sleep

I am continuing to have trouble with the boys at bedtime. Last night, Dallin fell asleep at 6:00 because church kept him from having a nap. I hoped Porter would fall asleep early too, but he stayed up watching Scooby Doo. I put Porter to bed at 8:30. I read him books and then had to lay "behind" him until he fell asleep because he was scared. He finally fell asleep but was coughing a lot. Just as I finished brushing my teeth so that I could go to bed, Dallin woke up crying because his feet had come uncovered. He told me not to leave, so I laid down on his floor until he fell asleep again. I was getting up to go to bed, when Porter woke up crying and came looking for me. He said he was too scared to stay in his room and needed me to stay with him. He had been asleep for about 10 minutes when Dallin woke up again and was upset. I went back to laying on Dallin's floor. Dallin fell back asleep pretty quickly but then Porter started screaming. He had woken up and saw his dinosaur's tail. He thought there was a monster in his room. This time, I got Porter to take some medicine for his coughing (that would make him drowsy) and he finally fell asleep for good. Then Dallin woke up AGAIN and I had to go back to him. I fell asleep on Dallin's floor, only to be woken up every 20 minutes or so to re-cover Dallin's feet with his blanket, get Dallin juice, find Dallin's "tiny Elmo," etc. I never actually made it to my own bed. I think they have some kind of plot to keep me from sleeping.

big boy

Dallin has decided to use the potty (though only sporatically and so he still has to wear diapers). He says he is big now and that means using the potty, etc. On Sunday, during sacrament meeting Dallin yelled, "I need go potty." Joe took him and they returned several minutes later. When they came back in, Dallin loudly stated, "I big. I use potty. I poop." He was very proud of himself. I asked him if he had used the potty at daycare today. He said, "no, poop no come out."

catching on

Dallin is apparently wise to Porter's negotiation tactics. We got some glitter pens for the boys to share today and Porter didn't want to share. He working up a plan and said to Dallin, "Dallin, how about this . . ." Before he could finish, Dallin said, "no how bouts Porter."

dumbo

Dallin and Porter love the movie Dumbo lately. Dallin calls it "Gumbo." hee hee hee

back for more

Since Porter "has never gone to the dinosaur museum for a long time," and we now have a family pass, I took the boys again today. It did not go well. We didn't even leave the house until 11:00 because Dallin was grumpy and refused to eat breakfast or get dressed. On the way there, there was a fairly large fight in the car between the boys because Porter had eaten his whole piece of cheese and was still hungry and Dallin refused to share his cheese. Rather than detail the whole terrible trip, I will just tell you what Porter and Dallin told Joe about it:
Joe: Porter, what did you do today?
Porter: we went to the dinosaur museum. I was naughty. I ran away from mom. Mom picked me up and I cried and kicked. We were so naughty we had to eat lunch and try again. I didn't want to eat lunch. I cried more.
Dallin: Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad,
Joe: What Dallin
Dallin: I go to din-o-saur moosuem
Porter: I had to sit on the bench. Then I hided in the toy part (the gift shop)
Mom: remember why you were supposed to be on the bench? You were on time out for not behaving
Porter: no, I had settled down so I hided in the toy store until mom found me. Then I came back and was good so that I could see the dinosaurs again but Dallin was bad. We got to go back the musuem and I was bad and Dallin was good. Then Dallin was bad and I was good. Then I was good and Dallin was bad. Then Dallin was good and I was bad. And then Dallin was bad and I was still bad. And then I was good but Dallin was still bad.
Dallin: I not naughty. I not run way.

Then Porter explained, pretty well, all the things they had seen at the musuem, like the computers where they could paint their own dinosaurs and the build-a-dinosaur part where he didn't like a lot of the different heads.

juice

This morning on the way to daycare, Porter asked if I could pick them up tonight. I said that I couldn't, that Dad would get them. Porter said that they don't like Dad and don't want him to come. I asked why. Porter said, it is because Dad doesn't take care of them. I said, "how doesn't he take care of you." Porter said, "he doesn't get us more juice when we are thirsty. We ask nice and say please and he says, 'you don't need any more juice.' But we are so thirsty we will die and we don't have any more juice. That is not taking care of us. He doesn't give us dinner either. You are the only one who feeds us." I sort of doubt that Joe doesn't feed them. He just feeds them things that they don't think are real food, like cereal and clif bars. He is trying to get them to drink less juice though and it is not being well received.

On the up side. We bought a family pass to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point and went on Saturday evening. Porter and Dallin have been very interested in dinosaurs lately. We rented Dinosaur from the library and they have been watching it a lot. They have also been talking about dinosaurs this month at daycare. They liked the museum very much. Porter has been asking to go back ever since. I think he wants to spend more time perusing the gift shop. Dallin's favorite part was the giant turtle skeleton.



Speaking of dinosaurs and daycare, I am in a small dilemma. Porter brought his favorite little dinosaur to daycare on friday and didn't come home with it. When I was putting him to bed, he started to cry and said that his teacher threw pteranadon away. I told him we would figure this out on Monday when we went back to daycare. On the way there this morning, Porter started to cry again that he missed pteranadon. I asked the teachers there and none of them seemed to know anything about it and said they would look. One of the little girls though said, "it is in the garbage." I asked her why and she said it was because Porter was sticking it up his nose. I guess the staff who threw it away isn't there in the mornings. I know that he should behave and they should have taken the dinosaur away if he was being inappropriate but I don't think they should have thrown away the dinosaur. I was hoping whoever had thrown it away would be there so I could ask her about it and see if maybe Porter had misunderstood and she had actually just put it on time out or something. I guess I will have to talk to the director about this now.

friends

(I seem to be a blogging addict, I do it almost everday and sometimes more. At least it isn't crack).
This morning Porter and Dallin wanted to bring some of their tiny dinosaurs with them to daycare. Porter brought several so he could share with his friends. Dallin only had one so Porter asked him if he wanted to bring some to share with his friends. Dallin said no. Porter said, "Do you have any friends Blue?" Dallin said "no." Porter then said, "Then Sage can be your friend too and you can share a dinosaur with him when my class comes upstairs." Dallin was pretty excited about that. Aww.
By the way, when we got to daycare, a couple of kids came running up, saying "Dallin, Dallin" and he was surrounded by a little entourage so I guess he does have friends (or at least admirers) after all. When I was leaving, I looked over and saw Dallin demonstrating how the small dinosaur worked (which is mostly that he makes it jump into the air) and then giving the other kids turns to try it out. My favorite part was that he was obviously saying encouraging things to them because he was being pretty expressive (smiling, nodding, saying something that I could hear) and the other kids seemed to be pleased with what he said.

mom knows best

Porter has a book about dinosaurs that he really likes and we read a lot. There is a CD to it (that was hidden in the front cover and we had never listened to) and Porter listened to it tonight. As it turns out, I have been mispronoucing one of the dinosaur's names. Porter was playing with a little toy version of the dinosaur (that he has named Chocolate Licorice) and was still pronouncing it the same way that I mispronounce it. I reminded him that the guy on the tape said that it was actually pronounced differently. Porter told me that it was because they guy had never seen one of those kind of dinosaurs and couldn't see the book so he didn't know how to say it right. He said the guy could come to our house and look at the book so that he see what kind of dinosaur it really was.

medals

I signed Porter and Dallin up for pee wee soccer today. It is right before gymnastics. Dallin is thrilled. He just kept saying "soccer" over and over. Porter doesn't think he wants to do it though. He said he only wants to play sports if he can win medals. He has been wearing his gymnastics medal around sometimes. He got it at the last tournament. He often makes me remind him of why he got it (on his score card, they wrote down something he did well at each station).


I don't know if Dallin will really do the soccer class. He was a stinker today in gymnastics. He refused to stretch (as usual); did a good job on the balance beams (he did most of it by himself); but then was very ornery during the floor routine. He only did everything once and then got so upset that he took off his pants, laid down on the floor and cried. At least he couldn't get his diaper off this time or it would have been quite a show. He wouldn't even get handstamps at the end or play with the bubbles (which is usually his favorite part). Porter did really well during his gymnastics class though. Both boys are good at the balance beams.
(I know it isn't the beam, but at least it is something gymnastic)

trade

Porter asked me if we could trade Poohball for a dog. Too bad he is scared of dogs and never remembers this until confronted with a dog.

Thomas

I love when Porter talks like a character from Thomas. Today he told he that he would "grow tired" if he had to help pick up the mess he made cutting paper. He also told me that he "nearly fell down."

ick

Dallin apparently has a secret stash of M&M's in his room. He got up one morning and got into his "M's" he was sitting on the couch eating them while I got ready for work. I went out to living room and Dallin had shoved an M&M up his nose. I asked him, "Dallin, did you put an M up your nose?" And he replied, "no, two." Ugh. I made him blow them out but there was still chocolate up inside his nose

Peter Pan

Continuing his preoccupation with old people always being on the verge of death, Porter has decided that he doesn't want to get older. He said he doesn't want to have any more birthday because he doesn't want to get big and grow up. I asked if that meant that he didn't want to turn 5 and have a birthday. He said yes, he would still like to turn 5 but 10 is as old as he wants to get. Anything older than 10 is too old. He must be surprised that I can even get out of bed, I am so old.

In a unrelated discussion, Porter was discussing with me why I wore glasses and no one else in the family did. I tried the "just because" answer and it didn't work. I finally told him that it was because my eyes were a funny shape and so they didn't work quite right. Porter then decided that he and Dallin must have eyes shaped like Dad's so theirs work perfectly like his. This lead us to talk about how people come in all different shapes and sizes, some people have blue eyes and some people have brown, etc. Later today, we say twin sisters and McDonalds. Porter wanted to know why they looked just like each other. I told him about them being twins and how some brothers and sisters look just like each other and some look different than each other. Porter then said, "yeah, and we are all different shapes. I am a rectangle and Dallin is a square. You are a circle. Dad is a triangle." Mostly a good discussion, though I am not happy to be the circle. I know I am getting a bit chubby, but really, I don't think I am totally circle shaped yet. Oh well.

how about this . . .

Porter has started trying to negotiate with me about everything. Everytime I tell him to do something (like brush his teeth), he says, "Mom, how about this . . ." and then offers another suggestion (like brushing his teeth after he gets two more cookies). Tonight, he and were having another conversation where he kept trying his "how about this" line. When he was unhappy with my counteroffer, he said, "I don't like the way you think. I like the way I think." I'm sure he does.

giggies

Dallin has stopped calling blankets "giggies" and just calls them "bankies" now. It makes me kind of sad

Snow

I certainly hope that yesterday was the last snow storm the of the winter. I am ready for spring. In the hopes that we won't be able to go again for a while, I took the boys sledding today. I told them that we could go if they would eat some lunch. Dallin refused. When I wasn't looking, Porter ate some of Dallin's and then told me that Dallin had eaten it. Dallin denied it and the truth came out. I felt bad for Porter that he wanted to go sledding badly enough that he would try something like that so I took them anyway. (Those things in plastic sacks are their stuffed animals, George and Yertle. Porter wanted to take them sledding but didn't want them to get wet. He asked if George could wear a plastic snowsuit so I just put the toys in plastic bags)

I hate "springing forward"

Hmm, this is the second thing I have titled "I hate . . ." I should really work on my attitude.

Anyway, it is 10:30 and I am just now getting to work. Because we have church at a bad time (1:00pm), it has always conflicted with nap time but we have learned to live with it, until yesterday. Yesterday, Porter and Dallin sat down to watch a movie at about 6:30. 5 minutes in, Dallin was snoring and nodding, still sitting on the couch fast asleep. I took him off to bed and hoped (really hoped) that he would just sleep through the night. No such luck. He woke up crying at about 11:30, just as I was finally falling asleep. Joe went in to see if he could anything for Dallin, but that just made Dallin madder. After I went in, Dallin settled down and demanded to be taken out to the couch to sit down. When we got out there, he wanted Cheese Its and a clean diaper. After being changed, he sat happily on the couch watching Nick at Night, eating Cheese Its and drinking apple juice. Finally, at 12:30, I got tired of waiting for him to get worn out again and said he would have to go back to his bed. He started screaming, "no go bed, no go bed." We both ended up sleeping on the floor in his room, away from my alarm clock. We were finally awoken at 8:30 when Porter came looking for me because his pillow had fallen off his bed and he couldn't find it.

mad

Porter got angry at me a couple of times today and kept yelling at me that dad was going to be "so cross" with me when he got home. I think he has been watching/reading too much Thomas

Dallin has been parroting whatever we say to him. It is cute to hear him say the things that we say (sometimes. It is kind of pain when Joe is yelling at Porter and Porter has to hear it in stereo because Dallin repeats everything that Joe says). I took the boys to Marie Calendar's for lunch and their meals came with pie. Porter told me that he wanted cake for dessert and I said that they only have pie, delicious pie. When our pie came, Dallin looked at it and said, "licious pie." After we got home from the library tonight, Dallin ran up to Joe and said, "I miss you dad." Joe said, "I missed you too, my favorite little Dallin." Then Dallin responded, "I miss you too favorite dad."

movies

Porter and Dallin getting ready to watch the 3D dinosaur movie


Jumping on the "moon" at the planetarium and playing with the wind tunnel at the museum


Today I took Porter and Dallin to the museum and then to the IMAX movie at the Planetarium. We went to the museum with cousin Jack, Aunt Megan, and Grandma. We went to the Planetarium by ourselves. At the museum, we went to one of the little classes that they have where they read the kids a book and then do an activity. In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, we read "Green Eggs and Ham" (which is the same book I read Dallin last night for the same reason. Porter got "To Think that I Saw that on Mulberry Street" and "Gertrude McFuzz"). After that, they made their own Green Eggs and Ham. Dallin wouldn't eat any of his and Porter would only eat ham. They both hate eggs lately. The other day, they had eggs for breakfast at daycare and Porter told me that they couldn't eat them because they are disgusting. Luckily, Grandma and Jack were there to eat the leftovers.
At the planetarium, we saw a 3D dinosaur movie. I think it was a bad choice. Porter thought it was too loud and kept his ears covered for most of it. They were both pretty scared. Porter had to sit on my lap and kept trying to scoot himself further back. He did keep asking where the Terradons were though, so at least he pays attention to the books we have read about dinosaurs. Dallin made me hold his hand the whole time. A boy down the row from us kept screaming. Last time, we went to an under-the-sea movie. That one wasn't as scary. Porter was pretty funny. He kept trying to touch the fish and couldn't figure out why he couldn't feel them. He did get nervous at parts. When the shark came on, Porter kept saying, "I am not going to like this, I am not going to like this" and Dallin kept saying "shark," louder and louder until he was yelling it. Luckily, the shark didn't do anything scary and his part was over quickly. After the ocean one, Porter said that it was a very good movie and we should see it again. He didn't have similar feelings about the dinosaur one.

Speaking of dinosaurs, Porter has been wondering what happened to them. Because I am not quite sure of the reasons why they died out, I just tell him that Heavenly Father didn't want them on the earth any more. Porter has also been concerned about monsters. Joe told him that they are all dead though. From these two bits of information, Porter has formulated a story on what happened. He believes that the dinosaurs were put on the earth to eat the monsters. Once the monsters were all eaten, Heavenly Father didn't need the dinosaurs anymore and took them off the earth. There is a spot on I-15, right by the exit to I-80 Eastbound where there were a bunch of those huge inflatable characters for some reason. There was a gorrila, an eagle and something else. Porter decided that those were like monuments or something to the fight because they marked where all the monsters had been eaten. I am not really sure why, but Porter is certain that all the monsters were eaten right under the overpass by the dinosaurs.