Milestones

It seems like our boys have grown tremendously over the past month. ES started taking drum lessons. He has never had lessons before and yet, he is quite good. Much of this, I attribute to the excellent musical training he received at Littlejohn Elementary in DeKalb, Illinois. He displayed an extreme interest in music, and in percussion specifically, even back then. For either his eighth or ninth birthday, he purchased his own soprano marimba.

Last summer, he bought a small drum set from a friend. For Christmas, his grandmother purchased some cymbals. Then, he purchased a double bass drum pedal and a few more drums. The boy is constantly playing the drums, yet it doesn't really seem to bother me. Lately, he has been busy uploading videos to You Tube as he plays along with various music.

Here is a three minute sample of his abilities:



He also was thrilled to get his braces removed from his teeth back on September 3rd. I've been super impressed with his orthodontist. They bend over backwards to make it an enjoyable experience for the patient. As a reward for reaching this milestone, they sent ES home with a giant rice crispy treat. I tried to cajole him into showing his new smile (with the retainer), but this was the best I could get (no smile in sight).



The two little boys have been enjoying school and recently went for a hair cut. I usually prefer their hair to be longish (although not as long as ES tends to grow his hair). However, I have been struggling with YS's hair. He has so many difficult cowlicks and his hair always seems to stand straight up. I asked the stylist to give him whatever haircut would be best to work around those cowlicks. She recommended a buzz down to a quarter inch.

MS had already determined that he wanted his hair cut like his friend, Devin, from his old school. I asked what Devin's hair looks like and he informed me that it is "spiky" on top. As he climbed up into the chair, he told the stylist himself what he wanted. It seemed quite funny for a four year old to have a specific style in mind. Sadly, most days, I don't bother to gel it and spike it up for him. I did get one shot when it was looking "spiky."





When YS was finally able to start school (the last Friday in August), they asked if he is potty trained and if he is a napper. I said that he will go in a bucket for us at home (to get M&Ms) and that he still naps, but that I doubted he would do either at school for them.

Lo and behold, the first time I went to pick him up, the teachers explained that he wouldn't use the toilet for them at school, but he did stay dry the entire time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plus, he took a nap for them! I was shocked and amazed.

Last Friday, I was greeted with the news that he napped again and he went potty three times, staying dry all day. Woo-hoo! So, earlier this week, I purchased a potty toy for him. It is a set of three Thomas the Tank Engine cars (Bill and Ben and Diesel) and he is only given the cars for ten minutes each time after he goes in the toilet. When he has gone a whole week without any accidents, I promised to give him the potty toy for good.

He discovered that he is tall enough to skip the bucket (I guess both of the other boys started this process when they were too short to stand at the toilet, so they would go in the bucket). I don't want to jinx anything, but so far he is staying dry all day and wearing underpants.

Plus, just this week, YS decided that he is done with his crib. When he naps he wants to lie with me in either MS's bed or in my bed (which is fine because very often, I take a short nap as well). In the evenings, he has wanted to sleep in the toddler bed (which has been set up in their room ever since Christmas when we had guests). It feels like he has grown up so much in the past month. No more babies in the house, I guess!