Pirates and ‘Wobots’

Gabriel is fascinated with two things right now: pirates and robots.

His favorite movies right now are the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Transformers (which he calls ‘big wobots’) and the animated movie, Robots (which he calls ‘tiny wobots’).

Amazingly, Gabriel will sit through an entire movie. He gets really engrossed in it. I know, I know, I probably shouldn’t be letting him watch movies at all … but it’s one of the few things that will calm him down from his usual bouncing off the walls – and sometimes mommy needs some quiet time so she doesn’t end up at the funny farm. Lesser of two evils, I think.

Recent exchange

Me: Gabriel, you’re a funny guy.

Gabriel: Yeah, Mama, I know.

Me: (Sarcastically) Are you modest?

Gabriel: No, I Gabriel!

Hmmmm.

So I took the kids to the doctor today, for a “well-child” visit, because it’s been awhile since their last one. They both got flu and Hepatitis (B, I think) shots. Expectedly, Mikaela shrieked and screamed. Gabriel hardly made a peep.

But when I get home and take Gabriel’s Band-Aid off? He boo-hooed. I mean, he went on and on crying. He actually asked for another Band-Aid to cover up the “boo boo” I made by ripping the previous one off.

Sigh.

I can’t believe it

My son is finally, officially, potty-trained. It only took 4 years.

Four-year-old speak

What he says: “Mama, Mikaela not sharing.”

What he means: “I want that toy and she’s not giving it to me.”

Girding his loins for battle

So a few days ago, the kids called to me from the living room: “A lee-sard! A lee-sard!”

I went into the living room and tried to pick it up, but I just couldn’t. I turned to Gabriel and said, “Gabriel, you’re the man of the house right now, so you’re going to have to get it.”

He very hesitantly said, “all right,” then went and got his plastic sword. I guess in his mind, he was going to slay a dragon!

Don’t worry, I told him I was just kidding. By the time we got back to the living room, the lizard was gone anyway.

Singing for his supper

Gabriel loves watching Disney’s Davy Crockett with Jay. After watching it multiple times, Gabriel has picked up the theme song. One line in the chorus is:

Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

Anyway, our family was over at Jay’s parents’ house for Sunday supper and I wanted to get Gabriel to sing the theme song for his grandmother. He was bashful, so we promised him a cookie if he sang it.

He started singing, going through the first verse and starting the chorus, but this time he replaced the last few words of the song:

Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the I want a cookie!

Toilet humor

Gabriel has discovered the joy of potty humor. It must be ingrained in boys because I don’t know where in the world he got it from.

He’s been walking around, exclaiming: “POO POO!” and then laughing manically.

Funny, I know men with about the same level of maturity in their humor.

Ha.

After a shower the other day, Gabriel was attempting to put on some undies. After several attempts at putting them on the wrong way, he disgustedly threw them down, saying, “This unnerwear boken!”

My boys

Augh!

My children continue to give me gray hair with their mispronounciations that sound like bad words.

Today, Mikaela tried to say clock. Let’s just say I’m not going to be talking about time again any time soon!

Gabriel made me laugh today. After he got out of preschool, I headed for the library so the kids could get some books. As we passed the local supermarket, Gabriel said “Goba – chew!” repeatedly.

At first, I had no idea what he was saying – Garbage Truck?

Then, I figured it out from the context, since we were driving right by it.

“Oh, GROCERY STORE?”

“Yeah, Goba-chew!” He replied.

I said, “baby, why do you want to go to the grocery store?”

“Because I firsty (thirsty)!”

That’s an odd thing I’ve recognized about his speech. He tends to end things he can’t pronounce with a “jew” or a “chew” sound, even if it’s not even remotely close to the way the word is supposed to sound. Helicopter is “ha-chew-chew.” Tricycle is “Tri-jew.” I’m sure there’s more, but those are the first things that come to mind.

I feel like a detective trying to figure out what he’s saying to me every day. Oh, I hope he’s “caught up” by the time he starts first grade.

Gabriel

A few days ago, Gabriel came running in the room wearing a plastic replica of a medieval soldier’s helmet. He pointed to it and said, “I have football hat!”

Earlier this morning, Mikaela was running around with a blanket on her head, which Gabriel thought was hilarious. “Mikaela’s funny, mama!” he said.

Gabriel – cute update

Gabriel has been very sweet lately. He gives Jay and I kisses frequently, which always makes my day. He’s such a great helper, too… he will do almost anything I ask, replying, “awight!” (All right)

One sweet development lately have been his prayers. He will say them when prompted, but you never know what he’s going to say. He always remembers to pray for his family members, but I heard him thank God the other day for TV and milk. Well, at least we know what’s near and dear to his heart!

His language gets better steadily. I think it’s a combination of hearing Mikaela and his speech therapy class. From some reason, he doesn’t take instruction and/or correction from me well at all, so I don’t feel like I’ve been very instrumental in helping him to overcome his speech problems. Heaven knows, I’ve tried.

He does say a lot of things clearly, but some things take some time to figure out. Like last week, he said, “heh-chew-chew.” Jay and I scratched our heads and finally figured out from the context that he was saying “helicopter.” Goodness.

Jay and I have noticed something recently: not only can Gabriel keep a beat to music (he was born with rhythm – got that from Jay and not from me!), he can sing with almost perfect pitch. He may not have all the words to a song right, but he sure can hit the notes. American Idol 2021: Gabriel?

Another thing I’ve noticed recently is that he’s starting to stay in the lines a lot better when he colors. He loves to color, play with play-doh and paint. I need to scan and upload some of his artwork.

Update: to read all entries about Gabriel and his external hydrocephaly, speech delay, learning delay, sensory processing disorder / sensory integration disorder / sensory integration dysfunction, click on “Gabriel’s Journey.”

Ladykiller

Is my son handsome or what?

I admit, I might be biased. But seriously.

He had me in stitches a couple of days ago. We were on our way home from shopping and it was around lunchtime. He pipes up from the backseat: “WUNCH, mama! I be hungy!”

He also made me laugh the other night when he told me very seriously that he wanted “jooce NOT milk” in his cup.

We’re obviously still not “there” yet, but his communication skills are a lot better.

My favorite thing about him, though? The fact that he will come up, kiss me and say “I love mama!” unprompted. I wouldn’t trade that for a million bucks!!!

Noah says hello

It’s “wainy ‘side,” as Gabriel says (translation: it’s rainy outside).

Boy, is it ever. It’s raining dogs, cats, aardvarks, and llamas.

I guess this is a normal mid-winter rain, much like the kind we often got in central Tennessee. But, living in Texas for the last two years, I’ve gotten used to the warm, dry weather. I already knew I’d become a weenie about the cold weather (50 degrees = parka weather), and I guess I have to admit I’ve become a wimp about the rain, too. I don’t like it.

I especially don’t like driving in it, as I had to do tonight to take Gabriel to the after-hours clinic for a nasty cough. They prescribed him a $40 decongestant/anti-histamine. And that was WITH insurance. Geez. Well, I hope it does the trick. He’s had this cough since mid-December, and this was his second doctor visit for it. I was afraid it had developed into pneumonia, but thankfully, it hadn’t.

All you need to know about raising toddlers

Family Guy – Annoying Stewie video

A way to vent frustration at my kids

After a REALLY long, really frustrating day last week, I was at my wit’s end. The kids were driving me nuts. Gabriel, especially, was being really obnoxious. So, I beat him…. with a pillow. He giggled hysterically, and when I finished “beating” him, he sighed and said, “Mama, I pee pee inna pants.”

Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.

And now for something completely different

My children are apparently trying to make up for lost time and are all of a sudden eating me out of house and home! I’m not complaining, I’m actually thrilled.

Gabriel, especially, has a voracious appetite – he ate FIVE cereal bars for breakfast! That makes me full just thinking about it!

boys

My son likes playing with dolls. No big deal for his age, really … except for the fact that he ALSO likes to carry my daughter’s purse around all day, and last week Jay caught him pretending to put powder on his face. I discourage this every time I see it, but past that, I really don’t know what to do. It’s hard to keep the kids and their toys separate. Maybe I need to get Gabriel some more fun toys or something.

They’re like little snowflakes

It never ceases to amaze me how children come into the world with starkly different personalities.

My son and daughter are a good example. Let’s just put it this way: he needs assertiveness training and she needs anger management classes. Or finishing school.

My dad says Mikaela has Gabriel buffaloed. Boy, does she ever. Today, Mikaela came running at Gabriel at a full gallop and tackled him, knocking him flat on his back. She grinned as she pinned him down, and he was wailing.

Funny how such a little bitty thing can do that to a big brother almost twice her size. I’m very curious about how her personality is going to develop as she grows older.

Might want to be a little more specific next time

Yesterday I pulled a vinyl bib out of the washing machine load that I was about to put into the dryer. I always let that bib air-dry. Gabriel had followed me out to the laundry area, so I handed him the bib and asked him to go put it in the kitchen.

When I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, there was the bib, laid carefully flat in the middle of the floor.

First day of school

So, Gabriel’s first day of preschool was yesterday. He’s going 4 hours a week to a special program through the public school district that’s specifically for kids with speech delays – specifically, articulation problems. This is a new program this year and the kids in his class have been progressing wonderfully, according to their teacher. There are only 4 other kids in Gabriel’s class – all boys – and there is one teacher and one helper. What a great teacher/student ratio!

The lead teacher is very young and enthusiastic. I’m so excited and thankful for this program. I hope it will be a wonderful and productive experience for my son.

More toilet humor

I’m not sure why, but most of my speech-delayed son’s best sentences have to do with bodily functions. “Mama, I peepee onna toe,” he said today after over-shooting the weewee deflector on his potty chair, holding up his foot for me to see.

And for some reason, this is the only topic he can think of for telephone conversations to his grandparents. “Boppy. Emma-ems,” he will declare (translation: I went to the potty and then mama gave me M&Ms.).

Well, I’m thankful for whatever I can get.

Searching for something

As I’ve mentioned before, my blog host (WordPress) offers a neat little feature that lets you track your blog stats – visits, referrals, etc. – as well as what search engine terms that people used to get to your page.

A phrase that someone searched for yesterday made me laugh, – “my son eats his diaper.”

Toilet humor

Ten years ago, if you’d have asked me what I’d be doing today, I probably wouldn’t have guessed jumping up and down and clapping for someone’s … uh, waste products.

But I am. My son, who will be three next month, is now using the toilet more often than his diaper. He doesn’t have it down pat yet, but he’s actually taking the initiative to go by himself, which is huge.

So, after he goes, he grins from ear to ear, saying “I pee pee inna boppy! Yay!” (pee pee in the potty).

While we’re on the subject, I have to laugh at my 18-month-old, who still looks around every time she passes gas, like “what was that?”

Football widow seeks replacement husband for the season

Well, college football began tonight. And so begins another season of being married to a zombie-fied husband who can only recite football stats, team profiles, and what each player for every college team eats for breakfast.

My normally perfectly sane, mild-mannered husband turns into a lunatic each football season. I mean, really. Every time he watches a game, he screams so loud I’m just waiting for the police to come and arrest him for disturbing the peace.

We may have had a breakthrough on the football front, though: Jay was just narrating the play-by-play of the first game of the season (it’s still on as I write this) when I informed him that no offense, but I REALLY don’t care. He said that he wasn’t really talking “to” me, more like he’s talking ‘at’ me. So, I convinced him to talk at my already-brainwashed 2-year-old son. Every time football comes on, Gabriel runs to retrive his toy football from his room. He crouches in front of the TV, ball in hand, waiting for the snap. After they hike the ball, Gabriel runs and throws the football at us (boy, that kid has an ARM already!)

So, that’s taken care of one thing. Next, I hope to pawn Jay off on our friend Paul, a fellow crazy Longhorns fan. I’ll make food for him to bring! Just take him off my hands on gameday, please!

What kind of a kid doesn’t like ice cream?

My son, apparently.

We went out to Maggie Moo’s tonight for a splurge, something we don’t do often. I was excited at the outing … my son’s first trip to an ice-cream parlor! I envisioned him returning home, covered in sticky, but happy and with a full belly.

Instead, when we offered him a spoonful, he whined as if we were trying to get him eat broccoli. We made several more attempts, to no avail.

Now I KNOW he was switched at birth. Oh, well… more for me.

Can’t get a decent night’s sleep

My daughter is a spitfire – a little ball of spunk who causes people’s eyes to widen in surprise when they hear how LOUD she can be. And I mean LOUD.

Bedtime is no different. When she’s not ready to go to bed, she lets us know that she’s not happy. Jay and I have gotten good at tuning it out, but Gabriel shares a room with her and has a little bit of a harder time with that.

So, when she starts making a lot of noise at bedtime, Gabriel gets out of his bed, grabs his pillow, blanket and two stuffed animals that he sleeps with, walks down the hall, opens our door, and climbs up in our bed – all without a word. It just strikes me funny, especially to see the annoyed, sleepy look on his face as he walks from his room to ours.

I can’t wait to get a bigger place so they can each have their own room!

Babytalk

My kids are learning more each new day. It’s so much fun to watch their little minds filling up with new information… and to hear the new words they say and the new connections they make.

A couple of days ago, Jay was cooking in the kitchen when Mikalea tried to come in. Jay tried to shove her back out the kitchen-gate-door so she wouldn’t get near the stove. She pushed him back (mind you, she’s only knee-high) and said “mooozh!” (move)

She was undoubtedly trying to get at the cabinet under the sink, which contains her beloved “bubbiezh” (bubbles).

Gabriel has started saying some new words as well – he’s now pointing out “Ernie” from Sesame Street (“Eenie!”)

Gabriel is also asking for “mo’ geees peee” (more juice, please) – this is major progress for him since it was less than a year ago that he finally said “mama” and “papa” for the first time.

Speech therapy, tongue troubles and external hydrocephalus

My son will be 3 on October 10. He’s one of the sweetest two-year-olds I’ve ever known; he really has a tender heart. He does have his moments, but I think most of his meltdowns come from his lack of ability to communicate effectively.

As you may know from my earlier posts, he has been diagnosed with an expressive speech delay – that means he can understand what I’m telling him, but he has a hard time talking. We don’t know why. He’s been seeing a speech therapist for about 6 months now and not a whole lot has changed. He is making steady improvement, but he’s still the better part of a year behind.

Just press repeat

I’ve figured out that the bulk of what I say throughout the day could be recorded and looped. This is what it would sound like (no, really, I’m not kidding):

My man and his muscles

Gabriel just got his first tattoo (came out of a cereal box). He’s so proud.

Signs of the Apocalypse

My 2-year-old son voluntarily washed his hands today. Voluntarily.

Normally, when I wash his hands, he screams like I’m trying to kill him. So, in the interest of peace, I have been a slacker when it comes to his hand-washing. But, he just climbed up and did it today out of the blue.

Maybe tomorrow he’ll voluntarily use the potty. Right now he can’t seem to wrap his brain around it. He’ll come up to me and say “I pee pee in the boppy! Yea!” after wetting his pull-up. I always tell him, ‘no, you did NOT pee pee in the potty, you went in your diaper.’ To which he usually smiles at me blankly. And my husband wonders why I’m not pushing the potty training yet. I’m not a glutton for punishment.

Late-night ER visit

What is it with my family today?

I just got home from the ER with my 2-year-old son, Gabriel. I took him there about 1:30 am because he had a barking cough and was wheezing terribly. They said it was croup, gave him steroids and sent us on our merry way. I’m just glad it wasn’t asthma or anything like that.

My children NEVER get sick during the week – it’s always on the weekend, when our only options are to call their pediatrician (whose after-hours-call fee is $35 … grrr), wait it out and hope they are OK, or take them to the ER.

And I usually err on the side of caution. I don’t EVER want to have to say “if I had only…” when it comes to my kids’ health and safety.

Little heathens

So, my husband nearly Atkins-ed himself to death. I got a call from him this morning and he sounded like he was having a heart attack or something. He went to the nurse at his work and he took a test that indicated high levels of keytones and abnormally high levels of protein. The nurse advised him to quit the diet ASAP and move on to a more healthy, balanced diet with lots of veggies and whole grains.

So, to celebrate (the end of the strict diet), we went to a buffet tonight. I splurged for the first time in the last two weeks of dieting, and it was goooood.

But our children, on the other hand, were embarrassing. Mikaela drummed on the table incessantly, engaged in a kick fight with her brother, and tried to escape from her highchair. Gabriel belched loudly and then grinned broadly, as if to congratulate himself on a ‘good one.’

Threats never seem to work in those places, unfortunately, and my dirty looks go unheeded. I’m going to have to call my mom and ask for pointers on the stink-eye. One look from her stopped me in my tracks when I was a kid.

Kids are like snowflakes

Every day, my kids surprise me with the funny things they say and do.

To encourage Gabriel to eat his banana at lunchtime, I recently asked if my monkey wanted a banana, to which he eagerly jumped up and down and made monkey noises.

Ever since that day, Mikaela has associated that noise with food. So every day, she runs to her high chair at mealtime and says “oooh ooh! aaah aah!”

Oh, well – at least she’s getting her point across. I just hope we can break her of it before she goes to school. I don’t need anymore evidence pointing to the fact that my home is a zoo.

word to the wise

Munchkin spill-proof insulated straw cups are NOT SPILL PROOF. My kids are steadily turning my entire livingroom carpet the color of grape juice.

I think I’m going to write Munchkin a letter. I don’t like paying $4.50 for a cup that is very much not what it says it is.

another day in the life

Yesterday when Gabriel woke up from his nap, he came into the living room where I was sitting. He had his usual rumpled after-nap hairdo going on, and lines from the sheets on his cheek. But, then I noticed: he looked like he’d just waded into a swimming pool up to his chest.

Now, I know the male anatomy lends itself to pee sometimes going up instead of down, but this was a different story. He was wearing a knee-length, oversized t-shirt, and it was completely soaked below his chest – all the way around.

I don’t know how he would have managed that, aside from standing on his head. And yes, I’d just changed his diaper right before he went down to sleep.

We gotta get this boy potty-trained.

Raising boys

This was recently forwarded to me – I thought this was really cute. Yep, it sounds about right.

 RAISING BOYS
a)For those who have grown children – this is totally hysterical!
b) For those who have children past this age, this is hilarious.
c) For those who have children this age, this is not funny.
d) For those who have children nearing this age, this is a warning.
e) For those who have not yet had children, this is birth control.

The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin, Texas:
Things I've learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.