Jeckle and Hyde... The terrible/terrific twos

The dark side:

- Jesse adores Janna, but loves to see how many times he can poke her eyes until I yell at him.

- He also likes to sit on her back when she is on her stomach and bounce a bit.

-Everyday we have this conversation: -Jesse: “Jesse push mommy?” Me: No...you don’t push mommy.

“Jesse push Daddy?” No...you don’t push daddy

“Jesse push Janna, please?” Afraid not. You don’t push your sister either.

“Jesse push Willow(our neighbour)?” Nope. That’s not nice. You don’t push anyone

This conversation will continue until he runs through all of his friends, family, and TV characters. And sure enough, when we are out with these people, if anyone gets too in his face, he pushes them.

-When Jesse wants something I have, “ Have it?! Have it! I HAVE IT!!! Now! I HAVE IT NOOOOWWW!!!”

-Jesse does his best to hold in his number 2’s. This will go on for days, until he is totally bloated and uncomfortable and miserable. We are going on about 1 week now. Today is the day. His body will override his stubbornness today. I have faith.

The light side:

Potty trained! No more wipes/diapers:)

When Janna is playing on the floor and starts to fuss, Jesse will go and pick out a toy or book and bring it to her to play with.

Hugs and kisses for mommy still going strong

Jesse likes to try what the big boys do outside. Lately, our 10 year old neighbour has been skateboarding. Jesse will go stand on the skateboard and jump in an attempt to Ollie. So cute

I love listening at the door at bed time. Jesse sings and chatters on and on about his day. Who he saw, what he did. Who he pushed. How mommy got angry J

Jesse is finally getting into artsy/crafty things. He will do playdough and coloring everyday for a good 20 minutes.

Jesse’s laugh is so cute and contagious, and it’s pretty easy to get him into a laughing fit.

Alive and Well

We all made it through the first week of school in one piece!

Truthfully, I kinda enjoyed the Vance siblings being outta the house, and being able to do my own thing with the kids without having to factor anyone else in to our schedule. I am back to my “6:00 rise an hour before the kids” dealio, and it really gets things off to the right start and energizes me for the day.

At the same time, it is definitely more tiring and challenging having both kids to myself all week. By Friday I was pretty wiped. Dave, who has been heading back into the school every night after the kids went down, wasn’t in bed until after midnight most nights, and he was also pretty beat. So, on Friday I decided to do a ton of cooking, cleaning and laundry so we wouldn’t have to do any over the weekend. I was exhausted by the end of Friday, and my work shift on Saturday. But, then we had minimal work to do for the rest of the weekend . It was totally worth it, and I plan on doing this every week from here on out. We both really need a “weekend” these days.

The kiddies are doing well. Janna is super mobile all over the place, and I have had to do some more baby proofing. Her favourite thing to go for was the power bar under the desk and the dog’s food. So, I have fixed those problems. She is also a bottomless pit and is breaking our grocery budget with the amount of canned peas she likes to eat. I think I will have to start making my own to save money!

Jesse is obsessed with Diego and gets to watch an episode every morning after breakfast while I clean up. We have a battle every hour or so of the day when he asks to watch it and I say no. He throws himself into a whiney stomping fit and I put him in a timeout. He screams, then cries, then says sorry and asks for a hug. After reading several discipline books over the past year, I have come to view conflict as teachable moments...not something to be avoided, necessarily. So...Jesse likes to test out who the boss is a few times a day. I don’t usually let him down :) He is also a bit petrified of Janna, who loves to bolt after his toes and bite them. He jumps up and looks at me wildly and says “Janna biting. NO biting Janna!”

They are pretty cute together these days. We bathe them together in the tub, now, and Janna gets kicking and laughing and yelling and splashing at Jesse. He is always a bit timid at first, then joins in the fun after I convince him she isn’t going to bite him, and is having fun!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the slightly cooler weather, and the new beginnings that September tends to bring. Thanks for reading. I’m out.