3 Years 9 Months

1) Fuzzy had a good time this month with activities. We went to his best friend's bowling birthday party, where he hurled the balls with great enthusiasm and very little aim. We also went up to Tahoe for some skiing, and put Fuzzy into his first pair of skis for a lesson. Kid seemed pretty thrilled.

2) Fuzzy and Sprout at the playground, on airplane and fire engine rockers, respectively. Some bigger kids got on behind Sprout. Fuzzy turned to them and said, "That's my bwother Sprout. He'll hit you in the face!" Then, with a giant smile on his face, he repeated it for emphasis. "Wight in the face. He'll hit you! Boom!"

Meanwhile, Sprout was angelically rocking and not hitting anybody, but I had to admit, it was a fair warning.

3) On the other hand, on a different day, I overheard the following exchange between Fuzz and a six-year old girl in the sandbox, who had made some sort of remark to Sprout. "Hey! That's my baby bwother, stop bein' ruuude to him!"

4) We were at Target buying band-aids, and I got Fuzzy a box of Star Wars ones (Sprout got Paw Patrol). They way they clutched those little boxes, it was like I'd gotten them the very best presents ever. Over and over down the aisles, I heard some variation of the following refrain: "Hout band-aid! Paw Patol!" and "Mama, mama, I want to show my Star Wars band-aids to Daddy!"

5) Finally, two months to the day after we got back from vacation, Fuzzy went to sleep without my presence in his room. Sadly this turned out to be an aberration and not a trend.

6) Fuzzy is just now understanding that toddler cartoons are asking for his participation. Before when the characters turns to the screen and asked a question or suggested a particular movement, he would just stare at them blankly. Now he gets super involved, waving his arms around and shouting the correct answer loudly.

22 Months

1) Sprout is putting two words together all the time, and 3-5 occasionally, although generally speaking, these are still not descriptions, but rather orders to his troops, like so: "No Baba, no like dat!"

Or on another occasion, demanding seconds on soup: "Wan hoop. Many hoop!"

2) Also, when he couldn't get a toy to work, I witnessed the following: "Dammit!" Vigorous banging of the toy on the ground. "'Tupid!"

3) We went up to Tahoe for a weekend, and Sprouty got rather annoyed by the end of the drive. When we tried to cheer him up by talking up snow, he sat in his car seat and muttered, "No like it 'no." Over and over and over.  Then we got there, he played in the snow, and after we came in he had changed his mind. "Like it 'no!"

4) Sprout's pronunciation of fish is one of my favorites: fish = hiss. "Mmmm, hiss!"

5) The kid managed to bang my mom in the head with his giant noggin. I told him, "No hitting anybody." Later that night, he was in the bathtub and my mom came into the room. Sprout promptly proved that his command of cause and effect was a little bit...off. "NO BABA, no hittin' anybody!"

6) Fuzzy was invited to a bowling birthday party for one of his preschool friends, and Sprout tagged along. He was super into it, and carried the heavy ball around unassisted. This is fairly impressive, considering the 6 pound ball is a quarter of Sprout's body weight. All the other parents were very impressed, and kept telling I had a bowling prodigy. I am dubious - a lifting heavy objects prodigy, maybe.

7) For some reason, Sprout's way of talking always carries the hint of a threat. For example, the boys were playing superheroes and requesting that I yell for their help. I did, and had them locate various 'lost' items - my phone, chapstick, etc. Each time, they would ceremoniously hand me the item, and Fuzzy would say, "Okay Mama, if you need help, yell for us!"

Then Sprout would come up, poke me in the leg with his finger and hiss, "Yelllll fo' ussssssss!"

Whereas Fuzzy's was clearly an offer of help, Sprouts hoarse hissing felt like a mafia Don explaining to a business owner exactly how things work.

8) First time on big boy swing!

3 Years 8 Months

1) Fuzzy is still in teenager mode this month, and won't tell Daddy or Baba that he loves them, instead clinging to me with fierce attachment.  However, when said important personages are out of the house, he makes them presents.  We know this is love because he started doing it after watching an episode of Daniel Tiger devoted to the theme that "making something is another way to say 'I love you!'"

2) Fuzz has also taken to saying 'not funny' when he is annoyed with a parental request or command.  When we agree that it is, in fact, not funny, and we need him to go to bed/brush his teeth/sit down and eat, he says, "Stop coppppying me!" in a really aggrieved tone of voice.

3) When he gets even more annoyed, he busts out with, "I'm not your friend!"

4) To complete his lexicon of hateful teenage behaviors, the kid has also taken to yelling, "I hate that!" to a variety of things he loves - mushrooms, rice, etc.  I'm telling you, the Peachy household these days is a real land of sunshine and roses.

5) However, occasionally we do get gems like this:
The Pit: "What job do you want when you grow up?"
"I want to drive a combine harvester!"
"Oh, you want to be a farmer?  What are you going to grow?"
"Corn!"
"What should Sprout be when he grows up?"
Fuzz, with intensity, "A ninja turtle!"

6) We went to visit Dina and Noam overnight, so that The Pit and I could go out to dinner to celebrate his birthday.  Noam put Fuzzy in same bed as Sprout that night, and Fuzzy proceeded to hold Sprout's hand and shush him when he cried.  When I went in there in the morning, they were hugging and kissing each other.

7) Sadly, the above-referenced night was the only time since The Pit and I returned from a 10-day Caribbean vacation sans children (in December) that Fuzzy has fallen asleep without my physical presence in his room.  Prior to the trip, he used to demand three "Twinkle Twinkle" songs, followed by a goodnight story, and would then happily roll over and let me leave his room.  Those halcyon days are gone - ever since our return, should I try to ease myself out, there is a flood of hysterical tears, and an insistence that I have to hold his hand until he falls asleep.

21 Months

1)  So many many new words this month, I've lost count.  My favorite may be the way he's adopeted Fuzzy's pronunciation of animal - "aminal."

2)  Fuzzy got a remote-controlled car for Christmas.  Sprout and his similarly-aged cousin were both scared of it, but their reactions were very different.  Sprout's cousin jumped back, and ran to his mom in tears.  Sprout also jumped back, but instead of running to me, he then ran toward the car, grabbed it in both hands, and proceeded to smash it as hard as he could against the floor...over and over and over.  Toughest baby on the block, indeed.

3)  Sprout is putting words together into small sentences, but less to describe things, and more to give orders.  "No sweep dat woom!" or, "Mama eat dat!"

My favorite Sprout command was a very short sentence directed at one of his toys.  "Eat!" {shoves robot feet into an apple}.

4)  My sister and brother-in-law got the boys a bouncy house for New Year's, which we keep in our garage.  Sprout is obsessed with the thing, and it is his new favorite activity.  He's picked up the language very well: he points his finger in the general direction of the garage and commands, "Bouncy hoss!"

5)  Sprout has started to call himself by his actual name, although his inability to pronounce Ss hampers the situation somewhat.  He replaces the problematic sound with an H, so for purposes of this blog, he is now Hout.

He also sometimes says, "me!" - principally when I ask, "Who made this mess??'
Then he glances up at me, grins slyly, and says, "Bandeet!"  Which is Russian for 'bandit', which is exactly what he is.

In other naming news, Hout now refers to his brother by his almost correct name, omitting only the R sound.  No longer is Fuzzy referred to as "Mine!"

6)  I present the first real conversation we ever had.  To set the scene, Sprout is picking his nose in the middle of the night while I change his diaper:
"Boooooger.  Bick boooooger!"
"You have a big booger stuck in your nose?"
"Yeah."
"Did you get it?"
"Yeah.  Eat dat."
"No, don't eat the booger, that's gross."
Indignantly, "Hout booger!"

7)  When a toy or something no longer works, Sprout plaintively brings it to an adult and wails, "Woooking!"  By which, of course, he means, 'not wooking,' or in English, 'not working.'  I have to do a lot of Sprout translation around here.

8)  The kid is starting to pick up an uncomfortable amount from his brother.  When I'm washing his hair in the tub, he has taken to grabbing the washcloth and throwing its across the room, while firmly announcing, "Nuff!".  It's clearly not enough, because at that point, I have barely even touched him.  Try explaining this to Sprout though.

9)  On the plus side of copying big brother, Sprout is beginning to potty train himself.  He now says 'poop!' and wants to go to the potty...although most of the time it's not poop.  He's a clever one though, saying 'pee' wouldn't generate quite the frantic amount of activity as when he declares 'poop!'.

10)  In a really adorable development, Sprout has taken to screaming "YEAH!!" when we suggest he do something (and he wants to do it).  His level of enthusiasm for throwing a paper towel in the trash or heading to the grocery store is very impressive.

The kid also goes "um um um" when he doesn't know the answer to a question.  This is both charming and singularly ineffective at getting grown-ups to leave him alone.

3 Years 7 Months

1)  Last month I posted a bunch of pictures of Fuzzy on a camping trip with his dad, uncle Noam, and some big cousins.  The kid had a great time, but unfortunately, came back from that trip talking like a teenager.  "Stupid Mama, I don't want to put my socks on. God!"  And in another gem, as I tried to wash his hair in the tub: "Stop botherin' me! I'm playing. God!"

2)  This entry really involves both kids - trying to get them out of the house is like an endless sock/shoe olympics, and pretty much the most frustrating thing in the world.  For example, here was a recent scene:

I chase both kids around the living room until I catch Sprout.  I stuff him into his socks, and then he wiggles loose.  I catch Fuzzy and put his socks on, turn around to grab his shoes, and discover that Sprout has pulled his socks off.  Fuzzy takes advantage of my moment of dismay and pulls off his socks.

We begin again.  This time I manage to put Sprout in both socks and shoes first, in the hopes that he will remain ready while I deal with Fuzzy.  One half of my work done, I begin the socks/shoes routines with my big kid, and turn around to find Sprout barefoot again.  I finish Fuzzy, catch Sprout again, begin tugging socks on a wiggly bundle of energy, glance up, and see Fuzzy taking his shoes off.  I lose it, howling to god knows who.

The kids settle down, I finally get their socks and shoes on, and we get in the car.  Five minutes later, I glance in the rearview mirror when I hear an ominous giggling.  Both little monsters have pulled their socks and shoes off.

3)  For a couple of days, Fuzzy complained of his butt hurting.  He did have a bit of constipation, but eventually would poop, and the pain would go away until the next day.  On the third day or so of him complaining, I asked him if he had eaten anything that wasn't food.

"Yes."
"What?  You did?  What did you eat?"
"One of my mans."
"One of your toy men?  But they're all really big, you couldn't eat one of them."
"No, it was a policeman.  He had glasses and hat, so that made him a policeman."

This took me aback, because we did indeed, several months ago, have a Lego man with glasses and hat, who in a preschooler's imagination, could easily be a policeman.  Of course, he hadn't been seen for months, but maybe Fuzzy had in fact found and then eaten him.  I attempted several times to ascertain if what Fuzzy was telling me was just pretend, or if it had happened in real life.  The kid was adamant that he really ate "a mans."

I called the doctor, and reported the conversation and the previous symptoms.  She said that it didn't sound like an intestinal blockage, but we should probably bring him in to be sure.  One x-ray later, we were certain there was no policeman anywhere inside Fuzzy.  However, the kid stubbornly stuck to his story.  "No, he's in there, you just can't see him because it's dark!"  And then the next day, "Mama, the policeman somehow turned into poop!"

4)  We discovered that preschool apparently teaches the kids patriotic songs, when out of nowhere, Fuzzy burst forth with a version of "You're a Grand Old Flag," complete with hand gestures.  There's really no way to do it justice except to link you the video:

20 Months

1) New words this month:
lady = lady
boke = broke
adin = again
wat = watch (as in, Youtube, as in, he's now interested.  But only in very selected clips involving balls, animals, or classical music played by children)
boot = boot
boooooger = booger
jean = jeans
nite = knife
poon = spoon
monkey = monkey
nuts = nuts
butta = butter
havy = heavy (just last month it was 'howie')

2)  My mom brought the kids a large twirling top, and at first Sprout was afraid of it.   He hid behind Fuzzy and peaked out at the toy.  Eventually he decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and gave his brother a large shove to move Fuzz closer to the toy and evaluate its deadliness.

3)  One day we gave some coins to the Salvation Army lady in front of the grocery store, and now every time we go by, Sprout gets very excited.  "Lady! Money! Lady! Monkey hat!"  That last reference is to the lady's unusual headgear, which, sadly, is not in fact a monkey, but is instead a more seasonally-appropriate penguin.  Sprout is very insistent though, so we just roll with it.

4) Before Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch with the kids, and in early December, we drove by that same street.  Sprout excitedly pointed at the lot, which now holds a Christmas tree sales place, and started yelling, "Pumpa, pumpa!"

I was very impressed.  It's been over a month since we've been to that place, it's down a street we don't otherwise drive on, we were coming from a different direction, and the lot itself is now covered with Christmas trees instead of pumpkins.  But the kid remembered immediately.

5)  Sprout really enjoys being the buffest baby on the block.  Whenever he lifts anything, he puffs out his chest, pants, and and grunts, "Haaavy!"  He's clearly extremely proud of himself.

3 Years 6 Months

1)  At the playground on the day of Halloween, Fuzzy was super excited about eating candy later that night.  The community center nearby then had some sort of daytime event, the result of which was a bunch of teenagers wandering around littering candy wrappers.  I found Fuzzy with a wrapper in his mouth, which he had clearly picked up off the ground.  "Fuzzy, don't eat that, that's gross!"

The child looked wounded.  "It's not poop!"

2)  After going trick or treating, I let Fuzz have several pieces of candy.  After I forbade any more, he snuck one in, and I took it away from him.  The Pit was away on a business trip, and Fuzzy requested that I call him, because Fuzzy wanted to tell him something.

"What do you want to tell Daddy?" I asked.

"That I didn't get any lollipops, and that I was eating that candy, and you took it away and then I cried.  But it's okay, when Daddy comes back, he will put on his magic pants, and he will give me a lollipop from his pocket."

This exchange might be clearer if you knew that a couple of days before he left, The Pit convinced Fuzz that one of his pockets gives out lollipops to good boys.

3)  Fuzzy is still unclear on the concept of jokes.  A recent example went like so:
Fuzzy: "How does the bucket get filled up with water?"
Me:  "How?"
Fuzzy: "By getting water!"

Also:
Me: "Knock knock."
Fuzzy:  Silence.
Me: "You have to say 'who's there?'"
Fuzzy:  "MAMA!"  Laughs hysterically.

4)  Alas, my child has begun to demonstrate anti-girl sentiments.  He was jumping on an extra mattress we put on his floor.  "Mama, this exercise is for booys, not gurls!"  When I pointed out that girls are equally capable: "But MAMA, this would take a lot of practice and skills for gurls!"

5)  A few days ago, when I accompanied Fuzzy to the bathroom, he announced that he wanted "not company" on the potty.  "Oh, you want privacy?" I asked.  Fuzzy confirmed, so I went downstairs and told him to call me when he was done.

I heard him yelling several minutes later and went upstairs, only to be informed that, "I still want not company, Mama!"

"You called me up here to tell me that you don't want me here?"

"Yes, close the door."

6)  In a note home from Fuzzy's preschool, I read that that they were doing thankful journals for Thanksgiving.  I asked Fuzzy what he was thankful for.  "Nothing!"

This is his standard answer when I ask about anything school-related, so I was not too wounded.  But I proceeded to tell him I was thankful for him and Sprout and Daddy, and then left the topic alone.  Out of nowhere several hours later, while Fuzzy was helping me sort laundry, the kid came to a decision.  "Mama, I know what I'm thankful for."

"Oh, what?"

"You and Daddy and Sprout."  Awwww, just a long thinker, and not a sociopath after all!

5)  Sometimes the kids play well together, and sometimes we get scenes like this:
Fuzzy: "Sprout, hurry, we have to spring into action!  There's monsters!"
Sprout: Unimpressed, continues to play with his toy.
Fuzzy: "No, Sprout! Spring into action!"  Starts pulling on the baby's arm.
Sprout: Wails and then hits Fuzzy.

6)  I usually give the kids some kind of berries or fruit while they are in the tub.  One day, Fuzzy invented a new game, wherein he decided to stuff all his blueberries in the bathtub spout.

"Fuzzy, stop that!"

"But Mama, it's available for blueberries!"

Hard to argue with logic like that, especially when he uses his big vocabulary words.  We were all very excited when the blueberries came back out after I turned on the water.  Sprout continued to try to stuff various other things in the spout for weeks and weeks after.

19 Months

1)  New words this month:
et = eat
eck = egg
Haha = Sasha (my dad, his grandpa)
diwi = kiwi
hap = help
yick/dick = stick
dump = jump
hock = sock
dowel = towel
ningo = flamingo
beak = big
howie = heavy
werk = work (he says this when he sees Daddy getting ready to go to work)
Elmo = Elmo

2)  Sprout wanted to be turned upside down, but didn't know how to say that.  He kept muttering "don" for down as he climbed up me.  Then I said, "But you're going up!" and he threw his head backward and said "don" until Mama figured it out.  I felt a little slow on the uptake.

3)  We tried sleep training for the second time in Sprout's life this month.  The first time was around 11 months, resulted in two solid hours of crying, and was abandoned after one attempt.  This go-around was infinitely more painful, but sadly no more successful.

The first night the kid puked after 15 minutes, and finally succumbed about 1 hour and 45 minutes after we left his room (with all the puke clean up, this probably meant about 45 minutes of crying).

On the second night there were 15 minutes of crying, a minor throw up, and then 30 more minutes of crying before he fell asleep - followed by another 40-minute struggle in the middle of the night (though thankfully no throw-up, just what The Pit called a 'resistance poop').

The third night was slightly better, with only 30 minutes of crying in the evening, and only 5 minutes in the middle of the night .  No puke, and we breathed a sigh of relief that the worst was behind us.  Silly parents.

The fourth night was a disaster - puke even before we left his room in the evening, then an hour and 15 minutes of crying, followed by another hour and twenty minutes of crying in the middle of the night.

On the fifth day, Sprout puked twice in middle of day, and we realized we were terrible people and the baby had been coming down with a stomach bug the entire time.  Sleep training was terminated, and we have yet to resume.

3) Sprout recently developed a fear of slides - he sits on top, says "boom," points down, and then stands up and climbs back down the stairs.  However, he also does not want other children to either approach him or go down his slide.  He will stand at the top and put his hand up in a 'stop' gesture if anybody else comes up.  If the kid keeps approaching, Sprout will firmly push him/her away.

4) Sprout started calling his Elmo doll by its rightful name this month, and also began feeding Elmo his water.  This is quite sweet, especially on the day he was feeling sick and miserable.

5)  The kid is interested in counting, but in a very particular way.  He wants us to count things in books.  He will grab my finger, poke it at the picture, and say, "One!"  If I don't follow up with "two," "three," and so on, he will insistently keep poking my finger at the book and repeating "One!"  All attempts to get him to count by himself have been firmly rebuffed.

6)  A recent interaction I witnessed in the kitchen.  Sprout: "Wan diwi!" {grabs towel} "Hap! Hap Baba!"  He not only wanted to eat the kiwi, I guess he wanted to help Baba wash it.

7)  Sprout has started asking "Why?" after every interaction we have with him.  For example, I point out a dog in the street.  Sprout: "Why?"

I figured out that this isn't so much him understanding what the word "why" means, as it is the kid recognizing that if he asks "why," he will get additional details about the scene in question.  For example, after he queries "why" about the dog, I will explain that dogs like to go on walks, or that dogs go to the bathroom outside, or whatever.  It's actually quite clever of the little guy.

3 Years 5 Months

1)  "Oh Sprout!" is Fuzzy's most helpful response when Sprout kicks something, grabs at a toy Fuzz is holding, falls on the floor and cries, etc.  Less helpful responses include coming over and shoving his brother and grabbing the toy back so hard that Sprout falls over.  "Oh Sprout!" is a good one though.  Occasionally it even lets Mama know that the little one is doing something dangerous.

2)  We've also seen some very heart-warming interactions from Fuzzy.  When Sprout has hurt himself, I've witnessed Fuzzy come over, pat him on the back, and softly whisper ,"Shhh, Sprout, shhhh - it's okay."  When I was gone for a business trip, The Pit also put both boys together in one bed, and Fuzzy repeated the same gentle patting and whispering when his brother was having a hard time falling asleep.

3)  "Ow ow ow!" is another recent favorite saying, especially when nothing is hurt.  I'm not sure what that's all about, but I'm guessing preschool is the culprit.  

4)  We were going to go on a hike with my sister and brother-in-law once the kids woke up from naps.  Of course, on this particular day, Fuzzy woke up super grumpy, and cried as we were getting him dressed, in the car, and as we were putting him in the hiking backpack.  Somewhere about mid-hike, the kid started to feel better, and post-hike, was in great mood.  On the way down the hill he asked me, "Mama, why was I so grumpy in the car?"  Kid, I wish I knew.

5)  The Pit has been wanting to start Fuzzy on board games for a while, and I kept telling him that Fuzz was much too young.  Well, turns out Mama was wrong on this one.  Father and son played Candy Land with much joy for the first time this month.  Two peas in a pod.

18 Months

1)  New words this month:
wan da = want that (often accompanied with a quick grab of the object in question.  This is particularly awesome when what he wants is a food item Fuzzy is holding.)
han = hand
hane = plane
eye = eye
ba = bath (in addition to book)
daaak = dark
hone = phone
pumpa = pumpkin
wet = wet

2)  Sprout can now easily identify mouth, nose, ears, hair, hands, legs, feet, and toes.  Tricksy body parts like elbows continue to give him trouble.

3)  Our new California nanny lives in the hood in Oakland, and she is continuously amazed at how tough Sprout is.  "Sprout is the toughest 18 month old I've ever met.  I could take him home to my street, and those kids wouldn't be able to push him around!"  Part of his toughness is that he won't let big brother push him around.  If Fuzzy comes in and hits or shoves him, Sprout will return the favor two-fold.  The other part is that he barely cries when he gets hurt - even when the injuries seem like they would really smart.

4)  In addition to toughness, the baby's coordination continues to astound.  He now walks down stairs relatively well when there's a handrail or I'm holding his hand.  He continues to be a super climber, although we still hover nervously, particularly when he has a food item in his hand and refuses to let go while climbing

5)  At the playground, Sprout saw Fuzzy peeing against a tree, and was not satisfied until he was granted the same privilege.  He tugged down his pants, and kept gesturing at his diaper until I took it off.  Then he proudly peed all over his own shoes and took off.