Heavyweights

We weighed Jack and Ben last night on the home scale. Jack is 36 lbs and Ben is 35 lbs.

Wow.

Looking online, Jack is in the 90% range for 3-4 year olds and Ben is in the 95%+ range. He is big, but all of the websites I visited said that percentiles do not mean anything negative unless they fluctuate severely or if they are not in proportion to height and head circumference, which Ben's are.

Even so, he is over a year younger than Jack and only 1 pound lighter.

Lets hope Ben slows down soon...or Jack speeds up.

Don't Stare at the Sun

I actually had to tell Jack not to stare at the Sun this morning. He got upset and asked why. I told him because he will go blind. So, he turned and looked again.

Back to Boca

We decided to take another trip to visit my family in Florida. After weighing the options, we are driving again. Even though Ben still flies for free, it is way to expensive to fly. As it stands right now we are driving straight through again, but we are keeping the option open to stop for the night if necessary.

The trip last time was a bit stressful if only because Ben was smaller and had more restrictions of eating and moving about. While we will need more stops for them to stretch their legs, I think this trip will be a lot better. Also, since we are going earlier in the year, we hope Jack does not have another heat/allergic reaction on the way down.

The best part of this trip will be that we do not need the massive stroller, the walker, the extra toys, the two kinds of milk, the child specific snacks, etc. We are also making sure that no dress up occasions will be planned so that this will strictly be a shorts and t shirt type of vacation.

Knowing this is coming in just 2 months makes the bitter cold outside seem a little more bearable.

Stuffed Peppers

Jack's picky eating has gotten somewhat better over the past week. Since he was sent to bed without dinner his appetite has gotten better. He even tried a brand new recipe which he tends to sometimes hesitate with.

I made stuffed bell peppers for dinner. I looked at recipes online for the basics but essentially made it my own as I prepared it. They look fancy but they were incredibly easy to make. Now that I know they taste good, we can try different filling ingredients.

Jack was not interested at first. Right now if he sees things mixed together he picks out the offending vegetables or seasonings and eats the bare bones meat and rice. But, as soon as he saw the "bowl" was edible he was intrigued. While he did not actually eat the pepper itself, he did have a fair helping of the inside.

I think that next time, with some minor tweaks, the dish will taste even better.

Chucky Cheese

The Jerks

Sometimes it is hard to remember that they are only little kids.
Sometimes you get very mad and have to bite your tongue because they don't know any better.

Ben has an ear infection and has been very cranky. He also has a short fuse when it comes to mealtime and if he is not fed promptly he screams and whines and cries. As soon as he eats, he is fine.

Jack has entered a picky phase. He does not eat for very minute reasons and will forgo some of his favorite foods for no apparent reason. These are common 3 year old things to do.

But they are very frustrating and annoying.

Today, stepping back, the boys were pretty good overall.

Ben screamed when he wanted lunch.
Jack was very picky about lunch.
Jack would not stay down for his nap.

3 issues in an eight hour day. Not too bad. They seem worse in the thick of it because I have lots of work to do and they can get very loud.

After they go to bed and I think back I am sure I will realize it was rough but not Armageddon.

Sometimes it is easier to think they are pissy little men rather than tiny little kids.