My little speller

We're still going full steam ahead with no naps for Little Elvis. This week was hard for all of us. I've discovered that I need breaks. Nothing gets accomplished and I feel guilty for constantly saying, "In a minute... Please let me do this first... Just let me finish this..." as Little Elvis brings me books to read and cars to de-slobber.

We have to get into a better schedule. Or I have to stop sleeping at night.
Pre-school starts next week, and he's so ready. I'm trying to keep him entertained, though.Here's one of our latest cities. We built this during Baby Plum's naptime. We recreated a scene out of his favorite book -- Truck by Donald Crews.

When not making cities, Little Elvis has really gotten into spelling. He loves to "spell" our address on the fridge. According to him, our address has lots of letters and numbers.

So I was surprised the other day to walk into the kitchen and find him saying, "Men - M-E-N," and doing this:
He did that all on his own. Then he told me the letters in Women that I needed to find. At first he put the letters in no particular order, so I showed him how to spell it. Then I accidentally let Baby Plum near the letters and he scattered them.

After some crying, Little Elvis fixed it himself.

He certainly impressed me. They stayed like that until after he went to bed and I accidentally kicked them -- he did his spelling right in front of the fridge.

One of those weeks

Ever had one of those weeks when just about everything you attempted went awry? I've been having one of those. But it's Friday, and it's a holiday weekend, so it's all good now.
Yesterday both boys were playing together so sweetly. I ran to get the camera and by the time I was ready, this was the picture I got.
Baby Plum loves his sippy. He loves lots of things, especially anything that Little Elvis is playing with. Little Elvis loves anything that Baby Plum is playing with. We have lots of little battles everyday over the most mundane objects.
"What you talkin' bout, Mommy?"
Still, Baby Plum loves his brother. He's already doing his best to be just like Little Elvis. If Little Elvis gets to run around the house naked, then Baby Plum should get to as well.
The biggest problem we have with the cloth diapers is that it's very easy for Baby Plum to de-diaper himself and leave his diaper in the dust. Pretty cute little backside, though.

First football games

Baby Plum went to his very first high school football game on Friday. He looks serious there, but he had a pretty good time. It was very loud, and yet he managed to go to sleep on Daddy's shoulder during the first half.
This is Little Elvis wearing the same shirt right before we took him to his first game. Little Elvis was younger in this picture (about 7 months, compared to Baby Plum's 11 months) so his jersey fits much better.

I have it on good authority that Baby Plum will get his very own football jersey for his birthday, complete with his name and the number 86.

Nap schedules

We're getting into a little bit of a rhythm now that Bob's back to work. But that schedule will change in two weeks when Little Elvis starts pre-school.

Poor Baby Plum and his new nap schedule. Guess that's one of the downfalls of being the second child.

He's loving the perks, though. Little Elvis didn't have all sorts of fun HotWheels and Matchbox cars to get into when he was crawling and cruising.

Little Elvis' nap schedule is still messed up. He was napping for several hours in the afternoons and then staying up until midnight --in his bed, but wide awake. Then he would wake up at 6:30 in the morning, very grouchy.

I tried waking him up after an hour, but then he woke up from that grouchy and still wouldn't sleep at night. So, no naps for him.
And this is what happens. Poor guy. He had just fallen asleep and woke up when he heard the camera. He's sleeping better at night, but is pretty cranky and whiny in the evenings.

I miss naps (that's my computer time!) and he misses them, too. We will both be glad when we adjust to whatever this new schedule is.

Their favorite things...

It's a busy, busy time in our house these days. Bob's back at work, Little Elvis and I are attempting to do without naps (it's not really working) and Baby Plum is fully mobile and into everything. Everything. Little Elvis is not always fond of his brother's mobility.

Baby Plum does have a diaper on, it's just hidden by the diaper bag. That look? It's his I-need-to-get-into-something look. It's pretty constant these days.
This was Buckle Daddy 4. I have no idea what incarnation of the city it really is. Little Elvis loves creating cities and parking lots. He has a little rug with roads and landmarks all over it. He likes to park his cars around certain landmarks. Here they were all parked at his barn -- some were lucky enough to park inside the stalls. Baby Plum loves these parking lots and wants to play with the cars. Little Elvis screams when Baby Plum gets too close. He likes to say, "I just don't like to share, Baby Plum. I just don't like to share." They are fighting over the latest parking lot as I type this.

When not trashing parking lots, Baby Plum loves to go through his diaper bag. I'm not sure if he can open the zipper or not, maybe I'm not zipping them closed all the way closed. Anyway, if he has access to my purse or the diaper bag, you can be sure that everything will be pulled out and slobbered on. He gets frustrated with me if I pick up his treasures.

There's a lot of yelling in our house these days. I'm assuming it will only get more insistent as Baby Plum gets faster.

More on Baby Plum

Sweet Baby Plum is a joy. His biggest hangups are being left without me, Bob or Little Elvis. If one of us is in a room with him, he's fine. But if we leave him to go get something from another room, he starts bawling. If someone else holds him, he pouts and cries. This is not something we ever really experienced with Little Elvis.
Still, as long as he's got plenty to eat -- and a family member in his line of vision -- Baby Plum's happy. Notice anything peculiar about this picture?
How about now? He usually sits with his little feet crossed at the ankles. He's done it since he first started sitting. My grandmother and aunts think this is adorable and unique. I don't know that it's unique, but I'm always willing to agree that everything my baby does is adorable and special.
When Little Elvis was little, it never occurred to me to try avocadoes with him. So I decided to see what Baby Plum thought this time around. I'm not sure it translates, but his face, tummy and arms are all slicked with green. He's smiling because he loves avocadoes. It's a messy meal, but it's one he enjoys and that he enjoys feeding to himself.

I went to a mom meeting today. It's my second meeting. The last time Little Elvis and Baby Plum were in the same room. This time they were separated. Baby Plum ended up joining me after about 15 minutes. His cries were pitiful and he wouldn't let the poor woman in the nursery work with any of the other babies. She was relieved to give him back. When we got back to the room with the other moms, his face was splotchy and he was hiccupping, but he had the biggest grin on his face.

Super Frog!

I've been feeling a little torn recently. Little Elvis' XY stage lasted all summer. And he would fuss at us if we called him by his real name. He would scream if we wrote his real name. With last year's preschool experience, I knew they wouldn't appreciate his insistence that his name was XY, RG or Scottie. What if he caused other kids to become belligerant over their names?

Much as I hated to limit his creativity, we told him that he had to stop insisting that his name was XY last week. I was going to try just calling him XY at home, but his therapist said to stop it altogether.

And people fussed at us last week. They thought it was so creative of him. And others continue to encourage it, which frustrates me. I'm getting really tired of people circumventing my parenting decisions.

Since we bid adieu to XY, Little Elvis decided to become a superhero instead -- Super Frog.

I pinned a baby blanket to his shirt for a cape and made him his own logo.


SuperFrog can put his own cars up in his carrying case. That's something Little Elvis usually tells me he can't do. And he at least wears a shirt and underwear when he's a superhero.

I'm liking this superhero thing....