GregoryBrand.com

Welcome 2012!  This has been such a strange “winter”, weather wise.  Barely any snow and temperatures stuck in the 40s.   Are we just going to skip this season?  Or is it just delayed?  Curious to see how this affects gardening this summer…

Anyway – on to our family update!

Henry continues to grow and learn.  He has had a perpetual snotty nose for the past two months.  I sometimes forget what he looks like without a schnoz encased in buggers.  Perhaps it’s teething or just a constant battle with little viruses.  His mood, in general, is fine so we’re definitely not worried.  His 10 month birthday brought about a little stranger-danger for Henry, as well as some added clingyness.  I remember when he was younger fearing that he wasn’t attached enough to me for my selfish comfort.  Let’s just say that’s no longer a concern…

He’s doing okay eating more grown-up foods, but he’s definitely a lot more particular than his brother.  I’m hoping some additional teeth will help with meal-times, but we’re still stuck with the six he popped out in the fall.  No new ones in sight, although I suspect that they’ll all come in a cluster eventually.

One added bonus with Henry is that he’s, in general, great in the car.  We remember Lloyd crying for every minute of every car ride for a three-month stretch in his first year and are so thankful Henry has differed from his big bro in this instance.

Lloyd is doing great! Preschool has been an adjustment.  He goes two mornings a week from 9 – 12 and has improved his willingness to participate and interact with other children at every single school day.  We’re so happy to watch him increase his socialization skills.  It really shows when meeting new adults and we even see a difference at home.  All of  a sudden he is a lot more interactive with our cats and with Henry.   Lloyd plays and talks with Henry a lot now and loves to make his brother laugh.

Greg is gearing up for a new project in Ann Arbor come Spring.  Since our honeymoon  of him working in Dexter is coming to an end, we’ve sought out a morning nanny to help us get through the weekday mornings a little easier here at the house.  Cara is a God send who comes and feeds the boys breakfast and then plays a little bit until I finish with my morning work.  She’s an extra blessing on our crazed preschool mornings, helping us all get on coats and shoes so we can get to the car and to school on time.

As for me, I’ve started selling a couple of craft goods on etsy and am entering some quilts into some competitions this spring.  Other than that it’s work and playing with the boys : )

Wishing you a wonderful February!

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!