Red Flannel Boys continued

I am going to try and post again about the pics below.

We made new place mats for Caleb and Levi. They finger painted, glittered, and stickered colored paper and than I used laminate I have been saving for who knows what reason for the last 7 years. They turned out cute. It was amazing that I did a planned craft with the kids because that is so not me!

When Ryan works late and misses baths, I have started giving them individual baths in my big blue wash tub in the laundry room. I can fill it up with warm water and put it on my freezer. Than I put in a video in the living room to keep the other two entertained. So first Seth goes in and splashes and sings etc. Than Levi who is still ‘little’ enough to fit his whole body in. Than Caleb who I can barely lift that high. I told him to swing his legs up as I lifted him, he thought that was funny. Caleb wanted to give himself a bath, can’t say no to good independence. I have no idea how much baby soap he used but he was clean. By now the water is quite soapy since there isn’t that much in the basin and three boys have suds up in it. I should have rerinsed Caleb off with clean water, should have but thought he would be fine with a good toweling off.

That night I got up with Seth at 2:30 am. He usually sleeps through the night but oh well. Get back in bed, start to get warm and sleepy when I hear Caleb calling out. Go up and he says he has ants in his bed. The night-light barely lights up the attic so he pulls the blankets off the bed and points to imaginary ants. I didn’t feel like arguing with his dream and moved him to our guest bed. We call it Oma’s bed since she was the first one to sleep in it. He’s tucked in with morny (his bunny) and I am warming up my bed again. He calls out again sure that the ants have followed him to Oma’s bed. So I crawl in with him to protect him from the ants. He cannot stop itching and squirming. That’s when I figured out the problem. At 4 am I gave him a whole nother bath. He thought I was crazy, but it worked, we finally got some sleep til 6 am when Ryan left for work and Seth woke up again. Poor kid. Now when I do baths in the blue tub, I change the water between Levi and Caleb.

Levi is potty trained! Started on Monday and by Friday, he had it down pat. We have 2 pairs of chupies and shorts in the backpack in case of emergencies when we are out but he has not had an accident when we are out or during naptime. He still wants to wear a diaper to bed at night. The only problem is when he has to poop, he needs help now, and I mean now. So we have had a few challenges with that. I bought some fabric softener to freshen up some clothes that poopy odors wanted to cling to. I am really proud of him.

Seth is developing. First when he picked up an object he tasted it. Hence the tasting stage. But it makes sense. I know what most things taste like, keys, plastic toys, stuffed animals, cause when I was his age I tasted everything several 100 times. Second is the shake test. He grasps an object, tastes it and than contemplates it and than shakes it again. Its like he is taking a mental picture of it and remembering what it tastes like. Third is the flick test. While he shakes it he slowly relaxes his grip and watches to see how far it will go and in which direction it will fly. And than can he stretch far enough to reach it and do it again? We have seen him get tired while he is reaching and needing to rest. So he rests his forehead on the carpet between his knees and than stretches again. This also gave him an opportunity to taste the carpet.