The Good & The Bad; The Cute & The Ugly

The Good and the Bad: Greg started a new shift at work- 1PM-11PM.  It will be much easier on the boys when I go back to work, but a little bit more difficult for me at night managing bedtime all by myself...at least until Ethan grows out of his "bewitching" hour as the Dr. called it (colic?).  When I go back to work on October 17th, Landon and Ethan will be spending every Monday with Greg (all day!) and Tues-Fri they will go to my friend Kristens' (same as last year) from noon-3:30/4:00 when I pick them up from school. I love that they will only be out of the house a few hours each day, and that they will be getting some good time in with their Daddy. It is a little tough in the meantime because from around 6-9/10 or so, Ethan is VERY fussy. Even when I hold him, he isn't content. In order to calm him, I usually have to do a combination of swaying, rocking, bouncing...which is kind of tough to do when giving Landon a bath, reading bedtime stories, etc. Some nights are better than others (tonight is a GOOD night!). Last night- not so good. I was close to tears myself. I had to put Ethan in his crib to cry a few times so that I could devote time to bathing Landon and reading stories without having him scream in our ears. After putting Landon down to bed (I tried to go as fast as I could...probably ten minutes at most), I picked up Ethan, explaining to Landon that it was Ethan's turn for mommy. I tried explaining that I am only 1 mommy and that I have 2 boys, and that I needed to take turns with them. Landon seemed to get it for about 2 minutes. Then he hopped out of bed, and reached his arms up to me in the hallway as I was doing my bouncing routine with Ethan, and started crying, "Landon, Mommy, 2 boys" AH! This was the point at which I almost had my own meltdown. But, not all nights are that bad. Tonight, I am actually blogging, while Ethan AND Landon are sleeping- what a treat!

The Cute: Landon just loves being my little helper. Anything I show him how to do, he does! He has a little wheelbarrow that I believe used to be his Uncle Chris'. He wanted to help me take out the recycles one day in it. Ever since that day, it is his "job" to take them all out on his own! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

The Ugly: I was changing Ethan's diaper when Landon just got a little too silent in the other room. I began calling him, and he didn't answer. I didn't panic, because he does this a lot...so I knew he was just into something he shouldn't be. (Garden of Eden -like?) Well, to my surprise and gross disbelief, I walked in after finishing with Ethan to find that all 3 of our toothbrushes were being used to clean the sink...AND the toilet- GROSS!!!! So, I very sternly told Landon that that is NOT what we do with toothbrushes, etc., threw them in the trash because they were dirty, and put him in time out. Fast forward to later that night. I take Landon in to brush his teeth only to find that all the toothbrushes are missing. So, I ask Landon, "Where are the toothbrushes?" He says, "Trash, mom, dirty!" What? We don't throw our new toothbrushes in the trash! Only mommies and daddies get to throw toothbrushes away. Sigh.... Looking back, this is completely hilarious- at the moment with Ethan screaming in the background waiting on me, not so much.

The Cute (Part 2): Ethan is starting to make the cutest sounds and faces! Here are two pictures I captured on my phone!

He is also getting so big! When I took him for his 1 month appointment, he was 8 lbs, 13 oz (up from 5 lbs, 15 oz at his 2 day old visit!) which puts him at the 30%, and he is now 22 inches long, up from the 19" that they measured him at that 2 day visit which puts him over 100% for height! We are going to have one tall, skinny boy! :)

Landon is doing phenomenal in the potty training department. We rarely have accidents. In fact, last night was the first night that he went all night in big boy undies without any accidents! We had been only putting diapers on at night, and for almost 2 weeks it was dry every morning, so I just HAD to try it. The first night- 2 nights ago- he woke up at 3 AM saying "wet" and he had started to go, but thankfully went mostly in the potty. Then, last night, DRY! Woohoo!!!  Landon's speech is also picking up...for the good and the bad! He is putting 3-4 words together at a time now. My favorite is when we are in the car, and he points out things around us, "Big Digger, Mommy!" or "Look! Big boat!" or... "(insert Landon's version of a siren sound here) Daddy lights, mom!" The bad I'm speaking of is when I put him in his time out chair in the kitchen, and he hops down. I then say, "You better get back up in your chair, or you will have a longer time out." To which he shouts, "No longer time out!" I guess the talking or shouting back has begun.  :(

One of the other neat things to see Landon learn to do is to finish sentences/pages in books that we read. I have begun to pause at the end of each line of the page to see if Landon can remember the rhyming word. To my surprise- he knows the words! He constantly amazes me! Being a teacher, I happen to take a special interest...okay, maybe it's a little beyond that. I tend to love to the point of getting giddy seeing a kid learn. And, being a mom, well, let's just say that you get to see A LOT of that! It warms my heart, and makes for a lot of smiles!  ...especially when that learning has to do with READING! :0)

Okay, Ethan is due for his bottle in about 10 minutes, so I'm going to call it a wrap for the night! I'll leave you with two updated pictures of my two boys together- LOVE THEM!