Well, no. I take that back. But instead of dwelling on the fact that Punkin' was extremely whiny, clingy, and downright hard to deal with due to her cold. Or the fact that EJ did acrobatics throughout the living room all day, and held his blanket like a superman cape and did superhero sprints through the kitchen. Orrrrr that Miss T came home from school with one heckuvan attitude, and refused to put 100% into her homework...
I'd much rather focus on something else.
Ages and stages.
EJ is at a fun stage. He's to the point right now at 3 1/2 that you can see him learning who he is. He's getting a feel for the world around him. True the way he does his exploration is by leaping from the end table to the couch, or climbing on the coffee table declaring he's the king of the world. But more so the fact that he's learning what he likes and dislikes. He likes sameness. He's a sameness kinda guy. He prefers the same routine, schedule, and chain of events e v e r y day. He's so much into sameness that if I change things up (like give him soup instead of a sandwich for lunch) it can spark him to spiral into this emotional fit. He literally falls to the floor, or runs to his room and screams until he decides it might not be so bad.
Suffice it to say we don't change things up without giving him the chance to debate if he's okay with it or not :p Those meltdowns could make a nun drink! All in all it sounds horrible, but it's really not so bad. It's kind of humorous at times, just because it's his character quirk. He's extremely OCD (thanks to me.. hehe) about his basket of cars, and his hand's level of cleanliness, as well as a few others things (like meals!)
His hand OCD started when he was younger, I'd say around 2 or so... It was hilarious. I know I shouldn't have found humor in his insecurity, but it was truly one of the funniest things ever. For instance:
Spring finally rolled around after a dreadfully cold NC winter, and the kids were rather eager to play outside. I was pretty excited too that we could finally sit outside without a million layers on, walking around like the Michelin man, dressed for snow/ice.
With this wonderful thought of a nice activity the children could indulge in that didn't involve a whole lot of running around (I was pregnant, heavily pregnant) we bought a sandbox.
It was the coolest sandbox ever. It looked like a steamboat, had a little bell and everything. We set it up on the porch so we were in the shade, and if I needed to step inside to grab some water I could easily spot them through the kitchen window. It was perfect! It finally came; the day to unveil the sandbox, and allow the kids to go crazy and make a huge sandy mess. I had two big sandbox kits, with buckets, digging tools, even little vehicles! I buried metallic Easter eggs with pennies in them so they could "dig for gold," it was going to be amazing!
So I thought.
I allowed Miss T in first, since at that point EJ was still insecure about new things, and there certainly wasn't enough room for mommy to fit in there with both of them. She went hog wild! She started digging and finding treasure, building mini castles, and driving the little sand cars all over the place. She started ringing the bell, and pretending she was a pirate sailing to a secret island full of more treasure! It was a boat and an island all in one!
Ej was still quite skeptical that this was any fun, so mistakenly I picked him up and sat him in the sand. Bracing himself he quickly put his hands down. That's when it hit him. This was a MESS. It was sticking to his clothes, it was all over his hands, he couldn't figure out how to get out of this torture-trap without getting more ick stuck to him!
Immediate tears. He clenched his hands into fists refusing to touch anything, and just looked at his clothes bewildered at the mess polluting him. He felt defeated. You could see it all over his face. I was laughing, which didn't help, but his reaction was so unexpected that I couldn't help it!
I picked him up, dusted him off, and cleaned his hands.
It began. He hated the way the sand felt so much that this spiraled into a cleanliness OCD. When climbing the steps he'd use the back of his hands to gain stability on the next step to avoid his palms touching anything dirty. Miss T figured this out quickly, and when their sibling rivalry peaked she knew that all she had to do was push him down unexpectedly into the dirt. He had no time to brace, and the mess would cause EJ to have a meltdown until he was all cleaned up.
(notice his hands? If he got into the box he'd hold his hands like this hahaha)
He came out of that phase for a while, because boy things always involved being dirty! But I've watched him over the past few months slowly creep back into his hand cleanliness phase.
The boy ADORES him some PB&J.. but it's not without sacrifice. Eating his beloved sandwich will mean his hands get dreadfully sticky, and then he's immediately clenched fists mode after he finishes, and is pleading for me to wash his hands.
We've tried to coax him to be okay with a little dirt, and for the most part he has gotten much better about it, but it's still just an EJ quirk :) Mud puddle hopping is a favorite pastime for Miss T, who's done some serious puddle jumping resulting in a small crater in our front yard. EJ always seems intrigued, but he prefers to just jump AROUND the puddle, and avoid coming in contact with any actual mud. We just keep soap and baby wipes handy, and try to prepare him when we go to the park that it does involve sand, and we stay pretty clear of the beach.
Punkin' is at a fun stage as well. Lil' miss is now 15 months old, and eager to explore. This stage is always the best, just seeing them figuring out words, and reactions.
Her favorite pastime right now is bringing me alllllllllll my ornaments. The best thing I've ever done for her was setting up this massive mountain of removable shiney things. She seems so proud that's she removed them from the tree, and offers them to me hoping to see "happy mommy." Much to her dismay, this doesn't make mommy very happy. But that's okay, she's learned that now too. Now she brings me ornaments KNOWING I'll have to return to the living room to place them back on the tree. No sooner than I enter the living room does she make a mad dash behind me, blanket in tow, and latch onto my legs grunting to be picked up.
oooooh. She's good.
It was a set-up!
The first time I thought this was a fluke, and she just saw an opportunity. However 2-3000 times later, she knows the ropes.
Now it's fighting MY OCD about the ornaments being where they belong to avoid being caught in her trap! Let's face it, I'm all for snuggles and cuddles, but I don't have enough time in the day to make that the only thing I do! But besides her trickery it's still a good age. She'll bring me toys so I can show her something new that can be done with it. Stacking squares from two different shape sorters into each other (that was yesterday). Boy you'd have thought I was Houdini! She lit up, and started cheering for me!
Another fun thing about the younger two, is that I am the coolest thing ever. Besides DH that is. They write SONGS for me (EJ equipped with a wal-mart hanger that doubles as a guitar), and any doodle I does belongs in an art gallery. It's pretty spiffy being famous at home!
Punkin' is also to the stage that she now has figured out that if she can get her leg on it, she can CLIMB on it. But getting back down is far trickier than she originally thought. This results in her crying out from the couch, or the coffee table, needing mommy to rescue her and place her back to safe ground. Though being a hero is fun and all, it gets pret-ty demanding after the 8th time in 2 hours that I've had to explain NOT to do that. She's rather tall for 15 months. 32 inches, and 25lbs, long and lean. There IS a downside to this though. She's able to reach knobs now! She's also explored using a stool. She abducts the stool from the kid's bathroom, and totes it with her. Placing it ever so tactfully in front of the counters. She then proceeds to climb onto the stool and blindly grasp for whatever may be near the edge of the counter.
This has kept me busy.
I've also become aware that drawers become step ladders. This was fun to figure out. She pulled the drawer to this mini table we have behind the couch, climbed INTO the drawer, and then proceeded to climb on top of the table, and flip over the back of the couch.
The table was moved of course. Part of me wanting to applaud her for figuring that out. That's baby genius right there! However the mother part of me had to tell her no, and relocate her step stool/gym all-in-one table. She was sad, after all it wasn't much fun scaling the table to a wall.
She's our little diva. She loves clothes, and shiney shoes. She fluffs her hair, and says "pretty!" She's cute and she knows it. Miss T still isn't this excited about clothes. I bring home a new outfit for Punkin' and she applauds me, hugs the new garments, and starts trying to disrobe the outfit she's in so she can try on the new one. The girl LOVES clips as well. She will walk to her dresser, pointing and trying her hardest to say "clips," and when that fails just says "pretty" while fluffing her hair. She knows I know what she's wanting. Her hair clips in her hair. She's pretty entertaining!
She has her own language. We've found if you listen closely that she's REALLY talking, it's just hard to understand since she doesn't fully understand all the different sounds for words. But she's incredibly smart! Though you can still see her 15 month side come out when you hum along with her light show music at night. She just gets still, fully amazed that mommy can make the same music as her Winnie the Pooh light show.
Miss T is at a fun age too, don't get me wrong. But she's passed most of the toddler silliness, and has a pretty good grasp of who she is. She's VERY strong-willed. She's got a sarcastic sense of humor, that you have to try not to laugh at because we aren't trying to condone her sarcasm, but we've officially realized there's no breaking her of it either. She DOES get it honestly!
She's a slight tom-boy, but does prefer girly/punk clothes. She's into hot pink, and zebra stripes. She loves rock and roll, especially the old stuff. She's a wannabe singer, musician, scientist, artist, and her most recent is she wants to be a mom with a cool job. She's wise beyond her years, and it's neat to have a child you can carry on a conversation with that has their own opinions.
She's extremely active, and loves sports. That helps her bond with DH, because I'm too clumsy and accident prone to be comfortable with sports involving high speed balls. Though I do try. She's a people person, and no where near a home-body. She prefers being out, and exploring the world. She's never met a stranger, and walks around like she owns the place. She's becoming quite the young lady, and I enjoy watching her grow. She doesn't cave to any kind of peer pressure, and is comfortable with who she is. She's dealt with a small amount of bullying this year, but to my surprise she just said "well that's okay that they don't like me, I have plenty of other friends!" She's never let it bother her. I couldn't be more proud.
I'm excited to see the little people they turn into.
Time has gone by quickly. Now that Punkin' is 15 months, and I see that's where Miss T used to be, and now look. She's 6, in kindergarten, and seeming more and more grown with each day. Little EJ was my chubby over sized baby what? Yesterday? Now he's growing closer to 4, and preschool!
These days are those to be cherished. They don't last forever, and pretty soon we'll be sending them off to college wondering what happened!
This is far longer than I had anticipated! So until next time!
that brought so many tines with the kids and ejs funny hand ocd!
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