Third Year- The Not So Terrible Twos

Third Year- The Not So Terrible Twos
A year in Review


This was the best year yet! At 25 months the boys had their “2 year” doctor appointment. They were 35” tall and 50% for height. Brock weighed 27.2 lbs-25% and mason weighed 28.6 lbs-50% percentile though this seemed weird since Brock usually weighs more at home hmmmm. They were really into anything in the air at this age birds, airplanes, etc. They like to point to the sky and say “airplane up high”. They both love to blow kisses and Brock has taken up biting Mason-not such a great accomplishment  They also got to go to they county fair for the first time. They loved the petty zoo and the bounce houses though I think this is where they contracted hand-foot-mouth disease.

At 26 months summer was just getting into high gear. First off they got to see their second cousin Emma from Alaska and they discovered butterflies in Nana’s back yard. They love to give Eskimo kisses and daddy won the Honda ho down again at Dunefest. Next we went camping with friends at Bullard’s beach state park in Bandon. We took the boys to the wildlife park where they got to bottle feed Tiger cubs and pet baby lions. Brock had a blast chasing the free range deer through the park and the boys had a very large bear begging them for their peanut butter sandwiches. They also got to go to a lighthouse and flew their first kites. We made several trips up to the lake. One with Niki & Mike and one with Nana & Papa. Papa let the boys drive the boat in circles and honk the horn as much as they wanted to. They got to see hot air balloons and maybe one of their favorite parts of summer were the neighbor’s apples . They would hold the little apples in their hands and eat all the way through to the other side, core and all. They thought they were such big boys. James’s company picnic was at the State fair so the boys got to see deer, pigs and even a wallaby in the petting zoo. They went on their first carnival ride and Mason caught his first fish, though Brock got four bites. They also ate their first corn on the cob-gotta love summer.

27 Months- This was a tough month because we started swimming lessons and the boys HATE swimming lessons. I couldn’t blame them because I certainly didn’t want to get in the water with them for the toddler class. Daddy was able go to the first two but we had to enlist nana for the rest of them. Mason did alright with the lessons but Brock was a little slower to accept them. For the first several weeks Brock cried the entire time yelling “mommm, mommm” and “mama all done”.
Up until this point Mason has refused to say the word please, he’ll sign it but refuses to say it. We finally found something that was important enough to him to get him to say please….the go-go. We also got in our last camping trip of the year. We went up to Clear Lake with a bunch of friends and family. It was the wettest camping trip we’ve ever been on but everyone was such great sports. The boys had so much fun playing in the “lake” in the middle of camp. They rode their bikes in it, drove trucks through it and sword fought in it.

28 Months- Bring on the holiday season! We made our first trip of the year to Lone Pine farms with Josh and Miranda. For our second pumpkin patch trip we went to Grandpa’s Pumpkin patch with daddy. Halloween was a three day event beginning with a trip to LBCC and both great-grandmas on Friday. Saturday we went trick-or-treating in down town Albany with Nana, Rae, Kiley and Corbin and on Sunday we went trick-or-treating and had a party with the Forresters in Lebanon. The boys said “please” when they went door to door since they didn’t know how to say “trick-or-treat” yet. Brock was a monkey and Mason was a tiger.
By this time swimming lessons also started to get easier. Brock had his first lesson with no crying, both started kicking in the water and Mason even blew bubbles. They also both went pee-pee in the potty for the first time at Nana’s house. This is also when Brock got his first ear infection.

29 Months-The boys are becoming famous . A picture of them in the pumpkin patch made it in the Albany Democrat Harold and we also found out that a picture of them on their gator was going to be the “February” photo in the Fisher Farm and Lawn calendar. The boys got to go to the veteran’s day parade with Nana & Papa and we had three Thanksgivings that month. Brock thinks Papa looks like Hulk Hogan…hee...hee and Mason hate mommy’s dance moves. We are trying to get them to go pee-pee on the potty. They love the “Potty time with Elmo” DVD. Mason is motivated by food, he likes the marshmallow stars but Brock isn’t interested. They LOVE Christmas decorations and this is the first year that they got their own tree to decorate all by themselves. They also got to bake and decorate Christmas cookies for the first time.

30 Months-They love trains, coloring and “Unc Mike”. They went to storybook land and even sat on Santa’s lap. They loved everything about Christmas, the lights, snowman, Santa, reindeer and they’ve figured out what presents are. They had so much fun opening them. This year they got electric tooth brushes, Elmo slippers, bikes, OSU sweatshirts, monkey hats, trains, trucks, books and a centrifuge bike.
They all of the sudden know their colors too so they must have been paying attention all this time. They are starting to talk in sentences, use their imagination, and are getting really creative building things. They find identical toys and call them “twins”. They like the matching/memory game and we call it the “twin game”.
January 2011 did NOT start out good. We went through three rounds of antibiotics for ear infections. Mason’s also turned into pneumonia and Brock’s turned into conjunctivitis. I also got pneumonia. It was not a good month and it lasted until we went on vacation in February. Their fevers broke the night before we got on the airplane.
February 2011-Both boys are talking more and they like to talk on the phone now. They sing to themselves and they love stickers. When Brock is mad at daddy he calls him “James”. February 18th after the cruise daddy made the boys throw their binkies into the garbage can. February 25th the boys got to actually play in the snow for the first time as we got several inches at home. They are using their imaginations more and starting to play pretend with each other. We started giving the boys stickers just to sit on the potty and they now wear big boy underwear at home to speed up potty training.
February 5th we took the boys on their first cruise. We went to Grand Cayman, Cozumel Mexico, Belize, and Rotan Island Honduras.
Saturday: The boys were a dream on the airplane and Brock even got to go into the cock pit of the plane.
Sunday: We boarded the boat, trying to look healthy while going through customs. Brock thinks that the smoke stacks look like airplanes and you can’t convince him otherwise. They loved sitting in the window of our cabin “looking for Nemo” in the ocean.
Monday: The boys liked daycare. Mason says “play, like house”. They made handprints and they love “Knock knock” who is from Bali. It was their first experience in a preschool like setting. It was the first formal night and we dressed the boys up in their suits for the occasion.
Tuesday: They got to try on sombreros and played with maracas in Cozumel, Mexico. We checked out all of the tourist shops got back on board to play in the big pool. Mason didn’t want to eat dinner in the daycare and got so upset that we had to go get him and bring him in the formal dining room with us. Brock stayed in daycare by himself and had a great time. They say he is everybody’s friend.
Wednesday: We took the tender to Belize and hung out in the tourist area. The boys hogged down chips and salsa while mommy enjoyed her pina coloda. When we got back on board the boys spent the afternoon in the kid’s pool which they liked even more than the big pool.
Thursday: This was our first time to Rotan, Honduras. We took a private tour of the island which included a quick trip to the beach, several photo ops and best of all a visit to an iguana farm where the boys got to feed and pet iguanas. Brock came back exhausted and Mason came back naked so it must have been a good tour .
Friday: We had the perfect beach day on Grand Cayman. The boys played in the sand and in the ocean to their hearts content and it was amazing weather. Mason laid on a floaty in the ocean and looked for Nemo. In daycare they learned about Nemo, made fish, sand art and colored. The boys LOVE the casino and ask to go there all the time. The boys have begun to love the kid’s pool so much that the first thing they ask for in the morning is pool time and Mason will start stripping off his clothes while we are on our way to breakfast.
March 2011-It’s all about potty training in our house. Both boys are peeing in the potty now and Mason will poop in the potty. We taught them out to pee outside too. They can now dress and undress themselves and I am tired of telling them not to “play with their wieners”. Brock can count to six but Mason forgets about the number three. He counts 1…2…4…They had tons of fun when daddy took them to see the monster trucks with Javon, Grandma and Grandpa Dodge. They play “ride the cow” and they take turns for who gets to be the “cow”. Mason likes to make up games with lots of rules and Brock & mommy don’t like all the rules.
April 2011: Brock took a blue permanent marker to the carpet, counter top, door frame, entertainment center (glass and wood), tile floor, couch cushions, leather ottoman, plastic slide and toys. Mommy was VERY upset. Daddy came home to find mommy “trimming” the carpet. Alcohol took it the rest of the way out of the carpet and dry erase markers worked on several areas.

Quick takes-
Good at riding bikes
Getting good at counting
Potty training going well-first week with no accidents
They can shift the gator into different gears and good in reverse
1st big Easter egg hunt at First Assembly
Both very lovey and kiss mommy’s boo boos
Brock more kissy than Mason
Brock loves to talk on the phone, Mason doesn’t
Mason likes to sit on mommy’s lap when eating his meals as a way to get attention.
Nana and I took them to AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village and the Salem Carousel for the first time.

May 2011- The boys got a playground built in the backyard. We thought this would keep them busy but they only want to play on it with us. What ever happened to independent play? We are finally getting outside in between rain storms so Nana’s t-ball set and the sprinkler toy from Josh are coming in handy. The boys are fascinated by school buses and actually got to get on one and check it out for the first time. They are really good talkers now and love to play make-believe. They are pretty much potty trained. They never have accidents in public but sometimes Mason still wakes up poopy after nap time. We toured the preschool for the first time and Mason was very nervous. I did the Eugene half Marathon and the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend. Memorial Day weekend we went camping up at River’s Bend. It rained on and off most of the weekend but the boys didn’t care at all. They played outside all weekend riding their bikes non-stop. They also got to roast smores.
The beginning of June we got our first really warm day where the boys got to play with their water toys and on the slip-n-slide. We also went to the Strawberry parade for the first time with Nana and most of the Dodge clan.

3rd Birthday Party- We lucked out and had nice weather for their 3rd birthday party. We decided to have a BBQ at our house and had about 40 guests. The boys had Elmo cupcakes, hotdogs and lots of presents. The kids enjoyed playing with the nerf rocket, playing Frisbee, on the playground and rides in the wagon from uncle Arien. The day after the party we got their pictures taken and we went to the Salem Carousel for the first time with daddy.
Every year seems to fly by so fast. The older they get the more fun they seem to be. We are having so much fun doing all sorts of things that we haven’t done since we were little and are looking forward to all the excitement that the next year will bring. Luckily the twos just didn’t seem too terrible so hopefully they will be just as delightful as three year olds.