9
February
2008
The other day the following was overheard at the Esso in Clairview. “Stop taking your brother’s teeth!” “You, you stop crying about it, he’s not really taking them it’s just pretend” “I said stop taking his teeth and give them back, now!” The poor mother had locked her kids in the car while pumping gas and was yelling at them through the window. Thankfully for the most part the kids were keeping themselves entertained except for the occasional bout of teasing (and teeth pulling?!). Normally I might have thought one of two things depending on my mood and how the kids had been that day. Either “That poor mother, she’s really keeping herself together over that and the kids are real troopers too. I hope I will be like if I ever end up in that situation.”, or “What kind of mother locks her kids in the car?”
Turns out…
…it was me!
I left the keys in the ignition so the boys could keep listening to a new CD they got at Kindermusik class. The front door has never locked before when I’ve gotten gas, but then I’ve never left the keys in the ignition either. When I went to get back into the van, all the doors were locked. I called AMA and of course got the, “Oh my goodness you’re kids are in the car!?” but they said someone would be out as soon as possible. About a half an hour later I decided to try my neighbor Jon to see if he happened to be home and had access to his car (usually Connie takes it to work). It just so happened that he was home and Connie was out of town so he had the car! He got the spare key from our house and saved the day!
Lest you are one of those thinking, “What kind of mother locks her kids in the car”, a friend sent me the following link from the automobile association in England, apparently I am not alone.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/news/children-locked-in-cars.html
Posted: Drew & Bran, Eating Your Words, Edmonton
22
January
2008
Drew’s been having some sleeping problems lately. He seems to have a bit of insomnia. If he wakes up at night (which has been happening every night), he can’t get back to sleep. He wants us to stay and rub his back until he falls asleep, which can take FOREVER. So lately he’s been getting to come to bed with us. Not a habit we wanted to start but there you go, it happened. Probably in November it was happening pretty regularly and then when I was travelling with them and staying with different friends, Drew would usually climb into bed with me in the wee hours of the morning. Although he did really well at the grandparent’s house.
(Aside: If I were a single parent I think the boys would just be with me the whole time. It’s a lot of work to keep them in their own bed, when they’ll happily fall asleep with you.)
So now he seems to be having more issues with getting back to sleep and knows he can just come to bed with us. So we’re trying to break him of that. Last night we thought we were in for it again.
The boys have never really been attached to stuffed animals and having them in bed with them, and we haven’t pushed it. They have a couple of favorites that they like to take with them when we travel or they “rediscover’ now and then and carry around for a day or so. Last night Drewie wasn’t going to go back to sleep and he wasn’t going to let me leave. I was so tired from being awake the night before (same problem) and having an early morning that I’m not really sure how the thought came to me. Maybe it was one of those God-inspired moments, because I was certainly too tired to think clearly. But I realized that maybe he just needed something else to keep him company. I stumbled downstairs and got his favorite bear, named “Bear” and a gorilla my mom got him for Christmas. He tucked bear under his arm and “Jaba” the gorilla kept watch at the head of the bed. He also got a stern talking to about how his mommy needed to get to sleep and if she didn’t, she was going to yell a lot the next day. I left and we never heard a peep until 8am this morning! Halleluiah!!
Hopefully tonight will be as successful. 
Posted: Drew & Bran
22
January
2008
Often when two or more children are playing together they a make a bit of noise. It’s when it gets quiet that you start to worry.
Sometimes when it’s quiet the boys are actually, amazingly, just playing quietly so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt and not always go running. Yesterday they were a little too quiet in the bathroom. The room where the toilet is either being flushed or water being splashed in the sink (or more recently cups of water from the sink being dumped [read that as 'splashed'] into the bathtub). Checking on them I found that they had made themselves some flouride smoothies.
Here’s the recipe if you’re interested.
Fill the bottom of a cup with toothpaste.
Add water to the top.
Drink.
Yum!
At least I know that they can squeeze they’re own paste! I think I should be teaching them to swish and spit, just in case the need for a smoothie arises again.
Posted: Drew & Bran
15
January
2008
We had some very important visitors at our house today. An Angel…and…God. First let me say, these were very welcome guests as the day for me wasn’t that great. In fact it was one of those crying days. Those days when you have two small boys who are bouncing off the walls (your own and the public ones, you know, those embarrassing ones). The boys were high energy, high maintenance today. There were lots of time outs, whining, and even a bloody lip. To top it all off, our van ends up in the shop and I’m supposed to go grocery shopping tonight! And…we’re potty training! Ugh!!
So…back to our guests. I was folding the sheets this afternoon when Bran looks up and exclaims, his face beaming, “Mommy! You’re an Angel!” And then he runs over and gives me a big hug. Awww…I felt like a million bucks. Then before I could get too caught up in the moment, he’s grabbing the sheet saying, “I wanna be an angel too!” Of course at this point, Drew runs in and wants to know what sounds like so much fun. After seeing Bran draped in a sheet, he wants to be an angel now too. Here’s how the rest of the dialogue went:
Me:”You want to be an angel too?”
A: “Yep…no…I wanna be God the Father” (Now we have been attending an Anglican church lately, but I was a little shocked).
Me:”You want to be God the Father?” (Just making sure I heard correctly)
A: “Yep…no…I wanna be Jesus!”
Me:”Okay, Bran’s an Angel, you can be Jesus”
A:”No…I’m God.”
So God and an Angel ran around our house this afternoon looking like two misfits at a toga party. But it sure gave me a much needed laugh. Where were they this evening, when I needed them? Maybe they’ll come back tomorrow.
Posted: Drew & Bran, Family
7
January
2008
I think the boys are trying to tell me something…they want to go make a snow man. Where’s Papa when you need him!?
Yesterday the boys piled rice from dinner on the top of their sippy cups, making snowmen. I thought that was pretty creative actually.
Today Bran was helping me put laundry into the laundry room. He grabbed a sheet and rolled it into a ball. He told me it was in a ball to make a snowman. He brought in two ‘balls’ of sheets for his snowman, and as I was closing the door he came running with two balloons he said were the snowman’s eyes! We stuck the balloons into the sheets and closed the door on our snowman. Hopefully he doesn’t melt on my floor.
Anyone have any creative ideas for making ‘indoor’ snowmen? It looks like the temps are dropping around here and the snow isn’t always good for rolling.
Posted: Drew & Bran
30
December
2007
I’m generally not into writing the Christmas letter thing. But since I put my blog address on all my Christmas cards, I thought maybe I should write something about what’s been happening in the Bowling family. Mostly it’s a review since I’ve written about much of our lives in this blog already.
As with most years, this one has been filled with its ups and downs. Drew and Bran have really grown this year and are turning into little boys. As of last January the boys were out of their cribs. At 18 months this wasn’t our ideal situation, but they were climbing out of their cribs so often and so well that they were starting to do dangerous things and getting hurt. So out went the beds. We tried mattresses on the floor for several months, but we just couldn’t keep them in bed. We got to the point where we were actually laying in between with our arms over each one holding them down! It was taking hours to get them to sleep. It takes Bran a while to settle in bed at night and he had a lot of trouble with this. So we tried putting them in their room and letting them run around until they were ready to sleep. This only resulted in a torn up bedroom with destroyed drawers and wallpaper. So back we went to staying beside them until they fell asleep. Around their 2nd birthday they got toddler beds which actually helped a lot. But we still have to stay in the room with them. Bedtime has gone down to 15-20 minutes most nights and 1 hour on really bad nights. Drew really likes to be patted on his back and it’s often best to leave Bran alone to roll around, chew his soother and settle down. We’re still working on being able to leave them alone and having them not get up and follow us out. But it will come.
In April the boys spent a week in Ohio with their Grandma Scott, and Nana and Papa Bowling while we went on a vacation (a belated trip for our 10th anniversary. We had our 11th one this September!). It was really nice to get away and nice for the boys to have some one-on-one time with their grandparents. We also threw a little early birthday party for them while we were there, which was lots of fun for the family.
Since we were back home in April we decided not to go back over the summer, so Mike’s parents came out in June and my brother and sister-in-law, Jeffery and Holly came out that month as well. My mom came out during her summer vacation in July. We didn’t do a lot of traveling because it was so hard with the boys sleeping. This was really hard on us because we had been so used to taking them everywhere. But we decided to try one weekend away in Calgary in August. We spent one day at the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum, stayed overnight in a hotel in Calgary and spent the next day at the Calgary Zoo. The boys did great! Our hotel had a pool which the boys absolutely loved! There was a waterslide and every time someone went down it splashed water everywhere. I thought this would especially freak Drew out but he just giggled and giggled every time he got splashed. The boys even slept well. So it was a great trip.
This fall the boys started in a playschool. They go every Wednesday from 9:15-11:45. It took Bran a few weeks to get used to it, but now he’s doing great. In January they will move up to the next class and may go 2 days a week. It’s been a big help to me. I’ve been able to get some much needed cleaning done around the house and run some errands. It’s become really difficult to run errands with the boys. Grocery shopping has become a nightmare, unless it’s a quick trip, and you can forget about going anywhere else. So this gives me time to do much of that.
Many Fridays the boys have been going to a drop-in gymnastics program. It’s really great. It’s a big room filled with gymnastics equipment, all at toddler height. And they can run around and use any of the equipment that they want. It really helps them burn off some energy. The boys also had their 2nd set of swimming lessons this fall. They were in the Duck class. They love swimming! By the end they were doing really well floating, blowing bubbles, and even putting their heads under from time to time. The boys really like to try and swim with their arms and legs going. But aren’t so keen on putting their heads under more than once a class. We went to a new facility this time which was great for the boys. Our class was in a shallow teaching pool where the water was up to the boys’ chest. It’s great for them because they can move around without us having to hold on to them. They enjoy having the freedom to move on their own. Our classes have ended and we have decided to wait a bit for the next class (Sea Turtle). We would like to have our Saturday mornings back for a little while.
The boys in general are doing really well. They’re ornery, they’re tiring, they make us angrier than we ever thought we could be. But they also make us laugh, and they’re great snugglers, and it’s so much fun to watch them grow and learn. They say the funniest things which I’ll write more about later. Bran is going through a separation anxiety phase which is really hard for our extroverted child. He always wants to be in the middle of things but he wants one of us to be there with him. He is very creative and often keeps himself entertained with make believe scenarios using dinosaurs, banana peel rockets, styrofoam cups, etc. He’s also talks with authority and likes to tell us what to do, “come here, no talking, no singing, move over…” Drew is more introverted, although he’s quite happy to jump into new activities without much fear. He’s definitely an intense child. One minute he’s smiling and giggling and as cute as can be, the next he’s whining, crying and generally an unhappy boy. We enjoy the giggling Drew better. Drew loves music; listening to it, playing his recorder, guitar, piano or drums. We often also find him dancing to the music we’re listening to.
One of the things that we have started to enjoy doing with the boys is playing games. Finally! Our favorite game until recently has been Carcassonne. Before you think we’ve got geniuses or something…we play a very simple version. Here are our rules. 1. You have to take turns drawing a tile. 2. You have to place a tile on the table next to another tile. 3. You may not pick up any pieces from the table. Very simple. Drew is starting to understand that roads can touch roads and cities are part of bigger cities, so soon we will add another rule which is that the tiles must touch appropriately. The boys are getting several games for Christmas from family members so I’ll have more to write about games later.
Mike decided to do some consulting work this summer. He’ll have to tell you more about what he’s doing. It made his summer a little more busy, but manageable. It really got rough though in September when he started teaching two classes. He dropped his consulting back by half after that. It’s definitely been nice having the extra income (it helps with the cost of bringing us all home ). Mike taught 2 classes this term, a robotics class for graduate students and an undergraduate class on computer game development. I think he really liked both classes, but they’re a lot of work. He’s also been busy writing papers and advising his students. But he does a great job of being home for the boys in the evening and putting them to bed every night. We even spend some time together every night, and then he’s back on the computer doing the work he couldn’t get done at school.
I’ve been playing with a new camera that Mike got for me, it’s the new Canon 40D. I’m really enjoying the better pics I’m getting of the boys. I’ve even been out with some friends and learning from those better than I am. I mostly enjoy taking pictures of kids, especially non-posed shots. If anyone is interested in having me take some photos of their family, it would be a free way to get some pictures and give me some practice. I’ve taken a few courses and am hoping to take another one this Spring.
A friend and I are also hoping to start a mom’s play group at our local community centre, for neighborhood moms. I’m really excited about this and hope we can get it going by mid-January. I’m finally starting to feel like I’m climbing out of hibernation. I have more energy and feel more able to take the lead on some activities. Previously I’ve just been so tired by the time the boys go to bed that I don’t get much done. I’m looking forward to getting some projects done this winter. But we’ll see what happens as the months roll along.
This year I decided to bring the boys back to the States earlier than usual. I have some friends that I haven’t seen in awhile that I wanted to visit and the holidays are just too hectic to fit a trip in. Plus Mike has a week-long conference every December and then there’s the end of the semester, which is always busy. My mother-in-law came up to celebrate Second Thanksgiving with us, a.k.a. American Thanksgiving. She helped us with the boys and getting the food ready, which was such a great help. Then on the 28th of November she boarded a plane with the boys and I and headed back to Ohio. The boys did a great job! It helps now that they have their own seats. It gives us so much more room. A day after getting into Ohio and visiting with their Papa and also Grandma Scott, we went to Pittsburgh and spent part of the day with Jodi Walsh and her 2 kids. Then our friend Toby drove with the boys and I out to central Pennsylvania to see the Groshes in Mount Joy and the Brandts in Manheim. It was so great to connect with old friends again and see how their kids are growing. It’s was good to reminisce about our days in the ‘Burgh when we met 10 years ago!
Mike came in on the 18th and we’ve now been spending our days with family. The boys have been playing in the snow, building snowmen, visiting great-grandparents, aunts and uncles. And the grandparents are getting lots of one-on-one time with the boys. The boys have been changing so much in the time we have been away. They are talking so much more and are becoming very articulate. It’s neat to watch how the boys interact with their extended family and to have all the extra hands around. It will definitely be a hard adjustment getting back to just the four of us and Mike going back to work. But I’m also looking forward to getting back in touch with Edmonton friends and our normal routines, as well spending quality time with puppy again.
That’s about all the non-exciting happenings in our life these days. I’m hoping that in this next year we will be out of church flux and have decided on a place of worship. I also anticipate getting our garden going again and doing some more clean up of the backyard. My other big project is to get our desk cleaned and organized and throw things out! It’s actually a very big job! We’re really thankful for the ability we have to travel home and spend quality time with family and friends. It’s sometimes hard to be so far away, but it’s nice to have the freedom to come home for so long.
We hope that anyone who is reading this has gotten a little glimpse into our crazy lives. We hope that you have a joyful holiday season and blessed 2008.
Posted: Drew & Bran, Edmonton, Family, Friends
17
December
2007
Funny things that we’ve been hearing around the house lately.
“I wanna cold one!”…What the boys say when they want cold milk before bed, instead of having it warmed.
“There’s a giraffe coming through the door!?”…In response to Mike and I talking about the ‘draft’ that was coming in through the front door.
“I want to knock knock”…What Bran says upon arriving at someone’s house when he wants to knock on the door.
“I see a mouse!!”…Said by Drew upon seeing a squirrel for the first time. (He squealed, pointed his little fingers, and ran excitedly over to the window to watch his mouse while the rest of us were wondering if we were going to have to put our feet up)
“Nana, I found you!”…Drew was asleep when we picked his Nana up from the airport. He said this when he woke up and saw her.
“Yeah, it’s grandma’s house! We’re here!”…The boys say this every time we arrive at my mom’s house.
“I ate a tylenol”…Said by Bran after being caught with a bottle of my folic acid. Thankfully he hadn’t actually eaten any, he was just stacking and organizing the pills. He also got into my mother-in-law’s pill box. He pulled out a caltrate, licked it, and put it back.
Posted: Drew & Bran
11
December
2007
The boys and I are back in the States visiting family for the holidays. Saturday night the boys were running around their Nana and Papa’s house (Mike’s parents) when Drew tripped and fell into the corner of a wall. He bit the inside of his lip and the wall cut the outside. We ended up taking him to the ER where he got 2 stitches. I was very impressed with the new Alliance hospital and they got us in right away. We were in and out in about an hour! And Drewie was such a trooper. He’s also done a great job of not picking at the stitches. We’re supposed to get them out on Friday, but that’s a story for another post.
Posted: Drew & Bran, Family
2
November
2007
Excerpt from a grocery trip conversation between Brandon and I.
Me:”What do you have to do in the store?”
Bran: “Hold onto the cart”
Me: “That’s right, you get an “A”"
Bran: “Andrew’s name starts with ‘A’”
The boys now don’t like to ride in the stroller, nor do they like to ride in the cart. I was lucky actually. They were willing to do both for a long time. But now it’s made life a bit more difficult. So the rule is, they have to hold onto the cart. Today, Drew had to ride because he repeatedly refused to hold on when I asked him to. Although he didn’t seem too upset about it, so it worked out fine for all of us. Now that they are walking around the store lots more things get put into the cart than what I’m planning to buy, so I am learning to maneuver strategically and find good places to dump off their loot! The boys have also figured out how to work the conveyor belt at the end of the checkout and so have been getting my grocery bags stuck under it at the end. It’s the kind of button where one side turns it on and you have to flip it the other way to turn it off. Unfortunately they’re not as fast as we would like them to be at flipping the switch. Although they are as fast as they want to be. At first the cashiers thought they were cute, now I’m not so sure they think that! Another week until we go again!
I have to say though, it’s alot of fun to see what interests them in the store (like whole grain crackers, who can say ‘no’ to that?) and to have conversations like the one above. It’s just hard to weigh those against the work it is to get through the store with all the groceries on the list, no extra snacks, and no tears from any of us! Happy shopping everyone!
Posted: Drew & Bran, Edmonton, Family
2
November
2007
I was just about to write a post about how the boys were playing quietly in their room. And it was true for about 15 minutes. Now toys are sailing down the stairs. But calmness seems to be settling once again. I know I’ve been way behind on my posts and I promise they are coming soon. Right now the boys are using their tool set to take apart a gate. I’m not too worried about the screw drivers, but I think their plastic hammer could actually do some damage to it!
Last night we took the boys trick or treating. It’s was lots of fun. We went around the block. All the neighbors oooh’d and ahhh’d over them and they got lots of candy. One house had spooky music playing and when they opened the door, smoke came out. Bran stopped halfway up their sidewalk and didn’t want to go any further. Drew just trudged right on, taking the older brother role and going first. It actually took us a long time to get down our street and up the one behind us. The boys stopped between every house to look at all the pumpkins and stare at other kids dressed up.
After our walk around the block we decided to drive to the Tanner’s and surprise them. As soon as we got out of the car the boys were called over to a house to play some Halloween games and earn their candy. They played a hole of croquet and then had to throw bones into a box. The boys loved this part. They like throwing anything! We got to the Tanner’s, had our surprise and hung out for awhile. The boys dumped their loot and we convinced them to eat tortilla chips instead of their chocolate. We did want them to actually go to sleep! They had the most fun helping to pass out the candy. They would get so excited every time the door bell rang and they ran to the candy pile (the candy was neatly organized in bowls, but when the boys were done, they were covering the stairs instead!). They alternated between giving out only one piece and gathering up whole armfuls to put in the kid’s pillowcases. It was quite hilarious.
Bran also spent a lot of time shushing the Tanner’s dog, Scooter. It was one of those moments where you hear back what they hear you saying at home. We’ve had several service people in the house for various things this week and Noah was shushed a lot. Bran would run up to the gate that Scooter was barking behind and say, “you be quiet!”, “stop barking”, and “shush!”
I think the boys had much more fun there than going door to door for candy. So next year we already have our plan in place. Once around the block and then, go to the Tanners! Hope you don’t mind us inviting ourselves! (We don’t get enough kids at our place to make passing it out nearly as exciting.)
The best part of the evening for us? Besides the cuteness of our little guys, was them falling asleep in the car on the way home.
Well, I have to stop now. Those ‘quiet’ boys have now taken a knob off of a closet door and are going through the wrapping paper!
More Halloween pics are now up on the Gallery.
Posted: Drew & Bran, Family
