Kids Schimds

sleeping with grandma

messing with their brother

bathtime

they love their spaceship jammies

reading with dad

not to happy with the bumbo

passing the time indoors

happy boy

brothers

unhappy "little stinker"

building forts with dad

the start of pink eye

a typical day

one of the many times he asks to hold him

sleepy boy

my little ham

I try to put him down where ever I can

playing with the tape measure

messing around on a husker game day

my newest baby!

the boys

me with my kids

It has been such a long time since I have done a regular "what are the kids doing" post that I need to do it. Plus I have a bunch of pictures that I haven't posted. Warning, this might get a bit long.
To start off the two oldest kids got pink eye last weekend so we have stayed around home and tried to make sure that we are all cured. We had to wipe down the house and all the toys and it was a nightmare. Now, tonight, we are afraid that Camden has it again. We put some drops in his eyes and Carters to prevent him from getting it. I don't know how he would get it again when we haven't even been anywhere. Hopefully this is nipped in the bud soon. We have also had a listening issue at our house that has gotten out of control. I decided that a listening chart was needed to help us remember to use positive reinforcement and for the kids to have a visual reminder to listen. It has worked pretty well, for Carter anyway. Camden doesn't quite get it yet. Things have gotten a bit better, but I sure having the Super Nanny come wouldn't hurt. :) We did a toy sort and toy swap to give the kids some "new" toys and put some of the old ones away. Hopefully the newness of the old toys helps with some of the behavior issues as well. It has also been getting colder which means less time outside which is killer for these active boys. They still go out but don't stay out as long.
Carter is really starting to pick up on all that we say and repeats a lot of it in appropriate situations. I say things like "oh kids, schmids" when they start to get unruly and now Carter will say it when they start to get unruly. He also says "for crying out loud" which is what Chad says a lot but he will put it in the correct context. He also says "yeah sure" when you ask him to do something which I recently realized that he gets that from Chad as well.
Carter is also really trying to understand the world around him and why things happen. He is constantly asking us why we do things. His new thing is to say to us "you tell me" after he asks us a question. I think he gets it from us saying to him "you tell me why you were in time out" or we have to say "you tell me" after he has asked the same questions several times in a row and we already gave him the answer. When I tell him something like "we can't go outside right now because it is too cold" he will say "why" and then "you tell me why". Silly boy. I also like to see him try and repeat things that he hears us say but are hard for him. Like the other day he asked me where the "bouncy set" was. I said you mean the bouncy seat? and he said no, the bouncy set and made an oval motion with his hands. (we were sitting in my room and had recently taken out the bassinet) So I said oh you mean the bassinet, and he said yes the "bassy set" The newest least favorite thing he says now is "mines" for mine. We keep correcting the word but it doesn't seem to help. We also know that he is soaking up the world around him when the song "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz came on the radio and Carter was able to sing a decent amount of the lyrics. We do have the radio on a lot during the day and I usually sing with the song but it was cute when he chimed in. Camden even did a little too! We also had another funny thing happen a few weeks ago when Chad was playing with the boys in the living room. He looked right at Carter and said Camden. So Carter looked right and Chad and said "I'm Carter" very matter of fact. It was hilarious and one of many times this will happen to him. We also see his imagination exploding right now. He tells us lots of stories and ends them with "i'm just teasing you mommy". He talks with his toys a lot and tells me of all the things he is having them do. A lot of it are things that are happening to him or things he wants to do. He also has learned that being 3 means that you don't get to do a lot of things you want to do. We use the phrase "that is just for mommies and daddies" or "when you get bigger you can do that". He uses the phrase "when I get bigger I am going to do that" a lot. Carter still enjoys playing with Camden and wanting him to be a part of things. He also gets frustrated when Camden ruins things he is playing with. He always wants to know where "new baby" is and asks to hold him about 100 times a day. He loves him and treats him very nice.
Camden my handsome little devil. This boy is finding his defiant self lately and pulling out his charm to try and get out of things. He has started to hit and push Carter more and his days of being nice and helping pick up are things of the past. He has a great relationship with the time out chair and loves to test every boundary he can. We did finally break him and he will try his veggies or eat more of something to get a chip or dessert. Not all of the time but he has finally given in and done it a few times. Camden is amazingly loud. I guess he thinks he is not heard thru all the noise in the house. He yells "milk please" and "ceweal" (cereal) non stop. We are working on not yelling and asking nicely. His language is blowing us away. He is now saying three syllable words with no difficulty like basket ball, and ice cream cone. He is also putting together small sentences like i love you mommy, I'm sorry mommy, shoes and socks on, jacket on, zip it up,and i want that. He knows all his animal sounds and can point out random objects in books, even ones we didn't realize he knew. He also knows character names. He can name sesame street characters, Cars Characters and a few random ones like Nemo. This was something we never remember Carter doing at that age. He likes singing and will sing the end of phases on songs like "bumpin up and down in my little red wagon", "if your happy and you know it", and "jesus loves me" He follows along with all the actions that Carter teaches him. I have some video that I need to put on here.
I will update on Camden tomorrow with his 8 week post. Sorry for the long post.