Happy Summer!

Thanks Empsons for the awesome shirts!  Corban was running
around after he put his on yelling "cool minion! cool minion!" You don't
have to have seen a movie with minions to think that they're funny!

I realized that it's been a couple months since I organized any pictures of Corban.  He changes so fast.  I'll try to get them in order on here (minus that first picture of both boys) to accurately show his hair progression.

Here are some things that Corban loves: Toy Story characters, A Bug's Life (especially Princess Atta), being a dinosaur ("ROAR"), going to the pool, helping Mommy in the kitchen (he was so proud to put the plates on the table yesterday), eating bread and butter pickle slices ("more pickles? MORE PICKLES?!?!), looking at books, playing with girls from the youth group, singing in general (but especially "Holy Holy", "Come Thou Fount", and "You've Got a Friend in Me"), wearing his Braves Crocks, watching Little Einsteins, saying "Hi! How are you?" when pretending to talk on the phone or to random people in the grocery store, saying "ok Mommy!", and playing with Gabriel's Legos.

This Easter egg thing is fun

Here are some things that Corban does not like: Chick-fil-a ice cream ("too cold! too cold!"), being told that he can't do something (man is he calm until he's not.  He can have some serious rage), being told that he cannot jump off of high things ("No! Corban can fly! Corban can fly!").  One of Corban's favorite things to say is "I don't want to!!"  Get used to it buddy.  There are a lot of things that mom and dad do that they don't want to do either.

Romp 'n Roll is still so fun!

Corban has a joke.  He thinks that it's hilarious.  He has a book of animals and under one of the flaps there is a peacock.  I mentioned to him one day that a peacock can't really fly (I know they can fly a little bit, but not like a regular bird).  He now, multiple times a day and to anyone who will listen, likes to say "Peacock fly!" He wants whoever he is talking to to respond with "a peacock can't fly!"  This has been going on for weeks.  On a positive note, he wants to sing "Old McDonald" a lot less.  So, from one obsession to another I suppose.

Helping Mommy make brownies.  The height of the wild hair.

Handsome guys going to church (and Dad holding a sleep sack)

First time on a boat!  Was really ok with it until it got too windy

Loving the beach and the sand (thanks Nasses!)

About a month ago we took the side off of Corban's crib.  We weren't really wanting to do that this soon, but many times when I went into his room after nap or in the morning he had a leg over the side and was about to fall out (silly tall kid).  It was better to take the side off than have him break his nose I suppose.

The transition went all right for the first week or so.  His only real game with it was getting out of bed and turning on the light.  The picture below was after I walked by his room around 8:30pm and saw his light on.  I went in and found him passed out.   

Over the next couple weeks he started waking up more and more frequently in the middle of the night, crying and banging on his door.  We think that he was falling out and then popping up and running for the door.  He's moved past that now, it seems, and slept well the last few nights.  He is really loving being able to get get in and out of bed and sit in there and read too. 

Sleep sack, Rompy, Cow, and Duck.  Gangs all here.

Haircut!  He still randomly tells people that he got a haircut.
That was his third one, but it was certainly the most memorable.

That's all that I can think of with Corban.  The routine around here has seemed very different the past month, even though all that really changed is that Gabriel doesn't go to preschool two mornings a week.  But, we took a quick trip to the beach, spent a couple days at a farm while our carpets dried after being cleaned, Gabriel went to Super Hero camp, and last week was Summer Bible Camp at church.  It has been busy now that I think about it. Both boys really love going to the pool and the library, running around the house being super heros (Gabriel wants to be Batman and Corban wants to be Superman), wresting with each other (and making each other mad in the process), and being outside.

Cows!  Corban was fascinated by the actual sounds that
they were making.  He was trying to "talk" back to them.

Gabriel fishing with Daddy

Loved sitting on a tractor

Spider Man!  Or is it Batman?!

Gabriel is also changing a lot it seems.  Some things are consistent: Legos, Super Heros, tantrums, and pushing limits.  But, he is also becoming a more confident reader, looks forward to time to read alone before bed, and is enjoying more quiet time creating things with his Legos.  I feel sometimes like he's two separate people.  One is so hyper that he cannot think, running and reacting and losing it if things don't go his way.  The other is thoughtful, funny, creative, and focused.  As frustrating as the first one can be, I feel that we see more glimpses of his little personality working itself out in the quieter moments. 

Captain Gabriel

Super Hero Camp!

Last year there was no Summer Bible Camp at church (do to building renovations), so we did backyard style Bible camp in the evenings one week.  So, this year was Gabriel's first time going to one every morning.  He had so much fun.  He asked me at the end of the week if we could do it again the next week.

There are now two awake children over here, so thus ends this blog post. . .

All ready to see "Cars 3".  He choose Waffle House for dinner and
then ate a huge bag of fruit snacks during the movie.
After it was done he said "this was so much fun!"

Gabriel's First Year of Preschool

Gabriel's first year of preschool went by so quickly it seems.  The zoom isn't quite right on the second set of pictures, but here are two from the first day and then two from the last day. . .

He just got so much bigger.  He doesn't look like a little kid anymore to me, but like a more confident little person.  As for preschool, Gabriel simply loved it and was asking two days later when it was time to go back again.  He's excited that next year he gets to go three days a week and be in "the big kid class." His teachers were both wonderful and very patiently worked with him and his chattering self this year.  It wasn't always easy to get straight answers about what he did there every day, but I do know that he had several boys that he talked about a lot and considered his good friends.  He was rarely one of the kids in trouble, but when he was it was for not being able to stop talking.

There was a performance the week before school ended.  They recited verses and poems and sang lots of songs.  Gabriel had mentioned to me several times that when they were walking up to the stage to sing he had to put his finger over his lips to remind everyone to be quiet.  He brought this up several times during the day leading up to the performance.  When I went to drop him off with his class on that night he completely melted down and was crying and begging me not to leave him. I found this strange for him and stayed until he was ok with me leaving.  One of his teachers mentioned to me that he had told them that morning that he was nervous.  Well come to find out Gabriel was the first one to walk into the church with all of his little classmates following him.  No wonder he was nervous, having to go first.  He never mentioned that to me, or maybe he said it in passing and I wasn't paying attention.  At any rate, after he was done we took his first trip to Dairy Queen and I told him to order whatever he wanted.

End of the year performance

Field trip to the library and the park

Now that preschool is done for the summer I'm not really sure what Gabriel is going to do.  He has so much energy and constantly needs to talk and pretend.  There are days when I tell him that I'm not going to play "Batman" any more and I don't want to talk about it either.  I feel mean doing that, but I can only handle so much of that.  He's going to "Super Hero" camp in the mornings next week where he takes his Ninja Zone classes.  I'm not sure if this will get it out of his system or just make him want to play it more (I'm planning on the latter).  Most of Gabriel's waking hours are consumed with super heros, Legos, running laps around the house, making random noises, attempting to play with Corban and then accidentally hurting him, listening to CDs in his room, and looking at/reading books.  It's fairly predictable.

Dash/Robin

Gabriel's observation from the back row:
"Daddy and Pop Pop don't have very much hair"

During spring break (sometime near the beginning of April) Gabriel came to Corban's Romp n' Roll class.  He was really excited about it since he used to go there a lot.  Well, he was running full speed while looking that the ceiling and his left eye had a full force collision with the forehead of another little girl.  Her forehead came out ok, but Gabriel got a massive black eye.  Right about the time his right cheek and busted finger were healing up.  The skin around his left eye is still a little discolored.  I would say that he's going to wear a football helmet from now on, but then he'd just feel more indestructible and start doing even more crazy things.

Gabriel is truly in love with Legos.  He got some new ones for Easter and another set that he had really been asking for when he reached lesson 75 in his reading book.  He used to get really upset when what he built came apart (usually because Daddy had helped him build exactly what the box described), but now he's getting to the point where he's coming up with his own vehicles and planes.  He does some creative things and can really get focused on it during rest time in the afternoons (although we're back to having forced nap more than we used to.  This kid needs more sleep).

Who knew cheap kites from Wal-Mart could be so much fun

We recently went to see the Roanoke Children's Theater's production of "Elephant and Piggie: We are in a Play!"  Those sure are great books and the performance was really fun too.  Random note, but before the performance started I told Gabriel that we should go and use the bathroom.  His response was a very long explanation of why we couldn't, which really boiled down to the following - "We cannot use the bathroom.  There are bathroom criminals.  They have been sent by the Chinese government.  Their crime is that they keep us from using the bathroom."

Gabriel has brought up many times lately that he needs to go to college and then get a job (all of this originally came about after explaining that one of his beloved babysitters will be going to college next year).  He has decided that he wants to move to Atlanta and go to Georgia Tech.  I asked him what he will study and he said "I'm not going to study.  I'm going to teach there Mom!"  Last week he very specifically said that he was ready to grow up and leave home.  The following was the basic conversation:

Gabriel: Mom, I'm ready to grow up and leave home.  I think that I'll do that next Wednesday.  I'll need a car to get to my new job in Atlanta.  Or maybe I'll just walk there.
Me: Buddy I think you'll need a car.  That is a really long walk.
Gabriel: Ok Mommy, can I just have your car?  You can give me your car right?
Me: No

He has also mentioned several times that when he grows up he's going to be a preacher "like Pastor Chris."  When I asked him what a preacher does he said "they stand in front of the church while everyone sings."  When I asked what else they do besides that he said "I don't think they really do anything."  I wonder what he thinks Taylor is doing every day when he goes to work?

So, that's Gabriel in a nutshell, minus the tales of his whining and tantrums, loud obnoxious noises, making up strange words, and generally pushing boundaries.  Those aren't as fun to recount.  So, to close, a picture that he requested that I take, because "we need one of me in my bed!"

More Random Things

It seems like it's been months since I've put anything on here, but I guess it really hasn't been too terribly long.  These boys change so fast.

Driving a car at the mall

Playing some piano at church

Free ice cream day!

Yum

I guess I'll just do what I always do and put down some random things about each of them. . .

Gabriel has a couple of new favorite shows.  Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers is number one (if you don't know what cartoon this is your childhood was lacking).  We have these on DVD in the back of a drawer and he recently discovered them.  He loves it so much that when we play Batman everyone has a double identity.  The identities are as follows:

Chip Batman (Gabriel)

Dale Robin (Corban)  **Corban answers to "Dale" and points at squirrels and calls them "Dale."

Gadget Batgirl (Mom)

Fatcat Joker (Dad)

Dumpty Penguin (sometimes Loki.  Dumpty is the villain in the second episode of Rescue Rangers)

One day Gabriel was dressed in his Batman costume being "Chip Batman" and put on a scarf and hat over his costume to really capture the double identity.

                          


Sometimes he mixes three things while we're pretending.  The other day we were both Star Wars and Chip and Dale characters mixed together, but we were fighting some kind of Star Trek ship.  I can't keep up with this stuff. Pretending gets very complicated and confusing sometimes and Gabriel gets a little annoyed if we aren't "pretending right."

Gabriel continues to like to work on reading for very short periods of time each day (we're talking 10-15 minutes most of the time.  When I point to words he might know while we're reading books his usual answer is "you just read it mom."  He enjoys it during our dedicated time for it each day though.  Other times I think he's just wants us to do it because it's faster.

Ninja Zone!

One night Gabriel asked me to get up on the top bunk of his bed with him before he went to sleep.  He has glow in the dark "stars" on the ceiling that are spaced out to be the actual constellations in the night sky. With the lights off he was showing me all of the constellations that he looks at every night on his ceiling, which are certainly not the "traditional" ones.  When looking at his ceiling he sees a giraffe, three cars, a house with a smiley face for a roof, and a Christmas tree.

Chick-fil-a Dwarf House

A couple of trouble makers

Gabriel also has injured himself a couple times lately.  About 6 weeks ago (maybe longer.  I can't remember) he slammed his left middle finger in a door and subsequently the nail fell off.  It's starting to grow back now, but it's been many weeks of band aids.  The nail was starting to look a little "off" so he went to the doctor last week.  The pediatrician ordered an x-ray just to be sure his finger wasn't broken and it thankfully wasn't since it happened so long ago.  He did a great job sitting still when they took the images and got really excited when he got to see the pictures of his bones.  

Also, Gabriel was running full speed about 2 weeks ago and didn't see poor Loki.  He tripped over her and hit the right side of his face onto the corner of a wooden stool.  It was so swollen and bruised.  It's finally really starting to fade.  He's a mess.

Cousins holding hands

So, I know that boys are loud and silly and like to make noise, but sometimes it's just too much for my mind to handle.  Both of them running around making random noises and such.  I don't want to stifle them from being silly together, especially when they are actually getting along without getting making each other mad, but sometimes I cannot handle all of the random noises.  I cannot process that many sounds or something.  I am glad that they love to chase each other and be silly.  Corban copies everything that Gabriel does -- annoying sounds and bad table manners especially.

Corban is now talking up a storm.  The week of 3/13 he added "milk "apple" "ball" "throw" "no" "owl" "stop" "yes" and "dog" to his vocabulary.  He also started responding very clearly to "yes" and "no" questions. The next week those words were followed up with "book" "orange" "duck" "boat" "blue" "yellow" "kick" "bubble" "turtle" and "please".  He now has too many words to keep track of.  The last couple days he has been all about saying "ok".

I could look at myself all day

You wish your hair was so cool

He now calls his beloved sleep sack "sack".  He calls for it by name very frequently and we now realize that we should have given the sleep sack a better name so that he wouldn't walk around saying "sack" all day long. In addition to his "sack"  he also still sleeps with the cow and his new stuffed Rompy dog from Romp 'n Roll.  When he's looking for the stuffed dog he puts both hands out like he's singing a song from Romp 'n Roll class and says "where oh where?" (if you went to class with him you'd now have the song in your head).

Gangs all here.  Sack on his head with the cow and dog close beside him.

Rompy!

He is attempting to say "Gabriel", which sounds something like "Gbubble".  It used to be that when we asked Corban if he could say "Gabriel" he would say "Dada!!" and then laugh.  He thought it was a funny joke.

Corban frequently gets songs stuck in his head, but the consistent one is "Old McDonald."  I would be ok if I never heard that song again.  The farm mostly has a duck, dog, book, and Dale (from Chip and Dale).  You can't understand what he's saying most of the time but every few seconds you hear "E-I-E-I-O".  He can sing it for hours.  While he should be going to sleep at night.  It's getting old. He also likes to sing the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, and the Romp and Roll song.

Other random things about Corban: he has a strong dislike for the vacuum cleaner.  The other day it was in the living room and he told it "bye bye" and then opened the hall closet where we keep it.  It was a very clear signal to put it away.  He also likes pointing at facial features and naming them (eye, nose, ear).  He really likes to "cook", meaning he says that and drags us by the hand into Gabriel's room to play in the pretend kitchen.  Additionally, he's very attached to mom and dad right now.  He frequently wants us to hold hands with him.  If he wants us to come with him to play he'll grab our hand and try to drag us off.  He really wants me to hold his hand while we're eating meals too (which I try to limit, but I have to admit it's cute most of the time). 

Thanks to a Baby Einstein video Corban thinks that every time you smell a flower you have to pretend to sneeze

Bunny at an Easter egg hunt!  Corban didn't care about finding eggs.  He wanted to watch dogs and meet "Fred"

Corban is 18 Months and Gabriel is Silly

Corban had his 18 month check up on Monday.  He decided to have some really good timing and have an ear infection when we went in.  He had a cold the week before but really seemed fine other than that.  He woke up once crying the night before his appointment but that really was the only indication that something was wrong.  He's been getting teeth, so I just assumed the occasional whining was due to that.  He hasn't had the best week though.  One of his teeth is really causing him pain (he's actually walking around with his hand in his mouth), he is now digging in his ear, and he had to get a couple vaccines on Monday.  He hasn't been in the best mood and I don't really blame him.

I still don't know what to do with his hair.  I was thinking if it got a little longer that it would settle down, but it doesn't seem like that is the case.  Now I just think of his hair as a part of his wild and goofy personality.  

Besides the ear infection he's doing great.  The pediatrician said that he should have about 10 words at this point, so I was trying to count them up.  If animal sounds counted as words he'd have no problem.  As of now he routinely says: Mama, Dada, bye, hi, nuh uh, yeah, and head.  He signs for milk, more, all done, and help.  He sometimes says something close to the parts of his face (eyes, nose, ears, mouth). He does a good job of communicating what he needs though.  He was not very happy this morning and I guess he wanted me to sit with him, so he grabbed my hand and walked me over to the couch.  Then he tried to push me down to sit.  Then he climbed up with a book and sat in my lap. 

Corban is still so in love with cows.  He has to point them out everywhere.  I just had to buy him his own stuffed cow.  Now he sleeps with the cow and the sleep sack (and here we have a picture of the cow wearing the sleep sack).

The doctor didn't write down the exact percentages when we were there on Monday, but he is 35 inches (98th percentile), and 25 lb 14 oz (which she said is about the 50th).  Still tall.  And the hair makes him look even more so. 

His Valentine's Day monkey friend from Gammer (and the sleep sack)

He has claimed Gabriel's chair as his own (with his sleep sack)

Corban loves story time at the library, the Children's Museum, and Romp and Roll class.  Here are a few pictures from today's class.  When it was rest time in class and everyone stretches out on the floor for a minute of quiet he went and sat with the teacher.  Apparently she's more fun than his mommy.

And here are some little things about Gabriel that come to mind:

Super Heros can often be found in our house

Gabriel loves Super Heros.  How do little boys get sucked into them without even watching them on TV?  He wants to be Batman, Spider Man, The Incredibles, and many others.  The other day during rest time we kept hearing a "thumping" noise.  When I asked him what was going on he said that he was Spider Man and was throwing his webs against the wall (I'm still not sure what he was actually throwing against the wall to make the noise)

Fireman at the Children's Museum

A few weeks ago I was in the car with Gabriel and following conversation took place:

Gabriel: when are you and Daddy going to move out of the house so I can get married and live here? I'm ready to grow up

Me: why do you want to grow up so fast and who are you going to marry?

Gabriel: so that I can reach high things. And I'm marrying Marie! We can go out to eat and someone will watch our kids

Me: how many kids do you have?

Gabriel: we don't have any yet

Me: well how many will you have?

Gabriel: two. And they will be boys. I haven't thought of their names yet though. I'll have to get a job

Me: what will you do?

Gabriel: I'll work at church

Me: that's a nice idea. You know there are other jobs too doing all kinds of things. 

Gabriel: I could just get one where I help people 

I picked Gabriel up from preschool a couple weeks ago and saw this.  My first thought was "please tell me that he didn't get into a fight.  He's 4."  Thankfully he just had a collision with another boy's head.  He is currently also missing almost an entire fingernail.  He smashed his finger in the door a few weeks ago.  Earlier this week almost the entire nail came off.  Ouch.

This is very random, but the other day when we were driving Gabriel said that he was going to make a movie.  Upon further questioning I found out the following:  

It's going to be in the theater in a million years.

It will be about chocolate chips that are astronauts.

The chocolate chips are scared of aliens.

Chocolate chips have very large families.  One bag of chocolate chips is one entire family.

Another random thing.  The other afternoon I was on the phone and Gabriel disappeared somewhere in the house.  I normally think nothing of this.  When it had been several minutes and it was still quiet I went searching.  He was sitting in the refrigerator with him entire hand in a tub of frosting (I also have no idea how long that frosting was in there.  I have no recollection of what I used it for).  When I asked him what he was doing he started screaming "I was hungry!!!!  I was just getting a snack!!!"  He was not very happy to have to stop and wash his hands.  For how annoyed I was at the time, once he went to bed that night it made me laugh.  He looked with Winnie the Pooh with his hand in a honey jar.

Gabriel's new favorite toys are Playmobile.  He got some knights for his birthday and a plane for Christmas.  He has been working really hard at reading, so since he is halfway through the workbook we're working on we let him pick out a Playmobile toy.  He plays with them so creatively.  It's fun to listen to.  Here he is with his new police station:

Besides Playmobile, during rest time he most often listens to CDs, plays with Legos, pretends to be a super hero, and changes his clothes.  Sometimes it's into a costume.  Sometimes he likes to put on a matching hat, gloves, and scarf.  Most often though he just changes he clothes into some random outfit.  The last few days he's also gotten dressed before he comes out of his room in the morning (he climbs his toy cubby to reach into the closet and get a shirt).  A welcome change from the boy who has previously screamed when asked to change clothes in the morning.

"Mommy, take my picture!"

And on a closing note, I actually wrote most of this blog post yesterday and then didn't post it.  How can I post it at dinnertime today you ask?  Because I'm not home.  While these boys may seem cute and funny, many days they are far from either.  Today was one of those days.  The day was one long stream of crying, tantrums, and whining, followed by almost no nap or rest from either boy.  Gabriel actually said at one point "Mommy, I don't care about your feelings.  Just mine."  Lovely right?  I asked Taylor to please bring home a pizza.  When he got home I left.  I am eating dinner alone because this mom is done for the day and because I have a husband who understands that.  I just felt that this little disclaimer was needed to remind myself later of the reality of day to day with little people.  It's hard and it's long and some days it feels like nothing that I am doing matters.  And I think of this Tim Keller quote that I read yesterday: 

To say Jesus is making everything work together for your good means 

that not only are bad things part of his plan but also little things.

I can think of many things directions to take that thought, but as for today, my day has been made up of little things.  Some are little things (or big things) that I failed at.  Like when I yelled at Gabriel before his rest time.  Or told him, not very nicely, to stop talking (for he is a constant stream to chatter.  Mix that with a screaming brother and it's a quick trip to frustration).  Our day of little things make up the bigger things.  While I am too tired to expound further, it helps me to know that my little things are important to God, and that the little things that I do matter, as well as the fact that He is teaching me in these little things about my sin, my failures, and His grace and love toward me.  So as to not start crying in Panera, this blog post is done.  I'm not even reading any of it again for editing purposes.  It is what it is.