Working, scooting, sleeping, building, playing, raspberry-ing

Sooo, remember how I said that I thought I'd have more time to blog once I was back at work?
Yeah, not so much.

The work hasn't been crazy, so much as just steadily busy, and I've had a lot of out-of-the-office meetings, so I have not had the time I thought I would.

I have a post in my head about our very real challenges with Dean and his temper tantrums, but I don't really have the time to do it justice. So instead, I will tell you that my daughter has learned to blow raspberries and finds doing it repeatedly to be the most fun thing ever. Joy! (Where do kids learn to do this?)

In addition, she is so energetic, that she scoots in her sleep -- in HER SLEEP -- to the end of the crib and bangs her head on the bars, and wakes up and cries for me to move her to a softer space. Every night she does this. At 2 or 2:30 a.m. Every night.

It sounds maddening, but it is really quite cute. She always murmurs and coos a little bit after I've moved her, in her infant way of saying, "Thanks, Mom!" and she always falls right back to sleep. Sadly, I can never fall right back to sleep, but I don't blame her for that. My insomniac ways severely pre-date Clair's arrival.

Also, I might be the last parent on Earth to buy Legos for her kids, and boy am I sorry it took me so long! I bought them for Dean, specifically, because I was looking for something that would speak to his particular way of playing, learning, etc. -- as opposed to being dominated all day long by Cary and what he likes to do (which is reading, incessantly). Turns out the Legos, and these toys called Starbuilders that I also bought, are a big hit with both boys! Dean goes straight to the Legos when he gets up in the morning and all he wants to do is "build something" the majority of the day. He sits on his knees in the living room and just stacks and unstacks those blocks with such determination, and then sometimes he pretends they're weedwhackers or flutes or ice cream cones or canes to walk with.  It's really cute!

Starbuilders are a big hit in my house.

Cary enjoys them, too. But, being Cary, he gets bored easily, and skips around to other things more often, leaving Dean to himself, which is just fine with Dean.

I'm so, so happy I got these for my Deanie, and when I finally get around to blogging about the tantrum thing, I'll explain more why. But in the meantime, just know that sometimes spending the money on toys (even if you have a house FULL of toys) is about more than just playing.