3 yrs 4mo & 14 mo

Yesterday was our ward's primary program for the year. I was the Primary 2nd Counselor...until yesterday when I was released.
To start the program we had the Senior Nursery sing "I Am A Child of God." Cade, Savannah and Luke sang it and behind them the Sunbeams stood and helped sing too. I had practiced the song with Luke once before church and once the night before that. He knew almost half of the words.
I was so excited to see Luke sing in Sacrament for the first time ever.

The three nursery kids stood up front, Luke in the middle. Cade and Savannah stood still and sang but Luke...he mimicked Sister Lazenby; chorister. Near the end of the song he stopped waving his arm around as he sang and started marching his feet (but quietly). He's adorable! I looooved watching him sing in sacrament! I am so excited for the future when Luke becomes old enough to perform duets and family musical numbers. I imagine that in a year he will be getting old enough to start that.

What is new with Tiberias...he has five teeth! His 2nd top one was been slowly getting longer. Then a third bottom tooth snuch in and grew fast the last few days.
A week ago we put away the high chair. Tiberias is old enough to sit at his kids table or in his booster chair at the big table every time. Whenever we are all eating a meal at one time we sit at the dining table and eat as a family. With the boys eating every two hours sometimes they don't eat when we eat. Those times Ster and I watch some of a tv show or movie and eat on the couch.

Last Thursday morning Sterling and I left the boys on a two day trip. Lachoneus and Tiberias stayed home with our friends Ben and Kasie Krage. Ty loves Ben because he's playful and he's a man (like Ty's daddy). However, Ben was gone (at work and watching football with the young men in our ward) a lot during those two days. Kasie took care of the boys and even had their dog Cupcake over for a while...my boys looove dogs.

Ty was sad when we left Thursday morning. But both boys were brave and did well the two days their parents were away from home. Kasie and Ben said that our boys are extremely well behaved and are a joy. I know it's true. Ben said he hopes that when they have kids some day their kids will be 1/3 as well behaved as our boys are.

Luke went to school Thursday. And Kasie loved how much Ty sleep (2-3 good naps) each day.

Sterling and I went to the Switzerland temple and then stopped for some sight seeing in Milan, Italy on our way home. Friday evening we returned. I was so excited to come home and see my boys. When I walked into the door Tiberias' eyes swelled up with tears ...I think he realized how much he missed us. Then he started running...to Kasie. He was use to her being the one to hold him for a few days. lol. He stopped before he reached her and realized it was really his mommy he wanted. So he ran to me. :)

It was only two days but now Tiberias is afraid if I am not right next to him or holding him that I'm going to leave him again. I took him to a baby shower at the Mangles during the weekend and he was so afraid. He wanted me to hold him the whole time.

Tiberias still hates baths. There have been a few periods of time that Ty has enjoyed baths but for most of his life he has hated them. I've tried having a heater on in the bathroom when it's colder and I've tried singing songs while he's in the bath. I've tried to make it comfortable and warm and fun but he hates it. As soon as I put him in the bath now he refuses to sit and just cries.

Tiberias has started liking to be read to. A few weeks ago he would not sit still for a book and only wanted to feel them. Now he brings me books and wants to be read to.

Checkup & Update

Lachoneus is funny. He likes to pick the male dandelions and blow away the fluff (or have me do it) because he wants to see the middle. He calls the center a bear. He says "I found the bear!" I have no idea why but he does it every time we go to the park.
He is talking so well! He is doing better at using his words instead of just crying when he is upset.

He has moved on from wanting to watch only the same old movies. He loves new movies! We got Gnomeo & Juliet recently so it's his favorite.
And Tiberias still loves music so he likes the new movie too. I looove it when Ty dances! But Tiberias is not one to do things because you want him too...I think he is shy. He dances when he feels like it...not when you are dancing.

We are just starting to give Tiberias a spoon and liquid in a cup so he can learn to use them.

Luke is making slow progress on potty training but atleast it's progress.

Lachoneus and Tiberias went to the Pediatrician two days ago for their yearly checkups. Dr. Martin (our boys' doctor) said that I have two healthy boys. Lachoneus is 3 yrs and 3 months old weighing 35.5 lbs and is 39.4 inches tall.
This puts Luke in the 75-90 percentile for his length and weight for his age.

At these visits I receive a page on what Luke should be and may be doing at this age and how we should treat him differently. It includes how we should be disciplining him and more.
It says he should brush his teeth twice a day and take him to the dentist. I have been brushing his teeth only at the end of the day and have a dentist appointment scheduled this week. So I just need to start having him brush after breakfast.

It says I should use isolation and ignoring for discipline as opposed to shouting and spanking. So we will adjust our way of discipline (we've used all four at different times up until now).
We will start sitting at the table as a family for dinner. Sterling and I enjoy sitting on the couch together for dinner so we can watch a tv show and then down as soon as we finish eating. But we are suppose to keep the tv off during meals and sit together at a table. No problem.

It says potty training depends on the positive attitude of the parents. We've been potty training so long it's hard to be positive about it now. But I will try once again to stop being negative and only focus on the positive. Hopefully he will finally learn to be potty trained during the day.

Luke should learn his full name, his address and not to talk to strangers.
And we should get him a helmet for riding his bike.
Lachoneus says "no" a lot so we are now making him correct himself and say "yes, mom" or "yes, dad."

Lachoneus loves to be read to and learning. He loves school time at home. He loves going to school even more. The friends, time away from home and mom, the learning and the toys.

Tiberias is 14 months old. He weighs 21.6 lbs and is 31.5 inches tall. His head circumference is 18.74. This puts him in the 10-25 percentile for his weight for kids his age, between 50-75 percentile for his length. And between 50-75 percentile for his head circumference.

He is so fun and cute. He tries to put his own shoes on. He gets so excited to just be awake and out of bed with mom and dad both home. He loves going to the park to run/walk around. Roam free (for the most part).
He is learning to swing like a big boy. I stand there ready to catch him if he falls. And he loves climbing up to the slide just to worry me. He won't go down the slide he just like standing by it making he worried he will fall. There are gaps between the slide and the wall of the slide house where he could fall off. He likes to go from one side to the other...wherever I am not. Then when he does get on the slide he stands instead of sits. And it's just high enough that I can't safely reach him.

My boys are healthy and great. Lachoneus is better than ever socially and in every way. And Tiberias can turn his head right and left. He can turn much farther left and still needs to learn to turn father right. We still try to get him to turn his head right daily but he is no longer being seen by EDIS. And Luke stopped when he turned 3...that's the cutoff.

First Step!

This morning while Sterling was at work Tiberias took his first unsupported step! Sheri, Ty's EDIS physical therapist, witnessed it as well as myself.
He stood up holding his new beloved dino blanky and took one step toward me. I was so excited!
This evening while Sterling and I were watching a movie Tiberias took two steps toward me...Sterling. saw it that time. So then we tried again. He took a few one steps and even did a three step before falling!
We knew he could do it if he tried. He turns 1 year in a few weeks. He will be walking all over the place within a week from now!

We tried to video tape him but he would not walk once we got the camcorder out.

Dino Blanky

A few days ago Tiberias learned to fold his arms.
For a while Sterling had been coaxing Ty to fold his arms every night at family prayer. About three days ago he started doing it...only for one or two seconds at a time. If he sees us folding our arms he will often do it too. Or if I tell him to "fold your arms" he might do it. We've been so excited about it that we cheer and clap. So now whenever he folds his arms he unfolds them to clap for himself. lol

Last night Lachoneus was saying the family prayer. He usually says what we taught him "Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this day. Please bless us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." We often stop him during the prayer to tell him to add other things like "Help us sleep well" or "We're thankful for..." Last night he said the prayer and on his own thanked Heavenly Father that we were able to go to church. I was so excited!
Maybe it's because Sterling went to church with us for the first time in a few weeks and then it had been over a month before that too.

Our boys are growing so much! Tiberias is getting so big! He does turn one in about two weeks! It's just hard to believe. And it's amazing how different and bigger he is than he was at Easter...less than four months ago.

Yesterday Sterling and I started making Tiberias' special Blanky. He really needs one. He will cuddle with Luke's blanky whenever he can.
When he is sleepy he cuddles with anything that is near him.
So I bought him material and Sterling and I pinned it all together.

Then today I sewed the blanky together. It turned out really cute.
For tacks to hold the middle together I did some squigly things in a large circle and then sewed a little "T" for Tiberias in the center.
I was so excited to give him his new blanky! He took to it right away but not as much as he will once it's been washed for the first time and once he gets use to it being his.

A lunch in our backyard

Yesterday Tiberias showed me he knows how to go down stairs and get off low things like Luke's bed. He knows how to go feet first and he's really good at it now that he knows that's how it's done.
Tiberias caught a disease The hand, foot and mouth disease. He probably got it from the cruise boat. There was a baby toy room that we let Ty play in often. I did not think to sanitize the toys before he used them.
His rashes have been really bad. He even got some blisters from them. Nothing in his mouth though. On his nose and face, hands, feet, knees and bottom.
He gave it to Sterling before we knew what it was. Sterling did get a rash but it was not sever and did not look bad like Ty's did.
Tiberias also gave it to Amber, the little girl I babysit daily. She got sick for a few days but only got a little rash. Her rash is now going away. Ty's is starting to get a little better. His looked terrible for a whole week! I did not know he had a disease until I took him to church Sunday and asked the bishop (who is a kid's doctor). He told me before church started that Ty had the disease and was contagious. That's when I warned Carla and also learned that day that Amber had the disease.

I figured the rashes were just Ty's body reacting to being sick. Last time he had been sick he broke out in a rash all over his body that looked to me like chicken pox. And since I had quite a few worries about my kids in the last month and it turned out each time that there was nothing to worry about...I decided this time it was the same thing. Only this time I was wrong. Ty has a disease and has been spreading it around.

Lachoneus is still not potty trained. He can get himself onto to the toilet, do his thing and wash his hands when he is done. He does not know how to get his underwear on. He can get his pants on though.
He still poops in his pants. He'll get on the potty and pee then get off only to poop in his pants two minutes later. It's so frustrating. The last few days I've been making Luke get on the potty every 30 minutes. If his underwear is dry he gets to put a sticker on his train chart. I drew a train on a track with a toilet at the end of the railway. If he has any pee on hid underwear or he poops in his pants he gets a frowny face on his chart instead of a sticker.

He is a smart boy when it doesn't come to potty training.
He knows most of his letters and some of his numbers. I bought some letters/numbers gummy candies. I show him one candy and if he properly tells me the name of it he gets to eat it. If not, it goes back into the bag.

Luke now properly answers the questions "What's your name?", "What's your brother's name?" and "Do you have a brother or a sister?"
He's learning "behind", "underneath", etc.

Tiberias is great with the sippy cups. He knows to hold the sippy higher, while drinking, if the cup starts getting low in liquid. And his arm and hand muscles have really strengthened in the last few weeks he's been learning to lift and use the sippy cups.

Missing Daddy

In the past week Lachoneus has been showing me that he wants his daddy to come home. When he draws with chalk he tells me he's drawing daddy come home. When he plays with his cars he tells me daddy is in one of those cars on his way home.
So cute! We are counting down the days on a calendar so Luke can see how long until daddy does come home.

May 30

Today I took my boys to a fun park. It was kind of hot and so after some fun play time Lachoneus, Tiberias and I sat down in the shade, under one of the playgrounds.
Whenever we go to a park Luke points out the spiderwebs. He likes cartoon spiders and songs/books about spiders. But real spiders and spider webs he does not like.

About a month ago he told me, that he thinks they are scary. So today at the park, underneath the playground, he asked me to find him something out of the diaper bag to clean up the webs with. It was really cute. He is good at cleaning but I told him we should leave the spiderwebs where they are.

We came home from the park and I started making lunch. Tiberias then started clapping. For the first time on his own! He knows how to clap! So I recorded it.

About a month ago Tiberias would rather walk (with help)than crawl. Now he is so use to crawling that when I do try to help him walk he has no interest in it. He sits himself down and crawls away. I love it!

He is 9 months old, so he doesn't need to be walking yet. And he got his first tooth last week! The second one is starting to come in as well.

Ty will not stay still for a diaper change or clothes change. He tries to crawl away. I think that's normal for his age.
He tries to climb the stairs any chance he gets. I let him/go with him once in a while so he can get better at it. But he wants so much to learn to go back down the stairs...which he tries to do head first.

He loves eating chalk! Grass and dirt he's fond of. But his favorite is baby wipe. He is determined to suck on the baby wipes. yuck.

Lachoneus has started helping me more with the baby. If Ty gets past my stair blocker Luke will go on the stairs with Ty, as if trying to make sure he doesn't fall...and he will yell to me that Ty is on the stairs.
If I tell Ty not to do something and he does it Luke will tell Ty not to do it as well.

Lachoneus is doing so awesome now with communicating and socializing. He has been spending a lot of time with friends lately. I've been babysitting and having playdates.

Luke can now tell me what sounds different animals make. He sings or recites songs. He tries to sing the alphabet (usually the Super Why show version AlphaPig sings). And he even recites books I have read to him so many times.

Today he started telling me he needs to go to the bathroom instead of just wetting his pants. He did this all day!

He is adorable!
But there are his trials too. He has started yelling at Tiberias. If Ty tries to play with a toy Luke has he yells "No! Mine!" He will yell at him to leave or leave the room. Trying to teach him to not yell at the baby, to be nice to the baby, is really hard right now.

And he has started pretending to get hurt or really hurting himself to try and get out of things he does not want to do. He pretends he cannot do things he does not want to when I tell him he has to. It's the 2 yr old version of lying.

Here is a video of Luke reading Dump Trucks. He recited the book to me almost perfectly the other day but in this video he repeats the first page a lot and misses many words. It is still adorable to hear though!

Storytime

I have recently decided that Lachoneus and Tiberias cannot do story time together.
They both want to sit on my lap but I cannot hold the book and two kids at the same time.
Tiberias loves to grab the book and try to grab the illustrations. Lachoneus wants to see the pictures...without a baby blocking his view.
Luke will sit and view the illustrations as I read the book. Tiberias is too young to sit still.
So I do two different story times a day now. And it works. I love having story time with each boy individually.

Lately Tiberias is old enough to enjoy some of Luke's big boy toys. Ridding in Luke's Cozy Coupe car or on his tricycle. He cannot reach the peddles on the back but he can hold onto the handle bars. He cannot reach the floor to drive himself around in the car but Lachoneus likes pushing it around for him. And Tiberias moves the steering wheel the whole drive...it is so cute!

Tiberias turned 8 months old yesterday. He also learned to stand in his crib and has been doing so at the end of sleeping. So we lowered the level of the mattress to ensure his safety. He cannot fall out of the crib now we are certain. It made us realize that in just a few months we may be turning that crib into a toddler bed for Ty! Lachoneus was 13 months old when he started climbing (and falling) out of his crib! We had to take down the crib for his safety and give him another bed.

I think Tiberias will walk early. Lachoneus started walking in his 10th month. Tiberias can already pull himself up onto his feet, holding onto things. He looooves walking around while holding someone's hands.

Lachoneus is really good at counting now. This morning he counted from 1 to 10 while he pointed to each cookie he was counting in a book. He can count 1 to 10 properly and then says "even, telve, urteen." I think 14 is as high as he can count in order.
But he does not know his colors. We worked on learning the color blue for a week and a half. Now we're learning yellow. He sometimes seems to know the color blue and sometimes he does not.

Tiberias is great at crawling now! I love that he does not have to stay in one spot or cry. He can go where he wants to. The only problem is that he usually wants to go wherever Mom is so he can cry to be held. And he hates crawling on the tile floor, or walking on it. Since we live in Italy all our floors are tile! We have a large rug in the living room and a small rug too. But Tiberias does not want to be limited to staying on the rugs.

These two boys are lucky to have each other. They are adorable and they like being brothers. I just have to watch them and intervene when Lachoneus tries to play too rough. Ty likes playing rough but Luke seems to forget that Ty is still just a baby.

7mos and 2yrs 9mos

LACHONEUS
Luke has learned to answer "yes" and "no." He has learned to use more words and even sentences sometimes. Two days ago Lisa, our friend from EDIS who comes to play with Luke, was successful at teaching Luke to answer the question "What is your name?" His old response to that question was "What is your name."

Lachoneus is not yet potty trained. He still wear underwear all day even at naptime. But he has accidents and does not tell us when he needs to go potty. He does not go sit on the potty unless I make him. But most boys don't potty train until atleast 3yrs old.

TIBERIAS
Tiberias has not had a desire to be mobile. We've been trying to teach him to crawl. He is very good at getting himself up onto his hands and knees. But he had no interest in crawling. He only got up on his knees to get closer to me, hoping I would pick him up. When I would not pick him up he would just flop back down onto his belly.
However, yesterday he started to make progress. He scooted forward on his belly for the first time! That same evening, on his hands and knees, he moved one knee forward and then the next! He didn't move his arms though so he didn't get anywhere. But we are excited he made that first move!

Tiberias is old enough that he wants time with his daddy as much as Lachoneus does.

Ty and Luke are cute friends. They still like laughing together and rough housing...as much as a baby can rough house. Tiberias is a talented forehead bonker. lol. He's 7months old but has been able to gently bonk heads with people since maybe 3months old! Impressive!

Cute Little Moments

Yesterday I was feeding Tiberias little tastes of bread. I decided to see if he would try and pick it up with his own fingers. So I help a tiny piece in my palm in front of him and said "Can you get it yourself?" He took a moment to decide what to do. Then he leaned forward until his face was to my palm! lol! Cute kid.

This morning when I came downstairs from my shower I found Lachoneus had been up to some trouble. My daily showers are short because I have kids to take care of, but it doesn't take long for a 2yr old to get into mischief.
Unfortunately I found a wine glass broken on the tile floor. Luckily Luke didn't get hurt. The wine glass was a gift Ster bought from work (a fund raiser) for me for Vday. It had a delicious desert in it when he bought it. I had shared it with Sterling and left the glass by the tv the night before. That was a mistake.

Anyway, the reason I am telling this story is because of what happened as soon as I saw the broken glass. Luke knew he was in trouble. Before I said anything he walked over and put himself in Time Out. lol.

This Saturday Tiberias will turn 6 months old. He loves to jump now! He is exactly like Luke was as a baby in that...you help him stand and all he will want to do is jump.
But Luke was a very energized baby and Tiberias is not. Or maybe "motivated to move" is more true...I can't be sure. Luke use to move and try to learn something new physically, like rolling over, all the time. Ty does not. I am so excited Tiberias has finally learned to roll over!!

I didn't know how to help him learn until I got some advice. There is a clinic on the base that helps children under 3 years of age with special needs such as physical therapy and speech therapy.

Our friend Dwayne (bishop of our ward) is a doctor in this clinic EDIS. So we had Luke evaluated for their services for communication, vocab, speech, etc. To make sure Luke is close enough to where he should be socially etc for his age. A month ago Luke was doing terrible. He was not understanding or communicating. He would try to grunt instead of speak.
But we, Sterling and I, started giving him more time and attention and teaching him. And now he is great. He was evaluated last week and did not qualify for the EDIS program...which is good.

But while the EDIS people were at our house I pointed out Ty's misshapen head. They hooked me up with s physical therapist for Ty at EDIS. At his 4 month Pediatrics appointment my doctor did not think Ty's stiff neck and misshapen head for anything to worry about. He said to help me stretch to the right at home because he only looked left. So I tried but wasn't getting anywhere.

We met with the physical therapist last week and learned exercises to help Ty stretch his neck to the right. They told us we have the option of getting Tiberias a helmet which would help his head get back to a normal shape. This would have to be worn 23 hours a day for months! And it would be a couple of thousand dollars for the helmet.

Ty's flat spot on his head is low...at the bottom of the head. Typically for Torticollis the flat spot is at the top of the head. So the physical therapist could not do their normal measurement. They did not know exactly what to do because Ty's is not a normal case.

We've had Tiberias on his tummy a lot lately. And he finally learned to roll over! He is doing better...able to look right pretty well already. So we believe he won't require the helmet. He will get better and better at turning right and then won't be on his left when he sleeps (hopefully) and his head will grow normal.

We'll meet with the physical therapist now and then as we work on Tiberias.

Lachoneus started singing last week! He has been singing Disney Ooh and Aah monkey's song and trying to sing his ABC's. SO cute!

We have gotten many comments by other parents that Lachoneus is a great listener. When we tell him to do something or stop he immediately does it. Not always, especially at home. But when we are out and he starts running away or doing something he should we tell him to stop and he stops. He is a very good boy.

Lately he uses the toilet more than his training potty. He can climb up all by himself and do everything himself. Well, I usually flush for him.

5months old

Ever since Tiberias moved into Luke's bedroom Luke does not want to go to bed unless Tiberias is. At first I thought it might be that Luke didn't think it fair he had to go to bed if Ty was allowed to stay up. But now I honestly think Luke likes having the presence of a friend when he goes to bed. Their beds are on the same wall but not very close to each other. So I don't know if Luke can hear Ty breathing as he sleeps or what.
Tiberias usually falls right to sleep when I put him in his crib at night. Lachoneus might get out of bed once or twice before he actually goes to sleep.
For their naps Ty usually sleeps downstairs. We just put him in the toy room and close the door. Sometimes during the day he fights it. He'll be super sleepy but not want to go to sleep. We let him cry a few minutes and then he falls asleep.

One new thing Ty likes is hitting the keys on the computer keyboard. We use to be able to hold him without a problem when we use to the computer. But he's seen us use the keyboard so often that he wants to do it too. He loves hitting it!

Tiberias has no teeth yet and he does not sit up on his own. But I believe that in one month he will have a tooth or two popping up and he will sit up unsupported. We're working on Ty's sitting up unsupported. He's not very good at it even with support but he's been doing it for months! He loved sitting up at a very young age. When my parents were here in September he wanted to sit up. So I'm having him practice unsupported hoping that will help. He can do it for a few seconds. Sometimes he does very well, stopping himself from falling over and straightening up again.

With our efforts Lachoneus is starting to say three or four word sentences and yes "yes" and/or "no" to answer questions. It is slow going but atleast it's going.

Such Boys!

My sons already have such male characteristics.

Lachoneus is bored if I put on any cartoons that are really girly. Snow White, Cinderella...he won't watch them.

He loves construction machines such as Bull Dozers but calls them all "tractor". He loves real tractors too.

I think it's funny when I hear Luke speaking in a low pitch voice. He does it often and I'm not sure why.

Tiberias started doing the low pitch voice this morning! After his cooing he tried to say something and I was surprised his voice was low. :)

Ty already prefers women over men...he's a flirt. He will smile for all women I think...but not so much for men.

Now, Luke cannot stand to be dirty...but that's my fault. I've kept him too clean I guess. Every time he or his clothes get dirty I am quick to clean him up.