Selective Hearing

Ryan has recently developed a condition. I have heard that it is common among 3-year-olds, as well as teenagers. He seems to have lost the ability to hear me.

For example, here's a typical scenario:

Me: Ryan, please come here.

Me: Ryan, come here.

Me: Ryan!

Me: Come here now or I'm going to start counting!

Me: 1!

Me: 2!

Me: If I get to 3 you will be in trouble!

At this point, Ryan may suddenly regain his ability to hear. But really, it shouldn't take me this long to get his attention. I'm thinking there needs to be a consequence for him not listening much sooner. But sometimes he is so intent on what he is doing, it almost seems like he's really not hearing me.

How do you discipline your child when they don't listen to you?

Biting Back

Most of the time Lucas is a very sweet, happy boy. (Doesn't he look kind of huge sitting on Ryan's lap?)

But if someone messes with him (namely his big brother) he is becoming more and more able to defend himself.

We've been warning Ryan for a while now that one day his little brother will learn to fight back.Well, that day has come. Lucas has developed a bad biting habit. If Ryan takes his toy, he bites him. If I take away something unsafe I catch him playing with, he bites me. Hard. Here is recent proof from when he bit Ryan on the arm. I guess Lucas is paying Ryan back for all the times he bit him as a baby.

If you need me I'll be playing referee to my two boys.

Freezer Cooking

I've been having a lot of fun with freezer cooking lately. It all started one day when I was baking some chicken breasts to later shred for a soup. It suddenly occurred to me that I should go ahead and bake extra chicken to shred and put in the freezer for future use. It was like a light bulb went off in my head, and I couldn't understand why I hadn't done this sooner. Over the next couple weeks I pulled that extra chicken out of the freezer to make chicken and rice soup and chicken fajitas. It was great! I decided to expand on this idea a bit and prepare some freezer meals.

Over the last two weeks I have gotten together with fellow Mom friends to bake freezer meals. (Hi Rachel!) I can't say it was totally stress-free with out kids running around, but we had fun together and an hour or two later we had healthy homemade meals! I love getting together with friends, talking about food, and learning how other families cook and eat meals. I want to make this a regular thing! I know freezer meals will come in handy when my kids are sick or when a friend has a new baby and needs a home-cooked meal.

Here is what's in my freezer right now:

-Shredded Salsa Chicken
-Stuffed Bell Peppers
-Hamburger Soup
-Broccoli Mac N Cheese
-Cooked, chopped chicken
-Homemade pie dough
-Turkey and bean enchiladas
-Chicken Pot Pie
-White chicken chili
-Pepperoni calzones
-BBQ Beef and Bean Casserole w/ cornbread topping
-Vegetable Lasagna

So how have I found the time to make all of this? A few times I was already preparing the meal for dinner, so I just doubled it if I had the ingredients on hand. It's not much harder to make a double or triple batch of a soup or chili. Other times I will plan on cooking one meal during Lucas' afternoon nap. For me, it is relaxing and really fun. I try to stock up on ingredients at the store when they go on sale and I know I can use them in a variety of recipes.

My only problem is that now my freezer is well stocked with meals and I don't want to eat them! They're like gold just sitting there and I know once we eat them they'll be gone. So I just open my freezer and stare fondly at them, and then close the door and go ahead and prepare a fresh meal. I need to get over it and start eating them! There are SO many freezer meal recipes on the internet that I want to try. But I'm afraid my freezer can't hold much more!

I better get eating.

Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

What are my little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, of course! Let me tell you a little story to prove this. As most kids do, my boys absolutely love being outside. Whenever Lucas hears the back door open, he squeals in delight and runs as fast as he can outside. Playing outside wears them out and that's always a good thing. I'm really looking forward to the day I can leave them outside together to play together, without me being out there every second. Unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon.......

The other day we were in the backyard playing. I went into the side yard for 1 minute to empty the lawnmower bag. When I returned Ryan informed me that Lucas had eaten a snail. I had in fact seen an empty snail shell near them earlier, and now it was scattered into little pieces. And Lucas had a very disgusted look on his face. Yuck. So I had a little talk with Ryan about watching out for his brother, and helping me keep him safe from yucky things.

A couple days later the boys were playing outside again. I left them alone for 1 minute to grab something inside. When I returned, Lucas was holding a big snail in his hand, and Ryan was chanting "Eat It! Eat It! Eat It!".

Nice to know he was listening during our little talk.

Gilroy Gardens

I recently won tickets to Gilroy Gardens, a children's amusement park/garden about an hour from our house. We went last week and had so much fun! This is the perfect place to bring kids ages 2-6. Ryan and Lucas both had colds this week, and Lucas in particular didn't seem to be feeling great when we went to the park. But they still had fun and were able to enjoy everything, including a train ride, paddle boats, playing in the water, riding on artichokes and firetrucks, waterfalls, looking at the crazy trees, and the merry-go-round.

 We definitely want to go back next year when Lucas is a little bit older (and healthier)!

Undivided Attention

Having two or more children means that you don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with them. I have noticed lately that they act differently when apart from each other (especially Ryan), generally behaving better when they have my undivided attention.  I get a chance to do this with Ryan each morning while Lucas naps. But I don't get a lot of time alone with just Lucas. When I do, I try to enjoy it as much as possible, even if we're just playing with his new ball. Which by the way, is his newest word! Sounds like "Bawww".

Haircuts

Ryan and Lucas both got a haircut today! Here are the before and after shots. Let's start with Ryan.

 Very cute, right? Ryan is so great about getting haircuts now. He sat nicely, watching the TV nearby that was playing a movie. I was standing beside him, making sure he was behaving during his haircut, when he told me "Mommy, move out of the way. I can't see the TV". Jeez, when did he get so big and grown up?

Then there was Lucas. This was his very first haircut. I can't say I was 100% ready for it, but his hair was turning into a mullet and Adam thought he looked like a girl. So I agreed to take him in. Here are some before pictures.

 He was fine for about 1 second.

 And then he flipped out and started screaming. And didn't stop.

Here are the after shots. She did some weird spiky mohawk thing to his hair that I wasn't crazy about.

And now that I'm looking at the "before" pictures, it's making me sad that his baby hair is gone! Hair grows back, right?

And just for fun, here's my first baby getting his first haircut. Now I'm really sad!

Goofy Boy

Lucas has turned into such a goofy little boy!

 Not to be confused with this goofy boy who, bless his heart, is more of a serious goofy.

Lucas does things just because they are funny, like putting things on his head and hiding in tight spaces.

He loves flopping backwards onto pillows and blankets and just giggling over and over.

I love seeing his sense of humor emerging, and I have a feeling he's going to be the jokester of the family. I love my goofy boy!

Fourth 4th

This was Ryan's fourth 4th of July, and the first one where he was slightly interested in the fireworks. (His favorite was the Pop-Its)

And I really do mean slightly. Ryan was afraid of all the loud noises, and spent most of the evening like this.

He then moved to Adam's truck and hid inside there for most of the fireworks show. Maybe he'll be a bit braver by next year.

I didn't get any pictures of Lucas this year because he was Mr. Grumpy Pants most of the day. He went to bed at 7:30 and thankfully slept all night, despite the noise. Happy fourth 4th Ryan!