Belly crawl

It feels different when the second child starts crawling compared to the first. I'm not ready. Everything is happening too quickly this time around. Maybe it's because you can just see that drive and determination in Jonas' eyes as he scoots around. You know that nothing, no nothing, is coming between him and the prize. Jonas is extremely motivated to crawl, especially to electrical cords, dirty shoes or food. But I've just gotten so used to Elijah just knowing and obeying what he can and cannot touch. It's starting all over again. I'm not ready!

Jonas has been crawling now for 3 weeks, but he still doesn't lift his belly up off the ground. We keep saying we need to just attach a dust mop to his shirt and let him clean the floors. He crawls around room to room following Elijah or one of us, and by the end his shirt is in need of a good washing! Can we just skip the crawling and go right to walking already?

Here's a video of Jonas crawling after Elijah as he leaves the kitchen and heads to his room. Jonas wants to be anywhere Elijah is or where Mom is, depending on who is doing something more fun.

By the way, anyone have any ideas for us...Jonas has sore, rough, dry, red patches on his knees, I am assuming from crawling around on the tile and rugs. Some cream or something (that I would be able to buy overseas) or a homemade invention to prevent it during the crawling stages? All ideas welcome and appreciated!

Basketball

Elijah - like all little boys - wants to be just like his dad. Here's a video of them playing "basketball" together. Elijah is wearing Bruce's wrist guards just like daddy. [Bruce has bad wrist and elbow joints and often has to wear these when he's doing certain activities].




I just love how excited Elijah gets whether he makes a basket or not.

Crawling

He's coming right for you!

Motivated by the fancy toy mom's using to flash lights at him.

Watch out!

.....almost.....got it.

Jonas is a crawling machine. He started the army belly crawl in early August and is just trucking along now.

Tribute to Sheepie and Turtle

Sheepie and Turtle have become "our good friends" as Elijah says.

Every day Elijah involves them in whatever activity he's doing. They always get to sit in chairs and watch. Elijah asks them if they want to help and then helps them "help" by moving their arms to grab a block or pick a book. Or he puts them down for their nap. Or they sit together to watch a video. You get the picture.

But sometimes Jonas wants to help or play, and that's just not cool sometimes. Your little brother coming in trying to hang with your friends. Not cool dude. "Jonas, we don't want you to put the blocks in your mouth"

So after I make them all play together, they all find mutual enjoyment in turtle and sheepie "jumping" (read: smashing down) into the pile of blocks. All except maybe the stunt guys Sheepie and Turtle. At least there was A LOT of hysterical laughter every time the stunt animals did another jump.

I love watching these boys learn how to interact and become "good friends".

Right now....

Right now, we are enjoying the beach life. You can imagine us all sitting around in the sand, building sand castles, filling up and dumping sand from buckets over and over. And mom and dad taking turns resting in the sun, reading books and going for a dip in the cool ocean.

Ahh, this is the life.

You can also imagine half of us (the smaller half of us) screaming bloody murder at having to go to the water....anywhere near the water.

But we are working on it. Slowly but surely.

You can imagine us eating sand-covered snacks on the beach, drinking fresh cold water to stay hydrated, sharing our snacks amongst each other.

And doing so well at the sharing thing. {This was Jonas' first pretzels and he loved them. Now that he has SIX teeth, he's eating almost anything!}

And sharing thoughts with each other. Thoughts of pretzels and fish crackers and sand. And ah-da-da-ba.

And of course for the littlest member, many naps on the beach.

Ahh, the days of vacation. Summer vacation.

[This post has been scheduled....no I wouldn't dare post to our blog on our VACATION. Are you silly?]

Sleepy Friday

In honor of the family vacation we are about to go on, here's a few pictures of what our kids will be doing LATE every morning this next week:

SLEEP!

LATE!

(This is his friend's bed that he slept in when we visited their house....his bed is not pink)

And when the kids do this, they will be happy and well rested. We hope!

We are spending this next week on a much needed family beach vacation where we will hopefully make steps towards breaking our kids fears of the water. Check back for details on how this mission goes! I'm scheduling some posts for this next week, so come again to see some cute recent pics of the boys.

The Danger of Walkers

I know that not many people in the States have these, but here in North Africa it's all we can get for something to help your kid stand. We bought Jonas a dreaded walker last month - and pediatricians are right, they should not be recommended.

This doesn't look like it could be THAT bad:

Until he sees something across the room that looks like it could be fun to get into, then he's OFF!

One of the worst is he goes around the table, pulling down each chair as he goes.

And he makes sure it's good and destroyed. I tell ya, it's constant supervision in a walker. That is unless you put them in an empty padded room. There's an idea!

Lamps - crashing down.

The other day we had a lightbulb moment where we said - hey, he wants to scoot around. Let's give him a dustmop while he does it so he can clean as he goes.

It worked great....until he realized how much fun the handle is to eat.

But, I tell you. Just how can you resist THIS SWEET FACE, smiling at you?

You can't. It's just not humanly possible.

Brother Love

These brothers love each other. These pictures make me so happy.






My boys. LOVE them.

Stop touching your mouth!!

Have you ever dried your teeth with your finger and pushed your lips up so that your lips stay tucked up and your teeth look all big? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Sometime over the last couple months Elijah has developed a nervous habit - something he does when he's anxious or bored or not knowing what to do in certain situations.

Particularly around other kids.

We try not to draw too much attention to it because it just makes him do it more (so the experts say, and so we've noticed). But it drives us c-r-a-z-y!

"Stop touching your mouth" "Leave your lips alone"

"Your hands are really dirty - please don't touch your mouth" -- that one is the worst. Little boys love to touch and explore e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g outside - ugh, yuck. So after picking up trash on the floor, running his fingers along the moldly wall, cleaning off the dirt and grime off the slide he puts his fingers all in his mouth.

Anyone have any suggestions? Should I just bite my tongue and let him keep pushing on his lips? Wait until school starts and other kids say something? I don't want my little boy to be made fun of! What's a mom to do?

Bruce's Little Space On The Web

My wife has a lovely blog here, but I'm sneaking in on it to advertise (spam) mine. I'm sure she wont mind. http://familycalamity.com check it out.