Miscellaneous in May :))

Wow, I am getting behind in my posts! It's been almost a month; most of May has already passed by us! We haven't had much in the way of special events this month, but I have captured lots of cute videos and pictures of the kids having fun during our day-to-day routine.

Bath Time

Andrea and Kevin generally enjoy bath time; Kevin often gets mad when it's time to wash, but he likes playing in the water. A few nights ago, he was in a really silly mood, singing and laughing in the tub.

His silliness was contagious: Andrea wanted in on the laughs, too!

Kevin's favourite song that night was, "I'm washing up my baby bumblebee . . ." (appropriate for bath time). He kept singing it, but he threw in the "Ew!" (squish part) at the wrong time, with the comic result that it sounded like something in the bathtub had disgusted him. Then he said, "Oh, it's soap!" The timing was too funny.

Look at this lovable little face. Would you believe he could be such a stinker? Well, he's really testing his boundaries right now. A good example is below. He was singing a different version of the "bumblebee" song, using the word "dinosaur," and commenced to knock all Andrea's toys in the water, grab my body wash, etc. The irony is, the song has a line that says, "Won't my mommy be so proud of me?" which he sings as he's flinging everything in the water! It's typical Kevin right now.

Family Photos

Whenever they're willing, I try to get photos of the three kids together. They are growing and changing so fast, especially Ryan, as he develops each week. Andrea likes getting her picture taken with Ryan. In fact, the group pictures are usually her idea, then Kevin joins in because he sees they're getting attention from Mommy.

Andrea asks to hold Ryan once in a while, but Kevin's not interested. Poor Kevin is having a rough time adjusting right now. It's like delayed-onset jealousy. Suddenly, he is climbing into Ryan's bouncy chair, swing, and crib; he's tried to push Ryan off my lap a couple of times, and once, he even dumped him out of the bouncy chair when I was in the other room (but Ryan was fine--he didn't even cry: just looked surprised!). We have tried to give Kevin a little extra loving, and it seems to be working. We've seen an improvement the last few days. However, his general testing of the limits and screaming tantrums continue to exhaust us. At this point, I can't even think of potty training! Let's just get poor Kevin in a better place maturity-wise and emotionally, first.

Ryan: Something New All the Time

Like I said before, Ryan is zooming through the infant stage, and is constantly doing new things. I can barely keep up with posting all the pictures and videos I've taken recently. Most of them I just take to capture the moment, because he's so sweet, and he's changing so fast!

Ryan is usually happiest in his swing. I took the picture above to show how he is always smiling at something off to his left when he's in the swing. I'm not sure who/what it is, but it amuses him greatly. He also sleeps best in there (we are trying to get him sleeping in the crib the past few nights, with moderate success). One day, he was fussy, so I put a cuddly puppy in near his face. He curled up with it, and fell asleep.

Ryan is also getting more interested in sitting up. I have put him in the Bumbo chair a few times this month. He usually likes it for a few minutes, then gets tired. Notice how he's always got his hands in his mouth, too. He's constantly chewing/sucking on his hands/fist/fingers. Maybe he's getting ready for teething? He's been drooling a lot, too.

A new game Ryan likes to play with me is simply me pulling him up to sitting position from lying down, and then he holds onto my hands/fingers and tries to stay up. Like I said, he enjoys the new point of view in sitting position. When I can feel him getting ready to fall back, I help him flop back gently on something soft, and make some funny "ooo"s and "uh-oh"s. This usually elicits big grins.

Speaking of big grins, here are a few of Ryan's early ones I caught on video.

Ryan is also getting much more chatty. He gurgles, coos, and makes new noises all the time. Here's a video from a few weeks ago (at about 13 weeks) when he was starting to "chat" more. For some reason, his favourite place to chat is on the change table (maybe because my face is closer to his?).

Ryan's Play Mat

I am having a hard time getting Ryan to do his tummy time. He cries and gets angry every time we try. I thought maybe a new play mat, with more interactive gizmos on it, would grab his attention and make him forget he's on his belly. Well, it kind of worked. He still hates tummy time, but he does like the new play mat. (I like it because I got it, gently used, for $10.) He usually lasts a few minutes on his tummy now, but is still much happier playing on his back.
Old Mat: contrast colours are visually stimulating, but only visual overhead, and the toys are kind of boring.

New Mat: colourful, things to do on both belly and back, comfy pillow. Lights and sounds activated by touching or kicking. It's much more fun!

Tommorow, Ryan goes to see the preemie specialist for his developmental check-up. I'm sure the doctor will have only positive comments. You'd never know this baby arrived 5 weeks early. :))