Where we are, who we are

I haven't really shared much lately about what the boys are up to or what's going on in our lives; just the snippets I happen to have taken pictures of, which miss about 99.99% of our days - and our lives. Here are a couple quick updates:

• Leif's laryngomalacia continues, but we think it's the slightest bit better in that there are times when he's taking deep breaths but he isn't squeaking or retracting, and we think he's doing it less ("doing it" meaning making the squeaky stridor noise). We have a follow-up appointment next week (the 27th I think) with the ENT doc to see how he's progressing
• Leif's sleeping remains mixed: he usually sleeps 5-9 hours for the first stretch, and we still have a difficult evening, but it's ever-so-slightly better than it was before
• Leif's beginning to open up to the world - he's smiling a lot when he's awake (he's so handsome!), and his body is slowly beginning to unfurl. 
• This one is really exciting: Augie peed in the potty today! It was the most intentional effort he's put into using the potty. We were in his room and he was naked after his bath, and I could see that he was getting ready to go - spreading his legs, looking down, grabbing his penis - so I said, "Augie, let's use the potty!" and he ran to his little potty and did his half-squat in front of it, aiming and waiting. Nothing happened and he looked up at me, worried. "Stuck!" he said. I grabbed a book and started to read to him, and then he peed! As soon as he was done, he picked up the bowl of the potty and said, "potty!" and handed it to me, then he ran to the bathroom so we could dump the pee in the potty. We're especially happy about this because we haven't done anything at all lately to train him. We've talked about the potty and let him watch us use it, and kept his potty out, but we haven't pushed it at all. Maybe he sees someone at school using it?
• Augie is talking, talking, talking. It's wonderful. He's speaking both English and Swedish, and some English words he pronounces as though they are Swedish. He finally started saying his own name a couple weeks ago, though it sounds like "Ah-gist", without the rounding of the mouth to get the "au-" sound. He knows to pluralize things with an "-s", and he sometimes pluralizes the verb, too. He's regularly putting together sentences with 3 or more words. He repeats the last word of almost everything we say. And what do you think his favorite word is? "No!"
• Augie seems to be loving school, though he's back to napping in the stroller at dagis; his favorite teacher, Åsa, has been sick and away from school ever since Augie napped on the mat, so he's gone back to sleeping in the stroller. We hope she will be back on Monday!
• Augie can be very helpful when someone is sad or upset. His friend Nils fell at the playground today and started to cry. Augie looked at me and said "sad." Then he looked at Nils's mom adn said "napp" (the Swedish word for pacifier), as he knew that napps usually make sad kids feel better. When Leif was crying earlier this evening, Augie came in from the other room carrying a paci for him. 
• Augie is started to play with other kids, rather than just beside him. At the playground this afternoon, he ran around with Nils; when he first saw him, he ran up to him and tried to belly bump/kiss him (not really sure which he meant to do, or both). They ran around together, laughing, and when Augie ran to do something like swing, he'd point to an empty swing and say "Nils swing."
• Augie loves new people. The other week he ran up to and hugged one of the barristas from our favorite Italian coffee place when we saw him on the street (I didn't even know Augie had ever seen/recognized this guy!), with a giant smile on his face. James has a student visiting from Princeton, and he spent all afternoon asking her to push him on the swing, push him in the stroller, read him a book, etc. 
• We've asked a wonderful woman we met a couple months ago, Julie, to come over once a week to hang out with the kids and help us. She came over for the first time on Friday and it was great - Augie loved showing off his toys to her and running around with her; she was great with Leif, even when he was crying, and we felt totally comfortable giving him to her even when he was crying so we could sit down to dinner. Having her here meant we could comfortably take showers, make dinner, and eat it; beyond that, she and I sat on the couch (while Leif napped in my arms) and talked, talked, talked. Unfortunately, she's going back to the US in December, but we are so glad and lucky to have her here with us for the few weeks she's still here. 

That only begins to tell you all that's going on, but at least it's something. 

We're trying to get Augie involved in more household tasks, so that he can contribute and feel a sense of accomplishment in helping around the house, and also so that we can get more done (it's easier to wash the potatoes if he's actively engaged in helping to wash potatoes, rather than jumping on the couch). One of the easiest things for him to help with is the recycling, a job he relishes. He's also been keen to help with scraping his plate after dinner and putting his clothes in the hamper; ironically, it's us who have to remember to involve him in these tasks (you'd think we'd be happy to have a baby slave!).