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December is a fun but busy month for us in Brand house.   Lloyd kicks off the month with a birthday celebration, then of course it’s Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

Lloyd’s been doing great as a 3-year-old dude.  His potty training continues to improve and he’s always learning and growing.  He is even more interested in painting and coloring than ever before.  He’s also enjoying playing with a whole bunch of blocks making skyscrapers! He has kicked off a fresh round of “Why?”-itis.  Everything is “Why?” and when he’s glum he says, “I want to go home” even if we are currently inside of our house.  Not sure what that’s about.  In a couple of weeks Lloyd will start preschool at Sunshine Special Children’s Studio on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  Although we’re sure it will take a while for him to get comfortable, we’re hoping that the exposure to other children helps build his confidence and friendship-making skills.

Christmas was extra fun with Lloyd this year.   He really understood the whole concept and was so excited for Santa to come.  We wrote a letter for Santa before we went to bed and left cookies for him to eat.  Lloyd would lower his head onto his pillow and then sit up with a start, yelling/asking “IS SANTA HERE YET?!”  “No, he won’t come until you’re asleep,” we reminded him.  In the morning we brought him out of bed and the first thing he asked was if Comet and Blitzen were here.   It’s so nice because he is still not manic about the present opening.  He takes his time with each gift and brings the new toys over next to his old ones and mixes them all together.  It was a very nice morning for him with lots of gifts and treats.

Henry’s first Christmas was a little less positive.  He woke up that morning quite sick with a simultaneously stuffy and runny nose.  I can’t even imagine being a little baby with such a cold… all of the snot pouring out and none of the instincts to wipe it away!  So he just sits there with encrusted nostrils until someone braves the screaming that results from wiping his nose clean.  Poor guy.

However, he still continues to learn and grow.  Now Henry claps, gives high fives, does “touchdown” and is learning to wave.   He can clap and do “touchdown” on verbal cues alone.    He also babbles all of the time and can mimic noises.  His favorite is to squeal in the same tone as a noisy toy we have around.  He also can buzz his lips like an elephant along with me.   And it may just be wishful thinking, but it sure does seem like his “Dadadadadada”s are linked to Greg’s presence and the “Mamamamamama”s are saved for me.  : )

We were really lucky to see so many family and friends this holiday.  Alison and Paul, Brent, Dustin, Metta, Irene, Grandpa Jim, Caitlin, and Kylie all made the trip to see us here in Dexter.  It was amazing fun and very, very special.  We’re a spoiled bunch.

Happy New Year!

Running a little behind here on the family blog!

The biggest development is that Lloyd is now officially three-years-old.   He had two wonderful birthday parties with lots of family and friends.  He yelled out, “Happy Birthday, everybody!” and “Thanks for all the presents!” (unsolicited) and after opening his last present, “Oh no!  My birthday is all gone!”  On his actual birthday he got presents from Greg, Henry, and me, and Greg and I took him out to see “The Muppet Movie.”  He had a lot of fun, topped off with mac-and-cheese for dinner.

Greg made Lloyd a dinosaur-excavation cake

Lloyd’s potty training is progressing nicely.  He won’t go unless we tell him to, but usually he will go without too much of a protest.  He’s just starting to tell us or at least hint when he thinks it should be “potty time.”

Another fabulous Lloyd development is in the arena of winter-gear.  In case you don’t remember, last year Lloyd would.not.wear.a.coat.  Hats were a battle and gloves/mittens were an absolute no-go.  Things that Lloyd wouldn’t wear included anything with zippers, snaps, buttons, collars, jeans, overalls, and corduroys.  That’s a limited wardrobe!  And it made for a restless winter as he was not able to play outside for too long, considering he’d only wear a hooded sweatshirt.   However, this year Lloyd happily is wearing his coat, his hood, hats, mittens, boots, and even snowpants!  What a difference a year makes!

A big milestone is on the horizon for Lloyd as we research pre-school options for the new year.   His pediatrician and the teachers at his “First Steps” school have recommended increased exposure to kids his own age to improve his friendship-making skills.  Lloyd is not currently interested in playing with kids his own age (and definitely not kids who are younger).  He’s very shy and nervous.  Lloyd is too young for Dexter Public and Dexter Co-op, so we’re looking into a private option to get us through the spring.

Melts our hearts!

So on to Henry – Henry has had an amazing couple of weeks.  He’s gone from 3 teeth at my last update to 6.  He crawls now, pulls himself up to stand, and scales himself across the furniture.  He loves to buzz his lips and babble.  He can pick up small objects and would LOVE to get his hands on all of Lloyd’s snacks.   Although he is still waking up several times a night, his naps have improved greatly.  Throughout the day he is mostly very sunny and independent :  )  It’s fun watching his personality develop; right now he loves babies, isn’t too shy with strangers, and hates mornings.

We had  a couple of wonderful Thanksgivings spent with family and are gearing up for Christmas!  Happy holidays!

Better late than never, here’s the deets on our Halloween festivities.

First and foremost, Lloyd wore and LOVED his costume.  I absolutely delight in making costumes for our family and friends, but there was definitely a little bit of worry slaving away on Lloyd’s costume thinking that there was maybe a 12% chance he would wear any of it.  Last year he was excited about being a dinosaur, but when it came time to draw up the hood and stomp around – he was miserable : (

So when Lloyd said he wanted to be a blue dinosaur again this year – I was a little nervous (to quote son #1).  He said this year he didn’t want any spikes, but rather stripes, and how about a tail and claws and toe claws, too?

I made every component and had it finished in time for his school costume party which was the Monday before Halloween.   I put him in the sweatshirt and he whined a little.  I took him to our largest mirror and lifted up the hood so he could see his big sharp teeth.  He smiled a little and I lowered the hood saying maybe we could lift it up again when we got to school.  He immediately objected, “Can I leave my hood up PLEASE?!”  Ab-so-freakin-lutely!!!  I was beaming.   Next came the tail and the claws and he was SO HAPPY but not happier than me.   The days before when we had been talking about wearing our costumes to school he asked if he could ROAR at all of the kids and we said that sounded like an awesome idea.  At school boy-oh-boy did he roar and he kept it up for a solid week.  Instead of a coat, he wore his costume sweatshirt everyday until it got too cold here in November and we upgraded to a real coat.

SO MUCH FUN.

As for actual Halloween, Lloyd trick-or-treated with his buddy and cousin Logan, as well as Grandma and Vikki and Baby MacKenzie.  They had a great time and we’ve been using the candy to help reward and motivate potty-training, which has been going great, but more on that some other time…

As for the rest of the family, Henry was Yoda.  He didn’t mind his costume one bit, which was also delightful.

And Greg was Luke Skywalker from the scene in StarWars where he wears Yoda on his back. When I came home with his light-saber he was just about as happy as any little boy getting a big glowing toy.

And I was a skeleton.

Hope you all had wonderful Halloweens and that you’re looking forward to delicious Thanksgivings!

I’ll do a different post for all of our Halloween merriment after the festivities, but for now here’s an update on how things are going around here in general.

It’s Henry vs. the Teeth here at Fort Brand…

Last toothless smile picture

He has sprouted three teeth this month!  A solid effort.  Grumpy nights, still fairly happy during the days.   He’s definitely enjoying rolling all around and babbling.  He is also a solid sitter now.  He sits and lowers himself down to roll with relative ease.  He cannot get back up to sitting, however.  He is very interested in getting into crawling position, but we have yet to see any scooting action.

He is such a little heart-warmer.  Obviously he’s incredibly adorable, but he is also so easy during the days.  When company is over he really mellows out, observing the scene.  Whenever Lloyd’s in the room he definitely calms down, so absorbed in watching his brother and waiting with bated breath for a bit of recognition (he gets it every now and then).

He’s 7 months old now and weighs 20 lbs and 5 oz.  (that’s just starting out 12 month clothes in retail-language).

Lloyd has had an excellent month.  Even though there are still tantrums and whiny days, in general he’s been a real joy.  Some new phrases are “I guess so…” and “Of course!”  He says things out of wishful thinking like, “Of course you’re not going to work, Dad” to Greg when he’s getting ready to head out the door in the morning.  It’s sweet.

At a school field trip

His talking is so amazing.  The other day I was working in the office and he was going outside with Greg and he opens up the door, waltzing in saying, “Okay Mom, Dad and I are going to go play!”  It really almost made me tear-up because it was a sentence an 8-year-old could have said.   He really does use the proper “me/I” grammar about 60% of the time.  He floors me… so many adults aren’t even at that percentage!

On a bakery-run with Dad.

Lloyd’s imaginative play has made huge progress.  Listening to him talking to his toys, giving them voices, is my absolute favorite thing.  At first it was very interesting because he was using his toys to play-out interactions he’d had with his friend Libby or us.  Then it became purely imagination.   One day I told him my knee was bothering me (I’m old, get over it) and he plucked out some fluff from the carpet.  “These Mrph Mrphs will make them feel better!”  It took me a while to stop asking him to repeat himself and to understand that he made up a new word just for fun.

For Greg and I it’s been a fall of work-challenges.  Greg’s still very busy working in Dexter and overcoming various obstacles.  I’m doing fine with my work-load but am struggling with the fact that the children are essentially tandem-napping so I always have one little squirt awake.   It’s meant conquering some work after they go to bed and in general operating on less sleep.  I have to remind myself that this baby-toddlerhood is just a brief moment in time.   Next fall Henry will be 18 months and Lloyd will be in preschool!  I work everyday on overcoming the insubstantial stresses and appreciating the good (the great!) in this funny, crazy house.

Things are calming down here as fall arrives.  We’re getting into more of a routine as Henry settles into something of a nap schedule (about 3 naps a day, each at least 45 minutes long).   If you can believe it, Henry is already 6 months old!  It’s gone by so fast.  He weighs just shy of 19 lbs and is growing nicely.  He’s in the 76th percentile for weight and over 100th for length.  Our lean machine!

Henry has really been enjoying his baby food.  We’ve been doing rice cereal for a while, but have now brought out all sorts of fruits and vegetables.  Combinations of pears, prunes, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, spinach, peas, and pears.  He’s liked everything and begged for more!  We’re trying not to get out of hand so that he keeps getting most of his calories from nursing.   Now we’ve switched from rice to a whole oats/barley mix.  Yum…?

He doesn’t have any teeth yet, although it certainly seems like he’s making progress under the gums.  In truth he’s had a bit of a difficult month.  Lots of restless nights, caused perhaps by his teething and digestive issues as his body gets used to new foods.  But he is still having fun during the days.  Lots of barrel-rolling around the living room, and a lot more engagement with his toys as he has learned to reach and grab with precision.

Lloyd has been doing great.  Socially, he’s really turning a new leaf.  This past month I’ve seen him run around and really play with kids his own age and that has been amazing.  He’s also much more interested in his little brother, waiting patiently for Henry to run around and play with him.  : )

The good news is Lloyd has finally stopped saying, “I’m sad!” or “I’m just a sad boy!”  But the bad news is is that he’s replaced it with, “I’m a little nervous.”  Womp womp.  It’s a cover-all phrase that he dishes out whenever he’s uncomfortable or just whenever he doesn’t want to fulfill a request.  It’s heart melting the first time you hear it, then you understand it’s just another example of him trying to manipulate his minions!

Another new phrase is, “Where you come from?!” whenever he sees someone he hasn’t seen in a while.

Lloyd has not resumed potty training… we’ll try again in November.  He HAS started a formal playgroup organized through Dexter Community Schools called “First Steps.”  It’s mostly just free play in a classroom setting, but there’s 15 minutes of singing and stories and listening to a teacher.   The parents attend alongside their children, and the kids are aged 18 months – 3 years.   It’s like a pre-pre-school.

So that’s what we’re up to!  Hope everyone who reads this is doing well.