Sick

We cannot enter a room full of kids and not emerge a few days later sick. The free rhyme time on Monday came with a free serving of cold virus. This is the first time that both kids are sick at the same time. Usually Bohdin gives it to Nyla. It's just a cold but it's still a pain. We couldn't attend the story time at the library today. We also couldn't go to the Smithsonian thing yesterday.

We have a playdate scheduled for tomorrow as a result of the ad. Bohdin hasn't needed a tissue yet today so I think by tomorrow afternoon he should be okay. I hope it works out.

I was watching something on tv yesterday and some people were having their second child. They wanted to ensure that everything they did for the first they would also do for the second so he would feel loved. I don't subscribe to this theory. Things don't have to be equal to be fair. Since I've been making Nyla so many outfits, I was wondering if Bohdin was feeling a little left out. I'm not making him clothes because he already has a ton and the boy fabric isn't as cute. I make Nyla's clothes so she has something that fits her. I asked Bohdin if he wanted me to make him something and he said yes. I think I'll make him a bag like my purse. He loves carrying my purse around as a mail bag. I'll go to the fabric store soon and let him choose something. I can't imagine what he'll choose.

Here are some older pictures that never made it in the blog:

Nyla's new pants. It's the first pair of pants she owns that are not skin tight. Who sizes these girl clothes anyway? I'm not kidding when I say you can get low rise pants for toddlers. Nyla is not skinny enough for girl pants. She can wear boy pants but they generally look like boy pants. I've already made another pair but the legs aren't as wide as the ones in this picture.
 

Nyla eating a cone. I found a recipe for pureed frozen fruit that is pretty tasty. Bohdin won't eat it. He prefers store bought but Nyla eats it right up.
 

Here we are making the chocolate cupcakes a few weeks ago.
 

Still searching

On my mission to find Bohdin a friend I posted a want ad in two forums I belong to. I have one lead. We'll see how it works out. We also went to Annapolis yesterday to a free Rhyme Time class at a studio downtown. They offer performing arts and dance classes but those are not free. Bohdin didn't participate but he enjoyed watching. He said it was fun but that he doesn't want to go again. We may anyway. I had thought previously of enrolling him in one of the classes but it won't be this semester. He's not quite ready for a drop off class yet. I did meet another mom there with a 4 year old son. She told me about the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center which hold mommy and me classes for preschoolers. It's once a month with the next one being tomorrow. We're going to try and make it.

The program yesterday was during Nyla's usual nap time. I thought I would be able to put her down during or before the program but it didn't work out. I didn't even try. Nyla did fine during the program. She wandered around looking at all of the people and started playing with a little girl. She also had a good time with the mirrors lining the walls. She fell asleep in the car but woke up right after I put her on the bed. She refused to take another nap later so we went to the playground. It was still a little hot outside. Bohdin found a 5 year old boy to play with and they had a fabulous time. He knew more than Bohdin did and was happy to share his hilarious words with Bohdin. I don't know if Bohdin will start using potty humor or not now. The mom could not have looked more unfriendly. I just played with Nyla. When it was the little boy's time to go she was having a hard time getting him out of the playground. She kept asking him if he was ready and he said no. I saw the trouble she was having so I told Bohdin it was time to go and left to make it easier for her. I've been there before.

I was reading about some little kids with irrational fears the other day and was really proud of myself and Bohdin for having sidestepped such a common thing. I thought maybe I did something right. It turns out I didn't. I remember from psychology class an example of a child being scared they would go down the drain. So I asked Bohdin if he could go down the drain. He scoffed at me and said no like I was an idiot. Then a few days later he woke up in the middle of the night saying he didn't want to go down the drain. He fell back asleep. The next day in the car he started crying saying he didn't want to go down the drain. I hadn't brought up drains again since that initial time. I tried explaining to him that he was too big but that wasn't working since then we was fixated on really big drains. We came home and I showed him the difference between liquids and solids and said only liquids go down the drain. He couldn't possible go down the drain because he's not a liquid. It really eased his mind. So if drains ever come up in conversation with him remember that ONLY liquids go down drains. I'm sure there is a point when he'll discover that it's not true but I want it to be after his fear is resolved. He was putting leaves down the storm drain yesterday but luckily the association hasn't been made. I rushed him along as quick as I could. He's going to realize someday I lied to him. I need to think of a way out this. I'm the one who is going to go down the drain.

ISO Friend

Tropical Storm Hanna looked like just another storm. N-'s 4th birthday was a few days ago but his party was yesterday. I thought it might be rained out but the heavy rain only lasted a short time. By two the rain was mostly gone. We headed over to his house. Bohdin was the 3rd boy there. He was quite shy in the beginning, staying very close to me. As time went on he went further and started playing with the toys. Two other boys eventually showed up. Bohdin played with N-'s mom and had a great time. It sounded like the most fun anybody had at the party. We had cake and ice cream and Bohdin watched three of the boys playing freeze dance. N- was in a corner playing by himself. Bohdin enjoyed watching the freeze dance but didn't want to participate himself. At some point he may have. They had those large punching balloons blown up and other three boys had been roughhousing with them earlier. In between the cake and present opening, Bohdin and another boy started playing with them together. That just made me see again that Bohdin needs a friend who he can play with like that. N- is even quieter than Bohdin. Bohdin needs someone who is capable of some aggressive play. Perhaps N- is but he and Bohdin have an incredibly difficult time communicating. My goal this week is to try to find him a friend or a situation where we can meet new people. The library starts story time this week. It's at an inconvenient time but I think we need to try and make it. I may also put out an ad to my local mom's groups and see if I can come up with somebody suitable.

Buddy had to work almost all day yesterday. After a quick dinner we headed outside. The storm brought lots of puddles to the area. Here is Bohdin dancing in the puddle and rumbling his truck through the puddle.

 
 
 
 

Bracing for Hanna

Tropical Storm Hanna is supposed to be swinging through here in a few hours. It's all over the news. Stuff is being canceled. There is a lot of talk of emergency preparedness. When I see it on tv it looks like a bit of rain with some wind. That's not unusual for this area. We'll see in a few hours what happens. It's been raining since 7pm last night.

Bohdin's friend came over yesterday to play. They really don't play that well together. They're both on the shy quiet side and nothing ever happens. They sort of go about and do their own thing. Bodhin still asks for him. I don't know if it's because he likes him or he doesn't know anybody else. He did manage to talk the mom's ear off. He showed her everything he could find. He talked about all of his toys. He brought out books to show her. It was practically nonstop. At one point he and N- tried playing together. Bohdin was playing with a toy that N- had brought over but not in a way that N- liked. He was upset but didn't know how to say stop. Bohdin didn't want to stop doing it. Both adults interfered a bit. Bohdin became upset when a compromise was reached. He has a lot of emotional growing ahead of him. It probably didn't help that he was hungry and tired.

Don't touch

Before Bohdin was born I knew he was either going to hate being touched or want to be touched all of the time. In a way, he is both. When he is sad or sleeping he is comforted by touch. That's why he slept with us for so long. Now he's losing his need. That will increase as he grows up. On the other hand, he doesn't really like hugs. He'll tolerate Buddy, or Nyla, or I hugging him but he doesn't care for other people to touch him. In fact, he hates it. Tyken tried to give him a hug when we were in Colorado. From his expression you would think that he was going to get a hug from somebody who hadn't bathed in 3 weeks and was covered by bugs. He was horrified at the thought that Tyken might actually put his arms around him. He did successfully dodge the hug. Some people are put off that he doesn't like physical affection because they don't understand that it's not personal. He wouldn't give me a hug on Mother's Day because he said "But I'm not sad". He's okay with touching other people on occasion but they usually can't touch him back.

Nyla's sleep has been all over the place recently. In the past 10 days she has went to bed as late as midnight and as early as 7:20 (last night). In the morning she'll wake up between 6:30 and 10. If she has another really really late night (although past midnight is really unlikely) we'll be able to watch the Broncos season opener on Monday. The game starts at 10:15pm. We'll be lucky to watch the opening drive before having to go to sleep.

I've been focusing a lot of time on cleaning the past two days. I went through the boxes and bags of toys I had stashed away. They toys are mostly organized now and there are two boxes ready to leave the house. I hope it lasts at least a little while. The problem is that toys and books and puzzle pieces just get put in the nearest available space instead of the correct space.

Since a tired Nyla refused a nap yesterday I just let her play while i cleaned the kitchen and prepped dinner. Bohdin was playing nicely and quietly with his toys. Nyla was quiet although she didn't always do the right thing. She did manage to open some play dough and eat it. While I was working yesterday it seemed that two kids was finally becoming much more manageable.

Everything didn't go completely smoothly yesterday. Nyla was grumpy after Bohdin awoke her from her nap. We needed to get out of the house. I grabbed a piece of leftover chicken from the curried chicken and sweet potato I had made earlier. Nyla ate it but it was a little messy. Bohdin saw her face and said "Nyla has poop on her face". When I looked at her it did look like poop. She has had diarrhea the past several days and that was the same exact shade. Interestingly enough, now that she has eaten the curry her poop is back to normal.

I have a milestone to report. Nyla finally has enough hair that she can wake up with bed head. Blond hair sure is slow to come in.

When Bohdin was sick a few weeks ago I checked out the Magic School Bus from the library for him to watch. He is now very interested in it. It's a nice program. He was telling me how baby stars needed to be squeezed before they can shine. I thought he was wrong but Buddy said it was correct. Astronomy is so boring to me. We've also been reading some of the books so he's been talking about white blood cells as well. I'll have to check if they have more of those videos at another branch.

Too Hot

We are in the middle of a heat wave right now and it's too hot to do anything comfortably outside. It's not too hot to swim but the pool is closed now. I don't think we've been doing much of anything. Bohdin and Nyla's naps were staggered yesterday so the afternoon was spent with one awake baby. I did a lot of cleaning. I guess I'll mention some past stuff since I can't think of anything recent.

Bohdin is still interested in rhyming words. Sometimes the rhyming word is not really a word although it does rhyme. A few weeks ago we were doing some rhyming he says ten n that rhymes. In my head I was thinking "en" is not a word so I asked him what an "en" is. He said "A letter"

Nyla is progressing really well on the slides. She has stopped trying to walk down them and instead can sit and scooch herself until she gets going. It's crazy to see how good she is.

Bohdin wanted to use the ladle the other day and suggested we make a cake. We did make some chocolate fudge cakes. It would have been better for our waistline to make soup though.

We've been reading a lot of books like usual but I don't feel like reviewing them all. I'll highlight the ones Bohdin liked:
Animals aboard! / Andrew Fusek Peters
Ducks don't wear socks / by John Nedwidek
Get to work, trucks! / by Don Carter
Good morning, Digger / by Anne Rockwell - This was a rerun. We had it when Bohdin was about 2. It took me a while to realize why he was saying broken glass and vacant lot. He got it from this book.
Home for a tiger, home for a bear / Brenda Williams
The Hoppameleon / Paul Geraghty
Just like daddy / Frank Asch - This book had Bohdin picking flowers for me
Old black fly / Jim Aylesworth
Our community garden
Truck driver Tom / Monica Wellington
Flora's surprise! / Debi Gliori

Bohdin just woke Nyla up. He insists that "this time I'll be quiet". He just doesn't get it.

Labor Day

Buddy was reading a book to Bohdin tonight. The opening sentence introduces a character named Audrey Aubergine. As Buddy wondered aloud the correct pronunciation of Aubergine, Bohdin says "Can mommy read me the book or something?".

Buddy has been talking about the new iphone for a while. Although I have shown zero interest he thought it would make a great birthday present for me. Today we went to the store to check them out. I only went because Buddy was so interested. I did end up trying it out and it was actually pretty neat. We walked out with one iphone but it was for Buddy not for me. So there is his birthday present. I was going to get him a new cookie sheet but that will have to wait.

We went to the pool today for the last time. It closes after Labor Day. The water was a bit chilly. The forecast for the next several days is 90+ degree weather so it's a bit unfortunate. Bohdin was kind of swimming today. Buddy held him with a noddle and he kicked off from the wall. He doesn't like to be reclined in the water. It was good that he tried.

I had my first stranger approach me to ask where I bought Nyla's outfit. It was one of the ones I had sewn. I thought that was pretty exciting. While Buddy was checking out the iphone, Bohdin and Nyla ran around the store. They kept each other occupied really well. It probably looked like we were raising wild animals though. On the way home they were giggling so hard in the backseat. Bohdin was pretending to squirt her or something with a strap from the Ergo. They both thought this was hysterical. I love hearing them have so much fun together.