Happy 2nd Birthday, E!

Our big guy is officially 2! I can hardly believe it's been 2 years since we first brought him home from the hospital (and less importantly, but just as shockingly, it's been 2 years since my last day of work....which oddly enough, seems like forever ago!). E had a great time celebrating this year. He actually had 2 little birthday parties (and 3 cakes....of which he only had a tiny bite of each...what can I say, our child isn't that into sweets....we aren't complaining!!!) - one with his friends from school and then one on his actual birthday here at home with just us. The kids at school sang Happy Birthday to him in 3 different languages...English, Bahasa Malay, and Mandarin...of course all 3 sounded like a bunch of noise when you have 30+ kids shouting (sorry, singing) the Happy Birthday song. In any case, E loved it! After coming home from school from celebrating, he was surprised by his Dad with a new fish tank. He has always been totally into fish, so he loved it. He quickly went to naming each of them....which by the way we are on some #2s now...Nemo #2, Bert and Ernie #2, Frank the Fish #2 and Michael (we still aren't sure where he came up with that name)....fish upkeep has been a learning process for the ol' Thompson family!! So while we've actually been through "several" fish, we have been able to maintain the same 8 for the last week or so!! I don't think Evan seems to mind losing them just yet or wonder where they are going...he just knows he gets new ones to look at!

As for the small family birthday party, we set out his new little motorized dump truck for him along with all his other presents, some balloons and some cupcakes I made for him so that when he came down for breakfast he would be surprised....well, it takes alot to excite our little E...I asked him what he thought about everything when he first saw it and the only thing he could come up with was.... "cake"...which by the way, he doesn't even care to eat! He had one small bite and that was it and didn't even want to get the icing on his hands because they would get "all dirty"...as he always says! But once he got in the car and tried it out...that was it, he didn't need anything else. He loved it! We'd hoped to find him one of the bigger 4-wheel drive ones like they have back home, but they just don't make anything like that around here. So, we settled for this little dump truck, which actually worked out perfectly. It's just his size and small enough for him to ride around the kitchen...since our time outside is limited due to the heat and all the mosquitoes (which he is allergic to just like his mother!). So, since we returned from our trip to Thailand, he has been busy learning to steer and "park" his new truck. He has also been enjoying all the new books, puzzles and toys he also received. I do think he was "birthday partied" out though. We had been practicing singing and blowing out candles for a couple of weeks, so by the time the big day arrived and the third cake came out (he'd already had one at school, one in the morning and then this one in the evening)...he was through! He didn't even want to sit at the table to blow out his candles - we had to take it to him while he played in his truck....and then didn't even want to try a bite of the yummy ice cream cake (which was more for me anyhow since I knew he wasn't going to want any!!)


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While we love watching and listening to E learn new stuff everyday, we don't love so much how he is learning to throw bigger fits lately when he doesn't get what he wants. There must be something magical about turning 2 because it seemed like just a couple of weeks before his 2nd birthday, this bigger attitude emerged out of nowhere and my sweet, little angel instantly became this little stinker whose new favorite word is...NO!....and of course "yes", when you are the one telling him "no"!! We even had our first public tantrum in the Krabi airport on our way back home....that was nice and embarrassing! Ahhh, the terrible 2's...they're here!!

I'll be sure and try and get a slide show of pictures from our trip out soon. We had a fantastic time. The weather was great and the resort was beautiful.

Cooper gets his 1st PROFESSIONAL haircut!!

I stress "professional" because I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Coop actually already had his first haircut when he was only...3 weeks old....given to him by... his father!! Maybe I hadn't mentioned it because I'm just now getting over it ;-) Needless to say, I wasn't too happy when I walk in to give Cooper a bath before bedtime and find Andrew with scissors in hand and Cooper laying on our bed on a towel full of his precious little locks!! We had talked about trimming it up around his ears, but Andrew gave him a full-fledged haircut instead. It wasn't that he gave him a bad haircut (although he has no business going into the haircutting business), I just missed the whole photo op (why don't Dads understand about capturing every single first moments!!!?!?) AND I wasn't planning on giving him a cut so early. He hadn't even had a chance to lose the hair he was going to lose on his own yet. So, after 4 months since his last experience we decided to clean it up "professionally"!! He did an awesome job - he actually sat in his Bumbo for most of it, but when the hair started falling into his face, he didn't care for it too much and wanted out. You can't really tell that they cut that much off, but it looks much straighter and cleaner now.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:As for Evan, he loved setting a good example of how to behave while getting your haircut. He sat like a big boy in the chair all by himself and never fussed one bit, although he did keep trying to turn his head to see what they were doing to his little brother!! So glad he finally enjoys getting haircuts now - we can actually take both of them at the same time and it not be such an event everytime!!
Also here are a few more of E's latest phrases - he keeps us laughing...like with the last video below - it's so much fun to see him when he gets excited about something:

"mem-bo fall off step" - Yesterday, he nearly fell off this big step stool we have and so this afternoon as he was climbing back onto it, he was trying to say "remember when you fell off the step" - as I said to him when I reminded him of it before school today.

"mama-mia...er are you?"..."ou upstairs?"...."ou downstairs" - What I've been hearing from him the last few days after he gets up from his nap. I think when he would call me "mama" (he usually calls me "mom"), Marte would go on to say "mama mia"...so he has picked it up and I'm sometimes "mama mia" now. It is just darling - sometimes I wait to go get him from his bed just so I can listen to him say it over and over again....it gets louder the longer I take to go in to get him :-)

"nana bread...no muffin man" - I was sharing some of this yummy banana bread with him the other day and he asked me for more "nanas" and I told him it was "banana bread", not "bananas"....so then he went on to try to tell me it was bread and not a muffin....but has been listening to his Stinky Cake CD that plays the "Do you know the muffin man" song, so he said muffin man, instead of just muffin!

Here are a couple of E videos as well:

The first shows off his latest skill....playing the harmonica - "har-mon-ca" or something like that!

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The second shows E excited to see Cooper after he gets up from his nap....the last part he says "oh dance...hear Stinky Cake?" As I mentioned in the last post, he loves to dance with his little brother lately!

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A good student....

or so the principal of E's school says. He's been attending for 6 weeks now and has had 2 good progress reports thus far. The latest read:

"I am very excited to have Evan in our school. He is a dream child to have in school - observant, secured and responds positively to his peers and teachers. The teachers recently observed that he has been more outgoing and playful with the other children, which means he is feeling more at home in the school. They even caught him playing and teasing a girl named Dawn last week. So it looks like he's developing some kind of friendship with that girl." Sounds like he has found himself a little girlfriend, although I did notice she was a thumb-sucker, so hope she doesn't pass along any bad habits!

The first one said "Evan is observant and inquisitive when presented with new work material. He concentrates well and possess a good work cycle (whatever that means!!)". Either way, he seems to be a very good student and we are very proud of him. Sure hope these type of reports continue on into his elementary and middle school years!! Or maybe they will become more like his father's reports (which Nita told me Andrew received) that said "talks too much in class"! I actually have noticed that since he has been attending, he has become quite a bit more boisterous lately. Not sure if that is a result of being around all the other children or just that he is making his way into the dreaded "terrible 2's".....which I hear last well past 2!!!

They have also asked him to be included in one of their dance presentations as part of a school concert that is being organized for November 9th. The one he will be in is going to be some type of yoga dance with the little ones in the school. I'm guessing this is why he has been coming home from school talking about "hands up, head down" lately....they said it will consist of several, simple yoga poses. Andrew seems to think he is going to freeze up and start crying when they try to put him out on stage, but I thought we should go ahead and give the little guy a shot at his first stage performance....who knows we may find out we have a real "performer" on our hands!!

He definitely performs for us daily, but when I try to get him on video "performing", he doesn't want to participate....he has even started this matter-of-fact "no" when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. What happened to my angel child who did everything I asked of him...now I get... "NO"!!?!??

He finally mastered counting to 10 a couple of months ago (he's had part of them down for awhile now, but never 1 to 10 all at once on his own) and has gotten down singing most of his ABC's (or "ABB's as he calls them!). He can identify quite a few of them as well, with "C, E, F, P, Q, S, T, X and Z" being his favorites. He also has most of his colors down with...yes, pink and purple...being the most easily identifiable to him. He loves all things "purple"...not sure why that is, nothing he has is purple, it was just one of the first colors he started talking about! He also likes "geen", so that is encouraging!! Oh my little E, he is a character. He is especially sweet when it comes to his little brother. He still loves hugging and kissing him all the time, and now loves to dance with him as well. I think all the dancing at school made him want to come home and dance with Cooper too. He also loves to "turn, turn, turn" Cooper while he is in his exersaucer. Poor little Coop...I told him the torturing from his big brother has only just begun!

I keep saying I'll have to include funny E stories, but by the time I get to writing one of these things, I forget about all of them. I'll have to get better about making little notes to remind myself. I sometimes forget what I've gone up or downstairs for these days!! I scare myself when I think about how horrible my memory has gotten...have I retained enough brainpower to ever return to the workforce?!?!

Here are some quick E words/phrases that I think are pretty sweet and too funny:

- "God Bless you, Mom and Cooper"...after bathtime before Marte puts him to bed while I finish getting Coop ready for bedtime

- "Oh my gosh"....anytime something is out of place or there is exciting to him

- "big mess".....after he is through playing and his toys are strewn out everywhere, but he also like "cleanup", which I am thankful for....except when we are trying to get out of the door for school and he has to put everything back where it belongs....every last single flash card back in it's box..one by one!!

- "no monkeys today, no pinklers (water sprinklers) today, no golf carts today".....when we pass by the first hole near our house and none of these things are on the green...EVERYTIME we leave and come home

- "ticky bugum"...for when he wants to listen and dance to his "Sticky bubblegum" CD"

- "ma-aca"...Melaka, where he lives

-"Petornas"...Petronas, where his dad works...or "Petornas Tin Towers" when he see the Twin Towers in KL

- and everything that starts with an "F", he pronounces with a "P", like "pish" (fish) and "pinch pies" for "french fries", and the cutest is that everytime he goes to get his children's bible, he wants to "pind Noah" (find Noah). He loves the story of Noah and the Ark, probably because he likes looking at all the animals. So you ask him what the book is called and he says "bible" and then you ask who it talks about in the Bible and he says "JesusGod" and "Noah"....he'll listen to some of the other stories, but Noah is still the only one he ever requests!

Anyhow, I just wanted to share my little E's "cool" (E's way of saying school) stories with everyone and let everyone know how great he is doing. Our little man is turning 2 in 12 short days, so we'll be sure and get some photos of him during his birthday party at school. 3 of his 4 little friends he has here in Melaka are out of the country, so we opted not to have a "friends" birthday party at home, but to celebrate his birthday at school next Thursday with his school friends instead and then have a little family party with him at home on his actual birthday in a couple of weeks. We then leave for Krabi, Thailand the next day, on Oct 1. What a special little guy to be able to spend his first 2 birthdays in Thailand at a beach resort. We went to Phuket with Jen and my parents last year...when I found out I was pregnant with Cooper.....wow, I can't believe that was a year ago!! This will be the first time travelling by air with 2 boys, but it's only an hour and a half flight and Marte is going with us...so hopefully, it will be non-eventful! We'll be sure and get some pics out from our trip as well.

Hope all is well with everyone and we can hardly wait to see everyone when we are home for the holidays!!! As fast as time has been flying, it will be here before we know it!!

I don't have many pictures to share because I just got my camera back this week (the video finally works again, so I'll have a few more videos to share like the one below that I took today), but here are a couple:

Evan loves to "watch Mickey" on the days he gets home from school....this is his special treat. Here he is watching his favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD on the computer after his lunch... with one of his favorite friends, George!

In the video you'll hear him counting...3, 4,5,6....this is how the teacher counts when she is teaching them new dance moves for their upcoming concert. I'll have to get him putting on a really good show sometime....he wasn't really showing off like he likes to do so often...when the camera isn't on!!

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Cooper is 4 months old today!

My how time flies when you have two little ones to look after!! I can't believe Cooper is already 4 months old. It seems like just the other day we were bringing him home from the hospital...and now my baby is starting to not be such a baby any longer. He is getting to that really fun stage where he is always smiling, laughing and cooing.

We had Coop's Dr. appt on Monday and he is weighing in at a whopping 13lbs 8oz and was 24 1/2" long....both in the 50th percentile. And I forgot what his head was, but I did notice it was in the 75th pecentile.. so looks like he is going to be a "big head" too, like his big brother!! He received 2 shots and had some blood taken, so it was a painful experience to say the least. Andrew always stayed with Evan when he got his shot so that I didn't have to watch, but I've been taking Cooper on my own the last couple of times so I hate it when he has to get his shots...it's just as painful for me!

Month 4 has been a good one for Coop. The first 3 months were a little trying, but he finally seems to be coming around. I guess I hoped he would find his own routine like Evan did, but its taken a little push from Mom to get him on a better schedule. As a result, he has finally started sleeping nearly 8 hours at night for the last week...from about 8:30 until 4 or so and then again until about 7am...ahhh, I finally get a decent night's sleep. I have to say a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep in row ever again. And now that he is sleeping better at night, he seems to be in a better mood during the day as well. He started Gymboree a couple of weeks ago and just loves it. We've been twice now and he has been the only baby who can make it through a whole session without fussing at all....he is all smiles the entire time. He even loves tummy time....which was always something I never looked forward to with Evan because he loathed tummy time. I wonder if this means Cooper will be a crawler, unlike Evan?!?!

Here are a few pics of my babies and a cute video of Evan playing peek-a-boo with his little brother:

It's hard enough getting Evan to smile for the camera, but to get both of them cooperating at the same time...it's almost impossible!! Both boys had just gotten up from their naps...don't you just love Evan's bedhead.

I was able to get Evan to sit still long enough to give me one of his "cheese" faces, while Cooper is busy chewing on anything he can find...including his hands!!

Unlike Evan, Coop is always all smiles...he loves to smile at anyone that will give him any attention!

I don't think I've ever posted a picture of Marte...here she is posing with Cooper (and all his drool)...and George (one of Evan's favorite friends)

Cooper was trying on the winter coat that I bought for Evan that he never got to wear...and looks like Coop might not get to wear it either since it probably won't fit him another 3 months when we travel home for Christmas.

And I forgot I never posted a picture of his nursery, so here are a few:

Our Official Schoolboy

Evan started his 3rd week of preschool this morning and he finally got his school uniform last week, so I just had to post a picture of my precious boy in his new gear!! He seems to really enjoy going on Wednesdays and is a little bit more reluctant for me to leave him on Thursdays, but he only cries for a couple of minutes and then he is fine. I know this because I've stayed outside waiting for him to stop crying before I left the last 2 Thursdays. Nothing breaks your heart more than to see your little one come running after you and crying that you are leaving him. It took everything I had to leave him the first time he cried - I had to call Andrew and ask him what I should do....go back in and get him or give him a bit of time to adjust. During my phone call, he had already adjusted and was distracted by some puzzles one of the teachers had him doing. And when I pick him up in the afternoons he is always having a great time and is ready to go back and do it again the next day.....to see his best friend Franco or "Panco" as Evan says (we are still working on those "f"s). I guess I just have to give him a bit more time to adjust to the routine.

Here are a few pictures from this morning.....I know it doesn't look like it, but he really was excited to go to school this morning. He still has that same serious Evan face he's always had when it comes to taking pictures!

As for my littlest one, he is growing up so quickly. We are still struggling with getting good nights, but I try to remind myself this time will pass soon enough and I'll long for the nights where he needs me in the middle of the night for a little bit of snuggling time. Of course, I say this after having a decent night last night :-)

Here are some pictures I took just a few minutes ago:

And here is one of both my angels during a birthday party we went to last week. It was a pajama party for one of my friend's little girls. Evan had a batman mask painted on his face.

E goes to school; Coop rolls over

Evan's 1st day went great! As I thought, I was WAY more nervous about the entire thing than he was. I sat around for a few minutes after setting him in line with the rest of the boys and talked to his teacher a bit about what I had brought for him in his backpack and what time I would pick him up, etc. etc....all the while, E is just sitting there overwhelmed by all the commotion of the noisy kids...but loving every minute of it. So after I began to wear out my welcome, I decided it was time for me to leave and kiss my little one good-bye. He merely said "bye Mom" and that was it....no tears, no "don't make me stay here", no "come back to get me soon"....just a mere "bye Mom"!! I thought I was going to cry! I can't believe my little one is such a big boy now!! When I went to pick him up (of course, 5 minutes before I was suppose to), he was just as happy as could be. The teacher (Ms. Sue Phong....which by the way is darling to hear the way Evan prounounces her name...I can't even begin to type how he says it!!) said he did great. She did say that shortly after I left, he did ask for me a bit, but then after about 5 minutes he was okay with me being gone. When I asked him if he was ready to go back again tomorrow, he said "yes". The only thing I got out of him about his day was that he played with Franco (or Panco as he says it) and "cars". Wow, I can't believe this day is already here when I'm asking my little guy how his day was and what he learned. Before I know it, Cooper will be joining him!!

I'm ready to go, Mom"

Sitting in the boys line, ready for assembly time to start, where they sing songs together....that's "Panco" with the sippy cup, the other 2 year old at the school.

E just checking out what all the older boys are doing (the school is for 2-5 year olds). I can't wait to see what he looks like in his little uniform!!

As for Coop, he reached a milestone yesterday as well....he rolled from his tummy to his back for the first time. I had just written in my Monday posting that he was getting close and sure enough the next day, he did it!! I thought it was just by accident, but I kept putting him on his tummy and he rolled over 3 different times. He actually enjoys tummy time a bit more lately...I think mainly because it gives him more of an opportunity to put his hand...or fist rather...in his mouth. He loves putting his hands in his mouth lately...so much so that he'll take his bink out, just to find his hands. He is also sitting up better in his Bumbo on his 2nd day into it.

Having some fun after naptime

All smiles!! Showing off his cute, little dimple!

Loving that arm!

Looking like a big boy in his Bumbo!

Growing Boys!

So, my little E starts school this Wednesday. I think I’m more nervous than he is. We’ve had 3 different orientation sessions that we’ve attended together so far. The principal of the school encouraged me to go with Evan at 3 different times of the day each time so he could become familiar with their schedule and feel comfortable with me their …which would help him get ready to go on his own. The last session we attended last Thursday, I took him and left him in the classroom for 45 minutes to see how he would do alone. He had no problem taking a seat alongside the other children and telling me bye. It took everything I had not to just linger outside the door to watch him and make sure he was okay. So, I left and ran an errand just down the street so I wouldn’t be hovering. The whole time I kept thinking what if he starts to cry and feels like I’ve just left him. Nope…when I returned he was just as attentive as when I left him and could have cared less that I’d shown back up. The teacher said he did just fine and thought he was more than ready to start on his own this week. He’ll only be going from 8:30 to 12:00 on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but for me it is going to seem like an eternity. I feel a bit guilty taking him – feeling as if I’m dropping him off for someone else to care for him. I just have to remind myself it is so he can become more sociable and learn how to interact with other children…..it will be good for him…just worried about me now!! Anyhow, we’ll be sure and let everyone know how the first day goes!! Maybe he'll learn a few things that he can come teach Cooper...because right now he loves "playing" with little brother and "reading" to him! He also loves "reading" the newspaper.
Cooper turned 3 months old today and is starting to get into that fun stage where he smiles all the time and does a lot of cooing (check out the video below). He even chuckled once with his Nana, but both Andrew and I missed it. I haven’t been able to get another one out of him again just yet. We put him on the scale last night and he weighed a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz, just about half a pound over what Evan weighed at 3 months, so they seem to be growing at about the same pace. He still has his good nights and his bad nights, not really any consistency other than he always goes down after his evening bath at about 8:45-9:00 and then wakes somewhere between 1 and 3am. The second half of the night is always the iffy part…..sometime only wakes one more time before we get up in the morning and other times it’s 2 times. The daytime routine is fairly consistent though – always a short 45 minute to 1 hour nap a couple of hours after we get up in the morning and then a really nice 2-3 hour nap at the same time Evan naps (my blogging and internet time!!) and then another short nap during our dinner time. Once he masters the nighttime routine, we’ll be set!! We’re still working on rolling over, but he looks like he is getting close. He also sat in his Bumbo for the first time yesterday….although he is still a bit of a bobble head and gets tired of holding his head up after too long. It was hilarious to see Evan try to play with him while he was in his seat. He would say “Cooper play cars". And then he decided it was his turn to sit (or "tit" as he says it) in the Bumbo and "play cars".



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