Toddler Tyranny

Things that Johnny says to me on a daily basis:

"No Mommy dance!"
"No Mommy sing!"
"No Mommy turn fan on!"
"No Mommy hum!"
"No Mommy put jelly on it!"
"No Mommy put me in car!"
"No Mommy put toys away!"
"No Mommy turn off TV!"
"No Mommy sit!"
"No Mommy sleep!"
"No Mommy stand!"
"No Mommy go in Johnny's room!"
"No Mommy play with my numbers!"

And those are the things I hear daily. This list doesn't even include what I hear if we are out and about in public or at bath time, or bed time for that matter. It doesn't include the stuff he commands me to do (as opposed to what I should NOT do).

I knew when he was born that my life would revolve around him, but certainly never expected him to be so... tyrannical.

Don't let the bored expression fool you; he's just WAITING for me to burst into song so he can take me down.

Hank is 15 months old!

I'm 15 months old!

There's a trash can in the background... that's important.

I have learned SO MUCH this last month! I have really started expanding my vocabulary and can now say the following words in addition to the list from my 13 month post:

• no
• yogurt (which is always accompanied by an open hand next to my mouth... no idea why)
• a car
• trash
• garbage truck
• soccer ball
• duck
• dog
• moo 
• on
• off
• book
• cereal (actually it sounds more like "uyuhyuhyuhyuhyuh", but it means cereal. With milk on it.)
• bagel
• llama llama
• block
• fountain
• hand
• pool
• strawberry (this one actually sounds like strawberry)
• boom 
• out
• outside
• closed
• throw
• cup
• bowl
• phone
• hi
• bye

I am IN LOVE with trash and anything to do with trash. I point out ALL OF THE TRASH CANS wherever we go (which isn't actually new, but now I can actually say the word "trash" so other people know what I'm talking about) and really enjoy throwing stuff in the trash. After Mommy changes Johnny's diaper, sometimes she'll let me throw it in the trash for her. It's such a treat! But sometimes when she doesn't have any trash to throw away, I'll pick something random and throw it in there just for the thrill.

I have started a love affair with the garbage truck and it's the highlight of my week. The second I hear a loud truck coming my way, I run to the door saying "Garbage truck? Garbage truck? GARBAGE TRUCK!!" So we all go outside and watch the garbage truck make it's rounds. Every time a can is emptied into the truck Johnny and I both say "BOOM!" and laugh hysterically. It's nice to actually have something in common with my brother.

I've gotten really good at running and jumping with two feet. I have been known to hop from one point to another point 20 feet away just because I can. I like to climb on the play structures at parks and go down slides; Mommy says I'm an adrenaline junkie. I am also getting good at saying hi and bye appropriately and LOVE to wave and blow kisses.

My napping is still rocky, but I've been getting better. I am finally getting to the point where one nap is enough and will usually go down for 45 minutes in the middle of the day and then Mommy can nearly always nurse me back to sleep and put me back down. Sometimes I don't let her put me down though, in which case the nap is over since apparently Johnny can't be without supervision for an hour. Whatever. At night, I've been sleeping for five hours straight in the middle of the night! I tend to go to bed at 7pm, wake up at 10pm, and then stay down until around 2:30 or 3. Then sometimes Mommy can nurse me back to sleep and put me in the crib, but other times she can't put me down so I come to bed with her. Either way is good for me! As long as there's a boob nearby.

My molars finished coming in this last month (finally) and now all I have left are my cuspids, which are taking their sweet time. Once those come in, maybe I'll be ready to push the boob away and move on with my life... or at least that's what Mommy is hoping!

Likes: trash, jumping, water, waving, blowing kisses, hot air balloons, balloons in general, Llama Llama Hoppity Hop, pressing doorbells, drawing on myself with marker, playing with sand, snuggling, Mommy's singing, strawberries, cheese, Greek yogurt, slides, ketchup

Dislikes: having my diaper changed, someone spoon feeding me, hitting my head, my carseat, shoes, having stuff on my hands, sitting in the stroller

Organization may be an exercise in futility

I'm not a particularly organized person. I mean, I have this incredible drive to be organized, but I never really get to that point where there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Even when I was a teacher, it was the most organized I have ever been and I STILL had organization issues (however, all of my glassware and lab tools were impeccably organized).

So, I decided to do this 14 week organization challenge over at A Bowl of Lemons, a blog I happened to find while searching for organization tips. (Side note: did you realize that I've said some form of the word "organize" 7 times already? I won't blame you if you bail now.)

The first week's challenge was the kitchen. So I did it. I took everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) out of the drawers and cabinets and cleaned them. Then I put everything back in a way that made more sense. The first thing I did was figure out which of my cabinets and drawers were "prime real estate" and put utensils and appliances that are the most used in those places. That in itself was a challenge. Which do I use more? This iron dutch oven or this cheesecake pan? 

And then I had to go through tupperware. Now, as I may have mentioned before, I love boxes. I save boxes and containers like I'm planning to move next month. In fact, sometime I'll order something off the Internet and when it arrives, I'm more excited about the box than the item I ordered. It's a sickness.

ubiquitous coffee cup photo bomb

But I digress. You can only imagine the pit of despair that was my tupperware cabinet. It was in a corner spot, so it's cavernous, and the boys routinely take everything out of it and leave everything strewn about the kitchen like a tornado came threw but was only strong enough to move the plastic containers. And when your children are in the habit of disorganizing you, you rarely have the motivation to organize these items. So I figured it was time to buckle down and throw some stuff away. I threw out every round container we had and kept all of the square and rectangle ones and put them in a deep drawer across from the drawer holding all of my plastic baggies. Now they are easy to put away and easy to access. That was my crowning achievement from this week's organization challenge.

Otherwise, it was just moving stuff around to make it more accessible. Like putting the deep fryer (that I have yet to use, but can't seem to get rid of) on a shelf high above the refrigerator, where it will NEVER be in my way. Oh, and making a cabinet solely for my baking stuff. And making a coffee station. And bringing the medications and bandaids and vitamins into the kitchen in an organized space.

Next challenge is the garage....

33 Months

I'm 33 months old!

I celebrated my 33 month birthday by slipping on a retaining wall I was climbing and scraped up my face. Oops! It was my first bloody nose and I was none too pleased about it. Nor am I all that happy about the lovely scrape marks on my face, especially with all the strangers asking about it.

I'm still into numbers and letters and am spelling more and more everyday. I have even begun sounding out simple words I don't know. I'm almost 3 years old and starting to read... are you impressed yet?

One of my favorite things to do is put DVDs in the DVD player and then take them out and clean them. Mommy keeps telling me that I'm cleaning the wrong side, but whatever. I just think it's fun to clean them over and over again like Mommy and Daddy do.

I am also getting more into music and have started to hone my dance moves. I still don't like Mommy or Daddy singing/humming/whistling along to the music, but they really like it when I sing. And who could blame them? I have a voice like an angel when I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. My favorite thing to dance to is still the fanfare music that comes on after the previews on Toy Story 2 or 3. The song only lasts about five seconds, so I try to squeeze as much dancing as possible into that five seconds.

The biggest change this month, I guess, is that I have decided I like parks. I'm all about going outside and going down slides. The 6th Ave park at Balboa Park is my current favorite and I ask all the time if I can go down the orange slide. Unfortunately, we usually end up going down a brown or beige slide since that seems to be the color scheme at the parks around my house. Oh well! Those are usually fun, too.

Pool time

It's been pretty hot lately. Yes, we live in SoCal, where it's supposed to be hot, but it's been the humidity that has been killing us, actually. So we've been spending lots of time in the pool. Which has been AWESOME. The boys are thrilled with water time now, even Johnny who wasn't very excited about the pool earlier this summer. Plus it's a fun, relaxing thing to do as a family in the evenings and on the weekends. And the boys are pretty cute in the water.

Playing around with color in editing.

This is as good as it gets when it comes to everyone looking at the camera and not flailing around.

 The previous three pictures I edited, but I got lazy and didn't feel like editing the rest... especially when I *should* be editing the twenty or so senior portraits I have left from my last client.

What do you mean I can't breathe underwater? I was BORN in the water, Daddy!

I took a lot of pictures of Hank because he's a lot easier to catch on camera. Johnny tends to be a complete blur or just a shot of the back of his head. He's being strangely uncooperative lately... but that's a whole different post.

Rubber duckies

Lately, in the bath, Hank has decided that he LOVES these three little rubber duckies more than anything. Okay, that may not be true. Johnny just doesn't throw a fit/try to drown him when he touches the rubber duckies. He picks them up and puts them all in a row on the lip of the tub and it's adorable.

Look! They're my size! And they're cute! Like me!

Suspicious toddler is suspicious of your copious picture-taking while he's naked in the tub.

Credit for the very artfully placed rubber ducky can go straight to me. It's all about angles. And patience.

Quick update... since I feel guilty

For the last six weeks I haven't found many free moments in which to sit down and write a coherent post about the boys as I've either been battling with a child at bedtime, preparing for our east coast trip, or traveling to the east coast. So I'll give you a few bullet points of incoherency:

1. We went on our trip and survived (I'll give a full update... someday).
2. Johnny can now spell TONS of words, including flamingo and xylophone. His newest trick is spelling "The Home Depot". I suppose that means we have too many home improvement projects going on.
3. Hank can say a few words now: Mama, Dada (which also refers to Johnny), yes, no, book, throw, trash, car, truck, out, yay, wow, yuck and phone. It's funny, he says "phone" an awful lot like Johnny used to.
4. Both Johnny and Hank have a sudden obsession with slides, which is totally awesome since it's something they BOTH enjoy, but it's also not a fun obsession to have when it's ridiculously hot outside.
5. Hank now kisses EVERYTHING. Blocks in front of him? Kiss. Book in front of him? Kiss. Sleeping Mommy? Kiss. Johnny's back? Kiss. It's adorable and hilarious. And sometimes disgusting when he wants to kiss the trash can.
6. Johnny is still into Toy Story 1, 2, and 3, but not enough to wear the adorable Buzz Lightyear and Woody pajamas I got him. He chooses to wear his too-small Cars PJs instead.
7. Johnny is getting better and better at using sentences, but his pronouns are all confused. Finally, John pointed out that it's probably our own fault since we've been referring to ourselves in the third person for who knows how long. So we've made an effort to say, "I'm so hungry!" instead of "Mommy/Daddy is so hungry!" and now he's starting to catch on. No idea if it's because of our change in grammar or because he's just figuring it out himself, but I'm glad.
8. Now that our pool heater is fixed, we've been spending more time in the pool. I'm happy to report that both boys enjoy it immensely... but it's REALLY dicey spending time in there with both of them and it's just me. On every trip into the pool/spa, one of them has fallen into deeper waters at least once. Kind of scary.
9. Hank has cut 3 of his 4 molars in the last few weeks and that has been AWESOME.
10. Johnny has been learning to cook his own egg and it's SO CUTE/TERRIFYING. I've been trying to foster a I-can-do-it attitude in him, since I think I tend to do too much for him all the time, and this is one of the few things he has been interested in doing himself.  

 Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to fill in all that has happened in the last few months that I've been crazy busy. But no promises. :)