Baby monitor tidbits

Back when we first brought Jac home, we tried several baby monitors and ultimately picked the Graco iMonitor Vibe: the cheaper analog monitors were too noisy for our taste.

Then, with Nic, we decided to set up a second set of monitors. We bought the iMonitor Vibe 2 (two-receiver pack), bringing our total to two "child" (sender) units, and three "parent" (receiver) units. We put one sender in the boys' room, and the other sender in the master bedroom. That way, we could listen to the boys sleeping in either room.

Overall, we have been happy with the iMonitor Vibe for the past two years, and even have taken them with us when we travel.

Like many of the newer multi-unit cordless phone systems, a receiver is 'paired' to a sender so that multiple systems can coexist in the same neighborhood. This is great, because it pretty much eliminates interference, especially in multiple-dwelling structures (read: apartment complexes).

At one point, we lost a receiver, and ended up with a sender without a paired receiver, and the second sender with two paired receivers. Fortunately, you can erase and re-establish the pairing on a receiver: 1) turn the receiver off, 2) turn on the receiver with the volume-down button held down, 3) after two seconds and a beep, release the volume-down button, 4) hold the volume-down button again, 5) after two seconds and a beep, turn the receiver off, 6) turn the receiver on against to set up a new pairing. While you're doing this, you must turn on only the intended sender to be paired to, and turn the other sender off.

BTW, the manual for the monitor can be found at http://www.gracobaby.com/. (It actually took me like a week to find the online manual when I first looked!)

When we moved into our Pasadena apartment, we decided on one bedroom for us and the boys and use the second bedroom as an office/study/storage area. We wanted a receiver in the living room, and the other in the office. No problem -- just re-do the pairing on one of the receivers, and good to go, right?

Alas, I ran into signal interference problems -- I was able to erase the pairing, but couldn't re-establish the pairing in our apartment. I think there must be several of these systems in active use around us, so the receiver couldn't pick the correct sender to pair with. I finally had to take our sender and two receivers out of our apartment to complete the pairing. Away from the other senders, the receivers paired up right away, and everything is now working fine. No intereference. Hurrah!

Cute, big stuff

I have all kids of names for Nic. "Cute stuff", "Big stuff", "Biggie stuff". He is so cute! Here are some great pics of him from Sam's Club (diapers and formula, oh my!).

Fun at the park

The boys have been having a great time at the park! It is great to have a park within 3 minutes walking! Tonight I took them down with no purse, no nothing!

Jac has now discovered that he can walk back up the slide, after sliding down on his tummy! I am not sure he has the mass in his rear-end to stay seated and slide down that way! Nic has no fear though and will slide down sitting up all by himself!

Free standing!

Nic is free standing more and more! He stands up and get this excited look on his face and starts waving his arms around! He gets so excited! He does it in the middle of the floor and also by standing up on something and then letting go!

Today we were playing down in the lobby with the "fire engine" (which Jac can say - at least so I know what he is saying!) and the boys were having so much fun! The lobby has quite a bit of space, and it is air conditioned (it is 99 today). They both had their own fire engines (I bought a second one yesterday!) and they were pushing, pulling riding them around! Jac can now ride his forward and backward and fast! Nic can push it and ride it backwards! Jac can also turn his by picking it up while he is sitting on it! Jac was also running around the lobby and telling me he was "racing!" We played until Ama and Akon came and then we came back upstairs to have some food that Ama had cooked. And then, amazingly, all three of us took a nap, while Ama and Akon packed up and left!

Another button fiend

Nic has become a button fiend just like his brother! When we are in the elevator now he insists on pushing the buttons. When we get to a crosswalk he reaches out and grunts "Uh, uh" to press the crosswalk buttons. He pushes the buttons in the car when he and Jac are "driving".

Nic: Words?

I think Nic is saying some words - or at least repeating the sounds - especially things he hears Jac saying.

I am also positive he said "under" which Jac was saying over and over again this morning when he was playing in the tent. He also says "Mama", "Dada", "NeNe". I am not sure he knows they are words per se but he makes those sounds.

What a face!

Happy Anniversary - 4 years!

Today was our fourth anniversary! Hard to believe! Sometimes it seems like we have been together forever! We had a really great dinner at the Green Street Tavern. It was so yummy! It is just down the block from our apartment! That kind of food could turn me into a foodie yet! That would make Joseph happy! (The picture is deep-fried cookie dough!)

We somehow managed to get both boys asleep by 4:45 pm so we could make a 5 pm reservation! Amazing! We had a great dinner and then some more! shopping at the Container Store. We are slowly getting the apartment into working order. Joseph's office is still the dumping ground for all of the stuff that we don't know where to put yet but even that is getting better. It feels good to have our own place to live again!

Sliding alone for the first time - both boys!

Jac has always been a bit nervous about the slide. He has done slides, feet first, sitting up with my help but he has never tried it in any other position.

Today he learned how to slide down a slide on his stomach, feet first, all by himself! He did it a bunch of times! The most remarkable thing though was not really the sliding but the climbing back up the slide. I took Jac's shoes off and he decided that he would monkey climb (all fours, hands and feet) back up the slide so he could slide down again! So much fun!

Nic also got in on the sliding! He has no fear! He slid down on his tummy, on his side, feet first sitting up! Anyway! I helped him for everything except feet first on his tummy but he didn't care - he just slid down! At the bottom of the slide he could also get himself down off the slide and crawl over to the slide (and then sit there and eat the wood chips!).

Nic: First steps

Nic took his first steps tonight! We were all over at my parents' house to watch the men's final of the US Open. I was trying hard to concentrate on the play and let Joseph watch the boys - none too sucessfully I night add!

Joseph had brought the trampoline out into the living room in front of the TV. Nic and Jac were playing on the trampoline and getting on and off of it. Nic was using the trampoline to stand up and cruise on. I was sitting on the couch about a foot away from the trampoline.

He used the trampoline to stand up, then let go of it, and took three steps towards me and fell into my arms! Go Nic go! First steps!

Oh man! Here we go!

Jac is 26 months old

The days are just flying by! My boys are growing up so quickly!

Jac is now saying so many things! He is running - and walking backwards!

Jac now says "Ding" if he wants me to play his dancing music. He asked for one of his toys, a cow shaped thing that has 6 buttons that play different music or animal sounds, by asking for "animals". Amazing!

He asks to "watch" when we are cooking - so that he can be in our arms or his seat and watch us cook - he really likes to watch Daddy cook in particular!

He is really starting to run now - he is really picking his feet up off the ground - every day (literally) he gets a little bit faster. Grandma was commenting tonight on how cute his run is, and washing that he could stay this age forever because it is so cute!

He discovered the other night that he can walk backwards - he was pretty excited about it and practiced it a bunch of times. Today he decided to practice it again by backing up into a building while we were on our way to the park.

Jac's language skills are taking off like wildfire (an interesting analogy given the fires we had here in the last few weeks!).

I have a game on my iPhone called "Adam's Game." The game shows three pictures on the screen and says "Touch the XXX", with XXX being one of the pictures on the screen. The pictures are not the greatest a lot of the time, like the picture of a hen is a picture of a hen figurine - and not the greatest picture at that! Jac can identify the and touch the picture that they ask for 9 times out of 10 - really well!

It is so fun to watch him be able to identify his world and allow us to understand what he is looking at and thinking about.

Jac is really starting to look more like a small boy, then a toddler. The looks and sounds that he makes clearly identify him as getting older even his body is still small.

He is still hitting us and his brother some. We are working to help him learn to express his frustration in different ways but at this point he still hits - and bites sometimes! We are all learning!

He gives kisses and hugs, helps me give Daddy massages, picks up trash, cleans his brother with wipes, cleans the house with wipes, follows simple instructions (bring me the toy, throw this in the trash, get your shoes), climbs on everything, talks about everything, loves to read books, sleeps in his bed next to ours, walks to the park, asks to hold hands - with both Mommy and Daddy, drinks Boba, loves ice cream, loves soup and snacks, and is a sweet, loving, engaging little boy!

Dancing

Jac has been dancing - a lot! The other day we were watching a TV show about little kids that were taking dancing lessons and performing in dance competitions. While we were watching the show Jac came over and stood in front of the television and started dancing - arms and all! He has been dancing for a while but this was definitely the most demonstrative I have seen - and now whenever he hears some music or I ask him to dance he does it. I love the arms in particular!



Nic does a little bit of body wiggle for his dancing - very cute! He also sorts of rocks on his booty if he is sitting down - I will have to get a better video of that!

Getting down!

Nic has figured out how to get down off of things! He is no longer trapped if we put him on the bed or the couch!

I have been showing him how to get down off of the bed on the floor since we moved into our new place two weeks ago. Just in the last few days he has figured out how to do it. The real surprise was when I left him on the couch last night and he turned around, and slid down and stood up on the floor!

The last few days he has been standing - a lot! He has realized that he can balance pretty well and is now standing on all sorts of different surfaces. He loves to stand up on the bed and then fall forward. In our new apartment we have put a Queen size mattress and a crib size mattress on the floor shoved against two walls so there is plenty of space for all of us to sleep - and in the boys' case - play!

Nic has now realized that he can easily get down to the floor by crawling over to the crib mattress - which is shorter, and then turning around and sliding down to the floor from there - like using steps!

He has also taken - just today - to crawling backwards - it looks like moonwalking as he slides along. He didn't crawl backward much when he was learning to crawl so this is is pretty interesting!

Nic is 11 months old

Hello all! As a sign of how hard it is to move, let alone move with two little ones, I am writing this post at 6:42 am on Sept. 7 - 6 days after Nic turned 11 months! Bad, bad! Nic, I am sorry!

Nic is changing! And fast!

He is crawling! Fast! He is making all sorts of different sounds!

He is really cute! He makes a great "turtle face" that just melts my heart!

He loves to play with his brother! They laugh and laugh!

He can stand up in his high chair!

He loves to nurse, and wander his hands all over me while he does it! I don't like it!

He has four teeth and he uses them to full effect to eat whatever he wants to.'

He likes Mac and Cheese. He doesn't like chinese-style cheesecake. He doesn't like most eggs that I make but he likes Ama's Chow Mushi (sp?). He likes apple sauce. He likes curry from Hurry Curry. He will try any food. If he doesn't want it he puts his hand in his mouth and takes it back out and then wipes it on himself or you. He likes to drink and then blow it back out and make a mess!

He likes to eat phones and remotes. He holds phones up to his ear like he is talking on them!

He will take any phone you try to use.

He is free standing more frequently.

He takes the camera when you make a movie of him.

He laughs if his brother hits him (if it is not too! hard) which makes my job of trying to get Jac not to him a little harder! He taps himself in the head after Jac hits him in the head. Strange!

He comes at you with his tongue out - especially when he is hungry! It looks like he is trying to nurse your face! He does this to me, Daddy and Grandma!

He says, "Dada" and "Nene" but I don't think they are words, just sounds at this point.

He has an ear infection. He got an awful cough from the smoke from the fires and that turned into an ear infection. It looks like he has his Daddy's lungs.