Crazy Times

Deacon really loved painting. He didn't want to stop. Ty enjoyed it too, but when he was done, he was done. Later that evening, the boys were in Ty's bedroom and it had gotten really quiet. I walked back there to check on them and found Ty trying to put a blanket over both him and Deacon. He was trying to get Deke under the blanket so they could come out to the living room and scare Mommy and Daddy.

Photos by Ty

Ty is in love with the camera. He's always asking me to let him take pictures. His friend Jakob has this really cool just for kids camera and after playing with that one day, he's been asking for one. We're hoping that we'll be able to get him one for his birthday. For now, I'll let him occasionally take a few with mine when I have it out.

Boys

Wrestling, running, fort building rule this house. Oh, the life with little boys! These two love to play and they play so well together. Ty had a birthday party for a friend today. It was at a local bowling alley and Ty had a lot of fun bowling. Of course, I forgot my camera. I was so disappointed. Deke also really enjoyed bowling. He was so excited with all the balls and there was no way he was going to be content to sit on the sidelines and watch his big brother have all the fun. Fortunatly none of the kids minded if Deke took a turn occasionally.

For the Grandparents

Our parents both live in Texas and they miss out on so many of the cute things the boys do. I also need to write this stuff down and this is a good medium to do it as I'm not very good at putting it down in a baby book.

Grandparents, here you go.

The other morning as I was making breakfast for the boys, Tyler tells me that he had a good dream the night before. When I asked him what he dreamed, he told me that he had dreamed that he didn't finish his dinner and I told him he had to finish it, but I was just teasing him and gave him a candy cane instead. He told his Daddy tonight that one day, he was going to be a good daddy, too. (he has an excellent example in Joel) One more funny story about Tyler. I was driving the boys home and I was talking to Tyler about not wrestling anymore. He loves to wrestle, but it always leads to problems so I told him he needed to cut it out. He responded. "but I'll need scissors for that." It took me a minute to realize that he was taking me literally when I said he needed to "cut it out". I had to rephrase so he'd understand.

Deacon has also seemed to have rounded a corner in development. They have been playing so well together lately and will often disappear into one of their rooms. When it gets too quiet, we go and check, but have yet to find them doing anything too bad. The worst was Ty coloring all over Deke's sippy cup with a washable marker. He brought it to me and showed me what he did. He apologized for it and when I asked him why he did it, he responded because he wanted to see what it would look like colored. There were a few color marks on the floor as well, but at least it was a marker that easily came up with water.
Deacon is turning into such a character. He can still get fussy pretty easily, but most times he is pulling antics just to make me laugh. He'll do something funny and check to see if I'm laughing. He seems to be picking up more of a vocabulary as well. He pluralizes everything. Everything ends in a "s". Hots, Byes, Hies, Eats, nightnights, baths. His all time favorite word is YES. I have never heard him say the word "No". He'll shake his head no, but I've never heard him say no. Yes is his word. Very positive of him. This morning I was getting him his cereal and he's standing beside me screaming. YES, YES, YES. We had company spending the night so I was trying to get him to be quiet so he wouldn't wake them. He's also such a sweetheart. As I was leaving for work the other day, he was sitting in his chair eating his breakfast and as I walked by, he put out his cheek and said "kiss". I gave him his kiss and then he said "byes" and blew me kisses as I walked out the door. They really are too adorable and I'm glad that I have this medium to write down some of the many cute things they do.

Playing

Today was a great day at the Kelner house (minus the Pats losing, but we won't dwell too much on that). The boys played so well together today. It was music to our ears when Ty came to get Deacon saying "C'mon Deke, let's go play." They proceeded to Deacon's room where crayons become missiles while they bunkered down in the "fort". (see first picture, you can just see Deacon's hand issuing form the hole in the top and flinging a crayon out.) They did have to pick up all the crayons and that become a race as to who could pick them up the fastest. Later in the evening, the dining room table was transformed into a ship's hold. The whole house was a ship and this was a safe place to get in out of the weather. I swear this boy has some imagination! I wonder where he gets this stuff from sometimes. While Deacon was down for a nap, Ty could not wait for him to wake up so they could start playing again. And he begged me to let Deke stay up so they could keep playing. I hope that this continues...

Happy New Year

I know its a little late, but it's been a bit busy. As you can see from the picture above, I've pulled out Ty's old potty chair for Deacon. I introduced the potty chair to Ty at 17 months and he was super easy to potty train. I'm hoping and praying that history will repeat itself and Deacon will be as easy to potty train as Ty was. He did ask to sit on it already, but alas it was to no avail. He didn't do anything on it and when I put him back in the diaper, two minutes later he had a dirty. I take this as a good sign that he recongized he had to go, but it felt weird on the potty. Right now, it's just sitting there, no pressure. When he hits 20 months which will be March is when I'll start getting more serious, but he'll set the pace even then. I'm not sure if he'll be ready when Tyler was. So that is the first goal for this new year. Get Deacon potty trained. Bring on the New Year!