March pictures 6

Morning of 3/23/12.  Zev, the sleepy head.

Later the same day.  Zev doing a Benjamin impersonation.

Ben is great-grandma.

By the way, dining room is now officially a play room.

Nothin' wrong with enjoying your meal, OK?

Bro, are you seriously gonna let him post this?

Somewhat wintry Zev

March pictures part...something

At some point in March we actually got some pictures taken by a professional.  Here are some of the results.

Ummm.  yes, naked babies.

Secrets

Retro Zev

Ben on fir

New mobility

It has been almost a month since the last post.  There have been a few changes.
The greatest change is mobility.  The boys crawl rapidly, especially Ben.  Fortunately, they usually crawl together  - one investigates what the other one found.  On occasions when they do not, all I can do is call to Alla (the likely destination) that she has "inbound crawler" and there he is.

The boys also stand up with confidence and hardly hold on at all.  Today Ben was observed playing with a toy while standing up and using same toy for balance.  The other hand was simply at his side.  While the toy was spinning at satisfactory speed, he would just stand there, balancing, watching it spin - 5-10 seconds at a time.  Zev does not stand quite as confidently, but cruises very well along any furniture, wall, or other support.

Recently our nanny brought Zev downstairs, went to get Ben, only to find Zev greeting her from half way up the  stairs - where he climbed on his own.  This act resulted in a near-heart attack for poor aunt Olga and some assembly work for me.  By morning the boys had a plastic cage to contain them as well the second gate, this one at the bottom of the stairs.  Late today, while supervised, the boys were offered the stairs.  They took to the challenge gamely.  Ben surged ahead, with hardly any help, and only paused to investigate the light fixtures.  He topped the stairs and proceeded to try to rip down the hanging scroll at the landing - something he has been after for a while.  Zev took his time, needing no more help.  He got to the last step and made it known he was done climbing for the day.

Playing is another change.  Zev pushes at the ball rolled to him, while Ben picks up a smaller ball and, when in the mood, throws it to me.  Both boys love to play "peekaboo", which they can do indefinitely.  The boys are still quite far from playing together, but they continue to be more aware of each other, at least in terms of trying to get at the same toy.

Ben continues to be more talkative.  When the mood takes him he will say that cow says "moo", as well as emulate sounds of a dog and a car (sort of).  Zev is more shy with words but his laugh is loud and infectious.  When placed in a (relatively) new environment, Ben will be off exploring and playing in a flash.  Zev, on the other hand, may spend good five minutes just watching carefully, and then joining the play.

Sleeping is OK at present (t'fu-t'fu).  Ben tends to sleep through the night, while Zev wakes up once or twice, demanding attention.  If picked up he falls asleep instantly, at which point he is plunked back into his bed.  Naturally, he objects for about a minute, then goes to sleep.

Eating seems to be going well, though here there are differences as well.  Zev is a pickier eater, but sucks his  formula down twice as fast as his brother.  Ben is the more adventurous eater, but taker forever to finish 6 ounces of formula.  Each has something of his dad, I suppose.

Another runny nose. Early bargaining.

Another exciting night, mainly complements of Zev's runny nose.  Oh, well.

What boys have been getting very good at lately is shaking their heads when they don't want something - for example, to eat.  At a recent trip to a store, Alla was holding Ben who was having fun yanking Alla's hair and earrings.  Alla looked him in the eye and said:

"Don't do that!  That hurts mummy.  If you do that again, you go back in the stroller.  Do you want back in the stroller?"

Ben held Alla's gaze and vigorously shook his head.  He kept his word.  For about five minutes.

A few developments have taken place in recent couple of weeks.  First, crawling.  Both boys are now crawling confidently, traversing good five meters at a time.  While it is great, they now can do the classic "cockroaches in the light" maneuver, also known as taking off in opposite direction.  They have not done so often, but I am sure there is more to come.  Just a couple of days ago they suddenly decided that they know how to use sippy cups.    They simply went from making a wet mess to throwing their heads back and gulping water down like it is a Guinness on St. Patty's day.  Such skills as picking up pieces of cereal or standing up on their own also continue to improve.

Which is more than can be said for sleeping.  Due to teething, we assume, the sleeping habits leave some to be desired.  There are, usually, one or two rather short wake-ups before midnight and then the major round of activity some time between 5 am and 6:30 am.  Some mornings we (any combination of the four, take your pick) get a little more sleep, some mornings we don't.

Other than that - things go on.  I continue to spew forth self-loathing, resentment and venom, while Alla tries to keep some semblance of peace while comforting the kids.  In other words, business as usual.

Eating, sleeping, crawling, sneezing.

Recent few days included a collection of various events, some fun some less so.  Among the "less so" category is runny noses added to teething.  That, for example, resulted in sleep ranging from "OK-ish" to "really miserable".  Also, in same category, is now increasing stubbornness when comes to food and being placed in the high chair.  That one is mostly Zev's territory, as Benya is happy to eat pretty much whatever he's given, from cheese to blackberries.  The both grad and drop stuff, as expected, and both are getting rather good at defending their noses from mucus removal.  

The boys are also getting good at sitting up and more proficient at crawling.  They say "mama" and "papa" more  and more convincingly.  When in the mood, they might also wave "bye" - not surprising, since every time someone leaves, whoever is nearby runs right over, grabs their arm and shakes it while saying "wave bye-bye!" and grinning maniacally.  On one occasion, as I was coming down the stairs dressed for work, Ben looked up, and said once, very quietly and clearly, "bye", and went back to his yogurt.

The boys certainly don't play together, but they are aware of each other.  The best I can figure each thinks of the other as another toy.  This morning I saw them looking at each other.  Half-sitting on the floor and staring, occasionally making a noise.  I think they react to the fact that the other one is moving.  The moving party is then expected to produce flashing lights and sing a song (this is what most toys do these days).  When the brother fails to do so, they go back to more "normal" toys.

March pictures 4

March 9th was a rare sunny day, in this wettest March in 60 years.

At Bridgeport Village with Boston Grandparents

"Grandma rocks!"

"Ok, I can do this."

"My bro got this."

Talking science, no doubt.

Switch

"This soft thing feels weird..."

"Rain?  Shine? Teeth!"

"Ha-ha!  No fancy picture for mama!"

Getting ready for bed 3/11/12

Daddy decided to jump in.

March pictures 3

Ridin' high.  3/5/12

Watch this: poof!

Photoshop?  I don't think so.  Grandma got mad ninja skills.

"You really think we're gonna just play with this stuff together and pose for you?"

"Working solo - that's a little better"

"Are we done now?"

Some more March pictures

On the 4th of March (yes, that's a month ago) the boys had their first trip to Gymboree, along with parents and Boston grandparents.

"Not sure I trust this place..."

"This is just plain weird..."

"Hey!  What are you looking at?"

"You lookin' at somethin', friend?"

"This standing thing ain't all bad.  Especially when dad's got my back(side)."

Yep, Ben is looking at a girl here.  Grandma approves.  I think.

"Seriously?  I am not even 1 and I am on a cargo net, in basic training?"

"You think this is funny, Grandpa?"

Experiments in sleeping, dining, and standing up.

Everything breaks eventually.  For example, the rule about babies not sleeping in our bed.  Recently Zev woke up right around 6 am.  Clearly, he was not falling back asleep.  The only result of a futile attempt to put him back in his bed would have been a woken Benya.  Just as I was becoming resigned to another day starting early, Alla said "I will put him with us."  I was too sleepy to enforce rules.  Zev, pleased as peach, realized he was somewhere warm, soft, and with both parents around.  He took some time getting comfortable, periodically checking to make sure we were both there, but he did fall asleep eventually.  And gave us (and Ben) another hour of dozing.

Some two days later, Ben woke up at 5 minutes to six, wet and complaining.  He was promptly changed and comforted.  With all 6 am - promptness, it was still a few minutes after six and, like his brother, he would not fall back asleep.  Naturally, we decided to pull the same stunt.  Ben had different plans.  He set up, looked around with some mistrust, and complained loudly that he saw right through the ruse.  He was done sleeping, and he meant it.  About ten minutes of trying to convince Ben to lie down later, I took him downstairs.

This weekend also saw the boys' first official downtown stroll.  We went to meet our friends there.  Drove in in the van, parked, rapidly deployed the stroller, strapped in the "cargo" and were off.  Our friends, in the mean time, set down at a Japanese restaurant.  As in, take-off-your-shoes-and-sit-in-a-private-room-on-a-tatami restaurant.  We had our doubts.  The stroller, as promised, drove right through the standard door, gave up its cargo and folded neatly out of the way to the amazement of the staff.  The boys, pretty much to the amazement of the parents, took to the restaurant like they were born to it.  Surely, the did try to grab everything on the table and ended up with a "denial zone" around them.  And yet - there was no dreaded, ear-splitting, dining-experience-ruining shrieking that haunts the nightmares of every restaurateur.  Instead, the boys ate some rice and tempura.  They also let us sip our tea and snatch an occasional piece of sushi.

Yet another first was delivered by Ben - with me enabling him, naturally.  Alla was feeding the boys some solid food and asked me to mash up a banana.  Which I happily did and placed the plate on the table in Alla's easy reach.  Evidently, in Ben's as well.  Two seconds later there a squishy crash, as the plate landed on the floor, banana-first.  Ben looked surprised, but not particularly scared.  Alla reminded me (thank you, parents) that yours truly broke plates even at much greater age, with much greater malice.  There was nothing left for me to do but to clean up.

The final experiment of the week was on one of the quieter mornings.  The boys woke up and were taken downstairs to play.  As I was preparing their breakfast in the kitchen, I heard music coming from their area.  Which was strange, given that there were no toys on the floor capable of playing that particular tune (yes, I know some of those by heart and by toy, naturally).  Thinking to myself a quite "wtf?" in I walked, to find Zev standing over a toy (about his mid-level), leaning on it with one hand and pounding at the keys with the other. I did get him to sit down and a few minutes later he repeated the exercise.  Naturally, neither Alla nor I actually ever saw him get up - if we are around, why get up yourself if a parent can get you up?

Back to reality.  It is now Monday morning.  Ben woke up rather cranky (teeth again, I guess) and it is time for me to escape to work.