Walking the Baby

The twins love pushing things around...and their new favorite object to move?  Spencer!  Here's Owen taking the baby for a walk!  There's a little bar in the back of the City Select that is the perfect height for them to hold on to and push.  And who said 19 month old boys couldn't help with the baby??

Hair Pulling

Even though we have all boys, and not a whole lot of hair...we still have our share of hair pulling!  After the boys' afternoon nap, Oliver was being a sweet boy and nuzzling up to Spencer - meanwhile Spencer was grabbing a fist full of Oliver's long curls, and as Oliver backed away he realized his hair was being pulled and started screaming (see 2nd action packed and blurry picture)!  Spencer of course didn't let go and I had to intervene (and take pictures, haha).  Maybe Spencer was just giving a message: I'm a baby, movin' on up to big boy status...watch out twins!!

Fun with Chalk

What little boy doesn't love chalk?  We've been spending some time out on the driveway almost every afternoon with the chalk.  The boys love to help us draw pictures of the moon, stars, kitties, and the letter "O" because they can point out and say these things.  And as you can see, they already know how to write their names :)

Smile and Wink

Owen does the funniest wink - closing both eyes really tight.  And he's been learning to "smile" too.  I like this video because at the end he says mommy, which often comes out as mimi.  Meanwhile, Oliver is stuffing his mouth with pancakes!

Hangin' with Wesley

Wesley has been very popular lately with the twins - they love to chase after him and make meow sounds!  He doesn't mind for the most part, but once in a while they grab a fistful of hair and he gets perturbed.  We've started letting them "give the kitty a snack" with the cat treats and it's so funny to watch both them and Wesley negotiate for the snack!

Even Spencie loves playing with Wesley...

Secret Playground

I learned a great tip from a triplet mom during the boys' first music and movement class last week: search for private playgrounds hidden behind churches or on private preschool properties that are open to the public after hours.  The trick - these places are almost always completely fenced in or gated and the boys can be "set loose" without worry of chasing them down as they head in opposite directions to explore the fringe, parking lot, etc. which they always manage to find right away!  My new triplet mom friend also reassured me that the 15-20 month range is the hardest in terms of corralling multiple kids, which made complete sense to me having been in this phase for a few months now.  I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel though, as the boys are becoming increasingly better about following instruction and holding hands when asked.

So this weekend we tried a small private preschool that is right around the corner from Safeway... and instant success!  This playground was awesome - open only after 6pm and all weekend, and completely deserted!  There were lots of really nice climbing structures to satisfy the twins' endless desire to climb, climb, climb.  They are such big boys now - they immediately ran over and climbed up and went down the big twisty slide by themselves.  They have different philosophies on how to go down slides - Owen likes to sit and go forward and Oliver likes to throw himself down backward on his belly.  In this video, Owen was nicely setting himself up at the top of the slide, when Oliver came crashing on through, bringing both of them down!  I think we may be paying this playground a visit every weekend this fall!

Check out my new teeth!

Smelling flowers before going home... 

Baby Talk

One of the twins' favorite words lately is "baby".  They love when Spencer comes into the room, and even if he's not there and you ask them where he is they chime in with a chorus of baby, baby.  Here's a couple pics from last week when Oliver got to take a stroll with the baby (notice the pat on the head!).  Below that is a different day and different stroller configuration - Spencie got so comfortable in the big boy stroller that he fell asleep, and Oliver insisted on pointing this out to me.  Lastly, a typical dinner with the boys where Spencer is laughing and smiling while the big boys eat.

Oatmeal Bath

Poor baby Spencer had a patch of dry skin on his belly that one day last weekend, out of no where, became rash-like and developed into what we found out this past Wednesday at his 6 month pediatrician appointment is baby eczema!  At first we thought it was possibly an allergic reaction to bananas because the timing coincided with when we started him on his first solid food other than rice cereal.  So I stopped feeding him bananas for a few days until we could confirm with the doctor, and he didn't seem too happy about having been given something yummy and new and then having it taken away suddenly!  Luckily eczema's not contagious, or likely something that will stay with him past age 2, but he may have occasional flare ups if we don't keep his skin extra moisturized and use special soaps, etc. for sensitive skin.  The doctor gave us a prescription lotion that has worked wonders in the last 24 hours, and told us to use Aquaphor ointment after that as needed.  It's kind of a pain to grease him up twice a day (the Aquaphor is like a Vaseline consistency and stays all over your hands and clothes), especially because he is so wiggly now and constantly trying to grab anything within reach.  Imagine trying to dress a baby coated in Vaseline into a snug, long sleeved onesie - not the easiest thing to put on a squirmy baby to begin with!  I also got him some Aveeno Oatmeal Bath and that seemed to sooth his skin a bit too (another messy endeavor leaving a brown residue all over the tub)!

On another note - we may only have a couple more weeks of using the whale tub!  Spencer is starting to sit up with support, and can sit himself up in this baby tub, lean forward, and startled the heck out of me when he was suddenly inches from taking a face plunge into the water!  He's been doing that in his bouncy chairs too this week; my inventive method of feeding him in a bouncy chair on top of the kitchen table is over, now that I saw him lean forward and sway eagerly around the chair, held by nothing but the lap strap.  Time to get the bath seats out again!  The question is - can we do all 3 at once now?

Putting Wubbies Away

The boys are starting to learn to put their toys and other things away after using them.  This has stemmed from our routine of putting Wubbies and Blankies (their two security objects) away before going down for breakfast in the morning and after waking up from their afternoon nap.  They get so excited to head downstairs at these times of day that it was pretty easy to train them that if they "put Wubbies and Blankies away" they get to go!  It's really cute because they run over to their respective cribs and stuff the objects through the bars, or sometimes reach up and toss them over the top, and then run to the door ready to leave.  Once in a while, one of them will linger with his items a bit longer after the other has put his away, which causes the person who has already put his things away to reconsider and return to the crib to pull them back out.

Blankie Ride

The boys love to play with blankies.  One afternoon Ryan started to pull them around the family room and they loved it!  Then we each took an end of the blankie and were able to give them a much faster and more exciting ride.  You can tell from the video that it was tiring!  The boys just sat back and relaxed, like two peas in a pod!

Working for a Kiss!

Oliver loves kissing baby Spencer!  The other day when the boys were playing with him in the Exersaucer, I prompted Oliver to give the baby a kiss...not realizing it was going to be a bit of a reach for him.  But as you can see, he was determined to climb up on that Exersaucer and lean in to give Spencer a kiss anyway!  Owen doesn't cater to Spencer's emotional needs the way Oliver does...

Swinging Owl

Of all the boys, Owen had the closest relationship with this baby swing.  Oliver liked it just so so when he was a baby, and Spencer never really cared for it... but Owen wouldn't nap any other place for months!  We had to move a second camera to point at the swing because he was in there more often than his crib for a good while.  The twins are too big for it now; the only reason it's still in their room is to have another place to seat Spencer when we're all in there at once throughout the day.  I'm thinking once Spencer starts sitting up on his own, I'll probably retire it to the basement.  Or maybe to his room in case he changes his mind.  Anyway, Owen still loves that thing...he bats at the little birds while standing up like he's still a baby, and likes to put his stuffed owl in and give him a push while saying "whoo hoo"!

Summer of Figs

This summer we've had the biggest bounty of figs we've ever seen from our fig tree, particularly in August.  Ryan has been coming in with buckets of them every evening after work for the past few weeks.  My friend Connie gave us the tree in 2009 when it was just a tiny thing that fit in the trunk of our Escape.  It is now thriving and as tall as the house, and you can see in the last picture below how it towers over Owen as he mows the lawn!

Oliver has been enjoying a couple figs with his breakfast each day, and for snack too (they are great cut up and frozen).  It is so nice having such a low (zero) maintenance, organic, fruit bearing tree just steps outside the front door.  Especially because I saw a small carton of figs at Whole Foods, priced at $5.00 for just a few!

Big Boy Stroller

As I was about to take Spencer up for bed last night, I thought I'd try him out in the seat of the double jogging stroller.  He was happy and sitting up really well in the straps, so I took him for a short walk.  Doesn't he look sort of lonely by himself in there?  I'll have to take him with one of the big boy next time - he would love that!

On our way back down the driveway we were moving pretty quickly when suddenly a noise made me jump.  I looked over and saw that we were facing down a small deer, just about 5 feet away on the other side of the driveway fence.  I think we took each other by surprise, because he was too close to even turn and run away and just stood there looking at us look at him.  The big boys have definitely learned to recognize and point out deer around the yard and neighborhood now...and Spencer's learning too!

Mall Choo Choo Train

I took the boys to the mall Tuesday afternoon for their first ride on the mall choo choo train.  Owen was a little nervous at first as we all crammed into the same little car, but got excited and wanted to look out the windows once we got moving.  We all had fun!!

Oh and this was the first time I've worn Spencer in my Ergo in the backpack position and it was great!  It made using my hands out in front to help manage the big boys so much easier compared to when I have Spencer strapped to my chest.  I think he liked the change of scenery too, but started fussing toward the end of the trip because he missed seeing his Momma :)

Steak Night

We cooked steaks out on the fire pit for Labor Day and they were delicious!  Of course this was after the boys went to bed, but we had leftovers for them to try for the first time at dinner tonight.  Oliver LOVED it, and ate a surprisingly big piece.  He had a lot of fun using his fork to eat it too.  Owen wanted to use his fork to stab the steak, but that was about it.  My picky eater wouldn't even taste this special treat.  More for Oliver... and he ate all of it.  I don't know how Owen weighs almost 2 whole pounds more than his brother, when it's Oliver who eats all the steak and eggs!

And we have another steak eater on the way... Spencer's bottom 2 teeth broke through on Labor Day!!  Poor baby had been having trouble sleeping for the past week, crying a little differently when he woke up at night (more irritated) than usual, and now I know why!  I tried to take a picture of the two little white dots on his bottom gums tonight, but he wouldn't stop giggling and covering them up with his tongue.  If you look closely in the first picture you can see them.  I wasn't expecting teeth for another couple months - the twins didn't get theirs until 7 months and Spencie's not even 6 months yet!