Why Whine?

When Ronin whines, he sounds like, "Moooooooooom meeeeeeeeeeeee!"
When Nikko whines, he sounds like, "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" and it's at a very high-pitched frequency and it grates on my nerves. I just wanted to make this distinction because Nikko's whining is different from Ronin's. He also does it when he can't communicate well. This morning Nikko was automatically whining once we got into the living room after waking up. I tried to stay calm and ask him what he wanted. "What do you want? What does Nikko want?" I asked him this over and over, sternly or lightly, didn't matter. Nikko kept whining. Gaaaaaaaaa...

And then, very quickly, he said, "Watch Thomas?" and went back to Gaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I immediately praised him for vocalizing something and put in the Misty Island Rescue DVD, a new one I got in the event that the kids melted down (they did, last night). This made him happy and quiet for the duration of the movie. Until it was time to eat breakfast, that is. I'm really at a loss for why he is whining so much. Is it the pop tarts? Could it be his diet again, even though the only dairy he's getting is in his cheese sandwiches?

P.S. I don't even want to jinx us, but today Ronin wore underwear. No pull up, no diaper. He was incredibly resistant to using the bathroom at first. We wanted to pull out our hair. But by lunchtime he was more compliant. He didn't have any accidents UNTIL after dinner and before bedtime. I went too long without taking him to the bathroom and he had an accident on the mats in the living room. Tonight, I took out all the mats (will clean them tomorrow) and we're hardwood floor again. I do NOT want to go back to diapers with Ronin. We'll see how it goes.....

Oh, and today he pedaled on a tricycle for the first time. Great firsts for Ronin today!