September 20, 2013

Luke and I went to Trader Joe's this morning.  Two times ago both boys had little carts and they were terrible.  So last time neither one got a cart.  Today I gave Luke another chance.  He wanted to wear his (empty) backpack to the store.  The first 10 minutes or so were pretty cute.  And then he was tired of the backpack and threw it on the floor.  When I picked it up he got mad.  So I offered for him to wear it again, and he threw it on the floor again.  Things quickly went down hill from there.  Luke was laying on the floor having a full on tantrum and I had to pick him up and carry him out to the car.  When he was finally calmed down, I sat him in a regular cart, went and picked up our food from the little cart and finished our shopping trip.  The little carts... though they look adorable and fun, have really been more of a curse for me and my boys.

Tonight Charlie took Isaac to an Angel's game.  When they were getting ready to go Charlie mentioned that Isaac needed his hat and a jacket.  We'd already broken the news to Luke that he wasn't going, but he wanted a jacket and hat too.  I took him to get frozen yogurt instead and he insisted that he wear his Angel's hat and a jacket because, as Charlie had told Isaac "it will get cold!" 

September 19, 2013

It was picture day for Isaac today at school.  Isaac is such a handsome boy with a great smile, if you can just get him to look at the camera and act natural.  He usually freezes up and looks away.  I have to find creative ways to make him laugh and look in my general direction.  So today I prepped him with a funny thing to think about when it was his turn for pictures.  A few nights ago Cracker got ahold of a dirty Kleenex that Isaac had dropped on the floor and shredded it to pieces.  Isaac thought it was hilarious, so we planned for him to remember that and it would make him smile.  Hopefully it worked!

Today was Luke's second day of preschool (just one day a week for now).  This all kind of just fell into place within the last week because the new therapy program was not a good fit for him.  I need to get a better "first day of school" photo for him... even though he already had a first day.  Anyway, today I sent him with a backpack for the first time.  It was an extra we had in the closet, but it is shaped like Lightning McQueen (not sure why it is blue... a friend sent it from Taiwan).  Coincidentally Luke has recently started watching the movie Cars and loves Lightning McQueen (he is also holding a die cast version in his hand), so this was perfect.  He is absolutely in love with the backpack and wants to carry it everywhere! 

September 18, 2013

Luke is a smoothie stealer.  And actually it's not just smoothies, it is pretty much everything that I put into my mouth.  If he sees me eating he comes running and demands to have a taste.  It was cute when he was a baby and trying out all of the new foods.  It's not so cute anymore, but I still oblige.  And okay he is still really cute.  Also he is still wearing his shirt from yesterday in this photo because he wanted to sleep in it last night.  He says it is his "favorite one."  I had no idea he had a favorite shirt until yesterday when he picked it out of the closet and declared it to be so.

September 17, 2013

It never gets old.  Luke can hear a trash truck from a mile away and every time he insists that we go outside to watch it.  "A trash truck!  I hear one!  It IS here!" (Sometimes he hears them from a block or two away and I tell him "No, it's not here."  But he always insists that it is.)  Isaac used to be equally obsessed with trash trucks when he was younger.  Then he got over it, and now because Luke gets so excited, Isaac is on board again too.  Tonight they were doing arm movements to imitate the grabber arms and dumping action of the truck.

And then because the trash man was taking soooo long, they decided to just take a seat.  We've had the same trash man for years and he gets the job done quick.  But lately there is this other guy that comes sometimes and he is unbelievably slow.  It takes him at least twice as long as the other guy.  It drives me crazy!  I'm always standing out there thinking he is incredibly inefficient and I am tempted to get out there and do it myself.  Okay, not really, but the slowness is irritating.  There are four dumpsters and we must watch the dumping of all of them.

September 16, 2013

As much as my kids can drive me crazy, they also give me some pretty good laughs.  Today I took Isaac with me to the Container Store to get some DVD boxes.  He was fascinated by these "robot" trash cans.  They are the Simple Human ones that have sensors so when you wave your hand near the lid it opens automatically.  He would wait until they both closed and then wave them open again like a magician.  I was cracking up.  

And then tonight he lost his second tooth.  He actually pulled it out himself.  It has been super loose the last couple of days but he wouldn't let me pull it.  I was surprised he did it himself and he said it didn't hurt at all even though he was bleeding a bit from it.  And speaking of the tooth... I had better get to bed so that the tooth fairy can come.  

September 15, 2013

A few months ago one of my Facebook friends mentioned an app she had been using to help her kids brush their teeth everyday.  It's called Chomper Chums and it's free from the American Dental Association.  Anyone reading this who has little kids, get the app!  Isaac has always been drama when it comes to teeth brushing and this app is MAGIC.  It is kind of silly and I thought for sure he would be tired of it after a week or two, but it has been a few months and he still loves it!  He is actually asking to brush his teeth so that he can check in on his crocodile and make sure that he is healthy.  Luke likes it too but he doesn't get as excited as Isaac does.  They also both got new toothbrushes this week - Ninja Turtles for Isaac and Cookie Monster for Luke, so they are excited about that too.

September 14, 2013

Late this afternoon Charlie decided he wanted to take the boys to the pool.  Unfortunately the "season" is over so the association has stopped heating and cleaning most of the community pools.  There are a handful that are open year round so we went to one of them tonight.  Isaac loves the diving board and will jump off it over and over again.  Charlie took them once earlier this week and told me that Luke jumped off too!  Tonight Luke was being a party pooper and kept saying he wanted to go home.  But then he found the extra pair of goggles in my bag and wanted to wear them so he could be just like Isaac.  And he wanted to jump off the diving board like Isaac too.  He looked so tiny up there.  But he only got this far and then turned around and wanted to get down.  Maybe next time.  

September 13, 2013

We went to Lowe's a lot when we were remodeling our kitchen and Luke has not forgotten the shopping carts.  Lowe's is in the same parking lot as Costco so every time we go to Costco Luke always begs to go drive the shopping cart that is a car.  Today after his OT I announced that we were going to Lowe's to drive shopping carts.  He was ecstatic!  When we walked into the store Luke immediately spotted the display of Halloween decorations and this giant blow-up thing.  He excitedly started telling me "Mommy!  A guy!  A big guy!  A mask!  Really tall!" and then very matter-of-factly and with a little shiver: "Scary."

September 12, 2013

Three photos today.  First, my handsome boy on his third day of Kindergarten.

Luke & Isaac sampling some white grape peach juice at Costco.  Isaac exclaimed "I love it Mom!  Let's buy it!"  Also, I am so thrilled that Luke can drink out of a cup.  That might seem weird, but Isaac could not do it at this age.  He was about 3 1/2 before he could do it.  He didn't have the muscle strength or the ability to coordinate the muscles in his mouth.  We practiced for months and months with different kinds of cups and different consistencies of liquid to help him learn.  Watching Luke grow & develop has been such a different journey than with Isaac.  As a parent, you experience so much joy from the simplest little things that your child learns or accomplishes.  Each discovery or development is so exciting!  But on the flip side of that, when you have a child that is not developing on track the amount of heartache, worry, and despair you feel with each missed milestone is just as great.  We had some really rough years when Isaac was younger, but we are so thankful for how far he has come.  He did eventually meet most of those milestones - just on his own time.  And to see Luke learn simple things that required so much effort with Isaac, brings such a huge feeling of relief.  

Tonight my friend Jodie invited me to a huge Lululemon warehouse sale in LA.  The sale doesn't start until tomorrow but tonight they had an event for employees only, and they could each bring a guest.  I felt so flattered and lucky that she chose me!  Charlie came home from work a bit early so Jodie & I could make it up there in time and be there when the doors opened.  It was kind of overwhelming and definitely a bit of a treasure hunt, but I found some great pieces.  I went a little overboard.  You know when people start going all crazy the hysteria can be contagious!  Anyway, I got a few things for myself, a few for Charlie, and the rest I will sell on EBay.

September 11, 2013

We have to wait to pick up Isaac on the Kindergarten playground after school.  But kids (younger siblings) are not allowed to play on the equipment without teacher supervision (liability reasons I'm sure).  So poor Luke is just dying to go play on the slide and instead I have to hold him back and listen to his pitiful cries.  Hopefully it will get easier as the year goes on.  Today I promised him we would go to the park instead.  They both liked that idea.  

Later this evening I was mixing up some cookie dough (I am bringing cookies for a funeral luncheon on Friday - tragic death of a young father who was the son of a woman I used to VT), and Luke was sitting on the counter watching.  When Charlie came home from work he decided to hose off the front porch and that was suddenly much more interesting than the cookies.  Isaac wanted to watch too.