First Week at Home - Sunday 1/31/10

So the picture above kind of sums up what much of the day was like today. It was a doozy! The boys just went at it all morning long: picking, pinching, biting, hitting, SCREAMING at the top of their lungs and I mean high C or higher. My poor neighbors! If one of the boys does something to the other, even by accident, there is ALWAYS a retaliation. It is crazy. And when Mommy intervenes the retaliation often includes her as well. Can I just say I'm thankful for pack-n-plays? Because I had to use ours for several reasons other than naptime today. To separate the boys, and to give myself a chance to regather my wits (and patience) a time or two. I guess I'm out of practice parenting this age! :)

Ian enjoyed the puzzles from Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. He gathered the pieces and put them in a little tupperware bowl and carried them around for awhile. I think this was his solution to my not giving him any more whale/goldfish crackers despite some major tantrums. For some reason he refused to drink almost anything today and I tried my best in every language I knew - including pantomime - to explain that he would not be getting any more crackers until he drank something. This resulted in his new Cars cup getting flung on the tile so many times that it now leaks and is rather worthless. Since he's been sick, it make me nervous whenever he doesn't drink and honestly he only took a few sips of water the entire day. He did, however, eat huge amounts of food at every meal. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions??

Needless to say, an early nap was in order and I enjoyed every quiet minute. Yesterday I brought a CD player into the boys' room and have been playing children's praise songs when they go to bed. It is wonderful! It really seems to soothe them. I was actually able to leave the room after a few minutes and except for a little whimpering the boys settled right down.

Fortunately, the day was redeemed with a sweet evening together. I bathed the boys, got them into their comfy clothes/jammies, and then we took a long walk around the neighborhood. They hardly made a peep the whole time and it seemed to relax them. Then we had dinner, took in some cool evening air on the front patio, and watched another kids' sing praise video. After some initial squabbling both boys settled in next to me on the couch and wound down. It was a great segway into bedtime and I only had to go back into the room once for an extra set of cuddles before my two wild guys fell asleep.

I added this last picture to show how much Ian's tummy is growing. I jokingly told Pedro that I think he is getting stretch marks! I am trying to be careful and feed him only healthy foods but I would appreciate advice in this area from those who have been there, done that. We will be seeing the doctor on Wednesday so hopefully she will give me some direction about nutrition as well.

And finally, for the record I have to say that in the good times and the bad times, the funny time and the frustrating times, the wild times and the quiet times ( wait - are there quiet times?? lol) ... I am so happy happy happy that my two boys are by my side. I'll take the biting, kicking, screaming and hitting over not having them here anyday. I {heart} these precious little guys!

(PS - I feel like I should clarify that the boys' behavior does not strike me as acting out because of grief. It is nothing that extreme. It is more along the lines of sibling squabbles on hormones! I realize that it mostly comes from having to jostle for rights and position among many other children back in Haiti.)