The two little boys are growing up!

Cameron. Loves. Food.

Mommy's milk? He'll take it for sustenance.
Baby food? So not happening.
Solid food? Mommy food? Daddy food? Andrew food? Can we say excited, bouncing, squealing baby?

The baby theorists tell us that we should be slowly introducing foods and textures to Cameron a little at a time. If this is the goal we have abysmally failed. Cameron wants to eat absolutely everything we eat.  Wendy and I have at times had to become very creative in our food cutting and slicing skills so that Cameron can eat the food that everyone else is eating and that he so enjoys.

Artisan wheat bread? Loved it.
Asparagas? Loved it.
Carrots/Celery? Loved them.
Apples/pears? Love them.

The only thing that Cameron will refuse is anything pureed or that resembles baby food in any way.

Andrew gets ready by himself

Today Wendy and the boys were upstairs hobnobbing with Marsha upstairs. Wendy mentioned that Andrew should take a shower. No usually this prompts tears; until of course he's in the water at which point he giggles uncontrollably.  This time...was different.

Leaving Marsha and Wendy upstairs Andrew came downstairs and happily engaged in an Andrew project which Wendy shortly discovered as she came down the stairs.  A shirt here, a left shoe here, a right shoe there, continuing on until there were no clothes remaining. The sight at the end of the trail of clothes? A naked Andrew on the diaper changing table removing the tabs of his diaper. He was so excited for his shower, and obviously the parents weren't moving fast enough, so he got ready for his shower by himself. Oh, and he giggled the entire time while in the shower, just in case you were wondering. 

And Daddy sighs

I know, I know. All you experienced Grandparents and decades long parents are going to roll your eyes at me. Still, it is surprising how often my little toddler and baby surprise me with their capabilities and how quickly they seem to be growing up. I miss my "butterfly" crawling infant at the same time I'm proud of him for learning to actually pull himself up and cruise around the room. I imagine this feeling is only going to get worse as they "actually" grow up. 

Are you a chef?

"Are you a chef?" This was the question the cashier at the supermarket posed to me after taking a look into my shopping cart and seeing a lot of produce...and not much else. I regretfully replied that I was not, but did request his rationalization for asking. His response, "Oh, usually the only time we see this much produce and so little of anything means that it's either a chef or a caterer." Does this mean that I'm a legitimate foody now?

Swim Fins

Due to my participation in a Health and Fitness challenge competition I've started to work out every day. This of course awakened my oft expressed but never accomplished desire to do triathlons. Thus, for the past week my workout bag has been rotating through running/biking and swimming gear.

I went swimming yesterday. When packing my bags for my 7 AM workout I took out my swim fins and paddles and placed them on the floor. I forgot to put the swim fins and paddles away in the closet prior to heading out to workout and work.

At 10:30 AM I received the following text from Wendy

Andrew: (Showing me your fins) Dada!

Me: Yes, Daddy uses that to swim

Andrew: Me!

Looks like you'll need to go swimming with Andrew

I responded that we would have to go swimming on Saturday. Wendy relayed this exciting information to Andrew. Andrew, of course immediately dropped what he was doing and started digging around in the storage room. Five minutes later he came out presenting his prize for Wendy to examine. He had searched and found the swim diapers. Andrew was ready to go swimming.

Later, when I came home. Andrew very excitedly brought me, one at a time, both of my fins, both of my paddles, and also a swim diaper. Appears, he wants to go swimming.

So that Saturday swim date I originally planned? Canceled.

We're going swimming tomorrow. 

Ugly Sweater day at U

In celebration of our last class day we wore our ugly sweaters. I also rocked my christmas singing tie.

It's a question of motivation...

Michael has recently bought a brand new hi-def projector for his home theater. It was a reward for losing a certain amount of weight. I don't know how much motivation the hi-def projector provided him, but it seems like a nice reward.

Inspired by him Wendy and I have been debating what motivates us. We've discussed the possibility of a "techie" reward following Michael's example. In theory, something like the Iphone 6 should be fairly motivating.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure that is as motivating for me as it theoretically would be. In my experience the times that I've been most "motivated" seem to revolve around some form of competition. The time I lost 30 pounds in two months? Yep, weight loss competition.

So the problem I run into is; how do I make things I don't want to do...or perhaps better stated, currently lack the motivation to do, a competition? My results may depend on how I answer that question.

We're still trying to figure out what motivates Wendy. She joked today that "negative" consequences seem to be her best motivation.  For example, one of her suggestions recently was that if we didn't reach certain goals within a certain number of months we would be "forced" to buy a treadmill desk.

I guess at some point we all have to decide what it is that motivates us. I'm sure that we all wish it could be as easy as a 5 month old boy who wants a train.

Naptime routine

Naptime Routine

We've worked hard to create a consistent naptime routine for Andrew. By and large he lays down for his naps and bedtime relatively easily...as long as you willing to read a lot of books (which I am!). Today was not one of the easy days. We completed the routine, Andrew was in bed, thumb, in mouth, blanket over him, and kisses received. Usually this is the point where the parents say "night, night," leave, and the toddler goes to sleep.

Today at naptime...suddenly...thumb popped out of mouth...blanket was thrown off the bed..and toddler jumped out of bed.  Something had happened in his little toddler brain that shut off all synapses related to sleeping. These synapses did not restart despite the multiple, and sometimes painful efforts of his parents.  Including trying to let him take a nap with his parents. Abject failure.

Finally, we decided that Andrew needed to go and play somewhere because he obviously was not going to be taking a nap.  Due to how my brain is wired, Sunday afternoons are the only days that I can take a nap (too much to do on all the other days).  Wendy, being the saintly woman she is, decided to take one for the team and took Andrew out to play while I took a nap. 

Andrew, observant child that he is, caught on quickly. So he climbed up into the bed where I was laying, leaned over, gave me a kiss on the cheek,  and softly whispered  "night night" before leaving the room and closing the door.  Appears that Andrew's bedtime routine is now my bedtime routine also. 

The insight the toddler gives me.

Today's "It's disturbing the insight my toddler gives on my habits"  experience.

I was reading one of my textbooks while marking with a highlighter.
Andrew was next to me drawing on his papers with his highlighter.

I notice that Andrew has the unopened end of the highlighter stuck in his mouth while grinning widely at me. At which point I realize, my highlighter is in exactly the same position.  Appears I eat my highlighters when studying.