I feel like such a mom

Mom, Mikey and Luke get in the car. Mom in the driver seat, Mikey in car seat facing forward behind driver seat, Luke facing backwards in the middle. Here is how it typically shakes down:

Mikey: Mom! Lukey is kicking me! Luke's foot is on me! Can you tell Luke to move his foot?!
Mom: Mikey, Luke is too little to understand.
Mikey: Tell Luke to stop! Tell Lukey to stop!
Mom: Luke, stop putting your foot on Mikey.
Mikey: His foot is still touching me!
Mom: Luke, please stop touching Mikey.

...moments later

Mikey: Ahhh!!! Lukey scratched me! Can you tell Lukey to stop scratching me!
Mom: Luke, stop scratching Mikey.

...moments later

Luke starts crying
Mom: Mikey...? What did you do?
Mikey covers his face
Mom: Mikey?!
Mikey: I just, I just put my foot up on him like this (Mikey puts his shoe up on Luke's head and face--again)
Mom: Mikey! Do not kick your brother in the face!

...moments later

Mikey: I don't want Luke's cup! He keeps putting his cup on me!
Mom takes away Luke's cup.

...moments later

Luke starts screaming
Mom: MIKEY! What did you do?!
Mikey silent
Luke still screaming
Mom: Mikey...? Did you hit Luke?
Mikey: I just, I just pushed him like this (poking Luke's face with his finger--again)
Luke still screaming
Mom: Mikey, stop touching your brother

Is there anything more mom-like then telling your kids to stop touching each other and to leave each other alone?

So Saturday morning, months of this finally broke me down. I had both kids in the car and went back inside to grab something. When I came back out Luke was crying... The result? Luke graduated early. Just one week early (and he's been over 20 lbs for months now). I couldn't handle them touching each other any more! Since Luke's car seat only works rear-facing in the middle...

...I turned him around!

I love seeing his cute little face in my rear view mirror now.

And he loves it, of course--being able to see where he's going instead of where he's been. And best of all, no more kicking, scratching and screaming.

Only problem is that he is much less reclined and so sleeping is not quite as comfortable. (But look how cute!)

Bath life without the bath seat

As I mentioned a little earlier, we have had to get rid of the bath seat for Luke as he is now too agile to stay in it. Prior to getting rid of the bath seat we had a bit of a splashing problem with Luke. Basically he wouldn't stop splashing. We finally had to turn his bath seat backwards since the bather (mom or dad) preferred to not get drenched. Also, since Mikey freaks out when even a drop of water lands in his face he doesn't appreciate the water flying everywhere.

So now that we don't have the bath seat anymore, what do we all think happened with the splashing.






Yes! WAY worse! Now he's all down in the water and gets a much deeper splash. And this video is from the first time without the seat. It gets worse every time! At first Mikey was able to stop the splashing momentarily by dumping a cup of water on his head--now it doesn't even phase him. Luke just splashes harder and faster throughout the whole bath. I can't even get his hair washed without getting completely drenched. At first Mikey actually thought it was funny when Luke would splash while facing backwards and get me and the floor wet, but now there is no escaping the splashing (I know, funny to be worried about the one who is actually in the tub and already wet). So my options at this point are to either hold the shower curtain or towel around Luke to shield Mikey from him so as to allow him a little splashing time in the tub (he loves it so much I can't bring myself to pull him out right away) or bathe the two boys separately. Sigh. Oh and of course have plenty of towels on hand to wipe down the bathroom.