Swimmin' and Gymnastic'in

The boys have been swimming fools the last week. They are taking serious...swimming...lessons. Geoff's boss's mom is very experienced (30+ years) at teaching swim lessons to kids. She offered to do eight days of lessons while she is in town visiting. The classses are 30 minutes long and I really didn't think they would do much in 30 minutes. I was dead wrong. In the first class they were going underwater. Today was their fifth class and they went off the diving board. I am not kidding. Not voluntarily off of course...I sat up on the board and urged (a.k.a. nudged or lightly pushed) them off and they would go under water to the instructor and flip over onto their backs. They both cry the entire time...but it is amazing....the start command for everything is "ready, go!" and they will stop crying and do whatever they are supposed to do. They really hate floating on their backs but we just hold them by the back of the head and count to five. Then we say "you are going to roll over and reach for the wall....ready, go" and they get completely quiet and do it. It is really neat. She is trying to get them comfortable with the water and get them used to flipping over so they go on their backs to cry for help if they need it. Let me tell you, our guys flip. Especially W. As soon as he is able, he flips so his face isn't in the water. Kids pick up things so quick. I can't even go off the diving board into the water without holding my nose so they have surpassed my swimming skills already!

But is has been good bc between getting them ready, driving to and from the lessons and the lesson pretty much takes up the whole morning. And they have been passing out for their naps.

We also started them in gymnastics but just for six classes. Geoff managed to go to a garage sale, take them to gymnastics, then right to swimming lessons last Saturday. He said they napped for four hours. No kidding!

W on the beam with Coach Chris

J on the bars

J on the beam

Gymnastics is interesting bc they want to run around everywhere (naturally) but they love it. Our third class happened to be a sport's day where they each got a trophy. W wasn't too crazy about it but J stared at it for the longest time.

We went to the beach last week and I didn't even try to keep them awake on the car ride home bc they were asleep about 5 minutes into our 40-minute drive.

He still has sand on his face.....

For Sure...

Things our boys know for sure:

-All dogs are called Katy

-All trucks, cars, and vans are all commonly known as "big truck"

-Milk makes the world go round

-The best food ever is pineapple

-When you hand something to someone else you say "nee no" (thank you)

-All puppets or unknown animals are known as "elmo"

-We still don't understand why we have to hold still for diaper changes

-The best time to drink water is in the bath tub

-Hitting our heads on objects is still hysterically funny

-Sleep as little as possible as to not miss anything fun

-Bubbles are wonderful

And here is a funny picture of Katy...lately she has grown fond of getting onto the boys' little table outside to have a better view into the kitchen. She looks gigantic and would certainly scare any intruder.

Grocery Store

I find it humorous how long it takes us to get out of the door these days. Take this morning as an example.
0830: "Alright boys, let's get ready to go to the store."
Go find shorts for them to wear (they are already in shirts and diapers)
Go brush my teeth
Chase J down to put his shorts on and discover he just pooped.
Go find clean diaper
Chase W down to put on his shorts
Help W get truck out of his crib
Chase J down to change his diaper
Diaper and shorts for J-done
Tell J to say bye bye to the magazine and big truck he is holding
Get purse, keys, bags, and coupons
Pick J up to carry him to the car and strap him in. As I pick him up we both look down...he doesn't have shorts on anymore. They fell right off.
Go get J a belt. Put shorts AND belt on.
Tell J to say bye bye to the magazine...again
Load J in the car
Return to house to get W...load him in the car
Carry their shoes out to the car to put them on in the car
Realize I grabbed 2 right shoes for J
Return to house to get the left shoe
Return to house to get purse and bags
0915: Depart for store
It makes me laugh.

We get to the store to realize there are no parking spots and a line out the door. A case lot sale just started and the line went all the way through the produce section, across the entire back aisle of the store...then into the warehouse. Forget that! So the boys and I were almost the only ones there shopping in the store itself. We are in the last aisle looking at frozen food and a lady comes up to me and slyly hands me an envelope and tells me "Please use this for your shopping trip today."
I said thank you assuming it was an envelope full of good coupons but it was a voucher for $25 off my grocery bill! Yahhoo! I should always look like a poor, disorganized, and sleep-deprived mom if people are just going to hand me free stuff.
=)

W*A*W

What*A*Week

The whole "crib climbing" debacle has become a big problem. I guess I was enjoying the last couple of months of good naps too much. As soon as I get used to a routine...BAM..BOOM BINGA......something changes. I guess it is God's way of keeping me on my toes. Today was the first day since Sunday that both boys took a nap at the same time and for more than a few minutes. I am fairly certain that W napped on the floor of the bedroom but after I heard *quiet*, I wasn't about to open the door and risk the door bumping into him and waking him up.

It started on Monday with them both getting out of their cribs as soon as I put them down for their naps. I anticipated having to put them back in their cribs maybe once or twice before they went to sleep...not 10 or 12 times! I even had to bust out with some spanking. And you know what? They just laughed! They were so delirious with their newfound independence that they just giggled the whole time. They didn't even realize that I was angry and very frustrated. I removed the rocking chair from their room thinking that would slow them down from climbing out of their crib but it didn't matter one bit. They popped right back out. I finally shut the door and let them tire themselves out. I heard them pulling out all of the contents of their closets. After an hour of destruction they started banging on the door and whining. So I put them back in their cribs one more time and they finally went to sleep. This all started at noon...1145 to be exact....and they finally went to sleep (albeit for 30 minutes) at 2pm.

And the struggles have continued since. Not so much at night, just for their naptime. W has also figured out how to turn the door knob to get out of the room...he was pretty proud of himself for figuring that out. Good thing that there is a lock on the outside of their bedroom door already.

They (especially W) have also been fighting me when we go out in public. I normally just put them in their stroller when I run errands but sometimes (if it is a quick stop) I will carry one and the other will hold my hand. So much for that. I think that they think: No stroller=free access to run rampant wherever I choose!

I had to make a quick exchange at CVS and it was crazy. They both ran in different directions. W grabbed a whole bunch of magazines and threw them on the ground while J was knocking large bottles of mouthwash off the shelves. Then I decided I had to pick W up. He is now a champion at straightening his body or arching his back so it makes it very hard to hold him. So I am struggling to hold him with both arms and J decides it is time to be chased and starts running down the makeup aisles giggling. Someone who worked there had to point out to me where he was. So we hightailed it out of there. I decided that the exchange was not that important.

The little rascals:

Perspective

I've been wanting to get a picture of the boys or one of the boys standing next to Katy to show their height in comparison to hers.

Here is the best I could get. They just all move to fast and just don't sit still for any length of time....unless they all see a squirrel which is what they are looking at while I took this pic.

Crib Climber

I just put the boys down for a nap and started to clean the kitchen. I waited. Waited to hear a thump on the ground, a knock on the door, something to clue me in that W was out of his crib. Geoff said that when he went to get them this morning W was on the floor playing with his trucks and J was still trying to sleep.

I heard J's sleepy cry meaning he was trying to go to sleep. Poor guy is battling a cold and almost fell asleep eating his lunch...but I also heard some suspicious giggling.

I slowly opened the door a crack to see W's crib e.m.p.t.y. I opened the door further and found him straddling J's back giggling and trying to squish him while J was trying to go to sleep! So not only did he climb out of his crib...he then climbed into J's crib to harrass him! Little stinker!

Time to put the video monitor back up. We knew we would need it again soon.

Escapee

It was bound to happen. Today when I went into the boys' room after their naps, I found W straddling and balancing on the top of his crib railing:.

..and J dangling both legs off the top of his crib railing:

I was going to post a poll on the blog asking for guesses on how long it will take them to get out of their crib.

Well, they beat me to it. If I was a betting woman, I would have put the money on J escaping first. Especially since he has the soft rocking chair nearby to land on. But it was W.

We had put them down for bed and they were fussing a little bit. I was in the laundry room thinking that their cries seem so much louder than normal. I went into the living room and told Geoff that I was certain that one of our children was standing just on the other side of their door. Sure enough, as we walked down the hall, we could hear the door know jiggling. Not only had W somehow got out of his crib (he had to have fallen in the process) but he then took the time to empty the contents of his big truck (large dump truck loaded up with toys and books) into J's crib! So J is standing in his crib looking awfully confused and surrounded by trucks, books, rocks, etc.

Geoff blamed it on me taking pictures of them climbing on their railings this afternoon, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Here is how J climbs into the crib:

He pretty much just dives in....