The Boys Turned 14 Months!

I started this post a week ago and here we are. Blogger is a piece of shit and has been frustrating me to no end.  I'm experiencing incredible slowness, inability to upload pictures, and frankly most nights I just sit and wait for the goddamn blog post to open up.  It was supposed to read, "Al and Teo turn 14 months tomorrow, time flies!" But now it should read "Al and Teo turned 14 months a week ago, time flies!"  

The boys are increasingly engaging and more fun now.  They have such distinct personalities.  Lately Teo has been the grumpy one, and very sensitive and touchy, while Al has been the happy go lucky one, and very eager to join in everything and anything.  Both boys are very curious and love banging cabinet doors open and shut, pressing light switches and doorbells, and rolling anything with wheels.  I know I am their mom so I'm completely biased, but they are so cute.  Sometimes they crawl in the exact same way or turn their heads in unison at exactly the same angle because they've been alerted by the same sound, and I find it very difficult not to laugh out loud.

Al has taken to joining us at the dinner table every night for dinner because he loves chips and bread, and Michael will give him pieces sparingly.  Teo tends to prefer to play by himself or with Auntie Lyn quietly, though lately he happily joins the fray as he also loves chips.  One night we were able to get a supremely rare shot of all of us sitting down for dinner.

And tonight we were able to enjoy, again, just the five of us, and the boys even drank their milk at the table.  It was great.  

Lately Al has been so sweet and affectionate, often crawling to me when he catches sight of me, to give me a hug or to say hello.  I love how he will pat me on both shoulders when I pick him up and hold him close, as if to say, "hello, I've missed you, I'm so happy you're here holding me now".

Both guys love their toothbrushes, but Al really, really loves his toothbrush.

                                                

Meanwhile, Teo's first and true love is Auntie Lyn.  I can't help but feel such a pang and guilt and sadness every time he prefers someone else to me, but at the same time I completely understand that I can't be everyone's first preference.  I am so clearly Lola's favorite and she so dominates my time and attention, but at the same time she arguably needs the reassurance of my attention more, given she is older.  This being one person with only a pair of hands?  It's probably my greatest source of anxiety, stress and frustration.

The kids are all playing together now, and when they manage to do so without biting or crying it is so sweet.  Teo enjoys playing a bit more quietly and independently, which is why he is so exasperated and frustrated whenever his brother comes (and that would be all the time) to find him and intrude on his space.  Unfortunately this has manifested in Teo's habit of biting Al.  Al is sporting a small bruise on his left forearm as I type, as earlier this week Al came to investigate his brother's toy and Teo, pissed off at always being overrun by his stronger brother, really attacked him.  And today Teo leaned in and gave Al a rather vicious little nip also, as Al came over and literally butted him (there is no other way to describe it - it is what I've taken to laughingly refer to as the Al treatment - he comes and pushes his butt into your space and then sits down right on top of you - it's a sign of affection but it annoys the crap out of his sister and brother).  Al is built like a bulldozer and he will just push until others give way and let him join. Oh, my sweet FOMO boy.

More typically, between these two, it's like this, pushing away at each other, or else seated separately and apart.  Michael says they have to learn to play with each other and deal with each other, but then we end up with a lot of pushing, crying, and bruised bite marks.

Al is such a happy go lucky boy - often ruddy cheeked and laughing open mouthed, a little bit wider and heavier than his brother, with a bigger head, and slightly shorter.  He hates eating fruits and vegetables and will complain incessantly in the hopes that we will succumb and let him eat bread or crackers.  Whenever you put anything in Al's hands, he will generally thrust it into his mouth first and foremost.  He particularly loves hard plastic caps (I thought he was going to go to heaven, he was in such ecstasy one morning licking and chewing the cap of the honey jar). He is so curious and now that he has gotten more comfortable crawling and pulling himself up he loves to explore and will often wander the apartment looking for people or spots he loves.  He especially loves his dad's office and his sister's bedroom.  

Al gets a huge kick out of many things, especially noises (an instrument that sounds like a train whistle, and the squeaky door on the play kitchen, never fails to send him into raptures) and his delight is quite fun and infectious.  Generally, he is a little slower to adapt to things and will really kick up a grand fuss if he is unhappy.  Case in point, we abruptly dropped the boys from bottles last week cold turkey to switch to cups and sip bottles, and he went on a hunger strike, crying and crying and just being cranky all day for days.  Al loves to play and some nights he will manage to stay up forever, crying or whining, because he just wants to play.  Once Al gets in a mood, he can be a lot harder to settle than Teo.  Al tends to have a Western palate, preferring things like chicken pot pie, minced beef patties, pasta alla Norma, etc.

Teo is a much quieter and more sensitive boy - he is harder to please or win over, but also so loyal and happy and infectious when he is in a good mood.  He shrieks very loudly when he's happy.  He eats way better than Al (loves all fruits, vegetables and enjoys having his mouth very full), but manages to be skinnier and slightly taller than his brother.  Whenever you put anything near Teo's face (wiping his mouth, putting on lotion or cream) he sticks his tongue out extra long and tries to lick it.  It's adorable.  He is very active, though he can also sit contentedly in his crib for a long time, just playing by himself.  Once you show Teo how to do something a few times, he picks it up very quickly, especially with toys that have flips, switches or knobs, etc.  

Teo can also get really upset and have a bad temper - in fact, when he flares up, he really flares up.  I will never forget the couple of times his entire face turned purplish black as he choked and gagged so hard from crying that he threw up. Terrifying.  But he also tends to get over things pretty quickly.  When we switched them off bottles, within one feed Teo was fine sipping milk from a straw and didn't seem at all fussed.  Teo tends to sleep better than Al, falling asleep with less crying. Even if he is overexcited, he is usually able to entertain himself flopping around his crib or jumping up and down while holding the crib bars.  We joke that Teo tends to have a Chinese palate, preferring stir fries, steamed fish, fried rice or fried noodles, and broth soups.

But, both boys love dessert!  They love strawberries, fresh or freeze dried.  They both love brushing their teeth, pressing our shiny (flashy) large crystal doorbell and elevator button, being out on the balcony looking at our plants and touching the leaves of our strawberry plants and tomato plants, and generally observing the flowers.  They love toys with lights and still enjoy the heck out of bath time.  Both boys seem eager and interested in talking, with Al occasionally making sounds that sound like certain letters of the alphabet, and Teo sometimes saying words that sound like "dog" in Chinese.  Neither boy is walking yet, though I think they are getting close.  Al can stand pretty steadily for long periods of time now unassisted, and both he and Teo can walk pretty well while pushing or holding on to something in front of them.