Kinser Craziness & Cute Stories

Isaac grabbed my church basketball jersey, my shoes, and his basketball and decided that he looked "just like daddy!"

Isaac wanted to wear his Momma's church shoes and had some difficulty prancing around in them.

Austin decided that kimchi wasn't too bad. Surprising and a little funny.

Isaac and his best friend Rees having fun with their new hats.

Proof that Isaac is possibly ready for a new baby sister. (No, we are not hinting at anything and are not expecting another baby, lest anyone get the wrong idea. We do, however, hope that our next one is a girl.)

Austin has decided that he enjoys putting things into objects and then taking them out again. It is extremely cute to watch him as he goes around the house and puts different toys in the trash can.

What a better way to read a book than with a trash can over his head!?! Apparently, in this case it worked for Isaac.

Austin loves playing with the broom in the kitchen.

Isaac got hold of his Momma's swimming goggles and swim cap. All ready for the summer heat.

We lowered the basketball hoop and now Austin likes to play basketball just like his brother.

How many toys can fit underneath the seat of Isaac's school bus? Apparently a lot more than I would have originally thought.

Isaac's Animal Aggression Mania

So, we are beginning to believe that Isaac sees all animals as out to get him. Despite the fact that he loves all animals and wants to read a number of different books about animals, he nevertheless seems to believe that every animal is out to get him. As I explained in previous posts, he talked about hippos getting him.

Now that list of aggressive animals has expanded to included crocodiles, geese, and ducks. He also believes that there are monsters everywhere that are trying to get him. Just the other day, he woke up between my wife and I on the bed. He likes to sleep with to us after getting scared, usually of aggressive animals. So, the other morning he wakes up and we are still trying to sleep. He starts acting like a kitten, purring and rubbing his head against my wife's back. He did this for about 10-15 minutes and then decided that he was in danger of attack. All of sudden, he starts shouting: "Goose no get Isaac! No, goose! No! Go stand in corner! Ducks no get Isaac too! No, ducks! No getting Isaac!" Apparently, our house was being overrun.

On the way down to Nauvoo today, the apparent threats by ducks continued and he started saying, "Ducks no get Isaac! No get Isaac's car seat! Ducks no get Isaac's water! No get Isaac's elephant book! No getting Isaac's [toy] goat!" Thankfully the ducks stayed peacefully on the water and did not continue in their covetous, aggressive ways.

Austin - the Daddy's Boy

Like his brother, Austin has become a little bit of a daddy's boy. He has an uncanny ability to hear and recognize his daddy's voice. At times, it seems like he can sense his daddy's presence. A few weeks ago, Austin was asleep in our room in a Pack-'n-Play. I went to bed about 11pm and when I walked in the room, Austin was sleeping. I took off my belt and the little jingle of the belt buckle was enough to wake Austin up. He sat up, looked at me and gave me a huge bright eyed smile and stood up to me. His expression was one of "Hey, there's my daddy! He'll hear me!" He has done this a number of different times and knows that his 6'5" daddy is wrapped tightly around his pudgy, little fingers.

Isaac and the Holy Ghost

Isaac's fear of monsters now includes the Holy Ghost apparently. As we began out trip today, he said, "Holy Ghost so scary!" We tried to talk him out of this fear and explained that the Holy Ghost loves Isaac and that Jesus and the Holy Ghost are friends. Eventually we convinced him that the Holy Ghost was good, but that did not fully convince him. He held the line, arguing that "Holy Ghost no have Isaac's donut!"

Hurray for Austin

Woo hoo! Austin is now taking formula from a sippy cup. This is pretty exciting for us b/c Isaac still only takes "chocolate"milk  (it has one drop of chocolate in it) from a sippy cup.  I wasn't even going to start using a sippy cup more seriously until Austin was drinking milk instead of formula, but as he tries to sneak milk from both Isaac's cup and Isaac's friend Rees' cup I decided to try it out. He really is our zero to ten child. He doesn't want it, doesn't want, and bam! He's all over it. In this case, I am thrilled about the enthusiasm!

A Good Trade

We went to Sam's club a couple days ago, and I was pretty excited to see they had two couch cushions for $16. Our other cushions have definitely seen better days--not that it stopped me from transferring where they were on our couch to the futon. So it began...

Isaac was NOT thrilled to see the new cushions where the old ones were supposed to be. I would put them on the couch, go do something, and when I came back I would see Isaac in the process of putting the old cushions back on the couch. At one point I was sitting against a cushion on the couch and Isaac came up to me and this was our conversation:

"Momma! Pillow go on futon!"

"No Isaac, these pillows go on the couch now."

Isaac goes and gets an old pillow. "Momma, here. Pillow go on couch."

"No Isaac. The new pillows go on the couch."

Isaac goes to the toys and gets a finger puppet and then points to the cushion. "Momma, Trade?"

At this point I just start laughing. Who wouldn't find a finger puppet as equally comfortable as a nice, large pillow?

Austin's Ambling & Isaac's Ark

The big news is that Austin has officially begun walking. He had taken a few steps here and there, but yesterday was by far the biggest breakthrough thus far. The previous steps that he had taken were mostly by accident, but yesterday he actually tried to walk. His record was somewhere between 12-15 steps (we were so shocked we didn't count) when he took off from the wall and walked halfway across the living room. We tried to get a good video. Here is what we got (unfortunately, the best ones went unfilmed).

Isaac has recently found a love for all stuffed animals. Jensine kept most of her childhood ones (and there are a lot), so he has quite a few to play with. He likes to pull them all out of his room and then lay on top of them and read a book.

Isaac also decided that he wanted to be "just like Daddy" and put the headphones in his ears (they wouldn't stay). He loved it even more, when we plugged the headphones into the phone and played music.

Finally, we have been having (almost) milkless milkshakes using sherbet and fruit juice. Isaac loves the ice cream that "tastes like candy." We gave Austin a little bit in a sippy cup with a lot of water and they just lay there on the ground drinking it together. Too cute!

Minnesota Not-So-Nice Weather

I just posted this morning, but I thought that this was worth sharing. Minnesotans tend to be nice and the term "Minnesota nice" is thrown around gratuitously. Niceness in this state does not, however, include the weather.

In the month of January, 2009, we have yet to break above freezing. Here is a chart for the month of January from weather.com. It looks like we will break the barrier on Saturday, the 31st, but that is not for sure. We shall see (from the warmth of our apartment if possible).

Hungry, Hungry Hippos & Bean-ie Babies

It's been a while since we posted, so I thought I would tell you a few cute stories about what has happened recently with the boys.

During the Christmas time, Isaac loved the song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and also loves a page in one of his books with a large number of hippos. The other day, however, he woke up crying and said, "Hippopotamus get Isaac!" (of course speaking of himself in the third person). It was so cute and sad at the same time. What made it even more cute was that it happened again the next day. If Isaac were an older African male, his dream probably looked something like this:

On Sunday, we decided to have some Mexican food, so we refried some beans and made some Spanish rice. We were going to have some burritos, but instead decided to make a bean dip with some beans, salsa, and cheese. Isaac also enjoyed some bean dip and we put some dip and chips on his plate. I had just cleaned up Austin from dinner and placed him on the ground so that I could get to work on Isaac, who was complaining that he had beans on his hands (and he hates to have dirty hands). I first took a few dishes to the sink and when I came back to clean-up Isaac, I noticed that Austin now had stuff all over his face. Isaac apparently had decided to rub his hands on his brother's face and this was the result:

Needless to say, it was bathtime.

Another cute story of Isaac was when we put him to bed a few weeks ago and let him cry himself to sleep. He doesn't cry much, but says, "Daddy, lay by you minute?" We leave the door open and let him fall asleep as he rolls around his bed (he hasn't slept in a crib since he was 16 months old). Well, occasionally, he rolls and roams around the room. The other night, this is what we found when we went in his room:

Finally, Austin has taken to putting his hands on the side of his head (a la Home Alone), and we took that opportunity to teach him how to play peek-a-boo. This went on for maybe 10 minutes and here is what it looked like:

In short, we have some adorably cute little boys.

Biter and Friends

Austin is a crazy biter! As I write this he has already bitten my shirt twice! Unfortuantely, I really don't know how you tell an almost ten month old that he isn't being very nice in such a way that he would actually stop. Especially since he looks at you with this huge smile afterwards.  All the fun games that I "get" to play as a parent.

It feels so nice to be home. I like that the boys are getting back into a routine, and Isaac has finally decided that it isn't against his scruples to eat meals. We're starting to put Austin into the crib for naps and bedtime. Kindof sad that we have had a crib that neither one of our boys has slept in since before the summer. But it also meant them sharing a room and with Austin waking up at night, that wasn't something I was willing to bet on. 

 

Isaac is getting more creative everyday. The other day he told us that "Jesus go to doctor". Which given that almost all of us visited the doctor for some reason or other last week was a very valid reason in his mind. Later on he asked if "Jesus come over?". I tried to explain that Jesus lives in heaven and I pointed up, and so he looked up as well. I wonder if he thought Jesus was living in our ceiling. I forget sometimes how very literal kids can be. I actually wonder if it is a compliment to growing older that we are better at being vague in our meanings.

We are FINALLY getting over our colds. It's been about a month now, so the fact that I haven't had to wipe Austin's nose (or feel guilty about not wiping his nose) every ten minutes is a miracle. Our whole family has been on antibiotics, so currently I am so thankful for modern medicine. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually be brave enough to go outside and do something with the boys later this week. But given that the high in the next few days is 8 degrees maybe not either.

Air Force JAG Corps.

So, as soon as we got back from our nearly 5,000-mile trip to CA and back, I was delighted to find a letter in the mail informing me that I have been accepted into the United States Air Force JAG Corps.  I still have to graduate and pass the bar and pass both a medical examination and background check.

I am not positive whether or not I will take the position.  I would enjoy the job, but because I would almost certainly be deployed within the first two years, Jensine (and me to a lesser degree) would like me to continue to look at other jobs in Colorado.  I will keep everyone informed.