Halloween: the big day

So yesterday G saw his Thomas costume sitting on the table and asked me to put it on him. He walked around the house with it and got down on his knees to show me that Thomas was driving. When it was time for lunch he wanted Thomas to eat with him and watch him. Clearly he loves his costume, but he doesn't like to wear it in public because he doesn't like to be the center of attention.

Today we went trick or treating at the nearby shopping center. Everywhere we went he got tons of comments on how cool his costume is. After one stop, he wanted it off. Luckily I planned for this and borrowed a train conductor hat from his friend Ryder, put him in matching overalls and a red hanky tied around his neck. So when his costume came off he had his secondary costume to wear. After about six stores he was done with getting candy.


We headed over to the Harvest Festival at a nearby church. We went there last year and G seemed to enjoy it. This year he was all about the bouncers. They had a giant slide bouncer and a couple of regular bouncers. He and Ian couldn't be pulled away from the slide. Here is a video of his first trip up the slide. The pumpkin that he is mowing down is Ian.

However with no nap today and so much activity he went into meltdown at the festival around 5:30 and we had to get out of there. I should have known to leave when he started zoning out.

First day of Preschool without Mom

I enrolled G in a nearby church preschool. It three hours of time away from Mom and three hours Mom can go grocery shopping with only one child. Most importantly it's three hours of social interaction with people other than Mom and Dad or the Grandparents.

I'm also hoping that he learns to recite his ABCs and 123s. When I sing songs or count things in books he shows no interest and sometimes even tells me to stop. Hopefully he'll be more receptive to learning with some peer pressure. Same goes for potty training. They work with the kids on potty training so I really hope the peer pressure gets him more serious about that.

The first day G was excited to go to class. He had fun at the orientation the week before riding trikes outside. Once he figured out I wasn't staying he started crying and talking to him didn't improve the situation so I just had to leave. I brought his trusty green blanket and he clutched it the whole day. When I came to pick him up he had a death grip on his blankie and said "Let's go home NOW Mommy!".

Thomas makes his debut appearance

Today was G's playgroup Halloween party. One of the many reasons he had to come home from the desert so quickly.

G LOVES Thomas the Train and all his friends. So when deciding what to be for Halloween it was clear he wanted to be Thomas. Grandma B spent months creating Thomas (a half hour here a half hour there). G seemed to be really excited about wearing Thomas and cooperated through a couple fittings.

Well the day of the party he didn't want to put on his Thomas clothes. I knew he wouldn't be able to wear the costume the whole time so I wanted him to dress as a conductor. I forgot his scarf and hat for the party, but bribed him with a jelly bean to wear his shirt and engineer shorts. It required two jelly beans for him to put on the costume at the party.

When he finally put it on, he seemed to get everyone's attention and he really didn't like that at all. He wanted me to carry him. Kind of impossible with that big monstrosity on. So two more jelly beans to pose for pictures and wear the hat. Five jelly beans total and I got what I wanted. I doubt that's good parenting, but it was worth it to get the pictures!


He had fun at the party mostly playing with Patrick's toys. Believe it or not Adam was there too. We took pictures of him with his buddy Aaron. Aaron is 5 weeks younger than Adam, but he looks about the same size now. Hard to believe that Adam is twice as old! He's growing up so fast.



TIMBEEEERRRRRRRRRRR...

The 24 hour desert trip

Dad and G took a trip to the desert with Kaitlyn's Dad and the Watts. The van had it's inaugural tow of the motorcycle trailer. Apparently it did a better job than Dave's old truck. And you thought vans were wimpy!



G fell asleep in the van on the way out to the desert. Dave and G setup camp in the back of the van. G slept in the back of the van, and Dad stayed up late so he only had a 2 hour nap in the van before G woke him up at 5am!

G asleep with his beloved green blanket. "Don't leave home without it."

There was snacking, quad riding, and playing/fighting with the other 3 boys there. Then Dave brought me home a dirty cranky boy that we had to throw in the shower before sending him off to bed.



He's driving!


Miss Tyler is ready for her quad ride.



Trying to keep up with the big boys...

Zoned out in front of the fire with Kaitlyn's Dad.

He seemed to love it and asked to go to a different desert next time.

They finished the wall

The whole shebang:


Above the stairs to see the double wall.


Steps up to the vegetable garden:

G and Dad go to the desert

Tonight G and Dad headed off to the desert while A and Oskar and I hold down the fort. G was so excited to go to the desert. He kept saying all day that we had to get home because Daddy was going to come home to get him to go to the desert. He sat on the stairs after Dave left for work this morning and said "I'm going to wait right here until Daddy gets home." Sadly I had to inform him that he had to go to preschool.

Today was his last day at his playgroup's co-op preschool. Next week he gets thrust into the real world and his 16 years of education begins...with hopefully at least 4 additional years for college on top of that.

So I sent the boys off to the desert with the camera, so hopefully the boys come back with pictures. Right after they left I cleaned the kitchen. Tomorrow I have big plans to do more house cleaning. A hurricane must have come through here while I was out of the house because there are toys scattered everywhere. Hard to believe on little boy can get so many toys in so many places in so little time. It's like he's leaving bread crumbs to mark his path through the house.

I don't have any pictures of the boys, so here are some picture of the yard in progress.
Left side:


Right side:


P.S. He didn't nap today, but instead ate his Clifford book. Yes that's right he ATE the corner of it. I'll post a picture soon...

Pumpkins and fish sticks...the perfect day

Today we hit the pumpkin patch for the first time this year. It was so hot! I decided to get pictures of the boys first since Adam was ready to nap. G was really reluctant to pose for the picture, but I bribed him with a rice krispy treat and suddenly I had his full cooperation.



In the afternoon G and Grandma took a hike up to the top of the hill by our house. This big trek didn't tire him out enough for a nap though. However it did give him a big appetite for dinner. He ate 4 fish sticks!! This boy doesn't eat much so 4 fish sticks is like gorging himself. Thanks to Grandma E for the suggestion. Of course next time I offer it I'm sure he won't eat it.

After dinner I left G with Where the Garbage Goes and when I came back twenty minutes later he was passed out on the couch! This boy has NEVER EVER EVER fallen asleep like that. I picked him up and carried him upstairs to his bed. Amazingly he stayed asleep...I was seriously blown away! Here I am it's 6:30 and both kids are in bed.

It's the perfect day because I got a cute picture of the boys, G ate something, and both boys are in bed early! Time to catch up on the blog, yay!

Preschool Orientation

Well today was the big day. G went to preschool for the first time, but I stayed too. He did fairly well. He didn't want to participate in the group activities, however he was willing to sit in the circle. When it was time to do some beading he was actually eager to get a string and beads. He also answered (correctly!) when the teacher asked what he was going to be for Halloween. I was so proud!

His favorite time was free play outside. He immediately jumped on a tricycle and scooted around the play area. Then he spent the rest of the time alternating between racing a lawn mower and scooting a trike.

Despite the fact that he didn't shed a tear today, I'm sure next week when I leave it's going to be rough for him. I just hope that he adapts quickly.

Then the biggest surprise...he took a nap in his bed for the first time in three weeks! It was an hour in his room talking and rolling around in his bed and 50 minutes of actual sleep. The past three weeks I have been alternating between taking longer afternoon walks for a stroller nap and running errands in the afternoon for a car nap. The days when I didn't get him to nap at all he was unbearable by 5pm. Hopefully this nap thing becomes an everyday thing again.



He's also really into his tricycle lately. He doesn't pedal, but that's not because he can't, it's because he knows I want him to. We borrowed a tricycle from his friend Ian because we thought his was too hard for him to push. He pedaled 5 or 6 rotations and then decided he was over it. He got off and pushed it around the culdesac instead. At least he looks cute in his jeans.

Fall Festival

Another busy day for G. Today was soccer and then the Fall Festival. G was really excited to go because there were bouncers. G LOVES bouncers! He started off bouncing and before we left he was bouncing. Through the middle he was bouncing, but we also managed to get him to ride a pony, eat, get a caricature done with his brother, make slime, and play with the train table.

Grandma and Grandpa went to the Festival with A, G, and I since Dad was helping his friend dig trenches in their yard. Funny because we had the landscapers digging in our yard on Saturday too.

On with the good stuff, the pictures!




G and Kaitlyn with a pirate:

Legoland here we come!

Originally we were supposed to meet G's friend Ben (from his old playgroup up North), but he couldn't make it so it was just the four of us. G had so much fun, and so did Dad! I didn't go on any rides, instead I photographed the trip and hung out with Adam feeding him and watching him sleep. It was actually a lot of fun and we stayed there for 4 hours before we leaving.

Adam was out of the stroller for some of the fun too, but he didn't go on any rides. There is still plenty of the park we didn't explore. We got three month passes so we have plenty of time to see it all. However the $10 parking fee is just ridiculous!









After Legoland we went to visit Ben at his hotel. G and Ben went for a dip in the hotel pool and then we went out to dinner. Ben has a new little sister Katherine that is a month older than Adam. Katie slept through most of the reunion, but Adam was awake for a lot of it. I'm not sure if Ben and G remember each other, but they enjoyed sharing pictures across the table at TGIFs. Ben was showing us his ability to write letters and draw pictures (like spiders, a leaf, forklift, etc)....and he's the same age as G!

Mr. Adam

Adam has just started to tolerate his bouncer seat with the fish bar. He used to scream when I put him in there and scream harder when the fish bar was on. I guess it was too much stimulation for him, but now he's finally interested in it. He still hates tummy time with a passion.



My new motto...another day another poop explosion. For the past week he has been having one single HUGE bowel movement. I don't care how big the diaper is, it could not contain A's poop. It's pretty much a disaster with the changing table and clothes needing to cleaned. I cannot believe how much laundry I am doing these days. Just one more addition to the family and I swear the laundry has tripled! I guess G is getting dirtier too just being a two year old. It doesn't help that we have three huge piles of rock in our driveway for the landscaping. Three piles he has to climb and inspect of course!

Mr. A started cooing recently and giving me smiles. It's the best thing! He sits in my lap and checks things out and whips out a smile for me then starts cooing. I've tried to get this on camera, but when I hide behind the camera the smiles and coos vanish. Instead he just gets his worried looks on his face as he examines the camera.



I've been better about giving him a bottle. Or I should say, Grandma comes over on Thursdays so I can get my allergy shot and Adam can get a bottle. He also gets one on the weekend and sporadically the rest of the time. He seems to take it well as long as it is ready when he is. Once he gets frantic he won't take it.

That's the latest and greatest.

Crazy Sunday

On Sunday we met Connor and Kyle at the park for an early morning play date. Connor and G had fun swinging and yelling "go dog go" at various dogs playing on the field. They are a crack up!




After playing at the park we went to a toy store to get a present made for the Grandparents. The boys had to wait for their turn and they were crazy kids in a toy store! They were fighting over blocks, who could go in the playpen, and who could play with the kitchen. Dave and I were exhausted after that trip! Sadly G was still all revved up and didn't take a nap!

My two month old

He's 11lbs 2oz. So after 2 months Adam is just about the size of his older brother at birth! I think he's getting so big these days! Sadly, he'll be out of his 3 month clothes in a couple of weeks and on to size 2 diapers. And he's developed a bald spot on the back of his head from sleeping on his back.

Speaking of sleeping, he has been doing great. He has been consistently sleeping 10 hours from 7pm to 5am. He's also taking great naps in his crib during the day if we happen to be home. Usually we are running around doing G activities. I feel guilty robbing him of his precious sleep...especially since I was home for all of G's naps. However if I stayed home for both boys' naps I would NEVER get to leave the house.

I've had so many comments how my boys look alike, but I don't see it. So...I dug up Ethan's old pictures to compare him to Adam at the same age. What do you think??

Here he is with his doctor.

Ready, swim!

He's doing so well swimming, but we are starting his last set of lessons before we take a little break. G got into a nearby preschool and is going to start one day a week, so were are bumping swimming down to one day a week. We have our week jam packed with an activity every day except Friday! I try to keep Fridays free so we can go on outings with Dad every other week.

He is currently working on breathing, but still no kicking. He's also doing back floats and flipping to his stomach to swim to the edge. Tracy wants him to be able to rest and continue swimming if he even falls in the pool and gets tired. I can't find the video of the back float, but here are the long awaited videos (long awaited by the Grandparents anyway).

It's hard to tell in the other videos how much swimming he's doing on his own and how much Tracy is helping him, but this one makes it really clear! He's workin' it!


Taking a breath on his own:

Firehouse Tour

Today G woke up early and Adam had a rough night so Dave and I were not so energetic this morning.  I think G is still suffering the aftermath of skipping his nap yesterday because he didn't want to participate much in soccer.  He was eager to head off to the local fire department's open house.  

He sat in the back and front of the aerial ladder truck and posed for a picture with a dog and an antique water pump.  He also got to tour the fire station to see where the fire fighters eat sleep and exercise.  Apparently they don't use the fire poles anymore because too many firefighters were getting injured.  They are no longer installed in new firehouses.  

And best of all he got some tchotchkes like a plastic fire hat, bracelet, sticker, pin, and a necklace.  Sadly, he wouldn't wear the plastic fire hat or the real one when he was driving the fire truck.

Sadly it was another day without a nap, so he went to bed before 7pm and went to sleep almost immediately!!  I'm a little afraid of when he'll wake up tomorrow morning.