April in Summary

I shouldn't let weeks go without posting anything. It always leaves me feeling like I need to decide between catching you up on everything or just jumping to the current and forgetting about what I missed. I guess I'll give you a hybrid for today - a quick summary of what we've been doing in April!

The weather has been pretty nice on the whole and we've been spending a lot of time outside. Brennan loves his playhouse and occupies himself by going in and out of the front door, collecting rocks around it and talking on the phone.

He has taken a liking to pulling the wagon along the sidewalk on his own. He likes to collect twigs, rocks and pine cones as we walk. He often stops to smell flowers and water the bushes with his sippy cup. I let him walk on his own as long as he stays on the sidewalk. The other day, it took us nearly an hour to make the mile loop around our circle. I just try to be patient and live in the moment of the joy he is finding in exploring the neighborhood.

Occasionally, I will indulge him in "science experiments" as seen in this video, where he is playing with ice and water. This isn't the greatest video, but will give my mom a chance to hear his voice and devilish little laugh. He also likes to help cook and I try to involve him with food preparation whenever possible. He does a good job at helping put EVOO and salt on potatoes before they go into the oven for roasting!

We recently made a trip up to the Pittsburgh suburbs to visit our friends, Sara and Kenny, and their two year old daughter, Meghan. Can you guess who is having more fun in this picture? (Yes, that is two grown men in a playhouse.)

Brennan thoroughly enjoyed playing with their dogs, Reagan and Ike.

Last, but not least, Uncle Paul came down for a visit and brought Brennan an African shirt, hand made in Ghana by women in Global Mamas, a fair trade organization helping women in Africa achieve economic independence. Thanks Paul!

We have also had numerous playdates and lunch dates. It's been a fun, but busy couple of weeks, which is why it's been hard to get online. Hope you enjoyed the catch up!

Dogsitting

Last week, we dog-sat for our neighbor's dog, Baxter. Brennan really enjoyed having the dog in the house. I had fun with him too, but I am not ready to run out and get one of my own yet! I think I'll wait for Brennan to ask for one before we venture down that road. Baxter was great with Brennan, and didn't flinch when Brennan tried to ride him, sit on him, cover him with a blanket and hold onto both of his ears.

Baxter enjoyed eating anything Brennan threw overboard from his high chair. Brennan was snacking on some left over waffles one day and the dog went for them. Brennan was screeching and laughing hysterically as Baxter won the battle!

Brennan also enjoyed Baxter's bed and we often found him relaxing on the dog's bed!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We had such a fun day today. Maimouna and Kylian were with us for the weekend. We started the morning off with a waffle breakfast and then headed to church. After church, we had a big Easter egg hunt with our neighbors. Once Brennan understood what he was supposed to do, he did a good job at hunting down eggs! Later in the afternoon, we had a big family style dinner with our neighbors.

Brian casually mentioned that Brennan wouldn't let go of one of his eggs when he put him down for his nap. I didn't think much of it, until he woke up. When I first walked into the room, I noticed brown smeared all over his sheets. My first thought was, "poop," but then I looked at his face and saw it was chocolate. He was pointing at his mouth, saying "eat, eat." It was all over his blanket, sheets, face, hands and legs! I had to stick him straight in the tub to clean that chocolate off!