Baby Leashes...

I always thought it was funny when my mom would tell me that as a toddler she would put a leash around my waist when we were out and about. I never imagined that I would do that with my kids. My Grandma must have realized I would because she was nice enough to get us 2 baby backpack leashes before the boys were even born. I put them in a drawer and thought, well maybe we'll use them someday and now someday has arrived. I've realized that these are something we can't live without. The boys both like to walk and James especially hates to hold onto anyone's hand. Jack likes to hold hands, but he only wants you to go where he wants you to go, not where you need him to go. The leashes are cute. One is a puppy dog, which we gave to Jack. He loves dogs and likes to tell us woof woof so I thought it was fitting to give him the doggy one. James loves all stuffed animals or toys, but especially his bear, so it was an easy decision to give him the bear. They wore them at church a couple weeks ago for the first time and James was very happy about it. So much that he had to wear it backwards to be able to love on the bear. Jack wasn't happy about wearing it, so he mostly played with it. To get them used to wearing them I have been having them wear them around the house so they are used to them being on. They both wanted to wear them backwards while they were playing.




After awhile, Jack got tired of it being on his front and we switched it to the normal way to wear.



When it is on the correct way, the leash (which looks like a tail) attaches to a tab on the bottom of the backpack. When it is on backwards, the leash attached to a small tab on the side strap. I like that they strap securely in the front and aren't just straps they can slip out of on their own. The clips are very tight so I can't imagine they will be able to undo them on their own any time soon.



James really liked to love on his and wasn't happy unless it was on backwards. He kept hugging the bear and loving on it while he was playing. He even hung on tight while he was standing on our stool trying to get away from his brother.



By the time Matt finally got him to put it on the correct way, he was distracted by wearing his blue bucket on his head. At least he's imaginative.


And I'll admit he must be pretty smart to figure out that putting the strap in his mouth keeps the bucket on his head.

The Tractors

So my Dad has a slight obsession with International Harvester Tractors. He actually built an entire room in his tool shed to accommodate his toy collections and he parks his antique tractors outside the room. He LOVES this stuff and started indoctrinating the boys at a super young age. As in they each had their own tractor before the age of 3 months!!

This is Jack with my Dad on his white demonstrator Cub last August when he was about 2 months old.....

And this is Jack just a couple weeks ago pretending to drive his cub at the Saline Fair.

He was so excited to be sitting on it that Matt had to hold him to keep him from falling off. It was a big improvement from the last time he sat on it in the spring and tried to chew on the steering wheel.

Here is James with Grandpa last August at 2 months old on his red antique cub.


And here is James at the fair pretending to drive his cub. He was happy that Grandma was with him.

I'm sure by next summer Grandpa will be teaching them to drive. Or at least they'll actually be able to pedal on their pedal tractors.

Brotherly Love

For the most part, the boys enjoy spending time together. They like to play together and they get irritated or upset if they are separated from their brother for a long period of time. 2 weekends ago Jack spent the morning with Daddy at Cabela's and James spent the morning with me at set-up for the fair. They did fine, but when we got home they wanted to be together and gave each other hugs and kisses.

Then there are the times when they just want to fight. They fight over toys. They fight for our attention and time. They fight over their loveys, food and cups. Lately the fights have revolved around shoes and socks. They are obsessed with shoes suddenly! So when Jack was trying to put his socks back on the other day, I caught this....

Eating Neatly.....sort of

We are very lucky that we have 2 good eaters. Both of the boys will eat most anything. They especially like vegetables. Jack loves green beans. If you give him beans he'll eat those before he eats anything else in front of him. James also likes green beans, but his current favorite seems to be tomatoes. He loves them cut up and I can't wait until he is a little bigger so I can just give him whole cherry tomatoes. They like fruit, this weekend they couldn't get enough of the strawberries at Morgan's birthday party. So far they only thing they won't eat are hot peppers. They both tried them and Jack actually ate a couple bites before he realized that he didn't like it.

For lunches on the weekend we have been doing lunchables on the days where we are busy. They seem to be the prefect size for them to share as long as we give them a few other things to go with them. I like that the meat and cheese are cut up small enough that I don't have to make them any smaller for them to eat, making it super easy for me. The boys love crackers so they are always happy to have a couple of those. When we have fresh fruit around it's easy to give them some melon or grapes with the lunchable, topped off by a few of their favorite cookies. I will readily admit that we do not routinely buy organic food for the boys, but these cookies are fabulous. They taste like regular graham crackers, but make much less mess so it's a win for the boys and for mommy.

Their current obsession on the food front seems to be goldfish crackers. All summer long that seems to be what they have gotten for snack and as you'll see in the pictures below, they have a pile of goldfishies with their lunchables.

I had to get a few pictures though since they were sitting so nicely in their seats and were being so well behaved while they were eating. Our next step is to get the table cleaned off so that we can convert the seats into the boosters and mommy can stop washing 2 trays 3 times a day.



PS- Jack thought he was the boss of his brother this day, hence the pointing while giving him directions on how to eat his lunch. To me it sounded like a bunch of gobbledy gook, but James seemed to understand.

Playing Outside

The boys have finally realized the joy of playing outside and they don't seem to be able to get enough of it. They like the playhouse that I got off Craig's list and they like the other outdoor climber that I got for free, yes free, on the side of the road. They love that they can climb to the top of it without help from mom or dad, even though it isn't as easy for them to get down.


They have also discovered that the steps going up to our deck are a great thing to play on. They love to go up and down. The love to smell the fake flowers in my planter boxes or pull them out at least. Pretty soon they'll be running circles around the table...or climbing up on the table.



A couple weeks ago we were outside at Kaycie's fifth birthday party and the boys, especially Jack, were super excited to play with Uncle Shawn's football.


This weekend we spent some time at the park. The boys both LOVED the slide, which I wasn't able to get any pictures of. Jack especially loved climbing up the stairs and they were super cute in their mini pooper shirts that Grandpa and Sheryl brought them from Florida.

The New Water Bottles

The boys have been using sippy cups for quite awhile now, more than a few months. Jack has mastered the art of sipping through a straw and James is close behind. Since they are doing so well with the cups and straws I got them "real" water bottles. The grown up kind. They are cute, blue and BPA free which I was happy about.


I like that they are more "adult" looking, but still have a valve to avoid major spills. The boys seem to really enjoy them too.





They especially seem to like sitting in the chair like big boys drinking from their big boy water bottles.


and more fun to come in the next few days.....especially since I dropped my camera and had to get a new one.

Spending Time with Grandpa

Both of the boys seem to have an obsession with my dad. I'm not sure what it is, but it is there. They love to spend time with their other grandparents. They enjoy Matt's Dad and Sheryl, especially since David will do all sorts of silly stuff with them. They both like to cuddle with Sally and spend time playing with my mom, but they are OBSESSED with my dad. When my dad walks into the room they want him to pick them up right away.....and they get mad if he doesn't. If he is holding one of them but not the other, they get mad. If my dad is around they want nothing to do with me, Matt or anyone else. They want to play with him and they suck him into whatever they are doing. A few weeks ago my dad was at our house and told the boys he had to leave and then proceeded to stay another 45 minutes because they wouldn't let him leave. In the picture below you can see how irritated Jack is that someone is even attempting to touch him while he is with Grandpa.


Jack especially seems to be even more into Grandpa than his brother is. Maybe it is becasue they look so much alike. Since Jack almost always seems to be attached to him, I don't often get pictures like this of my dad hanging out with James, but James has his own obsession with Grandpa, especially when they are both decked out in IH gear or Grandpa is letting him suck on the top of his water bottle.



Maybe they'll even get Grandpa into the pool with them someday....