The boys got lots more swim time in before Daddy had surgery late July, making Drew quite confident in the water. He now can do handstands (as good as a 4 year old could be expected to do), somersaults/flips under the water and swim long lengths of the pool completely by himself! He really never wears floaties anymore unless Matthew is grilling dinner and can't be in the water with him. He is much more confident jumping off the diving board, and even sometimes trying 'tricks', like jumping off backwards. Noah tools around the pool with his PuddleJumper and has a blast. He has never feared the diving board, or anything really, and loves to splash and play with all the toys. He begs for his floaties to come off so he can go under water...will dive down to the bottom to pick up toys or just look under the water. To say the least, the boys have really enjoyed the pool so far. We have noted that the evenings that we spend in the pool, the boys 95% of the time go to sleep remarkably quicker, once we get them in their beds, which is nice...the getting them there can be a challenge to peel them out of the pool! :)
Matthew, and all of us, enjoyed watching some World Cup games this past month, and was fun to see the boys' impression of the game and how they picked which team they rooted for! There were several days or evenings where it was nice to have it on in the background and have a different 'atmosphere' for the house - seems odd, probably, but made a difference somehow.
Drew is continuing to enjoy legos (the normal sized ones) more and more, and Noah in turn also plays with them...leaving small pieces all over the place of course. We are figuring out how to manage that without being ridiculous, but so it all begins I suppose! There are times I can't even hear the boys, which is a frightening silence for this Mom because these boys are NOT quiet, but they'll just be playing with Legos...AMAZING! Of course, it only lasts until one decides they have to have the piece the other has and then it's back to normal shouting and chaos!
They still love the video games and it continues to amuse us how content Noah can be to just 'watch' Drew and Daddy play. He's always so intense about doing everything everyone else is doing, but with video games, he's mostly ok to just be a bit of a bystander. Drew is getting better and better at the problem solving, which is how Daddy convinces Mommy that these video games are beneficial in some ways! But he can play for quite some time on his own now, figuring out where to go, etc. and every now and then coming out looking for Daddy to help.
Both boys are also really into superheroes...they love to play with the toys, with the toy sets they have, and the costumes...they are really funny how engaged they get into the characters. Pretty funny to see and hear them running around telling 'stories' of bad guys and flying and such.
There was one day the 3 of us had home together and Mommy decided we needed to get out of the house, so we went to the mall playground. Well another family of brothers showed up and at first, the 2 groups played together, but at some point it turned and all of a sudden the 2 groups were no longer getting along. It was an interesting, and proud moment, when Drew took up the cause of protecting and standing up for Noah against the other boys. There was a bit of shoving if I remember correctly, and I swept in to stop the violence from escalating, but the gist was actually well placed...protecting the ones we love! Like I said, it was a special moment with some mixed thoughts, but all in all, I think I was happy with the outcome!
Drew was able to move up to the 'schoolers' class mid-month, which he was very excited to be with the older kids! This meant more field trips and less naps and less structure, which we were mostly ok with. Field trips included Splash Putt Putt (putt putt with the sprinklers on!), Chick-Fil-A on their 'Cow Day', a petting zoo that came to the school, and a trip to the movie theater. We've ruled out naps for the most part lately anyways to get Drew to sleep at night, but there's also been an increase in whining, loss of temper, attitude and disobedience. Not sure we can blame it all on less sleep, but it certainly isn't helping. His quiet times have turned into :I just want to be wherever you are" and we are too tired of fighting with him the rest of the day to have any energy to enforce it...so we have a shadow with us most of the time - one that talks and plays with superheroes or Legos constantly in the background! Soon he'll be in school 5 days/week and we'll only have to figure out that time of the day for him on the weekends, so again, we kind of just gave up!
Some fun events we've had as a family this month were a sleepover with cousin Luke - all 3 boys had a BLAST! They were so fun to watch and hear play together, and really did great almost the whole time with little fighting! Love that cousin time! We have had a few friends come over to swim in the evenings, which has been a fun treat! And the weather has been crazy cool for a Texas July, giving us more outside time than we would normally tolerate. For Mommy's birthday, we rode the Trinity Train and it was a gorgeous and COOL day, in the low 80s I think, with a cool breeze! I mean, unbelievable! The 4 of us went to a museum that had a Lego Castle exhibit, which was small, but fun! And fun that all 4 of us got to go! The boys also got to spend some more time than normal with Grandma and Papa as they helped Mommy out several times this month juggling doctor appointments and the like - the boys always love their time with them!
Of course, the big event of the month was the boys going on a week long trip with Grandpa and Nana to Iowa to visit the Thompson family while Mommy and Daddy stayed home. They left early Sunday morning, Matthew had his surgery Monday morning, Matthew got home Thursday mid day and the boys got back Friday evening. It was a VERY different week for all of us...I'll put up a separate post with more stories and pics from Iowa when I finish this one. The house was SO quiet with only Mommy being home, and while it was a break without the boys, it certainly didn't feel like a vacation with Matthew being in the hospital and recovering. We were happy to have the house full again by the end of the week no doubt!
So a note about the boys and their personality/emotional development...forgive me while I rant here! Drew continues to be very temperamental, just like Mommy. He can fly off the handle in an instant, and reacts with great force! There has been lots of yelling, attitude, throwing toys when angry, slamming doors, etc. I know how he feels because that's exactly how I would handle it too if it was acceptable, but to teach a 5 year old how to control it is something all together different! So we have struggled there lately. He is very hard on himself too - saying he's a bad boy and talking as if he feels he just can't do anything right...heart breaking to hear! I wonder how much pressure we've placed on him being the oldest already, where have we gone wrong...what to do?! So we've tried to amp up the positive talk around the house, but still be firm when he has his tantrums...a very hard line to walk at times! He just wants to succeed all the time, and is just devastated when he isn't perfect or things don't go his way. On the other hand, he's more confident and independent and wanting to do more and more for himself, and even help Noah at times. He is becoming more responsible and we can talk through things a bit more and him understand. He continues to be a Mommy's boy when it all comes down to it though - it seems when he's tired or having an emotional time, he'll run to Mommy to snuggle and be held. Noah is also a Mommy's boy and at times these boys fight over Mommy's lap, and not satisfied with sharing at all, making Mommy feel like she's just not enough! But there's no doubt Noah still favors Mommy, though he's starting to run to Daddy for things a little bit more every month. He has been seemingly more clingy to Mommy this month, making drop offs at school difficult again. He is definitely on the brink of 3, being more and more determined to do more for himself, changing his mind 3 times and throwing a fit in between each choice until he gets just what he wants! He's still rough and tumbly and determined to keep up! They are definitely their own individual personalities with their own challenges and blessings!
The last week of the month brought a random fever for 3 days for Drew and some pretty bad nightmares, so he had a rough week, which meant we did too! Matthew was home for the week recovering from surgery, so he was able to be home with Drew, which helped Mommy, but wasn't Daddy's idea of recovering by any means! We were all pretty tired at the end of that week to say the least!
By the end of the month, Noah is finally able to open doors about 75% of the time. This is NOT something we taught him...the longer they go without learning that, the better for us we say! Now we can't keep him out of anywhere! But at least he's older so we can be a bit less afraid of what exactly he'll get into...maybe?!
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