Me and The Boys

Little Man

We finally went ahead and got Carmine a good old-fashioned buzz cut last week, and as a stranger in the grocery store pointed out to me, he looks like "a real bruiser." I'd have to agree. But somehow he also looks even cuter, too.

He's a champion jumper and particularly loves to jump in puddles, while yelling "Carmine SPLASH!"

All of his words are coming out a little bit more clearly now, and I can understand nearly everything he says. I think people who don't know him are still only able to understand about 50% of what he says, but that's a step up from the 15% it was a few months ago.

And whether you understand him or not, he does. not. stop. talking. And he gets so excited sometimes, he can barely get the words out fast enough. And when he does finally proclaim, with great enthusiasm, whatever it is he wanted to tell me, he follows it up with a "Right, Mommy?" Of course I answer "Right, Carmine," even when I'm not entirely sure what it is he's said.

The other day, Scott was sitting at the table eating a granola bar, and Carmine walked up, leaned over, took a bite out of it, and then went on his way into the living room to play.

We've been taking advantage of Scott's iPad lately - it provides very valuable entertainment if I have to bring Carmine along to a doctor's appointment - and the other day, Carmine was playing a game, and Gabe came over to try to 'help' him, and Carmine pushed Gabe away, yelling "No, no, no, no - MINE!!" He is NOT going to be pushed around by his older brothers - he's making that abundantly clear already.

He is a force to be reckoned with when he makes his mind up about something, and we wage daily battles over many, many things. But I'm doing everything in my power to remain calm and not give in on the things that matter (holding my hand in parking lots, getting buckled into shopping carts), and letting go and not fighting over the things that don't (stopping to jump in the puddle 5 times, even though we're running late and really should get in the car and get going).

The truck obsession is still going strong, and I love when we're driving along and he shouts out from the backseat "Whoa!!!!  Carmine look BIG truck!!!" We have a whole library of truck-themed books that we read just about every single night at bedtime, too. And tonight, he was reciting part of one of those books as he sat at the dinner table.

He'll also open his books, flip through to random pages, and read what's on those pages. Clearly he's just remembering what the page says, and not actually reading, but it still impresses me that he can do that.

His new trick this week is singing the ABCs. His version goes something like "A, C, M, O, P, now sing me!"  followed by lots of clapping and yelling "YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!"  He also likes to sing a song called "Apple Tree," which is him hopping around the room yelling "Apple tree, apple tree, apple tree, apple tree."

Gabe and Dante had a patriotic concert at school yesterday, and Carmine was the most enthusiastic audience member there. He sat in his stroller and clapped and yelled "hooray!" after every song. It was fun to see him truly enjoying watching all the kids sing. And he got especially excited when he saw Dante get up to read an introduction to one of the songs (a privilege Dante was pretty excited about, too!).

Another morning this week, I was sitting at the table reading the paper, and he climbed up into my chair and put his arms around me and said "Mommy, hug." Sweetest. Thing. Ever.

He's a funny, ferocious, loud, crazy little man, and I cannot believe how lucky we are to have him : )

One of Those Days

Yesterday was one of those days. Not the bad kind, though - just the opposite! 

A big factor was the unbelievably perfect weather - a cool, dry spring morning that gave way to warm sunshine and blue skies. These are the days I live for - the days I wait for all winter - and we took full advantage, spending the majority of the day outside.

Scott was nice enough to offer to take both Dante and Carmine to Gabe's soccer game, so I was able to head out for an early-morning run.

I didn't have much of a plan in mind, but figured I'd aim for 10 or 11 miles at an easy pace. And on such a gorgeous morning, I couldn't resist driving down to the beach to run. 

I ended up running most of the Blessing course, and although I started at an 8:30 pace, after a few miles, I found myself comfortably settling in at somewhere between 8:12 and 8:15. I attempted to slow down a few times, but I was honestly feeling so great, I decided to just go with it and enjoy myself - and enjoy it I did.

It was one of those runs that just felt so easy, and so effortless, and so fun. I found myself wishing I had time to go further.

The best part of the run was that my left leg (the glute and hip area), which has been bothering me since late March, felt completely, 100% normal. No lingering stiffness, no discomfort, nothing whatsoever. It was so nice to finally not have that nagging ache.

I did pay a visit to the orthopedist last week to have it checked out, and the official diagnosis was very mild ischial tuberosity bursitis, and the remedy is, as I suspected, physical therapy.

So even though it's feeling fine, I'm still going ahead with the PT, because there are clearly imbalances and weaknesses that I have to work on to prevent it from happening again. I want to enjoy pain-free running this summer, and be healthy and ready to dive into Boston training in the winter. 

After the spectacular, didn't-ever-want-it-to-end run, I packed up some lunches and took the boys to the park for a few hours, came home and got Carmine in for a nap, and then spent some time in the backyard working on some craft kits with Gabe and Dante.

We didn't do anything incredibly exciting, but we just had such a nice time.

Our weekends are sometimes so busy and so jam-packed that we're just rushing through one activity after another, and I feel like I barely have time to really talk to or interact with the boys.

But yesterday we had so little planned, it was wonderful. We were able to talk and play, and on the ride home from the park, we were all singing along to the radio and joking and laughing.

I love taking them places and doing activities and seeing new things, but on the other hand, those small, unplanned moments like we had yesterday can be so much more memorable.

There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about the day, but it's one I'll remember, and hopefully the same is true for the boys.

Six Things About the Boys

- Carmine is determined to keep me guessing. When he doesn't want to do something, he'll shake his head vigorously, while yelling "yeh-yeh!"  And whether he wants his shoes/coat on or off, he consistently asks for them to be put 'on.'  We seem to be perpetually living out Opposite Day.

- Always eager to take after his big brothers, he loves brushing his teeth at night. The only problem is that he can't quite reach the sink, and uses toothpaste that doesn't need to be spit out, but of course he sees Gabe and Dante spit theirs out, so he wants to do the same - and he does, regardless of where he's standing - in the middle of the bathroom, or in the hallway. The boy loves to spit.

- Gabe is becoming - or at least believes he's becoming - wise beyond his years. Dante asked him to play Chutes and Ladders this morning, and Gabe said he didn't want to, because he doesn't like to play that game anymore, and Dante reminded him that he used to love to play it. To which Gabe replied "Well, I'm growing up, Dante. Times change."

- His new catchphrase, whenever we thank him for doing something is "Oh, it was nothing."  Because that's just how cool he is.

-Dante’s class has invited all the moms in for breakfast this coming Friday morning. He’s reminded me of this at least 20 times in the past two days. I think he’s a little excited : )

- Dante has started writing yet another story, and this time it seems to be a spinoff of Captain Underpants. His version is called "Captain Poopy Under Diaper."

I knew that with three little boys, I'd be subjected to quite a bit of potty humor, but I had no idea just how bad it would get. I try to ignore as much of it as possible, but it really gets under my skin sometimes, because I just don't get why it's so hilarious to randomly insert the word poop into songs and sentences and stories. Apparently it is completely hilarious, but the humor is lost on me.

One of the hazards of being the lone female in the house, I suppose.

Taper, Disaster Boy, and Gabe

Not having to run for 3 hours on Saturday morning makes the day feel so much longer - in a good way! 

I actually did my long run on Sunday this week, opting out of the cold rainy weather we had Saturday. Sunday was so much nicer - sunny and dry, and in the 50s. My fingers are crossed that we'll have weather like that for race day.

The schedule called for 10 miles, but I was enjoying myself so much, I tacked on an additional 2 miles. It's been so long since I really had fun while running - it was lovely : )

I ran on the course again, and thought the entire time about how I'm going to feel as I'm running those miles 'for real.' No matter how slow or fast I run this race, it's going to be an incredible day, and now that I'm down to just 12 days to go, I'm getting so unbelievably excited. I cannot wait to be out there on the starting line.

I know the nerves, and the doubt, and the anxiety are going to kick in soon, too, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the excitement and happiness.

Lots of excitement with the boys lately, too.

They went bowling with Scott last night for their school's annual 'Boys Night Out," and had a great time. Last Friday I got them out of school early to come home for a quick visit with Grammy and Grampy, who had made the trip up to bring Gabe his birthday presents. (They weren't able to be here on his actual birthday, but they did call to wish him happy birthday that night, as did several other family members, and when he picked up the phone, he commented on how many phone calls he was getting, saying "Boy, people must think I'm a hero, or famous, or something!")

Last Thursday night was their school's Arts Night, and we went to tour all the classrooms, which the students had decorated with various ocean-themed artwork. This was very apropos to Dante's current obsession with the Titanic. He's devouring Titanic books from the library, and I can't even keep track of how many very detailed drawings he's made of the ship - complete with cutaway views, showing the bunks in the cabins.

Prior to this, his big interests have been earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanoes. I'm sensing a theme here. Going to have to start calling him Disaster Boy.

Tomorrow night is their school production of The Wizard of Oz, which they've been rehearsing for for many weeks now. I can't wait to go see it!

It's also report card time, and parent-teacher conference time, which, when one of your kids has ADHD, can be a kind of stressful occasion.

Gabe's report card was ok, but for the first time, his teachers are seeing evidence that his problems with focusing and paying attention are affecting his ability to learn.

He's always struggled with those issues, but up to this point, he was still able to keep up with the curriculum and do well with his school work and homework, and at every meeting and conference we had, we were always told (and we were of the same mindset) that as long as he wasn't having any problems academically, we shouldn't even consider putting him on any kind of medication.

Now that's changed, and the areas where he's having trouble are no surprise - social studies, science, history - areas where he really needs to stay focused so he can comprehend the information he's reading, or being taught, and take the time to think things through so that he can answer questions and problem solve.

He knows he needs to do a better job paying attention, and he knows it's causing him to not do well on some of his assignments, and he gets frustrated that he can't. His attention wanders, and he has so much trouble preventing that from happening.

We are still very, very reluctant to use medication. Even though he is having some problems right now, I think there's a good chance that, with lots of practice and hard work, he can overcome those problems and develop better study habits. These problems just recently cropped up, and I don't want to immediately turn to medication without exploring other possibilities, and I can say with certainty that it's not something we're even going to consider for the immediate future. I want to exhaust every other option we have first. 

To that end, I'm going to call a therapist in our area who specializes in working with kids with ADHD, and set up some appointments, for Gabe, and for me and Scott. I think it will be helpful for Gabe to talk to someone who can hopefully give him some more strategies for reigning himself in, and also give Scott and I more information on things we can do to help him, both at home and at school.

I've read books, I've pored over websites, and I've implemented so many behavioral charts and systems that I can't even keep track of them all. And they all work to some extent, and we're by no means in crisis mode. I just feel like we could use some help. It takes a village, right?

All Systems Go

My foot held up very well during and after a 7-mile run Wednesday morning, so I'll be heading out for my planned 18 tomorrow. I'm still a bit nervous, but hopeful that I'll be ok and can make it through these last weeks of training.

As I write that, and as I updated my Facebook status today, I realized that there are only 7 weeks until I run this marathon!  My training for Hartford seemed to last forever, but this round of training has flown by. I got a huge rush of nervous butterflies when I thought about how soon I'll be out there on the course.

In some ways, I think having the issues with my foot was kind of a blessing in disguise. I would never have chosen to take a week off from training without it, but not running for a week has made me so eager to get out there and run 18 miles tomorrow, and get back to speedwork and tempo runs next week.

And since I wasn't running this week, and it was vacation week with the boys, I ended up having a very light week, workout-wise. Sure, I could have brought them to the gym with me every day, but I kind of felt like I needed a week where I wasn't working out 5 or 6 days, and it was nice to not have our days revolve around my gym time. We were free to do whatever we felt like, whenever we felt like it, and having some lazy mornings was a really, really nice change of pace for all of us.

I still got in a great workout Monday, and did my run Wednesday morning, but that was it. And yes, I do feel a little lazy and icky as a result, but I also feel like it was good for me. I needed a little break, mentally and physically - and I'm definitely ready to get back to it next week!

Vacation week with the boys has been a blast - helped in large part by the fact that the great non-winter of 2011/12 has continued, and we were able to spend large portions of each day outside.

We had a fabulous day roaming the grounds at Mystic Seaport Wednesday, and were able to stop at a playground on the way home to burn off even more energy.  Yesterday we spent the ENTIRE afternoon outside. It was glorious. A bit windy, but nearly 60 degrees!  I was a little bummed that Carmine didn't take a nap, since he didn't have one the day before, either, but it was so great to see him running around the yard chasing after his big brothers, so it was a good tradeoff : )

Our experience with Carmine has been so different from Gabe and Dante in so many ways, but right now most noticeably in that Carmine is talking so much more than either of them were at this age. When Gabe was two, he only had a handful of words, and wasn't even close to putting together sentences, and Dante was about the same.

Carmine, on the other hand - there isn't much that he can't say, and he puts together three- and four-word sentences already!  It's so fun, and such a new experience for us - I just get such a kick out of talking with him.

He still has his funny mispronunciations - blanket is "buh-buh," apple juice is "at choo," pillow is "puh-puh," Gabe is "Gee," Dante is "dah-dah," finger is "feh-feh," and poop is "poot."  He also learned a while ago what a wedgie is, and likes to walk around pulling at the seat of his pants saying "weh-wee, weh-wee."    

But more often than not, it's very, very clear what he's saying, and he so often makes me giggle. Grammy got him some Buzz Lightyear toys for his birthday, and I noticed that instead of just calling him "Buzz," he calls him "Buzz Woody." And every time he sits down now, he informs me that he's  "sittin', bum," I guess because I'm always telling him to sit down on his bum. And there's nothing cuter than seeing him hop up on the couch, pat the cushion next to him, and say "Mommy, come sittin."

And I have no idea if it's impressive for his age or not, but I'm personally kind of impressed that he sort of knows some numbers already. He can't count, but if you say a string of numbers, he'll chime in with "one, two, three," so he gets that those are numbers and they're related. He likes to play rockets, too - he'll countdown "Five, two, blastoff!" 

Our biggest source of pride, though, is the fact that at least 65% of the time, he can now nicely say "hep pee" (help please) instead of just screaming when he wants something. That other 35%, with all the screaming, is still somewhat frustrating, but progress is progress. Baby steps, as they say.....

Vacation

The boys are on vacation from school this week, and we started things off with a bang - one of their cousins came over Saturday and they had a sleepover, complete with movie night, popcorn, candy, and tons of time playing outside (this truly has been the winter that wasn't).

Sunday was slightly quieter, but yesterday we were back at it, with a trip to visit family in CT. As always, a busy day, but a fabulous one. One of my favorite parts of the day was on the drive there, when Gabe and Dante and I were all singing along to "Yellow Submarine." It's so awesome to be able to share great music with them.

As I posted on Facebook last night, my least favorite part of the day was when Carmine woke up on the ride home last night - we were still 15 minutes away from our house, and he was not happy.

Luckily Gabe had the idea to play the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" theme song for him. It was a great idea, and it totally worked - all eight times that we listened to it. Not the most fun 15 minutes of my life, but I'd rather listen to that than to Carmine crying, so it was worth it.

Today was three days in one - Backwards Day, Pajama Day, and Do-Nothing Day. Quesadillas and chips for breakfast, snacks at lunchtime, and we're planning blueberry pancakes for dinner. The boys have been in their PJs all day, including when we went to the store to pick up a few things for our breakfast dinner : ) 

Aside from that trip to the store, the day has been very low-key. Too much tv time, and too much Wii time, but also plenty of fun, creative play, so I think we've struck a good balance. 

Their favorite part of the day was this morning, when I rearranged the furniture to create a big tent. They played in there for most of the morning, pretending it was a boat. They gathered pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals, and sailed away. 

After a short while, it evolved into a fishing game. I tied string to (unsharpened) pencils, taped a magnet to the end of the string, cut fish shapes out of construction paper, and attached a paper clip to each fish. They leaned off the edge of the couch and caught tons of fish for their dinner on the boat.

And when it was time for lunch, I served it up inside the tent, complete with an LED lantern for light, so they'd have the full 'camping' experience. They even had to fend off the wild critters - our fat cat, who was looking for them to drop stuff she could eat.

It's been a really fun day. Lots of giggling, and lots of fun memories. 

Oh, and I haven't run in exactly a week, and I'm feeling surprisingly ok about it.

My foot feels completely fine, and has for several days, but I'm being smart and not rushing it. I was feeling very anxious at first about taking a whole week off, but as the days have gone by, I've realized that I'm doing the right thing, and a week off isn't that big a deal. It felt very strange, though, to not spend three hours running on Saturday morning.

It's not always easy to be a smart runner, but it always pays off in the end.

I'll be back out on the road Thursday, and crossing my fingers that all goes well during the run and that all feels well after the run. If it doesn't, well, I'll cross that bridge when and if I come to it.

Ready to Re-Charge

I don't write a lot about how we deal with Gabe's ADHD here, but I am constantly thinking about it. It's a pretty pervasive force in our lives, and I'm always reading and learning and trying out new tactics. And I used to feel like we'd eventually find a system or a method that worked, and all would be well.

But as the days and months and years have gone by, I've realized that there is no single 'solution.' This is something we're going to be working on forever, and every day, every month, every season, every holiday is an opportunity for a curveball to be lobbed at us, just when we felt like things were going smoothly.

I mention holidays, because the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas season definitely threw us for a loop this year. The levels of hyperactivity seen in this house were like none we had ever experienced before. And although Gabe is the one who was diagnosed with ADHD, Dante is a very silly, rambunctious 6-year-old, and is definitely a force to be reckoned with, too, and the two of them feed off of each other, so it's very much a group effort!

And I will be the first to admit that my reactions are often (very, very often) not the calm, soothing, controlled response that they should be. I struggle with my own issues in regards to all this, and just as Gabe's behavior has highs and lows, so does my capacity for dealing with it.

The seasonal chaos spilled over into school a bit, too, which was our real concern. There was no real bad behavior - nothing harmful, nothing mean-spirited, nothing that would even raise a red flag if it happened once in a while - it was just a constant struggle with not waiting to speak out in class, and making unnecessary noises (humming, etc.). Generally being a distraction to the rest of his classmates, and not being respectful of the classroom rules.

Like I said, nothing that would cause much concern if it was a rare event, but it was happening EVERY single day - and his classmates were complaining about it. And as I looked back at his daily calendar (which has color-coded symbols to reflect his overall behavior each day), I saw that the problems started right around Halloween, and continued right through Christmas break.

My memory isn't great, but I'm fairly certain I recall a very similar pattern last year. And as it did last year, the behavior seems to have magically corrected itself now that the holidays have finally come to an end.

So now that we've seen and dealt with this pattern of behavior two years in a row, I'm going to literally write something in my calendar for next October, to remind me to put some extra systems in place for that time of year, to try to keep us all on track.

That time of year is tough on me, too - my mind is buzzing with a million things to get done, and my patience runs thinner and thinner as the holidays draw closer and closer. So a reminder to all of us to be mindful of those factors, and work really hard to keep them from sabotaging our daily routines, will be a good thing.

I'm also making some changes now that I hope will stick with us throughout the year, one of which is less TV time. In the holiday rush, I got lazy, and often let the boys watch TV when I was busy with housework and projects (which was a lot of the time). I'm not against TV, but it had gotten a little out of hand - as evidenced by Carmine walking in the house, hopping up on the couch, and demanding to watch "Mickey! Mickey! Mickey!"

One idea I'm trying is my version of an "idea jar." Instead of a jar, I got an envelope, glued a magnet to the back, and stuck it on the fridge. Inside the envelope are tickets with ideas for things to do. Some are just ordinary suggestions - Legos, watercolors, Matchbox cars - but there are a few different ideas, too - write someone a letter, read a book and draw a picture about what you read.

It's a small thing, but when there's an hour 'til dinner, and everyone is bouncing off the walls, and also complaining that they "don't know what to do," I no longer have to come up with an idea on the spot - they can choose one for themselves. Last night all three of them happily painted watercolor pictures for a good 45 minutes. It was lovely : )  And not having the constant background noise from the TV made me feel calmer, too.

I also signed us up for this program - The 10-Day Family Recharge - which looks fabulous. I don't think we need to completely overhaul our lifestyle, but I do think some reminders will be good for all of us. Reminders to really appreciate each other, and try to not get too caught up in the insanity that is our daily life. It is a bit insane, but it's awesome, too, and it's all too easy to lose sight of that as you're yelling at your 6- and 7-year olds to get their gloves on so we don't miss the bus and your 2-year-old is sobbing for Daddy, who just went to work.

I don't anticipate major changes, but I do anticipate subtle ones. Hopefully a little more patience on my part. Maybe a little less bickering between Gabe and Dante (hey, I can dream, can't I?) 

I guess the big thing I'm hoping to get out of it is a small shift in my way of thinking. I spend too much time focusing on the million lists I'm constantly making in my head - what I need to do, and where we need to go, what we're planning next month, and the month after that - and not enough time just being with my kids and enjoying the crazy, funny, sweet little boys they are. A little more connection, as they really start to grow up and tackle some of the tougher things life is going to start throwing at them. A little more calmness, so that they know if they have a rough day at school, home will always always always be their safe haven. (I think they know this already, but it bears repeating and reinforcing).

In any case, I think it will be a fun experience for all of us, and I'm excited to get started next week - after my first 20-miler on Saturday, for which the temperatures are going to be up near 50 - thank you, Mother Nature!!!!!!

Highlights From The Past Two Weeks

First - I got LASIK! I can now see without the aid of contacts or glasses, and it is quite simply one of the most amazing things I've ever done. The procedure itself was a piece of cake. I was a little nervous, but the Valium they gave me helped tremendously with that : )  And it was all done in a matter of minutes - literally. I slept for a good portion of the afternoon, am strictly adhering to my regimen of eyedrops, I go for a followup appt. next week, and all is well so far.

I feel great, and my vision is wonderful. I expect the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now, I still get kind of excited to just look up and read a street sign, or glance at the tv, and read something, knowing that it's my eyes reading it all by themselves. And not having to deal with the maintenance of contacts is a treat, too - not to mention how dry and irritated the contacts had been making my eyes. When I was considering getting it done, everyone I talked to who had had it said the same thing - "best thing I ever did."  And now, I would say exactly the same. I still find myself reaching for my glasses when I wake up every morning. And then I smile, because I don't need them anymore!!!

Gabe and Dante got their report cards, and all was just as we expected. They're both doing fine. Dante is exactly where he should be academically, and aside from getting a little too goofy and silly sometimes, he's a great student and has lots of friends and has adjusted very well to Kindergarten.

Gabe is excelling academically, and as we knew, still struggling with maintaining focus and not speaking out of turn. These are the ongoing challenges for him, and that will probably remain true for some time to come. We're fortunate in that it isn't affecting his academics, and I'm hopeful that we can help him get these issues under control before it starts to affect his ability to learn. And at this point, it isn't causing a major distraction for the rest of the class, although his teacher did point out that he's noticed that some students have expressed that they don't want to sit next to Gabe because he is a bit of a distraction for them - and they're also worried that his behavior is going to end up getting them in trouble.

This makes me a little sad, but in a way, I also think it might be a good thing. I don't ever want him to feel like he has to change who he is to make people like him, but this isn't about changing who he is - it's about adapting to the classroom rules and being a respectful member of the community. And I'm kind of hoping that a little taste of peer pressure might give him some more incentive to work harder at controlling his impulses. That being said, I don't want it to get to the point that he feels excluded or ostracized. I'm counting on his teacher to alert us if things seem to be headed in that direction.

On a more positive note, his teacher mentioned how impressed he was with Gabe's creative writing, which was not surprising to hear, but still nice to hear. He is quite the writer, and I love to read his stories, and that's something I think we need to encourage him to do more - as long as he's not doing it at 10:00 at night!

Carmine is our little monster, growling and yelling and generally acting very much like a two-year-old. When we walk into the karate studio for Dante's lesson every week, Carmine throws a punch and yells 'aaiiyahh!' 

He's picking up on everything now, and is getting smarter by the day. We have a new tradition now, too. When it's naptime, he likes to wimper and say 'no, no, no,' even though he loves to nap, and usually sleeps for a good two hours. So when he starts to protest, I tell him that we need to go upstairs and find Mickey. So he puts his hands up to his mouth and yells "Where are you, Mickey?" and we head upstairs and peek around the corner of his room, and he grins and says "boo!"  Then we scoop up Mickey, he gives him big hugs, I give Carmine big hugs, then he gets all snuggled in his crib and talks himself to sleep.

I'm fairly certain he's going to be another night owl like Gabe, too, seeing as how he often stays up until 9pm (and a few times, even later!), just talking and singing and playing in his crib. It's all perfectly fine now that he's in his crib and can't get out, but once he moves to a big-boy bed and can get up, I fear that we're really going to be in for it. This is why we will not be moving him to a big-boy bed until he figures out how to get out of the crib, which will hopefully not happen for a long, long time. 

The upcoming holiday has everyone in quite a tizzy. Gabe and Dante are off the wall - so much more rambunctious than usual, and that's saying something, because they're pretty rambunctious even on their quietest days. I'm at the point now where I just want Christmas to get here, so that all the anticipation and craziness can be over! 

We're bringing them to see Santa this weekend, and they also have the Christmas pageant at church on Sunday - Gabe is an angel, and Dante is a shepherd - sure to be a very cute performance.

The gifts are wrapped, and cookie baking is underway, and as much as they boys are driving me crazy, I do enjoy sharing the holiday excitement with them. I didn't buy them a ton of presents this year, since we got them a Wii. We've been holding out for a while, but decided we'd finally cave and get them one this year. I cannot wait to see the look on their faces when they open it. They're going to be blown away, since we keep telling them that they won't be getting video games for a long, long time. I love surprises : ) 

Randomness

Apparently the inside of a dryer looks very scary to a 22-month old. Since Mickey gets dragged around everywhere with us, I occasionally wash him down with some soap and water. This time when I did that, Carmine got very upset about Mickey being slightly damp, and kept asking me to 'fix' it. So I figured I'd toss Mickey in the dryer for a few minutes, which was fine, until Carmine went in there 5 minutes later and opened the dryer door and stood there screaming bloody murder, with a look of pure horror on his face. Mickey's going to have to air dry from now on, I guess.

The weather this month has been spectacular. Glorious. Unseasonably warm. I'm loving it, and so are the boys. We played outside after school yesterday, and we were all pretty bummed when it got so dark that we had to go in. We're squeezing in all the outside time we can, though, to take advantage of this, because soon enough we'll be bundled up inside, waiting for spring.

I'm attempting to stave off the winter blues this year, though, and am trying to get myself in the mindset of embracing winter. I may even buy a pair of snow pants for myself so that I can really get out and play in the snow with the boys without getting soaked and frozen. The delayed onset of cold weather is helping tremendously, and I'm hoping my positive attitude can last long enough to keep me from getting crabby and depressed when the truly bad weather finally arrives.

Carmine is a regular at the gym again. He settles in with his snack and watches me leave without so much as a whimper. But when I come to pick him up, he looks around to see what toy is closest to him, picks it up, and throws it on the ground. I wonder if this is his way of saying that even though he's enjoying himself playing, he's still a little pissed at me for leaving him there?  I remember Gabe doing the EXACT same thing when I picked him up from daycare when he was this age. Those two are cut from the same cloth.

Carmine definitely has Gabe's temper, too. The second something bothers him, the screaming begins, and it sometimes goes on for a long, long time. I've gotten very good at ignoring the screaming.

Gabe is in overdrive with the holidays approaching. Dante is, too, but Dante's kind of permanently in overdrive, so it's not as noticeable with him. I need to be mindful of the fact that Gabe has a particularly hard time with stuff like this, so that I'm not so easily frustrated by his craziness. I know all kids get riled up around the holidays, but Gabe takes it to a whole new level.

He and Dante made their christmas wish lists the other day, by going through toy catalogs and cutting and pasting the items they wanted onto sheets of paper. Gabe's was 4 pages long, and every page was completely covered with pictures. Dante's was 2 pages long, and only had about 6 items total.

Dante keeps saying he wants a knitting machine, by which he actually means a loom. I think he'd love it, so I'll probably get him one. He's a crafty little kid, and is always taking out glue and scissors and beads and popsicle sticks and making some kind of creation. He's got such an amazing imagination.

Dante has also become our early riser. Gabe is showing hints of his future teenage self, sleeping later some mornings - although late for him is 7:30 - still pretty early by a lot of people's standards. Dante is often up at 5am. And since I'm often up at 5am, too, it's tough to tell him he has to go back to bed. I do make him at least try to go lay down for a while, but it doesn't usually last long.

And his company is nice, but there have been some mornings where I had to ask him to just stop talking for a few minutes. He maintains a constant stream of chatter, which, especially at 5am, can be a bit much.

Carmine's another chatty one. When he wakes up from his nap, or first thing in the morning, he'll play for a long, long time in his crib. He talks and sings, and throws his toys on the floor. It's really funny to listen to him. We hear the occasional "Wow!" or "no, no, no," and there's always a few "Mickeys!" thrown in there, too.

He and I have a little game we play. I tell him I need a hug, and he laughs and shakes his head and says "Hug. No, no, no," and backs away form me, giggling. Then after a few seconds, he gets into his football stance and comes running over and throws himself into my arms. It's a fun game : )

Dante continues to provide lots of comic relief. He told me that the Pilgrims and the "made of Americans" celebrated the first Thanksgiving.

And yesterday Carmine was playing with a car Dante got for his birthday last year - it plays the song "Funkytown." And he came over to me laughing and asking "Why do they keep saying 'Birthday Cow?'" Best misinterpreted song lyric ever : )

Gabe contributed to the hilarity, too - he brought home a page of his writing from school, and in it was the sentence "It started to get defecated, which is another way of saying loud."  I suspect that his teacher made sure to send that one home for us to see.

Last night after dinner the boys were having a treat, and we asked Carmine if he wanted one, and he said "no, no, no." I laughed and asked him if he wanted some chocolate, and he said "no, no, no."  I knew he was just saying no because he likes to say no, so I asked him a few more times, and finally something clicked and he realized what we were talking about, and in the middle of shaking his head 'no,' he threw his arms up in the air and yelled "Treat!  Me!!!!"

We've enjoyed our 2-month hiatus from activities, but it ends tomorrow with Dante's first karate lesson, and Saturday Gabe has his first basketball practice. The break has been nice, but I'm excited for them to get started with their new sports. I think they're both going to be really happy with what they chose. And not that there's anything wrong with soccer, but it'll be fun for us to watch them doing something other than soccer.

We also started back up with our special nights out with Mommy. Dante and I went out last week, and had a lovely dinner, and then went to the store to scope out some toys (getting ideas for his list for Santa), and then out for ice cream. Tonight Gabe and I are going out, and will likely do much the same thing.

And while I was out with Dante, Daddy and Gabe had movie night at home, and he and Dante will do the same tonight. The one-on-one time with them is so fun. We'll probably have to skip it next month because it'll be too crazy with the holidays, but it'll be great to return to it in January.

I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but I am getting excited for Christmas. I have some fun gift ideas in mind for the boys, and the 'big' gift we're getting them is a Wii, which is going to blow their minds!!!!  We definitely have to make sure we have the videocamera rolling when they open that one.

It's going to be even more fun this year, because Carmine's going to be so much more aware of the whole thing, and I can't wait to see him open his presents. Not long to wait now.....

Mickey!!!!!!

I've been trying for a while now to find a tv show that Carmine would sit down and watch - I know he shouldn't be watching a lot of tv, but until you've stayed home all day every day with a very rambunctious almost-2-year-old, don't judge me for allowing him a little bit of tube time - and we finally found one.

He's now completely obsessed with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." He'll come running into the living room, climb up on the couch, and yell "Mihmey! Mihmey! Mihmey!" until you put it on. I've recorded a bunch of episodes, but since he's not even 2, he's perfectly happy to sit and watch the same episode over and over and over again. And he really sits and watches it, very intently.

Seeing as how he's dead set against going to the gym (I went there the other day to pick something up, and he started whimpering when we pulled into the parking lot, so I think we're in this for the long haul), I'm glad that I at least have a way to get half an hour of quiet time every day. Or an hour, if need be.

And I found a Toys R Us gift card in my wallet the other day, and found myself up in Warwick this morning, so we stopped in and got him a big plush Mickey, and he's of course completely thrilled. He's carrying Mickey around with him everywhere. Mickey played at the playground with us after we picked the boys up from school - he even went down the slide a few times.

And tonight, when I was reading Carmine books at bedtime, he took his favorite duckie book and held it out in front of Mickey, and started pointing to the pictures and 'reading' the book. Is it just me, or is that not completely adorable?

For all his completely adorable moments - including when he said "love you" to me yesterday at naptime, completely unprompted, and when he kissed my hand earlier in the day - he's definitely well on his way to the terrible twos. Lots of screaming, lots of tantrums, and lots of throwing and banging and stomping of feet.

I had forgotten how hard this stage can be.

But I suppose when you think about it, it makes sense that they act a little crazy at this age. He's still a baby in my eyes, and still a baby in a lot of ways, but he wants so badly to be a big kid. It must be so frustrating.

And although he is saying a ton of words - actually said his first sentence today - "Hi Daddy!" - there's still a lot of things he can't effectively communicate to us. Thus, all the screaming.

He does have a lot of words now, though, and tries to repeat everything we say. He usually does pretty well, but there are a few words that he just can't even come close to getting right. One of them is 'truck,' for which he says 'ah-dee.'  I have no idea why, but 'ah-dee' is as close as he can come to truck. And his cup is still his 'buppy.' That's what we all call it now, though, so I think that one's going to stick for a while.

He tries so hard to keep up with his brothers. It's so funny to see him take off running after them. Last night Dante was doing somersaults, and Carmine was right down there with him, trying to do his own somersault.

And one night when they were going to bed, Carmine wanted to climb up into Gabe's bed, so I helped him up there, thinking he'd just sit on the bed. But he crawled right up to the top of the bed, pulled the covers down, laid his head on the pillow, and covered himself up. He was fully prepared to go to sleep there, I think.

Gabe thought it was really cute, but thought it would be even more fun if he climbed in with Carmine.

Carmine, however, did not like that idea one bit. As soon as Gabe tried to get into the bed, Carmine started pushing him away and yelling "Mine, mine, mine!!!!"

I have no idea how he learned the word "mine," but he's become very adept at using it.

The whole no-gym thing has definitely shaken up our routine the past few weeks, and it was really getting to me, but I've finally accepted the fact that this is how it's going to be for the foreseeable future, and I'm not letting it stress me out anymore.

I'm also not going to even try to bring him for a while, because it's just torture for all involved - for him, for me, and for the poor women who work at the daycare.

So for the time being, I'm getting in as many early, early morning workouts as I can - sneaking out to the gym before anyone's even awake, which means waking up before 5am. It sucks getting up that early, but I'd rather do that than go at night. I'm a morning person, and I always feel better if my workout is done early in the day.

And once the marathon is over, I'm going to start working out with the Fit Families group that I'm a part of. There's a ton of opportunities for getting in a great workout, while still being able to bring Carmine with me. So it won't quite be 'alone' time - which was one of the reasons I loved going to the gym so much - but I'll get the stress relief of getting in a good workout, and I'll be in good company, too.

I don't know how long I'll keep him away from the gym. I'll just play it by ear, and be thankful that I do have some other options.

And when I need some Mommy time, there's always M.I.C.K.E.Y.