Thwarted but not completely

Yesterday in an effort to get to the gym we divided up the kids and started to get ready. I grabbed Henry and Went into Jake's room. Changed Henry's diaper and put some clothes on him while Jake bounced in his bed so excited to see us. Once Henry was dressed I put hm in Jake's Crib and pulled Jake out to change his diaper and get him dressed. With both babies in onesies and socks per gym rules we went into the other room Where Kate had got Finn up and dressed. I got my very stylish workout outfit on with Jake in Henry's baby cage and Henry on the bed properly pillowed to keep him from rolling off. Towels, diapers, water bottle, plugs, iPods, and membership cards gathered Kate went out to the car to back it out while I gathered up the babies again. Kate let out some minor profanity (which Finn repeated 3 or 25 times) as she walked back to the house. Jake's carseat is in Scott's car so we can't go. Gathering up the kids and parphenalia needed to go out is a mini workout in itself so Kate sent me out on my own. I think the thought is I'm the fat one and need the workout more. It was nice to get out with no kids even if it was to workout. I put the windows down, hooked up the workout playlist from the iPod to the stereo and enjoyed the view. Once at the gym there was one machine open on the end and I got on and got started. There are flat screen TVs with things like ball games and news and luck would have it that the two in front of me had Judge Judy and Some Headline News "Where's Caylee?" show. I tell you I couldn't care less about either of those two. Seriously, this is news. I'm probably a terrible person but how can you devot an entire show to that crap. It was a call in show too, so people were watching and calling in to get their two cents in. I turned up the music and powered through sweating like a madman. The workout felt good, exhausting but fruitful. Not the plan but a good hour away for me.

Dear Raiders,

The time has come for us to part ways. It's not you it's me. Wait that isn't true it's you not me. When we first started this relationship you were in L.A. with my beloved Lakers and Dodgers and then you moved, albeit back to where you came from, but away from me. You left L.A. for Oakland and I should have called it quits then. But then you signed Nip and I couldn't turn my back. But now after countless 1 0r 2 year coaches who have never had a chance to put their stamp on the team, and getting rid of the one coach that was any good, it is just too much. I'm breaking up with the Raiders for good. I have found another team. You had know this was going to happen when I moved to Indy. I got to go see them a couple of times, you were there for a couple of those games too. The civic pride, the fan friendly owner (that is if you ignore Baltimore Fans), the lack of violence in the stands and around the stadium. I've moved on Raiders, I'm with the Colts now. It's offical. I know you may think this is Sports Bigamy, once you pick a team as a kid that's your team for life but the rules clearly state is the team leaves or the owner is terrible you can leave. I'm well with in my fan right here and I hope you don't try to fight this. I will remember the good times; the Bo Jackson Monday night game, as well as the bad; the travesty in New England with M*$%^#F@#%$#$&% tuck rule. Let's keep our memories and say good bye.

Happy Birthday Jesse

I told Kate it was Jesse's birthday and Finn wanted to sing for him, well him and Grandma and Papa but really mostly for Jesse!

Timeouts = No more Trucks

When he is naughty he goes to timeout. He has a chair in his room that is his Timeout chair. When he screams, hits Jake or Henry, throws toys he goes to timeout. It didn't seem to be working, going to timeout means attention. We go in there and try to explain why he is in trouble and he gets one on one time with mommy or daddy. We are angry and he is meant to be punished but to him it as time of his own so he would try to go to timeout. We had to change it up a bit and not give him special attention during the timeout but that still wasn't enough. So e decided that toys would be taken away to reinforce the timeout. I explained to Finn about consequences, I kno he doesn't understand completely but you have to start and be consistent so we started. Do something naughty, go to timeout and get one toy taken away, and not just any toy a truck. The first day he lost 4 of his trucks, the next he lost 3. His toy box was getting pretty bare of quality vehicles. When we ran out of trucks we took away his stroller. We got to the point here he had no more trucks or toys of any kind that were uniquely his. Do we take away his books now? On Friday Finn had a good day. It was 3 in the afternoon and no timeouts for the whole day. We told him that if he made it to dinner with no timeouts he could have 5 trucks back. We had been given him trucks back when he did good things like coming when we called him or sharing with Jake but this was an epic day. He made it to after dinner with no timeouts and him and I excitedly went to the garage to the box where confiscated toys live and pulled out his five favorite trucks: The red pickup truck, the mail truck, the green jeep like Aunt Bum's, the cement truck, and the Gator. He also negotiated the release of his stroller and for the next two hours played with these things all ove rthe house. We didn't hear a peep from him until it was time to skype with Grandma and Papa. It really was great to get to reward instead of punish. Saturday was another pretty good day, had a timeout but nothing to bad and this morning I told Finn that if he goes the whole day without a timeout then he can all of his trucks back. The monster trucks, buses, transformers, and the rest. He got really excited thinking about he beloved trucks and ent off playing. I had Henry in my lap watching football at 7:30 in the morning and Finn comes up with his Mail truck and smacks Henry in the head above his right eye. Got him good, like they were in a bar fight. I immediately brought Finn to timeout where he screamed and tried to smack me. I sat him in the chair and he screamed with all his might. Meanwhile Henry was crying like crazy in the living room waking up Kate from her sleep in day. I went and got three trucks to take away and went in and let Finn know that he could no longer play with these anymore. He sat in timeout until he stopped screaming, almost ten minutes. I don't get it, why does he take a truck and nail Henry in the head as part of playing. He might have been jealous but he was getting just as much attention, I just don't get it. It has been a rough morning.

The new stutter

Finn has started stuttering in the last couple of days. He repeats the first word of sentence 5 or six times, sometimes more. It is heart wrenching to hear. I feel bad for him, worried, even a little frustrated sometimes when it takes so long to get out what he is trying to say and that makes me feel incredibly guilty. It is so strange how it all started about Tuesday afternoon. Before that he was spitting out sentences pretty clearly. He has trouble with his "L" and he replaces his "S" with an "F" but you could understand what he was saying and he was stringing a number of words together. I did some reading online about stuttering and toddlers and it is pretty common. Most sites say that all kids go through some form of stuttering as they are going through changes in the amount of words they know and the amount that they can effectively communicate. While it is pretty normal it could also mean that he will continue to stutter. I learned to let him get out what he wants to say without rushing him or anticipating. Then show that I understand him be repeating back what he said: "Maybe maybe maybe maybe get maybe get the truck off the table." "You want to get the truck off of the table?" It helps to have something to remember and reinforce so that I don't just feel helpless. We will wait and see how Finn continues to develop, he doesn't seem to get too upset about the stuttering and he powers through with what he wants to say.

What does a mango taste like?

Who can Henry Pick on?

Abuse seems to trickle down hill and unfortunately for Henry he is at the bottom of the hill. Finn is faster the Jake and tackles him, smacks him with wooden spoons, and generally tortures the kid. Jake then crawls over to Henry and climbs in his seat, takes his plug, and lovingly smacks his head over and over. Jake gets excited anytime Finn comes over and Henry gets just as excited any time Jake comes over but eventually it is going to end with crying. You can see the little hands on the chair in the left corner after they have taken his plug and deposited on his shoulder. I love Henry's expression here, a sot of resigned frustration.

Overheard by the neighbors today

"I got roast beef on my wiener daddy!"

"HEY DADDY, I GOT ROAST BEEF ON MY WIENER!"

"OK buddy, why don't you put the roast beef back on your plate and eat it."

"and not have it on my wiener?"

"Yeah, not have it on your wiener anymore."

"OK daddy."

Temporary Insanity

Tonight was a hard night, a really hard night. I think we knew that there would be nights like this but it doesn't make it any easier. Jake is not feeling well and might be in the first stages of the bug Finn and I had, or he might just be pooping a lot for no reason. He has been unhappy tonight, unhappy eating, unhappy being held, unhappy in his crib. Henry has not been going down either and has been crying pretty loud in his baby cage. Finn is doing well but hungry for a bit of attention as we pinball back and forth between the screaming babies. Jake and Finn we are used to but Henry doesn't cry much so when he gets worked up like this it is a bit demoralizing. He has got some teeth coming in and that has to hurt like hell and I understand his crying, and I understand Jake and his wanting to not poop anymore and Finn and his need to get some attention too. I understand all of it but it is still hard. Right now Jake is screaming in his room and Henry is screaming on the other side of the house in his room. Finn is in the middle going to sleep like a champ. Kate had to get away and go to the beach for a bit because it was too much. After a long week tonight was just too much. We have no idea when Scott will ever come home, if he is working, or out for a run, or out to a movie while we manage the screaming and it becomes too much. I feel isolated tonight, like I am on an island in the middle of the ocean and I can't get off it. It's not always like this, I don't want you to think this is so hard all the time, it is tonight. Tonight it is hard, really hard. When Kate needs to get away she feel guilty for leaving me with the boys and so does not really get to de-stress at all. She just trades her overwhelming sense of responsibility in for overwhelming guilt for not being strong enough to endure. I realize that this is coming off way too intense and it is not a life or death thing. If you have kids I think you can relate, it's not that bad over all. but it is too hard right now. I feel guilty even writing this because I know that Mandy is going to read it and feel bad, and I don't want you to feel bad Mandy. It helps to write it out, to get it out of the head and on to the page and as I'm writing there is slience in the house and the screaming has stopped. The boys are asleep and it is getting better. I am feeling better. Can anyone else relate to this feeling of temporary insanity?

PBJ face

Henry likes to dunk under

Scott got a water proof housing for his digital camera so Sunday afternoon we took turns trying to drown our kids for good shots. I think Kate blocking her nose with her upper lip is the funniest thing but these pictures of the boys underwater are pretty cool. Henry is cool with dunking under but Finn is not much of a fan. We are trying to get him used to the water and teaching him to kick and not panic and it is working a bit. He knows that he is going to dunk under at least once each swim time though he tries to negotiate out of it. "Maybe go for a dip and not dunk under?" Henry gets really excited in the water and kicks like crazy. He loves floating around in the lady bug float and smacking the water on his sides. Henry also seems to know to close his mouth under water while Finn isn't grasping that yet. Sunday was a lot of fun by the pool, grilling steaks for lunch and chicken and fish for dinner and seeing what video of the kids underwater looks like.

WHAT....My Helmet......has.......googly eyes!

"WHAT?!!?! Daddy......is off of........work!" This is Finn's new thing. He exclaims What and then does a Christopher Walken impression with the sentence following. He is cracking me up with these. He does it it when he finds a truck, when Kate makes him a lunch, or any time Henry makes a peep: "WHAT?!!? Henry.......is waking..........up!" I will try to get video of this so you can kinda spit your coffee like I do when ever you watch. Oh and his bike helmet has googly eyes. Between the googly eyes and Walken impression this kid has me rolling.

Saturday with the stars

This past Saturday we had a plan to get up and out of the house by 8 for breakfast and then a trip to see the Dolphin show at the Kahala Resort. It was Kate's day to get up with the kids while I slept in so she was up and out with Henry at 6:00 to get coffee and hang out. Back at 7:30 I got up, having slept in an extra 3 hours from my usual get up time and feeling fairly good. We were still a bit late getting out of the house and our good breakfast place would have been nice at 8 but was now line around the block at 8:45. We picked up breakfast sandwiches and headed across the island. Traffic was pretty clear as we made our way to the opposite corner of the island while passing out food and Kate talked to her parents. The only real problem was that where we were going wasn't over there. Not even close. It was really just around the corner of the island from us. So back we went through Honolulu in now heavier traffic until we started heading up mountain. We had gone to far and had to turn back around, now having been in the car for 2 hours. We finally made it to where we were going with a hungry group and partially to mostly crabby Kate. We got out the stroller and walked around this beautiful hotel and down to the beach. We decided to get Lunch at the super expensive restaraunt on the beach and live it up like rock stars. I got a great steak sandwich, Kate a deluxe burger and a beer. After Lunch we got on our suits and played a little on the beach. Henry slpet, Kate layed out, and Finn and I went to see the Dolphin show. Most of the people there were Eurpopean tourists or Japanese and they thought Finn was pretty much the greatest thing ever. He got his picture taken twice and rubbed on the head at least 20 times. I don't know what Finn will be when he grows up but I have a sneaking suspicion he's going to be big in Japan. After the show we gathered up our stuff and headed back home, making it there in 15 minutes instead of the 2 hours it took coming. Finn was out before we left the hotel and Kate was in a much better mood. It was an adventure and fun and I'm glad we got out. Oh and while we were out Finn and I saw Saeed from Lost. He was just checking into the Hotel as we were coming back with our towels and suits from the car. He was walking righ in front of us but Finn didn't really care. He wanted to go back and see the turtles. That is two lost characters down and filming hasn't even started again. Hurly and Saeed are great but where is that Kate?

This is pretty much how she feels about him

Canurfing

We didn't see Obama but all the time on the beach led us to this great video. There a a couple of people out paddling around on their surfboards each day but most of them have been out in water a lot farther. This kid was going just beyond the break and then catching waves. Looks like and looks like something Mark will be doing when he comes to Visit.