Our two boys

Any expert will tell you not to compare your children. But, seriously, is that even possible??? I understand the logic and wisdom behind the advice, so I'll try to follow it... instead of comparing my boys, I'll contrast them. Charlie is only 14 weeks old, but it's already possible to spot some differences between him and Zach. Many are subtle though, as so far these brothers are pretty darn similar.

Both boys are very mellow, willing to go with the flow. Charlie is so content 95% of his awake hours, it's amazing. Just last week he sat happily and quietly in my lap watching my friends eat dinner. He didn't want to sit in his car seat - that's not his favorite place if it's not in motion - but from my lap he was able to look around with his big eyes, taking in the world. I guess he just wants to be a part of things.

Charlie still doesn't cry much. He continues to wake up slowly, making little noises here and there, grunting and snuffling as he tries to get his hands in his mouth. He will eventually start yelling if we don't respond to all of these earlier cues, but it can be an hour before that happens! Zach, on the other hand, was quicker to holler, although he did give a little advance warning.

I think we're going to have another thumb-sucker in the family. Charlie has gotten his thumb in his mouth several times, and keeps on trying. I think I've already mentioned in previous posts that we have to swaddle Charlie with his arms free, just like we did for Zach. There'd be no sleeping in our house if the hands weren't available.

Charlie likes to be held upright, as did Zach. I think he really does prefer to have a view of the world, not just the ceiling and the face of whoever is holding him. He definitely won't fall asleep anymore when being cradled... that's how he eats, not sleeps - make no mistake about it.

Speaking of sleep, I just looked at the sleep spreadsheet I kept for Zach... yes, I had an actual spreadsheet tracking when he ate and slept. First-time mom, you got it! But it was fun to look back and confirm my suspicions that Charlie has been a better sleeper. At the age Charlie is now, Zach was just starting to sleep for 8 or 9 hour stretches, something Charlie has been doing for a few weeks. And by this age we had let Zach "cry it out" for a few short periods, something we haven't really had to do with Charlie. However, both boys, from the start, were great about going right back to sleep after they ate - no need to walk the floor, rock, etc - just lay 'em back down and they were out. Charlie is especially good about putting himself to sleep after I lay him down awake, but I suspect Zach would have been better if I'd actually given him the opportunity at this age!

One thing Scott and I noticed right away is that Charlie has no interest in standing. When Zach was a baby, any time we "stood" him up on his feet he would actually try to support himself on his little legs. Not Charlie - they collapse like little noodles! We always wondered if that was why Zach walked early - he wasn't very interested in crawling, he wanted to be on his feet. It'll be interesting to see if Charlie will be more of a crawler and/or a later walker than Zach was.

I get such a kick out of watching Charlie on his activity mat/gym (whatever these things are called!). He LOVES it. He started out just staring at the hanging animals/fish, then started talking to them, and now he is always reaching out to them, knocking them around. His eyes get huge when he makes them move, and the whole time his little legs are kicking in the air in excitement. This is very different from Zach - he was never the least bit interested those fish. So much so that when my mom offered to purchase something new for Charlie, I suggested a different activity mat, thinking maybe the fish one just wasn't a very good one since Zach didn't like it. But of course, there's nothing wrong with the fish mat - Charlie likes that one and the new one equally. Just a difference in the boys!

As far as how they look - I'll let you come to your own conclusions - these pictures are of both of them at 13~14 weeks. If you can't tell who is who... the first bumbo picture (outside) is Zach, the next one is Charlie. The baby is the bouncy chair Charlie; the one lying on the activity mat is Zach.

The video may be one that only parents or grandparents could love, but it's my effort at catching Charlie talking to the fish on his activity mat, and then talking and smiling at me (my apologies in advance for the video quality... no time to go get the tripod!).

3.5 year old Zach

In honor of Zach's "half birthday" today, here is a compilation of random Zachisms from the last month or two:
Zach's response when Scott was trying to explain that it would take a while to put his swingset together because it was complicated: Just start from the corners and work in.

I was a picky eater as a child. I remember being a picky eater. A very picky eater. So you would think I would have a little empathy for Zach as he becomes more and more picky every day. But it drives me crazy, especially when the food in question is something he used to eat ALL THE TIME! One of many examples: noodles. Our child will not eat noodles. No, not even mac 'n cheese. So we continue to offer him these things and try to get him to take at least one bite. Recently, while at our friends' house, we put about 3 noodles on Zach's plate and told him he had to try at least one. Since there was dessert in the equation he tried one. And gagged. This is something he's done before (and something I remember doing as a child...), so we just ignored him. Until he gagged so much that he threw up. Right down the front of his shirt as he sat at the table. And no one was more surprised than he was! Our friends, of course, thought it was hilarious, and I confess I had to laugh too, eventually.

Zach has begun combining his two favorite things - cars and baseball. One day I overheard him creating a story where Lightning McQueen got hurt while sliding into second base. When I asked, he was happy to tell me the whole story; it turns out that LMQ was playing for the Twins, and Doc Hudson for the Yankees. While playing, poor LMQ hurt his tire sliding into 2nd, but it's ok because Luigi and Guido can give him a new tire.

How many moms have been asked by their preschool-aged sons if they want to have a draft? Not many, I'm guessing. So I plopped down on the floor and we alternated picking cars from the lineup he had meticulously created.

Zach tried his first beer a couple weeks ago (we start 'em young in our family). He asked Scott for a taste, and Scott let him take a swig, anticipating the outcome. At first we were shocked, as he smiled and said "I love it!" But then Scott realized he must not have really gotten any, so told him to try again. Then we got the reaction we expected - a hilariously scrunched face and a great big "yuck!" I wish I'd had the video camera ready.

While watching Dora one day, Zach asked me what "navoy" meant. I asked him to repeat it, since I didn't recognize the word (at least not in English). After he said it again, I repeated it to make sure I'd heard him right, and he said yes, that the lamb had just said it. I said I didn't know what it meant, that I didn't know that word. He paused and then said, very slowly, "can you say nah? can you say voy?" Uh yes, I can say it, but I still don't know what it means!

Zach got his hair cut earlier this week. As the stylist was spraying his hair with water, he flinched and tried to lean away. She told him it was ok, that it was just water. To which he responded: "Yes, and it's ok because water dries. Did you know that? My daddy told me that. My daddy also told me that cotton candy is yucky, but I think it's yummy." After pausing for a second to digest this non sequitur, the stylist lead him into a discussion about his favorite foods, which apparently currently rank as follows: m&ms, then cake, cookies, with ice cream

bring up the rear.

The pictures are from a coin carnival we attended last week. Don't you love the "toilet toss?" Perfect game for a 3.5 year old, it turns out. He was very very delighted with the prizes he won; "prize" being a term I use very loosely. But the plastic junk has entertained him for several days now!

The Neudecks were here! The Neudecks were here!!

Another post greatly delayed by the fact that I took too many pictures. But the kids were having such a fantastic time, it was hard to not keep snapping away.

Sarah, one of my bestest buds from college, and her family managed to fit us into their trip back to WI (all the way from Portland, OR) to visit family last week. We haven't seen them in over a year, and we don't get to talk as much as I'd like, but when they walked through the door it was as if we had just seen them the week before. I guess good friends are like that.

Another Badger alum from the good ol' days, Cindy, and her daughter Caitlin came over Saturday to join in the fun. And boy, was some fun had - Cindy brought a slip-n-slide and we got out both the sprinkler and the kiddie pool. Aiden (almost 8), his sister Ava (4.5), and Caitlin (5) had a blast, all in their own way. Zach chose to remain dry... he prefers his water in a great big pool.

Water adventures:

^ The girls started out in the pool, carrying on quite the conversation and displaying their impressive imaginations. Eventually the pool got moved to the end of the slide - no imagination needed here!

^And then there was the slip 'n slide - a classic. I'm sure you're not surprised to see which "big kid" got in on the action.

^ This is my favorite picture from the day. Ava is doing her own special little catwalk strut down the slip 'n slide, while the two knuckleheads in the background are trying to drink from the sprinkler spouts!

^ Zach enjoying it all - from a distance, dry.

^ I LOVE MY SWINGSET!!!!


Everybody's other favorite activity... Charlie-snuggling:

^ I love Ava's face as she watches her mom make Charlie smile; Aiden, another wonderful big brother.

^A truly great bunch of kids.

Fantastic times with fantastic friends!

We've come a long way baby

Charlie decided to ring in his 3-month "birthday" by sleeping through the night!

According to pediatricians and other experts, Charlie has been sleeping through the night a long time now, since they would define it as sleeping for a 5-6 hour stretch. I heartily disagree... if I have to get up after I go to bed, and before 6 AM, it's not sleeping through the night! For several weeks now Charlie has been going 8 to 9 hours between feedings, with the exception of what was probably a growth spurt that set us back for a few nights last week. And lately it seemed no matter what time I put him to bed, he'd wake up around 5 AM. Although he always went back to sleep, and slept until about 8 AM, I was concerned Charlie had inherited his maternal grandma's early-bird tendencies!

And then last night, Charlie ate at 8 pm, went to bed, and didn't make a peep until Zach got up at 6:45!!! And I only got up once, at about 5:30, to turn on the monitor to make sure he was still breathing (he was). We've come a long way since the days when he was up every 3 hours to eat!

In addition to being a wonderful sleeper, our little guy is doing great in general. He smiles all the time now, very easily, and we think we've heard a few noises that sound suspiciously like a laugh. He's much more active than he was, and stays awake for large portions of the day. He no longer likes to sleep on his belly; being swaddled (arms free, of course) is what helps him to sleep now. Charlie's hands are often near or in his mouth now, and he's even found his thumb several times. So here comes the drool...

Charlie is absolutely fascinated with Zach - his eyes follow his big brother whenever he's near. And usually Zach's appearance is all it takes for a big smile to bloom on Charlie's face. Honestly, it still makes me tear up when I see the big gummy grin light up Charlie's face when Zach sticks his own face inches from Charlie's nose. It's really going to be fun to watch these two grow up together.

I realized I never provided an update on the stomach/gas issues Charlie was having a while back. We tried the anti-gas drops for a couple weeks, and while they didn't seem to have an obvious impact, by the time they were gone we definitely saw some improvement. Today our little guy still has what seems like a lot of gas (and not the burping kind), and puts effort into actually pooping, but it no longer seems to hurt him. So I guess he did outgrow the digestion issues.

I also realized the other day that I had never blogged about a rather funny Charlie story. When he was 3 or 4 weeks old, I took Charlie with me for my monthly Mom's Night Out dinner. Charlie, my friend Wendy, and I were sitting on the patio of a lovely St. Paul restaurant on a gorgeous night, waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. As Wendy and I were talking, and Charlie was snoozing away in his carseat next to me, a waitress accidentally tipped her tray, sending a caesar salad on a collision course with Charlie. Fortunately, the bowl first hit the sunshade of the carseat, before it flipped over and landed lettuce-down right on Charlie's little chest. I have never seen the staff of a restaurant move so fast - busboys and other servers instantly surrounded us, picking individual lettuce leaves off poor little Charlie, who not only didn't wake up, he didn't even blink.

As soon as I realized he was not hurt, and in fact was still fast asleep, I laughed. Hard. The sight of the stray piece of parmesan cheese resting under his right eye was comical. Afterwards, I started thinking about the "what ifs" - what if it had been a bowl of hot soup? or what if that heavy restaurant-grade china had landed squarely on his head? Scary thoughts, but that's not what happened. And he really did look funny as he slept like a baby with that salad bowl nestled on his chest. So all I could do was laugh.

Paddle paddle kick kick kick

Twice last week we had the opportunity to go to the pool in our friends' Wendy, Chris, and Vincent's neighborhood. It's a fantastic place with both a great big pool and a kiddie pool; the latter Zach will no longer have anything to do with. We had a great time, despite the rain and tornado sirens on our first visit. :)

^The fantastic setting; Vincent enjoying being splashed

^ Squirt gun fight! And Scott and Chris playing the usual football-catching game.

As you may remember, over the winter Scott taught Zach to swim; he was even willing to jump into the water by himself and then swim to Scott. I discovered earlier this summer when I took Zach to the pool that he did not want to swim without his "shark" - a flotation device that allows him to swim freely on his own (I highly recommend these; see the picture of Vincent above). Apparently those couple months without access to a pool undermined Zach's confidence in the water. So after two separate outings to the pool, with lots of coaxing and ultimately a bribe... we finally got video of Zach swimming!

Independence

We are at a stage in our lives when the term "independence" refers to Zach. Whether it's his insistence on doing things for himself (like pouring his own oatmeal in the bowl) or our desire for him to perform a task on his own (really, you can't pull your covers over yourself???) - we're always trying to find the right amount of freedom to give our maturing three year old. So it was nice to have a long four-day weekend where we could celebrate a different kind of independence!

Scott took the day off, so we spent Friday on the beach at Lake Elmo. There aren't any pictures because while I was focused on sunscreen, towels, sand toys, lunch, diapers, etc etc - I forgot the camera. However, I remembered it Saturday when we headed out to Hudson, WI, for the 4th of July parade. Despite the heat - check out Zach's red cheeks - we enjoyed watching the various small-town princesses waving from floats, the politicians glad-handing, and, of course, the handfuls of candy thrown our way. Zach would tell you his favorite was the candy, but he did enjoy watching the go-carts zoom around too.

Charlie's spot for the parade - he was the only one who got any shade!

On the 4th we headed west to Lake Cokato, for our annual "celbration" with friends.

We had no idea when we bought Oasis Island (the big round floatee) five years ago that it would one day be used by our kids more than us. My how things have changed!

After fun in the water, we moved on land for some ball sports. Notice how well Scott multi-tasks in the first picture??

And, of course, there's always time to play cars. Especially for these two - Nolan and Zach definitely share a fascination with all things Lightning McQueen!

Sylvia decided to pretend to be shy when we sang an early happy birthday song in her honor. Zach was not shy about his desire for cake!

Kasey striking a pose; Charlie chewing on the bjorn.

We call this picture "my two dads." Aren't they cute?

Looks romantic, doesn't it? Word on the street is that they were talking curling. :)

Carter representing all the kids:

short/no naps + swimming + running + baseball + soccer + cake = falling asleep standing up.

Despite a short nap, a busy day, and the 90 minute drive, Zach stayed wide awake on the way home and got to witness many firework displays! Not a bad way to end a great day.

A photo shoot with Charlie

Our little guy is changing every day. He was 10 weeks old last Saturday, and to my delight, he's starting to establish more of a sleeping pattern: these days he goes to bed between 8 and 9, and doesn't wake up until around the 3:00 hour. And then he sleeps until at least 7, sometimes as late as 8. I never really know exactly when he wakes up, since he's pretty content to lay in his crib and talk to himself and wave his arms and legs around for a while.

On Wednesdays Zach goes to the "summer adventures" program at a local school. He's gone for most of the day, so I do my best to take advantage of having some one-on-one time with Charlie those days (instead of running errands and cleaning my house). As any mom of two knows, you always feel guilty that you're not giving either kid enough attention, so Wednesdays are my opportunity to focus on Charlie.

This last Wednesday, Charlie was so very happy to be laying on the floor testing his muscles, I got out the camera and we had an impromptu photo shoot. I took over 100 pictures, and really had a hard time picking my favorites...