Just a Few Pictures

I wanted to share some iPhone photos that my mom and dad haven't seen since they aren't on Facebook.

After story time on Wednesday we went to our favorite playground. B had a
blast on the swing!

This shot makes me laugh because we have a picture of my sister just like this;
waiting to be wiped.

I just can't get over how big he looks in his pic! This was our weekly
trip to the aquarium.

After the aquarium, we went next door to see the ducks!

B's new sandbox is almost done! He played in it last night. It was super windy
so he needed a jacket. Ready for warmer weather!

Happy Sunday

via

The Lorax

I took Brennan to his first movie at the theater today. I knew I wanted to try to take him either this spring or summer and when I saw that The Lorax was still in theaters, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. He's really into movies at home, although he doesn't sit still for very long to watch them. Unfortunately, our local theaters don't have matinees during the week, so we had to drive about 30 minutes to a new theater, but it was totally worth it. It was right next to a Panera, so we had a lunch date there first. Then we headed to the theater. Lunch went a little faster than I expected, so we arrived at the movie earlier than I had planned. I was hoping to miss the previews so B wouldn't have to sit any longer than necessary, but it still worked out fine.
The theater in Lisbon was super nice. Brennan's ticket was free and we were the only people watching The Lorax. That's one reason I wanted to see a matinee because if it wasn't crowded, I was going to let B walk around the front some if he needed to get up. The theater had stadium seating, which was perfect. There were about five rows on the floor, then a big open area before starting the stadium seating. We sat in the first stadium seats which was nice because it was open for B to walk right in front of us, but we weren't in the very very front seats. I brought B's portable high chair, bought some popcorn, and we were ready to go. He was good boy and even went to the potty for me before the movie started. He really seemed to like it. Since we were there for the previews, some of those were really loud. He kept saying, "All done. Bye bye." But once the movie started he was happy. He ate a ton of junk food, but stayed in his seat for 1.5 hours. When the movie was almost over he wanted to sit in my lap, so I moved him there, but then he wanted to get down. I just let him and he went back and forth between sitting on the bottom step of the aisle and walking around the front. Definitely a successful first theater experience.
I had to document it of course, so here are some iPhone pics!

Sitting on the bottom step once he started to get antsy.

Walking around a little - with his Ring Pop!

Headin' home!

Oh and movie was cute! I liked it too!

Language Explosion

I am so happy that last week brought a language explosion for Brennan. I can only imagine what the weeks ahead hold! For the longest time, Brennan has only spoken in single syllables. To get him to say a multi-syllabic word, you'd have to have him repeat each syllable one at time. That's no longer the case. He is now saying many 2-syllable words, a few 3-syallable ones, and putting words together to make phrases. Check out the video. It was taken early last week, so he can do even more now, but it gives you a little idea of what he can do now. My favorite so far was yesterday at church when he said, "I wuv you". Nothing better than hearing that!


Here are some pictures from last week!

Piggy back ride! He was screaming, "Weeee!" the whole time!

Got these Mickey paint swatches at Home Depot - great color matching game!

This kid LOVES school buses. We have several that park in our neighborhood, so we walked
down the street to see one. Made his day!

We had such nice weather last week! We took some friends with us to the aquarium!

He still loves a good snuggle with Momma! Makes my day!

We had a picnic lunch on Friday using his new picnic table; he was a little excited!

Happy Sunday

via

112th Submarine Birthday Ball

Kyle and I attended the Suball Saturday night. Val and Kathryn were kind enough to entertain B for us so we could go out. We didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of us all dressed up!

Happy Sunday

via

Dear Brennan,

My sweet little baby boy, you are now 26 months old! I'm enjoying being your Momma more now than ever before. You are just so much fun. I think you're having a great time being 2! You are still wearing 2T clothes, but don't wear diapers anymore. Yep, you're potty trained! You currently wear a Pull-Up at night, but the past three mornings you've been dry, so I think we might be turning a corner on nighttime training. You've done so great with using the potty. I'm so proud of you! You also have three of your four two-year molars, so you're almost done with teething too! Thankfully teething never seemed to bother you.

You continue to get faster and faster at climbing up the stairs. You still go up on your hands and knees, but do it without as much complaining now (as long as a treat is waiting at the top for you!). When you're not supposed to climb stairs (the stage at church, a friend's house) you do it with no complaining. Go figure. We are now working on getting you to go down the stairs alone on your bum. You are also getting more confident walking in the grass. I don't know why you're so nervous about it, but we've really been working on you doing it on your own without holding my hand and you've gotten much better. Our yard is really bumpy, so it can be a little tricky.

The other big news this month is that you are now sleeping in a big boy bed! We put the toddler rail on your crib and you've done great with the transition. You are able to get yourself out of the bed, but so far every time you wake up, you just lay in bed until I come in. Then you'll sit up, scoot to the open end, and get out. The main reason I wanted to go ahead and switch your bed was because you are such a good boy and I was pretty confident you wouldn't make any attempts to get out.

You keep saying more and more words. You can now say "two" and "shoe" clearly. It's funny because sometimes I do have a hard time understanding you and will have to guess what you're saying. You'll say, "No" until I get the word right and then say, "Yeah". I'm glad that on most days the word "yeah" is now spoken a lot more than the word "no".

We still attend a weekly story time at the library. Some how you've become known as the class clown of the group! Everyone there thinks you are such a happy guy. You love dancing at home, but in that class, you only want to sit in Momma's lap. I think you get your class clown nickname because you find it nearly impossible to sit still and be quiet during the Quiet Song. Your whole body starts shaking and little giggles start coming out before you're supposed to move again. It makes everyone in the class laugh!

You are still a good listener. You understand so much and will try to use big boy words instead of whining after I give you a reminder. You now say that whining is a "no no". You also say that crying when you go to your toddler class at church is a "no no". Obviously crying isn't a "no no", but I'm glad you haven't cried when going into class the past two weeks. Most Sundays you've done well about going to the potty while in your class too!

You still love playing with your choo-choos, watching The Wiggles, and saying your ABCs and numbers. You'll just start randomly counting to 10 or saying your alphabet during the day. I think you know the difference between your left and right foot because we talk about it when we're putting your shoes on, but it's really hard to tell the difference between the two words when you say them.

We've started playing some games on the computer and you really like that. We have been using the Fisher-Price online game site quite a bit. There's an opposite game on there that you enjoy, but your favorite is the Thomas and Friends Engine Wash. You now know almost every choo-choos name because of that game. It amazes me how much information is stored in that little brain of yours!

One of my new favorite things you're starting to do happens at night. I've always said your bedtime prayers for you, but now you're helping me. You'll help me name lots of people you love and we'll pray for all of them. It's so very sweet! You love so many people and I hope you know how many people love you. You are a very lucky little guy to be so loved. I hope you stay as sweet as you are now for a long, long time! Hugs and Kisses!

Love,
Mommy

Happy Easter Sunday

Happy Resurrection Day!

via

And now for some pictures of Brennan! Yesterday we had a few Easter egg hunts. Just at home and just with Brennan. But now I think he'll be ready for the big time next year. We started hunting eggs inside and then moved outside. These eggs from the Dollar Tree are his new favorite toy!

Here are a few shots of B this morning before heading out to church!

Checking out his Easter baskets.

He was pretty excited when he discovered his eggs had jellybeans inside!

Hugging Pooh and one of his Easter baskets.

Then it was off to church. Once we were back home we snapped a few pictures outside! I love him in his little hat. He didn't wear it much at church, but was willing to leave it on for pictures, so I consider that a win!

Big Boy Bed

We've taken the plunge! Last night was Brennan's first night to sleep in his new "big boy bed". His crib is convertible, so we purchased the toddler rail to go along with it and changed it out last night! Sort of on a whim, but oh well.

Just a little over a week ago, I looked online at BabiesRUs for the toddler rail for his crib. We weren't in need of it, but I just wanted to make sure they still made it. When I checked, it was out of stock. There was an option to sign up to receive an email when it was back in stock, so I did that fully expecting it to be weeks if not longer for a notification. Within two days, I got an email. Kyle and I discussed it and decided to go ahead and purchase it while it was there, so we'd have it when we were ready to make the change.

Brennan turned two in February. I know plenty of kids his age who are already in toddler beds. I know most people move their kiddos out of the crib when they start climbing out or if they need the crib for a new baby. Brennan to this day still does not stand up in his crib, much less try to climb out. He is capable of standing up in it, but will only do so if you ask him to. So we have no fear of him climbing out in the near future. And unfortunately we don't have another baby that needs the crib, so we planned on keeping B in there for a while longer.

Then the toddler rail arrived. Super fast. Two or three days after I ordered it online. I opened the box and started getting excited about switching his bed. I know most people would say leave him in the crib as long as possible, but I was so antsy to change it. One because I thought it would look cute. Two because I didn't think Brennan would make any attempts at this point to get out of the toddler bed. He still isn't a good climber and he's always been a great sleeper, so my thinking was maybe we should just change it while he's still so compliant most of the time and before he's a daredevil doing flips over his rail.

Kyle and I talked about it and went ahead and packed the toddler rail away under the guest bed the day after it arrived. I kept asking Brennan if he wanted to a big boy bed and he would adamantly say, "No!" every single time. Then last night after dinner we were in his room playing and he asked to get in his crib to play. I put him in there along with some stuffed animals and started telling him what his toddler bed would look like. He started getting excited. Kyle looked at the time and said, "I can change it right now. We have 25 minutes until praise team practice." And that's exactly what he did. Like I said; on a whim.

Brennan watched as Dada took the front off his crib and installed the new rail. It only took about 15 minutes and it was all set up. At this point, Brennan still seemed excited about it, but it was almost time to leave for church, so we didn't really get to look at it too much. After praise team practice, it was home and straight to bed for Brennan. I didn't make a big deal out of his new bed at all. We just did our exact same bedtime routine and then I put him in bed. I did have to lay him down with his head at the opposite end as normal because the toddler rail only installed one way, but he didn't seem to mind. I kissed him and walked out.

He slept like a champ. He woke up a little after 8 this morning. I went in there and he was still laying down in the bed saying, "big, big, big" over and over again. When I walked in the room, I asked him to sit up. He put his hands on the new rail like he was going to stand up, but realized it was different. I told him to scoot down to the end which he did. He scooted right to the edge and got out on his own. As I type this now, he's napping in his big boy bed. I'm hoping it continues to go this well! So proud of my big boy!

And yes, my potty trained, big boy bed sleeping child still sleeps with a paci. That's our next thing to tackle.

This is how he sleeps most of the time; with his hands behind his head.

Can you see his cheesy grin in this picture?

"Mom, pictures first thing in the morning??!!"

Good morning, sunshine!

He can get out of bed on his own now!

"I did it!"

I think he likes his new bed!

Ha! Ok so maybe he's still not fully awake.

So cute!