11 Months!

Hard to believe that a month from now Brendan will be one year old! I took a couple of videos tonight (during his effort to avoid laying still to get 'jamas on)--one nice and meaty and full of cute little things, and one just over a minute showing Buddy's love affair with stuffed animals. Unfortunately (or fortunately for those easily bored by my family), the first one apparently is too big a file for Blogger to handle. I'm thinking it must be because its HD from my SLR. Too bad. Sorry, Grandma and Papa.

And just in case you were wondering, Brendan also has a special place in his heart for Lauren's baby dolls. He squeals with delight and tries to "hug/kiss" any part he can get a hold of--at least until boredom sets in after 5-10 seconds.

Happy 11 Months, Buddy Boy!

Special Treat

Saturday, February 12th, we decided to treat our little family to a special event traveling around the nation: 

We thought Lauren would be absolutely thrilled to see it, as "3 Toy Story," as she calls it, had been her favorite video to watch since receiving it for Christmas. We decided to keep it a surprise until we were actually walking into the arena. The idea was a) to have a fun surprise for her, and b) to not have to field a gazillion questions about how many days away it was, etc. In hindsight, maybe we should have told her. 

The kids' reactions? Can we say overstimulation? 

To Kevin's and my surprise, Lauren just sat there, totally subdued, for the entire performance. Her eyes were glossed over, she hardly smiled--or showed any emotion, for that matter--the entire time. It even took some convincing to get her to eat her hot dog and nachos at intermission. When we tried to get feedback from her, the only thing she said was that she was disappointed that we hadn't bought her a toy from the gazillion cash-cow-vendors parked in every little nook and cranny around the arena. (And may I say, Disney marketing sure knows how to work their magic on kids!)

Brendan's reaction was overstimulation, as well. But you expect that from a baby. At first his little eyes were glued to the skating rink, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Then he started getting more and more restless, looking around at everyone else, wanting us to get up and move. It didn't help that he was missing nap time. But all things considered, he did pretty darn good--no screaming or crying--just lots of wiggles.

Overall, I'd say the performance was pretty good; entertaining for kids. They cram the major highlights of all three story lines into one show. 

My highlight list would include the army men "parachuting in," the aliens dancing under the black light, and Barbie and Ken skating. (Of course, I've always been a sucker for ice skating during the Olympics.)

 

And yes, we did allow Lauren to get a Bullseye and Jessie toy. But to be fair, she had been doing an AWESOME job cleaning up her room and both her and Brendan's toys in the family room.

(Photo notes: pictures of the show itself I grabbed from various sites on the internet. My archaic point-and-shoot just didn't do the shots justice.)

Holy Blizzard, Batman!

Writer's note:  Ok, so I feel lame posting this more than a week later. I mean it IS old news, and more important things have happened since. Part of the delay has been due to technical difficulties. But I chose to post it anyway for the benefit of those on the other side of the world.

Wow. Last week, we experienced the craziest snowstorm I've ever seen. Granted, I was alive during the Blizzard of '79, but since I was only 5, I only have a few memories of that event, with the grandest being a vague memory of being stuck in the valley of a drift next to the house and my sister laughing at me. Incidentally, my husband says he remembers school being cancelled for 2 weeks after that blizzard. Now the Blizzard of 2011 did not dump the most snow I've seen in one storm (even though one computer forecast predicted 32" 20 miles south of here). The prize of biggest dump goes to the New Year's storm in '99--23" here, if I remember right (slightly higher than the official total downtown).

What made this blizzard crazy was the insane wind gusts (up to 67 mph downtown--that's tropical storm strength!) and thundersnow. That's right--thunder and lightning during a snowstorm. I didn't think it was really possible. However, I do remember the ONE and ONLY time ever in my school career that school was cancelled:  I woke up late to a big snowfall and my sister was already outside shoveling, saying that school was cancelled because--allegedly--there was thunder during the snowstorm. But I never personally experienced it until this storm. At the peak of the storm, supposedly in the thundersnow spots, the snow was falling up to 4" per hour. But we were watching, and I've got to tell you, the wind was so crazy blowing in every direction, I don't know how anyone could possibly measure that. Officially, we ended up with 18 inches in our city. But as you will see below, the drifts were nothing to sneeze at. One city near the lake topped out at 24". Despite this lovely winter wonderland dump, I have to say I still have snow envy of the northeast this year.

For those of you who didn't experience first hand, I've included some pictures and video.

Here's the calm before the storm, though the little blur you see is actually the beginning of the winds picking up and blowing existing snow around.

I filmed video from the storm using my new camera. The footage looks great on my computer, but unfortunately for anyone else who might have actually been interested in seeing it, Blogger won't convert it. (I'm bummed because that was one of the planned highlights in this post.) The footage showed some gusts at full force at night. Visibility was reported as less than a quarter mile. I can vouch for that--we couldn't see past 4 houses away. People said it was like being pelted with lots of tiny ice daggers. I wouldn't know--I wasn't stupid enough to venture out. Kevin works less than 10 minutes away, and he said it was just miserable trying to get home--and that was before the peak of the storm hit! My apologies for the technical difficulties.

For those of you who missed the thundersnow in person:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/cantore-surprised-by-thunder-snow-19541?from=video_email

This is what it looked like as the storm was winding down:

Let the fun begin!

Leaps and Bounds

I love this age! Not mine, mind you. Brendan's. 8-9 months old. It's so fun. Every day he learns something new. He's a restless explorer, and I love the sounds that come out of his mouth. So I'm just going to list some cute things that have popped up in the last week or two. (I'll try to be brief, as one brother has not-so-subtly told me I make my blogs too long. Hmm. Maybe I can disguise it by having lots of pictures.)

1) The other day, Brendan grabbed a toy with both hands and put it over his head. So I raised my hands, too, and said, "So big!" When he saw my response, he tried it again. This time Lauren joined in the response, "So big!" And it became a new game. Sometimes he does it without a toy and one hand grabs the other and drags it overhead. It's so cute because if you're watching just before he does it, you can see the gears turning in his little brain because he gets a twitch of a smile and then you can see the neurons making the needed connections. And if you're not watching, he'll make an "ah" sound to get your attention to ensure he gets his "So big!"

2) Every time Brendan finishes his food, I applaud him with clapping and a Yay! I'll do the same when he figures out a toy. He has finally caught on. A couple of days ago, while bored during a diaper change, he started clapping his hands. I said, "Clap, clap, clap" and did it, too. And voila! Game #2. What makes it so cute is that it is always up-and-down, left is always on top, and it's slow and methodical.

3) He has started to understand certain phrases and tones of voice. He understands what my "No-no...." means, though after pausing and turning around to look at me with a grin, he may choose to see what he can get away with. If I call his name and hold out my hands, he'll put down his toy, turn around, and make a beeline for me.

4) He loves any toy that has a face. He'll start to "talk" to it with high-pitched "ah"s--especially Lauren's princesses and stuffed animals.

5) He has started to dance while sitting or laying on his tummy, and especially likes faster music. My favorite is a little car ramp toy he has that makes a bunch of car-related sounds and a couple of music samples. He'll keep spinning the trigger, not dancing, until he hits the one fast song, and then he starts grooving.

 6) Brendan understands the concept of peek-a-boo so well that he has started to do it himself with blankets, clothes, and even toys.

7) He can now grab a snack from my hand and get it into his mouth, one way or another. And it must be said that figuring out how to mash said snack in his mouth is an accomplishment in and of itself.

8) Uh-oh! Buddy has figured out the stairs. For a few weeks, it's just been one stair and then he would stop, which made it nice because I could keep him contained downstairs without a gate. No longer! He went from going up one stair to all the way up eight stairs in one day. Great, but not so great!



Containment measures commence!

9) On the not-so-fun side of cause-and-effect, the little turkey has learned to pull himself up to a stand in his bed and would rather stand there and cry for an hour than lay back down and go to sleep. I'm severely annoyed at this, as it makes for at least an hour-long battle to get him to take a nap, which makes him way overtired. Lauren never really fought naps. In fact, looking back, she loved them and was quite content going down. (Nowadays is an entirely different story--she desperately needs them, but rarely gives in.)

It's so fun watching this tiny little person learn cause-and-effect. It really makes me marvel that in just months little neurons inside the brain can make connections. I'm so awed at our divine creation! And I think Lauren loves seeing her brother become more and more playable (is that even a word?), too. She loves to jump around like a fool in front of him because it will make him laugh.

may be boring to you, but not to me

So I was thinking I needed to update my blog since three birthdays have happened since my last post. But I realized today (written yesterday) is Buddy Boy's 8-month mark, so I might as well blog about him. (Haha. The one person who's birthday it hasn't been.) It seems like in the last month--and especially in the last week--my little boy has matured so much.  As it is quite late and I am SO far past tired, the easiest way will be for me to just do random bullets. Forgive me. This post may be boring to you, but it's more for my remembering (and for my parents who are completely missing it on the other side of the world). 

--Tooth number deux made its appearance on Pearl Harbor day. Unfortunately, I have been the target for testing out those puppies. I have yet to flick him hard like I did to teach Lauren (which worked!), because it never seems like an obvious intention on his part--kind of in-passing, if you know what I mean. But he does love to gnaw on a large apple slice. A few times he's actually bitten off some, and then proceeded to gag because he has no idea what do to with a small piece of food.
--This last month, B decided that he does, in fact, like to eat baby food from a spoon. When he sees someone mixing up a bowl and walking toward him, he starts to do his "I'm hungry" whimper and gets mad that Mom or Dad can't get it to him fast enough. In the last couple of weeks, he has even started leaning his head forward when you go to put his bib on--how courteous! He likes bananas, pears, peaches, and apples with his oatmeal. Veggies include sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans mixed in with rice. No-go on the peas. (Can't say I blame him.) He also likes orange juice from a spoon. Weird. I would have thought we would have gotten the sour face on that one. Must be his daddy's boy.
--This kid is an army-crawler! He has a very strong upper body, and can pull his upper body up on to objects 6" tall. He can get anywhere he wants to be, and has a knack for knowing exactly what he's not supposed to be into (like the broken doorstop behind his door despite my blocking it off and lashing the door open). Today, he actually ventured out of his room and into our bedroom and thought slapping the hardwood was pretty cool (he has carpet in his room). I haven't gotten the gates out, but it's likely only days away. This kid is getting faster and faster. He has started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking, but then will go flat to move. Lauren never even army-crawled. But it works for B. And I know he loves his new-found freedom.
--A couple of weeks ago, Brendan decided that sitting up was at least worth the effort, and in the last week he has excelled so much that I can now put him down on the floor sitting up. He's not always the most steady and has had a couple of hard bail-overs, but he's getting better and better. From sitting, he can awkwardly get himself into army-crawl position. And from his army-crawl position, he has figured out how, in the last week, to push himself up to a sitting position. Finally! Christmas gifts were planned with the idea that he'd be sitting by then, and for a while I was worried that it would be a big bust. Way to go, Buddy! You may actually like Christmas now.
--On the negative side of sitting up, the last couple of days, I have gone in to get him from a nap only to find him sitting up in bed near the railing. As his crib mattress is set to the newborn setting, I can just imagine himself pulling himself on the rail and with one swift push-off, launching himself out of the crib. Yikes. It's time to lower the crib (and torture my back even more).
--One neat thing was to observe B learning his first cause-and-effect toy. He figured out last week that if he rotates a spinny thing, it plays a different sound each time.  It's not a generous toy, in that you have to really put some effort into spinning it to get your reward. So it's cool to watch him go back to it again and again.
--I'm thinking Brendan is a Daddy's Boy. Whenever Kevin comes home, B gets SO excited. And if we're in the same room and B is on the floor, he'll bee-line to Kevin's feet and do his little dolphin kick and excited sound to get picked up. He'll only come to me if Kevin ignores him, or if he wants to nurse and go to sleep. He'll also sit calmly on Kevin's lap in front of the computer--with or without a toy. If I put him on my lap in front of my computer, even with a toy, he's always squirming, trying to grab something, anything.
--He's started talking it up quite a bit, with a lot of "y" and "d" sounds. I love to watch him talk because he flaps his bottom jaw like he's not sure what to do with those two teeth. He also has discovered "th" sounds and raspberries with his tongue.
--We are now in full alert mode when he's on the floor because he has started taking notice of EVERYTHING--including little specks on the floor--and will try to put said everything in his mouth. He's not too far away from developing his pincer grip.

I love this little boy! Now that he's reached the sitting and (first) mobility stage, he can slow down maturing again. My favorite things about him are that he is very generous with his smiles, he's always happy to see you, he's especially happy to see his big sister, he goes to bed around 6:30 pm, and I LOVE when he makes his scrunchy face and snorts air in and out really loud (see picture below). He most often does it during mealtime.

Hanging out in the laundry basket:

Happy as a clam!

7 months

Brendan is seven months today!  Where did the time go?  Those precious newborn moments have passed me by much faster than I like.  I think two factors are certain to make time pass faster:  1) getting older; and 2) having more children (and therefore, less savoring.)  It's sad to think that he's now closer to one year than to birth.  Not that the first six months are a piece of cake.  I think it's going to take me a good month to recover from sleep deprivation once he decides to sleep a full 12 hours (right now his usual wake-up time is 4:40 a.m.).  But you never know if a child is going to be your last one, and those newborn moments are just so precious.  But, then again, this is the age when they really start to be fun.

It seems all in one week, Brendan has gone from six-months to going-on-two-years.  He cut his first tooth this week.  No more toothless grin, which makes me sad that I rescheduled our family photographs for next week.  Stupid colds.  He has also figured out how to go after something he wants on the floor.  It's a mixture of inchworm and rolling over.  (I guess we'd better get a move-on and hurry and babyproof this place!!)  He cannot resist the sound and feel of plastic bags. He makes a beeline straight for them.  Other things he gets really excited about and literally will dive out of our arms for are window blinds and running water.  It's hilarious!  He's pretty close to being able to sit by himself.  And he loves his jumper!  (Though once he's in it, he just can't seem to stop jumping, which eventually makes him tired and annoyed.)  He also cracks up at peek-a-boo.

One day very soon I hope to find the time to figure out my new camera and download the pictures I've taken.  But for now, here's my favorite picture of Buddy Boy from about six weeks ago.

I'm a big girl now!

Lauren had a big week.  She went through several transitions (some of them forced)--all in one week. 

Change #1:  She got a bicycle.  It's actually a tricycle, but she had to wait 7 weeks (thanks to a poorly managed website--never use mrtoys.com!) for her blue "bicycle" which she said she could get when she got "bigger and bigger and bigger!"

Change #2:  Lauren got rid of her bippy!!!  For those of you who don't speak Schade-ese, a bippy is a pacifier.  During the last year, she was only allowed to have it to sleep, except, of course, when Kevin would let her get away with smuggling it in front of the TV.  For months, we've told Lauren she would have to trade her bippy for a bicycle/tricycle.  Sometimes she was game for it, and sometimes she was not.  At times, she would suddenly say, "Mom, I don't want a bicycle." Or "I don't want to give my bippy to the Fairy [or to Brendan]," both of whom we suggested she give her bip to.  (Although, I think giving it to Brendan was her idea.)  After her tricycle arrived and it was tangible, we gave her two last nights to savor her addiction, frankly because Kevin and I were trying to survive the pre-blessing week and didn't need more stress.  But on July 4th, at the age of 3 years and 7 months, Lauren gave up her bippy.  It has not been an easy week, and it has been hard for her to fall asleep.  But she seems to have accepted her new lot.  And hopefully the orthodontic bill won't be too bad.

Change #3:  Lauren got goggles for swimming.  This may seem like a minor thing, but it facilitated her making some significant progress in swim lessons.  She even showed me yesterday at the pool how she will go under water for a few seconds.  (I have to say, it's kind of freaky as a parent watching your first child go under water and not come up immediately.  It's hard to resist the thought that they're drowning.)

Change #4:  Lauren switched from pull-ups in the day to underpants.  Or perhaps I should clarify:  Lauren's day pull-ups were taken away and she was forced to wear underpants.  In any case, it's a step in the right direction in getting ready for pre-school.

Change #5:  Along the same vein as #4 above, Lauren's potty was put away and she now uses a toilet full-time.  She was a hold-out for a long time, refusing to do her in business in any other venue than her potty when at home.  (However, in public places, she had no problem using the toilets.  Go figure.)  It's taken 7 months, but we are finally potty-free.  It was nice that getting ready for hosting Kevin's family last week facilitated this process.  One thing I love about Lauren is that if you give her an answer in the negative with an accompanying logical explanation, often she will accept it and just move on.  Not always, but often.

Change #6:  Though not in the last week, but rather the last month, one other big change that has been a long time coming was the switch from "Little" (the mini-blanket that Grandma Schade made for her at birth) as a pillow to an actual toddler pillow that I bought for her when we transitioned her into her toddler bed over a year ago.  (See picture above in item #2 for pillow.)  The funny thing about the switch is I've been trying to get Lauren to use the pillow for a year, but it all came about as her idea because I was washing Little one day and it was still wet, but she really wanted to take a (rare) nap.  And once Little was dry, she simply put it her closet.  And now she uses it for Sasha, her baby doll.

Hopefully, Lauren will not have to visit a therapist in the future, only to blame us as parents for throwing too many changes at her at one time.  Never mind that we have also moved and added a sibling in the last four months....