384. Mr. Inbetween

Long time no blog. Sometimes the tidal wave of demands by my two sonny boys raises up and I am washed beyond where I feel I have control. I'm pretty puny in the world, but at times I trick myself into thinking I'm more acter than acted upon.

Both of them seem to have had runny noses for as long as I can remember. We ran out of tissue paper, so I'm using toilet paper.

Andrew is in the stage where where wants to go everywhere, but does not yet have the means. He's constantly dissatisfied because of it. He doesn't want to be held. He wants to be constantly moved. He is put down and gives some frustrated attempts to move. He's actually moving more. He's very interested in his brother, and if he comes into the room and makes a noise, and he's feeding, he will turn his head to look at him and stop drinking at his bottle.

William is cute, and mean. He bonks his brother on the head, makes him cry, but then he uses all his words to try and get into good favor. Or he won't spill something he would usually spill, he's more pliable. He will throw things out.

Virginia has been around because Tim is out of town, and so she's been gratified because she has "taught" him things.

William is saying words, I say "share" and he says a close version of it. He's mostly using "up", "down", "help", "ball", "bike", "baby" and "juice". "Mo" means a DVD, usually Sesame Street, but he'll accept Blues Clues or Backyardigans. He's into Sing Yourself Sillier right now. Book wise he's into Fox On Sox, among others, and that's a real tongue twister. He seems to be more into climbing up onto the window ledge more these days.

383. Rich is here!

Andres turns 7 months tomorrow. Rich came Friday and we went out to dinner. It was quite difficult and William never sat at the table, except at the end, when he had a bottle. Andres was OK, sat in his carrier and than drank milk in his carrier, but from then on he was in play and then even got cranky. It was quite exhausting and dispiriting for me, it made me not want to go out in public with the boys because it's just too hard. Then I feel bad for having negative thoughts, parents are always supposed to be calm, pleasant and in control.

William was very cute giving me a hug when I went out to get bagels for breakfast. He says bye bye.

They're not ready yet for eating out, and while William likes to explore the world, I think it's just easier to be at home. We don't go out much, and that's the way it's going to be for a while. But once the boys get more under control and respond to language, then I want to do more. And I want to do thing with one of them, that's manageable. Even eating at the table was difficult with both William and Andrew awake tonight. I write Andrew, but his real name is Andres. I call him Andrew. I'm quite exhausted.

I got a new bike today. To hopefully ride to work, and it has a child carrier, so I can give a boy a ride. I got a helmet for William, and when he gets a little bigger and can't ride it, Andrew can.

William likes his new tricycle, though he hasn't quite figured out locomotion with it. He says, "bike bike bike," in a cute way. It's nice to have Rich here.

382. Seaseme Beginnings

Sometimes waves of activity engulf me, and it's hard to write about the wave that rushes away. William had a birthday, and on Easter we celebrated Emma and William's birthday with Diana's family. It was a big gathering. William got to play outside a lot, which I always think is good. He seemed to take a shine to Nicole his younger cousin, smiling at her. I limped into work on Monday, it was pretty tiring for me.

Monday morning William and Andrew woke to Harry being there. Diana went with her mother for her surgery to remove a lump in her breast.

Wednesday we went to a dumpy Italian place to have a family meal. Nothing lasts and very long and soon they are hard to manage.

William is saying "help" more. Thursday Janet watched William and Andrew for a little while.

381. Cake!

William had a dentist appointment. Getting him dressed he punched me in the face. I say, "you can be angry with daddy, but no hitting." Of course he doesn't have the language to understand or express it, but I'm getting ready for when he does.

Virginia came over and took them all out. I get to take it easy because I'm sick, which is how it should be, but usually I don't get to with the children around. You know I'm sick when I stay home from work because usually it's harder to be at home than work. Diana says, "call if you need something," but I'm sure she's not happy that I'm under the weather for this important weekend. She has been nice to me, but she bears the burdens.

Aunt Nancy in Ecuador sent William a coat. Emma too. Great Grandpa and Grandma Parks also sent 4 cards, I forgot to mention. My mother reports their presents are on the way. And Rich is coming next weekend, he's going to be bringing some presents.

For William's birthday he had a dentist appointment, he had a hair cut, and pictures taken. He's not going to like his birthday in the future. He doesn't like the birthday song. Virginia and Tim were over, and Andrew had more fun with the cake.

Saturday we went to Cunningham Park. William fell asleep, and took a while to get into it, but he finally did. We had dinner together at the table too.

We got a package from Zane and Bridget. We got a puppet from Aunt Di in New Mexico. Lots of good presents.

380. Birthday boy!

I came home from work yesterday and slept 18 hours. I'm feeling pretty weak today, I don't see me being much good at work today. I haven't eaten much. Not sure what it is, never really felt this way before, but I suppose it's probably some kind of temporary bug. I've had a cold, but this is more than a cold. I'm not just tired because I had 8 hours the night before. The whole time I was worried about William, somehow. I'm also worried about my patients too, they've come to rely on me, and I don't like being sick.

I missed seeing William and Andrew last night because I was locked in the bedroom. Somehow he didn't see me when I came in and went to the bathroom. All kinds of kids were over, and Harry took them to the park. William fell asleep at the park.

Today is William's birthday! He is 2 years old. He's such a wonderful boy. I hope he has a good day and weekend. We already got flowers from Zane and Bridget, and a nice outfit from Great Grandma and Grandpa Parks.

Diana reports William says "wait" a lot. Also "watch".

379. Andres and Guillermo

William has gone longer without insisting his socks come off. Andrew is wearing William's old clothes, I keep thinking they vaguely look familiar, and then I realize that I have quite fond associations. I took Andrew for a walk to get India food for dinner, and he fell asleep. Wednesday seems to be crash night, they all take long naps. Last Wednesday when Paul was here they were all sleeping. I can't remember the week before that. Andrew is so adorable. I gave William a bath this morning. He doesn't cry until he gets soap in his eyes, when he rubs his eyes with his soapy hands. Tuesday morning Andrew slept late. Last night some cousins came over, more family get pictures with Andres and Guillermo.

378. Snow! Standing!

William said "snow," and it was snowing outside. This morning when I was leaving, he didn't numb down and pretend I wasn't going. He grabbed his jacked and gave it to me so I could put it on him and take him with me. Broke my heart to go to work without him. He's been saying "up" and "down".

On Monday night Andrew grabbed the crib, and stood up. He's quite active, he stands holding on easily. He's very fussy, he wants to move. He thrashes, and wiggles and won't sit quietly so much any more. He cries when he's left alone, so he definitely is becoming attached.

377. Cry Baby

William checks what I have in my hands when I come home to see if I have any presents for him. I occasionally bring something home for him. William has gotten into whipies, now we have to hide them from him. William took off his onesie tonight, so he could be naked.

Andrew fusses when Diana leaves, Abuela leaves, Janet leaves. Janet baby sat Thursday and Friday. Diana went out with friends and saw a movie. I had a hard evening with them, Andrew cried and when I was trying to put Andrew to sleep, William kept waking him up. I don't think I handled it as well as I would have liked to.

William has been going to the park this week with the warmer weather. He ran around when I was with him Saturday. He went on the swing for a little while, which he's not very much into. He had another occupational therapy evaluation. The woman said when he climbs he wants pressure on him. So we put a pillow over him and I press and say, "squish, squish, squish." or tight hugs. He smiles. I think he has some sensory integration issues. I think I have a few myself. We all do to varying degrees.