Brothers!

Peanut loves his big brother more than anyone and Little Man allows Peanut hair pulling and hugging as he does with no other. No one brings the light to Peanut's eyes like Little Man and no one laughs so hard at Little Man's antics as Peanut does. I know that this sibling love doesn't mean that there isn't sibling rivalry in the future, but for today I am basking in the joy of my two boys love for each other.

Here is a little video of the boys playing last night. Little Man makes brief appearances but you can tell when he is coming close just by watching Peanut. Every time Little Man ran away, Peanut would stop smiling and as soon as Little Man turned around...well, you will see!

Wordless Wednesday

7 months and Fat as Ever!

Peanut turned 7 months old this past weekend. He is just a delight! He is so playful and happy these days. He mostly wants to be sitting up playing with toys but I can convince him to lay on his tummy and play a couple of times a day. He isn't crawling or even coming close to wanting to start trying to get anywhere near crawling, which I am very thankful for! But he does rotate and wiggle if something is out of his reach. Luckily if he seems to be trying to get to a toy and can't make it, Little Man is happy to rush in and push it closer to him and then bring him 3 more toys that he didn't even know he wanted.

Peanut has dropped (with a little coercion from me) his third nap and so is sleeping from 9:30-10:30 and 1:00-2:30ish on good days but he is still my champion sleeper at night! He is tummy sleeping and seems to have developed an attachment to a stuffed dog but we aren't sure it is going to stick. He does get super excited to see it though which is adorable!

Peek A Boo is his favorite game to play and Pat a Cake is a close second. He loves having his face covered by the blanket and then pulled off. He starts to shake and squeal when I hope the blanket up and dips his head down waiting and waiting for me to throw it over him. He will play for as long as I let him and sometimes Little Man even will take over for me. (with my close supervision)

Food Glorious Food! Peanut loves to eat! Well he loves to eat his homemade baby food. He isn't overly fond of anything we buy at the store and try to pass off on him when I don't feel like grinding something up. He loves peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, pears, bananas, avocado. Next up greenbeans, mango and carrots. The funniest part is that he acts like he is starving. All 24 pounds of him gets angry if you don't put food in his mouth within seconds of putting him in his high chair. The other day I sat down to feed him and had to get back up to get something. You would have thought he was undergoing torture with all the fuss that he put up until I sat back down to provide him with his much needed sustenance.

All he wants for Christmas are his two front teeth. They are swollen and angry little bumps that are plaguing him and he is not happy about it. We are hoping they break through in the next few days to put him out of his misery.

And probably the sweetest skill that he has developed is that he reaches for us. When we go into his room after naps or in the morning he pushes up on this arms and reaches out to be picked up. He will reach for me if someone else is holding him and reaches for Papa Bear when he gets home from work. It fills our hearts with love and happiness to see him growing up and developing.

Can Jesus Come to My House?

We have been trying to introduce Little Man to prayer before bedtime. He has really really taken to the idea and likes to talk to God. He likes to tell God what he did during the day and thank God for EVERYTHING. Tonight it was a sweet prayer. He thanked God for Mama and Papa and Peanut. He said "I love you God and Good Night Jesus. Amen" and then he sat up in bed and said "Mama, can Jesus come to my house tomorrow?" I didn't even know how to respond. I could say "Well Jesus is with you all of the time..." but really my VERY literal 2 year old would find issue with that. So I just said "we'll see honey" and he then said "Maybe Hannah come over if Jesus no come." He is just so cute I want to eat him up!

It is all about Perspective

Actual Version

Row Row Row Your Boat

Gently Down the Stream

Merrily Merrily Merrily

Life is But a Dream

Little Man Version

Row Your Boat Row Your Boat

Jackson Down the Street

Many Many Many

I get a Treat

Mama Bear: "Little Man please get down from standing on the table"

Little Man: "But it is a game called.."

Mama Bear: "No, it is not a game and I don't care what it is called, get down now!"

Little Man: "But Mama it is a game called One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed"

Mama Bear: "That's not a game, that's a song"

Little Man: "Mama, it's a game AND a song"

Mama Bear: "Oh, I see. Get down anyway"

Little Man: "Ok"

What that is? Why? Know why? Maybe? these are the most popular phrases in the house and they have led to some very interesting conversations, some sillier than others. But it is so much fun getting Little Man's perspective on the world. For example when he told me that birds flap their wings really fast and I said ok and he said know why? and to indulge him I said why? and he said "maybe cause they can't flap their feet" I just never looked at it that way. Maybe.

Wordless Wednesday

The Elephant and the Monkey

One day there was a LittleMan Elephant and a Peanut Monkey that went to a Halloween Party in their neighborhood. They were very excited to go and see all of their friends at the party. When they walked in the door they looked all around to make sure that there were no witches or ghosts and seeing only cowgirls and superheros they went on it. Their friends were playing, there were crafts and tattos and even a magician - but that held no interest for LittleMan Elephant or Peanut Monkey. Nope - they didn't care about any of that because LittleMan Elephant had found a new treasure. One that his mama had kept from him as long as she could and it was called CANDY CORN. The End.

Photo Friday

Peanut's First Playdate

Peanut had a friend come over today. They are 6 days apart in age (but I think Peanut has about 6 pounds on him). They sat on Peanut's playmat and shared toys and smiled t each other. They played nice until we heard a scream from his friend and looked over and Peanut had his friends foot in his mouth. We righted the situation and explained it was not nice to eat our friends and all was well again. I think he really liked having someone who stayed still, spoke his language and played near him.

Wagon Rides and Singing Silly Songs

The boys are really starting to be able to play together. Peanut has eyes for his big brother and is just happy to have his attention in any way shape or form. You might remember the wagon from this post (Mommom, click on the word post to see what I am talking about). Well the wagon is back, but the players have changed and some silly songs have been added to it. See what I mean.

Rub a Dub Dub 2 Boys In a Tub

*Update* - Since this is a public site we have edited some of the bath time boy parts to keep our boys safe.

Little Man and Peanut had their first joint bath time. We felt that Peanut was stable enough while sitting up and Little Man was gentle enough with him that it could work out well (or not) but we wanted to find out. There were a couple of incidents where Little Man could not restrain his desire to dump water on Peanut's head - but the result was that if he dumped water on Peanut - well then I dumped it on Little Man. (I know, I know, Mean Mama Bear but he learned quickly) It won't be long before Peanut is defending himself and since he is only 6 pounds less that Little Man he is going to be able to handle himself just fine. I think that Peanut's favorite part was that he finally got to play with toys in the bath tub and was chasing the lobster through the water. I think Little Man loved having a brand new toy (Peanut) in the bath with him. It was twice the fun, twice the mess, twice the work and took about half the time. A success on all accounts.

Mohawk Twins

Loving the Toys

Getting Water Dumped on His Head

A look that spells "REVENGE"

Quick Updates...More to Come

I will try to expand on some of these quick updates and stories but I wanted to get them up before my mama brain kicks in and they are lost or diluted.

Little Man was 100% successful at school this morning. His little chin quivered momentarily as we hung his coat up and walked into the room but I reminded him of the wonderful bribe I offered him if he didn't cry. I know, I know, great parenting skills. But it breaks my heart to walk away from my sobbing son so I did what I had to do and it worked. He got to have 3 M&M's and watch the Curious George movie while he ate his lunch. He had a great time at school. He told me he had chocolate chip muffins for snack and it was so good that he didn't eat his grapes. He painted on the other side - I have no idea what the means - but I am guessing that he wanted to paint on a particular side of the easle but he had to paint "on the other side" because someone was already on the side he wanted. He was most excited about playing on the firetruck on the playground with Mrs. H and singing itsy bitsy spider and twinkle twinkle little star - except according to the lesson plans he didn't sing those songs. But all in all - success and fun and he is adjusting fabulously!

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The other night I made dinner but due to timing, Papa Bear and Little Man were at the table eating together while I nursed Peanut. I overheard a great conversation.

Little Man - "Thank you for making me dinner Papa"

Papa Bear - " Mama made your dinner, all I did was put sour cream on top for you"

Little Man - "Thank you for putting sour cream on my dinner Papa"

Mama Bear - "Hey, can I get a little thanks over here!!"

THE NEXT DAY

Little Man - "Thank you for making me pizza Papa!"

Papa Bear - "All I did was heat up a frozen pizza"

Mama Bear - "Hey, how come you get thanked for sour cream and frozen pizza?"

Little Man - "Thank you Mama!"

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There is a chance that Peanut is allergic to dairy (ok, I get the irony that his nickname is a food that he is NOT allergic to) Anyway, this means that I have to cut all dairy out of my diet until he is weaned and hope that he grows out of it. So YAY SOY! The change has been amazing - he and I haven't had to have a zillion outfit changes due to tons of spit up. But boy would I love to have a tall glass of milk.

Ok I think that is it for now. Neither of the boys are sleeping well due to runny noses from the weather changes - so I am going to go lay down and count the minutes until I have to put the binky back in for Peanut or convince Little Man that he needs to sleep in his own bed.