Boys!

"We go together"

Tonight we were all in the car at Costco. Jac was upset about the
gentlemen from the Costco tire department who was looking at our tires
and was crying. We needed some supplies from Costco but I didn't want
to drag Jac inside if he didn't want to go. I asked him if he wanted
to stay in the car with Mommy or Daddy and Nicie while one of us went
inside. His response. "We go together."

Sent from my iPhone

"Jac, are you okay?"

Jac has been having more gagging episodes lately. It seems like it is happening maybe once or twice a day now and for quite a while it seemed like it was happening maybe once a week. I think his reflux is back. A few nights he threw up while eating, which also hasn't happened in a long time, except when he had a cold a while back.

When I hear him gag I am not always in the room, sometimes he is with Nicie or with Katie. As soon as I hear I call out to him, "Jac, are you okay?" and the answer is always, "Wes."

The other night when he threw up we talked about his throwing up, and he knows what it means and how to say it.

Today, when I heard him gag and asked him if he was okay I added another question.

"Did you throw up?" "Wes, a little bit."
"Did you swallow it?" "Wes"

My heart sank when he said that, but at the same time I was so glad that he could tell me that.

I am going to start him on Prevacid again tomorrow, and see if the gagging is reduced and when it does happen if he tells me that he threw up.

I think he has been gagging and throwing up his whole life and doesn't know that that is not normal. That makes me sad.

Pee Pee in the Potty, Again!

Last night, Jac and Nic both peed in the potty, for the first time in a long time. Jac asked to use the potty, and I brought it out for him, and he sat on it but didn't pee. Then Nic sat on the potty, then Jac, then Nic - and he peed - a lot! We dumped it in the toilet and Nicie flushed (with Jac's help!) Then Jac sat on the potty, and we did some counting, and after a little bit he peed, and just kept on peeing! Go Jacie! He was very excited to pour it in the toilet, and poured it all over me and the floor in the process! I can't say as that dampened his excitement at all, or mine!

Jac has not peed in the potty since then, nor wanted to get on it when offered! But he was pretty excited about seeing his pee come out! Fits and starts!

I am in no hurry for Jac to potty train. All things in good time!

Jac teaching Nicie

Jac has started teaching NIcie words! Last night they were playing with their laptop (we have out in their play area an old laptop that we don't use anymore). Nic was pointing and saying, "that," which is his way of asking what something is called. In response to each, "that," Jac was pointing to the same thing and telling Nic what is was called. For example, Nic pointed to the screen and Jac said, "screen," Nic pointed to the keyboard and Jac said, "keyboard."

In the car today they were doing the same thing but with objects in the car!

This to me is an amazing moment of seeing my little boy teach my other little boy! Watch out world, here come the Chiu boys!

Great pics of Jac and Nic

These pictures that I took at Travel Town of Jac and Nic really exemplify their personalities and I really love them!

More fun Jac phrases

"Go get another car, I'll be right back"

"Thank you Nicie"

"Wet over there, let me check it out"

We are officially at full sentences with some missing connecting words, but he is able to communicate complete ideas. I can't explain how honored I feel to watch this happen, on a daily basis, in front of my eyes and ears.

"Get Annie and Clarabel off the train tracks"

Nicie's full word list as of 3.4.10

Nicie is 17 months old! I have put together his complete spoken word list. I have no idea how many words he understands, but a lot!

"Jac, how old are you?"

We have been teaching Jac how to respond to the question of how old he is. He has a pretty good grasp of the numbers one and two when applied to objects but age is a lot more abstract!

Mommy to Jac, "How old are you?"
Jac, "14 months"

He has heard me respond to questions about how old the boys are and if they are twins so many times and my standard response is, "No, they are not twins, they are 14 months apart."

If you push him a little more he will usually respond that he is "two," and Nic is "one" but I wouldn't call it a reliable answer!

Travel Town

We had a nice time at Travel Town today. The boys walked all around and looked at the trains and just generally enjoyed the nice weather. They enjoyed looking at the trains, particularly Jac. They ran around some, played with rocks, and Jac talked a lot!

Jac has a VERY! small belly

We have been giving Jac Benecalorie for over a month now. I can't tell if he has gained weight but he has a very small belly. Katie and I noticed it and Daddy noticied it tonight. I think it is a good thing, if it means he has a little, tiny bit of fat on him! We will be seeing his endo shortly and I will ask him about it.

"Bye bye Mommy, I'll see you later"

"Bye bye Mommy, I'll see you later" - This phrase was uttered by Jac as he left the apartment with Katie to walk down the hall to take the trash.
"Bless you, Nicie" - From Jac to Nic when Nic sneezed. (I have not taught him this, just said it myself)
"Thanks" - Spoken frequently by Jac to me, Katie, Nic and Daddy when we give him something - I did not teach him to say this, just modeled it.
"I can't do it" - Jac says this when he either can't or doesn't want to do something and wants you to do it for him.
"Not yet" - This is used when Jac doesn't want to do something, to hold you off for a while. Like if you ask him if he needs a fresh diaper, he will say "Not yet" or if he wants to put on a suit, or go out, or eat something, or take a bath!
"Oh my" or "Oh my gosh" - Uttered by Jac when he is watching or seeing something interesting. He said this a lot during the recent Winter Olympics, usually when watching someone go fast. BTW, he particularly liked the ski jumping, speed skating, and bobsledding.
"Wearing necklace" - When Mommy is wearing a necklace.
"I want soup back" - When we were out to dinner at Hurry Curry and Joseph moved the soup away from Jac (because he was playing with it), Jac very emphatically managed to get this sentence out. You could tell it took some work but he got the whole thing out!

Nicie is 17 months old!

Our little Nicie is 17 months old! Oh man! Time is really flying! It feels like we are flying towards two and three!

So what is our little Nicie doing these days!

More words!

Nicie is saying more and more words! I have been trying to write them down so I have a complete list but I am failing! Here are a few new ones since 2/9/10 ( my last words entry for Nic)

"Boo Boo eh" - This is what he calls breast feeding. He started saying "Boo Boo Eh," and so that is what we call it now! His plaintive cries of "Boo Boo Eh" can be heard when he is hungry or tired.
"Watch it" - This was a new one just tonight! We were watching their favorite Tomica video when Jac left to play with the new Shinkanzen train. I paused the video since Jac wasn't watching it. Nic grabbed the remote and walked over and said, "Watch it."
"Jac" or "Jacie" - Nic has learned Jac's name - although sometimes he calls himself Jac!
"Nic" or "Nicie" - He knows his own name now and will point at himself and say, "Nicie."
"Dadda" - He knows Dadda's name and calls him it consistently.
"Momma" - He now calls me by name consistently - although he does still call me "Dadda," sometimes!
"Katie" - He knows Katie's name.
"No, No, No" - Nicie has been saying No for quite a while, but he really likes to say his Nos as "No, No, No."
"More" - He has known the word more for a while, but he is quite clear in his more now, usually when he wants more food.
"Up" or "Carry" - Pick me up and carry me!
"Draw" - Nic likes to draw with pens, and he asks for them by saying, "Draw."

I am going to have to try a word list tomorrow and see if I can come up with the rest of the list!

He loves to throw - still! He can throw with both hands, really well. He will pick up a ball in each hand, and throw them equally well, at the same time. Although I still think he is left handed I think he may be quite ambidextrous. His new throw is with a balloon. We have discovered the joy of balloons and Nicie really likes to see them fly up over his head and float back down. He grabs it in both hands, does a few practice motions, and then chucks it, underhanded, over his head! He looks like he is trying to throw a basket underhanded.

He can now ride his fire engine toy without help. He can sit down and push it quite well!

Running - he is a faster and more proficient runner now. He can really get moving, with his belly out! He takes really cute little steps! See the running post!

Climbing - Nic is quite a proficient climber now. He can climb up most things that he can reach. Tonight he climbed up my chair right behind Jac, and they both stood on it and played with the lights!

Mischievous - Nic can be really mischievous. He will look you straight in the eye and say, "No," with his little finger held in front of his nose, and then do whatever he just acknowledged he was not supposed to do.

The "No" with the finger in front of the nose is an interesting thing, and I have not managed to get a video of it yet! When Nic is acknowledgeing my "No," he holds his finger up in front of his nose, and says, "No." At first I couldn't figure out why he did that, but then Daddy pointed out to me that sometimes when I am saying, "No," I hold my hand up and point, to show I am serious! So he is imitating me! It is really cute and hard not to laugh at sometimes!

Nic nurses for naps, for comfort and for sleeping at night. He wants, "Boo Boo Eh," if he is upset or hurt or tired.

He likes to eat, and his new trick is to stuff his cheeks until he can't get any more food in his mouth, and then sometimes he chews and swallows! This is a new thing, and we are rolling with it, although it is really hard not to bust up laughing when his cheeks look like they are going to explode.

Yelling - This is a new one. When Jac is upset and crying Nic's new thing is to start yelling, although it is more like screeching, and we call it his "Mothra" yell. Jac really doesn't like it when Nic does this, but Nic seems to take great pleasure in it. We are working on getting him not to do this.

Laughing - He and Jac crack each other up, several times a day, and just laugh and laugh. They feed off one another.

Playing by himself - Nic has made a very dramatic change in his ability play by himself in the last week. All of a sudden he can stick with a task, ignoring what Jac is doing, and play! It is amazing. I knew things had changed one night this weekend. Joseph was tired and had gone to sleep and the boys and I were still up. I wanted to watch Olympics, and I was tired, so I plopped down in front of the TV and started up the TiVo. After about 5 or 10 minutes I realized I was still watching the Olympics and that I had not gotten up to mediate a dispute yet. The boys were in their play area in the living room, each playing with their own thing, on the train layout that Joseph had made earlier in the day. This went on for two hours or so! They came over to me, and I went over to them, we interacted, but I did not mediate any major disputes in that entire time! It was truly amazing and hopefully a sign of things to come!

The video is of Nic playing with a night light and putting the batteries in and out. We use these night lights as we are going to sleep and every couple of weeks we have to replace the batteries. The boys really enjoy doing this! Usually as we are working on it they get involved in the process. This night, Jac was helping to screw and unscrew the battery cover, and Nic was taking the batteries in and out. He sat and played like this for at least 10 minutes!

Nic blowing the window at Krispy Kreme

Nic blowing the window at Krispy Kreme, originally uploaded by Taj and Joseph Chiu.

Nicie thought it was really funny!

"I'm sorry"

When Daddy is giving the boys a bath we always come to the hard part where they have to have their hair and face washed. I suspect that there is not a child in the world that "likes" having their hair and face washed, no matter how gentle the method.

When Daddy starts washing his hair Jac starts saying, "I'm sorry," because that is what we say as we are doing it. He keeps on saying, "I'm sorry," almost crying it, until you stop or finish!

Happy Little Train People

Ama sent Jac and Nic trains from Japan! Excitement!

Jac is growing up! Previously, if we turned a train on he got very upset and we had to turn it off immediately! Tonight, Joseph asked him if he could turn the train on, and he accepted it, and man did he accept it!

As I write this he has spent the last hour playing with the trains, running them all over the play area, all by himself! Joseph is napping on the couch, and Nic is amusing himself with balls and money!

"Dab, dab, swipe"

Daddy has taught the boys to "Dab, dab, swipe," their faces after they eat to clean them. It is really cute and injenious. They love to do it! Jac has been doing it for a while and he says, "Dab, dab, swipe," when he does it. Nic just recently started to do it and he now says, "Dab." Super cute!

It does rain in LA

This past Saturday we had a major rainstorm that lasted most of the day. The grandparents are in London in miserable weather visiting their new grandson so I thought they might like to know that it does rain in LA!

"Nicie says"

Mommy to Jacie, "What does Nicie say?"

Jacie to Mommy, "Nicie say "No No No!""

Mommy to Jacie, "What does Daddy say?"

Jacie to Mommy, "Daddy say, ummm, Daddy says, "Daddy!"

Huntington Gardens with Auntie Charmy

So - our second trip to the Gardens this past weekend was with Auntie Charmy, Daddy's sister. We went to see the "Color Explosion" exhibit which was great! We had a nice time walking around the gardens and Jac insisted that we go see the fish in the Japanese Gardens!

Fore more pictures from Flickr click here.

"Dab, dab, swipe"

Daddy has taught the boys to "Dab, Dad, Swipe" to clean their faces and mouths. It is super cute and Jac will say, "Dab, Dab, Swipe," and Nicie can say, "Dab."

Jac is pretty good at it now, he can get his face pretty clean after he eats, at least sometimes! Nicie is still more of a rookie at it but he gives it a college try if you ask him to!

Nicie running

Nicie has a really cute run! Belly out, small steps, and pretty quick! I love his run and so does my Mom - who requested a video if it - so here you go! And yes, I have already emailed you a version for your iPhone!

Huntington Gardens fun with the Bramlets

We had a great time at Huntington Gardens on Saturday (yes we went to Huntington Gardens twice this weekend) with the Bramlets. They have two kids, Odessa who is almost exactly one year older than Jac and Dyson who is 9.5 months. They are a great family and Odessa is great fun! Jac had a great time running around with Odessa and chasing her! He learned her name pretty quickly and was frequently chasing her calling, "Dessa!" Too cute for words!

For more pictures click here to see them on Flickr.

Cool guy!

On Sunday we went to Huntington Gardens with Auntie Charmy. It was alternately sunny and bright and dark and cloudy - we couldn't figure out if we were hot or cold!

We had a very nice time visiting the "The Color Explosion" exhibit in the Huntington Library. It was very cool!

When we came out of the exhibit the boys tried on my sunglasses - and Nicie even posed for a picture!

Jac dancing to the "Tomica Dance" video

Jac and Nic love this Tomica video on YouTube.



They watch it all of the time, Jac requests it at least once a day! He likes to dance to it, and sometimes he even dances to it when it is not playing! I love watching him dance! Nic dances also but he was alseep when I took this video!

I wish I could be this comfortable

Nic sleeping, originally uploaded by Taj and Joseph Chiu.

Kids have a way of being so comfortable, it is quite enviable! I am not sure I am ever this comfortable!

Jac talking!

Jac talks up a storm now. He is forming short sentences and putting together ideas from the past and the future. He can talk about things that happened a week ago and what is going to happen tomorrow (the past is easier than the future though!).

When we were visiting Grandma and Grandfather we asked him to say a bunch of things so Grandma could get a recording of him saying, "I love you Grandma," and "I love you Grandfather." The rest was gravy!

Books in the bedroom

IMG_3406, originally uploaded by Taj and Joseph Chiu.

We have a shelf in the bedroom with the boys' books on them. These are the books that have "stuck" in there, the ones we read the most often. We have three more shelves of books in the living room!

Nic - Self identification and Naming

Nicie knows who he is! A few days he recognized himself in the mirror, pointed at himself and said, "Nicie." Yesterday he pointed to Jac and said, "Jacie," and then pointed at himself and said, "Nicie." Today he turned my iPhone on, pointed at the picture of himself that is my background, and said, "Nicie." Whoa!

He has been naming all of us more, and he now very clearly calls all of us by name, "Daddy," "Mommy," and "Jacie." Now that he is calling us by name he has a different way that he says, "Daddy," than he used to say, "Dada." It sounds pretty different, I will try to get a recording of it.

He is really getting a hang of repeating words that we tell him, and is starting to mimic words much more closely. When he wants to know what something is called, he points at it and says, "that, that, that," over and over, until you tell him what it is called. Sometimes it can be very hard to figure out which thing he is pointing at, and since I don't want to tell him a duck is a cow things can get a little confusing sometimes!

You've gotta love the hair!

Jac spilled yogurt drink last night when he was sleeping and it got in his hair. You've gotta love yogurt drink as hair gel! I loved his hair so much I didn't even clean his head before we went out!

He was really this small

Sometimes I can't understand how small Jac was anymore. He has come so far, and we have come so far as a family. Lexi and Chris and Cooper, welcome to this journey. I am glad your beginning was not as rough as ours, but I hope your journey is as beautiful.

Sweet brothers

Yesterday morning I asked NIcie to go wake Jac up. Jac was pretty solidly asleep and not interested in waking up. There was a bottle from the night sitting on the floor next to Jac. Nic went up to Jac very quietly, picked up the bottle and laid it next to Jac's face, looked at Jac for a few seconds, and then came back to me.

It was the sweetest thing! They are so sweet to one another it is the most wonderful thing!

Jac is 31 months old

Jac is 31 months old! He is now headed toward three! Whoa!

He is turning into such a big boy! His language has absolutely taken off! He is truly narrating the world, and shaping it, using his language. Here are some of my current favorites!

"Very dangerous" - He says this when we are in a parking lot or near cars!
"Very careful" - He says this to Nic to tell him to be careful in a parking lot!
"That was" *pause* "fun" - Jac has learned the phrase, "That was" and he uses it a lot now. He usually has a pause between "that was" and the whatever he is talking about although tonight he linked "That was fun" all together! It is so cute though because he says, "that was" and then there is a pause and then "fun", or "phone" or whatever "that was!"
"Mommy, Daddy, Katie" or "Mommy, Daddy, Nicie" or "Daddy, Nicie" or "Mommy, Jacie" - Tonight he was linking all of our names together in different ways.
BTW, Katie is our new Mother's Helper. She is great and the kids have really taken to her.
You can now ask Jac if he had a fun day and he will tell you, "Wes." You can also ask him what he did during the day and he will sometimes tell you about something, and if prompted with a particular thing will tell you more about it.

Jac's language has reached a point where it is getting harder to write these posts. He has so many words and phrases! I can now ask him yes, no questions and get pretty good answers. I can ask him to pick between two things and he can do it. I can ask him if he wants to stay home or go out and he can answer!

I think Jac's enunciation is quite good. Katie has only been with us for about a month and she can already understand almost everything he says. Sometimes she has difficulty if it is new word that he is mispronouncing but usually she can get it. His speech is supposed to be evaluated pretty soon by a therapist from the Lanterman Regional Center so it will be interesting to see what they say.

I used to have a lot more feedback about Jac's progress relative to "normal" when we were getting Part C services in Colorado. Since he didn't qualify for services under the "budget-cut" changes to the policies here in CA he hasn't had any OT, PT or Speech therapy. I don't think he really needs it but it was nice to now how he was "doing."

Jac is still a little guy but it feels like he has gotten a bit taller. He is still very skinny but he feels so strong. When I carry him I can tell how strong he is as he pushes back against my arm to lean away from me. He can now climb over the side of the couch with nothing to stand on to get a boost from. He is running like crazy and has gotten a lot faster. He still falls occasionally but his ability to get a little off balance and then regain his balance has gotten way better.

It feels like his eating has generally gotten better. He eats so many different things and his volume feels like it is at least holding steady - good days and bad days, although Nic has those also. I don't feel as stressed about his eating as I used to. Now, I just feed him. I make all sorts of different things and see what they eat. We go to McD's sometimes, we go out to other things, we eat at home, we have snacks, we have M&Ms (we all love them), we eat! And we just eat!

Sleeping - Jac knows now when he wants to go to sleep. He wants to sleep in the bed usually, although sometimes he wants to stay on the couch! He has pretty much stopped taking a nap. He usually has a quiet period about the same time as Nic takes a nap, where he relaxes on the couch and watches YouTube but doesn't sleep. When he wants to go to bed he says, "Bed, Yogurt drink, under."

(Update - 2/12/10 - More phrases)
"Too much" - Jac says that something is too much when he doesn't like it. So if you are taking him in to something that he doesn't want to do, or into a place he doesn't want to go he will cry out that it is "too much."
"What are you doing?" - I wrote a blog post about this one before. This is another of Jac's phrases he uses when you are doing something that he doesn't want! It is generally yelled!
"Very dangerous" - Genrally Jac uses this to talk about cars in the street but today when we were riding on the bus and I leaned in to him a little too much and took up a lot of his space he said, "Momma, very dangerous," to tell me to move back!
"Buy it" or "Buy this" or "Buy it nnn" or "Buy more nnn" - Jac knows what he wants! He tells us to "Buy it" all of the time! He will be looking at something that we have bought for him and say, "Buy it" and we will say, "We did buy it, we bought it." This never seems to satisfy him! He understands if you tell him you are going to buy something when you go out!

Nicie's new words

Nicie has some new words!

Trash - which he calls Wa Wa (same word but different meaning for water!)
Wall - because he bumps into the wall a lot!

I know there are more but at 2 am they won't come to me! I wil work on this list more tomorrow!

(Update 2/11/10 - 1:33 am)
Okay - I figured out what more of the words are! Yeah!

Seat - Meaning his high chair
Apple - He really likes to chew on apples, although not necessarily swallow them. This is also true for grapes and tangerines. I think it is because he is teething but I can't blame everything on that ;)
Dog - He loves dogs and gets really excited when he sees them.
Woof - He knows the sound the dog makes.
Abby - Our friends dog - he has met her a couple of times.
Kick - He likes to kick his legs, at people and at things! At least he tells you when he is kicking you!

(Update 2/12/10 - 3:42 am)
More words! These are not new I have just had to write them down!)

Eyes - He knows what eyes are he points to mine and his own and Jac's and says "eyes"
Dump - He loves to dump out the bins of toys
Bottle - This comes out "Bo Bo" but it means bottle. We have been giving Nic a bottle for a couple of weeks now. We started it because it felt like I wasn't always able to give him enough milk. He is still breastfeeding well and he feeds for naps and for comfort throughout the day and then he nurses to sleep and then throughout the night. He does like to have bottles although he doesn't generally drink that much from them.
Cup - A sippy cuy. He likes to drink water and juice from sippy cups.

"Remember"

Jac has been having a little biting problem. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does it happens really quickly, before I realize that something is really going on.

A few days, the boys were playing, and it got contentious over a toy, and Nic tried to take it, and Jac bit him. It was a pretty hard bite that left teeth marks on Nic's arm, and the bitten area swole up a bit. Nic was very upset and cried for a bit, and as I worked to calm him down, I talked to Jac about what was going on, and why Nic was crying.

After NIc had calmed down, I saw that the bitten area had gotten swollen. We talked about that, and decided that Nic needed a bandaid, like Mommy had on her finger. The discussion about the swollen arm and the bandaid went on for a while.

This was several days ago and we have discussed it a few times since then, all initiated by Jac.

Tonight he said "swollen," which was a new word for him that came out of the discussion of Nicie's arm. His enunciation of swollen is a little unclear and I am not always able to immediately recognize it. Tonight, he said "swollen," and I didn't understand him. He said, "remember, swollen arm." Amazing!

He is such a little sponge! It is so fun to watch!

"I love you Momma"

Jac can say just about anything now it seems!

On Sunday, Grandma asked Jac to say "I love you." He said it but not very clearly.

We have been practicing saying different phrases, like, "Good morning Dadda," and "Bye, Bye Katie." Jac now has a great sense of praciticing saying things for the future and that they are not actually applicable right now.

So tonight I asked him to say, "I love you Dadda," and he did! And then he said, "I love you Momma!" I also asked him to say, "I love you Grandma," and "I love you Grandfather," the next time we see them. He said both!

When Jac said, "I love you Daddy," it flashed me right back to the NICU. I remember sitting for hours with him in Kangaroo care, and watching him laying on Daddy in Kangaroo care. The feelings that I had back then, to protect him, to help him grow up, to hear those words, were so strong, that as soon as I heard him say, "I love you Daddy," it took me right back there. I would sit, and think, "I love you little one, grow, and be well, we love you." It was a powerful flash back that brought tears to my eyes! My little boy is growing up!

"Momma"

Nic has started calling me Momma - sort of! Over the last few days he has finally! started saying Momma - but not all of the time - and it still doesn't really feel like it is directed at me! But I will take it! Except when he is crying about his diaper change and crying, "Momma, momma" - I think I preferred it when that was "Dadda!"

Welcome Cooper James Marsh

Congratulations to Chris and Alexis on the birth of their son, Cooper James Marsh, who joined us this morning at 10:02 am London time! We were all soundly asleep (or not so soundly asleep!) here in Pasadena when the news arrived!

We have received a few pictures but we are looking forward to many more!

Benecalorie and hGH

We have started adding a calorie supplement to Jac's night time bottle. It is a supplement called Benecalorie. It is a medical food and it has 330 calories in 1.5 oz - which is 7 cal per ml! Amazing! It is an oil supplement and it is hard to get it to mix with his milk, but I try! We started last week and I can't tell if it is helping him gain any weight yet.

We have decided that we are going to start Jac on hGH, which is Human Growth Hormone. There are lots of reasons that we need to do this for Jac all of which I don't want to explain right now, suffice it to say we have decided that it is best for him, and until he is old enough to decide he doesn't want it, we are going to give it to him. It is a daly injection, like an insulin shot, same kind of tiny, thin needle. We are waiting on the hGH until we get all of the approvals from the insurance company - hopefully we will get that in the next month.

Left handed

Nicie is most definitely left-handed. If you offer him something to hold he usually takes it with his left hand - and he loves to throw with his left arm. He has got some ambidextrousness going on also though - the other day he took two balls, one in each hand, over his head, and threw them, and hit me with both of them! Fortunately they were soft! He uses forks and spoons with his left hand and holds teething rings with his left hand.

Bam Bam

When Nicie is wearing a sleeveless suit he likes to stick one of his arms through the neck hole. I usually manage to keep him from doing it but this morning he did it and so ended up wearing a nice off-the-shoulder look.

Daddy said he looked like "Bam Bam" from Flintstones and I would have to agree! With his propensity for throwing, running and hitting it seems an apt nickname at times!

Twins?

We are constantly asked if the boys are twins. This is not at all surprising given that they are a similar size and unless you pay attention it is not obvious that Jac is light years ahead of Nic developmentally (14 months ahead!) I always answer, "No, they are 14 months apart." I get a lot of quizzical looks and head scratching and then people usually take a closer look and reevaluate and see that they are not twins.

The funny thing about this is that up until yesterday I was always just a little bit offended by the question. It seemed so obvious to me that they are not twins, and my Jacie is so much "older." Yesterday as I was watching them play together, and really enjoy one another (they have done this for a while but it really struck me yesterday), I realized that as soon as Nicie starts really talking (2-3 word sentences - like Jac is doing now) it is really going to be like having twins, in a really cool way!

My mind started wandering to what things are going to be like when the boys are 3 and 4 and are at more developmentally similar stages than they are right now. Oh man! It is going to be wild and fun! I better be on my toes with both of them watching me!

My boys!

Directed play

The boys have been playing "together" for a while now, more often than not it is more about having the same toy at the same time!

They like to chase one another, and that develops naturally at certain times of the day. Today, Jac decided that he wanted Nic to chase him. He went over, got Nic, asked him to hold hands, and then started puling him and saying, "chase."

Wow! I could see the future opening in front of my eyes as the boys start developing their own games, and making rules for those games, and getting the other one to play with them!

I remember doing all of that so clearly with my sister! The thing I remember most clearly are our Snoopies! We loved them! They were our friends and we created entire worlds for them to live in and stories that they lived out. They got to do all of the things that we wanted to do but didn't get to for one reason or another.

I can fully understand now why my parents' memories of us playing that way are so special. I can't wait! Yes I can! I love this time, but that is going to be just amazing!

"Trade"

Jac now understands the idea of trading. He has done it before but
today's example was perfect. Nicie had a phone that Jac wanted. We
offered and found Jac a different phone. He took the new phone up to
Nicie and said "trade," which Nicie did!

Sent from my iPhone