Big Boy in a Bumbo Seat

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong.  Can you tell which thing just doesn't belong by the time I finish singing this song?

 

December Preschool Art Projects

Here is a look at Brennan's art projects from school this month.

 

Brennan's Christmas Party

I signed up to organize the Christmas party for Brennan's class.  With a ton of input from my mom, the retired kindergarten teacher, I planned a 2 hour party for nine 3 year olds!  We started with cookie decorating: snowman sugar cookies decorated with icing, candy eyes and marshmallows.  Then we headed into snack time where the kids enjoyed chips, teddy grahams, grapes, strawberries and blueberries.  Due to allergies in the class, we kept the food simple.  For our cookie decorating, one of the moms in class made vegan sugar cookies so all kids could participate.  The cookies were delicious!  After playing a little freeze dance to get the sillies out, the kids completed a craft: decorating Christmas trees.  I wrapped the party up with a "guess what's in Santa's stocking" game.  While I worked with the kids, the teachers, Mrs. Teuscher and Mrs. Bradish, traded off on holding Tyler.  Mrs. Bradish even took him down to the church nursery to rock him to sleep when he started getting cranky from being overtired!  Thankfully, Tyler slept through the second half of the party.  Here is a little picture with me and kids.

I had a great time being in the class and felt more natural than I expected.  I am feeling more confident about my ability to do things with his class in the future now!

Below is the ornament gift that Brennan made for us at school.  I offered to wait until Christmas day to open the package, but he didn't want us to wait!  Brennan is now on vacation from school until January 4.

Play That Funky Music

Tyler has been practicing sitting up with support and I realized that his sound and music stage would give him just the support he needs to steady himself when sitting upright.  He has really taken to the toy and loves pounding on the piano keys and drum set.  Every time he fell backwards (the Boppy pillow was there to soften the landing), he would start to kick on the toy with his feet to continue to make music. 

We've moved from rice cereal to oatmeal and multi-grain cereals.  Tyler has been loving them and eats like a champ.  On a whim, I let him try mashed avocado, but he didn't seem thrilled.  I know I have to try many times before we'll know if he likes it or not, but I'm not pushing it for now.  I plan to start with yellow vegetables in January.  It's almost time to get my Beaba baby food maker out.  I'm looking forward to introducing foods to Tyler is a way that I wasn't with Brennan.  I guess I'm just less nervous and feeling more adventurous with baby #2!

Last Friday, Brennan had his school Christmas Program.  Each of the classes played a different role in the story and Brennan's classmates were mice.  My flash didn't carry in the big sanctuary, so my pictures were awful.  The story was about a tiny fur tree that wanted to be someone's special Christmas tree.  The big and medium sized trees got taken home by families looking for the perfect tree, but the tiny tree wasn't chosen.  He was sad, so the forest animals decorated him so that he could still feel like a beautiful Christmas tree, even though he remained in the forest.  It was a very cute story.  The preschool director narrated the story while the kids sang the songs.

In other news, Regina and her adorable baby, Frankie, came for a visit on Wednesday.  On Saturday, I had to put my foot down and push Brennan to let me cut his hair.  He's been procrastinating for over a month now and he was starting to grow a tail - it was ridiculous.  He insisted I use the buzzer, instead of a scissor, and I have no experience with doing a proper fade, so it's far from perfect, but it's better than it was before!  He cried the entire time I cut his hair and we had to keep taking breaks to wipe his nose and brush the hair off his hands and neck.  I was just as happy as he was to be done with the cut!  Later that day, on a happier note, Brian took Brennan to see his first movie in the theater: Happy Feet 2.  They got popcorn and M&Ms to snack on.  Brennan loved the experience and was thrilled to spend one on one time with Brian.  December has gone by fast.  My shopping (and wrapping) is just about done.  Can't believe we're just 6 days away until Christmas!

The Week in Review

This has been a busy week, so I'm going to catch up on the last 7 days in one post.  Tyler has had a few new firsts.  The biggest one is that he started eating rice cereal!  And, he seems to love it.  In fact, he started scarfing down bowls of it.  I've been giving him rice cereal, mixed with breast milk, for his second meal of the day (mid-morning) and dinner.  He has been eating 3-5 ounces of milk mixed with cereal at a time.  It's made our days a little more "normal," as he is now going longer between meals.  Tyler also discovered his feet and grabs them all the time, especially when he gets his diaper changed.

My parents and Debby visited last weekend so that they could watch the boys for us overnight, while Brian and I spent Saturday night in DC for Brian's office holiday party.  I was so excited to have a full night's sleep, and although it was great, I wasn't as refreshed as I expected to be.  I guess 5 months of interrupted sleep has depleted my reserves more than one night can catch me up on.  My mom brought a few crafts to work on with Brennan.  Brennan had a blast!  Aunt Debby also brought her iPad, so Brennan was all over that!

Brennan loved decorating the gingerbread men cookies, so we made sugar cookies on Wednesdays and decorated those with Brennan's friend, AJ, who came for a playdate yesterday.

Brennan has been hitting everyone up for dollars.  Since July, he has collected $45.  I let him go shopping with his own money this week.  We went to Toys R Us and walked the entire store.  It was a great learning opportunity for him.  I allowed him only to put things in our cart that he could afford, so he had to make decisions about what he really wanted - sometimes he chose to swap an item out of the cart, other times, he passed on whatever else he was looking at and kept the item in the cart.  In the end, he bought a set of Cars Squinkies and the Squinky Globe dispenser.  I never heard of these before and it definitely looked cooler in the package that it has turned out to be.  While I wouldn't recommend this item to a friend, I will say he has loved it and played with it non-stop since bringing it home.  He was excited to pay the cashier and get the change by himself.  He is now saving up for some other toys he had to put back.  Later in the week, while playing with his coins, I explained that 4 quarters = $1.  I told him we could go to the bank to change his coins into dollars.  We counted 12 quarters and brought them into the bank to get $3.  Brennan was so excited about the transaction.  We waited for our turn and then he asked the teller to change his quarters into dollars.  It was so cute and the tellers loved it!

Two days ago, Tyler started rolling over from his back to his belly.  He has been going from belly to back since he was about 1 month old, but from back to belly is totally new.  In the picture below, he had rolled from back to belly and managed to creep off the playmat onto the floor.  He has also started drooling a bit - maybe a sign that teeth are getting ready to push through?

Smiling with Santa

We went to see Santa and to my delight, both boys smiled for the picture!  Brennan had been asking to go see Santa for over a week - I think some of the kids in his class were talking about it.  I was a little worried about Tyler, since he sometimes gets upset around new people.  Thankfully, it was quick and painless.  After taking the picture, Santa asked Brennan what he wanted for Christmas and Brennan told him that he wanted toys and books.  I heard Santa tell Brennan that Santa loves him and to be a good boy.

November Art Projects

In addition to the crafts made for the Family Feast, which were pictured in an earlier post, here are some of Brennan's November preschool art projects.

Long Weekend with Uncle Pete and Meg

We had a small Thanksgiving with just the four of us on the 24th, then Peter and Meghan flew in on Friday morning and stayed until Monday evening.  We had a beautiful, long weekend with them!  They made huge leaf piles for Brennan to jump into and were good sports about jumping in with him.  Everyone was so dirty from playing in the yard and leaves, but Brennan loved every minute of it!

When we picked Pete and Meg up from the airport on Friday, Peter jumped right in the backseat between the two car seats and it totally startled Tyler.  Tyler cried every time he looked at Uncle Pete on Friday.  I was worried it might continue like that all weekend.  Thankfully, by Saturday, it seemed that Tyler had warmed up to Uncle Pete.  Pete and Meg watched Tyler for us as we went to get the Christmas tree. 

Brennan discovered a new favorite toy... Meg's iPad!

Meg and Pete drew a track in the driveway for Brennan to ride his bike on.  Although he is riding outside of the lines in the photo below, he actually did a great job riding his bike in the track.  It was great for him to practice riding and steering his bike.

While Brennan's occasional defiant attitude stumped Uncle Pete, Tyler's sweet smile and laughs were the cure.  Pete and Meg were so helpful with both kids all weekend.  It was great having them here for a visit and we were all sad to see them go home yesterday.  As we drove away from the airport, Brennan was literally in tears, crying, "I'm going to miss them."

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We went to Snickers Gap Tree Farm on Saturday to pick out a Christmas tree.  It was a 40 minute drive out to Round Hill, but was definitely worth the trip.  (It was also a great excuse to stop at the Hill High Country Store to get a delicious coconut cream pie!)  There were tons of beautiful trees to choose from.  Brian found the perfect one to take home.  Brennan loved the baby trees and wanted to get one of those, but we didn't think the gifts would fit!

After chopping the tree down, Brian had to drag it up a hill to get to the barn to pay for it.  Next year, we will have to change our strategy and look for trees that are uphill from the barn!  It was really warm out and we were all feeling the heat.  Brennan followed behind Brian, imitating him by dragging some branches that he called little trees.

We got the tree home and decorated and I think it looks great!  We are starting to feel in the holiday spirit.

Band Aids

What is up with kids' obsession with band aids?  Or, maybe it's just my kid?  All I know is that we have been burning through band aids like no tomorrow.  At first, they were a quick fix to ease the pain of a boo-boo.  Then, they were a strategy to help curb the thumb sucking.  But now, they are just a toy.  No matter where I hide the box of band aids, Brennan seems to find them.  He had a few boxes of specialty band aids (Dora, Mickey, Cars, etc.)  After using those all up, he has been going into the regular box.  I find band aid wrappers all over the place.  In the picture below, he is showing me his hand with 5 fingers wapped in band aids, claiming he had burned his skin off and needed the band aids!

The Feast

On Friday, we attended the Family Feast at Brennan's preschool. It was a school wide lunch.  Each class was assigned a part of the meal. Brennan's class had dessert and I made pilgrim hat cookies.

Brennan and Tyler wore coordinating outfits (matching jeans and dinosaur shirts from the same collection - thanks, Nana!)

I was so concerned about taking video during the event, that I totally forgot about taking pictures.  The kids marched in wearing hats - some classes wore feathers, others wore pilgrim hats.  Brennan's feather hat is pictured below.  He thought he was dressed up as a turkey, even though I know his teacher taught the kids about Pilgrims and Native Americans.  The kids sang the Albuquerque Turkey song and then sang a prayer before joining us at the tables.

The teachers came around to serve the feast.  The menu was turkey sandwiches, french fries, corn and applesauce, with apple juice and water to drink.  Brennan was so excited to have Tyler and I at the feast.  He had been talking about the feast for a week or so, ever since they started making the crafts pictured above.  We really had a nice time and Brennan enjoyed helping himself to seconds at the dessert buffet!

New Experiences for Tyler

Tyler is very interested in the world around him.  It's hard to nurse him when anyone else is in the room because he constantly unlatches to look around.  When he's sitting in the bouncey seat, which has him inclined at a 45 degree angle, he tries to pull his torso up to a more upright position (it looks like he's doing crunches.)  As a result, we are getting a lot of use out of the Bumbo seat, which is interesting, because that item didn't get much use with Brennan.  I decided to pull out the Exersaucer and Jumperoo.  I thought the jumper might be a little too much for him at this age, but he actually fits in it a little more comfortably than the Exersaucer, since it cradles his body more tightly.  He seems to love having a straight on view of Brennan play and has been jumping around quite a bit.  Brian thinks it looks like he is doing the running man when he gets his legs going.  I have taken video, but the files are too large to upload here and I am still on the fence about using You Tube.  Will try to work out a solution so I can post video.

The splashing at bath time has made it too much to continue baths on the kitchen counter, so Tyler's tub has now moved to the bathroom.  Here he is in his first bath in the bathroom (tub in a tub.)  He seemed quite content to have some toys to play with and to have big brother giving him lots of attention at bath time.

Tyler watches us when we eat and will open his mouth and put his head forward if you put food close to his face.  I thought he might be ready to try cereal, so Tyler got in the highchair for the first time this week.  He opened wide for his first spoonful of rice cereal, but pretty much pushed it all out with his tongue.  We gave it a good try, but I don't think he is quite ready yet.  We'll try again in another couple of weeks.

Painting and Bumbo Seats

We have been having a lot of low key time at home these days.  A few days ago, I cut an apple as a snack and it turned into an impromptu art session, at Brennan's request.  We used the apple core as a stamp.  This is something Brennan did at school.  Cutting the core on the horizontal makes a great star shape print.

 Here is the result of our art work.

Tyler's head support is really getting strong and he sits comfortably in the Bumbo seat now.  He got a front row seat to watch us paint.  He is wearing 9 months clothes now.  I have pictures of Brennan in this outfit at Christmas time 2008.

Tyler's 4 Month Stats

I took Tyler to the pediatrician today for his 4 month well baby visit.  He weighed 14.1 lb (34%) and was 26.5 inches long (93%.)  He received the second round of his immunizations (1 oral and 2 shots.)  Developmentally, he is right on track: he laughs/giggles, smiles, lifts his chest off the ground during tummy time, can "stand" with support, is grasping his hands together and can roll from front to back.  My main question for the doctor was about his sleep, or I should say, lack there of!  Brennan had totally spoiled me by this age because he was sleeping from 7 PM to 6 AM every night.  It's been a shock to my system to still have Tyler waking 2-3 times a night.  The doc explained that for many babies, their liver doesn't produce enough glycogen until 6 months for them to make it through the night without eating.  She said I could try to set some guidelines for nighttime feedings - like no nursing until 2 AM and if he wakes before, just sooth him in another way.  I have tried this before, but not consistently.  She also suggested putting tons of pacifiers in his crib so he might learn to find one and stick it in his mouth by himself.  I felt encouraged by her advice and hope that I'll see some improvement in sleep over the next two months.

Lounging Around

I haven't been very good at taking lots of photos this month.  But, here were two cute ones of the boys lounging together.  Brian's parents were in town this past weekend and Grandma made Tyler the beautiful blanket, photographed above.  Its sage and yellow tones go great with the nursery decor.  We had a nice weekend with the Pecorinos and spent a ton of time outside, including a trip to the Frying Pan Farm Park in Reston.  I can't believe we had never been there before.  It had the usual playground equipment you'd expect, but is a working farm, with animals and tons of baby piglets!  It was a lot of fun and it was free to visit, which makes it even better!  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the last week or so and we've been playing outside every day.  I love when fall extends so nicely into November this way!

Brennan's October Preschool Art Work

Here are some photos of the art projects Brennan did in October. Although I will keep some of these projects, over time (really, over the years), I know we won't be able to hold onto everything, so I figure this is a good way to remember some of his early work.

 The cat below is a hat, with a curly tail.  At pick-up time, the kids came out of class wearing their cat hats.

After completing the apple project, Brennan wanted me to cut all apples on the horizontal, so he could see the star shape in the center.

 The position of these hand prints cracks me up.