Ollie's Friends

As a 1 1/2 year old, Ollie's social circle isn't huge. He likes to be around other kids and he's working on it (nursery is helping with that - now if he'd just stay without me having to be there). But for now, he is super nice to and fun with his 2 best friends, Dex and Brooklyn. He loves his little brother and I can tell that he just can't wait until they can play together. And eventhough he and Brooklyn certainly have their toddler tiffs, on a whole they play extermely well together. Here is Ollie and Dexy hamming up their friendship for the camera and Ollie and Brooklyn cuddling in our bed together early one morning (they, of course, had to have their stuffed friends, too)!

Bottoms Up!

Brian likes to drink right out of the carton or pitcher. I keep telling him that he needs to use a glass. I remind him that I'm not really a germaphobe, but other people might eventually come to our house to visit and want to drink liquid that hasn't been "contaminated." Then he reminds me that he "doesn't put his mouth on it." Then I say, "My number one reason is that the kids love you and will want to be just like you and if they see you drinking out of the milk jug, then they'll think that they can do it, too!" And that's where this picture comes into play. The other day, I left the milk on the table for a few seconds and when I came back I found this. Low and behold, my "prophecy" came true - Oliver taking a big swig from the milk jug! Fortunately, there wasn't very much milk left. Unfortunately, it was still enough for him to get it all over himself and the table bench.

Oliver the Dinner Chemist

Ollie loves to turn his dinner into an opportunity for making concoctions. He is always dumping all the food onto his tray, putting it back into a different container than where it started and then mixing, dipping, stirring and pouring it. If I let him have an open cup of water to drink, then there is water all over the tray and soggy food in his cup. He likes to eat food that has been, what Brian and I are calling, "wetted." These are pics from yesterday's "spagehtti-o peach cheese bread goolosh" dinner. Today for dinner he had beef and applesauce ramon noodles. Who knows what it will be tomorrow!

Mommy Loves Spikey Hair!

Oliver's spikey hair picture is so cute that I just had to try and get a cute one of Dex with spikey hair, too. Here it is. He's a little younger than Ollie was when I did his, but since he has so much hair and can lift his head I said to myself, "why wait?" I just love babies boys with spikey hair!

Today's Great Moments

Today we had a good day! Everyone was happy, there was no real fighting, all 3 babies took good naps, and Oliver and Brooklyn ate so much food I almost couldn't believe it! And the played really well together. While playing, Ollie pulled out our little baby tub and kept getting in it like it was his boat or something - row, row, row your boat! It was so cute and fun! Today we also had some wonderful breakthroughs that will hopefully help to ease the stress of my 3 babies under 2 years old days. Brooklyn's mom doesn't really let her feed herself. I guess because she doesn't want a mess. But with 3 little ones, a mess is a sure thing, so I would much rather have her be self suficient. So we have been working hard to have Brooklyn feed herself when she is at our house and today she finally really got it! She made a huge mess on her tray every time she ate (which was a lot today), but that was exactly what I wanted to see! It meant that she was doing it herself! Yay, Brooklyn! Way to go! The other thing that I have been working on with both Ollie and Brooklyn is having them clean up the mess strewn all over the living room before nap time. I have been doing hand over hand clean up with them to no avail for a few weeks. Today I started singing the clean up song, which I have been using to teach them, and putting toys into the plastic bin. Without me doing anything other than that, Oliver started running around, grabbing toys and books and balls and throwing them all into the bin with me! Some of it ended up in the bin instead of where I would have put it, but who cares, right? Actual help while cleaning up the mess is worth it! Yay, Oliver! Again, I was so elated! What a couple of great moments! I started watching Brooklyn in January and to think back on how little they were then and how big they are now is just crazy. They are growing into bonified toddlers right before my eyes. You both deserve like 10 stickers on your good choice charts!

How Big is Dexy?...Soooo Big!

Dexter is just sure that he's a big boy! I guess he decided that if he's going to be the size of a 7 or 8 month old, that he might as well act like one. Here are the pics to prove it: helping himself to Ollie's cup full of chocolate milk, sitting up so good all by himself, frusterated out of his mind that he can't yet crawl, and enjoying some delicious rice cereal - mmm, finger licking good! I guess he spends a lot of time watching Oliver and Brooklyn run around and play and he just can't wait to catch up. Don't worry Dexy; you'll get there. Just hang on and before Mommy realizes it, you'll be as big as Ollie!

Storytime

A couple of days ago, the boys woke up early and I just got the day started. I changed diapers, nursed Dex, got the boys dressed, made Ollie and I scrambled eggs, and even feed Dexy some baby fruit and cereal. It was barely late morning and the were fed and happy, so I set Dex on the floor for tummy time, got Ollie out of his seat and went into the kitchen to do the dishes. After a few minutes, I stuck my head out of the kitchen door to check on the boys and I found this adorable scene. Oliver had plopped himself down next to Dex and was "reading" him a story! Precious, huh? They read and played happily together until I had finished. If all mornings were this perfect then the rate of mommy insanity moments would be greatly decreased. Maybe I'd even have 10 children!