Tuesday, November 17, 2009

First Time Trick or Treating

We caught the very first trick or treat on video. They're naturals.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Halloween

So this year was Owen and Mason's first year to go trick-or-treating. We didn't do much to prep them for it other than explaining it a day or so before the big day. Later that day I heard Mason griping at Owen for "not keeping his hands to himself." Of course, I had to go regulate and when I asked Owen what he was doing he told me "I knock on Mason and get candy!" Evidently he thought he could knock on something and it would spew candy all over the place. I suppose he was disappointed when he discovered that wasn't the case, but the actual trick-or-treating the next night did plenty to make up for it.

We started Halloween by heading to our neighborhood Halloween festival, which wasn't too much more than a moonwalk, but the kids were thrilled. Later that evening we had a couple of families over for some pumpkin painting, cookie decorating, and trick-or-treating. Matthew, our neighbor's little boy, lead Owen and Mason to the first house and showed them the ropes. That's all it took. After they realized that candy was involved, they were all three sprinting to the rest of the houses. I saw Mason running with this hilarious expression on his face that seemed to say, "outta my way, I got this down!" He was dead serious! I figured they'd last for about 15-20 minutes but we had to drag them home after an hour! Their pirate hats and hooks didn't make it out our front door, but my two little pirates wore those darn eye patches for the entire hour of trick-or-treating!

Overall, they had a blast and they looked darn cute in their costumes!

Halloween 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fall In Lubbock

Well, it seems that we've made it a sort of tradition to head up to Lubbock every Fall. It gives us a chance to feel some cool fall air for once, to do the corn maze and other Fall-centric activities, and most importantly to get some good time in with Mimi and Papi. Oh yeah, and every other year there's a football game I'm particularly interested in attending.

This year was no exception. Owen and Mason had a great time hanging out with Mimi and Papi and the weather (with the exception of a very cool and windy afternoon at the corn maze) was great. Kyle and Manda were in town, and our friends Paige and Blake made the trip this year so we had a bunch of our favorite people around.

Owen and Mason made pumpkin cookies with Mimi, and I'm pretty sure they set some sort of record for most sprinkles per cookie with that batch. On Saturday, the kids had fun with the grandparents at Papi's party for his department while we went to the game. On Sunday, we did our best to get in the Halloween spirit. We got some little pumpkins for Owen and Mason to paint, and our first-ever Jack O' Lantern was carved.

Overall it was a great, relaxing weekend. And what could top it off better than the first Aggie win in Lubbock in 16 years.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pacifiers are for Babies!

Well, it's official! The pacifiers are outta here! But let me back up a minute. If you know my kids, you know they are attached to two things: their pacis and their blankies. Mason was to the point where he wanted one in his mouth and one in each hand. Owen wanted green pacis, Mason liked orange or blue. Our pediatrician recommended at our 18 month check up that we ditch them by the time they were 2. So, Aaron and I decided to give it a try after the holidays last year. We started weaning them off and only letting them have them at nap, bed, or car time. But that was proving to be pretty tough since the kids would magically find a paci or five laying around somewhere (most likely from Mason's group of 3). We kept pushing off giving it a real hard try knowing their 2nd birthday wasn't until May. Let me qualify this by saying that our doctor strongly encouraged ditching the beloved blankies at the same time. She has seen kids turn to thumb sucking because the blankies remind them of the pacifer. When we went in for the 2 year appointment, Dr. Nguyen was so impressed by their language and knowledge that she wasn't too worried about the pacifiers, so she said "eh, by the time they're 3." And so, we quit worrying about it, hoping we would, some time in the next year, get up the courage to go cold turkey. We knew toddler beds were looming in the distance as well and we didn't want too many changes all at once. It just seemed there was never a good time, not to mention we needed a weekend with NOTHING going on because we figured nobody would be getting any sleep for a while with all the crying. So, status quo we were, 3 pacifiers and all.

Until last Tuesday, that is.

It's no secret that the darn pacifiers make the kids drool. We had been noticing more and more that they really disliked having a soggy shirt and would accept that as a reason to give up their paci for the moment. Last Tuesday was no different. Mason's shirt was soaking wet and I pointed it out to him. He said, "I need a bib!" Mommy said, "No, you need to get rid of your paci!" With that, he took his paci out of his mouth, handed it over to me (Owen followed suit), and said "pacis are for babies." Both he and Owen have said that before but for whatever reason I didn't take the pacifiers in the car to run errands later that evening. And they didn't ask for them OR cry for them. Hmm. Was I on to something? This was, mind you, completely unplanned. At bedtime we decided to see how long we could make it before caving in and giving their pacis to them. There were definitely some tears but only whimpering, not the full out tantrum like I was expecting. Aaron and I knew they'd need a little help so we stayed in their room patting their backs, telling them they were doing a great job, reminding them that they were big boys, and letting them know we understood it was a very hard thing to do. About an hour later they were asleep. Not bad!

The next morning, Mason woke up and announced that he "went ni-night without a paci! Pacis are for babies!! I a big boy!!" while Owen woke up crying and asking for his. Totally the opposite of what I would have predicted, by the way. Luckily that day was a school day and since day one, we have left pacifers at home. Their expectation was already set, and they knew how to nap without one (at school, that is). I think the timing helped me too, because I probably would have caved the next day had they been at home with me. Night #2 was a bit easier but there was still some asking for pacifiers. Simply reminding them that we "gave them to the babies" made it all okay. Morning #2 was almost an exact repeat of the previous morning. By nap time I was feeling good that we might actually be done with pacifiers. I knew from school that they could fall asleep for nap without a pacifier so that's what we did. Night #3: piece of cake. And here we are a week later and they haven't had a pacifier since! I think it is safe to draw a trend by now!

If I would have known it was going to be that easy we would have done it a long time ago! So, for all the moms who think their kids are way too attached to give up a pacifier, think again. You just never know. Oh yes, we are still using the blankies and there has been no thumb sucking.

I have to admit, we did get a bit ambitious after this. We were so surprised at how easily they adapted that we thought we'd give potty training a "real" try. I expected them to watch this little movie (that is supposed to be guaranteed) and viola! Not so. Let me just put it this way: after about 45 minutes of wearing only underwear, I decided I was just fine with diapers! Every 30 seconds someone else was peeing through the undies onto the floor. Owen thought it was cool to wet his undies so he could get another cool pair. So, now we are formulating a new plan of action and the "real" try is coming again soon. Upon the suggestion from a friend, we are going to try starting off with some "cool" undies and if they wet them, they have to wear plain white ones. Maybe this will discourage Owen from wanting to wet the ones he's got on. That would be nice.

speaking of potty training...
HOORAY FOR OWEN!

Today at school, Owen told the teacher he had poo poo! She checked his diaper and told him he was clean. He told her "no, in my bottom." This is the first time either of them have given us warning. We have been talking about telling us before we go in our diaper and today it paid off. I think he had his "ah-ha moment" on what it must feel like to have to go potty. I am crossing my fingers that we have turned a corner in this daunting adventure!

Silly Sayings

Last Thursday I had to go to the doctor and had to explain to the kids that we weren't going to see Dr. Nguyen (their pedi), we were going to see Mommy's doctor. They told me (and later Daddy) that they "took Mommy to the doctor." It melted my heart because I've always heard stories about little boys loving their mommies and taking care of them.

Another day last week they told me to "come on, let's go get on our pirate ship!" They each climbed in their beds and pretended they were in their own ships. They were "going out in the ocean" and their way of driving an imaginary pirate ship wheel was the same hand motion as "the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round." They told me they were going to see other pirates in the ocean and saying "bye pirate mommy, bye pirate Mason/Owen," that water was coming into the ship (they pretended to dry it up) and Mason called it "ghost water," I guess because he couldn't see it? No idea how he knows that ghosts are invisible considering all the ghosts in his Halloween books are clearly visible. Then they pretended to go fishing and did the actual (yes, they remembered from fishing this summer) hand motion to reel in a fish. Our cat walked in and we pretended she was a catfish, which they thought was hilarious because they definitely remember the nasty catfish we caught this summer. Then it got dark (Mason dimmed the light) so we pretended it was the moon. Of course, Owen had to come help make it dark from Mason's ship (that is where the light switch is) but on his way back he declared there were crocodiles in the water and that he needed help getting back to his ship. I told him to hurry fast so he (and Mason following) ran across to the other ship and were so happy! "I made it, Mommy!" (Which then ended their pirate adventure because now the new game was running back and forth between beds to escape the crocodiles).

This morning the kids woke up about an hour early and were chasing each other around the house and cracking themselves up. Then I heard them giggling while telling each other the "creepy crawlers are gonna get you!" No idea where they heard that term! So funny!

Later, we were at Stomping Grounds (indoor play place) and Owen was on his way to climb up to the top. He stopped and told me "see you later, crocodile!" ("see you waiter, crocodi-yoh").

I know there are so many other funny things they say and I will have to remember to blog them when they happen so I can remember it forever! I love my babies!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Dewberry Farm

We posted a few pictures in the pumpkin patch already, but I wanted to share the others from our day at Dewberry Farm in Brookshire, TX, just outside of Houston.
Dewberry Farm


This is a pretty funny clip of Mason on the rope swing.