This has been a busy summer!

Brady was involved in a school district play of "The Jungle Book", which he loved doing even though he looked like a deer in the headlights on stage a good part of the time. Then he got pneumonia somehow, so he spent a lot of time laying around and coughing. He seems mostly better now, but it's been over three weeks!

Elliott keeps asking about when "big school" starts, because he will get to start Pre-K in the fall. He's been waiting for this day for half his short life! In the meantime, he's been going to Log Cabin preschool two days a week so he has some kids to play with other than his brother. They've been alternating between playing great together and then fighting and being mean, so I figured they could use some time apart.

The boys have been going to the library like crazy this summer, because Brady reads like 8 books a day (not exaggerating) so I have to keep replenishing them. They've discovered these Rainbow Fairy books and both love them. Elliott looks at the pictures and imagines being a fairy and having magical powers. Brady loves the stories, even though they are all nearly the same and I'm sure I could write one in no time at this point. I'm kind of surprised Brady will read them. They are SO girly, and he's at the point where he's not sure if it's okay to like pink or girly things because people might make fun of him. I tell him to like what he likes, and be himself. Elliott couldn't care less what people think about him. He dances around everywhere and does cartwheels wherever he can. He's obsessed with dancing and gymnastics!

JW and I have new jobs in Austin, so we're looking for a house to rent that is in good shape, not too expensive, near our jobs and in a good neighborhood. Apparently this is impossible. We will have to lower our expectations in at least one of those ways if we are ever going to move. I hate house looking!

I'll be ready for this craziness to calm down!

Pink Sparkly Chihuahuas

Elliott has decided he wants a pink sparkly chihuahua for Christmas this year. Not a stuffed dog, but a real one that barks. He still enjoys pretending to be a rock star, but will only ever lip synch, pose, or dance- no actual singing involved. He loves music, especially upbeat dancy music. There's a song out now called "I'm sexy and I know it". Elliott sings it as "sixteen and I know it".

Brady is excited about Christmas break. He and Elliott enjoy looking for Christopher Popingtons (our elf) every time they wake up or come home. Brady is super into this web game called Poptropica, which he and his friends play every day after school. He asked Santa specifically for a membership to this website.

Both Brady and Elliott are still into pink and purple, but I think peer pressure is starting to get to Brady. He pretends not to like pink or girls stuff when anybody but immediate family are around, but they still fight over the pink cups and bowls. Elliott is aware that stuff is for girls, but he just doesn't care. He went to school with a penguin, puppy, and Santa painted on his fingernails without a care in the world.

Oh, and Elliott still insists he has a different grandpa who lives in Florida. He asked to call him the other day. His phone number is 25476 in case you were wondering!

I have such good boys! Love them so.

When I was big...

So I know I'm terrible at updating this blog, and I've come to accept this. I apologize!

Elliott has become quite the storyteller lately, thanks to his papa's influence. He has been telling stories lately that begin "A long time ago, when I was big...". One of my favorite tales is about him having a pet killer whale and having to drive his helicopter to the killer whale pet food store. His imagination is really blooming! And he is still on his rock star kick big time. Everything is a possible microphone or guitar, and he practices his posing and rock star faces constantly.

Brady and Elliott are really into this pretend game they call "baby bird egg". They get blankets off the couch or their beds, then curl up on the floor with the blankets wrapped around them. I am then instructed to sit on the eggs, which then wiggle and hatch out a baby bird...usually. Sometimes the eggs hatch out dogs or cats, or cats that turn into birds. The boys then crawl or flap around the living room pretending to be these animals for quite a long time. I like this game because it's a brief respite from the quarreling.

Ah, the quarreling. It's currently summer break, so I'm home with both of them all day, every day. I have never heard so much whining, tattling, yelling and screaming in all my days. Geez! I'm doing all I can to keep them busy and interested in activities so that there's less time for fighting. I think they need some time apart, but that's hard to do because they're so fixated on fairness. If I send Brady to a friend's house, then Elliott will be upset that he didn't get to go.

I'm making it sound terrible. It's really not that bad. Often they play together well. Elliott's verbal ability puts him as a peer to Brady in their pretend games. I think we all forget that he's not the same age and maturity as Brady because of that, so our expectations of him are sometimes unfair.

Brady just finished kindergarten. He loved his teacher, but I don't think he learned a darn thing. His teacher openly admitted she didn't really know what to do with him. By the end of the year, he was reading on a third grade level. He even became the first kindergartner ever to make the 25 point Accelerated Reader club at school! I had to enroll him in my class to make this happen, because nobody in kinder knew how to handle the online testing required. My students loved this, because Brady's name appeared on the point reports, and he beat almost half my class. We are very proud of him. He is so smart and is a good boy at school. Even though he must have been bored out of his skull, he managed to maintain a good behavior record.

That about catches us up!

True love?

Brady announced tonight that the worst thing ever had happened: the girl he loves moved away and now he has to love another girl. He even has the new girl picked out.

Me: who do you love now?
B: janessa
Me (cautiously): is that a girl?
B (with Sarah Palin-esque arm movement): you betcha!
Me: what do you love about her?
B: she's friendly
Me: thats a good reason! Are you going to tell her you love her or are you keeping it a secret?
B: I'm gonna tell her.
Me: how will you know if she loves you back?
B: Her face when I tell her. (insightful!)
Me: what will you do if she's crazy and decides she doesn't love you?
B (maftter-of-factly): love someone else

I remember having little boyfriends in kindergarten and first grade, but somehow I thought Brady was too little for all that. What's happening?! His confidence is adorable. He has the air of someone who knows he's awesome and has only ever had people completely adore him. I hope and pray he always feels that way.

Speaking of adoration- Brady is the star student of the month for his class! Such a good boy!

Kindergarten, Baby!

The new school year is off to a great start for Brady. He loves Kindergarten and his teacher Mrs. Babb. He's making new friends while still making sure to play with his old ones from Pre-K. He reads on a 2nd grade level, which is proving challenging to his teacher- he is one of only 3 kids who can read at all. So now we've started sending books with him to read, and she's promised to figure out ways to challenge him further. Fingers crossed!

Brady has also started soccer, along with the gymnastics we began in the summer. So far, he's a natural at soccer. Seriously. People are commenting on it. It's probably because of his freakin' awesome soccer cleats! These things are hot. I'll try to post a picture. Oh! I'll just link to the team's website that I've taken charge of.

https://sites.google.com/site/harkerheightsblizzards/

There. Now you can see for yourself!

Elliott is really starting to resent going to "baby school". He feels so ready to go to school with Brother, and gets really ticked off sometimes that he doesn't get to go to Big Boy School. He is a really smart kid and would maybe do even better than some of those Pre-K kids I see walking around the halls, but I think the not-even-close-to-potty-trained status would be a deal-breaker for his teacher. Even M&Ms can't tempt him to "go" like a big boy.

I've been telling a few people about what Elliott said to me the other day, but I'll post it here so I won't forget. He got REALLY mad at me for hanging up his towel. Big deal, right? Well he was seriously angry about it. He wanted to tell me to go to hell, but didn't have that phrase at his disposal, so he made one up:

Elliott (pointing at me, scowling): "You, Mama! You go to the doctor and you get a SHOT! YOU GET A SHOT!!"

I laughed so hard. That was the funniest thing I'd heard in a long time. He was sure he should get in trouble for that awful, disrespectful language, and looked so confused about why I was laughing instead. Then he started smiling, and enjoyed hearing me retell it to a few people. He LOVES hearing about what cute thing he's said or done. "What I said, Mama? What I said so funny?"

These boys are getting to be so fun. I love this stage!!

Logical Reasoning

Just wanted to post this before I forgot about it. 3 big things happened for Elliott today:

1. He went to sleep BY HIMSELF...

2. ...in Brady's big boy bed. Twice. (And he insisted he WAS tired, and wanted to "go dee-dite with his leg". He meant without pants. Tee hee!)

3. We were driving home from this USAA grand opening celebration thing, where both boys got to taste cotton candy for the first time. Taylor came with us, but Lindsay stayed back. Brady wanted to bring some cotton candy home for Lindsay, so we took it with us. On the way home, we had this conversation with Elliott:

E: I want some cotton candy!

Me: Not right now, buddy.

E: I want some cotton candy, pwease.

Taylor: But this cotton candy's for Lindsay.

E:...but Lindsay's not here right now.

He only turned two yesterday. What's with the logical reasoning? We were impressed.

Just Tell the Truth

Brady is going through a new stage lately...telling fibs. I guess he's testing out the waters or something, because he's really not at all reliable. He'll tell a lie about little things, like whether he ate a snack or asked permission for something. He gets this look on his face so you know he's not telling the truth, but he WILL NOT fess up. Only upon threat of "no screens" will he eventually give in, and sometimes not even then. 

Mom is here watching Elliott since I'm out of sick days (in February- yikes) and he's got a fever, strep, croup and pneumonia. Brady came home from school and immediately wanted to play "V-Battle" with Ninya on his DBS (Nintendo DSi). I told him he needs to read a book to Ninya before they could play screens, so they sat down to read while I put away laundry. Later, Mom told me Brady said to her "I'm gonna tell Mama a lie". She asked him why, and he told her he was going to say he read a whole story so he could play his game. (He had read parts of two different stories instead of one whole one, which would've been fine but he assumed I meant he had to read one whole one). She told him that boys who don't tell the truth never get to play screens. I guess that changed his mind, because he never did come tell me that lie. 

Elliott is almost two! He's such a funny guy. He loves to wrestle with Brady, dance and sing, read books, draw happy faces, and play outside. His vocabulary has exploded in the past few weeks, so that now you can have a complete conversation with him and understand what he's thinking about. He is not addicted to technology like his brother, so he's much more well-rounded. He'd rather go outside and play than watch some dumb TV show, even if it is Dora. He still has to have his stuffed animal guys, lovey, and sassy (pacifier) to go to sleep, but a new development is that he'll tell you when he's tired (I wanna go dee-dite), which is pretty useful. He's growing up so fast! 

One thing I love about Elliott's words is that he says "s" like "f" a lot. So he "fweeps" the floor with his little broom, or he's "fweepy" when he's tired, or we "fwing" on the swings. Also, his "l" is like "w", so he has a Wion (which says "WAAAAGGHH! with your hand held up like a claw- gotta have the hand!) and is addicted to using my "wip medicine". He won't stay out of my bedside table where I keep the chapstick. If the house is suddenly quiet and you can't see Elliott, guaranteed he's in the bedroom applying gobs of wip medicine. Or possibly in my closet putting on my shoes. 

Brady still loves Pre-K and being at big-kid school with me. His teacher is great, and we're so glad he's in that class. He's the only kid who can read, so she works with him at naptime since he doesn't go to sleep anyway. Right now he's reading at almost a 2nd grade level, and she's finding books for him to read with her that are on his level. A couple of people have suggested that we skip Kindergarten and go straight to first grade, but I just don't think that'd be best. Even though he's a smarty-pants, he still acts like a 4-year-old, and he's already one of the youngest ones in his class. 

Yesterday Brady and I were sitting on the couch in my classroom. He was reading the book his teacher sent home to work on called "Endangered Animals". He was reading along just fine, with a few hard words here and there, and he came across this: Dodo. Well, he knows that "do" is a word, so he assumed that you pronounced it "doo-doo".  He cracked up laughing at that, seriously laughing for over a minute saying "doo-doo! doo-doo!" See? Totally acts like a 4-year-old. 

Ok, this is the longest post ever. And no photos! Geez. I'll try to start keeping this up better. 

Wuv Citmas!

Elliott has discovered Christmas lights, and every single time he sees them he is SO thrilled! He yells "I see Citmas!!" and then as soon as we drive past "Mo Citmas pease!". Brady's really cute about it- he serves as the Citmas spotter, and points lights out to Elliott everywhere we go. 

Elliott's language has really exploded over the past few weeks. He speaks in short sentences now and has no trouble letting you know what he wants to say. He copies word-for-word everything his brother says. Sometimes Brady uses that to help teach him things, like his numbers or letters, which is so cute. But sometimes, the temptation is too great... "Elliott, say 'Smell my stinky feet'! Elliott, say 'Poopy diaper baby'!". Such a boy!

Both boys were sick for quite a while, but *knock on wood* they seem to be doing better now. I'm almost out of sick days already, though, and it's only December! Yikes. 

Brady's doing so awesome in Pre-K. He's already maxxed out their testing, but honestly it's not all that hard. You just have to know all your letters, numbers to 10, and be able to read and write your name. He's done all that since he was 2! Thankfully his teacher is awesome and is helping him with harder stuff. She has him read to her and works on reading skills. Last week she said he reads as well as a mid-year 1st grader. Yay for my smart boy!

Thanksgiving was great, and now we're looking forward to Christmas. Happy holidays!

Pre-K!

Brady is in Big Kid School now! He's so proud to be in Pre-K. He loves his teacher, loves his school, loves that I'm a teacher there... He's doing so great. His teacher is trying to work with him some during naptime, since he never sleeps and is the only one who can read. Now that he's not with Elliott all the time, he's really turning into a great big brother. He asked JW to pack two juices in his lunchbox so that he'd have one for Elliott when we pick him up in the afternoons. They play together much better now too, although Elliott's still kinda grumpy because he is STILL TEETHING. Seriously?! Surely this has to end soon. It's been 4 months!

Elliott, despite his teething, is adjusting to daycare finally. He doesn't cry when we pick him up anymore. Before, I could see him through the window playing away, then when he saw me he'd cry like he had the most horrible day ever. Now, he smiles and starts waving and saying "Bye!" to all his friends. He's developing quite a vocabulary, and so we're pushing more for him to use words instead of screaming when he wants something (that can get SO old). He can count to five, and Brady is teaching him the ABC's. That is really cute to watch!

Brady had his first kickball practice this afternoon. He's on the Crickets this year, and he has a couple of friends from daycare on his team. He started off really shy but seemed to warm up a bit. His first game is this Saturday, so I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

Not much else to report, really. We're having fun!

Quite a Summer!

I can't believe how fast time goes! We've had a great summer. Well, except for my surgery, which really went fine but was inconvenient. Brady is now four and Elliott is 16 months!

Elliott is now talking all the time. He even has a few sentences: "Eee go?" (Where did it go), "Eee do?" (What are you doing?), "Ere go" (Here ya go). He mimics everything Brady does and says, so he's really picking up language very quickly. He knows all his animal sounds and vehicle sounds (the train is REALLY cute!) Brady likes to quiz him in the car, and Elliott does the sounds better for his brother than anyone else. He used to say he was thirsty by going "ahhhh!!" (the refreshing-drink sound) but now he's calling it "dink" or sometimes "dinka-dinka-dinka!" I also miss his affirmative answer "eeeeeyeah!". Now we get this very precise "yes". Not babyish at all! He answers "yes" to almost every question you ask him. Brady has figured this out and exploits it constantly.

Brady: "Elliott, do you want to switch toys (for that much cooler thing you now have that I want)?"
Elliott: "Yes"
Brady: "Elliott, do you want me to have that Dora cup (instead of you, because you've now shown interest in it)?
Elliott: "Yes"
Brady: "Elliott. Elliott. ELLIOTT! ELLIOTT! Elliott, do you want Mama to let us watch a show (cause I want to watch a show but mama told me no already)"?
Elliott: "Yes"
Brady: "Mama, Elliott wants to watch a show! Can I watch it too?"

Today was a big day for us as parents. I registered Brady for Pre-K. No more daycare for this boy. It's Big Kid School all the way! He's totally thrilled and excited about it. I'm not so sure I'm ready for this, but I can see quite a few benefits for sending him. The school I'm going to teach at now has a great reputation, I'll be working there so he won't be totally on his own, the teacher I've picked out for him is great and I know her personally, and it's free. We've bought school supplies (which is SO fun, even as a grown-up!) and are pretty ready. Not emotionally ready, but otherwise we're set. What am I supposed to do on the first day of school? Parents are supposed to drop their kids off then go cry in the car (right, Mom?) but I have to walk down the hall to my own class and be totally composed. Hmm. I guess it's good that I'm not much of a cryer, but this growing up stuff might send me over the edge!

Brady can read! He's known his sight words for quite a while, but he's figured out how to sound out words and can read those easy readers really well. He's so proud of himself!

Umm... what else? I've changed schools and chosen to go back to teaching. I'm excited and nervous about both changes. I knew Brady would probably qualify for Pre-K, so I had to get into a school I would actually send him to. I know that sounds terrible, but it's true. And I really needed a change of environment, so here's hoping the change is a good one!

I'm not as good at updating this blog as I was (if I ever was), but Facebook is starting to replace my blogging! If I forget to post over here, check my Facebook page or my Flickr page for photos of the boys (http://www.flickr.com/photos/saramichel/)

Unsettling

So I'm writing this post while laying in my bed. At 11:10 pm. With the bedside lamp on.

Why is this a big deal, you might ask? It's because the portacrib, which is right next to my side of the bed, is EMPTY. Elliott is not in our room. He and Brady are now in their own BIG BOY ROOM! It's so weird. For almost 15 months, we have had to tiptoe around in the dark and now... it's just unsettling. Once I get used to it, though, it'll be great!

We decided to put the boys together in a bigger room in our house. That meant that today our house was a complete disaster area as we pulled all the furniture out of the guest room and put it in the living room, then moved all Brady's furniture plus Elliott's new big boy crib (that we got for free at a garage sale because it started raining and JW helped them move their stuff inside before it got soaked) into the guest room, then put the guest furniture into Brady's old room. I think it's pretty close to finished now, and I like how it's turned out. Brady thinks it's pretty cool to share the room with his brother, especially cause bad guys are really scared of TWO boys, whereas just one boy has no effect and they'll just come on in a wreak havoc.

Another unsettling development is Elliott's newest word: NO! NOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Screamed at the top of his lungs, most often at his brother. Isn't he a little young for that kind of behavior? I mean, time outs don't really work on 14 month olds, so what are we supposed to do? Our current tactic is ignoring it, hoping that he's just yelling NO because it gets a reaction, and therefore if he gets no reaction he'll stop yelling it. He hears it all the time (although not screamed) from Brady, so I shouldn't be surprised he knows it. He is rather adept at picking up new words.

This not-sharing-a-room thing isn't working that great right now. Every time there's the slightest peep out of the monitor I am hyper-alert. It's almost midnight, so I'm going to turn up the monitor, shut off the laptop, and hope for the best.
Newest words: baby, spoon, open, NaNa (for Ninya), Tee-Tee (Uncle T), Papa, and we may have heard "thank you", although maybe not. Oh, and I can't forget NO!!

Brady is a little unsure about turning 4, which happens later this week. He sometimes gets really sad and tells me "I don't want to be four. I want to stay three. I like being three. I don't want to get bigger. I want to stay this same tall". Poor thing! I had to think of some things that make being four awesome: you can be on a tee-ball team, you can do gymnastics, you can eat big boy vitamins (yeah, I'm really searching) and we'll get to go to Great Big Wolf Lodge. That got him really excited. He LOVES that place!

Beaver Honk!

"Beaver Honk" is the newest phrase at our house. Brady invented it the other day. I was at work, and JW IM'ed me to say that Brady was running around the house yelling both "Beaver Honk!" and "Beaver Stick". We have NO idea where he got these, but they crack me up! I intend to integrate that phrase into my conversations if at all possible.

Things are going well. Brady and Elliott play together more and more, and Elliott is starting to mimic his brother. He likes to imitate the movements and noises Brady makes, and he's actually pretty good at it! New words: book (bup), pup pup, up, down (dow), signing "please", out (to go outside), making the traditional after-drink "ahhhh" sound to indicate he's thirsty, and "wub wub wub" while washing his hands.

We have a new nightly event right before the boys go to bed dubbed "dance show". It involves the two boys playing the songs on the LeapFrog music table while doing their moves. It is so funny to watch! Elliott has already got some hip action going on in his dancing! Brady likes to do quasi-cartwheels during his dancing, so kicks to the head are pretty frequent. Sometimes I think he waits until Elliott is close enough that he *might* get "accidentally" kicked, and then who could be blamed? I mean, he just danced right over into his personal space at the wrong time...

Sibling rivalry. We haz it.

Happy Birthday, Elliott!

Elliott's already one!? Unbelievable.

We had a party for him at our house the weekend before his birthday. Lots of our friends came over- tons of kids running around both outside and in. Thank goodness the weather was nice, because we sure needed the extra space! Brady had so many friends to play with, he didn't really notice how much attention his brother was getting (although the following couple of days were a little rough). Elliott got lots of cool presents, and has been playing with them all like crazy. Brady too!

Elliott didn't really seem to be bothered by the attention. He got to eat some cake, but really didn't seem that impressed. He'd rather have had cheese. He played with all the kids, and had lots of fun splashing in the water table. He was soaking wet after just a couple of minutes! Even Brady was wet from that tiny table- at one point we looked out the back door just in time to catch Brady, completely naked, trying to climb into the table. In the middle of the party. I wonder at what point we learn modesty?

On his actual birthday, we didn't do that much. We ate dinner, had a little bit of cake, and played outside. Very laid-back and relaxing!

The weekend following, we went to Great Wolf Lodge with JW's side of the family. That was a really fun place! Not so much for Elliott, I guess, because there wasn't much for tiny ones to do, but Brady loved it! We got to stay in a room with a tiny built-in "wolf den", which is a little room with bunk beds and a small plasma TV for kids. There's an indoor water park, which really wasn't that crowded, restaurants and game rooms, and this magic game that pretty much every kid there was enthralled with. You buy this magic wand and activate it, and then run around the entire hotel (all 8 floors) completing all these missions and quests. You point the wand at things in the hotel, like treasure chests, paintings, and magic books, and they come alive or talk to you, and you accumulate experience points, gold, and use them to complete quests. Brady LOVED using that wand. He didn't really get the point of the quests, but it didn't matter because he had so much fun pointing that thing. Elliott had the most fun splashing in the shallow water in the little-kid lagoon and crawling around in the lobby area.

When we came home from GWL, Elliott started walking more and more. He's now walking about 70% of the time, and can even stand up from a crawling position! It's so adorable to watch him toddling around with his little fists in the air! He's learning more and more words and sounds every day. He can tell you what a dog says, and says "ball", "hi" with a little wave of his hand, "up", "all done", and we think he said "baby" today. Such a smartypants already! Oh, and he got his first "big boy" haircut yesterday. All the soft, wispy baby hair is gone. It's definitely changed his look- much more toddler than baby. *sob* I can see why people keep having babies- why do they have to grow up?

Boys Will Be Boys

JW's still searching for a job, so in the meantime he gets to stay home with the boys. I'm thrilled with this, for the most part, because it means they don't have to endure a crappy daycare. I still have to go to work, though. That stinks. I'd much rather be home hanging out with my boys! At least spring break is coming up soon... THANK GOD!!

Anyway, I call pretty regularly to check on how things are going, and almost always I hear screaming and laughing in the background. It really doesn't matter where they are- home, car, Target, Ninya's house... screaming. Why are boys so loud? I'm glad they're having fun and everything, but geez! I'm not going to complain too much, though, because although girls are usually quieter, the drama potential far outweighs any loud but happy boys.

Speaking of girly behavior... The other day we'd all been gone, and Brady had been kinda "tooty". He'd gotten in trouble for being disrespectful a few times and we were all pretty tired of his behavior. After a bit, he says in a very sweet voice "Mama, may I please have a snack?" and I hand one to him, to which he replies "thank you so very much". I said, "Brady, thank you for being such a polite boy. I'm glad you're not being tooty anymore". He laughs and tells me "I was bein a tend I was a girl!". Well, there ya go. I told JW maybe we should always ask him to pretend he's a girl. I got a dirty look in return.

Elliott has finally started showing some interest in walking! He can toddle along for a few steps before falling forward, but he's getting better every day. Just today he started standing up on his own from the middle of the floor, which is pretty hard for such a top-heavy kid! He still loves playing with his brother. They have a few favorite games, but the one they play most often is chase. Brady crawls around the floor and gets Elliott to try to catch him. Of course, Elliott never can catch him, but I am interested to see the day when that finally happens. Brady is so dead-set on always being the winner, it won't be pretty, but it'll teach him a valuable lesson. Hopefully, anyway.

Elliott's started demanding big-people food lately, which is fun for him but difficult for us. He likes the independence of feeding himself, but he can't stuff enough food in there to get himself full, so he gets grumpy more frequently. Also, it can be difficult to find stuff he can eat. He's only got seven teeth right now (and by the way, I thought teeth came in pairs. Where is that dang eighth tooth? It's been a month!) and isn't that good at chewing. Lately, he's been enjoying pancakes (pain-cans), yogurt, cheerios, noodles, cheese (which he can say! "chis"), and crackers. Oh, and he likes drinking out of a cup. A regular cup. With no lid. Yeah, that's an experience. If you hand him a sippy cup, but you're drinking out of a regular cup, he'll point to your cup and emit this horrible screech that means "I'm getting the shaft and I want THAT one". We're trying to teach him signs to replace that point-and-screech thing, cause MAN does that get old!

Shadows, Monsters, Bad Guys, Giants and Tinkerbell

Brady's in this phase now where he's scared of stuff getting him while he's asleep. At first, he was just scared of monsters and shadows. I honestly don't know what he thinks monsters are, because we never watch or read anything with monsters in it. He just knows they're bad. Then he added "bad guys" as something to be afraid of, and just last week- giants.

We've set up protections against these things for him. The house alarm is set to keep out bad guys, explain that giants can't make it up the hill we live on because their feet are too big (whatever works, right?) and we created a "monster spray" (water plus a little lavender bath soap) that we spray around his room every night to keep the monsters away. Plus he's got a ladybug that shines stars on his ceiling and a rocket ship nightlight that he can grab and shine the shadows away. We also leave the door open a crack with the hallway light on. He gets to keep lots of "guys" on his bed to help keep him safe.

Despite all these things, though, he still calls us in his room multiple times because he's scared. Or hungry. Or wants to tell us something. But usually, it's because he's scared. So the other night, Brady asked me why Tinkerbell had wings, and I made up something lame like "so she can fly around", but it gave me an idea. The Tinkerbell movie has Tink protecting other fairies from a scary bird, so I asked if he would like Tinkerbell to come watch over him while he sleeps to keep all the scary things away. Yes! He's thrilled beyond belief that she will come keep him safe, and the first night we did that, he went right to sleep.

JW or I have to call her on the phone to remind her to come. Tonight, he asked if I would also ask her to visit our neighbors Meg and Liam, and Mia and her baby sister. He also asked if HE could call her. So if your phone rings and I say "Tinkerbell? Could you talk to Brady?" you better be prepared to pull off your best fairy voice!

Catchin' Up

Time is flying by! I hadn't realized it had been so long since I've updated.

Elliott is now 10 months old, and last week he started walking! Well, just between two people, and it's very drunken, but he's doing it! He hadn't been motivated to try it because he is so incredibly fast when crawling but we made it into a game. He is getting into everything, and we can tell he's going to be a climber. He likes to stand on toys and tries to climb onto the open dishwasher door. He has a few words- wow, go, Daya, Mama (sometimes)- and signs "more", "food" and "all done".

Brady just informed me he doesn't want to be a princess. He'd rather be a queen. Hmm. That was out of nowhere.

Brady is starting to read. I can't tell exactly how much he can read, since he doesn't like to read on command, but he can do it. He can also write his name, and he's been practicing writing letters of the alphabet with his dad during the day. (JW's still searching for jobs, but they're hard to come by just now) He's also extremely helpful around the house. He'll do just about any chore for a sticker on his chart, and is very motivated by racing a timer. Everything is a race to him!

He's started telling jokes-sort of. They all go like this: "Have you ever seen a ________ doing ___________?" Like "Have you ever seen a boy jumping on an eyeball? HAHAHAHA!" Yeah... We're working on it. No stand-up gigs in his near future!

The boys play together pretty well, although Brady is so stinkin' bossy. "No, Elliott, don't touch that." "Here, Elliott, come over here!" "Daya, don't let Elliott go in my toy room" There will come a day when Elliott won't let Brady get away with being so bossy, but for now we're trying to curb it. They're also so loud! I guess boys can't play together without a bunch of noise. As long as they're having fun and nobody's getting hurt, we put up with it.

This is the Moby wrap. Love this thing!











Brady at his daycare's Valentine's Day party.












Yummy tree branch!
















This is Brady, fixing his own hair using hand soap. He was trying to spike it all up, what he calls "crazy hair". I had to give him a bath, because the soap was all over his body. We then used gel and hairspray to do it right!

Bein' a Tend

Brady and his school friends are having a great time at school playing together. They like to play with these magnetic squares that stick together and create rocket garages, parades, rockets, etc. They also like driving monster trucks around, and playing in the home center. Almost all of these activities require "bein' a tend" (pretending), which is one of my favorite things he says lately. I also enjoy "Serious, dude! This is a road!"- a combination of mine and JW's semi-roadrage exclamations. He's really such a character lately! Speaking of characters...

Until lately, Brady liked princesses. I indulged this a tiny bit in socially-acceptable ways, like buying the Princess can of soup. Who cares what kind of soup a kid eats? He was thrilled with it, though, so I didn't see that it was a big deal. Then he came home a few days ago and announced "Boys like Lightning McQueen and girls like princesses. Boys can't like princesses." This makes me a little sad. I knew somebody would peer pressure him into liking just boy things, but I hoped it would have waited a while. Not that I'm trying to raise some kind of metrosexual or anything, I just think you should be able to like what you like. So I keep trying to tell him it's okay for girls to like Lightning McQueen or boys to play with a princess, but how do you counteract that kind of strong peer pressure? I can see this is a challenge I'll have to face with both boys until... well, forever, I guess. I hate that some day, some stupid kid at school is going to tell my boys they might not be as awesome as I'd always told them they were. That's the real issue, I suppose- the "mama bear" instinct. My hope is that before that happens, I can instill in them enough self-worth that they keep liking what they like or being who they are regardless of those jerks. And if that doesn't work, I'll just storm the school, find that heartless punk and bash him upside the head. Yeah!

Okay, off my soapbox, and on to Elliott's news! Elliott (or E.Y., as we sometimes call him) clapped his hands for the first time today! It was SO cute! He also waved bye-bye on Sunday. AND ate some baked potato pieces for dinner. That's a big accomplishment, because it was the first time he's eaten any kind of solid food without choking. Choking scares the bejeezus out of me, so I tend to avoid circumstances that cause it to happen, but since I can't avoid solid food forever I try again every couple of weeks. He really liked that potato! You should've seen that mess, though. Wow. You know, potato would make an excellent hairstyling paste, if only it weren't so...slimy? Elliott's also figured out how to blow raspberries (very wet and messy) and loves to click his tongue at people.

OH! I forgot one of Elliott's most interesting accomplishments to date: using the potty. Yes, you read that correctly. I have discovered that if you put him on the potty, he'll go. I have no illusions that he's being potty-trained at this age, since he can't really communicate that he has to go and can't get to the potty himself, but it saves us a few diapers and gets him used to the idea. Maybe we're weird for even trying in the first place, but I just wanted to see what would happen.

Huh. Guess I had more to say than I thought! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!



This makes me laugh! I was telling him to make a cute face for the camera, and this is what I got!

Very Busy Month!

October was quite busy! Brady played in a kickball team, and got his first trophy ever- very exciting! The season started out with Brady not really playing the game, just watching the other kids. By the end of the season, he was running bases and trying to catch the ball when the other team kicked. He was very proud of himself!

Elliott has really accomplished a lot this month. He went from only army-crawling to full-on speed crawling, pulling up on furniture, moving from crawling to sitting and back, cruising the couches, and cutting two top teeth. Wow! We've had to lower the crib mattress, since he stands up in his bed first thing upon waking up.

This month has also been exhausting, because both boys were sick almost every day. Brady much less than Elliott, but both of them have been at the doctor's office much more than we like. We had to take Elliott to the ER Thursday night for breathing problems, and the doctor told us he has bronchiolitis. I've never even heard of that, but it's not fun. His breathing is labored and sounds kinda gravel-y. If he gets any worse, we'll have to hospitalize him, but so far he's doing okay. Cross your fingers for him!

Brady did a little Trick-or-Treating, but Elliott had to stay home on Halloween. Brady was more interested in passing out the candy than knocking on doors to get some of his own. Brady was a Lightning McQueen mechanic, although he could never remember what his costume was called. Next year, we'll ask him what he wants to be, since he now understands the concept of dressing up as something else.

Brady's newest favorite thing? "Sock Jams". You know, those pajamas with the feet on them? Elliott has a few pairs, and we found these big boy ones on big sale at Gap for Brady. He wants to wear those things every.single.night. I never in a million years thought he'd like those things, but they're his new favorite thing.

Elliott's favorite thing? Whatever Brady's playing with. Or climbing over pillows on the floor.

The other exciting thing we have going on is this: JW only has ONE MORE MONTH OF SCHOOL!! He graduates NEXT MONTH! Woo Hoo!

Papa's Party

Today we went to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo in Austin. Wow, I didn't realize how huge an event this would be! The parking lot was full when we got there, and Brady said it looked like a car party. We loaded everything into the double stroller (thank goodness we have that thing!): camera, video camera, diaper bag, snacks, changes of clothes, drinks, children, toys, pacifiers... We hauled that stuff over a mile, we found out later, to find Papa in his fishing tent.

Brady decided that this was Papa's party, and was thrilled to find him in the fishing tent, where kids could put baited fishing poles into swimming pools full of waiting fish. I think Papa and Brady both had a great time fishing and touring the exhibits. Elliott was a very good baby. He enjoyed looking at the people, watching his brother, and playing with Mama and Daya while Brady was fishing.

On our way out, a worker for TPWD asked me if he could ask a few questions as we walked the long trek back to the car. Apparently they do some kind of random survey as people exit the Expo, and somehow he decided I looked like a good candidate. He asked me questions about hunting ("On a scale of 1-5, how important do you think hunting is to wildlife conservation?") and fishing, and I felt like a total moron. I know zilch about hunting, and I felt bad admitting that not only do I not care a bit about shooting animals in the wild, but I didn't even learn anything new or interesting about hunting at the expo and still didn't intend to go hunting in the future despite the propaganda. Ah well, somebody has to be at the bottom of the bell curve, right?

I have pictures-just a few-but they're not uploaded onto my computer just yet. I'll post them when I get a chance. Thanks for a fun time, Papa!

Kickball and Crawling

So much to catch up on! Let's see...

Elliott is now 6 months old (today!) and he's got two bottom teeth and can army crawl all over the place. He's incredibly fast for someone who's just dragging his lower body around! He's started laughing and interacting, especially with Brady, who is by far his favorite person. We've started him on sweet potatoes and cereal, and will be introducing a new food a week. As I write, he has just figured out how to make his walker go- before right now, he'd just sit in it and play with the toys. He seems VERY pleased with himself!

Brady's turning into such a cool kid. He's very polite and funny, and hardly has any tantrums at all. He loves his brother and is so nurturing and sweet to him- I love watching them interact. Brady is the darling of his preschool- we constantly get compliments from all the teachers (not just his) about how sweet, thoughtful, polite and handsome he is.

We've started him in kickball, which is really just a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds playing in the dirt. They have uniforms and look so adorable out there on the field! Brady's awesome at kicking the ball, but when he's in the outfield the concept of the game escapes him. We've set up a website for his team, where I've been publishing the photos from each game.

http://sites.google.com/site/hhjunebugs/

Some cute Bradyisms:

"I'm gonna pause my book for a minute." -after setting his book upside down
"Hey, look at those tryer f**cks!" -after driving by a fire station filled with fire trucks
"Mama, I'm sorry you got all those hurty bug bites on you. I hope you feel better!" -just sweet and thoughtful!

Brady still says some things babyish, but he's been working hard on his "l" sounds and "r" sounds all on his own. He'll correct himself and enunciate them accurately, like "stowy" to "story". It makes me a little sad that his baby speech is going away, but excited that he's turning into such a smart, big boy.