My Pumpkins!

Yay!  Another blog in the same month!  So proud of myself.  :)

I really love October.  I think it may be my favorite month of the year.  The weather gets nicer, and I love all of the Halloween decorations everywhere.  I've been continuing the crafts with Beckham, and the Halloween ones have been really fun.  We hang them all on the wall, and both of the boys love looking at them and talking about them.  Beckham even refers back to them when he sees something that reminds him of one.  For example, on one of Curious George's episodes, George was building a scarecrow and Becks turned to me and said, "Look, Mommy!  Just like our scarecrow!".  And when he saw a little girl dressed as a witch, he said, "Mommy, a witch just like we made!".  I love that he is having such a good time with our "projects" as he calls them. 

Beckham even did a project with Daddy a week ago!  His favorite book for his daddy to read to him is "Daddy's Little Boy" which his aunt Kay Kay gave to him as a gift when he was in my belly.  Well in the book, the little boy and his daddy read a story about a castle so they decide to build one themselves.  The little boy draws the plans for the castle and then they go to the store together to buy the items they'll need to build it.  Then they go home and build it together.  So Joshua and Beckham did exactly that.  They read the book together, then Beckham drew up the plans (a bunch of scribble scratch), and then they went to the store together, and came home where they built a rather impressive castle! 

My Beckham Boo is always saying cute things as I've already shared before, and I try to document as much as I can so here are some new things he's said:

*Me: "Why are you so sweet?"
 Becks: "I don't know."
 Me:  "Is because you're made from sugar?"
 Becks:  "No."
 Me:  "Well what are you made from that makes you so sweet?"
 Becks:  "I'm made from New Orleans.  I'm a ragin Cajun from New Orleans."
 Me:  "So does that mean you're spicy?"
 Becks:  "No, I'm not spicy. I'm sweet!"

*Beckham is finally learning how things work around here.  He recently told me, "Mom, you're in charge. And you're taking care of my friend, Everett."

*Becks licked Everett's nose and said, "I'm not the Fireman.  I'm the Lickman!".  I have no idea where he gets this stuff from.

*Beckham has been calling Everett "Ev" all of the time which is so cute because no one else calls him that.

*Beckham has been saying "I wish..." a lot lately.  For example, when I take something from him, he says, "Mommy, I wish you didn't take that from me."

*Whenever we pull up to our house, all of the kids in the neighborhood come running to our car to see the boys and a few them go right to Everett because they like to hold him.  Well one day after we got home, a few of the girls were taking turns holding Evie and Beckham told them, "Hey, that's not your baby!  That's our baby!"

*Beckham told me, "Mommy, I just made a little, baby fart."  LOL

*Becks was talking about watching his favorite TV show (Little Einsteins) and said, "I want to watch two of them.  That would be perfect."

*Whenever Everett repeats Beckham, Beckham tells him "Everett, don't peat me!"

*Beckham has been telling us that he is disappointed in us when he doesn't like the way we discipline him.  For example, if I have to take a toy from him, he will tell me "Mommy, I am very disappointed in you for taking things from people!"

*Beckham has been pointing out rhyming words to us! 

*Joshua brought Beckham with him to Little Ceasers Pizza one night to order a pizza, and Beckham, half asleep, picked up his head and told the worker "We would like a cheeseburger with no pickles and no onions."

*Beckham was racing around the house yesterday with his big dump truck and I told him, "Beckham, don't run.  Dump trucks are big and slow.  They are not race cars."  So he then told me, "No, Mommy, dump trucks go fast like this!"  And he started running with it again.  So I told him again that they are slow, and he said, "Aw come on!"  Sometimes I think he is a little man in that tiny body.

*I know Becks is missing his family back home because one day we had this conversation as I was putting on my black boots:
Becks:  "Why are you putting on Kay Kay's shoes?!"
Then five minutes later, he looks at my boots on me and says, "Mommy, you look like Whitty!"
Me:  "Does that mean I'm pretty?"
Becks:  "Yes, Mommy.  That's why I love you."

*One morning, I had to take a toy from Beckham because of something he either did or said and he told me, "Mommy, I got up and went and got that, and you took it away. That was rude. You don't do things like that or you're going to go to jail."

*Beckham loves to do things just to push our buttons, and he knows exactly what to do.  When he came back from New Orleans, he was purposely calling me "Sir" and Joshua "Ma'am".  After not getting the things he wanted, it didn't take him long to switch that back around. 

*Beckham has a couple of dolls that you press their tummies to hear them talk so he now comes up to me and says, "I'm a toy!  Press me to see what I say!"  So I press his chest and he makes a funny noise.  Then he presses mine and I tell him something sweet. 

*Beckham speaks really well, but he does say some words a little funny.  For example, he turns the "th" sound into an "l" sound, like for "other" he says "olla", and "brother" he says "brolla", etc.  He also says "bullafly" instead of "butterfly", and I love when he says "pellow" for "pillow".  And what's really strange is that he add's "L's" for some words and takes away "L's" in other words!  For words that begin with an "l", he changes it to a "w", so "lion", "love" and "long" are "wion", "wuv" and "wong".  So cute. 

*Another thing that Beckham has started doing is saying "What?" and "Me?" all of the time.  Even if we are not talking to him, he says, "Me?".

*Beckham says "I" all of the time.  For instance, if I were to tell him, "I'll go get it for you."  He would say, "No, I!" instead of "No, Me!" and then he would go get it.  He says "I" whenever he wants to do something instead of you!  I kind of think that might be the proper grammar too.  lol
*Beckham has been doing really well with the potty training again.  It was very frustrating for me when he returned from New Orleans and was completely refusing to sit on the potty after being potty trained already.  It was a total regression.  After a couple of weeks, he stopped fighting me to sit on the potty, but he still wasn't telling me when he had to go.  During this time, he was still pooping in his pants every day.  During his original potty training before he left town, his reward for pooping in the potty was being able to ride his big boy bike.  Well, this didn't work during the second potty training so we began taking his favorite toys from him whenever he pooped in his pants.  He would lose his Woody doll, Slinky and his dump truck.  Despite him getting very upset when we would take these things from him, he continued to poop in his pants.  About a week later, we added punishment from his TV at night.  He complains that he is scared of the dark when he doesn't get to watch a movie in bed, so I was surprised that he let this go on for about five nights before he decided that he would poop in the potty again.  I actually prefered him sleeping without the TV because he fell asleep faster that way.  Most nights he didn't even whine for very long about it either.  But this ended up doing the trick.  He has been doing all of his pottying in the toilet, and has even been telling me when he needs to go.  Needless to say, there will be no more trips for Beckham until he is well into the routine of using the potty!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we have a pet monkey named Everett.  The little monkey loves to climb on absolutely everything.  We have picked up the bar stools so that he can no longer climb onto the kitchen counter, but he has been pulling himself up so high with just his hands that I wouldn't be surprised if he soon figures out how to get up there with no stools at all.  The little monkey is also obsessed with bananas like any other monkey would be.  If he sees them on the table or in the store or on TV, he whines and reaches for them until he gets one.  He doesn't act like that about any other food.

Our sweet little monkey even sounds like one too.  His responses to things are often sounds that sound just like Curious George.  And by the way, "George" is my new favorite word that Everett says.  He makes a soft "g" sound for the first "G" instead of a "j" sound. 

Everett is very attached to the blanket my mom made for him when I was pregnant with him.  He's been sleeping with it since he was a little baby, and recently he has been wanting to take it out of his bed with him when he wakes up.  He loves anything made from yarn, but he is especially attached to this particular blanket.  He likes to rub the yarn on the tip of his nose.  He also does this with the throw blanket we have on our couch and the snake Myshie made for him. 

Lately, I've been finding Everett spread out on the kitchen floor.  He takes his blanky and lays on it on the kitchen floor.  Most of the time, I find him laying on his blanket behind the kitchen table which has become his hiding spot.  Whenever I tell him, "Everett, I have to change your diapy." he takes off running and hides behind the table. 

Everett now loves to sing "The Mardi Gras Mambo" just like his big brother used to.  He sings, "Mambo, mambo, mambo..." over and over. 

Everett has been repeating absolutely everything, even phrases now.  And he loves to say things like "Aw man" and "touch down".  During a car ride, Joshua was asking Beckham to say one of Lil Wayne's popular lines, "Chea.  Weezy, baby."  and Evie repeated it instead!  Now Evie says it all of the time.  Another thing Everett likes to say is "Papa".  He says it after everything.  He'll start speaking his baby gibberish and then pause and say "Papa".  And he always yells "Woo Hooooo! ...Papa".  Hahaha!

So like I said, Everett repeats everything.  Well, that includes the things that Beckham says too.  When Beckham sees Everett with a toy that he wants, he tells Everett, "That's mine!" and so Everett then replies, "Mine", and then they just go back and forth.  And for the longest time you could tell that Everett had no idea what he was saying.  He was simply repeating his brother, and it was so funny.

One of the cutest things the little monkey does is walks and stands with his hands behind his back.  I'm not sure when he started this, but I'm pretty sure he's been doing it for a good while.  It's so unique to him, and mommy loves it. 

We're so excited for Halloween.  Joshua's parents are coming in town again, and everyone will be dressing up.  As usual, we will be dressing up as a family and the boys are going to be sooooo cute!  A couple of weeks ago, the boys painted some pumpkins and they had so much fun that I had a hard time getting the paint from them.  I ended up giving them some paper and letting them continue.  Everett made such a mess that he stuck the paint in his nose and eye, and even tried to eat it! 

Saturday we took the boys to Hooters where we met up with a group of Marines and their families to watch the LSU game.  The boys were a couple of hams, and they had a great time.

Yesterday, we met up with Frank, Tasha and baby Isaac at Bates Nut Farm which was a really amazing pumpkin patch.  We don't have anything like it in NOLA so it was fun to do something different this year.  The boys had a blast playing with all of the pumpkins.  Everett was running around trying to pick them all up, but he couldn't pick up any of them, and Beckham was rolling on them and climbing all over.  Even Isaac enjoyed sitting in them! 

I'll end this post with some videos of the boys.  The first one is of Everett talking with Daddy after dinner, and the second one is of the boys playing together.  Enjoy  :)

Goodbye, Hair! Hello, Fall!

Beckham has been back from New Orleans for a few weeks now so I have some catching up to do.  His trip lasted for ten days, from September 6th-16th.  He mostly stayed with Joshua's parents who flew him out there, but he also spent a couple nights with my mom and Huey.  I was really nervous about letting him go because those who know me well, know that I struggle with a lot of anxiety when it comes to my children.  The closer the trip got, the more worried I became.  However, as a mother, there will be many times in my life that I will have to make sacrifices for my kids, and I was well aware that this was one of those times that I needed to sit back and do this for my son.  Despite all of the fears that were running through my mind, I did feel a ton of excitement for Beckham.  I was so happy that he was going to see all of the people who he dearly misses, and that he was going to be able to attend his cousin, Daniel's first birthday party where I knew he would see all of his other cousins who he had not seen in over a year.  I couldn't wait to hear all of the stories of his trip "home". 

Before we left for Vegas, Beckham had gone two straight weeks with no potty accidents, but I was a little concerned about how he would do without me with him in New Orleans. Of course, when he got there, he immediately began testing his boundaries with Joshua's parents... with the potty and with his attitude. My son is a very strong willed person who knows exactly what he wants and he makes no secret of his wishes. He tends to be very bossy and demanding; and although we mostly have it under control at home, I knew this would be a problem during his stay back home. It takes constant positive reinforcement to keep him on track, and he will no doubt test his limits in a new household. The first couple of days with Donna and Gene, Beckham clearly made it known that he wanted to be in control. He finally had a breakdown which resulted from him demanding that Donna pick up his cup that he threw. After throwing a long fit because she refused to pick it up, he finally fell asleep and let off on the control a bit. This behavior continued when he went to my mother's house too. He was trying to tell everyone in her house what to do and would kick people out of the bathroom when he was using the potty. Apparently, he would only let Myshie help him in the bathroom. He ended up giving her so many problems with the potty that he mostly stayed in a pull up at her house.

Once he returned home, I had my hands full. The first few days, he had several potty accidents until he finally got back into his old routine. However, over the last two days, this has suddenly become a problem again. There are times that I feel like I am starting all over.  And it is simply a control issue. When he came back from New Orleans, he was sassier than ever. If I were to say, "Please pick that up." He would reply, "No, you pick it up." Just the other day I told him, "Only Mommy can correct Brother." And he said, "No, only Beckham can correct Brother." And if we fuss him, he speaks angry gibberish and swings his hand. Now, he has gotten much better over the last few weeks because all of this was just simply to see what he could get away with. Like I mentioned before, every time he goes someplace new, he feels the need to test his boundaries again. It only took about a week for him to get his attitude in check here, but now I'm going to have to figure out what's going on with the potty situation.

Here are some pics of Becks in New Orleans with some of his family:

Here are some pics of when Gene and Donna brought Becks back home.

Beckham can be a handful at times, but he is mostly a sweetheart with lots of great things on his mind.  Here are some funny things he's been saying:

*Beckham stacked his cup on top of his snack bowl and said, "Look, it's a Eiffel Tower!".

*One day the boys and I were hanging out in Beckham's room and Everett walked out so Beckham yelled to him, "Everett, come back here!  Someones gonna take you and run away with you!  You don't want someone to take you and run away with you."

*Beckham once asked me out of the blue, "What we gonna do now that we need help?"  So I asked him, "What are you talking about?"  He replied, "I don't know what I'm talking about."

*Another time he told me, "Excuse me, Mommy, my son."

*One afternoon Beckham was riding around in his "Fire Truck" car and when he got out, he walked to me and said, "That was a little weird."

*Recently, I said that I wanted a muffin, and Beckham asked "From a Muffin Man?"

*Everett screamed so Beckham told him, "Everett, don't scream in the house!  You're gonna have to go outside in the dark!  You don't want to go outside in the dark.  It's dark in the dark!"

*I told Beckham that he was too much, and he replied, "Too much?  I ate raisins too much."

While Beckham was in New Orleans, Everett was figuring out who he was.  It was his first time as an "only child" and he began testing his boundaries too.  Our backyard is not fenced in and I never had a problem letting the boys play out back while keeping only "an eye" on them.  Well, because Everett was free from his brother, he seemed to think he was free from everything.  He kept running away!  He also transformed himself into a little monkey.  I don't care how cute of a monkey he is, I'd rather my son be a human.  He climbs onto the table outside as well as his toddler table inside.  He also climbs over the gate in front of the stairs now with no problem.  We have also had to pick up our bar stools because the little monkey uses them to climb onto the kitchen counter!  And as I mentioned in a previous blog, he has climbed out of his crib.  He also doesn't have a problem climbing onto the top bunk in Beckham's room.  And now he is climbing on top of the kitchen table!!  As I am writing this!!  This is the first time I'm seeing him do this.  I literally have to take him to the bathroom with me because I have no idea what he will be climbing on while I'm in there.  All of this is really a pain for Joshua and I as parents, but I must admit that there is a tad bit of cuteness in it all... when he climbs to the top of things, he yells "Get dooooown!" over and over!  LOL

Everett repeats just about every word now and he has a very large vocabulary. He is always pointing to things and saying what they are. He has a very raspy voice and he says most words with a "G" though. For example, "Binky" is "Geeky". But my favorite word that he says so far is "Bamama" or "Bagama" = "Banana". He is a motor mouth though. When he is not saying actual words, he is speaking some kind of gibberish.  

Evie tries to count everything, but most of the time it doesn't sound like he's saying numbers, just sounds. But he points to things and uses the same tone as when we count to him. There are times when he definitely says numbers, but they are usually not in order.

 

Everett mimics our expressions! This is seriously the cutest thing that he does. He mimics the surprised face, angry face, sad face and happy face. And when he hurts us (on purpose) when he pinches or hits, he makes a face as though he was hurt!  

Beckham and Everett are so sweet to each other sometimes, especially in the mornings.  This morning Beckham said that he wanted to lay by his brother, and then started rubbing Everett's back.  Other times, I find them hugging and kissing each other.  And one of Beckham's favorite things to do to his brother is give him raspberries which makes Everett crack up laughing.  But boys aren't always nice.  Sometimes Beckham yells to Evie to get away, and Everett has totally picked up on this.  When Beckham is laying on the couch watching TV, Everett walks up to him and yells, "Go waaaay!" and then Becks yells back, "You go away!" and then Evie yells it again, "Go waaaay!" and so on.  It's quite funny, but I have to hide my smile because it's just not polite.  Haha! 

I mentioned in a previous blog that I planned to work on having Everett out of his crib while Beckham was in NOLA.  I ended up deciding that I wanted to just slowly move him into Beckham's room which is where I've been planning on having them both sleep.  So I felt that there was no point in me getting Everett used to sleeping in a toddler bed in his own room when I would soon have to get him used to sleeping in Beckham's room anyway.  Well this was the week that I began working out my plan, and so far it has been going great.  I've been having both boys napping in Beckham's room; and once Evie is done teething, I plan to move him in there full time.  Everett hasn't been much of a problem with nap time.  He does try to climb out of the bed several times before giving up and going to sleep, but he doesn't cry at all.  Beckham seems to be the bigger problem though because it takes him longer to go to sleep so I catch him talking to himself and playing which makes me afraid that Everett may get woken up. But they are cute in there together.  Becks sleeps on the top bunk and Everett sleeps on the bottom.

Everett has been known for his long hair, but the time has come to chop it off.  It was only curly when he was right out of the bath, but that was at night so he would sleep on it and it would end up being flat and messy the entire next day.  Joshua cut it in the backyard like he does with Beckham, and his haircut came out so cute!  My hubby definitely has a talent for cutting hair.  Everyone thinks the boys look so much more alike now, and we are just loving Evie's new do.

After Evie's haircut, we met up with Tasha, Frank and Isaac at La Jolla Cove aka Seal Beach where everyone had a great time, and I was able to get some cute pics of the boys.  Unfortunately, I only had my crappy camera with me so the pics could have been so much better.

We are in the middle of my favorite season right now... FALL!  And Fall makes me feel all crafty.  I've been waiting for Beckham to get to a good age to do some projects with me, and I could have actually started earlier with him.  But better late than never!  Everett is still a little too young for most of the things we've been doing though.  I often try to get him to participate in the beginning, but he ends up throwing everything and getting angry.  He's growing fast so he'll be getting crafty with us soon enough.  Here are some stuff we've been working on!