Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a HUGE hit this year!


Last year, Harrison didn't really "get it". He was just too young to really understand what was going on, didn't enjoy wearing his costume and overall was unimpressed.


What a difference a year makes.


Halloween started for him at the beginning of October when I brought home his Buzz Lightyear costume (complete with light-up wings, of course). He was thrilled. A few times a week he started asking about Halloween, what we would do, dressing up, etc. He would say, "Halloween NOW!" quite loudly. We talked a lot about it on our walks in the morning because he loved to look at the houses that had decorated for Halloween.


At school they decorated t-shirts which were super cute. They used their foot prints to make ghosts and their hand prints to make spiders, all of which were complete with googly eyes (which he thinks are hilarious). They had a school party where his whole class wore the shirts they made, had pizza, and got to trick-or-treat to the other rooms. He came home thrilled and talking a mile a minute about the candy and again asking when he would dress up, say trick-or-treat, etc.


The Saturday before Halloween our neighborhood had the annual party at our park. He had fun on the bouncy slide, but had to stop once the big kids got a bit too rowdy. He got to decorate a cookie with icing and candy and polished that off quickly before having his face painted. We were surprised he would sit still for it, but he did and was thrilled with the big black spider and web that she painted on his face.


He played a couple of little carnival-style games where he won small prizes, his favorite of which was a "yummy gummy" that was basically a gummy worm in the shape of a skeleton. He had no idea he could even eat it, he just played with it and stretched it until it broke. That resulted in quite a few tears and a week-long discussion about where yummy gummy had gone. He would wake up from a nap and the first question he would ask was about yummy gummy. This kid never forgets anything!


On Halloween night, we started off with a pizza dinner in our cul-de-sac with our neighbors. Every year we end up sitting out there handing out candy all together, which is much more fun than sitting at home answering the door while the rest of the family is out trick-or-treating.


Harrison had fun just running around in our street without his costume on, eating pizza and being silly. We tried to get him to go in and put on his costume, but he had no interest in doing that. Then people started to show up in costume and trick-or-treat, and he began to get a bit more interested. By the time a guy showed up dressed like a giant monster on stilts, he was sold.


He and Mark walked with Harrison's friend Olivia and her dad. The kids rode in her wagon, so he was able to conserve his energy and hit more houses. He was thrilled each time they stopped at new house, and told everyone, "To infinity and beyond!" (which if you aren't familiar with Toy Story, is what Buzz Lightyear says) and then "Trick or Treat". He even managed to say "thank you" after he got candy.


After trick-or-treating they came back to our cul-de-sac and we told Harrison he could have one piece of candy. Of course he picked a full-size tootsie pop and actually licked the entire thing, all the way down to the tootsie roll. He presented us with a soggy stick at the end, and finally actually said he was ready for bed at around 8:45. Overall it was just a great night for him and I think next year will be even more fun!


Wondering where Barrett was during all of this? Asleep. That's right. I put him down for a nap at 4:45 and he didn't wake up again until 8:45 that night for a snack and clean diaper before going right back to sleep. Thank goodness our monitor works out in our street, as that way we could just hang out without worrying about him.


Here are some pictures of the fun:






Enjoying the bouncy slide at the neighborhood party.




Getting a spider painted on his face.



Heading out to trick or treat.



Perfecting his Buzz Lightyear act.



Back in the cul-de-sac with a pumpkin full of candy!



Enjoying his lollipop and some water after his evening of trick-or-treating. Gotta love the legs crossed...he looks so grown up!




Really enjoying his lollipop!



Mobility

Barrett is mobile.


He has graduated from the plank pose, to hands and knees, to now lurching forward to get what he wants. Sometimes it looks like he's trying to do the old-school breakdancing move the caterpillar. He kind of lurches forward off of his hands and knees and then pops back up and does it again.  It's funny to watch him move from the carpet to the hardwood, because he slides like crazy on the wood and sometimes ends up just spinning in circles like a sundial.

Look at me up on my hands and knees!

Harrison has been really good about sharing his toys now that Barrett is all over the place. Occasionally he will tell him, "no baby, that's mine" and take if from him, but for the most part he actually tries to show Barrett how things work.


Barrett is especially interested in all of Harrison's trucks. He loves the small digger that makes noise and moves on its own. On several occasions he has managed to push the buttons that make it go, and his face just lights up when that happens!

Barrett is thrilled with himself because he managed to scoot all the way over to the garbage truck and grab it.

Harrison loves to make tracks under the pool table upstairs. Barrett loves to watch the trains and attempt to play too. Thankfully Harrison is very patient.



Ha Ha! Harrison is asleep and all of the toys are MINE!



Six Months Old

Barrett is six months old!

I think these six months have flown by, because it seems like just yesterday he was a helpless little blob fresh home from the hospital. Now he's a full-blown baby, babbling and laughing and even attempting to crawl.

He checked out fine at his six-month visit, and is long and lean like his big brother.

26.75" (70%)

15lbs 14oz (25%)

The plank position was only a precursor to his newest trick, which is to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He started doing that on Friday, and shows no signs of stopping. He is a motivated little guy, trying his hardest to get to all of Harrison's toys, especially his trucks. Thankfully Harrison is still OK with sharing, although I'm sure that will change. Should be an interesting next few months around here!

New tricks...

Sunday started out with Mark making waffles. Harrison wanted to see what he was doing. So, he climbed onto the kitchen counter. Effortlessly. That's right, yes, you read that right. Just hoisted himself right up onto the kitchen counter.

He hasn't done this before and we were a bit shocked, but managed to just help him back down, look at each other and have our eyes bug out of our heads, and go on about the morning. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he did it again later that morning. Good times are in store here for us! I guess when you take a tall kid who likes to climb and has good arm strength and pair him with a fierce determination to get what he wants, this is what you get. Jealous?

Not to be outdone, Barrett has started his workout regime. After Harrison finished impressing us with his mad climbing skills, Barrett had to show off too. He now does "baby planks" throughout the day. Check it out...he is a strong little guy!

Look at that perfect form!!!

Just doing a little ab work so I can keep up with my brother.

Working out is fun!

Oh yes, another thing...the tongue. Barrett has recently discovered his tongue and LOVES to stick it out as far as it will go. He does this all the time now and really just makes us laugh. He also makes the people at the grocery store, Target, etc. laugh too since everyone now seems to notice he is doing this.

Such a happy boy :-)

Visit to Birmingham

At the end of September I took the boys to Birmingham to visit my sister and her family. Thankfully my mom flew with us...I have a feeling I wouldn't have made it without her.


Both boys were great in the airport and Harrison really enjoyed watching the planes out the window. On the plane Harrison was pretty easily entertained with the bag of tricks my mom brought (mini Toy Story friends and Dinosaur Train friends...yay!) and also really enjoyed wearing headphones and watching a movie. A few yogurt raisins and some M&Ms for good behavior rewards and we were all set.


We had a great time while we were there! Their new house had plenty of room for Harrison to chase the cats, which he really enjoyed doing.  We went to the museum, zoo, and park. We also celebrated Charlie's fifth birthday at his party at the bowling alley. And, Barrett got to go to music class--Susie teaches one for little babies his age so we were special guests. He had a great time.


Here are some pictures from our visit:




Barrett enjoying the aquarium part of the museum. There were a lot of brightly colored fish in this tank along with a very large green eel. He was really watching them.



More fun at the museum. There was an exhibit with lots of giant bubble shapes and Harrison and Charlie had a great time making giant bubbles while Barrett watched.

Hanging out with Aunt Susie while the boys played at Homewood Park...which Harrison asks to go back to frequently.

Barrett with Nonny and Aunt Susie.

Aunt Susie, Harrison, Charlie and Jeffrey at the zoo. It was a beautiful day that started off nice and cool, a welcome break from our hot weather at home.

Charlie was a great cousin and showed Harrison all around the zoo.

Harrison's first carousel ride.



Harrison, Charlie and Jeffrey at Charlie's bowling birthday party. Despite the strobe lights and loud music Barrett was sleeping so he couldn't join them for the photo.






Finally, here's a video of Barrett in the bathtub. At home we were still bathing him in the small baby tub, but here we just laid him on a mat in the tub and he LOVED it. He was so happy and just kicked and splashed forever.



Baby Laughs

There's nothing better than a good baby laugh. All I had to do to get this one was stick my tongue out at him.

Fake Snake

I love giving Harrison random things that coincide with his latest interests. Today I found a snake a the dollar spot at Target...and gave it to him for being a good boy while we took Barrett to the doctor to get a couple of vaccines.

Here's how the afternoon went...it gave me a glimpse of my future with these two.

Look at my cool snake Barrett!

YUM YUM! Don't you want to eat it? Poor Barrett...is this his future?

Harrison's latest adventures

Harrison has been enjoying school and looks forward to going each Tuesday/Thursday. He is now at the point where he can tell me what he ate for lunch (and I know if he's right since I pack it for him :-)), who he played with, and what he did. It's a really fun conversation in the car on the way home from school.


He's as silly as ever, and lately has been doing a lot of dancing. At school they play the "freeze game" where they play music and when the music stops and the teachers say "freeze" everyone has to stop. This, coupled with the "Dance Party" advertised on PBS at the end of Curious George has led to our own dance parties here at the house.


His version of dancing is a lot of spinning in circles and/or fast dancing around stomping his feet and also spinning in circles. Then he falls down, and says, "Harrison fall down why mom?". It's actually pretty entertaining and a good way to burn off some steam inside the house while it's still hot outside. Here is a dance party moment from last week--you'll hear him say "dance party" when I ask him what we are doing.

Harrison still has fun making us laugh by doing random things, like wearing our shoes or putting a basket on his head.

Here he is at the park this week being a "buckethead" as he calls it. He laughs as he runs into things and falls down while doing it. What a nut!

Here he is modeling Mark's shoes...notice his poses and silly faces. He loves to make us laugh!

We've been really into bugs lately. I knew going into this whole adventure with boys I'd have to tolerate the creepy-crawly things that I hate. A couple of months ago there was a week where Rhino Beetles were all over the park. We had lots of fun picking them up, playing with them and coming back to find more each day. Harrison was gentle with them and sad when he'd find a dead one.


We've been on a bug drought until last weekend, when we found a walking stick at the park. Harrison was thrilled, and carried it around in a bucket all morning. When he left the park he released it and we have yet to find it or a replacement again, despite many attempts on our daily visits to the park. He asks every day where it is and continues to look for it, so here's hoping we'll find another one soon!


Over the weekend our next door neighbors called to see if Harrison wanted to come see a big tarantula that was on the side of their house. He has talked about it every day since, and calls it a "ranta" since he can't quite pronounce it. I HATE spiders and am dreading the fact that we are heading into "tarantula season" around here where they seem to pop up all over for a couple of months. But, at least Harrison will enjoy looking at them.


To capitalize on his love of bugs, I grabbed a set of bug flashcards from Target. That's the best 30 cents I have spent in a LONG time! We have spent the past week or so at dinner (and other random times during the day) reviewing the bug flashcards and he has loved every minute of it. It's quite an interesting conversation with him when you talk about the fact that mosquitos and ticks eat blood...and that silverfish eat books and breakfast cereal (who knew??) but at least he's learning and I'm sure someday this will all come in handy for him.


This weekend we went to Harrison's friend Hunter's house to play. He loves to play with Hunter and they really play well together so it is always fun to see them.

He had lots of hugs for Hunter...and I'm not sure Hunter was really as "into" the hugs as Harrison was!



 I think this is the only picture we have of the four of us together...it only took five months.



Five Months Old!

Five Months Old!!

It is SO hard for us to believe that Barrett is already five months old! Time has really flown by with him...he is no longer my sweet squishy little munchkin...well, he is still sweet and squishy, just older :-)


Last Monday morning I awoke to hear him, turned on the picture on the monitor, and he was on his stomach staring at me. He had rolled over from his back to stomach a couple of other times while playing, but never in his bed. He looked surprised, but not upset. He didn't do it again and we had a quiet week in that respect.


Fast forward to this past Sunday, when he again rolled over when he woke up. Let's just say that this kid likes to sleep on his back. So...it's been a long few days when he wakes up basically just pissed off that he has managed to get over to his stomach. Thankfully it's only been a couple of times each night/early morning, so it hasn't been too bad. But, he definitely isn't a fan of sleeping on his stomach. He just finally fell asleep that way this afternoon, but I think only because he just didn't have the energy to be mad about it anymore. I must have turned him back over about a half-dozen times, only to have him roll back within a minute or two each time. ARGH! Let's hope this passes quickly.


Here he is on the monitor today...prior to getting mad about being on his stomach.

Other than that he is his usual charming self! He is quite a social little guy, and loves it when you smile at him. He adores Harrison, and watches his every move. He is grabbing at anything he can get his hands on, toys, cups, dinner plates, my hair, etc.


He is very intent on what we are eating during dinner. He sits at a high chair at the table with us and hangs out and plays with toys. We weren't going to let him try food until he's six months old, but since he's been so interested in what we are doing, on Friday we let him try about a tablespoon of really mashed up banana. He seemed to like it--we just put some on his finger or toy and let him suck on it. He also likes to have a cup and drink some milk out of it, so we have started doing that too. Since he isn't a fan of the bottle we figured we'd just start working on learning to use a cup.


On Sunday afternoon he and I were running some errands, and I gave him my Camelback water bottle to just chew on since he was fussing a little. Before I knew it water was dribbling out of his mouth and I realized he was actually drinking out of it! So, last night at dinner we gave him a small Camelback with milk and he couldn't get enough of it. It was pretty cute, because he'd get pretty excited when the milk would flow out and then he'd smile and it would run all out of his mouth.


He is really enjoying the exersaucer now. We started letting him spend a few minutes in it about a month ago, but he could only go for about five minutes at a time without getting frustrated or tired. Now, he will happily spend about 20 minutes in it, and loves to check out all of the things around him.


Here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

I sure do like this thing!

Hanging out with my dad...I love him because he makes me laugh!





Twenty Weeks Old

Twenty-one weeks old and getting more charming every minute!

Five months old today and happy as can be about it!



Just a normal Monday evening at our house...





Enjoying some time in the exersaucer after we put batteries in everything. Now it really is like his own personal circus, and he seems to love it.



Big Day for Harrison

Today was a big day for Harrison.

His day started with a walk before school...with early risers like we have you can squeeze in lots of stuff by the time many kids are just rolling out of bed :-). They are resurfacing the roads in our neighborhood so we got to see the various vehicles it takes to make that happen. I think he most enjoyed watching the front loader use its bucket to pop the reflective dots off of the middle of the road. He was cracking up at that for some reason.

After quite a viewing of vehicles we headed home and off to our first day of preschool.

On Tuesday we had our "preview" day where we spent an hour seeing the new classroom, meeting the new teachers, new kids, etc. He did pretty well there, although he was always very aware of where I was in the room and frequently took my hand to bring me back to play with him. Of the 13 kids in the class, about half of them were together last year, so he has some familiar faces which is good. He was happy to see Shane and they sat down together to try the applesauce snack, which was not a hit as far as they were concerned. Harrison filled his applesauce cup with yogurt raisins and Shane filled his with a chicken from the farm set. Let's hope they have better snacks in the future!

Today we headed off to school with three dinosaurs in tow as Harrison kept telling me he was taking them to school with him. I managed to persuade him to leave them with me, and he asked that I take them home to play while he was at school. Done!

We have the option to walk the kids to the classroom or use the car line to drop them off, where their teachers take them out of their car seats and bring them to the room (classroom doors open up to the curb so it's very convenient).

When we started school last February there were tears for quite a few weeks (OK...months) at drop off, and I always walked him into the classroom. But, right before Barrett was born I started using the car line in anticipation of having Barrett with me, and Harrison finally was OK with me leaving him.

I was sure that today he was going to have a melt down with tears and ask for me to stay, walk him him, etc. He has been saying "mommy stay school" for the past few days as we have talked about school starting again. But today, he was GREAT! We went through the car line, and his teacher that he had only just met on Tuesday took him from the car. He didn't cry, fuss or anything. Shane's mom walked Shane into the room and said she saw Harrison happily playing with animals on the floor after I'd dropped him off. Yes! This is a big step and I'm so proud of him.

When I went to pick him up, he was waiting at the classroom door (picture an open door from the room to the outside with a baby gate to prevent the kids from running away), and saw me in the car and broke out into the biggest grin. He started dancing around in circles and laughing. He was so happy to see me, it just made my heart melt. His teacher put him in the car, said he had a great day, and he just smiled and was so happy. Let's hope all of his future school days are this good.

We had to hurry home and take a nap, because after that it was time for Harrison's first dentist appointment.

He has been to the dentist with me three times now, so he's familiar with the office and the people there, but he's never been a patient. When we arrived I stopped at the desk to fill out a form for him, but he walked right back with Tiffany, the hygienist, and climbed into the chair. By the time I got back there she was telling him what she was going to do and he had his little TV (all the chairs have one) turned onto PBS.

She offered him some sunglasses to help with the light they shine on you while you are in the chair, but I had his with me so he wore them. He was so incredibly good I couldn't believe it!!!

He let her count his teeth, do a little plaque scraping, do a regular cleaning with the same tool they use to clean adult teeth, and floss!!! When she offered him toothpaste flavors, he chose bubblegum, even though he's never even had gum ever.

I was so proud of how good he was, and honestly was kind of shocked. He acted like he was closer to five years old, as far as how calm and well-behaved he was. She said she would clean kids teeth all day if they were that good, so he must have been better than most. Here are a couple of pictures of him:

What a grown up day for my little man!