I thought Ben would have trouble adjusting to eating at the table twice a week, but it's Oliver who hasn't done well. Twice he has cried and screamed the whole time about something, making it a very unpleasant dinner time.
Last night, when I told Oliver it was time for dinner at the table, he started a tantrum, so I put his dinner in the living room, giving up. :-) I brought Ben his dinner in the living room and he looked at me questioningly. I went back in the kitchen for my dinner, and turned around: Ben had brought his dinner from the living room and sat down at the kitchen table! Then Tim joined us, and then Oliver brought his dinner from the living room. Sometimes Ben amazes me with his generosity and understanding.
Oliver is almost two and acting it. He's so sweet most of the time, but he has started some epic tantrums. Two or more tantrums recently have been over what he wants to drink:
"I want juice."
"Here's juice."
"No, I want milk!" Shriek!!!!!!!!!
"OK. Here's milk."
"No, I want JUIIIIIIIIICE!" SHRIEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Here is your juice."
"NO, JUICE IN ANOTHER CUP!!!!" SHRIEKKKKKKKK! (I don't really understand him saying that, it's just what I assume he is saying.)
"I will not put your juice in another cup. You have a choice of juice or milk in these cups. Which do you want?"
"NOOOO MOMMY!" SHRIEK! [Falls to the floor dramatically, head in his hands, screaming, screaming, screaming. Continues screaming for a good 15 minutes.]
Ben, Tim, and I just look at each other and shake our heads.
:-)
Friday, April 8, 2011
Oliver's songs
I remember the song Oliver has been singing: Wheels on the bus. One time Ben and I were singing it, and Oliver did hand motions for "round and round" and then he did eye-rubbing for "babies go waa waa waa" and shushing motion for "mommies go sh sh sh." Amazing what he learns in two days at Wee Creekers. Nowadays, he'll just say "round round bus." He also said, "Boom boom choo" and patted his legs and clapped his hands, which I took to mean "Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem chu!" from They swam and they swam all over the dam.
So I guess he has short-hand for all his songs:
Rinkle star, how-a-u
Round round bus
Rocket baby
Boom boom choo
So I guess he has short-hand for all his songs:
Rinkle star, how-a-u
Round round bus
Rocket baby
Boom boom choo
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Momwatchmomwatchmomwatchmomwatch
Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever counted how many times a kid says, "Mom watch!" in a lifetime. It seems like Ben says it a thousand times a day, and he mushes the words together for maximum efficiency: "M'watch-m'watch!" I read in a book that someone did study it and I think they said a preschooler can ask for attention from a grown-up 180 times per hour. Depending on the circumstances, that is a low figure. :-)
Oliver's language
I tracked Ben's language so well, I hate that I'm not documenting Oliver's as much. He is already speaking in sentences, so here's some tracking and back-tracking:
- doggy or ducky = "goddy"
- milk = "mook"
- motorcycle = "keekle"
- bicycle = "bikle"
- airplane = "ah-ben"
- please = "pease"
- thank you = "tin tu"
- lotion or soap = "shope" (which he loves to slather in his hair)
- santa claus = "shanta kaw"
- mommy = "mo-i" sometimes, like Ben used to say "da-i," skipping the consonants
- blanket = banket
- dump truck or monster truck = "tu tuck"
- scissors = "shishu"
- diaper = "dipu"
- He says sorry a lot (again, where did he learn that? :-)). If he accidentally hurts you, he rubs your chest and says "shawy." He also says it when he doesn't need to, like when Ben does something wrong, or when I do something wrong. I try to tell him he doesn't need to be sorry.
- He often includes a grunt in front of nouns, which we take to me "I want," such as "uh juice" or "uh cheese."
- On Wee Creekers days, I take Ben in and Tim takes Oliver in, and Oliver waves to me and says, "Bye...Mommy" and "Bye...Ben" and tries to say I love you. It comes out, "I yuyoo."
- There is a pause between his words, which I hope isn't a sign of future stuttering. One movie we watched had a character saying, "Hello Iggy," and Oliver liked to repeat that. He said, "Hallo... Iggy" and it was so cute, but there was a weird pause between the words.
- When Ben is being nice to him, Oliver is super sweet about thanking him. One day Ben opened Oliver's lunch box in the car, and then opened the tupperware inside it, and both times I heard Oliver say, "Tin tu ... Ben." Then sometimes Oliver also says his version of "you're welcome," which I think sounds like "wekom."
- Good news that Oliver already talks about his diaper being wet or being poopy - hopefully he will potty train a little earlier than Ben.
- Oliver also seems to be using "I" - he'll say "I found it!" or "I got it!" I suppose he could be just repeating what he hears, but it seems like he is saying a sentence from scratch.
- doggy or ducky = "goddy"
- milk = "mook"
- motorcycle = "keekle"
- bicycle = "bikle"
- airplane = "ah-ben"
- please = "pease"
- thank you = "tin tu"
- lotion or soap = "shope" (which he loves to slather in his hair)
- santa claus = "shanta kaw"
- mommy = "mo-i" sometimes, like Ben used to say "da-i," skipping the consonants
- blanket = banket
- dump truck or monster truck = "tu tuck"
- scissors = "shishu"
- diaper = "dipu"
- He says sorry a lot (again, where did he learn that? :-)). If he accidentally hurts you, he rubs your chest and says "shawy." He also says it when he doesn't need to, like when Ben does something wrong, or when I do something wrong. I try to tell him he doesn't need to be sorry.
- He often includes a grunt in front of nouns, which we take to me "I want," such as "uh juice" or "uh cheese."
- On Wee Creekers days, I take Ben in and Tim takes Oliver in, and Oliver waves to me and says, "Bye...Mommy" and "Bye...Ben" and tries to say I love you. It comes out, "I yuyoo."
- There is a pause between his words, which I hope isn't a sign of future stuttering. One movie we watched had a character saying, "Hello Iggy," and Oliver liked to repeat that. He said, "Hallo... Iggy" and it was so cute, but there was a weird pause between the words.
- When Ben is being nice to him, Oliver is super sweet about thanking him. One day Ben opened Oliver's lunch box in the car, and then opened the tupperware inside it, and both times I heard Oliver say, "Tin tu ... Ben." Then sometimes Oliver also says his version of "you're welcome," which I think sounds like "wekom."
- Good news that Oliver already talks about his diaper being wet or being poopy - hopefully he will potty train a little earlier than Ben.
- Oliver also seems to be using "I" - he'll say "I found it!" or "I got it!" I suppose he could be just repeating what he hears, but it seems like he is saying a sentence from scratch.
March 2011
Random updates:
- Ben refuses to write or read anymore. Hopefully his desire will come back naturally, but lately he sure gets mad when I ask him to tell me what letters he sees or try to write them.
- But ... Tim says Ben tried to teach Oliver the alphabet one night in the bath. Ben patiently went through the alphabet saying, "Liv, can you say A?" etc. Tim said Oliver went along with A and B and then yelled O several times and didn't pay any more attention. Ben continued patiently even though Oliver wasn't listening.
- I've heard Oliver say weird things and after a while I figured out they were songs he learns at Wee Creekers. One day at the store he was saying, "Rinkle sta, how are you," or something like that. I finally realized he was singing Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. He also says, "Rocket baby," which is Rock a bye baby, and he kind of sings the alphabet song. I think there was one more song, but I can't remember it right now.
- I call Ben "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" these days. Half the time he is as sweet and rational as he can be, helping Oliver, helping us, teaching Oliver things, etc. and the other half he is having the biggest tantrums, saying he doesn't like us, we aren't his friends, he doesn't like Oliver, he doesn't want a baby in the house, hitting Oliver, hitting Wally, screeching at the top of his lungs. We give him strict time outs when he hits, but otherwise I have no idea how to handle him, except try not to feed into it. Sometimes if you can leave him alone, he'll finish the tantrum on his own and come back as the opposite Ben.
- Oliver still loves to copy Ben, and is learning all the karate moves and boy noises from Ben already. Which means he is more of a "little boy" than Ben was at his age.
- One of our New Year's resolutions for 2011 is to eat at the dinner table at least twice a week (we've been horrible about that!) We have taught Ben how to clean and set the table, and he loves to eat by candlelight. Now, I just need more "dinnermaker activities," which is what I call activities that the boys can do in the kitchen while I make dinner to avoid blood-sugar-low/mom's-not-paying-attention meltdowns. They really love "doing dishes" but that wastes water and floods the floor usually. One night Ben had an idea, and I wonder where in the world he got it. He asked me to get the coat rack and some rope, and somehow explained that he wanted a pulley system. I tied a teddy bear on one end of a rope, looped in over one hook, and gave Oliver the other end and he spent a good 20 minutes hauling the teddy bear up and down, completely fascinated. Ben tried tying different things to his rope, heavy things and light things. What a neat activity!
- One night I finished reading to Ben and said Good night, I love you. He said, "I love you too, Mom. You wish you were home with me?" Perceptive and out of the blue!
- Ben says that certain things are his "best," and means his favorite. When he is in a bad mood, he'll scream that something "IS NOT MY BEST."
- Ben has been wearing underwear during the day for a few weeks now, thank goodness. He has been good about using public bathrooms and doesn't seem to have any hang-ups. Finally!
- Ben refuses to write or read anymore. Hopefully his desire will come back naturally, but lately he sure gets mad when I ask him to tell me what letters he sees or try to write them.
- But ... Tim says Ben tried to teach Oliver the alphabet one night in the bath. Ben patiently went through the alphabet saying, "Liv, can you say A?" etc. Tim said Oliver went along with A and B and then yelled O several times and didn't pay any more attention. Ben continued patiently even though Oliver wasn't listening.
- I've heard Oliver say weird things and after a while I figured out they were songs he learns at Wee Creekers. One day at the store he was saying, "Rinkle sta, how are you," or something like that. I finally realized he was singing Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. He also says, "Rocket baby," which is Rock a bye baby, and he kind of sings the alphabet song. I think there was one more song, but I can't remember it right now.
- I call Ben "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" these days. Half the time he is as sweet and rational as he can be, helping Oliver, helping us, teaching Oliver things, etc. and the other half he is having the biggest tantrums, saying he doesn't like us, we aren't his friends, he doesn't like Oliver, he doesn't want a baby in the house, hitting Oliver, hitting Wally, screeching at the top of his lungs. We give him strict time outs when he hits, but otherwise I have no idea how to handle him, except try not to feed into it. Sometimes if you can leave him alone, he'll finish the tantrum on his own and come back as the opposite Ben.
- Oliver still loves to copy Ben, and is learning all the karate moves and boy noises from Ben already. Which means he is more of a "little boy" than Ben was at his age.
- One of our New Year's resolutions for 2011 is to eat at the dinner table at least twice a week (we've been horrible about that!) We have taught Ben how to clean and set the table, and he loves to eat by candlelight. Now, I just need more "dinnermaker activities," which is what I call activities that the boys can do in the kitchen while I make dinner to avoid blood-sugar-low/mom's-not-paying-attention meltdowns. They really love "doing dishes" but that wastes water and floods the floor usually. One night Ben had an idea, and I wonder where in the world he got it. He asked me to get the coat rack and some rope, and somehow explained that he wanted a pulley system. I tied a teddy bear on one end of a rope, looped in over one hook, and gave Oliver the other end and he spent a good 20 minutes hauling the teddy bear up and down, completely fascinated. Ben tried tying different things to his rope, heavy things and light things. What a neat activity!
- One night I finished reading to Ben and said Good night, I love you. He said, "I love you too, Mom. You wish you were home with me?" Perceptive and out of the blue!
- Ben says that certain things are his "best," and means his favorite. When he is in a bad mood, he'll scream that something "IS NOT MY BEST."
- Ben has been wearing underwear during the day for a few weeks now, thank goodness. He has been good about using public bathrooms and doesn't seem to have any hang-ups. Finally!
Uh oh - the truth comes out!
We were watching some dinosaur video and talking with Ben about whether he needed to be scared of dinosaurs. We explained that they were extinct and didn't exist anymore. He looked confused and said, "Then how do we eat their meat?" Uh oh - we got caught in our own lies! We tell Ben that we are eating dinosaur meat when we have veggie burgers or veggie nuggets. Sometimes we say something else is dinosaur meat to entice him to eat. Tim will say he went out and hunted a T-rex and I cooked it for dinner and he is more willing to eat. I forget what we told him - I think we admitted we were just saying it was dinosaur meat but it really wasn't.
Wonderful trip to Washington
(Would you believe my luck: I found a couple of precious minutes to publish this post two weeks ago and something happened and it didn't work. So this is the second time. You know you lose things when you try to write something twice.)
We took a really, really nice trip to Concrete, Washington to visit Aunt Tessa and Uncle Gary for a week. Oma and Opa came too and we had a great time. Cousins Karen and Terry and Charlotte and Natalie came for one day and the girls and boys went into a bedroom and all we heard was laughter for a while.
It was sweet to hear Ben say Aunt Tessa and Uncle Gary. Oliver didn't quite get their names - he called Tessa Aunt Geery, I think. But they both know Oma and Opa well.
Tessa had a house full of delicious food, and one morning Ben and Oliver sat and ate almost a whole cantaloupe (antelope) and about a dozen kiwis. Oliver said over and over, "More pease" and "tin tu."
We watched a dog documentary one night and Oliver sat on Aunt Tessa's lap and pointed to every dog he saw on the screen, exclaimed each time and said "goddy!" or "ruff!"
Ben tasted some special gum from Oma's purse and then wanted a piece of Oma's bubblegum every couple of hours.
The weather was typical Pacific northwest (flooding, even), but we had a couple of days with nice enough weather to go the playground, do a really neat hike, and go to the beach for sunset. On our hike through the gorgeous, mossy rainforest with gigantic trees, Ben acted silly and crazy. He might have been annoying to us, but maybe he was pretending to be a superhero hiker and I bet he felt powerful. Oliver was a little trooper and hiked a long way without asking to be carried. At the beach, Ben, Oma and I were brave and took our shoes off to step in the freezing ocean, and Ben stayed barefoot much longer than we could. There were military jets flying around and around, and the sunset was gorgeous. Ben and Oliver threw rocks, and watched Cousin Barrett (dog) chase sticks in the water.
Ben loved flying, and was upset that we had only one flight each way. On the flight home, the pilots door was open and the flight attendant offered to let Ben go talk to the pilots. Our camera battery was dead, so we couldn't get a photo. We thought Ben would be fascinated with all the buttons, but one of the pilots happened to ask how old he was, and that set Ben off on talking about his birthday party a couple of weeks before, and the conversation was dominated by monster trucks instead of flying a plane. I thought nobody could talk to pilots after September 11, so it was neat that they let Ben step in.
About a week after the trip, Ben said to me, "I like Oma a lot. I miss her. I think she should come visit." (Sorry, Opa!) One day Oliver pointed at every bearded gentleman and said, "Opa!" Oliver also periodically says "Miss...Oma."
Thank you Aunt Tessa, Uncle Gary, Oma and Opa!
We took a really, really nice trip to Concrete, Washington to visit Aunt Tessa and Uncle Gary for a week. Oma and Opa came too and we had a great time. Cousins Karen and Terry and Charlotte and Natalie came for one day and the girls and boys went into a bedroom and all we heard was laughter for a while.
It was sweet to hear Ben say Aunt Tessa and Uncle Gary. Oliver didn't quite get their names - he called Tessa Aunt Geery, I think. But they both know Oma and Opa well.
Tessa had a house full of delicious food, and one morning Ben and Oliver sat and ate almost a whole cantaloupe (antelope) and about a dozen kiwis. Oliver said over and over, "More pease" and "tin tu."
We watched a dog documentary one night and Oliver sat on Aunt Tessa's lap and pointed to every dog he saw on the screen, exclaimed each time and said "goddy!" or "ruff!"
Ben tasted some special gum from Oma's purse and then wanted a piece of Oma's bubblegum every couple of hours.
The weather was typical Pacific northwest (flooding, even), but we had a couple of days with nice enough weather to go the playground, do a really neat hike, and go to the beach for sunset. On our hike through the gorgeous, mossy rainforest with gigantic trees, Ben acted silly and crazy. He might have been annoying to us, but maybe he was pretending to be a superhero hiker and I bet he felt powerful. Oliver was a little trooper and hiked a long way without asking to be carried. At the beach, Ben, Oma and I were brave and took our shoes off to step in the freezing ocean, and Ben stayed barefoot much longer than we could. There were military jets flying around and around, and the sunset was gorgeous. Ben and Oliver threw rocks, and watched Cousin Barrett (dog) chase sticks in the water.
Ben loved flying, and was upset that we had only one flight each way. On the flight home, the pilots door was open and the flight attendant offered to let Ben go talk to the pilots. Our camera battery was dead, so we couldn't get a photo. We thought Ben would be fascinated with all the buttons, but one of the pilots happened to ask how old he was, and that set Ben off on talking about his birthday party a couple of weeks before, and the conversation was dominated by monster trucks instead of flying a plane. I thought nobody could talk to pilots after September 11, so it was neat that they let Ben step in.
About a week after the trip, Ben said to me, "I like Oma a lot. I miss her. I think she should come visit." (Sorry, Opa!) One day Oliver pointed at every bearded gentleman and said, "Opa!" Oliver also periodically says "Miss...Oma."
Thank you Aunt Tessa, Uncle Gary, Oma and Opa!
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