Sunday, February 03, 2008

February 3, 2008

Today was our day to manage the 2 year old classroom that our boys attend at church. We did this during the second hour (the church service hour) so we were able to attend our class during the first hour. We have done this before and I have always found it to be a lot of fun. I enjoy watching the other little ones and seeing where they are developmentally. Plus, they are all just so cute.

Well, today it seemed like the longest hour of my life. We had nine little two year olds with just me and the husband. One of the department managers stopped by to see how we were doing and said there was another class with just three children and three helpers so she sent one of them over to us, thankfully. The other helper who joined us was a young girl but it was good to have two extra hands to help out.

When you have that many children to watch and then combine that with the fact that several of them are tired or clingy or both and want to be held a lot and one little boy is quite a challenge to keep track of (keeps opening the door, trying to get away, pushed other kids down or pushed them aside, etc.), we had ourselves quite the challenge today. I was glad when it was over.

The husband has been working on our emergency escape plan:). Meaning, he has been working on a plan for us to get out of the house quickly and be able to get the kids out, in the event of a fire. He bought a new ladder because the one we had was not tall enough to reach their bedroom window. Since our bedroom is downstairs, we need a way to get to the kids from outside the house, in the event that a fire is so consuming that we can't get to them through the house. We have french doors in our bedroom that allow us to go directly outside but the kids' room is upstairs. So we are keeping the new ladder in a place outside, where we could get to it quickly. We already have two fire extinguishers, one for upstairs and one for downstairs, so we are in good shape in that regard. Not sure if he has any additional plans but I'm glad that he is working through it so we would know exactly what to do in the event of an emergency and we would be able to move very quickly to get the boys out of the house.

What else? Well, the boys continue to thrive. Ben had his second surgery on Thursday morning, while Nick stayed home with Aunt Kathy and MaMa. They both did exceptionally well. Nick did not have any issues about being away from us this time, which was great. Ben's procedure went off without a hitch. I was really dreading this because it went so well the first time, I thought that there is just no way it could go that well again. Well, it actually went even better. This time he did not even cry as he was coming out of the anesthesia. He was quite the little trooper. We have to go back to the hospital on Tuesday morning (have to be there at 6:00am again) to have the stitches removed, again under anesthesia (just gas this time though), and this time we will have to take Nick with us. Hopefully it will go quickly and will be a non-event. After that, we just wait, watch and see how the scar heals and pray that it heals nicely this time.

After I brought Ben back home, I had to run out and get a prescription filled for him so the boys stayed with Aunt Kathy and MaMa. The boys were having a snack when I left and they both happily gave me a kiss and told me bye bye. They are doing pretty well now with us leaving and knowing that we will come back, although Ben is still going through some mommy clingyness. He cried this morning when we left him in his class at church, although not for very long. Nick opened the door and walked in, as big as you please, for the second time in a row. And I did not give any candy for the second time in a row either.

The boys are still talking up a storm. The other day, Nick had opened the little doctor's kit and had it sitting next to me on the small love seat. Ben was behind him, trying to reach past him to get one or two pieces of the kit to play with, as he said to Nick "share", "share", "share". It took me a minute to realize what he was saying. It was so cute (and Nick did share:).

One of the things the boys love to pretend now is that they are drinking coffee (sounds like "cocky"), as the dad is a big time coffee drinker. They frequently enjoy playing like they spilled it and then they run off to get their towels (I donated a couple of kitchen towels to them for their pretend play) and sponges and then they pretend they are cleaning it up. Sometimes they pretend they are stepping in it. I am frequently the commentator to their pretend play, saying things like "oh no, you spilled your coffee!", "you better go get your towel and sponge and clean it up", "uh oh, you stepped in your spilled coffee", "yucky, it is squishing between your toes". They think this is great fun and they normally repeat a lot of what I am saying and laugh a lot. It is quite funny.

This morning as we were in the car, on our way to church, we heard Ben say "big yawn" to Nick after Nick had yawned. That is something I say to them when I see them yawn. It is so amazing how much they remember and pick up.

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for nap time, Nick asked if they could take "books upstairs?". I think that was one of the first clear questions that was not related to wanting more food or something like that. The answer was no, because every time I have let them take books to bed with them, they end up throwing them at each other and when I let them take the kind of books that don't hurt when you throw them, they tear them up. So no more books in bed at naptime for now.

I'm hearing more and more short sentences lately, although I can't think of any right now. I need to start writing them down again because I know I am missing some cute things.

We got a bit of snow the other day and the boys were so excited. Nick woke up from his nap and Ben was still sleeping. Nick ran from window to window, looking at the snow and asking to go outside. He was so excited and ready to go but we waited for brother. I got them all bundled up and took them out to play in the snow and they had a very fun time. They cried when they had to come in, which I knew would happen. But their little hands were so cold and it was getting late. I have mittens for them and they started out wearing them but they couldn't get their thumbs in the thumb spot so they could not do much with their hands while wearing their mittens. So the mittens didn't stay on very long. I have a few pics of them outside that I will post sometime soon, although I don't think they are very good pics. The snow was completed melted by the end of the next day (Friday) and today it is around 70 degrees here. We are hoping the boys wake up from their nap in time to go outside and play for a while, since it is so beautiful out. They did not go to sleep until around 2:45 though so I'm not sure if they will wake up in time.

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