Mommy and Evan playtime while Coop naps!

While Cooper takes his morning naps on the days E doesn't go to school, I've tried to make it some special Mommy and Evan time and do some of the things we can't normally do while Cooper is around....getting into everything! So lately, we have had some fun with art time - playing with water colors, which E seems to be having more fun with it lately - I think he's creative side is starting to emerge as well as his imagination. He used to like to tell me what colors to use and watch me draw, but now he loves drawing "pictures" on his own. He loves to draw circles and "dinosaurs". Everything seems to be about dinosaurs lately.

We also had some fun doing some face painting with the watercolors too....the messier the more fun....isn't it always that way with boys!?!?!
One day we had some fun baking blueberry muffins. As everyone well knows, I am by no means a baker, so the most fun my child has is breaking out the box kind and hand mixing up the ingredients (I don't even own a mixer....how horrible is that!!). Regardless of my lack of baking skills, we had a great time and I think my little helper loved eating the batter more than mixing and pouring!

We also made the most of a rainy day one day. Evan loves to be outside any chance I will let him (since I rarely let him out due to the heat and mosquitos) so rain or no rain, he was taking advantage of me letting him have some outside time. We decided splashing in the puddles would be fun, so I let him splash to his hearts content. He had the best time ever....again it's just the little things sometimes that are the most fun!! Forget the hundreds of dollars of toys inside, just give the kid a puddle and it is total entertainment for the next 45 minutes. For the next week, all I heard was "Mommy, is there rain to make puddles to splash?"

Doesn't the shirt say it all?!?! Another one of E's latest favorites is getting to play with these rocks we picked up at the fish store the other day. We went to pick up some new fish for E's tank and after taking a gander at the fish (rather quickly), he became engrossed with the rocks (of course!) that they sell for filling up the bottom of the aquariums. They came in all different colors, so we decided we'd get a scoop of each color and maybe play some games with them....maybe sorting colors or counting or just some good ol' fashion "dipping" (E's word for scooping...not sure where he came up with that one!). And one week later, the rocks still provide tons of entertainment....all 581 of them (yes, we counted them all!). It's actually quite funny because we told him he could not play with them while Cooper was awake because he could possibly get one and swallow it, so he was only allowed to play with the rocks when Cooper took his naps....so now when he's itching to get the rocks out he says "Mom, Cooper is tired - he needs to sleep...and then we can play with rocks, okay!" He is such a little stinker sometimes...actually most of the time!
And as always, just some fun coloring is always a great past time. Of course, I think he enjoys taking the caps off of the markers and putting them back on, more than actually drawing a picture. Whatever, as long as he is having fun, that is all that matters, right?!?

Evan and his expanding vocabulary!

I actually started this post back in January, shortly after we got back from the states, so the information is a little dated, but I wanted to have it for my own recollection of Evan at 28 months old and the stuff he was doing and saying at that age. Soon, I'll have to post another, more recent list of his latest things that keep us laughing! So hope you enjoy the read....sorry, it's a bit of a lengthy one.

I thought I'd fill everyone in on E's latest and greatest - the child keeps me on my toes, but also keeps me thoroughly entertained!! I swear he picks up 2 to 3 new words everyday now. It seems like when we were back in the states he really picked up a tremendous amount. I don't know if it was just the timing or if it was the fact that we were back in the states around EVERYONE who spoke "our" English so everything sounded clearer to him (not the Malaysian English he hears around here that I can hardly make out myself sometimes!). Either way, he is saying so much more now .....he practically talks in complete sentences. It is so much fun now that we can totally communicate. Although I've also noticed that he totally plays me when it comes to testing me on how much he can get away with. He now has that look when I tell him not to do something that says "I totally understand what you just told me, but I'm going to do it anyhow!!".....ahhhhh I could just wring his little neck sometimes!!

The last few days he has been doing this 'let me see just how loud I can yell in a public place' thing and how much I can "push Mom's buttons." When I first told him "Evan, do not push my buttons"....he responded with "Mom, where are buttons?"....how are you not supposed to laugh at a response like that - even when you are furious for what he has just done that he wasn't supposed to!?!!?!

He has also picked up some really nice stuff too lately....like "oh crap", "stupid"...and a few other choice words I won't even begin to mention...I'm sure you get the idea!! Needless to say, we are starting to teach him about the words that he will get in trouble for saying....are we already at that stage...yikes!! Guess we'll be trained by the time Cooper is old enough to start saying them, so maybe we'll have at least one child who doesn't use foul language at such a young age!! ha! As an update....luckily this was just a very short phase - 2 months later and he now knows what's bad and what he shouldn't be saying. It was good to know that didn't last too long! We even made it through without any really embarrasing moments of using the inappropriate words at inappropriate times...like while out in public!!

He also continues to do some very sweet stuff too....like one night when putting him to bed as I was leaving his room, he said "I love you, Mommy", I said "I love you more, buddy"....to which he responded "I love you too much!!" And then my heart melted and all the frustrating moments of the day were totally forgotten! Even better, since then he continues to say it nightly now!!

And just to be fair, he does learn some wonderful sayings too (not just the "bad" words!)....like how he has picked up from his Dad (who would say, "doesn't mommy look pretty") to say "Wow, Mommy....how pretty" when I come down the stairs as he is having breakfast - regardless of what I'm dressed in....dressed up or still in pjs, it's always "wow...how pretty, mommy!!" What a way to start your day!

Here are some new and not-so-new words that I love that he says as well as some of his latest milestones (which by the way are more so that I can remember them - so please feel free to stop reading when you get bored with my list!) :

"scardy" - scary with a "d"...."ewww Mom, that dinosaur is scardy"

"seaka buckle" - for seat belt..."no, no, no Mom...I do seaka buckle" for when he wants to buckle himself in his carseat.

"muskick" - for music. "I want to turn on muskick"....which he uses to sleep with for every nap and every night

"that's louder" - when something is too loud, he will say "louder" instead of "that's really loud" or "too loud"...it's cute. It really makes you appreciate someone learning a new language...he has so many choices to get it just right, so the mistakes he makes while he is still learning are sometimes so adorable - like how he is still trying to figure out how to use "I", "you" and "me" correctly. He'll usually say "Mom, come get you" instead of "come get me". He is getting much better at getting them right, but still confuses them occasionally. You can tell when he doesn't know which one to use, he'll just say "Mom, come get Evan (or E as he also sometimes refers to himself)", so that he doesn't have to think about which one to use!!

He has finally learned all his colors....he's known most of them for awhile now, but for some reason had trouble with the primary colors - red, yellow and blue. Anyhow, he has them all down now and loves pointing out what color everything is lately!

He is up to 20 now in counting, but sometimes decides to count by 2s..."9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18,19, 20" or "9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20" or some similar version of that. So he knows all the numbers up to 20, just not all in a row just yet.

He greets his Dad home from work every evening by giving him a hug and a kiss and telling him "I missed you...I love you!" I know his Dad just eats it up!

He also knows his full name "Evan James Thompson" and also how to spell it (just E-V-A-N of course, not the whole thing - he's not that smart!!)...and also knows Cooper's full name "Cooper Price Thompson", but spells it "C-O-O-R"...we still have a little work to do on that one! As for his Mommy's name....I'm usually Mommy James Thompson or Hope James Thompson or Mommy Hope Price Thompson...or some other combination of the sort. Daddy is about the same - Andrew Daddy Thompson or Daddy Price Thompson, etc. It's pretty cute! We laugh, so he loves making up different combinations or then just starts making up silly words instead!

The ABC's still have an "l-bow P" instead of "l,m,n,o,p", but he can say the rest very clearly.... and still continues to add a "God Bless You" at the end!

He is also great at singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Old McDonald", "Wheels on the Bus", "B-I-N-G-O", "Fly, Fly, Fly, the Butterfly"....and oh yeah "Happy Birthday", which in the last 2-3 days at bedtime we've had to sing to every member of the family.....including all the stuffed animals...one-by-one....and he has about 8 animals which currently reside in his crib with him (Rover, Lily, Spike, George, George and Little George, Ely, and Molly). As another update, the Happy Birthday thing was also a short phase....we only had to sing that one at bedtime for a week or so...thank goodness!!

He has also become quite the negotiator when he isn't ready to go for a nap or get in bed at night. Like today -we had to play "chase Evan" before we went up for a nap and he said "Mom, just one time.... and then one time...okay?" (his very sneaky way of doing it more than once). Sometimes we'll even get "just two times and two times..okay?". He has this adorable way of saying "okay?" at the end of all his requests that just make it so hard to put my foot down sometimes.

I also love it when he says "want to play toys, Mommy? Okay, let's try this one!" He is totally at that age where he narrates everything he does, so he is constantly talking, but it is just the cutest thing ever! Update.....did I really say this was the cutest thing ever....it definitely was when he was just learning to hold conversations, but geez, sometimes I think the only time he stops talking now is when he is sleeping!! And I must hear, "Mommy, Mommy..." at least a hundred times a day! For some reason, I don't think I'm looking as forward to Cooper being able to say "Mommy" as I was when E first said it. I can only imagine how crazy I'm going to be with both of them yelling at me at the same time to get my attention!

Anyhow, that is about all I can think of now. I've started carrying around a notepad with me in my purse so I can jot down all the cute things he comes up with lately. What a fun time we are having!

Cooper is officially crawling!

At 9 1/2 months, Cooper is officially on the move on his own. He has been toying with the idea of crawling for awhile now, but would only ever take one or two "steps" and then fall back to his tummy. He did more slithering around on his tummy than anything...and most of the time backwards! But, after some practicing at Gymboree on Monday, he decided to crawl across the rug over to me later that afternoon. Of course, he protested by whining the entire time, but he managed his way over just so he could get to me to help him stand. It's been a couple of days now and he is already getting pretty efficient at it. He would still rather walk, but I think he realizes crawling does give him a bit more freedom to go where he wants on his own. For us, it just means even more work because this kiddo is into EVERYTHING so we have to keep him within our reach AT ALL TIMES! Even though he is crawling now, I still think walking on his own might also only be a short time away. He has also started, within the last week, pulling himself up (successfully half of the time) and cruising along the couches. He is also really beginning to master walking around with only holding one hand, so he is getting pretty steady on his feet now....which makes me think he is ready for some solo walking soon. He has actually taken one and two steps on his own, but we haven't recorded it as official walking since he hasn't taken those 3 solo steps that we have E marked down for as his first steps. Wow...I can't believe we are already at this stage again....now with our littlest one! Why do they have to grow up so quickly?!!?

The 1st video is the 1st day that I wrote about above. The 2nd video is the one I took of him today trying to catch the "crazy fish". He was determined to catch the darn thing...and was successful in the end!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

A fun dinner out!

We've found dinner outings are by far one of the bigger challenges with having two kids - trying to get them fed and then feeding ourselves..all the while ensuring they stay entertained throughout the entire outing as well!! Luckily around here most nice places that we go to have very few patrons, so we never really have to worry about bothering too many people. On this particular outing though, the boys were quite pleasant with not too much yelling..we were actually even able to sit them in highchairs next to one another without any screaming ensuing....like from Cooper yelling because Evan won't quit trying to grab his hands (he was actually enjoying holding his brother's hand this time in the picture below) or from Evan yelling "Mom, look ...Cooper is touching that" or "Mom, Cooper isn't eating his food"..or something of the sort. Mister E is becoming quite the tattle-tale lately...watching his younger brother's every move! As you can tell from the pictures below, everyone was in a good mood this evening, so we knew it might be an easy one...afterall, who doesn't love a night out for pizza !!(by the way, brick-oven style is the only way to go here - it's actually quite good....forget Pizza Hut delivery pizza...it's terrible...nothing like what we can get back in the states!!)
By the way, thanks cousin Alicia for the Troy shirt...Evan really loved getting it in the mail along with the Madagascar card!

Some fun time at the play gym

We had some fun the other day that we went to KL to do some grocery shopping - we stopped by for an hour of fun before lunch at a playgym. The boys had a great time sliding on the slides and playing in the balls. I even got in the tunnels and chased E around for a bit...he thought that was the best! So much so that I got a "this is really fun" from him...it was too cute!! And Cooper loved the slides and balls as well. I bet he can hardly wait until he can start doing all the things his big brother does. He also enjoyed walking on the mats...I think he realized if he fell it wasn't going to hurt as much as falling on the tiled floors we have at home, so he was a little more inclined to try walking on his own (with some finger holding, of course)

I promise he actually had more fun than it looks like he is having here...I just waited too long to try and get a picture of it!

This picture turned out horrible because it was inside the tunnel, but it was more representative of the fun that Coop actually had while he played, so I had to include it!

So this is what it is like to have sick kids...

Since Evan was born, he has only ever been sick enough to take to the Dr once...and even then the Dr. (some inconsiderate idiot at the emergency room on Christmas day nevertheless!!) said we were overreacting, that he merely had a virus and we should just let it pass. So, I always had the child that was never sick - I never knew what it was like when some mothers talked about their children always being sick and having to deal with cranky kids. That is until recently! Ever since Evan started school it seems as though he has had this constant runny nose and cough....and then early this month it was the worst...I had both of the boys sick and not just runny noses, but fevers, diarrhea, vomiting, and these horrible coughs....the works~!! I had never seen so much poop or puke in my life!! I think Marte did more laundry in those two weeks than she usually does in a month! My poor babies, I felt so horrible that there was nothing I could do to make them feel better right away. And to make matters worse, they gave me the stomach bug they had....luckily it only lasted 24 hours for me, but I felt the most miserable I've ever felt! It just made me empathize with them even more about how they were feeling. Although, if you had seen them, you never would have thought they were sick because they never skipped a beat. They would throw up and then just act like nothing had happened. I ended up taking both of them to the Dr and they were diagnosed with wheezy bronchitis and some yucky stomach virus. Two breathing treatments, about 8 medications, an asthma inhaler and a week later....they were back to feeling great again....and I was feeling tons better since I didn't have to see anymore throw up!

I guess I really know what it is like to have sick kids now....IT'S NO FUN AT ALL!!!

My poor little baby on his 9 month birthday...one of the first days of being sick, not his usual happy self.And my little E trying hard to be like his little brother and smile for pictures!Rub-a-dub-dub, two little monsters in a tub!And just a couple of days later back to his normal, smiley self!A regular, daily game we play around our house now ...push Cooper back to where the highchair belongs! At least now, E turns him around before he puts the highchair against the wall so that Cooper is looking out into the kitchen and not just at the wall - like the first few times!!And to make matters even worse, just as Cooper was right in the middle of all his sickness, some damn mosquito attacked my poor little guy's face in the middle of the night and they swelled up and turned into little blisters! It was so painful to look at him that first day, it looked like they hurt so bad. Good thing is it didn't seem to affect him much though. The scars are still there today and only now starting to fade. Guess he, like Evan, has also inherited an allergy to mosquitoes from their mother!

Our First Big Brother / Little Brother Bath

Well, we had our first go at bathing the boys together while we were in our home-away-from-home (the Ascott in KL...where we lived prior to delivering Cooper) in KL this weekend. We went up to get my hair done and just enjoy a weekend in the city. We didn't have our duck bath that we still bath Cooper in (which takes up alot of the bathtub), so we thought we'd try it out. I think Coop is still a little too small to hold his own with his big brother all over the place in the tub...and there wasn't a slip mat in the tub so it didn't make it any easier for Cooper to stay head above water. Good thing is Coop loves the water and doesn't mind it being in his face one bit, so the more splashing by him or his brother...the better!! Maybe another couple of months and we can start making brother baths a nightly thing!! I'm not sure if that is going to make bathtime any shorter though, I can see them wanting to stay and play together in the tub all night!