Nightly Terrors

Soren and Bodie began sharing a room a few months ago (see post).  Since sharing a room, we have found their relationship has gotten much closer. They play together more than they used to, Bodie is acting more grown up (er…or should we just say, more like Soren), and I feel like their overall bond has become much stronger.  We can’t deny the life lessons and benefits the sharing of the room has provided for the boys. However, with the good, comes the bad.   They stay up later and about 2 out of three nights, this is what their room looks like…

And because I am a glutton for punishment and a fool, I just ordered new bunk beds for them…this should be interesting! 

A Day with Boodle

While Soren and Kevin were on their ice fishing adventure, Bodie and I got to stay home for a day together.  It was really quite a treat since I think my last time home alone with Bodie (excluding during nap times) was when I was on maternity leave!  We have a great time doing art projects, playing with toys, reading stories, and taking a swim in the tub.  I was so amazed to see how calm and quiet Bodie was without the influence of his brother!  He really was a different kid. 

Raisin’ a Mainah

Kevin and Soren took their 2nd annual ice fishing trip last week for the Maine Youth Fish and Wildlife Association’s Family Ice Fishing Derby.  The Association puts on the event each year, provides instruction, equipment, bait, and lunch for youth’s and their families who participate in the event (and its free!). 

We were a little worried about the cold temperatures, but it ended up being a beautiful, sunny, wind-free day so Soren was happy playing outside all day long! 

He got some quality male bonding in as he was able to spend the entire day with just Daddy and Beepa (and they weren’t even working—very rare!)

They didn’t catch any fish, but Soren was happy to play with the fish that his fellow fishermen caught. 

It was a great day all around and Kevin is already trying to plan another fishing trip for the kids! 

Now that we have added ice fishing to our repertoire of other Maine activities (camp, 

Meanwhile, stay posted for Mommy and Boodle’s special day alone…

They’re Gonna Get Us For This…

But not before we use it for blackmail in order to get them to behave as teenagers…

Boden

Boden: Age 21 Months

Boden, aka: Bodie, Boodle

Bodie was always a quiet and laid back baby with an occasional temper.  We always feared that Bodie would get lost in Soren’s shadow, however, as Bodie comes into his own, we no longer have (or need) that fear. 

Bodie, for the most part, is a very even-tempered kid.  He goes with the flow and does not give us a hard time about doing most things.  However, there are times that he gets a strong idea in his mind, and you may not want to question him, as he is a bit of a temper.  Bodie will look you right in the eye, crinkle his brow, and yell at you! 

Bodie is a fiercely independent kid. If he wants something, he finds no qualms about helping himself to whatever he wants or needs. He learned to move the chairs in the kitchen around very early and now is quick to help himself to whatever treats he finds in the top cupboards!  This can be both helpful and scary for a little 21month old.   

Bodie a visual learner, and easily able to watch someone perform some task, and he is then able to replicate the move.  The other night in the bathtub, Bodie was stroking, kicking, bubble blowing, and alternating putting each ear in the water in a very similar fashion to the activities in Soren’s swimming lesson.  These were clearly things that Bodie had learned just from watching Soren’s swimming.

Bodie is very mischievous!  He loves to be naughty, and will make sure you are watching him before he does something. He thinks throwing food, putting things in his hair, hitting the dog, dumping water, etc is just hilarious.  He is a little bugger!

Bodie is a very physical kid.  He has been fairly advanced for of his motor skills (except on time for walking).  He is always on the go and does not sit for anything or anyone.  He is just now getting to the point where he will sit and read one short story at a time, and, unlike his brother, he will not watch tv.  This can been very good, however, it makes it very difficult to get anything done when he is awake. 

(he dressed himself here)

Bodie is a little copy cat!  He loves doing everything that the big boys do.  As mentioned earlier, we used to be afraid that Bodie would get lost in Soren’s shadow. However, that becomes difficult when he IS Soren’s shadow. 

Overall, Bodie is just a sweet, crazy little guy.  We just can’t wait to watch his personality change over the next few years. 

Soren

Because our little boys are growing and changing every day, and our perspective on what they were like skews with time, I wanted to take the next couple of blogs to reflect and record their personalities right now.

Soren: Age 3.75

From Day one, we have described Soren as a vivacious, happy-go-lucky, easy kid.  I don’t remember exactly when, but it was quite early on that we started comparing Soren to Chris Farley.

Soren’s personality stayed quite steady from birth to two.  However, while Soren continues to be happy and vivacious, he has certainly evolved into a much more complex being in his third year.  (Its like he’s human or something). 

If I had to describe Soren with one word it would be: EXTREME!

Soren is so full of life. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and I truly believes that he experiences his emotions to a higher degree than the average person.

When Soren is happy, he doesn’t just smile, he shrieks with joy and lets out a contagious belly roll laugh. So many things make him happy, and he loves, loves, loves to make other people happy and laugh.  We love this about Soren, and really love that this continues to be his most defining and primary characteristic. However, the other emotions are hard to miss too…

When Soren is sad, he puts on a huge frown, and lately, he goes into a room by himself to sing a “sad song” (which are quite amusing actually).

 

When Soren is mad, you will know it!  Soren can throw fits with the best of them!  However, unlike other children his age, Soren’s tantrums consist less of physical outburst and more of intricate verbal descriptions of his feelings.  Soren will go into a two minute descriptive dialogue about how he is going to make you (or whoever) as miserable as you have made him.  This can sometimes be scary as the details are often a little more morbid and in depth as others his age.  (Believe me, I too was worried. But after much reflection and consultation among my peers in the psychiatric field, I am okay with this)

 

When Soren is embarrassed, ashamed, guilty, or sorry, he gets very down on himself.  He will often make self-defeating comments that are certainly very hard for any mother to hear. But not to worry, we are working hard to learning some vocabulary words to adequately describe embarrassment and anger. 

When Soren is sweet, he is the sweetest little boy you will every meet.  He loves to cuddle, give massages, and whisper sweet nothings in your ear.  Soren likes to “butter” people up by showering them with compliments. Soren is great with sharing and notices nice things that people have done or nice outfits that they wear.

Not only is Soren extreme with his emotions, he is also extremely creative.  He loves telling stories.  If you ask him to tell you about a picture that he draws, get ready for a 5 minute story about the picture.  We are trying to encourage Soren with his story telling, however, shape it to be more appropriate (for a while there was a very violent undertone to all stories).  Soren now says that “I have lots of stories in me. I have loving stories, scary stories, sweet stories, killing stories, adventure stories, and silly stories”.   Soren has always been very interested in books and from an early age would sit and read stories forever.  We are so happy that this love for reading has continued.  He would sit and ready stories for hours if someone would read to him that long. He is then able to take the themes from the book and create stories around them. For a while, we were a little afraid he would be the next Jeffry Damer, but now are confident that it will be closer to the next Tim Burton or Stephen King 

Soren is a comedian.  From an early age, he was engaging in sarcasm, as he is quite an abstract kid.  He loves jokes. His favorite line now is “just kidding”. He likes nothing more than to have all eyes in the room on him and have them all laughing.  He loves making silly faces and doing silly dances.  Of course sometimes, we don’t always appreciate his humor as he thinks that throwing food across the house is hilarious! 

Soren is a loud kid who takes up a lot of space in a room both figuratively and literally.  He commands attention from others and just moves around a lot and talks soooooo loud.  What can I say, he is a Peterson! 

As you can see, there is just so much to Soren. If he has grown and changed this much, just this year, I can’t imagine what he will be like in 10 years.  While sometimes Soren’s extremes can be hard to deal with and wearing (especially the anger and silly), we wouldn’t want him any other way.  I feel like it is so rare to see someone so full of life and uninhibited.  Yeah, maybe he is louder and crazier than other kids, but with that comes that he is happier, sillier, sweeter than other kids too.  Of course we fear that Soren’s temperament may be misunderstood as he gets older, we hope that he never loses that spark in order to please other people. 

Oh Soren. You certainly are one of a kind!

Friday Night Dance Party

Soren has always been a ham who loves to dance, entertain, and laugh.  However, it is so cute now that his brother copies his every move, leaving us with two dancing hams!

Untitled from Amanda Sidell on Vimeo.

Deja vu

As I was brushing Bodie’s hair out of his eyes this evening, I experienced a sudden déjà vu…

Geez, I wonder why…

We’ve Got A Potty Pooper on Our Hands!

While some may call me crazy, I am not one to be overly eager for my children to potty train. Yes, changing diapers is a pain. However, what I consider even more of a pain is having to drop everything in the middle of a store or activity to run your child to the bathroom, get them naked, and try to sit them on a disgusting public toilet. If they use diapers, you could, oh, I don’t know, finish checking out at the grocery store before attending to your child’s urinary needs.  But leave it to independent Boodle to disagree with Mommy.  Not sure why I am surprised, as Boodle has been fairly advanced with most physical tasks (except walking) and very much likes to do things on his own, without any help from adults.  So, over the past few weeks, Boodle has been asking to use the potty constantly. Most often, he says he needs to pee, throws a fit if you don’t allow him to get undressed, and stands in front of the potty and claps at himself, sans pee.  This can be a very time consuming process!  But, about a week ago, he started actually performing each night after bath.  Of course he is always so proud of himself with the applause he gets.  And over the past few days, he is successfully using the potty throughout the day.  So successfully that I even broke down and bought him pull-ups.  And yes, you guessed it, he is now refusing diapers!  But at least my little Boodle is putting his money where is mouth is…or, er, his pee/poo where is potty is, and as of 2pm today, he has stayed completely dry. 

Yes, my little 21 month old Boodle who can’t talk (at least so anyone can understand him) is a potty pooper!  Yay Boodle!

(Ah, where is the dignity?!)

Spaztastic

Here’s a little snippet of Soren’s typical spaz-out

Untitled from Amanda Sidell on Vimeo.

A Twilight Christmas

(My name is Amanda. I am a 29-year-old mother of two and a professional, and I am a Twi-Hard.)

First we celebrated my sister's birthday with a Twilight themed party, but the fun certainly didn’t stop there…it was a Twilight Christmas for the Sidell Girls!  Santa (aka: Amy) was good to me this year and filled my stocking with Twilight fun: key chains (now proudly displayed on the same ring as the key to my minivan), bookmarks, calendars, games, and yes, body art!  I was in Twi-Hard Heaven. 

Even Kevin got in on the action:)

(And before you go judging me, I am not alone, http://www.twilightmoms.com/)

Christmas: Take V

What would Christmas be without at least five or six different celebrations?!  Christmas Eve at Amy’s, Christmas morning at our house, Christmas afternoon at Aunty Sharon’s, Christmas at Grandma’s house (twice!)…Ah, I am going to miss being able to use all of these Christmas celebrations as leverage!