Tot School - 12.5 Months

We had a sitter on Thursday night while Kyle and I were at worship team practice for church and when we got home she said, "This was the first time Bryce really played and interacted with me." It was neat to hear that in the half hour or so that he was awake with the babysitter, she could see how much interactive he's becoming.

He's getting ever so close to walking and can crawl super fast, so I was really impressed with how long some of these activities held his interest this week; meaning he sat still for an extending period of time. None of these toys are brand new, but some of them are new for Bryce to explore or I added a new element to change something old up a bit. I hope you enjoy a peek into our week!

When Brennan was Bryce's age, he loved putting things into things. I cut an opening in the top of an empty Puffs container and gave Bryce the Dominoes and he was entertained for a long time. He's gone back to this activity almost every single day.

This big box of Mega Blocks has been in the coat closet for over a year now I think, so I brought it out and both boys enjoyed playing with them this week. Bryce is really good at pulling blocks apart and was able to get a few together. Playing with them also gives me a chance to talk to him about colors and numbers because we will count the "bumps" on each block.

I like this little wooden blocks more than the boys do I think. They are just really beautiful blocks and so sturdy. I pointed out letters to Bryce and he had fun knocking over the towers I built. Brennan helped me put them in ABC order.

This kid got his seventh tooth this week and is a drooling mess. But I gosh I love him.

We did some reading this week too. My mom ordered each a boy a magazine subscription from Highlights. Bryce gets the "Hello" books and Brennan gets a "High Five" magazine each month.

This push toy has gotten lots of use this week. Brennan didn't walk until he was 19 months old and I'm actually shocked Bryce isn't walking yet, but I think he's getting pretty close.

"Mom, I'm stuck!"

Melissa and Doug make some of my absolute favorite toys. A friend of ours had this cookie set and I had to get it for Brennan a few months back. I pulled it out for Bryce this week and he really liked it. He was pretty good at putting the cookies onto the cookie sheet. Pulling the cookies back off is good fine motor practice because that velcro is pretty sticky. Once I showed him the tube the cookies are stored in, he was all about putting them back in there. I love the sequence of shots showing him trying to get the cookie in and then having success. 

Here are just a few shots of big brother. He asked to bring his golfing toy upstairs this week, so we've been playing a lot. This kid LOVES mini-golf! He's got pretty good form too.

And here are a few pictures of us playing "Crazy Bones". He got this game when he and Daddy had to stop by Honda one day. They are so sweet to kids there and he won this from the claw machine. It has the same premise as Beer Pong I guess in that you try to bounce the little plastic pieces into a box (or in our case bowls). If you look closely at the first two shots, there are pieces bouncing up in the air. The first one is hard to see because it's black and blends in with the bottom of the couch. The 2nd one is orange and it's just barely off the floor, but you can see its shadow. We save games like this one for after Bryce is napping since they have such small pieces.

You can always check out Carisa's blog for more great Tot School ideas!

Disney - Flying With Two Boys

I know it's been a few weeks since we went to Disney, but I wanted to go ahead and blog about our trip so I can remember lots of the details. This was Brennan's third trip there and Bryce's first and it was just as magical as our first two trips were. It is truly one of my favorite places to visit. The cheap tickets we can get through the military only increases my love of the destination.

This first post is going to be pretty boring, but I do want to remember what it was like flying with my boys at this age, so bear with me.

Unfortunately on this trip, Kyle wasn't able to come because of his busy schedule at work. It was my first time flying alone with both boys and it went well. Thankfully Kyle was able to drive us to the airport and help me get to the ticket counter. I was able to pack in one suitcase for all three of us (that's pretty impressive if you ask me)! But along with the one suitcase I had to check two car seats and our double stroller in its storage bag. I also threw an extra duffle bag into the stroller bag because the suitcase was pretty full and I figured I'd need a little extra space for the return trip.

There wasn't a single person in line at security that day, so it was super fast and easy to get that done. I'm all about getting through security as quickly as possible. I only wear slip on shoes, don't carry any liquids (I just get the boys some drinks once we get through security), and don't carry anything I have to remove from my carryon. It's so much better now that kids don't have to take their shoes off. We got to the airport a little earlier than necessary because of Kyle needing to get back to work, so we had some time to just walk around, check out the small arcade, and play the iPad. I think the craziest part of being alone with both kids at an airport has to be the trips to the bathroom. It's quite a feat to help Brennan get his underwear and pants back up and go pee myself all while Bryce is in the Ergo. I'm so thankful he still likes being in that thing!

I think flying with little kids is always stressful, even when they are well-behaved. Brennan is a great flyer and did awesome on the flight down. Bryce cried pretty hard at the beginning of the flight, but I knew he was tired and just rocked him until he fell asleep. He slept for about 45 minutes and then was much happier when he woke up. Brennan was content the whole time with snacks and the iPad. He gets super excited when the plane is about to land and kept talking about "the bumpies" for the last 20 minutes of the flight.

We arrived in Orlando right on time around 6pm, made a "quick" stop at the bathroom, and then headed to baggage claim to meet my parents. My parents had an earlier flight from Kentucky and had already gone to the resort to check us in and returned to the airport to pick up the boys and me. My parents had parked in a parking garage, so they got a skycap to help us to the rental minivan. The suitcase, both car seats, and the stroller made it safely, so it was a good start to our vacation.

Once we got to the minivan, I might've had a little bit of a meltdown. I thought I would be able to quickly install the two car seats, but the van's LATCH system wasn't there. It was supposed to be there, but only 1 of the 6 anchors were actually present. It was very difficult installing the seats using the van's seat belts, but I finally got them in. Bryce was screaming the entire time and I was just plain tired from 12 months of not sleeping through the night and just having flown with two small children.

Bonnet Creek is about 25 minutes or so from the airport, so it's a pretty quick drive. I had hoped to put Bryce down to bed pretty quick after we got to the room, but my mom had forgotten to ask for a pack-n-play when she checked in and it took FOREVER for the staff to deliver one to the room. We went a little gift shop in the resort that sold milk and got some milk for the boys so Brennan could have some chocolate milk and Bryce could have a bottle. Both boys were finally in bed a little before 10pm and my dad and I headed out to the Super WalMart to stock up on groceries for the week.

Bryce waiting patiently for our flight.

Part of the gorgeous resort!

Another shot from our room on the 18th floor.

Tot School is Back!

Since Bryce just celebrated his first birthday, I figured it was time to start up some good ol Tot School with him. I looked back at my original Tot School post with Brennan and we did some of those same activities this past week. Tot School at Bryce's age is really just playing and trying to incorporate some learning in there too. It's not easy being the 2nd child and I know he doesn't get nearly as much attention as Brennan did at this age, so it was fun making sure I really focused on him. And it makes me get my camera out a lot more too!

I wasn't sure how it would go because Brennan was still completely immobile at this age. Bryce isn't walking yet, but crawls and cruises everywhere. He's rarely still for long, but I was impressed that these activities seemed to keep his interest.

I pulled out this Melissa and Doug shape puzzle which was new to him. He's actually close to getting the shapes into their correct spots already, but also enjoyed dropping the shapes into his new red car.

He's always liked pulling the Leapfrog Fridge Phonics magnets off the dishwasher. I made lots of attempts to point out the letter B to him this week so he can hopefully start identifying it.

This hippo toy was waiting for us when we got back from Disney last week (thanks, Auntie Lala). He's enjoyed playing with it and just the other day learned how to put the shapes in the hippo's mouth independently. It's a really cute toy because it tells you shapes, colors, and names of food depending on the mode.

This red car was his birthday gift from us and he loves it. His favorite part is putting the balls into the hole. It's neat that he can actually get in and out of the car by himself, which Brennan would have never been able to do at this age.

He hasn't shown as much interest in these Little Einstein ABC books as Brennan did, but we did pull them out to play with a little this week. I like them because it gives three words that start with each letter.

Brennan got these Toobers and Zots for Christmas and we played with them this week. They do have some small pieces, so I had to watch Bryce carefully. He mainly just wanting to carry pieces around and chew on them. They're great for imaginative play with older kiddos.

Bryce can often be found pulling books off shelves. Here he is in his brother's room looking through the library books we checked out. I hope Bryce loves books and reading as much as Brennan does.

I don't want to leave Brennan out, so here are some of the things he worked on this week! He's about to turn four, so I'm going to have to come up with some more challenging ideas for him. These pictures were taken on two different days even though he's wearing the same shirt. He's a little obsessed with his "goggly eye" shirts right now.

I bought him a new game called Blink. It's an attributes card game similar to Uno. It says it's for ages 7+ on the box, but when I read the directions I knew he'd understand. He is so super good at it too. He's very smart!

We did lots of "Dot to Dots" this week!

And also did bowling for the first time in awhile. The teacher in me pulled out his sight word domino cards and however many pins he knocked down, he had to read that many sight words. He's a pro at them!

Carisa's blog is where I first got my idea to start Tot School. You can check it out for tons of great ideas!