No Mom I Haven't Touched My Train

Be Nice to Your Brother

This seems to be constantly streaming out of my mouth! Now that Maximo is mobile, Athen has become a bit aggressive and sometimes mean. At first, I tried taking toys away when he wasn't sharing. This strategy backfired because Athen was all too excited that Maximo couldn't play with his toys too. So... I had to reevaluate my plan of attack... My next attempt was to reason with him. I know reasoning with an almost 3 year old, sounds ridiculous but I tried... And I failed. He could care less that he didn't like it when someone hit him. He also didn't care too much when I said, "Nobody likes a bully!" At this point, I was constantly putting Athen in time out and trying to figure out if this was really how my life was going to be until one of them moves out. And I realized YES this really is how it's going to be, but it still didn't stop me from attempting to reign Athen in. So I talked to some friends and one of them gave me the idea of using a reward jar... So we started with 10 jellybeans at the beginning of the day and if he is mean to Maximo we take a jellybean out and if he does something (without prompting) nice we put a jellybean in. So Day 1, I explain the rules and Athen tells me he understands... Not even 2 minutes later, I am watching them play cars on the table and I see Athen do a little bump to Maximo for messing up his "carshow." I decide not to make a big deal out of it. I realize that sometimes he can give a warning to his brother. I do realize it would be frustrating if someone came in and messed up what I was doing. Then Maximo grabs and knocks down about 5 cars and they are on the floor. I see Athen not only push him down, but make sure he is completely on the ground, with his head pushed to the floor. Excessive, right! So needless to say this was his first jellybean gone for the day... And Day 1 ended with zero jellybeans! Day 2, I had high hopes. By 1030am, he had 2 jellybeans left and Maximo had even slept for an hour! He ended the day with no jellybeans! Day 3! It was sinking in...he realized that jellybeans were on the line... And he ended the day with 5 jellybeans! Hopefully this is a trend, but we shall see... Until then more jellybeans for me :)

The Alarm Clock Revisited!

Look at that sweet little face! Can you even imagine waking up to that two inches from your face? Sometimes, I'm so very lucky and get the opportunity as early as 6am. His sleeping schedule is so sporadic. He has been sleeping some mornings until 8 or 8:30 and that will last for a week, then the next week he is up at 6:00 or 6:30. So we wrapped up the alarm clock with duct tape and re-established the no earlier than 7 o'clock rule. However, once we started potty training we told him he was allowed to come out if he needed to potty. So last week Matt was out of town, and this happened to be a 6:00-6:30 wake up week. So the first morning, I'm lying in bed and I hear an alarm clock going off. I jump out of bed and realize it is coming from his room. He had been pushing the buttons and the alarm went off. When I came in the room, he said he was looking for the seven. A few days later I am asleep and at 6:30 I wake up to a "Mommy, good morning," two inches from my face. I realize he is naked from the waste down, and I ask him where his clothes are. He says to me, "Mommy, I woke up and pee-peed on the potty." I tell him that's great! Then he says to me, "And guess what else, I found a booger in my butt," which he was still holding in his hand. I was mortified and needless to say we washed his hands for a good ten minutes.
So this morning I go to his room to clean up a few things and I find the alarm clock like this!

And before he went down for his nap the alarm clock looked like this!

And it is now wrapped around the clock 5 times. I think I should just invest in one of those fancy clocks they make for toddlers that actually tell them when they can leave their room...

Summer's end...

I'm sad to see summer go, but I am thankful for a bit cooler weather. I do think we are finished with the 100+ temps here. Today was rainy and cool and it was nice to put fall clothes on the boys. I love fall... I love all the pumpkin flavored food and drinks! And fall means the boys birthdays are just around the corner. I can't believe Athen will be 3 and Maximo will be 1.
We had a nice holiday weekend even though Athen was sick. We spent most of our time at home just hanging out and it was so nice to spend time together. I just love my guys. However, Athen woke up Monday with so much energy I wasn't sure what to do with him. Here are a few pictures of my sweet boys!
During naptime today I decided to make Maximo another blanket. I'm determined to make him something he will love. He's really into the tags on his blankies, so I made him a taggie. We'll see if he likes it! Athen wants me to make him one with his name on it now. So that's my next project! I finally took a video of Maximo cruising along. He's so proud of himself! I love this age. I love his innocence and his sweet little squeals!

And I now have two toddlers!

Maximo is walking! He takes 2-3 sometimes 4 steps at a time. He gets so excited and squeals, then falls down. It is so very cute. He also just got the dancing bug. He waves his arms like crazy then loses his balance so quickly and falls to a crawl and then gets back up and finishes what he started. He's just so cute, I can't even get enough of him!

Everytime I look at him all I can see is Matt! Every little part of his body is a clone of his father. His little toes are just like Matt's toes, chubby and short. His little legs are just like Matt's legs, big and strong. He's working on his father's abs, but he's got the chubbiest little belly. :) His arms are like Matt's I can already see the little muscles growing. His face has the same shape as Matt's face, and he has his beautiful blue eyes. Everytime I cut his fingernails, his hands remind me so much of Matt. It dawned on me yesterday, the reason I find him so handsome is because he looks soooo much like his Dad. Now don't get me wrong, I think Athen is the cutest little boy in the world too, but he doesn't resemble Matt as much as Maximo does. I do think Maximo has a little bit more of my personality though, or atleast the patience level I have... We all know Matt is so very patient and I'm a little less patient. However, Maximo does have an appetite like Matt. He is my eater. He will eat almost anything, but prefers crackers, bread, and any kind of carb.
I love watching him grow. I love the way he just loves to be loved. How he doesn't mind that I'm all up in his space. I love how he cuddles and would absolutely love if I carried him around on my hip all day long. I love that he gives me kisses whenever I ask. I love when I put my forehead to his forehead he pushes right back and gives me such a sweet big smile! I love how he curls his toes up as tight as he can when he is being tickled. I love how he squeals when I open his book to read at night. I love how he props his little feet up on the ledge on his highchair when he eats. I love that when Matt gets home from work, I'm old news and there is nothing more he wants than to greet his daddy. I love that he tests out everything he picks up by first putting it in his mouth, then shaking it to see if it makes noise. I love this little guy and I'm so excited he's toddling around. I feel so blessed to be his Mommy!

The honest truth!

Sometimes, Athen isn't the most honest little one. Here is a little video of him not telling the full truth, but atleast in this instance he didn't blame it on Maximo! However, we really are trying to teach him the importance of telling the truth...

A few of the favs from the week!

Maximo learned a few new things this week. He finally learned to clap (a little late I know). He also learned to walk on his knees, although he goes immediately to a crawl when he sees something he wants. He is starting to sign a little bit, he waves "bye, bye" and he signed "more" once. He is also getting more and more brave and is walking to/from different pieces of furniture. He also got two new teeth, he's now up to 8 teeth! Unfortunately, he also got another bloody nose. This is his second bloody nose, but I guess that is part of growing up. Athen also got a bloody nose this week too! I guess I should get use to it having two boys!

Athen continues to keep me laughing! Yesterday he dropped one of his cars in between the cushions on the couch. And he yelled, "Mommy, the couch ate my car!" He is so very proud of his room. Anytime anyone comes to our house, he will ask, "Buddy, do you want to see my room?" He tells them about all the cars and always turns on his Chevrolet light. He has also been perfecting his "scary" face. Here is a little preview of it :)