Check one for the olden days

For the purposes of this post anything pre internet counts as the olden days. You know, back in the day of pagers and Blockbuster video stores. Well actually back even further than that. Back to time of Atari and Saturday morning cartoons, good ones like The Smurfs, not the current shows that are so lame that kids would rather throw toys at each other than watch for five minutes.

I'm told that back in the olden days Patrick and his siblings learned to swim through age old practice of sink or swim. Literally. Just grab the kid by the shoulders and fling that little sucker into the pool. With luck instinct will kick in before they swallow too much water. And if they don't come up after a bit, you jump in, pull them out, give em' a couple of minutes to shake it off and repeat. Nowadays that kind of parenting technique will get you a visit from CPS but for people our age, and I use the term "our" generously, because Patrick you know you're much older than me, learning to swim was much less complicated and definitely less expensive.

Fast forward roughly thirty years and what you get are $75 per child swim lessons.  And that's the cheapest rate. I have friends that have paid several hundred dollars of month to get in a frigid pool with their screaming six months old for 30 minutes twice a week. Which is fine and all when the kid actually gets in the pool, at least you can feel like something positive is happening, not so when your delicate offspring decides the temperature of the water does not resemble his warm bath water in the least and for that reason declines your generous offer of swim lessons.

When that happens you are left with a couple of options.

One is to give the child space and time to get accustomed to the idea of swimming in cold water which is awesome if you're the type that doesn't give a lick about how much each precious minute of instruction is costing you, that person is not me.

The other option is to smile brightly at all the onlooking parents, who are at that very moment feeling smug because all their kids are in the pool learning to blow bubbles, and under your breath attempt to bribe, threaten, trick,plead, or shame the non cooperative swimmer back into the water.

I alternated between those strategies today and neither worked.

What would be more effective but highly frowned upon would be to state in the most loving way possible "We paid for you to be in class and so heaven help me you will stay in the water until class is over, damn it' and then toss the child back into the water. This is what I did mentally. Over and over and over.  My strategy for tomorrow is to begin the day by saying "Today is swim. You will get in the water." I plan to say it with so much conviction and enthusiasm that my reluctant swimmer will surmise he has no other choice but to get in the water.

You WILL get in the water.

YOU will get in the water.

You will get in the WATER.

You will GET IN the water.

Parents from the olden days, go ahead and laugh.

Happy 3rd Birthday Alex!

Alexander

Our little, sweet choo choo lovin boy. You rushed through another year growing bigger, smarter, braver and more independent while still remaining, by your own admittance, my little boy. Since your last birthday you've changed from a baby who still needed a "ba ba" and a diaper to a full out "big brother" who is not afraid to take on new challenges. There are many times when Daddy and I look at you so deep in thought, no doubt planning your next adventure or working through how the world works. You are at times serious and focused, working on getting your row of trains just so, while other times you are silly and fun,singing your heart out for no one in particular. Through the serious and the silly some things about you remain constant. Your  loving, sweet nature allows you to show compassion and caring towards everyone especially others who are hurting and your big heart means who are always ready to dole out big hugs be it Mama or a new friend you just made.  We are so proud of you Alex and can't wait to see how you'll grow and enjoy life in the upcoming year.

We love you Little Z. From age three until forever.
Mommy and Daddy

Indoor Choo Choo

My boys are the middle child

Some time ago, 11 days to be exact, I started a "Happy 2nd Birthday" to Alex and Max post. I got as far as Alex, and although it was really quite touching and full of all the usual syrupy adoration I feel compelled to bestow on my children on their birthdays, I hit the proverbial writer's road block and never finished my "letter".

So you tell me, which is worse?

Not delivering a full on sloppy Mama kiss with the usual gushing of affection to each boy or hitting a "block" when writing said love infused proclamation. Does this mean my boys will grow up and think I only loved Sophia enough to write a letter on each of her birthdays? Does this mean that although we don't technically have a "baby" they will both grow up with "middle child" complex? Does this mean that I am getting lazy and a picture of their party with the boilerplate "I love you!" caption inserted under each picture will suffice? For shame!!!

Alright enough mama melodrama for one day. I'm starting over and getting it right this time.

Alex..  Even at the oh so very young age of two, your tenderness, warmth, caring and love for others shines through so brightly. You are a wonderful little person and I have no doubt that with your charm, outgoing nature and sharp wit, you will grow up to be nothing short of amazing. You remind me so much of your Daddy which despite his goofy sense of humor is a great thing.  Having you in our lives has been a blessing and we can't imagine a day without seeing your sweet smile and soft brown eyes. We love you Alexander. From age two until forever.

Max. Max. Max. You are a wildman my son. Just pure choo choo-lovin', dinosaur roarin' goodness bottled into one loud, crazy little boy. You are forever making us laugh and we have no doubt that you will one day be the class clown and later the consummate frat boy.  In fact one of the nicknames we've given you,  based on the way you down your bottles is The Chugerator, which will undoubtedly follow you into the future. Despite all your monster trucks and caveman grunts you still are a love and getting a quiet moment to just rock and sing to you is among the things I love most.  You are a blessing and a gift. We love you Max. From age two until forever.


Short. Sweet. Sappy. Just like a birthday love letter from Mama should be.

Oh and I almost forgot!! The requisite birthday photos!

Puppy Love

Cupid's arrow struck Alex hard. The moment he spotted those strawberry blond curls and baby blue eyes he was smitten. He ran across the playground, dodging swings, past sliding five year olds and avoiding Nerf balls in order to get a better look. At first he was shy, exchanging goofy glances from behind my legs. But after a few mutual smiles and undecipherable words exchanged, he went for it wrapping both his arms around her tightly. At first she laughed. Smiled. Cooed even. But thirty seconds later she was over the love affair and wanted nothing more than to run away. Alex, however, was still in love. For the remainder of her time at the park he chased behind her, intermittently trying to hug her, kiss her, and woo her with gifts of sippie cups and fish crackers. Not even the old "pulling her hair" trick could regain her attention. Alex was crushed. Finally it was time for her to leave the park, Alex waved sadly as her mother wheeled her away in a stroller. Yet heartbroken as he was to have loved and lost, he soon discovered two "older" girls, three years old both, who were more than happy to dote on a charming, smiling 16 month old boy. Alex was in love again.

He has a lot to learn about wooing a lady!

A Max No More

I'm generally a very decisive person. I know what I like fairly quickly on and rarely stop to reevaluate my choice once it's made. Actually I've always liked that about myself. Seems to be the quality of a good leader, a strong minded individual. This however was NOT the case when trying to determine names for the boys (at the time we had no idea what gender they would be).  From almost the time we found out we would be adding two extra plates at the table, Patrick and I worked to come up with good name combinations.  At one time our running names for girls were Allessandra and Daniella (which started to get on my nerves  about two months into it, sounded like names for Cinderella's wicked stepsisters) and Donovan and Desmond for boys (which later changed to Max and Mateo).  We went back and forth on countless possible combinations for weeks without really coming up with anything that struck both of us as names we'd like to call our children for the rest of thier lives (Yes, naming ones child is a big decision but for some reason it wasn't that complicated with Sophia.  We came up with "Sophia" very early on only to find out later that hundreds of  thousands other people loved that  name too. Sophia was ranked number 7 most popular name in 2005 and number 1 in 2007. Go figure!)

A couple of days before "D" day we finally had it narrowed down to Max and Alex (boys), Mia and Maggie (girls) or Mia and Max (Just in case).  LONG story, ummm long, we had ourselves a Max and an Alex. (By the way, as hard as it was coming up with final names I never really had problems deciding which twin would get which name. I KNEW baby A was Alex and baby B was Max. Baby B's interwomb personality just struck me as a "Max".  I was right. :) ) 

Our final naming dilema came in the form of "congruency" (is that a word). We knew Alex would formally be Alexander (just in case he ever wanted to go with a more serious, authoritative sounding name) but we couldn't decide on a longer form of Max. Should it be Maxwell, Maximilian, Maximiliano, Maximo, or even Maddox? We strugged with this for days and actually left the hospital with Max being "Baby B Nelson". A couple of days later an employee with hospital records called and actually gave me NO MORE THAN ten minutes to decide on a name before transmitting "Baby B" to the state as our sons given name. I called Patrick at work and under the threat of being the proud parents to Baby B indefinately we decided to settle with just Max.

Okay, fast forward to two months later and our choice started to weigh on us.  It seemed so strange to have one twin with long name like Alexander and the other with just three simple letters M-A-X.  What if as an adult he too yearned for a longer, more serious sounding name? What if he forever felt inferior to his older, more "sophistically"(again I'm making up words) named brother "Alexander , The Great?" The guilt was just too much for me so on thier two month birthday we visited with a very nice notary public and officially changed  Max to Maximilian. So there... guilt averted.  Nicely done.

Now we have what sound like two Roman warriors in the family... ALEXANDER VICTOR and MAXIMILIAN XAVIER. (Wow, very manly names, if I don't say so myself). 

ALEXANDER AND MAXIMILIAN.

Watch out world! The Nelson Twins have arrived.

Brotherly Love

Twin Evidence

While our boys may not be identical (actually, the jury is still out on that) there is plenty of evidence that they are indeed twins. Here are some examples...

• When sleeping they will make the exact same face (grimace, smile, frown etc) at almost the exact same moment. They also tend to yawn, sneeze, etc within seconds of each other.


• 
  
  They seem to communicate across the room to each other in a series of grunts and other similar noises. It sounds silly but listening to the back and forth that goes on between them makes me think they are really carrying on a conversation.
  
  


• 
  
  When one is crying the other will wait listening quietly. As soon as the crying brother is done, the quiet one jumps in. This "turn taking" can go on for quite a while which often makes for a non-stop cry-fest. Lots of fun!
  
  


• 
  
  If one brother is sleeping and the other brother is about to be fed, the sleeping brother will instantly wake up crying in indignation and anger the moment the eating sibling takes his first suck. This is true even if they are in different rooms.
  
  

I'm sure we'll see more evidence of how close twins are as the months pass and even more evidence of just how different and individual they are.  It's always exciting to see how a baby's personality unfolds. Having two just makes it twice as fun.

 

Here We Grow...

A couple of days after Sophia was born I snapped a picture of her sitting next to a teddy bear that was roughly her size.  That picture was used on her birth announcement and quickly became one of our favorites. As a result, we began the tradition of photographing her next to the bear on her "monthly birthday" to visually document how much she'd grown.  While life was too hectic to capture the boys in their first day's next to the bear, things finally did settle down enough to get the one month pic done. 

Here is a Growth Timeline of Sophia starting at Two Days Old (Every Six Mths to Age 2)

        

For comparisons sake here are Sophia, Alex and Max at One Month

   

 The Boys Side by Side



And Finally... All Three of Our Kiddoes with the Infamous "Birthday Bear"



(Yup, This was the best shot )

Family Resemblance?