Sheridan + Joaquin = Twice as Nice

It's no secret (to those who know us) that Gary and I want to have another baby. But let's face it, one is a lot of work and, well, I'm a bit scared of having two little ones to chase all over the place. I think my friends who have more than one child are amazing. Modern day super heroes. I know families just work it out. You just make it work. But that doesn't make it seem any easier on this side of things.

So I decided to do a trial run.

Jen and Hector needed somebody to hang out with Joaquin yesterday (he's staying with Jen's parents while Jen and Hector are overseas for Sofia's adoption and Jen's mom needed back up for a day). I was happy to have Sheridan's buddy over for the day.

But let's face it... this was big. For me AND for Sheridan.

So I planned out the day: Joaquin would arrive at 7:30, we would eat breakfast, J & S would have music therapy together from 8:30-9:30, we would go to the park and Sheridan would have PT in the park from 10:30-11:30 while J and I played in the sandbox (or whatever else J wanted to do), we would eat a picnic lunch in the park (which I packed the night before) and play until nap time - S goes down between 1:30 and 2:30; J doesn't nap anymore, so my biggest concern was getting S down and get hi to STAY down while J and I hung out. After that, the rest of the afternoon would just be hanging out playing in our play living room or back at the park.

The boys' picnic lunch... yum!

The boys had different plans... but it all worked out :)

When Joaquin arrived he was VERY tired - apparently he had woken up very early that morning (well before 5:30) so he just wanted to snuggle on me. Which was fine by me :)

Sheridan was so happy to see him first thing in the morning. He was all smiles, giggles, and he was constantly waving "hi."  At one point he even came up and put his hand on Joaquin's back as if to tell him, "it's okay, Buddy."

After 45 minutes of snuggling, I decided to put Joaquin in Sheridan's crib to see if he wanted to take a nap. Um, yeah. Two and a half hours later, he woke up. I think he needed that sleep!

So Sheridan did music therapy alone (I'm actually surprised Joaquin didn't wake up from all the ruckus!) and I switched PT back into our home (I wasn't sure when Joaquin would wake up). He did wake up just in time for Sheridan's PT.

Both J & S have the same PT - and they both love, love, LOVE her. It was pretty funny watching her try to work with Sheridan while Joaquin was all over her :)  And apparently Sheridan's favorite PT toy is also Joaquin's fave... luckily I have one, too.

Sheridan was so sweet... he could tell Joaquin wanted to play with it so he gave it to him. But a few minutes later he wanted to play, too, and... well... neither boy was too excited to share :)  So I busted out our toy. Imagine their elation when they could play with TWO farms! (By the way, now I know why parents of twins have 2 of everything.)

When PT left at the end of the session, Joaquin started to cry (he essentially knows PT better than me - he's been seeing her twice a week every week for longer than I've known him, so he was sad to see her go and be left with me in this unfamiliar house). He didn't full-on cry, but kind of whimpered for about 2 minutes and then we were back to playing.

So we headed to the park...

 Just chillin' outside the house getting ready to go.

Here's the boys singing "slippery fish" - see their fish?

Here's their "Ohhhhhhh, noooooooo!"

They ate... each staked out his own territory...

Joaquin did NOT want Sheridan to feed him :)

Then came the good stuff... the sandbox!

Now, if you've ever seen Joaquin do his "yoga" (as I like to call it), you'll know that he loves be on his hands and feet in plantigrade and look at everyone upside down. Sheridan has been experimenting in that position a bit for a while. Joaquin did it for a moment in the sand box, and then Sheridan mimicked him, and started walking all over the sand box like that...

And Joaquin looooooooooved tucking his hands in the sand. So Sheridan decided he would do it, too.

We sang "itsy bitsy spider" - look at those spiders those awesome spiders they're making!

"If you're happy and you know it, say 'Hurray!'"

Yaaaaayyyyy! Good singing, boys!

Well, there goes Sheridan again...

I'm telling you, that Joaquin is a good role model!

And here we have more tag-team tucking...

Aaaaaand, he's off...

I knew it was time to leave when Joaquin just wanted to snuggle, and Sheridan was trying to climb up on me, too.

So I stripped the boys down to their diapers (it was over 80 degrees and they were full of sand and diiirrrrrrty), and we headed back home for a bath.

Here's Sheridan showing Joaquin the finer nuances of his bath toys.

And now, for a story.

Joaquin provided some mood music on the floating xylophone.

And yes, this is how Sheridan bathes.

They boy rarely sits any more. He only sits to splash. Splash big or go home.

Then came the moment of truth... I got the boys dressed and I realized it was 2:00. Time for Sheridan's nap. How the heck was I gonna do this with two boys?

I decided to let Joaquin play in the living room while I tried to put Sheridan down in his room (don't worry - our house is uber baby-proofed and our living room is basically a child's dream play room - any semblance that adults live here and use that room has vanished). 

Sheridan was asleep in his crib by 2:05. I was patting myself on the back :)

I came out of Sheridan's room and found Joaquin exactly where I left him - playing quietly on the floor. He wanted to snuggle. I obliged. 

Joaquin was asleep on the couch by 2:10. Double pat on the back :)

Sheridan slept for 90 minutes, and because Joaquin was still asleep I rocked Sheridan and let him rest on me for another 30 minutes. At that point Joaquin woke up after a 2 hours nap! Those boys needed the rest (and I needed the time to do some work, a win-win).

We spent the rest of the day hanging out playing at home, but did take another walk before Joaquin was picked up at 5:00.

Yaaaaaaaayyy! Clapping at the end of a song.

Jen and Hector, thank you for entrusting your baby boy to me (and thanks to Jonna for calling to check on me :). Joaquin was perfect, and sweet as always. It was also nice to see how the boys interacted. Sheridan was very sweet toward Joaquin, always offered to share his toys - even if he did want his farm back at one point :) - and also how Sheridan immediately picked up on the things Joaquin is doing and tried to do them himself. I swear, if Joaquin hadn't spent the day with us, Sheridan wouldn't be experimenting this much (yet) with all this walking on hands & feet. The only time I saw him do it consistently was in the bath tub over the last couple months... so to see him pick up on it so quickly at the park from Joaquin was so great!

And, yes, two children were more tiring and demanding than one, but at least on this day it wasn't too bad. Not at all the hair-pulling feat I expected. But I was exhausted :)  And it was worth it.

Sheridan is going to make a great big brother one day.