Quick update

We are off to Lubbock tomorrow, so here is a quick update before I have new posts of cousins and family. Ryan has had a very good week. He's behavior has greatly improved and I think we have made it several days without any timeouts. He is also still taking a nap every day (which has probably helped his behavior) and has been going to bed at night with no problems. We took the boys to Chuck-e-Cheese on Wedensday. Who would've thought that there would be 6 birthday parties going on in the middle of the week? Luke had a good time and Ryan enjoyed putting the tokens into the slot.

New things:

Luke calls every boy or girl that he sees "little guy." He is quite a conversationalist with other kids and will call out "wait, wait, little guy."

Luke told us on the way to ChuckeCheese that Ryan was his buddy. I said "Ryan is your buddy?" and he said "yes, he's my bro buddy."

Ryan freaks out over any bug that he sees. We had a minor ant issue on the backporch (I think they found food) and he refused to come outside. He would stand at the door and tell me that there were catepillars outside and for mama to go crush them.

Have a good week and I'll post more as things come up. I'm going to Fort Worth on Monday-Wednesday to see Tim and Stephanie and to meet Mackenna. Kent, Tara and Fyo are coming to Lubbock at the end of the week and a family picture with all of the grandkids has been scheduled. It should be interesting to see how that goes-5 kids under the age of 6. The boys will remain with Nana and Grandad the following week and Greg and I will meet them somewhere between Denver and Lubbock to pick the boys up and bring my mom back for the following week (Greg has 2 week-long out of town trips). I am looking forward to having the house to myself for more than a couple of hours for the first time in almost 3 years. Of course I will miss them, the short break will be nice.

Sunday with Ryan

As anyone could gather from my previous posts, we've been having some problems with Ryan. He is such a sweet and funny little boy, but he is also extremely stubborn and defiant. The last few weeks have been difficult for him and us. I feel that some of his problems stem from wanting attention (and some because he is 2). Luke demands attention and it is hard sometimes to give Ryan the same amount. Ryan also doesn't like to do things at home the way that Luke does (like color or play games), he likes to go places. So on Sunday, we dropped Luke off with Papa (Greg's dad) and took Ryan on the light rail. He loves trains and we have a light rail station near our house so he sees the train almost daily, but we've never taken him on it. He loved it. The plan was to take him downtown to the 16th Street Mall and eat lunch. He didn't care anything about lunch, he wanted to be done so he could get back on the train. We had a good time with him and it was so nice to have some one on one time with him. I hope to take him to the bounce house sometime soon and leave Luke at home. He loves the bounce house more than Luke and I think he would have a great time there without his brother. Below are some pictures from our little adventure.

I had planned to make cookies with Ryan on Saturday, but he chose to go with Greg to the store and Luke was very excited to stay home and make cookies with me. I have food issues (as in I'm very picky about people touching my food and how it is prepared), so I haven't been willing to let them help me cook very often. But I found the perfect cookie recipe that would give the boys the opportunity to poor ingredients into the bowl without having to actually touch any food (because I especially cringe at the idea of eating food prepared by a grubby-handed 2 year old). Luke was able to pour the eggs, sugar, M&Ms, raisins, chocolate chips, and oatmeal into the mixing bowl. He loves to help, so he thought this was great fun.

Things going on:

I'm winning the nap time battle with Ryan. I'm not ready to declare victory yet, but I have had success for almost an entire week. All I am doing is sitting in bed next to him and reading my book while he eventually falls asleep. It usually doesn't take more than 10 minutes and I get a few minutes of reading time in while I'm at it.

Luke is carrying on almost complete conversations with us. In the car today he said, "Mama, I need smarties." (as in the candy) I told him he didn't need smarties and that wasn't the way to ask. He spent the next few minutes perfecting, "Mama, can I please have some smarties." He loves to ask us questions about things and ask for more information.

Luke thinks it is funny to call us mom and dad (and sometimes Greg). I'm just glad that it's not mommy-I've always hated that word. No offense to all of the mommies out there, but it was never an option for me-it reminds me too much of the movie "Mommy Dearest" (no wire hangers!).

Ryan is our little athlete in the making. He made his first real basket today-as in he actually had to throw it in the air and aim for the hoop. However, I don't see him as a basketball star-he has too many short genes in his system-maybe he'll be the next Avery Johnson instead (former Dallas Mavericks coach).

Lastly, a picture of the boys playing in Greg's car. He took them out to help wash my car, but they had a good time playing in his car instead.

A Fit-Throwing Week

Not a whole lot has been going on with us lately. Ryan throws several fits on a daily basis (he had 2 timeouts at Target today) and Luke continues to shriek and scream when Ryan just looks at him funny. Greg had 2 glasses of wine earlier this week and commented on how the noise/fights don't pierce his eardrums quite so much with the wine - I totally agree. We did go another bike ride on Saturday and went to a nearby park on Sunday that we hadn't visited before. Greg went out of town Monday - Wednesday and I had the pleasure of having them as my only company. Overall, it was fine - just a lot of fighting and screaming, made worse by the cold weather which has not allowed us to go outside. I did take them Chick-fil-a today (or Chicken-lay as Luke calls it) for lunch and to play on their indoor playground. I've also realized how much Luke loves to play games (Animal Scramble, Memory, puzzles), so we went to Target today to find some that were age appropriate. Below are pictures from this past week.

For something different to do this week, we played dress up with Halloween costumes. It wasn't as peaceful as it looked. Initially Luke wanted to be Batman, so I dressed Ryan up in Robin - but then Luke changed his mind and threw a major fit because he wanted to be Robin. Thankfully, Ryan doesn't care about such things, so he was fine to change into Batman.

Luke drew this picture of his family on Saturday. He told me it was "Mama, Daddy, Luke and Ryan walking on the sidewalk." I did help him with the K, but he did the L, U, and E himself, as well as the rest of the picture. This will definitely be framed soon.

Luke coloring with markers.

Ryan doing the same.

Ryan at the playground.

Fearless Luke.

Another thing we did this weekend was transfer our home movies onto DVDs. All 4 of us had so much fun watching videos of Baby Luke and Baby Ryan. Most of what we watched was from when the boys were 6-12 months of age. It amazing to watch how much they've grown (and in Luke's case shrink in fatness). Greg said he thought it was funny how calm we were on the videos-we just sat and watched them played and it was so quiet. I know people have said that the first year with twins is the hardest, but I'd have to say I miss those days. They were a lot more work back then, but they didn't scream, hit, bite, or talk back - so in that way, it is a lot harder now.

Lastly, a video of Luke playing a game. A counselor from school gave me a spelling game that she had used with her kids. I don't know what age it is for, but Luke loved it-Ryan didn't. I was surprised to see how well he knows his lower-case letters. He loves to be challenged and gets so excited when he plays games.

P.S. Nighttime battle is over and we won! They are both asleep within 10-30 minutes after going to bed. Ryan still cries, but only for a few seconds now, but Luke is completely silent. I have now tackled naptime. Luke is almost always a good napper, but Ryan is not (although at school they say he is the first to fall asleep). For the past 2 days, I've put him in my bed (with no Sesame Street or Thomas) and sat in bed reading my book with him until he has fallen asleep. It took about 30 minutes yesterday but less than 5 today. I'm determined to win this battle, as well.

Bedtime Saga Continues

Greg was gone for part of the week, so I got to battle the bedtime routine by myself. Luke is cured - I don't know exactly what worked for him, but he is no longer a problem. Ryan, however, is still as stubborn as ever. We've had to make it where he can no longer open his door in order to make him stay in his room (if not he will come out a hundred times). As a result, he has been screaming at the door for anywhere from 5-20 minutes before finally giving in. On Monday he cried for about 5 minutes and then I didn't hear anything for about 30 minutes, but he then started screaming "tuck in" for about 20 minutes. I know his routine, if I had gone in his room he would pull the same thing over and over again, so I had to ignore him. When I went in their room before I went to bed, Ryan wasn't in his bed. It took me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but then I found him in Luke's bed, sleeping with his brother. We found him in the same place last night, as well. Tonight, all has been quiet. But they are really tired. I had to work all day today (from 7 this morning to 7:30 tonight), so Greg took them out to dinner and then to Chic-fil-a for their playground and ice cream. Greg said they had an absolute blast and Luke screeched every time he came down the slide. Due to this, they are really tired and that has so far kept Ryan quiet.

Yesterday I took the boys to a kids' art studio for something different to do. Below are pictures. Luke was more into the art stuff, Ryan was more fascinated with how the record player worked (used for art, I guess).

Afterwards I took the boys to the mall for lunch. I had about 30 seconds of total panic when I lost Luke. I had managed to park on the complete opposite side of the food court so I was having to drag the boys through the mall. Luke became fascinated with the fountain and I told him to come on. About 3 steps later, I turned around expecting him to be right with me (because he normally sticks close), but he was gone. I didn't see him anywhere. I picked up Ryan and started running around the fountain yelling his name. Turned out he had gone the opposite direction that I had gone and had been stopped by 2 very nice ladies who noticed he was saying "mama." I hope their judgement of me went away when they noticed I was already carrying one 2 year old. I'm afraid the harnesses will have to make a comeback with Luke, he is so fast and sneaky. On a funny note of the mall visit: after lunch I took the boys to the Disney Store and got them a new Lighting McQueen shirt. The cashier gave both boys their own bag to carry and I paid while keeping an eye on Ryan who was carrying around a Sleeping Beauty doll. When we got home, I took the shirts out and found that Luke had stolen (not that he knows what that means) a High School Musical baseball from the store and had put it in his bag.

This last weekend we had great weather so the four of us went out on our first family bike ride. Greg got to pull the trailer this time.

Below are other pictures from this past week.

Ryan on his bicycle. He likes to wear his bike helmet backwards.

Luke has almost got writing his name down. He totally gets the L, U, and E. He has trouble with the K, but this has been his best attempt.

Luke gave the time-out timer a time out yesterday.

Greg reading Dr. Seuss to the boys tonight before bed.

Last but not least: Happy Birthday, Olivia! I can't believe that she turned 6 years old yesterday.

She is having a rainbow themed birthday party on Sunday, so I made her rainbow cookie party favors. I just wish we could be there!

I'm off tomorrow, so I hope to have a relaxing day and weekend with the boys.