At some point you just have to laugh.

A couple of days ago, Johnny wanted to go to Cardiff (San Elijo beach) so we could watch the trains that go by. Well, we tried to go in the morning, but the boys were too distracted by all of the stuff at our house, which was fine until it was Hank's nap time and then it was a HUGE deal. My children do not understand the concept of time. So I said we would go after Hank's nap. I generally don't do afternoon outings because the boys tend to be tired, way more stubborn than usual, and unsympathetic to my desire to go home and make food for dinner... but Johnny was so sad we didn't get to see trains that I couldn't say no.

Hank woke up and we packed up and shipped out to Cardiff around 2:30pm. We parked and walked over to the Kook and sat, waiting for the trains that came about every 45 minutes, as is our custom.

Walking along the garden path from our car to the Kook statue.

Then Johnny said he wanted to go play with sand... which is a rare occurrence. Usually it's Hank who is begging to play with sand, not Johnny. Well, I tried to get them to go back to the car to get the diaper/snack/water bag and the sand toys, but Johnny wasn't having it and took off to the beach. Hank and I had no choice but to follow, armed only with my purse.

Once we got down to the sand, we walked for awhile and found a really cool spot by a bridge (something else Johnny is obsessed with right now) with lots of rocks for throwing. We threw some rocks into the lagoon, then crossed over the bridge a couple of times (not my favorite activity since there was no sidewalk and there were LOTS of cars) and back to the beach to throw rocks. By this point, I had been parked in the 2 hour lot for an hour and forty-five minutes. So I gave the boys a five minute countdown and they threw rocks for five more minutes.

Then I announced, "Okay boys! It's been five minutes. Time to go." Aaaaaaaaand, they weren't having any of it. Now, unfortunately, I don't have a leg to stand on with these declarations because I can't force them both to do something that they don't want to do. I'm not supposed to be lifting 30 pounds, much less 75 (which is what they weigh together). I do try as much as possible to coax/convince/compromise them into doing certain things with me, but this could be an expensive parking ticket if we didn't get moving. So I managed to coax Hank into leaving and just picked up Johnny.

We made it about 30 feet.

Hank got distracted by a large mound of sand and Johnny was screaming to be put down, so I put down Johnny with the agreement that he would walk to the car next to me. I walked back to Hank, explained to him that we have to get moving so I needed to carry him, which he was fine with. I picked up Hank and turned back to meet with Johnny... and he wasn't there. Where did he go, you ask? Back to where the rocks were. And he was having a merry time throwing rocks into the lagoon. So Hank flung himself out of my arms and joined his brother.

Honestly, at this point I'm panicking.

I'm worried about getting a ticket in the timed lot. I have no snacks with me. Or water. None at all. Hank the tank hasn't had anything to eat since the handful of dry cereal he had when we drove in two hours ago and you don't get to be a 2-year-old in the 100th percentile without eating every hour. And I can't carry both boys back to the car. Suddenly, I'm picturing myself having to drag the boys by their arms through the sand back to the car while they scream, cry, and generally melt down from thirst, hunger, and displeasure at being removed from their fun activity. Not something this trying-so-hard-to-be-peaceful parent wants to attempt.

So what do my darling children do as I'm having in inner panic attack? They remove their clothes and start wading in the water.

And at that point, I have two options:

• Option 1- Lose my ever-loving mind over the ridiculous parking ticket that is surely awaiting me, the wet clothes I now have to carry back to the car, and the side eyes I'll be getting from the other beach-goers as my naked sons traipse down the beach.
• Option 2- Laugh and take pictures.

I chose option 2.

The full monty

Johnny picking out the best rock for throwing.

Hank's clothes were completely wet and I didn't have any fresh diapers with me, so he walked back to the car naked. Well, he made me carry him most of the way.

I finally managed to get the boys to go back to the car voluntarily, where John had arrived (after an earlier tearful phone call from me) with Papa John's pizza. We all had some delicious dinner in the van and went home. John let me drive his car so that I could escape the craziness for a little while. He's so awesome.

Getting out the DSLR

A few weeks ago we went to Old Poway Park, thinking we'd catch a ride on the train, but unfortunately, it was broken down. So, instead we wandered around the park and I took pictures of my adorable boys. They weren't wearing clothes I would have picked for a photo shoot, seeing as Johnny's shirt had been on him for about seven days straight and Hank was wearing pajamas, but they were still pretty cute posing for pictures. Well, kind of posing.

Watching the train go back into the depot

If you look closely, you can see Hank wearing shoes!

No Mom. Crackers first, then smiling.

Open wide!

And then he got totally soaked.

I know.

It was nice to get out my good camera and attempt to be a little creative, but my bigger belly is making that a little more difficult these days. :)

Getting bigger...

Brothers

I get asked almost daily if Johnny and Hank are twins. Less so now that Johnny got a hair cut and Hank, thus far, has not taken the give-Daddy-a-shave-for-a-haircut deal, but still pretty often. Even though I'm their mother and they look completely different to me, I can understand why people think they are twins.

For one thing, they are nearly the same height. Hank is really tall for his age (over 100th percentile... I should probably write about his last doctor's appointment) and weighs only three pounds less than Johnny, so they are very similar in size.

For another, they both do very similar things. If Johnny jumps off a wall, Hank is going to go jump off that same wall. And add a somersault. Then Johnny jumps off the wall, does a somersault and a spin. Then Hank- etc, etc, etc. You get it. The fact is that they are really well-matched physically. Yes, Johnny can run faster and his coordination is just a little bit better, but Hank is right there with him.

They even have dimples on the same side! The left, like Daddy.

So yeah. I get it. They DO look like twins to an outsider.

They're not, but they're really close and I love that.

Before I was pregnant with Hank, John and I talked about how long to wait to have another baby and we both decided to have them close. Which is why the boys are only 18 months apart. I'll be honest, it wasn't a picnic having a newborn and a toddler at the same time. Johnny was still really needy and so was Hank (obviously) and I had a tough time balancing their needs and choosing between them.

Now though? It's awesome. Yes, there are sibling fights, but I know those would be happening regardless of age difference because, well, that's what siblings do. But it's really cool having two boys of a similar age because they can relate to each other rather easily. For instance, both are really into Curious George right now and will willingly sit down and watch an episode together when I need to make dinner/go to the bathroom/have five minutes without someone TOUCHING ME. Even though Hank is into the Cars movie and Johnny has kind of passed that stage, they will both play with the multiple Lightning McQueens we own and race them down ramps together. Johnny is more into trains than Hank is, but that doesn't mean Hank won't get a kick out of watching the trolleys pass for an hour or enjoy playing with the wooden train set with Johnny.

They have their inside jokes already and will laugh together even when I have NO clue what they are talking about. It's really cool to watch. And, of course, I'm interested to see how the dynamic will change with the addition of a new little one at the end of the year. Hopefully it will only get better.

Boys + Running = Presh

It was a relatively typical night. John got home at a normal time, I was scrambling to put dinner together, Hank was clinging to my leg and screaming his head off because I wouldn't pay attention to him right. that. second. and Johnny was upstairs putting his letters in order. Normal.

But then it was suddenly... abnormal.

John and I sat down to our meal and the boys actually sat down with us and ate their meals. No whining and crying about not wanting to eat dinner. No rejection of the food on their plates in favor of PB&J (that's just Johnny, Hank is not a picky eater, that's for sure). Just sheer hunger and enjoyment of their parents' company while we had a toddler-esque conversation about the day.

And then this happened directly after:
Head explosion cute, right? All I could think about while watching it happen- no, wait, my brain had fizzled out because of the CUTENESS that was happening in front of me and no thinking was going on during the performance. But later, once all of my synapses were firing again, I was thinking about a conversation I had eavesdropped on between two moms at the grocery store. I had Johnny in the shopping cart and they were behind me talking about how they really wished they had boys because boys are so much QUIETER than girls.

Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Ha ha.

Ha.

The video above is a pretty accurate example of the volume in my house at any given moment. Which I love and embrace because really? Laughing, talking and squealing kids are what makes my world go 'round.

I think I've seen this before.

I caught Hank doing this the other day:

I left him in the middle of the floor with some toys so that I could grab my water bottle from the upstairs bedroom. I come back and he has ignored all the toys I left him with and has instead focused on increasing entropy (NERD... even though I know it's not really used correctly. Whatever.)

Reminds me of someone else I know...

Johnny - 23 months

Hugs all around

Despite the sibling fights that sometimes go on around here, there are moments that make my heart melt. Johnny has been really into giving hugs lately, which I'm am just LOVING! He'll say, "Mommy hug!" and give me a big hug around the legs. Or he'll go to his friend and say, "Hug Blake!" and give Blake a hug, whether Blake wanted it or not. My personal favorite is when he says, "Hug Hank!" and then this magic happens:

I dare you to tell me that the cuteness streaming out of these pictures didn't melt your face off.

Yeah, I thought so.

P.S. Hank's holding of the H was totally coincidental. These shots weren't posed at all.

Fighting siblings

My mom used to have this newspaper clipping on the refrigerator of the "Toddler Mantra" that went something like this:

If it's mine, it's mine. 

If it's yours, it's actually mine.

If it's yours, but it looks like mine, it's mine.

If it's mine, but you want it, it's mine.

If you don't want it, it's mine.

If I don't want it, it's mine.

These boys are already at it. The sibling struggles have begun. Hank always wants whatever Johnny has and Johnny always wants whatever Hank has. The trouble is that Johnny is much more able than Hank is and always wins... whether it's his toy or not. We've been trying to work on what is Hank's Johnny can't have (unless Hank is done with it), but what is Johnny's Johnny can have. It's a tough concept for a 2 year old.

"Hey Hank! That's mine! Let go!"

"Johnny, I had that first! Give it back!"

"Mom, did you see what Johnny did?!"

Back to normal with more age appropriate toys.

Beating the Catch-22

I felt that this event deserved to be immortalized with a post all its own.

See, Hank hates the car. Hates it. H to the A to the T to the E to the S. HATES it. I've tried using car seat toys to occupy him. I've tried covering the whole seat with a blanket to avoid overstimulation. I've tried putting him in after being fed. I've tried putting him in after he's taken a nap. I've tried putting him in when he's sleepy. I've tried lots of things. After all of these experiments, there are three things I've discovered:
1. Opening the window will keep him from crying for at least 5 minutes.
2. Turning on 90s rock helps him settle (a kid after my own heart... he likes Live!)
3. Hank hates the car.

Now, the funny thing about 1 and 2: whenever I open the windows, Johnny DEMANDS that they be closed (he's always hated having the windows open) and if I'm playing anything other than Johnny's CD, he DEMANDS that I turn his "songs" on... but Hank hates Johnny's songs.

Basically, I can't win in the car. If Johnny's songs are on/the windows are closed, Hank is upset and Johnny can't sleep. If Johnny's songs aren't on/the windows are open, Hank is quiet and Johnny is upset. Catch-22.

Until last Saturday, when this happened:

Oh yeah, they BOTH fell asleep after visiting Aunt Jackie, Uncle Josh and his family. They were asleep for 20 minutes... it was the quietest car ride I've had in five months and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Gratuitous Bathtime Cuteness

Happy Halloween everyone! What's more appropriate for a blog post on Halloween than naked children without costumes? Yeah, I can't think of anything either. Hopefully I'll manage to post some cute pics of the boys in their costumes tomorrow... Key word is "hopefully".

Matchy-matchy

Adorable, right? I think this is the best shot I took, even though Johnny isn't smiling... but it beats the ones where he was climbing:

or making funny faces:

But I guess those are cute, too.