Still Friends

I was asked the other day if Bohdin and Nyla are still friends. I guess so. They certainly love each other. Sometimes they butt heads when they have opposing goals. Nyla is more of a touchy person than Bohdin. This morning she sat in Bohdin's lap while he was sitting in the bed. Bohdin prefers a bit more personal space than that. They sort of play together but as I mentioned yesterday Nyla likes to take things that Bohdin is playing with so their best games involve physical play. Last night Nyla thought it was funny when Bohdin was riding the broom. She had a good time chasing him around while he did that.

 
 
 
 

Nyla stayed dry through the night for the first time last night. I'm quite surprised since she never came close before. Normally I change her one or two times a night. She has the determination to pull anything off so I shouldn't be shocked. She really has the potential to do something great when she grows up. I can see her as an entertainer or CEO or astronaut. I can't imagine her as ordinary.

Smooth sailing

Nyla is in good spirits this week and that is making life easier. Everything just seems to be running so smoothly. It's never been easier to have two kids. Nyla still makes life interesting throughout the day by antagonizing Bohdin. She enjoys grabbing the toy he is playing with then shrieking and running away. I'm proud of Bohdin for taking the high road on occasion by letting her have it. Of course the second he moves on to something else so does she. We've nicknamed her the wedge. She likes to drive herself in between you and the thing you are giving attention to. This trait is worst when Bohdin is crying and is sitting in my lap getting a hug. Nyla will start fake wailing and push Bohdin out of the way so she can have a hug instead.

Bohdin has found a new favorite show. He finds Tom and Jerry to be uproariously funny. I watched the same cartoon as a child. Through adult eyes it seems really really violent. I don't remember thinking that when I was young. Our library doesn't carry VHS copies of the show but luckily it's on tv again. Maybe someday he'll love the Smurfs and He-Man also.

I had the flour on the top shelf of the pantry but moved it back down. Nyla found it and put some in a bowl for herself. When she realized raw flour was actually not that tasty she dumped it on the floor and started playing with it instead.
 
 
 

Paul called the other night after 7 and said I never mentioned on my blog that this wasn't a good time. Nyla and Bohdin usually both go to sleep in the 7 o'clock hour. If I put Nyla to sleep then I lay down with her the rest of the evening and lay in bed reading, watching tv, or on the computer. I do this for three reasons. She still likes it. She wakes up frequently at night. It can be difficult to put her back to sleep if she wakes up fully. There is one more reason actually. She's growing so fast and my precious time with my sweet, soft, cuddly baby will be over soon. In a few years she'll be screaming that she hates me.

How Donuts Are Made

Yesterday afternoon we stopped at the library to return a video. Upon leaving the library I didn't want to just go back home. We still had two hours before dinner needed to be started. We didn't need to go to the grocery store. I finally settled on Krispy Kreme and maybe the toy store about 20 minutes away. When we arrived at Krispy Kreme it was disappointing to see that no donuts were being made. Since Bohdin is so interested in the show How It's Made I thought he would enjoy the demonstration. I explained the process to him. Then they started to made the donuts. We saw the whole thing beginning with the dough being moved with the aid of a pulley. It actually takes a really long time to watch the whole process. We were there for about an hour. The best part was it was free donut day.

When we left the store Bohdin noticed the dusting of snow on the sidewalk. It had snowed here on Sunday but ours melted soon after it fell. Bohdin kicked the snow as best he could with his foot. He missses playing in the snow. The cold weather with no snow here is a bit of a letdown.

When we arrived home it was time to make dinner. Nyla was starving and sat on the counter eating the sausage I was cutting up for the soup. Bohdin helped me with parts of the process. He tried to cut the sausage with a real knife but was having trouble keeping his fingers tucked under. Eventually he settled on adding ingredients to the pot and stirring. It all went so smoothly. Even the cleaning up after dinner went really smoothly.

Nyla potty update: This morning she peed in the potty 4 times. One time she peed on the way to the potty.

Here is Bohdin using the food processor a few days ago. He can almost do the whole thing by himself. He needs some help putting the top on sometimes.



 

Long weekend

I'm watching the inauguration on tv right now. It would have been neat to go but it was not the place for a four year old boy. It would have been too much walking, too many people, and not enough potties. Buddy had to go back to work today after a 4 day weekend. We thought of going somewhere this weekend but we didn't want to get caught in inauguration traffic. The only thing we did this weekend was buy a new lens for the camera.

Buddy and Bohdin were playing a game where they hatched out of the blankets.
 

Nyla laying still for a moment.
 

Buddy made some sort of joke about Nyla stripping which Bohdin thought was hilarious. Nyla has been anti-clothes the last two days. She is napping in the nude right now.
 

Bohdin laughing at Nyla taking her shirt off. She hasn't figured out to the sleeves first so she comes crying when it's wrapped up on her shoulders.
 

Always wrong

I never got around to writing last Thursday's post which was going to be about Nyla and how incredibly far she was from ever learning to use the potty. During the day, she didn't care if her diaper was wet. If she was diaperless and peed on the floor she would be surprised at the sudden arrival of water. Where did it come from?

Yesterday she was wearing pants but no diaper. She hates wearing diapers. She doesn't care much for pants either but sometimes will leave them on. Buddy and I were watching a movie and she walks into the bedroom on the way to the bathroom. Her pants are around her ankles. She sits on the potty, pees, and walks out with her pants pulled up. I was astounded. There was a complete transformation in just a few days. Today she used the potty successfully by herself the first three times this morning. The fourth time she had trouble taking her pants off. I'm just blown away.

To continue the potty talk, the other day Bohdin announced he had to poop. Immediately after his announcement he says "Help me find something that makes noise.". We finally settled on a play metal pan and spoon. He ran from the room to the potty. Bohdin has developed an aversion to quiet rooms. This morning when we were putting clothes away I had to sing while he was in the room so it wouldn't be so quiet.

New food

On our recent trips to the commissary Bohdin pushes me to buy a vegetable we haven't tried. Our latest trip resulted in brussel sprouts and beets. The kids have actually enjoyed beets in the past. I don't serve them often because beet juice is really staining and it makes their poop look bloody which freaks me out a little despite being prepared for the sight. I'm curious to know if Bohdin will like the brussel sprouts. Maybe I'll cook them today.

Bohdin has also been begging for blackberries. Neither Buddy or I love have strong feelings about them so they are usually passed over in the store. There was a good price on blackberries at Costco yesterday so we bought a large tub. Bohdin wanted to put it under the basket. Later he decided to move it. As he picked up the container the top came flying open and most of the blackberries spilled onto the floor. We picked them up along with another lady. I wasn't mad at Bohdin. I wished he hadn't held the container sideways because more kept pouring out. He couldn't figure out how to fix it when I was telling him to stop. He put a sea of blackberries between us so all I could do is watch as more rolled across the floor. I would have liked to replace that container of spilled blackberries with a new container. If Bohdin hadn't been there I would have but I have to be a good example. This morning he didn't want to try the blackberries because they had fallen on the floor. I pointed out that he eats candy that falls on the floor but apparently that's different.

Bean extraction

Yesterday at lunch Bohdin asked me what four plus four equals. After I told him, I took out some dry beans that he could count with. Nyla was on the opposite side of the table and wanted some of her own. I pushed some over to her side while she leaned across the table for more. Somehow, either accidentally or on purpose, a bean made it up her nose. She took a nap after lunch and I noticed at one point she had some difficulty breathing as if she had something in her nose. The difficulty only lasted about a minute. When she woke up she sneezed several times and her nose was becoming runny. I thought she was starting to get sick. Then I noticed that some of the mucus was blue. I shined a light up her nose and saw what I thought was a crayon. I called the doctor because I thought if I could get in, his tools would be gentler and there would be more people to hold her down. They couldn't see me until the following afternoon and I didn't want to pay several hundred dollars to go to the ER. It took a lot of tears and strength but I managed to get the bean out. Nyla was never in pain or distress from having the bean up her nose. I don't think she ever understood why I was holding her down and putting a sharp pair of tweezers in her nose. I hope we never have to go through that again.

Last night we were watching How It's Made. They were making a washing machine and the inside drum was a hexagon. I pointed out the shape to him and told him a hexagon has 6 sides. I then mentioned triangles and octagons since he was already familiar with that. After a few seconds of silence we had this conversation:
Bohdin (in a serious voice): I've been having some struggles.
me: Do you want to talk about it?
Bohdin: Struggles are when you are having a hard time doing something.
His definition continued. I thought we were about to have some great mother/son chat. Instead I heard the definition of struggles.