Our days are full of chaos and full of love. I think my favorite part of each day is when Kara gets home from work each night and we lay in bed and swap stories about the boys! It's great.
So what's new?
We love to take the boys to the park. They have absolutely zero fear. Most of the parks have a jungle gym that is small enough for the boys to climb up on without any assistance. We will make sure they don't leap to their death. But otherwise they can spend an hour just climbing the stairs and going down the slide. There is a very small playground by our house that has a huge slide. Kara and I will carry the boys to the top of the slide and then slide down with the boys in our laps. They will laugh the entire time. I don't have any good pictures of our playground adventures because it is tough enough to keep an eye on two toddlers. We actually took the boys the other day and Jakob managed to get whacked in the face with a wayward swing. These older boys were swinging on the swing and proceeded to jump off. This enticed Jakob to run over to the empty swing and just as the older boy turned around to say, "You are too little for those," Jakob got hit in the head with the swing. It was cute (after I made sure he didn't have a concussion of course).
The boys babble a lot these days but we still don't have a lot of words. Both boys only say "Mom and Momma" and "Bye" with any sort of regularity. But at the same time I think their comprehension is growing by leaps and bounds. They are obsessed with reading books. The boys will carry books around the house and just plop down and start thumbing through them with an intensity this is typically reserved only for the professional card counter at a Las Vegas Casino. And thanks to Grandma Heitzman the boys are currently obsessed with Little Blue Truck and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. To be honest the boys love all books. The books with missing pages and teeth marks and dried up graham crackers get just as much attention as a shiny new book from a big box store. I have been told that it can help a toddlers speech development if instead of reading a book cover to cover you just turn the page and point out objects with a single word. I have been trying to do that more and more. And I think they are getting better at pointing objects out in books. You know like ... Where is the dog? Where is the spoon? Where is the baby? I still know that cognitively they are a bit behind others of a same age but I don't think there is any reason to be super concerned yet. Perhaps I am still naive.
There is a bit of a food obsession in our house. And an obsession with utensils. The boys are hit and miss on any given day with food consumption. There are some days that Jakob consumes the same amount of calories as our local high school heavyweight wrestler! And other days where he is appearantly preparing for swimsuit season. The only guarantee is that there will be a complete and total meltdown if you stick food on a plate without giving the boys a spoon and fork. Only babies eat with their fingers. The boys do love meat and potatoes. Such cavemen we have on our hands. And breakfast seems to be a favorite meal. The boys have been known to consume 6 - 8 sausage links between the both of them at a single meal. And pancakes and french toast often don't stand a chance. And today we took the boys to Bob Evans for lunch and Jakob managed to eat a fruit pouch, a Mum-Mum, and entire bowl of fruit, french fries and half a grilled cheese sandwich. And even as we went to put Jakob in his car seat he shoved a wayward french fry in his mouth. We can no longer go out and just let the boys nibble from our plates. Kara and I would leave a restaurant starving if we did that. Alex is more hit or miss on the food front. And that can explain why there is a noticeable size difference between the boys. We still have 6 - 12 month pants that fall off Alex at the waist and that is even after we had a friend add elastic bands to the pants! But Alex does love to snack and will eagerly consume any snack that you put into a cup. And Alex's favorite food is any type of potato. And Kara makes these home-made oyster crackers with all sorts of seasoning on them. And Alex treats them like they are a delicacy. The boys still get a sippy cup with milk 3x per day for a total of 12 oz - 14 oz of milk and we offer a juice / water combination all through the day.
I still take Alex to gymnastics class. He loves it! I know I have mentioned my concerns in the area of cognitive development but let's just say the opposite is true in the area of physical development. There is absolutely nothing these boys won't try at least one time. And the same applies to gymnastics. Alex is getting better and better at walking across the different size balance beams. And he loves to hang from the bars and kick his feet up. We have even done somersaults and he climbs up on mats that are 4x his size. He will let me through him into the foam pit at gymnastics too. The gymnastics class just gives him an opportunity to run around like a crazy man and I can pretend that I am training him for a future Olympics. I mean ever future Olympian started off by chewing on the high bars to soothe their aching gums and jumping with their stuffed animal on the trampoline all while making sure their diaper stays on. Right?
There is always so much to write about and then I sit down to write and I forget so much! But I guess even remembering a few things is good.
My favorite things about Jakob at the moment are ...
* His crazy blond hair.
* His passion for books.
* His ability to play by himself for long periods of time.
* His love for blocks and legos.
* His sensitive side and his ability to share with his brother.
* His laugh.
* His endless pit of a stomach.
My favority things about Alex at the moment are ...
* His lack of fear.
* His newest obsession with his stuffed monkey.
* His walk.
* His laugh.
* His love for airplanes.
* His passion for animals.
* The way he still opens and closes his fists when he gets excited about something.
Mary
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