Picking Food Up Off The Floor

The Boys

Andrew

Mother’s Helper. Drew has become a “mother’s helper.” He has always enjoyed “sorting” the laundry. But lately he has been helping me water the apple tree (he sits on the ground and holds the hose over the mulch). The other day at Ariel’s house he was helping with the watering can and Monday while I was cleaning the cupboards I gave him a paper towel and he wiped them all down for me!

Mornings. Drew has started having some interesting morning routines. After getting out of his crib the first thing he wants me to do is open their blinds so he can see the sunshine outside. He’ll often look at the window and make the sign for light while he’s waiting for me to pick him up. His other routine is to climb onto his little table in the living room and look out that window. He really likes to check on things and see what’s happening. He’ll stand there for up to 5 minutes before going on with his play. The rest of the day he completely ignores the window unless he can hear the neighbor’s dogs barking, then he wants to see them.

Temper, Temper. Drew is defintely the more emotional of the two boys. He gets very upset when things don’t go his way, even falling to the floor in a tantrum. At this point I haven’t found any way to lessen these episodes. If we can’t redirect him before it happens, we usually just ignore him until he’s done and then give him a big hug and try to direct him to something else. He’s so dramatic that I fluctuate between being frustrated and just wanting to laugh.

Sliding Boards. Drew loves slides! It doesn’t matter how tall, he’s gone on them all, all by himself. On the taller ones we hold his arms until he is lying flat and then he goes down. On the smaller ones, he climbs up and goes down without hellp (by smaller I mean anywhere from a 3 step one to the one that’s about 5 feet high.) At our playground he’s now turning around on one of them halfway down so he ends up on his belly.

Brandon

Driving Around in My Automobile… The boys have a little riding car with a handle on the back that allows them to push each other around. Recently they both figured out how to make it go backwards when they were sitting on it. Today Bran was puttering around the house going both backwards and forwards. He was so excited! He rode back and forth between the living room and kitchen several times. Drew got a little upset because he wanted to push, but Bran didn’t need his help! : )

Changing Roles. Months ago Mike and I were watching the boys and made the statement that Drew would think up the things to get into trouble and Bran would do them. Such as climbing the bookcase, etc. It turns out we were wrong, at least for the moment. Bran doesn’t like to swing high, doesn’t like slides, has no real interest in climbing on the furniture. Instead he prefers swimming, playing quietly, running around the house and chasing the dog. He also really likes to play with the woodchips under the tree. Who would have guessed?

First and Ten. Bran’s current favorite thing to do is play with balls. He and his dad play tackle with the football. Bran runs up to Mike with the football and Mike tackles him. He also really likes to kick his Pooh ball around the backyard. He does a good job of running up to the ball and kicking it. He can do it in stride and keep it up for several kicks.

Hugs. Brandon’s become a hugger. He’s always crawling up into my lap for a little snuggle. The grandmas should really enjoy this! Although don’t expect any long term holding or rocking, you get about 30 secs, but you get them often!

Posted under: Drew & Bran