commented that we could save a lot of money if we just got a wheelbarrow of gravel for the backyard. :)

TGIF

2012-01-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

Busy week! On Tuesday, James went for his regular follow-up appointment with the surgeon. (Weigh in at 23 lbs, 5 oz; okay but not great.) The surgeon is fine with taking out the G-tube but wanted to wait until the cold & flu season is over, so that will probably happen in 3-4 months. (Wow!) We're also supposed to try to wean him off the Immodium, which he's been on twice a day. Mike has already dropped it down to once a day with no apparent problems. If that process goes well, they want to wean him off the cholystyremine next. But he's staying on Prevacid and (alas) the special formula (Elecare) for now.

James has actually been eating pretty well (by James standards) this week -- let's hope that continues!

We ended up keeping the boys home from preschool on Tuesday; they hadn't slept well at all on Monday night. (Matthew probably was bothered by the stitches -- he kept crying in his sleep and woke up for real twice. There was no apparent reason for James deciding to get up at 3 AM!) They were being awful when we were trying to get them ready for school, so we figured they might just be too tired for it. Grandma was here visiting, so they were happy to stay and play with her (and perked up amazingly well after we weren't trying to get them dressed! Hmm....)

They missed school again on Thursday due to their doctor's appointments. Mattie had a follow-up to look at his incision. I foolishly thought it would be quick, but no, we spent an hour waiting. But as we expected, the doctor confirmed that it's healing up fine. After the stitches are out, he'll have to wear sunscreen on the scar daily for a year! (Or hats, etc.)

Jamesie saw the ear doctor (he and Mike arrived just a few minutes before Mattie and I left), and he got some more gunk out of James's ears. We're supposed to continue alternating ear drops and a powder medicine.

Mike moved the boys' picnic table into the kitchen, and they have been quite delighted to play with play-doh on it instead of just getting play-doh in their high chairs. Grandma also brought a bunch of cookie cutters for use with the play-doh, and those have been a big hit, too.

The Morning After

2012-01-09T11:21:00.004-05:00

Matthew was an adorable and happy boy this morning. He woke up once in the middle of the night with a full diaper and a little whimpering, but some milk and mommy time put him back to sleep. He woke up at 7:30 and was having breakfast by 8 AM. He was showing no signs of a traumatic Sunday at the hospital. James was in a typically good mood as well.

E.R.

2012-01-08T21:15:00.001-05:00

We had our first E.R. trip today -- Matthew fell at the gym and gashed his head, and had to have a bunch of stitches. (And he wasn't even doing anything dangerous -- Mike had both the boys out with him so that I could do some work, and Mattie was playing with some other kids near the window. According to another mom, her kid pulled one of the foam toys away just as Matthew was reaching for it or moving it or something and he fell down and hit the sharp window sill.)

I came (getting a call from a stranger that starts out with, "Your son has had an accident" is never good) and the ambulance came and the paramedics looked at him, but by that time the bleeding had slowed down, and he didn't have any signs of a concussion. So we took him to UNC, and they brought us right back to the pediatric E.R. Mattie protested being put in the car because he wanted to go home instead of to the doctor, but by the time we were there, he was chatting with the nurse while she was taking his vital signs, was very pleased to get a train sticker, and was pretty much back to normal.

(Jamesie was with us too, of course, and he was mostly fine -- although when the doc came in wearing scrubs and putting on gloves, he got scared and started to cry a bit! Poor baby! He got over it fairly quickly, though.)

It was a deep cut and probably two inches long, so they paged their specialist on-call, who turned out to be ENT. (Apparently they rotate between ENT, plastic surgery, and one other specialty for this kind of thing. Bummer that it wasn't the day for plastic surgery!) That doctor was leaning toward doing the surgery under sedation, which meant we would have had to wait until 8 PM because he'd had milk to drink on the ride over. The emergency docs didn't think there would be a problem doing it with just local anesthesia and having someone hold his head (with his arms restrained) -- apparently they do that all the time and the kids are usually fine with it because the area being worked on is numb. But this was a bigger laceration than usual, thus the debate. (The ER doc said that Mattie was very calm and mature so she thought he would cooperate. I was not at all sure about that when it involved being restrained and having someone pulling and poking at his head.)

We decided to give it a try, because the doc said that if he was moving too much we could always stop and finish it under sedation.

They gave him Fentenyl instead of Versed to relax him for the procedure, which in my opinion (and the ENT doc's) was a mistake, but once it was done it couldn't be reversed (you can't give both at once). Mattie was really really upset at the start of the procedure, but I was standing by him and talking to him and holding his hand through the sheet. I tried singing and telling him stories and that didn't work, but finally we started talking about vacuums and he calmed down and started answering questions for us and talking to the doctor. The procedure took kind of a long time (20 minutes, maybe?), because she had to do two layers of stitches (internal and external). Once it was done, Mattie was fine, and happy to be able to eat! I was mad at first because I thought it would traumatize him (the great thing about Versed is you don't remember what happened after you have it), but I think the fact that he was talking and as cheerful as could be expected under the circumstances for the last part means that he won't have terrible memories of it. He really was an extremely good boy!

Mattie goes back for a followup sometime later in the week. He has to see ENT for that, so we mentioned that James was already scheduled there on Thursday -- and it turns out that the doc (resident) who did the surgery is doing research with James's ear doctor on auditory neuropathy! (Small world!)

[There was a lot of waiting around between all these various stages, so that SuperWhy game on my phone really came in handy! Much entertainment value for the boys!]

Finding their Marbles

2012-01-08T00:45:00.001-05:00

For a change of pace, we journeyed out to Raleigh this afternoon to go to the Marbles Childrens' Museum. On the way there, Matthew was talking about dinosaurs ("maybe they'll be awake this time!"), and I cautioned him that we didn't know if there would be dinosaurs at this museum. It turns out that there were not, but there were so many other fun things to do that he didn't care. :)

The boys might have been happy just playing with the huge blocks in the entranceway, but we made it a bit further -- the bank-sponsored area that allegedly is intended to teach kids about money was fun for James and Matthew because it's filled with green ball-pit type balls, which James chased around the room, and Mattie fed into the pneumatic tube that simulated a deposit chute. James, of course, also liked the slide. Mike was disappointed that we didn't have a chance to try out the part where you use big tubes to try to shoot the balls into a huge basket.

After lunch, we spent a little time with the "build your own" cars, and then in the physical activity section, which has spaces for basketball, soccer, little surfboards, and even hockey (which strikes me as a wildly bad idea, to give all these kids big sticks, but it also had an "announcer" area with microphones and buttons to push, which the boys enjoyed). The cage structure on the second to last picture below overlooks the first floor -- the African drumming exhibition was going on while we were there.

The museum felt more chaotic than the Durham one, in part because there were a lot of bigger kids running around, but all of us had a good time. And Mattie conked out asleep in his carseat within minute after we started driving home! (James, who had slept in a bit more like a sensible child, was still going strong and never did nap.)

Moving on Up

2012-01-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

Mattie is very happy with his new step-stool (thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!) He spent quite a while this evening filling up his cup and either drinking or rinsing his mouth (I'm not quite sure which). I think he figured he was going to be told to stop, because he told me, "Mommy, go see Jamesie!" (Then he said, "Leave me alone." I told him he didn't talk to Mommy that way, and he said, "Go sit on the couch, please.")

The boys were also happy that the weather was nice enough for the playground, but alas, our hopes of getting them to bed early with some exercise have been a miserable failure -- 10 PM and they're still up! Ugh! (It's sort of an experiment to see what they'll do left to their own devices alone in their room after a crib escape -- so far it appears to be mostly singing.)

Home Again, Home Again, Piggity Pig

2012-01-06T00:27:00.000-05:00

We're back home now. The boys were good on the ride (although our Playland stop was significantly colder and thus a bit shorter than on the ride down!)

I made a strategic error when I showed the boys the SuperWhy game on my phone. They both love it and Mattie asked for it on the way to preschool this morning. (The pig says a letter and the player has to pick the right one out of three options, and it spells a word. Mattie is really good at it; I'm not sure if James can actually hear it, because he just likes pushing letters: "Two Ws! I found a P!") It's now a winner over the GPS (they like to type the letters with the "spell location" function, and I find it hilarious that Mattie refers to it as the "GPR".)

Much to our dismay, the boys are climbing out of their regular cribs just as easily as they climbed out of their portable ones at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I suppose this means we'll have to find some other bed option, since padlocking them to the crib rails seems to be frowned upon these days. :)

Jungle James

2012-01-03T00:14:00.001-05:00

James is a little too fearless on the playground for his mother's taste!

Reading on the Porch

2012-01-03T00:11:00.001-05:00

The hat suits him, don't you think? :)

[Photo from 12/31/11.]

Social Graces

2012-01-02T00:59:00.001-05:00

Matthew has become quite the conversationalist. Today at the playground, he asked Daniel, "How are you doing today, Daniel?" And Daniel replied, "Good." Mattie also spontaneously asked another little boy what his name was (the other boy was a bit younger, and so just stared at him in response -- but his mother told Mattie what the boy's name was). And a girl was pushing the merry-go-round when he was riding it, and when she got on, he said, "Thank you for pushing!" and later, "We're riding together!" And he asked Grandpa, "How are you feeling today, Grandpa?" He has a very polite and concerned tone when he's saying these things (and all of them were without any prompting from us) -- it's so cute.

And Jamesie made a friend on the playground today -- he and another slightly older little boy were running around, pretending to fall over, putting mulch on the toys -- they were having a grand time together for probably 20 minutes or more. It was really cool. And Mike was chatting with the boy's dad, and it turns out his younger sisters are preemie twins (born at 28 weeks, only four months old now). Small world.

The boys were crazy tonight at bedtime. We left them in their cribs, and I overheard this conversation:

Mattie: "I want to get out, too! Help me! Help me."
Jamesie: "Come on, Mattie! Come on, Mattie!"
(Just what we needed, them egging each other on! A few moments later, they both came racing down the hall, and couldn't have been more pleased with themselves. We put them right back in the cribs, though, so their triumph was short-lived -- still took them a while to settle down after that, though.)

P.S. Daniel is doing very well riding his bike!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

...from James, Matthew, and the rest of us!

Pre-New Year Nature

2011-12-31T22:48:00.003-05:00

We took the boys to Lake Alice where they got to see some big turtles and baby alligators. Before we went, Daniel was saying that there are nice alligators and mean alligators. We told him it was probably best to assume that all real alligators are mean. :) (The warning must have sunk in, because once the baby gator started swimming nearby, Daniel was ready to leave!)

We went to the playground on the way home -- safely away from any hungry wildlife.

Happy New Year!

Grandma's Allotment

2011-12-31T22:41:00.001-05:00

The boys "helped" Grandma with her garden this morning.

Peppermint Seth

2011-12-31T22:35:00.001-05:00

We were sad to see Baby Cousin Seth and his parents head home!

Hog Heaven

2011-12-30T15:41:00.001-05:00

The pig vacuum cleaner that Auntie Nora got for Matthew was a big hit: he played with it most of the evening yesterday (taking it apart, emptying it, putting it back together, putting it on the table to pretend to charge it up, vacuuming the floor). It doesn't pick up too much, but that's okay -- it's also nice and quiet!

Making a Break for It

2011-12-30T15:35:00.001-05:00

Baby Cousin Seth is on the go, and has figured out the dog door! (James is playing defense.)

Second Christmas

2011-12-30T15:30:00.001-05:00

We had "second Christmas" yesterday for Cousin Daniel to open his gifts (and we had saved a couple for the twins to open, too, so they didn't try to open all of their cousin's gifts!) Daniel was very enthusiastic about all of his presents, announcing each one with great excitement and at top volume: "Stickers! I got stickers!" And even, "Vegetable peeler! I got a vegetable peeler!" (That one was for Auntie Nora, of course.)

Shopping Cart and Sidewalk Chalk

2011-12-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

Like his cousins before him, Seth has been enjoying walking with his shopping cart. And the twins liked using their outdoor chalk with 'Tina and Grandma!

Hey, Good Lookin'

2011-12-28T21:26:00.001-05:00

...whatcha got cookin'?

Baby Houdini

2011-12-27T21:33:00.001-05:00

Minutes after I left the room at bedtime, James tossed his pacis into Matthew's crib, climbed out of his own, opened the door, and came walking out into the living room, pleased as punch. He climbed up on Grandma's lap and cheerfully told her what he'd done, and asked to play with some playdough.

We decided to let him stay up for a little while (he'd had a nap and Mattie hadn't), and so he eventually found the playdough, made a ball out of it, and had a marvelous time ordering Daddy to throw the ball to him. ("On the floor, Daddy!" "Throw to me!" "I kick it!")

The second bedtime seems to have worked. :)

Happy Boxing Day!

2011-12-27T00:27:00.001-05:00

And to All a Good Night

2011-12-25T23:59:00.012-05:00

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!! We had a wonderful day with family and friends. (Sorry for too many photos in this post!)

The boys received some wonderful gifts, but would have been happy with just what was in their stockings -- James was so excited to get stickers! And they also liked the wind-up Santa toys. Of course, Mattie was also very pleased to now have his own "puter" (toddler laptop).

Once they got the idea of opening presents, though, they were very excited about it -- they didn't care so much what was inside, but they really liked getting to unwrap the gifts! (I think I only opened one of my own presents -- I had "help" with the others!)

Cute little elf!

The boys had a late nap and didn't wake up until Christmas dinner had already begun (and then they didn't actually want to eat any dinner), but that allowed them to stay up late playing with Honorary Grandma Sue and the other visiting friends. :)

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:50:00.001-05:00

Uncle Isaac, Auntie Erin, and Baby Seth have arrived, the luminaries are lit (and not rained out!), and the presents are appearing under the tree. :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Short Sleeves

2011-12-23T23:31:00.000-05:00

It was a nice day for the playground!

Duck Pond Lights

2011-12-22T23:05:00.001-05:00

It was a beautiful evening to go out to see Christmas lights. We went to the duck pond near the hospital, which has a huge display (and actual ducks). The boys really liked it, especially since they got to see several inflatable snowmen. Mattie was also pleased that he was allowed to touch some of the displays. :)

Florida

2011-12-22T22:49:00.002-05:00

We made it down to Florida late last night. The boys were great on the trip (the long stop at the Playland probably helped!) But somewhat unfortunately, they woke up when we arrived, so these first couple pictures were taken around midnight! So, their sleep schedule is a bit off, but that's okay since we're on vacation time. :)

Today, Matthew and James both enjoyed playing with the hose. They wanted to go in the pool (especially James), but it's really cold -- dipping their feet in in probably helped change their mind. I think James remembers playing with a bottle in the pool last time he was here, because he keeps talking about it.

Matthew has also spent a fair amount of quality time playing with Grandma's vacuum.

Early Present

2011-12-21T11:41:00.001-05:00

The boys were very happy to get a new train from Grandma and Grandpa B! Thanks very much!!

Cousins at Play

2011-12-20T00:10:00.000-05:00

The boys had a great time playing at Cousin Daniel's house -- and actually with Cousin Daniel this time! They all played trains together, and they also briefly all played hide and seek with one of Daniel's toy bears together. (Then James decided he wanted to play hide and seek with Elmo instead.) Hide and seek with stuffed animals means one person hiding it, and the others -- including the original finder -- finding it. :) It's so cute to see Mattie and Daniel talking with each other.

The snowman PJs that Mattie is wearing are actually Daniel's. I'd brought the blue ones for Mattie, but James was really excited about wearing them, so we let him (much to Mattie's dismay, since I didn't realize that James really wanted "the blue ones", and had already started to put them on Mattie). But Auntie Nora saved the day by offering Mattie the snowman ones instead, which he loved even though they're too big for him.

Cold Colonials

2011-12-18T10:35:00.009-05:00

Daniel was very excited about going to the candy store in Williamsburg! (Apparently other people were, too -- it was packed!) James loved looking at all the foil-wrapped chocolate Santas and snowmen in the store. But he and Mattie were maybe even more interested in the half-size fire hydrant near the store. :)

We also got to say hello to Thomas Jefferson (in bronze) and Father Christmas.

Kidsberg

2011-12-17T23:25:00.000-05:00

We took a road trip from Cousin Daniel's house to see a bit of Colonial Williamsburg (which Uncle Adrian and I called Colonial Trolliamsburg after a sketch in Sesame Street), but the big attraction for the kids was this great playground. It had all kinds of cool climbing structures, including ones shaped like a ship and another like a castle. James liked climbing the tires and going down the slides with Mommy, and Mattie liked the up-and-down bridge. The benches in the middle pictures here are actually one big swing!

The only problem is that it was really cold! (Cloudy and low 40s, but it felt even colder -- brr.) So, we didn't stay as long as we otherwise could have.

Festive

2011-12-15T10:06:00.001-05:00

The boys are off to their last day of preschool before the holidays!

Family Photo Shoot

2011-12-15T00:52:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving photo shoot. I think our photographer did a very nice job!

Of course, James was a perfect angel almost all morning, but he decided to fuss because he needed milk right that very second when we were doing the large group picture! Ah well! (And he insisted on wearing his Elmo socks; they would not have been our first choice to go with his outfit.)

I Don't Think So

2011-12-14T00:15:00.000-05:00

Mattie is getting full use out of the phrase, "I don't think so." It cracks me up. I wish I had a sound recording of him saying it in his serious toddler voice.

At the museum this weekend:
Me: I think there's a birthday party here today.
Mattie: Why?
Me: Because that little boy is carrying a birthday present for his friend.
Mattie: I don't think so. The presents are for Christmas.

Riding to preschool this morning:
Mattie: Where are the people on the bus going?
Me: I don't know. Maybe they're going to work.
Mattie: I don't think so. They're going home.

(And then tonight, he asked to do something and I said yes, and he said, "That's an option!" Which is hilarious because when he wants to do something he isn't allowed to do, or suggests something beyond the choices he's been given, I tell him, "That's not an option.")

The Letter Man

2011-12-13T00:41:00.002-05:00

James loves to play with his tub letters!

(James turned the J upside-down and said, "Umbrella!" And Mattie was turning over one of the numbers and saying, correctly, "Now it's a six! Now it's a nine!")

James also went to the ear doctor again today, and they got more gunk out of his ears. The doctor also prescribed a new medicine in case it's some kind of fungal problem (eww, gross). I really hope that takes care of it, because this ear trouble has been going on for a ridiculously long time.

Wonderland Trains

2011-12-11T10:28:00.001-05:00

We went to the Winter Wonderland model train exhibit at the science museum. It was not quite as big as the hype led us to believe it would be, but it was pretty cool -- they had the trains going around replicas of lots of North Carolina landmarks. (I looked at some of the coastal ones and said to Mike, "Doesn't that make you want to go to the beach?" and he said, "No, the mountains!")

The boys especially liked being able to push the buttons to either make the train noises or to make the trains go. The staff had conveniently placed the buttons right at ideal toddler height! James also really liked watching the Santa train go through the tunnel, and they were both quite enthusiastic about Thomas.

Of course, after we saw the model trains, we rode on the real one as well!

Reassurance

2011-12-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

Matthew, looking at his book: "The doggie has sharp teeth."
Me: "That's right, sweetie."
Matthew: "It's just a picture, Mommy. It won't hurt you."

One Thousand

2011-12-10T14:23:00.001-05:00

This is the 1000th post on Raising the Barrs! (Wow!) I am quite delighted that the ratio of "typical kid stuff" posts to "dire medical emergency" posts is much improved since the early days. :)

Mattie says, "I'm taking a milk break."

It was chilly in the house yesterday, so I arrived home to find that N had put the boys in their Christmas vests. So cute!

P.S. But on the medical front, we are delighted that Grandpa B is going home from the hospital today! Hooray!

Just Because

2011-12-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

If James wants you to do something, he'll come over and take your hand and say, "Come on, Mommy!" or "Come on, Daddy!" He's so cute -- how could we refuse? :)

Mattie is in the "why why why" stage. Mike thinks I answer too many why questions for him. If Mike is tired of it, he'll just say, "X" or "Why not?" Last night, Mattie asked, "Why?" about something he knew the answer to ("Why are you washing my hair?"), and so I said, "Why do you think?" He answered, "Just because." Hee hee!

(Depending on the question, sometimes I tell him, "It's the laws of physics, Matthew." It'll be a great day when he repeats that one back!)

P.S. Grandpa B is continuing to do well with his recovery (although of course those first post-surgery days aren't much fun). We are thinking of you, Grandpa and Grandma!

Good luck, Grandpa!!

2011-12-05T23:24:00.001-05:00

All of us are sending our best wishes to Grandpa B for his heart surgery tomorrow! We love you!

UPDATE: Triple bypass and valve replacement went fine. Grandpa should be able to keep up with his grandsons next summer.

Air Twins

2011-12-05T23:20:00.000-05:00

We rearranged the furniture for our Thanksgiving company, and the boys have been taking full advantage of the new low mattress in their room. Since it gets dark to early to go to the playground in the evenings, they've been burning off their extra (infinite??) energy by bouncing!

Tree

2011-12-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

The boys are happy with the addition of a Christmas tree to their playroom! They like touching the lights, and this evening, Mattie put White Bear on the tree. That was fine, because White Bear is small, but then he wanted to put one of the couch pillows on the tree for White Bear to go night-nights with! I told him I didn't think that would work, and he said, "Let me try." So he brought the pillow over and eventually conceded that it was too big. So he and White Bear laid down under the tree instead. (If only I'd had my camera!)

You may notice a lack of decorations on the tree; we may put up some non-breakable ones. Mike thought they were old enough for the regular ones, but when I showed James the (non-breakable) ball ornaments, the first thing he did was pick one up and happily say, "I throw it!" (He loves to play ball.) Soooo, maybe next year for those. :)

James and Mattie were so funny tonight telling each other what to do. It was time to go upstairs to dinner, and Mattie was delaying. (When I told him dinner was ready, he said "Not yet. It's not ready yet.") He took a truck down, and James told him to put it back on the shelf, it was time to clean up! Then at dinner, Mike took James's cup away because he was playing with his water, and then when we gave it back, Mattie admonished, "Be a good boy, Jamesie!"

Outside

2011-12-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

Nice day for the playground!

Santa Train

2011-12-02T23:47:00.001-05:00

We had a special expedition to the Santa Train this evening at the science museum. (I told Mattie we were going to ride a train tonight, and he said, "Just like Grandpa!" Yep, although Grandpa's train ride was a whole lot longer!)

The Santa Train will probably look familiar, because it's the regular train decorated with Christmas lights. :)

Santa Train is an after-hours event, so they have the path to the train decorated with Christmas lights, but the museum itself is closed. Mattie was a little disappointed that he didn't get to see the dinosaurs, but he and James were both delighted to play with the water fountain.

We arrived early to make sure we didn't miss our train. We (the adults) enjoyed some hot chocolate. They had some crafts set up for kids to do, but they seemed to be geared toward slightly older kids, although Mattie was happy to get a sticker. The "treasure chest" which included the stickers was sponsored by the credit union. So Mattie first picked out a perfectly nice snowman sticker, but then said, "I want some money" (heh, preview of the teenage years?), and so ended up with a sticker with pictures of dollar bills on it!

Mattie also spotted the light-up toys at the deviously-placed souvenir booth, and asked for a flashlight. (They were inexpensive and I'm a sucker, so he and James are both now the proud owners of reindeer flashlights. They were very happy with them!)

The train ride goes to "Santa's Landing pad" where they have a sleigh set up and Santa and his elf come around and greet all the children on the train. Santa asked Matthew what he wanted for Christmas, and Mattie was a bit like a reindeer in the headlights. He said, "Uhh...." and then let out a big sigh. It was hilarious. James was sitting with me on the farther side of the train car, so Santa didn't have as much conversation with him. (Probably just as well since I'm not sure how well James was hearing while we were there.) James shook Santa's hand but didn't say anything to him. Santa's elf came around next distributing little coloring books. James was very pleased with that, and liked looking at the picture of the train. (I turned the page, and he said, "Where's the train?")

The tunnel is always the boys' favorite part of the train ride, and this time they had it lit up with Christmas lights inside, which was fun. It was neat to see some of the other stuff along the tracks at night, too.

So, all in all, a nice evening! It wasn't quite what I had imagined (I thought they'd have the whole train route decked out in Christmas lights), but we enjoyed it.

Seth Swings

2011-11-30T22:50:00.000-05:00

Just a few more pictures from Thanksgiving weekend -- including Cousin Seth's first time in a baby swing!

Checkup 2.5

2011-11-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

The boys had their two-and-a-half year checkup today.

James had dipped back down below 23 lbs (bummer!), coming in at 22 lbs, 13 oz. He is still below the charts, but he is following the curves for both weight and height, so that's good. (James was quite unamused by having to take his clothes off to get weighed -- I think at least partially because Mattie didn't have to!)

We didn't get the most accurate weight on Mattie because the nurse said we could leave his clothes on, but he's at about the 30th percentile for weight and the 25th for height, which is about where he's been tracking all along.

Unfortunately, Mattie is also at the 95th percentile for blood pressure for two year olds (108/69)! So they're going to have us come back in a month and check it again, and our doc is also going to consult with Nephrology at UNC to see if they think he needs to go back on medication for it. (Bummer!) It was funny -- the doctor asked if I had any concerns, and I said I wanted to get his blood pressure checked again since it had been a while, and she told me that it was now the standard recommendation to check it at all appointments for all patients over 3. Wow! Apparently this recommendation was met with some dismay by pediatricians and nurses, because as we know from extensive personal experience, it's not easy to get BP measurements on the little ones. I'm hoping that one side effect of the recommendation will be the development of better pediatric blood pressure equipment.

But I must say, Mattie was a perfect angel getting his BP checked. He had been playing with the doctor's flashlight, and she said she had another machine he could see down the hall. "Oh! Yes!" he said, and happily walked down with me to the other room. I explained to him that we would be checking his blood pressure ("what's that?"), and the machine would give his arm a hug, and it might feel funny but he needed to sit very still. And he did, he was great. Mike went in with James a bit later, and said he did well, too.

Other than that, everything looked fine for both of them, and they didn't even have to get any shots!

P.S. I told Mattie last night that he'd be going to the doctor today, and that the doctor would look at his eyes, and his ears, etc. He said, "And look at my teeth. And have a Mister Thirsty there." So I had to explain to him that this doctor didn't have a Mister Thirsty, which was only at the dentist's office. "I want to go to the dentist," he said. I never thought I'd hear those words from a child of mine!

The White Bear Chronicles

2011-11-29T23:54:00.000-05:00

Matthew has been sharing his white bear's thoughts and feelings with us more lately. Here are a couple recent ones.

Matthew: "My bear is upset."
Me: "Why?"
Matthew: "He want to vacuum by himself." (brief pause) "He changed his mind."
Me: "Is he happy now?"
Mattie: "Yes. He feels better."

Mattie: "My white bear wants to jump on the bed. He's waiting his turn."

(Of course, when Baby Cousin Seth was here, Mattie informed me that white bear "doesn't know how to walk by himself yet.")

White Bear also wanted to hear the ABC song the other morning, so Mattie sang it to him. (Unfortunately, James had been sleeping up until that point but was perhaps awakened by the serenade!)

As You Were

2011-11-29T23:27:00.000-05:00

In which Daddy is a bad influence...

The relatives are all either back home or on their way (Grandpa is taking the overnight train), so the house is quiet again -- or at least as quiet as it ever gets with a couple of crazy two-year-olds running around. It was so much fun to see everyone!

Jamesie had an ear doctor appointment yesterday morning; he has dry skin and irritation in his ear canals (which meant he has a lot of gunk in his ears which may be affecting his hearing -- the doctor was able to get some of it out, but we have to use ear drops to try to clear the rest). So, we're supposed to try to minimize using his hearing aids for a couple days to let things heal up. Poor kid! It doesn't seem to be bothering him any, though; he's as cheerful (and talkative) as ever.

James loves to throw the ball!

Smile

2011-11-26T23:24:00.000-05:00

Abby and Daniel

We had a photographer come to the house today to take family pictures (no, not the ones posted here). We liked the photographer a lot, but I don't know how the large group one will turn out -- James and Matthew were the weakest link, since they picked that moment to decide they wanted milk!

Friday Cousins

2011-11-25T23:30:00.001-05:00

Just some pictures. :)

Thankful

2011-11-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

We are thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:40:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving from cute little Baby Cousin Seth! (And Matthew and James and the rest of us!)

Quality Control

2011-11-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

James tested out the command center to make sure it was in good shape before Baby Cousin Seth's arrival.

Pre-Thanksgiving Pre-School

2011-11-23T23:16:00.001-05:00

Why, yes, it was our turn again to be Parent of the Day at preschool. :)

Jamesie had an audiologist appointment in the afternoon, but they couldn't actually do a hearing test because his ears were clogged up with (I guess) wax. So he'll go to the ear doctor on Monday to see if he can help clear it out. (If they'd helped us out with the problem, oh, the last two times we were there, that would have been even better, but we'll see how it goes.)

Mister Thirsty

2011-11-22T22:28:00.000-05:00

The boys had their second visit to the pediatric dentist yesterday. Matthew was great! I had explained to him in advance that we were going to the dentist, and what was going to happen when he was there. So he was very well-behaved for his exam. The hygenist was fantastic. She got him a balloon first, and she also explained everything to him as she was going through it. She had some fun toys for him to play with while he was waiting for James. But Mattie also was interested in the dental tools, so she showed them to him (which might help for a future visit when they actually use the polisher, etc. -- right now they just brush, examine, and do a flouride treatment). The dentist tools combined Mattie's two favorite things -- water (the squirter) and a vacuum (the little one they use to suck liquid out of your mouth during a cleaning). The hygenist squirted some water on the table and let Mattie suck it up with the little vacuum. He was thrilled! He was also pretty happy when he got to pick a fire truck out of the toy box at the end.

When I told him it was time to go, he said, "No, I want to stay here!" (I don't know how often you hear that about a dentist's office!) I got him out by reminding him that he would get to push the button on the elevator, and he said, "Oh, yeah!" and dashed out the door. :)

James was a perfect angel in the waiting room, but got a little upset when they actually wanted to look in his mouth. He eventually let them do it, though.

Mattie's teeth are looking good; Jamesie's gums bled a little when they did the exam, which means we need to do a better job with brushing his teeth (which, frankly, any brushing at all would be an improvement over what we've been doing! We have fallen down on the job on that one.) They both have two-year molars coming in.

The boys both had a great time with their balloons in the evening. They would let them go and then stand on the stool or a pillow to get the string. And then they were getting on the couch to get them (and then leaping off the couch, which I'm not totally thrilled about, but they seemed to land okay).

Mercurial

2011-11-20T23:59:00.003-05:00

We got to see the other side of two-and-a-half today: Mattie would say "no" one minute and then "yes" then next. ("No playground!" "Okay, you can stay here with Mommy while James and Daddy go." "Go to the playground!" And the same for whether he wanted his white bear, whether he wanted lunch, etc., etc. And my personal favorite instance of general contrariness: Me: "Time for a new diaper." Mattie: "I want saggy baggy diaper!") Fortunately, most of the time I knew he would change his mind as soon as I agreed that he didn't have to do whatever it was he was saying no to.

We've also been hearing a lot of "why?" from Mattie. (Interspersed with the occasional amusing, "Why not?")

And in another typical toddler moment, the other day at dinner, Matthew took some of James's Cheerios and ate them. This shouldn't have been a big deal since there were plenty more Cheerios, but James kept pointing at his brother's mouth and insisting, "I want that one!!" (Sorry, kiddo!)

Mostly, though, they've been very cute -- especially tonight when they were bouncing on the couch and James went over to give his brother a hug. :)

The boys love fire hydrants!

Barber Time

2011-11-19T19:54:00.001-05:00

This morning, Mattie asked, "Where are we going today?" I told him we were going to get haircuts and then to the playground. A few minutes later, he said, "We're going for haircuts. I might cry." I told him that there was nothing to cry about, that it would be fun, and talked a little about what would happen. And lo and behold, he was a very good boy at the barbershop! (He liked looking at the fish on his cape, and got to hold the hairdryer afterwards.)

I was impressed by that; I wouldn't have expected a two and a half year old to have that level of emotional awareness -- knowing how he might feel but then being able to change his mind about the situation.

James, on the other hand, was not amused and did not want to have his hair cut. (We actually went back after the playground to get the back of it right.) The stylist persevered, though, and we think both boys ended up looking good!

Static head!

Thursday

2011-11-17T23:59:00.000-05:00

James says, "Doggie ride the horse. Hold on tight!"

Two and a half year olds are fun. Mattie is pretty good at saying "thank you", but always has to be prompted for "please." ("I want [whatever]!" "How do you ask nicely?" "Pah-weese!") So it was a pleasant surprise to hear him say to James today, "Jamesie, may I please have the orange?" when they were playing with the toy food. James's response was to say, "I cut it!" and run off to find the toy knife. He cut the toy orange in half (it's designed to do that), and gave half to Matthew -- but a specific half. He didn't want Matthew to have one of the two identical parts but happily gave him the other one.

Tonight Matthew was pretending his hand was an alligator that was eating my arm. I asked him if alligators ate pizza, and he said yes. Then he said, thoughtfully, "I don't see that pizza here. Maybe he took it back to his nest." (I have no idea where he got that, but it was funny!)

Monkey see, monkey do!

23

2011-11-15T23:41:00.001-05:00

The baby bears were very pleased to get to sit in their booster seats at dinner tonight. (They still are generally happy in their high chairs, too, but we figured that their baby cousin would need to use one of the high chairs at Thanksgiving, so Mattie and James could go with the boosters.)

We kept the boys home from preschool today because Mattie still had a very runny nose. (James would have been fine to go, but we decided we didn't need the drama of taking one boy and not the other.)

In other news, James is finally just over 23 lbs! It's about time. :) Hopefully he'll keep moving in the right direction.

P.S. Yesterday the boys turned two-and-a-half! (Wow!)

Night-Night

2011-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

Mattie likes to pretend to go night-night on the chair, with all of the pillows and blankets and stuffed animals and assorted other things (which tonight included a traffic cone and Goodnight, Moon).

The other night Jamesie got to stay up a little late (thanks to a long nap for him while brother didn't nap at all) and he thoroughly enjoyed his bonus time with Daddy, playing trains and ball. Mike was throwing the ball to James, and James was mostly not catching it, but happily announcing, "Try again!" and tossing it back to Mike. :)

Fall Colors

2011-11-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

Poor Mattie still has a stuffy nose from his cold, but he was up for going to the playground this morning. We found a sled that someone had left there, and the boys had a great time pulling it around. (Mattie really wanted to take it home, but we left it in case the actual owners returned for it.)

James likes to do the balance beam "all by self"

By the end of the outing, Mattie wanted to go night-nights on the picnic table!

Just Like Daddy

2011-11-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

Daddy vacuumed the car, and Mattie vacuumed his tricycle!

11-11-11-11-11

2011-11-11T23:11:00.004-05:00

Although it may look like they are ready for Christmas, Matthew and James are instead saluting the veterans on Veterans' Day (with an extra-special salute to their grandpa), and celebrating the Day of Elevens.

Tear Down this Gate

2011-11-09T22:47:00.000-05:00

We have reached what feels like a full circle milestone -- we took down the gate between our living room and dining room. It has been quite a while since the boys have had to be confined to one room! (We still have a gate to close off the stairs, though. They are quite capable of doing the stairs on their own, but I prefer for them to have adult supervision, since occasionally they decide to do things like go up or down the stairs with some huge toy in their arms.)

Mattie continues to amaze me with his language skills. He's saying all kinds of complex sentences. (The other day we were in the car, and it was something-something, "don't you, Jamesie?")

One of his recent favorite phrases is, "Yes, I am!", said with great conviction, which is hilarious. (I heard it for the first time when I said something like, "you're a very cute boy" and he replied, "Yes, I am!" This morning I said, "Stanley is a good dog" and Mattie replied, "Yes, he is!")

In the bottom photo here, James is playing one of his recent games -- pointing to the pictures of the relatives and calling everyone "Daniel." :)

Mattie's favorites: vacuuming with his bears

New and Improved Art

2011-11-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

This is the new and improved public art at the community park. It replaces the previous installation, which was a bunch of large rocks held up by metal bars in an open sphere. It had a do not touch sign next to it, which of course was widely ignored by the toddler set. I figured it was only a matter of time before one of those boulders came detached and brained some poor kid. So, it was with great happiness that we greeted this new and toddler-safe sculpture!

Matthew and James were more enthralled with the traffic cones, which they carried around and stuffed with leaves. (The traffic cones were there last time, too, and we couldn't figure out if they were actually supposed to be marking anything.)

Big pumpkin, now filled with disgusting water

More Museum

2011-11-06T09:46:00.001-05:00

The science museum was apparently the place to be yesterday -- the friend we went with ran into two people he knew within about the first five minutes, and we ran into three people we knew!

The boys had a great time, as usual. It's fun because they appreciate and can do more and more things there. James spent a lot of time rolling balls down the chute pictured here and a bigger one they had on the wall.

We took the train ride, too, but the breeze makes it pretty cold this time of year! We had intended to head home after that, but the boys insisted on seeing the dinosaurs, and then playing with the drums on the way out. :)

The train ride has some mirrors on the route -- you can see a little of mirror-Jamesie on the right.

Ahoy there, mateys!

Report Cards

2011-11-04T23:04:00.005-04:00

Thursday was parent-teacher conference day at preschool. Mattie and Jamesie are both doing great. The teacher said they are very smart, and also well-behaved (by two-year-old standards, of course).

She also mentioned that if you didn't know they were related, you wouldn't guess from how they acted in the classroom -- she said they didn't play together, didn't sit together, and didn't look out for each other. She said that was different from the other sets of twins she's taught, but she also said it was kind of a good thing because they won't have the problems with separating from each other later on that twins often have. (She said sometimes twins would only play with each other, or with the boys would be wrestling with each other!) I'm a little sad that they're not more connected with each other at school, but they definitely like being with each other at home, so I'm not too worried.

(It was very cute last night -- James was looking for his blue bear, and Mattie found it and brought it to him. James said, "Thank you much, brother!")

The teacher mentioned again being excited that James was talking more and "putting words together" -- two words, that is. She thought being in the classroom was helping his language, but I'm finding that a bit hard to believe since he's talking more in sentences at home (most often 4 words or so, but sometimes longer, and often several sentences in a row these days). (When I got in the car the other day, he greeted me with, "N put my shoes on me!")

P.S. Happy birthday to Andrew, Alexander, and Seiko!!

P.P.S. Mike has been telling them the "Little Engine that Could" story at bedtime, so Mattie has been pushing his trains up the hill saying, "I think I can, I think I can!"

Not For Eating

2011-11-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

(Niki, this one is for you!)

Crayon names get more delicious. :)

(This was actually at the BBQ place. We maybe go there too often, because Matthew has a well-developed idea of how things go -- he explains that he'll eat macaroni, and see the fans, and drink lemonade that Daddy will share with him.)

Library

2011-11-04T22:45:00.008-04:00

We took the boys on their first trip to the library. They were much more excited about the computer than the books, though. (I told Mattie it was for helping people find books, and he immediately said, "I want to find a book!" -- but of course what he really wanted to do was find letters on the keyboard. James wanted his turn, too.) We figured they were still a little too hard on their books for us to want to check any out for them right now, so it ended up being a pretty short trip!

They did have fun at the mall playground afterwards, though. :)

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Our neighborhood is not great for trick-or-treating under the best of circumstances, and tonight was not that -- it was cold and drizzly, and lots of people weren't home. But we had planned to meet up with some friends, so we walked around to a few houses.

James wanted no part of the whole thing. He didn't want to put his sweatshirt or his costume on, and once he was outside, he kept saying, "Back home. Back home." (This is quite unlike him; usually he jumps at any opportunity to walk around outside.) Mattie was also a bit reluctant at first, but we told him he could go to Blizzy's house, and he liked that idea. :) He also was pretty happy with the idea of getting to knock on doors. He didn't care too much about the candy (they don't really know what candy is yet), but he was pleased to pick up a rock from our neighbor's gravel walkway. (He put it in his bag, which led to perhaps the best moment of the night: Lakshmi looked in his bag and said, "Is someone giving out potatoes?")

Before trick or treating, the boys were both very happy with the combination glow-sticks/flashlights that Mike brought home for them. :)

Pumpkinfest

2011-10-30T23:59:00.030-04:00

This year we made it to the Fearrington Pumpkinfest with some daylight left! It was fun to get to see the pumpkins both in the daytime and lit up after dark. We met our friends there, but with so many kids to wrangle, we didn't have too much time for catching up!

It was a cold evening, so fortunately the boys' costumes were pretty warm. We had a couple layers on them both underneath, so they didn't complain. (Of course, following his Principle of Maximal Potty Timing Inconvenience, Mattie decided he needed to go after we'd been there for a little while, so Mike got to take off and put back on all those layers!) Mattie also insisted on pulling the wagon quite a bit, so I'm sure he kept warm that way, too.

The boys seemed to have a good time -- they liked listening to the band, and James loved going around to see all the different pumpkins. (He told Mike, "I like pumpkins!") As we were headed back to the parking lot, he saw one that was carved in a rather scary expression, and he just burst out laughing and pointed to it and said, "Funny!" That's my boy, laughing in the face of danger. :) Mattie was most fascinated by the "broken pumpkin", the jack o'lantern that had somehow broken into pieces (presumably someone bumped it by accident -- sad, since so much work went into all of them).

When I was taking Jamesie around to see some of the pumpkins, another little kid (probably only a bit over a year old) was looking at the same one, and his mom was telling him that he needed to stop blowing out all the candles! That cracked me up. Maybe he was just in a birthday mode. :)

Mall Surprise

2011-10-30T00:13:00.000-04:00

The gym has cramped our style because they changed their Friday hours -- they now close an hour earlier, so it's harder for us to make it there in time. So imagine our delight when we discovered that the little mall near us now has a slightly gym-like play area for kids! (We were actually headed to the library, which is temporarily housed in the mall while they renovate their building, but we didn't end up going there because the boys were having so much fun playing.) One of the families we had met at swim class was also there -- small world!

James started out by jumping off the little red shape, and by the end was jumping off the taller yellow one. (He kept running over to us to announce, "I jumping! I jumping!" Too cute.) Mattie liked the "bathtub", and by the end was enjoying jumping off the bridge-type one onto the triangle-slide.

Happy Four

2011-10-30T00:04:00.001-04:00

Mattie told me he needed a pillow, and set himself up on the kitchen chair. :)

Another funny moment from today: Mattie brought in his book and pointed to a picture of a bear and said, "This bear is sad."
Me: "How about the one next to it?"
Matthew: "That bear's happy." (He was right on both counts; it was an opposites book.)
Me: "How about Matthew?"
Matthew: "I'm happy, too."
Me: "I'm happy three."
Matthew: "I'm happy four!" (Good going, kid!)

Look Out, Martha Stewart

2011-10-29T23:57:00.000-04:00

The boys did a little Halloween decorating this morning with window clings.

Matthew especially had fun with the cat sticker. He put the magic wand on it and said, "Kitty cat have a band-aid. He feel better now." And then later he moved it to another window and put a pumpkin over the cat's head, and said, "Kitty-cat is hiding." James promptly took off the pumpkin and said, "I found it!"

After his nap, James was all about matching things up. He found the two pumpkins and put them together, and the two bats, and the two spiders, and the two pieces of corn (they were having so much fun that I let them do the Thanksgiving ones, too). It was very cute. (And then with his blocks he sorted all the white squares into his bucket, and then sorted all the pink pieces into the box.)

Sweet Brother

2011-10-28T23:39:00.003-04:00

Mattie was an especially nice brother today. James had to go to the audiologist because one of his hearing aids wasn't working, and as he was getting ready to go, Mattie brought over a blue bear and said that James might want to take it to the doctor's office with him. :)

Then this evening, James was sitting on the floor, and Mattie came up and gave him a hug and a couple of kisses on his back, and said, "I love you, Jamesie!" Awwwww.

P.S. Happy birthday, Aunt Ann!!!

[Photo from 10/19.]

An update to yesterday's post: it turned out James's prealbumin actually was fine, the nurse had just accidentally scrolled down to the previous test when she was talking to Mike last time. Yay!

As for Jamesie's hearing aid, it turned out that the hearing aid was working, but James had some "debris" in his ears that was blocking them up. I'm kind of annoyed by this because the gunk, which is not earwax, was exactly why we went back to the ear doctor this last time. He told us it wasn't due to granulation (scar) tissue, but guess what, just telling us that it wasn't that didn't solve whatever the actual problem is. After two hours in the waiting room -- or maybe it was only an hour and a half that time -- and a $70 copay plus whatever else they're going to bill us for that five minutes of actual time with the doctor, it would be nice if he would have at least given us some advice on what to do. Grrr. We'll see if our pediatrician can help.

Costumes at Preschool

2011-10-27T21:34:00.001-04:00

The boys got to wear their costumes to preschool today. They were also having a little Halloween festival in their classroom. We were Parents of the Day today, and I thought we'd scored the best day of the year...but much to my disappointment, all the festivities were over and the kids were out of their costumes by the time we were there. (Parent of the Day duties don't start until after snack.) I was soooo sad! If only I'd known, I would have asked to stick around! Oh well, I'm sure the boys had a good time. :) They got to play some games and had a little parade, and went trick-or-treating in the 3 and 4 year old classrooms.

In case you can't tell, Jamesie is a puppy dog and Mattie is a dragon. (The Jamesie pictures aren't the best, but I thought I'd have more opportunity at school!)

When we arrived at the classroom, there were five princesses there. :) I was happy to find out later that one little girl was a ladybug instead!

James's Early Intervention coordinator came to visit the classroom today as well, and she was chatting with the teacher during the walk. The teacher said that James was starting to talk more "and starting to put words together, like 'more water'." I was really surprised to hear that, because at home he's regularly speaking in 4-5 word sentences. I mentioned being surprised, and the teacher said that the difference was probably that at school he's one of ten kids, and he tends to defer to the other kids. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but maybe just that he isn't going to try talk over someone if they're talking. (It's interesting; none of the kids seemed to be talking all that much last time we were parents of the day, and this time a lot of them were talking more. Maybe they're just getting more and more comfortable with school!)

In other news, the boys also got to visit with their former babysitter J this afternoon, and we (finally) got the blood test results back from the GI doctor (everything looked fine -- except, oddly, the prealbumin, which the doctor had earlier told us was fine. But the prealbumin is nothing to worry about, except insofar as the discrepancy makes me worry that they might have mixed up the results!)

It was so cute -- when I came home, the boys were sitting in their high chairs, and Mattie said, "Did you have fun at work, Mommy?" What a nice boy! (He's also gotten pretty good at "no, thank you", but we have to remind him about "please." And the other day I heard him say, "Excuse me, Stanley!" as he was walking around the dog.)

Pumpkin Boys

2011-10-25T22:48:00.001-04:00

The boys had a "pumpkin patch" at preschool today, where they got to pick out their own pumpkins. (They were also doing a pumpkin craft, had pumpkin seeds for snack, and there were little mini jack o'lanterns in the sand table. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me at drop-off!) Apparently there was also a puppet show, but Mattie didn't go into detail about the content. :)

I was at a work dinner last night, so Mike took the boys out to get a Really Big Pumpkin. He has plans for carving it sometime soon.

James looked so cute in his Halloween shirt -- do you think I can get away with putting him in it every day until Halloween? :)

James is now very into saying what things are not -- the old diaper is dirty, the new one is "clean diaper, not dirty!" "That bottle brother's -- not Jamesie!" "That water -- not milky!"

Mattie was really tired this afternoon (a combination of waking up too early and probably the tail end of the cold), so he was actually sleeping on the couch when I got home from work, and didn't budge despite James talking, turning on the TV, etc. James said something like, "Brother is sleeping -- brother not wake up." I had to correct him to say that brother wasn't waking up right now. :) (We ended up waking him for dinner and bath, and he still went to bed at the regular time.)

Weekend Sniffles

2011-10-23T23:59:00.012-04:00

The little bears seem to have come down with a cold, so the rest of our weekend was pretty low key. They were feeling well enough for a quick trip to the playground, though. :)

James is pretty much back to his usual cheery self (though he sounded pretty congested during his nap). Hopefully Mattie will be on the upswing soon, too -- he's been okay in the morning but is more tired and clingy by the afternoon, and has dark circles around his eyes. Neither one has been eating well (which is unfortunately typical for them when they're under the weather).