29
September
2006
The boys emptied the bandaid drawer so I gave them each a bandaid. That wasn’t good enough for Drew, he wanted one on each hand. Bran kept taking his off and giving it to me so I would put it back on again. 
Drew
Today Drew waved at his shadow.
Drew is getting his fourth tooth. Finally!
Drew doesn’t like socks. I’m always finding them in his bed after a nap, or he’ll come downstairs with one sock on and one sock off (I think there’s a nursery rhyme about that).
Bran
Bran spent part of yesterday afternoon walking sideways. I guess he wanted to see what it was like! He also spent part of the time walking while looking at the ceiling. Needless to say, he fell down alot.
Bran is getting teeth # 13, 14, 15, and 16 (top molars and eye teeth). His bottom front teeth are discolored. Apparently this is not unusual for a preemie. And his adult teeth will not look this way. In the meantime he’s got coffee-drinkers teeth. As a result of the teething we’ve had two weeks of him waking up twice in the middle of the night. The past two nights have gone by without a peep. Yay!
Posted: Drew & Bran
27
September
2006
The boys had their first swimming lesson on Saturday. They are in the Parent & Tot class at the U of A. It’s a half-hour class and there are about 7 other kids. Come to think of it…they are all boys! Huh. Anyway today was mostly getting used to the water. We did some walking up and down the length of the pool, then some floating on the back, and then some bubble blowing. Both boys were hilarious when they got in the water. They were laughing and squealing and splashing all over. Bran takes right to it and starts paddling his arms and kicking his feet. He seems like a natural swimmer. Drew did pretty well the first few times we tried backfloating but as soon as his ears went under he turned and got a faceful of water. After that he didn’t like the backfloat so much (he’s quite particular about getting his face wet). Bran did not like being on his back. He got really scared. We also got to practice blowing bubbles. Drew practices this often in his milk so he was ready. He did a great job, although it was more like being in the cup of milk than blowing bubbles from the side, so he got a few mouthfuls of water. But it didn’t seem to bother his as much as the backfloating/getting water on your face thing. So we had lots of fun and are looking forward to next week.
We’ve decided to make these family morning outings. We LRT to campus for the 11:30 class then by the time we get out, dried off and changed (which by the way is a major challenge with a litte guy who wants to run all over the locker room while you’re changing!) it’s 12:20 or so and then we head to lunch, eat at the Student Union and LRT back just in time for afternoon naps. Now we’ll see if it works out like that every week! The only bummer this week was that we missed the annual U of A Turkey Trot (run/walk for United Way). Last year the boys won a Turkey for being the youngest participants. This year I heard a 2-week old won! And Paul and Kim’s daughter Diane got the second place Turkey. It turns out that the Turkey Trot is the annual “meet the new baby” venue. It was a bummer not to participate this year. What were they thinking starting lessons this weekend?! Oh well, hopefully we’ll be able to be back next year.
Posted: Drew & Bran
19
September
2006
It’s a laugh a minute around here…
From around 4:00pm, through dinner and until the evening bottle, the boys can be quite frustrating. After the evening bottle however, it’s been a laugh a minute lately. We’ve spent the past few nights just rolling as we’ve watched the boys play.
Drew has figured out how to stand on his little car. A few nights ago he got on, stood up and slowly put his arms up in the air (think “Karate Kid” style here). I jokingly said to Mike, watch him jump kick. Well… he did pull up his leg (it looked more like he was trying to balance on one foot), and promptly fell off.
Last night the boys got to stay up a little bit later as we watched the Steelers game (no comments please). They spent a good 20 minutes chasing each other around the the game table in the basement, just laughing and squealing at each other. Their PJs are a little too long so as they ran, the feet starting flopping around in front of them. It was hilarious!
Bran has either taken to mimicking me, or he’s giving me a hint about my cleaning. The other day he got out an umbrella (closed) and starting “sweeping” the floor. He was good, he even got into those hard to reach places between the oven and the cupboards! So the next day while I was sweeeping I gave him a feather duster. He went to town, even trying to “sweep” the dirt into the dustpan with me. Of course he kept knocking the real dirt out so after a while his “broom” went away, while I finished.
Posted: Drew & Bran
15
September
2006
Yesterday I was in the kitchen doing something. Probably reading email. And I noticed that it had gotten really quiet in the house. That never happens in our house! I look over into the living room and notice the boys huddled together on the floor at the end of the couch. That also never happens without someone fighting over a toy. Upon inspection I found our answering machine had been pulled off the back of the end table, dragged under the table and out the other side, and was now being poked and prodded by excited little fingers.
Their fascination was quite evident as was their dismay when I returned the answering machine back to it’s rightful place.
What I found amusing was not their delight in finally getting their hands on this thing, but that in their curiosity they forgot to fight over who was touching it!
Posted: Drew & Bran
14
September
2006
Head, …, …, & Toes The boys and I have been singing the “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” song. Drew is really good at putting his hands on his head at the right time. Bran really didn’t seem to care. Today we were singing while waiting for their dinner to cool down (distraction technique) and Brandon started touching his knees and toes in time with the song! And I thought he wasn’t paying attention. He’s not quite consistent with the knees, but he’s got the toes down. Now if Drewie can do his shoulders they have 1/2 the song done between them!
Andrew
Our Little Monkey. Drew is a climber. He especially loves to climb onto the kitchen chairs and the rocking chairs. He gets this really proud look on his face when he’s sitting in the chair. He also likes to sit on the edge and swing his feet. It’s really quite cute. But…now begins the discipline of “no standing!” The other day we were at a party and he climbed all the way into their son’s highchair without help.
Beans Beans the Magical Fruit. It would seem that aside from goodies like cheese, Drew’s favorite food is beans, especially the tooty kind. Kidney beans, black beans, chick peas… For a week he was eating a bean salad every day. He had his little bowl of beans and whenever it was empty he would ask for more!
Talking. The boys aren’t really saying much, but they’re coming along. Here’s what you might find Drew saying on an average day: Doggie (it sounds a bit like dada, but we don’t think he’s confused), done (used when he’s finished eating, sounds like daa). He also uses sign language to say “more” and “finished”. Twice he’s used the sign for eat (once when asking for some crackers and today when he saw corn muffins on the counter and wanted some). He kept signing eat over and over. He also knows sign for diaper change and when I make it he will often come over to get a change, unless he’s being stuborn.
Sliding in public. Drewie loves the slide, but he won’t go down when other kids are around. I always tell people “Drew loves the slide” and then when we’re out at the park with friends or at Sunday School (they have a little slide), he won’t go down. He’ll even go up, and then come back down the steps. Although he is still learning one important fact, that sliding requires one to either sit or lay on the slide, not walk down it. Last week he tried to walk down the little slide at church. He landed on his face, got a little red mark, but is perfectly fine.
Brandon
It’s a dog’s life. Bran loves dogs! He is happiest when playing catch with Noah. This is what it looks like, Noah lets Bran sneak up and grab the ball. Bran starts running, he manages to dodge a couple of Noah’s advances, but then in his excitement he drops the ball. Much giggling ensues and the fun begins again. The other day we were on Campus, Bran and I were walking around the sidewalk and he caught sight of a couple with a big dog, for what amounted to about a block Brandon kept repeating his word for dog over and over while following behind as fast as his little legs would take him. It was really cute! Thankfully the dog and his owners walked around a corner and out of sight. After a bit more chasing, the little one gave up.
What would you do for an…apple?! Our wonderful neighbor Fiore has been bringing us over boxes of apples from his tree. Bran found the box on the deck one day and grabbed two apples (one for each hand). A little while later I noticed that he was 3/4 of the way through one of them. They’re pretty small and he had eaten all the way through, core and all! So for the next several days every time we would leave or come into the house, he had to grab some apples. He took two with him when we went to get his stitches out and left them in his seat in the car. After that ordeal I offered him some crackers, no…he didn’t want any, so I offered cookies, after all a little boy who just got his stitches out should be able to have a cookie, but no…he refused. When we got back to the car, his face lit up and he started eating his apples!
The Stitches. Bran got his stitches out a week ago Thursday. That was not a good afternoon. The stitches had been done very well and they were very tight. So we had to swaddle Bran with his good hand inside. I held him down and sang songs to him while one nurse held his hand/finger and another nurse pulled up the stitches and put the tip of the scissors through to cut. Needless to say Brandon did not enjoy this one bit. The last stitch was really tight and the nurse with the scissors needed both hands, so I had to hold the stitch up! When the boys were in the hospital I left all of this kind of thing to Mike while I sat with the other baby. Now I’ve had to hold Bran down twice in two weeks (once for the IV and then stitch removal) Yuck! Sorry Bran!
What’s This? What’s That? Bran’s newest thing is pointing at objects so that I will tell him what they are. Every morning he points to the different animals on the border in his room, we go through almost all of them. After naps we often do the same. He’s quite a curious little fellow.
Posted: Drew & Bran
30
August
2006
Andrew
Mother’s Helper. Drew has become a “mother’s helper.” He has always enjoyed “sorting” the laundry. But lately he has been helping me water the apple tree (he sits on the ground and holds the hose over the mulch). The other day at Ariel’s house he was helping with the watering can and Monday while I was cleaning the cupboards I gave him a paper towel and he wiped them all down for me!
Mornings. Drew has started having some interesting morning routines. After getting out of his crib the first thing he wants me to do is open their blinds so he can see the sunshine outside. He’ll often look at the window and make the sign for light while he’s waiting for me to pick him up. His other routine is to climb onto his little table in the living room and look out that window. He really likes to check on things and see what’s happening. He’ll stand there for up to 5 minutes before going on with his play. The rest of the day he completely ignores the window unless he can hear the neighbor’s dogs barking, then he wants to see them.
Temper, Temper. Drew is defintely the more emotional of the two boys. He gets very upset when things don’t go his way, even falling to the floor in a tantrum. At this point I haven’t found any way to lessen these episodes. If we can’t redirect him before it happens, we usually just ignore him until he’s done and then give him a big hug and try to direct him to something else. He’s so dramatic that I fluctuate between being frustrated and just wanting to laugh.
Sliding Boards. Drew loves slides! It doesn’t matter how tall, he’s gone on them all, all by himself. On the taller ones we hold his arms until he is lying flat and then he goes down. On the smaller ones, he climbs up and goes down without hellp (by smaller I mean anywhere from a 3 step one to the one that’s about 5 feet high.) At our playground he’s now turning around on one of them halfway down so he ends up on his belly.
Brandon
Driving Around in My Automobile… The boys have a little riding car with a handle on the back that allows them to push each other around. Recently they both figured out how to make it go backwards when they were sitting on it. Today Bran was puttering around the house going both backwards and forwards. He was so excited! He rode back and forth between the living room and kitchen several times. Drew got a little upset because he wanted to push, but Bran didn’t need his help! : )
Changing Roles. Months ago Mike and I were watching the boys and made the statement that Drew would think up the things to get into trouble and Bran would do them. Such as climbing the bookcase, etc. It turns out we were wrong, at least for the moment. Bran doesn’t like to swing high, doesn’t like slides, has no real interest in climbing on the furniture. Instead he prefers swimming, playing quietly, running around the house and chasing the dog. He also really likes to play with the woodchips under the tree. Who would have guessed?
First and Ten. Bran’s current favorite thing to do is play with balls. He and his dad play tackle with the football. Bran runs up to Mike with the football and Mike tackles him. He also really likes to kick his Pooh ball around the backyard. He does a good job of running up to the ball and kicking it. He can do it in stride and keep it up for several kicks.
Hugs. Brandon’s become a hugger. He’s always crawling up into my lap for a little snuggle. The grandmas should really enjoy this! Although don’t expect any long term holding or rocking, you get about 30 secs, but you get them often!
Posted: Drew & Bran
29
August
2006
Around 1:30 this afternoon Drew closed a door in our living room. Unfortunately Bran’s left ring finger was caught in the hinge side. Because it hurt and because he’s an impatient 15-month old, rather than wait for me as I ran across the room, he decided to pull his finger out. The result was a torn off finger nail and the skin at the tip of his finger. I will never be able to get the picture of his little finger out of my mind. Four hours and five stitches later we came home. Bran seems to be doing fine. He’s getting back to his jolly self (this was somewhat inhibited by the Ketamine he had been giving during the surgery) and he’s learning how to play with a hand so bandaged it looks like he’s wearing a mitten. I guess he’s getting practice for playing in the snow this winter. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so awful, and other than the first 4 weeks they were born, so helpless. I was so blessed that my neighbor Kim was home and able to come with me and take care of Drew until Mike could get there. Thank you Kim, you’re an angel!
I was also very pleased at how well we were cared for at the Royal Alex, how quickly we were seen and the bedside manner of the nurses. I have only one complaint…is it really necessary to do construction outside of the main entrance to the emergency room? And why is it so hard to find the emergency parking? I had to stop right before the emergency doors while they let cars out because they only had room for one lane. Ummm…emergency? Could you at least figure out how to block traffic a little further down please? I know it was probably a necessity to improve the hospital and no it wasn’t life or death. But to a mother with a very small child with a very small finger it was a very big deal!
But thank the Lord, we actually got in just before a rush of people, we were well cared for after getting in, and my boy is home sleeping in his own bed. My only question now is, “Is this life with boys?”
Posted: Drew & Bran
