Sneaky

Tank has been up to a lot lately. Yesterday morning I thought I heard someone up while I was still in bed. Mind you it was before 6 am so there's usually no one else up at that time, at least when I need them to be. I checked on Bubby and he was still sound asleep so I headed downstairs to start the day. As I started down the stairs, I saw Tank heading into the living room with an armful of goodies. He apparently had enough sleep and decide to have some breakfast. He had a fruit bar and the entire package of string cheese and was going to take a seat and enjoy. I stopped that and got him dressed and ready for the day. He then had a normal breakfast. Last night when Daddy put him to bed, he discovered an empty box of crackers in Tank's room. So apparently he was up earlier than I had originally thought and already retrieved 1/2 a box of Chicken in a Biscuit crackers and headed back to his room before he was detected on my radar.

This morning I had prepared a bowl of applesauce for Bubby and set it on the counter. Tank woke up while I was in the middle of getting Bubby dressed. He headed into the kitchen and snagged the applesauce off the counter. I found him under the kitchen table eating the applesauce. You'd think from all of this that he never gets fed so he resorts to stealing food. I can assure you that is not the case. This kid has a hollow leg. Speaking of legs, he's now fully wedged between the love seat and the pack n' play hollering "helpa!" so I better go attended to that. I'm not sure why there's an a on the end of "help", must be a new accent!

Cutest Kids!

Click here to vote for the 2 cutest kids in the Des Moines Register's Cutest Kid contest. Voting begins today (6/23) and lasts through 6/29. You can vote up to 5 times a day. They are on page 21 of the voting pages. Check 'em out!

Parade Bully

The boys and I went to the Kalona Days parade with our dear friends Jenny & Kate. Kate is a couple months younger than Tank and this is their 3rd Kalona Days parade together. The first 2 were a little different than this one. At Tank's 1st parade, he sat quietly on the blanket and enjoyed playing with Kate. Last year was a little more eventful as he could run away from me, but he was still a little slow on the whole candy gathering thing. This year...a completely different story. Tank was the parade bully this time. He would see the floats throwing candy about 50 feet down the street so he'd take off running down to get it. Then gather up all he could on the way back to our spot. So he had about 3 piles to hit on each run. Of course this means that he's invading other kids' territory. After trying to stop him about 5 times and causing more of a scene than it was worth, I decided to let him do his thing. After all, when we were kids, you had to fight for that candy! Get your elbows out kids and give him some competition! He even caught the glimpse of a few little piles that some adults had gathered from what fell in front of them. And yes, he helped himself to those too. He ended up with a big mixing bowl of candy, which he clearly needs.

Bubby enjoyed his first parade experience. He just sat back and watched in true Bubby fashion. We even discovered later that he was leaning on a part of the stroller that was rough and he got a little bloody spot on the back of his head. He never even cried about it, even when he was bleeding. Our boys couldn't be more different if they tried! When I went to pack everything up for the walk back to the van, I found that even Bubby had collected some candy. He had a little pile in the stroller around him that fell on him. Good job Bubby!

Last night the boys and I took Grandpa & Grandma out for supper at HuHot for Father's Day. Yum! Then went to purchase a new car seat to restrain Tank from getting out. I found a large 5 point harness seat so he can't get out anymore. He'll have to show some responsibility to get to go back to the booster he was in.

We're looking forward to Daddy's return sometime today. He should be heading home sometime soon from his fishing weekend. At least for my sake, I hope he comes back! :) Have a great week everyone!

Shopping

This weekend, Daddy is enjoying his Fathers' Day present. Which is camping and fishing without kids & wife in tow. Actually he was going anyway and since I didn't get a Mothers' Day gift, I informed him on my way out this morning that this would be his gift. :)

So, with no one to stay home with the boys on my bi-weekly grocery-go-getting night, I decided to punish myself and attempt it with them on a solo mission. I have done this before and have said afterwards each time...why on earth did I do that?! Tonight was just as enjoyable. Actually if I had to compare, it may have gone a little better than in the past. I ran thru the drive thru and picked up Tank a Happy Meal with extra apples before we went over to the dreaded cult of a store that I can't seem to force myself to boycott although I swear after every trip that I'm never going back...that store being Walmart.

The Happy Meal kept Tank quiet and sitting on his bottom for about 20 minutes, which means I was about 1/8th of the way through my spree when he was no longer occupied. He stood in the cart, greeting every passer by. He got the usual "oh, you are so cute!" and "well hi little buddy!" that he usually draws. I was about 3/4 the way done with he started getting pretty crowded in the cart. It was at that point that every time he tried to climb over the edge, the groceries would cave in and he'd smash them when he got back in. I managed to get everything I needed in 1 cart with 2 boys in there too. I did however have to grab another empty cart to put the bags in since it never goes back in the way it came out.

For some reason, I thought maybe I would bother less people and make it easier on myself to use the self checkout. I must have had a momentary loss of sanity when I made that decision. I did discover though that after your 2 year old stands up in a cart long enough, they will actually send someone over to stand by the cart to avoid a fall and a potential lawsuit. As much as I would not like to see my child topple head over heals, I can say that the thought of suing the pants off of Mr. Walton and the empire that has transformed the mere thought of customer service into a thing of the past sounded really appealing for a moment. But I digress. As the Walmart checker entertained my older one, I tried to keep Bubby in a somewhat upright position (he's still working on steadily sitting up on his own for long periods) while checking out my groceries and cussing all the way at the lovely computer screaming "PLEASE PLACE YOUR ITEM IN THE BAG!" even though I put it in there 10 seconds ago.

After 2 1/2 hours, I made my way out the door with 2 carts full, a child in each, and a headache to match. Again wondering why I ever attempt this chaos. As I shut my door in the van after loading all my purchases and children, I get a text from Daddy...

Daddy: Holding up? Our lines are set and waiting for fishies

Mom!: I'm not speaking to you

Lots of memories

Too many memories have been made in the past few days to list them all. But I'll hit the highlights...


Tank mastered the art of actually steering a trike instead of just going until he hits something. We were camping with friends and he enjoyed riding their toys. So to answer your question...no we did not buy him a pink trike with a pink helmet. Although, if they were on clearance...don't think I wouldn't consider it!





Tank even let his friend Sandra ride shotgun. She hasn't quite figured out how to hold the button down to make it go all the time so he took care of that and she enjoyed steering. They are partners in crime and drive Sandra's mom crazy all day long...every day!





He met a new friend too. Tank & Olivia rode the sit & spin together. I actually didn't know it was possible to double up on a sit & spin but I was proven wrong...again.

Yes, Bubby did go along too but he mostly sat back and watched like usual. So I don't have many action shots of him. His latest tricks are sitting up by himself, trying new solids everyday, and drinking from a sippy cup. No more bottles here we come!!

A few of Tank's little moments from the past few days...

He has learned how to get out of his car seat by himself. This is something that I did not teach him and did not want him to learn. He wiggles out of the top of the seat belt and then makes his way around the van. I first witnessed this when I was driving down the road on Saturday and he jumped up behind me and said..."HI!" This was followed by the instinctual screeching tires (next time I'll remember that this is not the best way to come to a stop when you have a child that is not strapped in) and a little life lesson before he was placed back in his car seat.

Another event in the van...tonight on the way home from daycare I had given Tank a sippy of water, not thinking anything of it because he often drinks in the car. After I felt a splash on my shoulder, I looked back in my "bus driver mirror" just in time to see him take a big drink and spurt it out of his mouth like a whale, all over the back of my seat. Lovely.

He also managed to use his newly learned trick to escape from the car seat while we were parked just so he could sneak up and grab a bottle that Bubby decided he didn't want. He managed to get a good amount of it sucked down before I came back around to the front and caught him. He threw the bottle and jumped back in his seat as if nothing happened. I had bought him a Bug Juice, which is his favorite, but he quickly learned that naughty boys don't get treats.

That's all I can think of for now, and that's plenty for me. I think all of that added about 20 more gray hairs to my poor head.

Watermelon Thief

Last night we had watermelon with our dinner. After supper, the table wasn't cleaned up yet and I had to run down to the basement to help Daddy for a minute. When we were coming back up the stairs, I heard a jump down and the all too familiar sounds of the little feet in a get-a-way run. As I entered the kitchen, I saw the mess. The big bowl of watermelon had a fork in it which Tank had been using to eat right out of the bowl. I guess I have to commend him for using a fork. Apparently in the process of climbing up to get the bowl, he tipped it over and spilled all of the juice all over the table, his booster chair, and the floor, in addition to himself. We all know how sticky watermelon juice is if you don't get every little bit cleaned up. At least he chose to snag something healthy!

Milk...hello?!?

Tonight I asked Tank to go get his cup before we sat down for dinner. He walked into the living room, looked around the room once and said "milk...hello?!?" as if it was going to answer him and tell him where it was. I about busted a gut laughing at that one.

Bath Time!

Bubby is getting better everyday at sitting up on his own. He's much more steady in the tub than he used to be. Tank can't wait until they can take a bath together. I'm picturing water splashing to the high heavens and a bubbles galore. As long as there are giggles involved, it will be worth it.

Bubby was pushing up pretty good tonight and tried getting a knee under him but it didn't quite work for him yet. While it's very fun to watch them learn new things everyday, I'm not sure that I'm ready for the crawling stage. That's just 1 more boy on the move then.

Pile It High!

A couple nights ago, we took the boys outside to play while Daddy & I corded the most recent load of wood into the wood shed. Tank decided he was going to help. While I commend the ambition and desire to help, I can't say that it sped up the process. He had a good time though and that's all that matters. After a few pieces, Tank decided it was a better idea to hand me the wood and I would take it from there into the shed. After a took the 1st piece from him, he proudly chirped..."Thank You!" After the next piece, again..."Thank You!" While it was mighty cute and I was glad to hear him picking up some new words and using them properly, I will have to admit after about 75 times, it got to be a little much. He was Mr. Helper that night and insisted on pushing Bubby's stroller into the house when we were done too. Just another day of "little moments" to cherish.

Coupon Queen

Now I thought I was good...I stand corrected and I have a new idol. Check her out! I have a lot of learning to do!

1st Dentist Visit

Well...this morning went exactly as I expected it would. I had put off Tank's 1st dentist visit long enough and finally took him. Daddy and I both went with him to try to ease the situation. I think it would have gone a little better had we not been taken back to the room 10 minutes prior to the dentist being ready. There's just something about an exam room that makes kids (well mine anyway) uneasy. So even though he was only sitting in the chair with Dad, he was quite anxious during the wait. Once we saw Dr. Molly, she just counted his teeth, checked them over quick, and we were done. They wanted to take his picture with the "Dr Molly's No Cavity Club" sign but he wasn't having any part of that. This pic is what we ended up with. Oh well, it shows the true experience. He wasn't impressed at all with the chair ride or the goody bag. Here's to hoping next time goes better! We did get an A+ for oral hygiene. So even though he wants nothing to do with the dentist, he's doing a good job brushing at home!

WHY?!?

It has started! For you other mothers out there, you know the dreaded question...WHY?!? I heard that word for the 1st time out of Tank's mouth yesterday. It about brought me to my knees. I've heard it about 15 times since then. I'm not ready for this. This was tonight's conversation...


Mom!: Could you please bring me a diaper for Bubby?

Tank: Why?

Mom!: Because he's dirty and needs his pants changed before he goes to bed.

Tank: Why?

Mom!: Because he pooped his pants.

Tank: Why?

Mom!: Nevermind I'll get it myself.

Tank: Why?