Last year I cooked all day and we had to wrap everything up because afternoon naps had failed and the evening was full of tantrums. This year I cooked all day and we all managed to sit down and eat, but the boys proceeded to not want to eat anything at all on their plate (and can I mention they usually love turkey any other day?)
Here is a photo before they decided to eat nothing. We even gave them an actual cup of juice which we never do. Granted it was V8 Splash, so it was also an effort to get some vegetables in, but the stuff still tastes fruity and they love fruit. They didn't drink the juice or eat the food. But at least we were able to eat our meal so we're moving in the right direction.
Maybe 3 is the charm and next year will be the successful dinner year! However, we still had tons to be thankful for and still had a great day together which is what really counts.
I want to remember some of the things these guys are doing right now because they just seem to be doing so many new things every day. I realize I am not writing them down enough, so I am using this post to get a few down "on paper"...
As luck would have it, they decided to also demonstrate (show off) on camera as well, so I have videos to accompany a few of my notes below!
The boys both have an annoying habit of pushing their chairs (with boosters) back away from the table and trying to put their feet on the table. Yeah, I know, gross right? So we first do a "Feet...Down" warning and if there is no compliance, they are removed from the table. But when Brett gave them lunch a few weeks ago, Mason pushed back and put his feet on the table, and Brett said "Feet"...and before he could finish - Mason looked at him and said "Down". We have a little wise guy on our hands...
Ethan is fairly obsessed with peek-a-boo lately and will try to hide behind anything and everything he can find and jump out to "boo" you. He gets himself into a giggly fit very often playing this game. But he still thinks that if he can't see you (but his body isn't totally hidden) that you definitely can't see him either. So he really thinks he's surprising you. We let him think he is surprising us for now, because he'll find out the sad truth soon enough :)
Both boys like to say "i did it" now, it was previously just a favorite of Ethan's, but now they both like to say it (and actually said it back and forth all the way home from the store last week)...
Mason has been counting to 10 now for a few weeks. He has a bit of a number obsession actually. And an alphabet obsession. His favorite books are based on numbers and the alphabet. One night when I was feeding them dinner (Brett was not yet home), he started counting the green beans on his plate. There were 5 and at first he counted 6. Then went back and counted just to 5. He took one green bean away and put it on the table and then counted to 4 for the remaining green beans on his plate. Here he is just counting to 10 a few times (which he seems to do nonstop these days - you can be in the other room and just hear him bust out with counting time and time again)
And just in the last few days he has started providing some of the letters in the alphabet when I start reading one of his alphabet books. I start with A, and he (so far) provides me with B, C, D, and E. He also likes to recite the last bit of the alphabet starting with Q. There are a lot more letters to go, but we can already hear him trying to sing some parts of the alphabet song.
Mason also says 'I love you' which Brett taught him to say while I was away for two nights recently - what a great thing to hear when I got home! He also says 'i did it', 'thank you', 'ready set go' and the other day when I sneezed he said 'bless you'!!
Every day Ethan is adding more and more words. Many are not perfectly clear but we know what he is trying to say. He now says, cookie, cheese, shoes, eat, car, help...he can say ears, nose, mouth, eyes and can point to all parts plus his head, his feet, his hands and his belly button.
He still likes sign language and can sign 'i love you' now as well (thanks to grandma!). If you ask him where something is he can point at it with no problem - he knows what tons of objects are, but just can't pronounce all of them yet. If he hears "What begins with E?" when I read from one of their alphabet books, he points to himself. He likes to High-5 (both of them do)
Animals don't have names in Ethan's eyes, they only have sounds - so when you point to a horse and ask what does (fill in the blank animal) say?, it's a "neigh" and or a "baa" etc. - he actually does an excellent job at making his animal sounds and loves his animals - and sheep especially! (Mason is partial to elephants right now)
About a month ago, Ethan started saying "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" several times in a row. Brett decided to give it a name. He called it "Super Yeah!" When you ask Ethan to do his Super Yeah - he will do this on command as well.
Something else funny that Ethan does in the car - he is often putting his hands behind his head in his "chill" position. Just loving life apparently when he's being chauffeured around.
When we tell the boys to "do the ferocious beast" they will both growl. For some reason we find this hilarious. They do this on command at any time and they think it's pretty hilarious too.
If you get out their shoes and socks the boys will come over, sit down, and say "shoes" - because they know this means they get to do something (usually) fun.
And they still LOVE to dance - and Jack's Big Music show is a big favorite. When they hear the opening sequence they stop whatever they are doing and run over. When it says "Come on every body give your foot a tap" they will stomp and, "Come on every body give your hands a clap" (they will clap). They get a kick out of it every time.
