Big Trucks, HFM, Siblings

It's been a big week at the Remynse house - not for one particular reason but because our street is finally being paved. That doesn't mean much to Matt and I BUT to Eleanor, that means a whole new set of traffic to watch and explain. Given the runway project that Matt has been watching and working on, his knowledge of construction has grown so he was able to explain things more in detail but to Eleanor, we had a simple explanation of what was going on... "Big Trucks."

What defines a Big Truck... anything larger than Dad's pickup or louder. Skidsteer = big truck, Semi = big truck, Grader = big truck, Roller = big truck... you get the point. We would watch them work on the road and even tell the crew "good job".. I'm not sure they appreciated the 2 year old praise or even heard it but it was said none the less. When they moved on to other streets, we would go for walks and look at the big trucks. And after they were done in our neighborhood, we know looked for them on drives around town. It was a life changing week.

Eleanor is also growing full well into her "independence" or bossiness or mothering. Now, when we play in her room, she will tell Matt or I to get into bed, and go to sleep. She will then cover us up with blankets, turn on the sound machine, shut off the light and proceed to yell at us to close our eyes and keep our head down... it's all very soothing.


We have spent a bit more time at home lately.. the kids came home with hand,
foot, and mouth. So that means a couple days away from the daycare. Not exactly what Matt and I were hoping for as our plates are full at work but it was also good to slow down with both kids. Grady got it worse than Eleanor with a full body rash and blistered broke open bumps. E got it too but I think all things considered we came out relatively unscathed. After fevers broke and an attempt to get out of the house, we took them to the universal park and even set up the pool.

Eleanor had some quality Dad time while Grady was down for a nap. He and her washed the car. She was so intent on helping. Made me smile to watch it all play out. While he moved around the vehicle pretty thoroughly, she was pretty consistent in one spot and would scrub for a bit, throw her rag into the bucket, pick it back up and scrub that spot again.. and repeat. That was all fine until after Matt rinsed and began drying and she continued to focus her scrubbing on the specific spot. I'd like to think of this as presoft skill training.

Grady has begun to grow out of his shell a bit more... his personality is coming through. While we are easily down to one nap a day, the boy has become a bottomless pit for food. I'm not sure where it is all going but he will shovel food that he likes into his mouth more than E or I at some meals. He likes meat, will tolerate vegetables, and downs all fruit. He is starting to cruise furniture and takes on the stairs easily - if we come after him, he thinks it's funny... will begin to laugh and will try to go up them faster. He's retained his easy going nature and is quick to laugh. Daycare constantly says what an easy keeper he is and joy in their room.

Their relationship and tether to each other has become more and more obvious as they grown. E continues to call him her Grady-boy. He follows her around, does all he can to get to her toys, and watches her constantly. One of the mornings Matt stayed home with them, he was getting ready and heard her talking and him talking... and then it dawned on him, it was the same room. She had gotten out of her room, went into his and crawled into his crib.

Smell comes across the room.
MJR: Who pooped?
EER: Grady-boy.
MJR: I don't think so, he just did a little bit ago. Was it you, Eleanor?
EER: NO! Grady-boy pooped!
It wasn't Grady-boy.