Too cute to wait for sunrise

The last few days have been a bit challenging as far as sleep. O has been waking up multiple times, and despite our resolve not to bring him to bed before 5 am, that's slowly been slipping to 4:45, 4:30... Meanwhile, Z has been occasionally having bad dreams that wake him up at 12 or 1, and he's up for good at 5:30; the bedtime snuggle option is almost always declined, though he and I do occasionally get some couch snuggles in before breakfast (him) and a cup of black tea (me). Yet somehow both boys continue to be so adorable that it's hard to be overly grumpy (though feeling lumpy is perfectly fine). When Meh goes in to get O, I can hear from the other room a low-pitched "heh-low mah-mee". And when he does snuggle with us in bed, if we happen to fall asleep, he'll wake us up with the cutest little kisses (along with "more kiss daddy") a little while later.

Meanwhile, Z will wake up and occasionally start humming or quietly singing a song or two (lately his favorite is a Justin Roberts lullaby), then will quietly whisper "hiiii daddy" when I go to get him, and then gingerly walk (or be carried) down the stairs before standing on tiptoes to turn on a pair of lamps and then sitting on the "buh-rown couch". We occasionally do share a nice morning drink, his a cup of "juice" (water with a splash of fruit juice), and mine the aforementioned last remnants from our suddenly not-quite-so-recent London trip.

Let's close with a video of O, who continues to emulate his brother and show an interest in anything Z does, whether it's legos, books, Thomas, vehicles, dinosaurs, arts and crafts, or even potty time.

No more tears

Zachary's fourth birthday meant his four year wellness exam, which we went to this morning. Papa graciously watched Mister O while I took Z to the doctor. These have traditionally been very tough for Z, with much sadness and screaming and such. Fortuitously, a recently TiVo'ed episode of Sesame Street prominently featured doctors and checkups and such, so we'd been talking about it with Zachary for a few days. When we arrived in the parking lot, he did briefly tear up, but just asked for a kleenex and then was okay. We walked in, and he was immediately entranced by the office's aquarium and fish while I got the paperwork out of the way.

He then proceeded to have a crying free appointment - through two shots, shiny lights in the eyes and ears, a tongue depresser in the mouth, blood pressure cuff, and waiting. Go Z! The only thing that seemed to even moderately bother him was when the doctor flipped off the light to look at his eyes; he asked her to turn it back on, but by then she'd already looked at his pupils and complied. Such a good little man, I was very proud of him. And onto the stats:

Weight: 32 lbs 13 oz (10th-25th percentile)
Height: 38 7/8" (25th percentile)
BMI: 15.2 (25th-50th percentile)

Alas, he has what appears to be a minor ear infection, so we'll be braving the doctor again next week for a recheck. But congrats to the little man on a successful visit to the doctor (or, as he'll probably remember it, to the big aquarium of fish).

Child labor

Who does number 2 work for?

Here's an awkward post, but based on the amount of time it's consumed in the past few weeks, what the heck! While he's been fabulous about doing his impression of Manneken Pis (a sculpture that was in fact the subject of one of the books that first won him over during potty training), Z has had, um, challenges feeling comfortable using the potty for number 2. Previously he'd just wait until he was in his pajamas (and diaper, or later pull-up) to take care of business, which led to a sometimes challenging (but generally successful) half-asleep or sleeping diaper change. However, combined with his selective eating, he did occasionally get stopped up, to the point where it was visibly tough for him when he did go. In the last few weeks, he's given up on the nighttime avenue as well, and sometimes days have gone by without an event. So we're back into potty training mode, spending lots and lots of often Z-frustrating time on the potty when he clearly has to go but won't. There's an occasional success, but overall it's still a big challenge for him to overcome. On the plus side, he's found a new favorite potty book.

Since we've gone and done that poop post anyway, I'll also relay Owen's cute habit of going into our dining room corner, hiding behind a chair, and if we ask him what's going on, he'll exclaim "No poop!" with a bright red face. A few minutes later he'll generally start walking around saying "P. U. Stinky!"

First single

I mean, he's already conquered avante garde piano music, why not a little vocals and guitar?

Kiss and tell

Owen's vocabulary continues to expand, and he's impressively able to count all the way up to 9. Of course it's almost always precisely to 9, even if he skips a few numbers along the way: yesterday, he counted 9 fingers for grandma -- on a single hand. On that note, grandma headed home today. We had a wonderful time with her, and the boys both said "bye bye grandma" as we headed to the airport first thing this morning. (The night before she'd indicated she likely wouldn't see the boys again before she went since her flight was so early -- alas, they were up for the challenge and downstairs by like 5 am, which on the plus side meant they did indeed get to say goodbye!) Both boys had a great time with grandma - we all went out to eat a few times, walked around the neighborhood, grandma attended the big birthday party and swimming class, let Meh and me have a date night, and in general it was just a fun time all around. We hope she gets to visit again soon!

On the topic of early wakeups, for the past few days, Meh reports that he's woken her up (well, for good - he's pretty consistently coming to bed with us by like 4 am, and then sleeping at least a little bit longer) in the morning with sweet little kisses; Z and I are usually sadly already downstairs by 5:30. Today, he's begun giving out kisses to everyone, followed immediately by a smile and "hi!" Such cuteness -- yes, even at five o'clock in the morning!

Sharing continues to be a challenge for the brothers. Z does a great job of cueing O to share, though he doesn't actually follow his own suggestions, and whatever O has is the most important toy in Zachary's collection. Z has taken to frequently wanting to play with his toys while sitting at the dining room table, for minimal O access. In the meantime, O has wised up and often shakes his head 'no!' at the suggestion, which can lead to occasional tantrums from Z. I've seen O occasionally start to act as a bit of a peacemaker, noting the impending tantrum and gently sharing his toy with his big brother. Talk about a younger role model! In the meantime, we try to maintain parity where possible -- dual snack catchers, water/juice cups, etc. -- as well as encouraging equal sharing time where possible. It's challenging, but when they do effectively share, it's great and we start to see a glimmer of the day when they can play with and entertain each other!

Birthday maneuvers

Z's birthday is tomorrow, so we held his fourth birthday party yesterday - unbelievable that he's already four! Meh had the brilliant idea to inquire with his favorite kids' gymanstics location, and it turned out to be the perfect place for his party! Z and his young friends got to have a few semi-organized activities interspersed with crazy running around, swinging from rings and uneven bars, dancing to music, and of course an incredible Meh cake and cupcakes to wrap things up. Several of our grown up friends attended too, and reported it was as much fun to watch as to participate.

This year's party theme was airplanes, and Meh did so many wonderful and creative things with the theme, from goodie bags shaped like little travel parcels (complete with luggage tags) to custom Meh-made chocolate airplanes on sticks -- all assembled by herself, mima, and papa. And of course the birthday cake itself was shaped like Zachary's most favorite of planes from Thomas and Friends.

Z had a fabulous time, running around, swinging from the rings, bouncing on an air matt, walking a balance beam, getting sung happy birthday on a giant parachute, and getting rolled onto a matt (video below). The full picture set of the festivities can be here). He even actually picked up his cupcake (alas, only long enough to get frosting on his fingers and wipe them off in his hair) and was super happy when everyone sang him happy birthday. Even Owen had a blast on the parallel bars and many foam ramps. And the staff at the gym were incredible as well -- they took care of getting everything in and out of the car, set up, and cleaned up. It was extra special to wrap up the birthday party, get home to a clean house, and be able to just relax a bit before bath and bedtime.

And boy are her arms tired

Grandma has arrived for a weekend visit, just in time for Zachary's birthday party tomorrow! The boys and I picked her up at the airport this morning (apologetically late; Z had an epic 90-minute battle with the potty) -- they were of course excited upon our arrival by seeing all of the planes, trucks, baggage carts, and construction equipment, but even happier to see grandma! We went to lunch at what Zachary continues to call "A Great Place" (ever since he spelled out a sign inside of the restaurant and we told him what he'd spelled), then played for a bit at home before a walk was clearly demanded. The local junior high school's massive renovation (and accompanying heavy construction equipment) always entertains, and Owen kept talking about "big diggers" while Zachary commented on the "lots of trucks". Owen and grandma had a great time on the slide at the park, while Z opted to mostly hang out in the stroller.


Tomorrow is the big party, and the preparations have been fast and furious - mima and papa helped stuff the kids' goody bags, Meh has been working on an impressive cake for the (of course) themed celebration, I picked out what I hope will be a perfect gift (if I can ever find time to actually go buy it before the big day) and I'm really hoping Z has a great time with all of the activities tomorrow!