The Hannig Home

Lukey is potty training.  We said by the time he was three he had to go to the bathroom on the big potty.  Yesterday (the day before his birthday) he seemed to have come to terms with the fact that it was his last day of diapers.  He said "Mom, tomorrow I will wear underwear.  Wanna know why?  I will be 3.  That's why."  And earlier I had said to him, "Tomorrow you will be 3 and you are done with diapers."  He simply responded, "I know."  And sure enough, today he put on underwear and was able to tell me when he had to go.  We'd rush in and he'd bravely go, forging ahead into the scary unknown of underwear.  Think though, for 3 years he has done something one way, and now we are telling him to do something completely new and different.  How many adults could forge ahead without complaint or push-back? Well, on to the title of this blog posting.  Two days before his birthday I was pushing him a little too hard to go on the toilet.  He sat ther

Tonight at bed time Luke told me "Mom, Go!  I don't want you to sleep with me!"  (Odd since he always makes me sleep with him).  Then he said "Go make a salad or something."   HILARIOUS!  I love my salads!  And for the record, a few minutes after I left he was yelling for me to come back and sleep with him.  :)

Luke loves that we live in the woods - or the "hoods" as he says.  "Let's go out in the hoods, Mom."  If he sees a piece of wood he says, "Mom! Look at that piece of hood! That's pretty cool, Mom."  Or, while watching golf he asks his dad, "Dad where's Tiger Hoods?" Today we were going to a friend's house and he said he liked the hoods at their house. He doesn't seem to confuse it with the hoods on his sweatshirts, since he often asks me to get him a sweatshirt with a hood.  I wonder what goes on in his little head. :)

I have to get this one down for Luke's journal, even though it may not be appropriate to post it on the world wide web.  Oh well. I'm often reminding Luke to say thank you:   What do you say, Luke?   or  I shouldn't have to remind you to say Thank You every time, Luke.  etc.   Lately he's been saying Thank You without me having to remind him. ' ank you for the milk, Mommy.  'ank you for washing my Puma socks, Mommy. A few weeks ago I put Luke in the tub after a dirty diaper required an immediate bath.  After I was done scrubbing him he said to me "Thank you for scrubbing my balls, Mom."  (it sounded like 'ank you for scrubbing my bows, mom. )  I told Paul and he had to hear it for himself so he went in to the bathroom and asked Luke if he had thanked me for giving him a bath.  Luke repeated 'ank you for scrubbing my balls and penis, mom. You're welcome, Luke.  :) We laughed so hard!

Luke wants me to kiss every boo-boo, bump, and bruise.  I gladly do.  Just a few minutes ago he was eating an apple and bit his tongue HARD.  It was bleeding pretty badly.  He cried and cried and then asked me to kiss it.  And so I obliged and there we were - Luke sticking out his little bleeding tongue and me smooching it.  Somehow its never gross when its your baby.

BALL.   Just like his daddy (Paul's first word as well).  Ben says "ba, ba" when he is holding any ball and when we ask him where the ball is he goes to it.  So there is definite association between the word and the object.  I wonder if he will love BALLS as much as his brother, Luke.  Luke's first word was puppy...so if Ben's first word is 'ball' it is possible he might have an even larger collection of golf balls and bouncy balls than Luke (if that is even possible)! Ben also joined Paul and I in the kitchen tonight.  He was down in the living room and must have gotten bored by himself, so he crawled up the stairs to the kitchen!  (Just three stairs, but its the first time he did it)!

Lukey in his Richmond shirt.  Making the Dold's proud!  And then one of his classic faces. Love these eyelashes...

I have a gym membership at the YMCA and there is a 'Child Watch' area for parents to drop off their kids while they work out.  It is awesome for kids....the toys and play area are amazing.  Originally Luke thought it was pretty cool, although he doesn't like me to leave him.  He always asks if I will come back for him soon and when I say yes  he usually does okay letting me leave.  But lately, Luke has cried hysterically when we go to the gym.  The last time we were there he said he wanted to 'weep' (sleep) in the car instead of going in.  He ended up letting me put him in the pack 'n play in the Child Watch (he said he wanted to 'weep' in there) and he laid down and covered himself in blankets.  I figured a few minutes after I left to work out he would want to get out and play, but when I came back to pick him up 45 minutes later he was still in the pack 'n play.  He hadn't even gotten out for snack time.  So....just a few nights ago I was tryin

di·chot·o·my /dīˈkätəmē/ Noun: A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different. Luke often feels the urge to smother Ben with hugs and kisses, and he must get Ben to stay still in order to steal them.  But Ben likes to move about freely (as we all do) so when Luke grabs him around the waist (forbidding him to crawl or move forward), or when Luke tackles him from behind, or when Luke pulls him down from a standing position  you get the picture - and the dichotomy - below.  

On March 1st Benny turned 10 months old.  Not much change from 9 months, other than being a little quicker on the crawl and a little more sturdy at standing himself up against things.  He also has 4 teeth on the top now (3 have come in since his 9 month bday).  He is getting strong and battles with his brother when Luke takes his toys or pushes him around.  He weighs close to 25 lbs.  His eyelashes are officially almost the same length as Luke's....LONG.  He is saying "daa daa daa" but it's not yet associated with his daddy.  He still insists on feeding himself everything.  He will not let me spoon feed him...even oatmeal (see pictures below).

Ben has been crawling for a few weeks, but only in the past few days has he become as quick as a cat.  I can no longer leave him for more than a second without him getting into some sort of trouble or danger.  He fell down the steps into the living room a few days ago (just 3 steps to our sunken living room).  I had taken 2 seconds to put a spoon in the dishwasher - enough time for him to stealthily jet across the kitchen floor and tumble down the stairs.  Luckily no major injuries, just a scared little baby.  Baby calm, I started to run out to the garage to get the baby gate.  But I looked back and saw him darting toward the fire place, so I turned around and ran back inside to block the fireplace with a large ottoman.  On my second trip out to get the baby gate, I looked back to see him standing himself up by leaning on Luke's bucket of golf balls.  Down he went.  Back in I went.  This time I picked him up and brought him out to the garage with me.  Problem solved - keep him in m

All set for "light's out" in Luke's room.  He has 9 of his favorite golf balls lining the wall, where they will spend the night and help him sleep.  The gold ball on the far left is the one we brought back for Luke from Puerto Rico (a post will come shortly on that trip...).  He prizes it above all golf balls (at least for this week).  We found it lying on the side of the road on our first night in Puerto Rico...walking from our room, past the pool, to a TexMex restaurant.  There it was.  We nabbed it and knew that nothing else we would bring back from Puerto Rico would be prized above this golf ball.  (** Missing from this photo are 3 bouncy  balls and "Finn McMissile," Luke's favorite car from the movie Cars 2.  A second before snapping the picture, Luke grabbed the bouncy balls and car.  They had been all snuggled in next to the green golf ball).

Lukey got a new haircut (not done by mom or dad).  He screamed bloody murder the entire time and both Paul and I had to hold him down while the stylist buzzed it with the clippers.  A different stylist - who was not cutting anyone's hair - kindly occupied and played with Ben, who was all smiles and coos.  Ben, your day is coming.