Kid vids

It's time for a little bit of video catch up! These days I'm more likely to put pictures of our adventures just on Instagram rather than here, but videos still work here pretty well so I'll keep putting them here periodically. I think my mom's been better at taking videos than I have lately, but I have a few good ones still.

Lots of giggling.

More giggling.

After we loaded the truck, we decided that Kleenexes made perfectly good toys.

Some early standing from Jacob. He would often stand up and then put his hands up in the air, and it was darling.

This song. Ugh. When Matthew decided he liked it better than "Let's Go Fly a Kite" it was a sad day. I think he's outgrowing it finally.

He eventually figured out how to climb up the bounce house slide.

The only messy babies I find cute are my own, so naturally this is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Matthew has really liked asking what he was like when he was Jacob's age, so I was really glad that I had these videos easily accessible on the blog to show him. Here's his report.

I wanted to be sure I had a video of how fast Jacob could crawl before he abandoned it for walking. This boy sure could get across the floor fast!

I love when he babbles!

Cute sounds!

Joseph did a quick two week swimming lesson class, and it ended with a jump off the diving board. He did great!

Jacob and Matthew had birthdays! They were thrilled with everything they got.

It took a little while for Jacob to get the point of a birthday cake.

Matthew loved his Superman cake! I have watched this video so many times and it never gets old.

Stuffed animal adventures!

I haven't gotten too many dancing videos lately, so here's a little one.

Drum roll . . . walking!!! He finally stopped going on tiptoes everywhere and figured out how to walk! As of today he still prefers crawling, but only just barely.

Joseph wasn't in the mood to dance for a video, but he still knew how to make a funny video.

Waterslide fun.

Rain!!!!!! It didn't last long but at least we got a little wet!

Just a few more fun facts about the boys:

• Jacob loves to climb! He doesn't put much in his mouth anymore, so that's good, but he still needs constant supervision because he will climb on anything.
• He loves to smack his lips together when we ask him to kiss. Video will be forthcoming!
• He's the only one of my kids who's really taken to a bottle more than a cup. But any time he sees someone else with a cup he gets upset. And if you happen to take a sip and then dump the rest in the sink, it's like he's a man in the Kalahari desert who just watched someone throw water away for how upset he gets.
• He also gets really sad whenever someone closes a door. Even a fridge door.
• When we don't let him get into trouble, he collapses to the ground and cries. I guess we have 3 opinionated kids in the house now!
• He is so sweet!!!! He charms everyone he meets, especially at church.
• So far, 3 has been a good age for Matthew. I felt like for most of when he was 2 it was like 10 hard days for every 1 easy day, but now it's like 10 hard days and then 10 easy days. (I still feel panicked that I'm wrecking my kid when we're in the midst of a set of hard days, but then he comes out of it totally sweet and helpful again and I realize it was just a phase.) He doesn't screech much anymore and only growls when he has a reason to now. He and Joseph still shriek "Get Jacob!!!" way more than they need to.
• Even on his easy days, he is pretty sensitive to textures. Grass is anathema most of the time. But at least he has enough clothes he likes these days that getting dressed isn't the ordeal it used to be.
• He says a lot of funny things. He picked up "But why?" a few days ago and says it whenever it doesn't make sense. He also says "I guess" all the time. He can be a broken record sometimes, especially when he wants to watch something. Whenever I suggest something else, he pleasantly says, "Hmmm, I guess . . . we could watch Lego Batman."
• For a while when we moved here, he would throw fits about everything at breakfast, so we would take him to a bench on the porch to watch the birds and calm down enough to eat. It's still a happy spot even though breakfast is going better now.
• He is deathly afraid of dogs. Every time he hears a dog bark he freezes up and says, "The dog is eating me!" I eventually grew out of that . . .
• I find myself having more and more real conversations with him, and it makes my heart so happy. He's getting to be a real kid!
• Joseph is my reader! Most days I hardly had to do much to entertain him because he was swallowing Magic Tree House books whole.
• He loves playing games, especially with his aunts and uncles. If I ever want to beat him at chess, I better do it now because it won't be long before he demolishes me.
• We found some origami, paper airplane, and pop-up books and he's really liked doing those. He is happy that Grandma lets him use printer paper instead of scrap paper.
• He and I sometimes do piano lessons together. The flesh is willing but the spirit is weak on my part.
• He is pretty patient with his brothers for the most part. We moved Matthew into a different room because he was keeping everyone awake, but it wasn't long before Joseph said he missed having him there. We still kept them separate, but Joseph definitely loves his little brother! And his baby brother!
• He still likes to build stuff, but he said he doesn't necessarily want to be a builder when he grows up which is what he said for all of kindergarten. Maybe a scientist, is what he thought. He loves math a lot, too.
• He's pretty brave! He took to swimming lessons well and has been on some pretty wild water slides. I'm hoping to transfer some of the bravery to walking to school since I have all the same strong feelings about school dropoff and pickup that I did in Connecticut. (It's easier here, but still. Parents shouldn't have to walk their kids to and from school in neighborhoods like this.)

These are some fun boys, and we're glad to have them!

Passing the Baton

The other day, I was thinking, "Matthew sure reminds me of Joseph when he was this age." So I started scouting out old photos, quotes, and videos, and sure enough, there are a lot of similarities. (It actually gave me a moment of panic as I realized that 3 might be a hard age for Matthew for the same reasons it was hard for Joseph, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.)

Then I was curious if Jacob was like Matthew at 8 months, because I honestly have no memory of Matthew being 8 months despite it being just two years ago. I don't know if my brain has room for memories of two babies at once. So I scouted out photos and videos from back then, too.

And sure enough, just as superhero shirts and striped onesies get passed from one brother to the next, a lot of milestones and behaviors show up around the same age. It seems like once one little boy grows out of something, another one is ready to start it up again.

For example . . .

Shuddering

It started with Joseph . . .

Then Matthew . . .

And then we found a food that made Jacob shudder, too!

Knocking things down

Joseph had to learn a lot of patience when Matthew started knocking his creations down all the time.

And now that Jacob is crawling, Matthew's comeuppance has finally come.

(This video doesn't show him knocking anything over. But it happens. It's going to be a long couple of months.)

Clapping

Best milestone ever.

Big sparkly eyes

I guess no one is really passing the baton here because they all still have big, sparkly brown eyes. But it is fun to see more Moon babies joining the brown-eyes ranks.

Hi Leslie

So far, no one has inherited Joseph's Coraline eyes.

Thank goodness

Asparagus

Matthew has passed his limp, green asparagus baton onto Jacob. As in, he won't eat it anymore. But at least we have one child who likes it!

Sounds

We sure love baby sounds, whether it's jabbering, babbling, or squeaking. (Jacob has definitely preferred the high pitched squeaking lately.)

Tackling older brothers

Babies love having other humans around, especially small ones. They are like super fun toys that make noise and shriek when you grab them.

Matthew is a bit scared of Jacob, actually. He starts squealing and running away when Jacob is crawling. Jacob has put up with a lot from Matthew his entire life, so it's sort of funny to see Matthew scared of him now.

Teething

Matthew finally finished getting all his molars!!! (What. an. ordeal. and now if he's grumpy, it's not because his mouth hurts.) But, luckily for us, Jacob has been teething now on and off for several months with only the slightest hints of teeth that I can only feel when he latches on especially hard. 

And, if that weren't enough, sometimes I look in Joseph's mouth and see swollen gums where his 6-year-old molars are coming in. He doesn't drool or bite or throw fits about it, thankfully, but it's still not fun.

Handing the teething baton to two brothers. Well played, Matthew.

Imaginative Play

When Joseph was two, he would let me know what stood out in my parenting based on how he played with his toys. "The bear is feeling sad. The meerkat needs a time out." Stuff like that.

Matthew has also been good at mirroring what happens in life in his play. His toys watch general conference and go to the stake center. They talk about taking turns and not hitting. Most days he is really good at entertaining himself . . . but sometimes I'm too entertained to use the time productively!

Those blocks are a "princess," he's been telling me

Storytelling

Joseph definitely knew the story of Noah's Ark.

And Matthew definitely knows something resembling the story of Jonah.

ABC's

We heard the ABC Song a lot for a long time.

And thanks to Matthew, we still do! (He's not singing so much in this video, but I promise he does it a lot. Sometimes he throws in words like T-Rex or Superman to change things up a bit.)

Dancing

Joseph passed the baton along, but he's also kept his own baton twirling. Give us a week, and Jacob will get his own baton, too.

Superhero Clothes

Once upon a time, I bought Joseph a Superman shirt.

Over the next 700 days, he wore it probably about 250 times. It got a little bit holey, a little bit short, a little bit worn. We decided he couldn't wear it to kindergarten, especially because he had finally grown into a bigger Superman shirt. So his old Superman shirt went straight into Matthew's drawer . . .

and it was the only shirt he would wear willingly. He learned how to put shirts on just so he could wear it. Kevin and I couldn't handle the idea of dealing with this shirt, so we hid it.

And then, we reminded him of other shirts with superhero names even if they didn't have the logos on them. Captain America shirt. Iron Man shirt. Hulk shirt. Gradually, he expanded his wardrobe.

Another unexpected source of variety came from Paw Patrol characters. We've been used to colors being assigned to various superheroes, but Matthew used Paw Patrol characters to assign colors for all sorts of things. For example, I made a marinade with some oil, chili powder, and cumin, among other things. Matthew looked at it and told me, "That's a Zuma cake." Why? Because it was orange. It works for clothes sometimes, too!

He still thanks Heavenly Father for his Superman shirt in most prayers, but at least he doesn't have to wear it.

Meanwhile, Joseph's done a pretty good job of passing the baton along. He still likes to wear his superhero shirts with designated pants, but if there's a reason to wear something else then he's fine with it. Hooray!

Mispronunciations

Without having ever watched this video of Joseph,

Matthew has still figured out how to say "Swanich" (not quite swanwich like Joseph) with the exact same inflection.

(Oh, and speaking of kids learning from each other, if you ever make the mistake of taking the crusts off your child's bread, you've just doomed yourself to a life sentence for not only that child, but for all of their siblings too once they figure it out. Sigh.)

And how did he pick up Joseph's pronunciation of "regular"? I think I actually twitched when he said "regury" because I heard it so much for so long. I think he's figuring out the regular way to say it, thankfully.

Buzz Lightyear

Joseph went through a pretty intense Buzz Lightyear phase right after Matthew was born.

So far, Matthew hasn't picked up the Buzz Lightyear baton quite as thoroughly as Joseph did. But nonetheless, we've had a few funny quotes.

Me: "Bye Joseph, I love you!"
Matthew: "Bye Joseph, I love your Buzz Lightyear!"

and

Me: "I sure love you, Matthew."
Matthew: "Uh-huh. I sure love Buzz Lightyear."

And, come to think of it, he has liked our Toy Story shirts more than Joseph did. We'll keep you posted with what will happen on the Buzz Lightyear front.

Chess
Of course, Kevin and I pass the baton along where we can here and there.

Kevin is teaching his children to think critically and strategically, so he is teaching Joseph chess.

I have not had such lofty aims, so I decided to pass the baton along of Barney. In my defense, it was on Amazon Prime, it's not scary, and they love it.

And hey, it's fun to have them singing classic kids songs, even if their intent is negated by a certain toddler. For example:
-"I don't like to eat, eat, eat healthy food at dinner. I like to eat, eat, eat cookies and no crusts."
-"Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please go away."
-"I'm not growing, I don't do it every day."
-"Oh we don't take turns. We don't take turns. When we play with friends"
-"I love T-Rex, you love T-Rex, we're a happy family."

. . . Maybe this wasn't the best baton to pass on after all.

And speaking of intergenerational baton passing, let me tell you a story!

Once upon a time there was a young woman who married a young man majoring in electrical engineering at BYU. They were married right after winter semester shortly before the young woman turned 20. Two years later she had her first child, and then her husband went to grad school. Following his postgraduate work, he got a job.

At Utah State.

Cool paper from 1998, right? It didn't mention that those children would watch Barney and play chess, but they would.

Way to pass the baton along, Mom.

And way to go, Kevin! He's going to be an assistant professor at Utah State in the math and stats department!

We're so excited to be going back to Cache Valley! It just might be the best baton I pass along to my kids.

Video Angels

Now that you've completed your winter aerobics, it's time for a plethora of other videos! (Starring mostly Matthew and Jacob.) When I was going through all the videos from the past six months, there were probably a dozen where Matthew sings, "Oh oh oh let's go fly a kite" and then runs over to the camera and asks "Can I see it?" So the video was ruined.

But just so you know, he still sings that every day. Even if we can't get a good version of it.

He sings other songs too. About Batman, often.

He has strong opinions about lots of things, even if we're not sure why.

One of many attempts at catching him singing his favorite song.

The chickens at Edgerton Park have definitely become a favorite.

Joseph is so good at his bike!

The Pout Pout Fish is so fun.

This . . . just ends with adults trying to sing "I Love To See The Temple" but running out of air and being pregnant and stuff. Which isn't as fun as kids singing it. So the first few seconds are the best if you're short on time.

Wouldn't have nodding if I didn't have you.

I meant to do a spotlight when Matthew turned 2, but it never quite happened. This video would have been part of it, but instead you get it here.

And then . . . Jacob was born!!!!

So all the videos turned into minute long endeavors of watching newborn breathing. Can't get any better than that, right? (I didn't have many newborn videos of Matthew so I was determined to make up for this time. It turns out they are actually not as interesting as you think they are when you're making them. But I uploaded some of them anyway. Not all.)

Also, poor Jacob has been toughened up since the minute he got home from the hospital. He's handled it well. It might not even be too long before he's bigger than his brothers!

Matthew sure loves him though.

Oh the arm wrinkles.

This game kept him occupied for minutes. (Right up til the camera came out, of course.)

Jacob was about 3 weeks old for these videos. He is SO SWEET. 

And he makes sweet sounds. When they're this small, every sound they make is magical. 2 minutes worth, even. (I have so many videos in late August-early September it's not even funny.)

Spoiler: He sneezes and yawns in this 2 minute stretch.

I can't believe how much hair he used to have. Or how many long videos I made. Moms of newborns are easily amused, I guess. (Our upload speed is really slow so I feel obligated to share it because it took so much work.)

Aaaaaand back to Matthew! Or should I say, back to Batman!

Definitely in his top 3 favorite songs. Way better than the ABCs or Twinkle Twinkle. (Maybe the Super Why alphabet song is his 3rd favorite, though.)

Jacob loves to suck on his fingers so much. He also likes to engage in activities that promote hair loss.

He hasn't really taken to the pacifier, but he's still fun to watch with it.

Matthew calls spitting up "burping" which has made some funny conversations.

And of course, I have great conversations with Jacob, too.

His laugh is the best sound of my life.

Okay, I guess I was still determined to get a video of him singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite." But he's kind of stopped singing most of the words so it's a bit repetitive.

Sometimes, I realize I live in a magical place where I can less than a mile to see chickens and hear my kids talk to them. New Haven has its bright spots for sure.

It even has squirrels, too! (. . . just like everywhere else. Except maybe Florida?)

Every single word starts with a letter. And that starting letter is always worth saying a few times.

And, finally, to finish off this video dump, here are two little kids being cute.

We sure like them.

Winter Aerobics Course

We're getting to that time of year where only the most disciplined continue to run outside for exercise. The rest of us have moved inside. Tis the season for POPSUGAR fitness and Jillian Michaels if you are like me and not even willing to go outside to the car to drive to a gym.

Well, good news, folks! I have compiled a new aerobics course choreographed by my very own children. If you are looking for new and exciting routines, look no further!

First, let's warm up to some Bon Jovi. 2 years ago, Joseph introduced a routine while Matthew provided a laugh track. Now, Matthew has joined in demonstrating a modified workout which is especially appropriate if you don't feel like exercising. Jacob has decided to provide the laugh track.

The 80s music exercise dance party is just beginning. Next up, we've got some Journey to get our heart rates up to speed.

Let's move into some Rick Astley now. Remember, you can always follow Matthew for a modified version.

And some more Rick Astley.

And some more.

Do you feel rickrolled yet?

Now, it's time for some yoga to cool down.

Or not. Who needs yoga when you can dance?

And finally, we can use some Earth, Wind, and Fire to finish the workout session.

Again, I'd like to thank Joseph for being our dance instructor. Who knew there were so many dance moves in the world?

Can I see it?

Videos have been tricky lately because as soon as I pull out my phone to document Matthew doing something cute, he stops what he's doing and runs over to watch the video. "Can I see it?"

I've gotten a bit better about putting the video on selfie mode so he can see himself being cute, but I still forget sometimes.

Anyway, here are some cute things Matthew's done that haven't made the cut because the videos didn't work:

Buzz Yightyear Cool: He would find our Buzz Lightyear toy or Joseph's shirt and announce, "Buzz Yightyear Cool! Buzz Yightyear Cool!"

Because I'm bad, I'm bad: Matthew learned to sing this from Joseph, who learned to sing it from . . . somewhere.

Crash! sorry: He likes to have cars or other toys crash into each other and fall down. Then he says "Crash!" and "Sorry" or "I'm okay" or "Uh oh!" Then they get right back up and do it again.

Keen up: Sometimes he can be zealous about wanting to "keen up," so lots of things end up where they shouldn't.

"Wat?": He has lots of questions. He prefers to ask "Whyyyyy?" now but earlier he would say "Wat?" when he felt like it, and it always caught us off guard.

There are other cute things that sort of get caught in the other videos, so I've shared them for your amusement. These videos start in about February.

Gone are the days of scowling at everybody! Matthew is so smiley around most everybody now, and it's so fun! I think this video was from before he made the switch, but it's basically the same friendly greeting.

For a long time Matthew called Joseph "Say-so," but of course he didn't actually do it for the camera until he was heavily prompted. Now he calls him "Jefo" even though he knows how to say Jose . . . F.

I live this strange life where I don't like dinosaurs yet I read some book about dinosaurs most every day, dress my children in dinosaur clothes and pajamas, and take them to natural history museums. But then when things like this happen it makes it all okay.

I also don't super love Star Wars, but I do love these books now.

Little kid gymnastics is so great.

If you were ever wondering what the back of our apartment's couch looks like, now you know.

From our educational holiday week. Side note: there are lots of other words that mean "quiet" a lot more than "piano" does, but most of my knowledge of Italian comes from piano so I was doing the best I could.

We are still all about superheroes, and he is still wanting the same Batman cake he began planning a year ago for his birthday coming up. Unfortunately I think he remembers what his friend's Batman cake from last year looks like, and he's expecting that.

He has this cute way of putting his hands out and asking "Where Jefo go?" but we couldn't quite capture it. But you get a good shot of a messy bookcase.

Next time I did a video I tried it on selfie mode. I think it went pretty well.

Turns out you can insert names besides Batman after "na na na na na na na na na"

Poor deprived child

Some of his questions

Besides pointing out pink trees, he liked to point out all the popcorn trees.

Joseph made the switch from a balance bike to a pedal bike instantaneously! I was impressed he could do it on a curved sidewalk.

This kid cracks me up.

I don't know if we'll ever call shakes and smoothies anything but banana swirl.

Taking after his friend Tamatoa, Matthew is going for the shiny look on his philtrum. I know. Don't worry -- we've still gone through hundreds of Kleenexes the past two weeks. I love how he oohs and ahhs about things.

And finally, from today, right after I told Matthew he was getting a baby brother for his birthday and he said, "No. Baby horse," I made this video. We didn't quite capture his early phraseology but at least he nodded a good amount.

We sure like these two.

Videographic evidence of cuteness

Now that I have a working laptop again (thanks Kevin!) it's time to share some of the videos that have been piling up since we moved here.

It's funny to think now that there ever was a time in which Matthew couldn't walk. But when we left Michigan he only had walked a tiny bit, preferring to speed crawl everywhere.

That changed.

And once standing was part of his life, so was stomping his feet. So yet another rendition of "If you're happy and you know it."

I like pirates as much as I like dinosaurs, but I let him celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day anyway.

This book has stayed remarkably intact.

Joseph made an alternate version of the song his aunt Kaylie made when she  was little. It is possible to touch the ceiling!

I had made a lot of little videos trying to show Matthew's little singsong voice but this was the best I got.

I think this video was to show how Matthew likes to follow Joseph around. And show the kind of songs Joseph sings all the time.

One day our neighbor kids didn't have school so they played outside and left all these Twizzlers. We missed the chance to play with the kids but we played with the Twizzlers at least.

MJ or JM?

We do lots of crafts and some are great for dancing.

Matthew is just so cute!!! He has so much to say.

And even more. (I forgot to get him saying shoes and socks, but those might  be my favorite.)

And finally . . . I have so many videos of me singing Popcorn Popping, usually to get Matthew to do the signs. But this time I just sang it to show off my amazing laryngitis voice. And Joseph's reaction.

Deluge of Movies

Tonight, I find myself at my friend's house watching over sleeping kids while Kevin continues writing and writing and writing (he wrote 8 pages of proofs yesterday, for example . . . wow!).

So, no better time to upload all the videos that have been collecting computer dust!

First, a few observations:

-I sing "if you're happy and you know it" a lot.

-Despite making videos of kids for 4 years now, this is the blurriest (not my fault) and shakiest (my fault) set of the bunch! Oh well!

-I have been remiss in my parenting and have failed to record Matthew's latest and cutest dance moves. I guess I can do more next time!

-It's funny watching older movies from the middle of April because he still hadn't figured out how to roll over even though he knew how to crawl. Man. The days when he was still immobile were glorious.

Without further ado, here we go!

-I love to hear them laugh!

-This is mostly to admire his cute legs and feet

-Smart boy!

-Any sound is worth bouncing to.

-I can't remember how many of these I uploaded. It's a great song.

-The word superhero is pretty cool.

-Matthew has always thought hats of any kind are the funniest thing ever, and the funniest of them all is a helmet.

-Here are 3 fairly typical minutes of Matthew. I do sing a lot of  "if you're happy and you know it," but there's other stuff too.

-He loves those letters, and he loves to throw most everything

-For a while, if he liked something he would say "bah buh." So, we're glad he likes Jesus.

-He also likes to clean with a rag or wipe.

-A movie about Joseph again! He is such a stud.

-The boys tend to squabble a bit more now that Matthew can get into Joseph's toys, but we can find ways to make them both happy.

-He actually has a pretty clear "thank you," but this is the only movie I could find where he really said it. It works!

-Matthew just has so much to say!

-And last, but not least . . . nothing is more fun than a balloon. For everyone involved.

We sure love our boys!