Gabe and Mother of Two

It's time for me to write another Gabriel update... so here's what's new.

Gabe is 22 1/2 months old and definitely starting to act like a 2 year old.

He is such a good eater.  He eats mostly anything we give him, including most vegetables and fruits.  His favorites are broccoli (cooked or raw), green beans, grapes (really, all fruits), and any vegetable with dressing on it, preferably Ranch.  He even eats spinach salad.  :D  The only thing he is really picky about is that he will NOT eat food if it is hot, warm, or even lukewarm sometimes (maybe with a little coaxing).  It has to be room temperature or refrigerated- cold.  He also cries if he eats anything remotely spicy.  He regularly asks for drinks throughout the day- by signing "water" or milk" or saying "dzus"- juice.

His fascination with animals and motor vehicles continues.  He makes the sounds all day.  He loves seeing the real things or playing with his toys.  Cows, horses, and ducks are his favorite animals.  And dogs. And birds.  Haha. He loves trucks and tractors, anything that is big and makes noise.  Whenever we hear a train passing, he stops and imitates the whistle, over and over until I say "Yes, that is a TRAIN."

Other things that are fun to Gabriel are going outside, practicing jumping, dancing to music, scribbling on paper with a pencil, and reading books.  Lots and lots of books.  All day, every day.

 
Here is a picture of Gabe with all his favorite toys.  He is almost never without the yellow car he is holding.  I don't know if he just loves the color yellow, or if we are forcing that on him by buying all the cool stuff only in yellow. 

We are seeing a very sensitive side to Gabriel develop.  He seems to understand people's emotions and take them to heart.  If you smile or laugh at something he does, he gets very happy and does it over and over again.  If he does something naughty and we act really sad, he will cry.  For example, a couple of nights ago, Gabe was stepping on BJ's feet over and over again (he does this to us a lot when we are sitting on the couch, and we have been trying to discourage it for quite a while), looking at us and deliberately stepping down to see our reactions.  BJ decided to try the sad approach, so he said "Ouch! That hurts me!" and looked really sad.  Gabe looked so forlorn that I had to laugh quietly and cover my mouth- Gabe looked at me and must have thought I was crying.  Poor boy.  He started sobbing, so dejected, and eventually started hyperventilating.  It took a few minutes of comforting him, telling him he wasn't in trouble, Daddy was ok, but to not step on his feet etc. until he was calm again.  Then he signed "I love you" to BJ.  It melted our hearts.  If someone is sad (unrelated to anything he might have done) he goes and hugs and cuddles with them much longer than he would normally allow.  Also, we finally imported the videos on our camcorder onto our computer, and I watched a few of them yesterday afternoon, including some from Luke's birth.  I thought Gabe might be interested in seeing the baby right after he was born, but the baby started crying hard from being suctioned etc. and it showed him with the CPAP machine on him in the NICU, and it was just too much for Gabe.  He was crying, and saying "beebee" and started trying to drag me away from the computer.  Needless to say, I stopped the video, and we went and looked at the baby in the bassinet to show Gabriel that the baby was ok.

Some of Gabe's recently evolved words:

"hemmee"- help me
"hao!"- help
"doggy"
"ducky"
"how"- cow
"hat"- cat
"coo"- cool
"dats"- pants, dance
"soss"- socks
"suz"- shoes
"suss"- bus
"haow"- car
"tee"- tree
"wowie"- wow!, owie, flower
"sasses"- glasses
"nuh-nuh"- no-no
"deet"- eat
"vaff"- bath, giraff
"oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah"- monkey
"duh-duh-doh-doh"- bulldozer
"di-di-doh-doh"- mini loader (from his tractor book)
"dut-dut"- dump truck/ tractor

One of Gabe's favorite places- behind the couch, looking out the window, waiting for cars to pass.

Gabriel seems to love everything about Luke, constantly wanting to kiss, hug, and poke him, and he doesn't show any resentment toward him.  That said, I am seeing him go through an adjustment period which I assume has to do with having the baby around (who incidentally comes with a new set of rules) and me spending time taking care of the baby, feeding him, etc.  He is acting more emotional, and misbehaving more, testing the limits, and doing things he knows he isn't supposed to do, while watching to make sure I am looking.  He obviously wants more attention, and I am trying my best to be patient with him and make sure that I stop what I am doing more throughout the day and give him my undivided attention for a while.  Honestly though, some days it is all I can do to hold it together until BJ gets home and gives me a little break where I can disappear for a while.  Sometimes I feel so frustrated with myself- I want to be the perfect, fun, patient, educational, multitasking, calm mother.  Instead I often feel like the boring, frazzled, frumpy, tired and deadbeat mother.  I don't feel like I have postpartum depression, although at times I have definitely experienced the baby blues.  I don't want to turn this post into a downer!  I am generally happy, and grateful for the way my life is going right now.  Luke is easy to take care of so far.  I really think Heavenly Father sent me this baby with this personality at this time for a reason.  He sleeps quite a bit right now, which allows me to get some things done and take care of Gabe, and when he cries, it is really more of grunting, grimacing, and whining- not screaming, which caused me so much anxiety when Gabe was a little baby.  I guess I am just trying to get into a routine and figure out how to take care of two kids and keep myself sane and relatively pleasant to be around.

Some things that I learned from having Gabe which I have been trying to do since Luke was born (some more successfully than others) and which have helped me are:
-Take a shower and get dressed in real clothes every day.  No exceptions.
-If possible, do hair and some minimal makeup.  Not a must, but if I can manage it, it makes me feel more put together like somehow I can face the world better.
-Go to bed earlier.  This one is a "duh" but every night I am so tempted to stay up late after the kids are asleep so I can do... whatever I want.
-Eat better, drink more water.  Since I don't have a pregnant body demanding I eat every 2 hours anymore, sometimes I actually forget to eat and drink- not a good thing.  I try to remember to do both, and especially drink to prevent myself from getting dehydrated and my milk to dry up.  >shudder<

This time around I have also learned not to try to take a nap when the boys nap (at least at this time).  Yes, I know it sounds strange.  Usually people say "Sleep when the baby sleeps."  I found I was getting so frustrated when I would try to nap, and one of two things would happen.  Either one would go to sleep and the other would wake up, or I would lay down and just start to drift off into delicious sleepytime, and wake up with a start to the sound of a crying baby.  Just plain frustrating.  So, where possible, we have been trying to go to sleep earlier, and BJ gets up with Gabe in the morning and lets me sleep an extra 30 or 40 minutes in the morning.  That does help.  I think things will continue to change and we will figure out other solutions too.

Anyway, lest it seem that I am unhappy or discontent, I assure you I am not; I believe I am adapting to being the mother of two like most moms- with a few growing pains.  That said, I welcome any advice on helping toddlers adjust to having a new baby in the family- this is a new experience for me!

I am certainly grateful to have these sweet boys in my life (the two little ones, and one big one- he's sweet too! Although I should say man, not boy...).  I love each of them so much.  It's amazing (but not surprising) to me how Luke has fit right in and nestled his way into our hearts so quickly.