Friends

My babies are makin friends!  Brooklyn has several friends at school now. And she talks about them at home...I know when they cried, or whined, or went to time out...she shares the good stuff, too, but if they do anything to shed a positive light on her, she'll capitalize on it! :)  Ha!  It's so neat to hear her perspective, though.  "Lilly cried."  Aw, why did Lilly cry?, I asked.  "She missed her mommy. But she's better now."  That was today.  One day last week when we were trying to say goodbye at school, a little girl really was crying. I'm not sure why. I was too consumed with trying to make sure I could account for all of our belongings and nothing more. Making sure that Brooklyn didn't leave with the Cookie Monster.  She'd been trying to stuff him in her backpack as I gathered their daily reports!  So when I turned to her for the last time to ask her to say goodbye to Cookie Monster, I saw her giving him to her little crying classmate. Her friend.  Just another heart-warming instance for this mom.

Bryson's making little friends, too!  He graduated from Tiny Tots to the Toddler Nursery on May 29th. Within the first week, Jax texted me this picture, of him eating at the table with his new friends. 

And another one where he's interacting with another baby.  I must admit that I fear his play might be a little selfish...he's used to having to hold on tight to his toys in fear that they'll disappear to the hands of his sister.  You know how it goes - there can be 5 red blocks, but the only one that's of interest to him is the one she has. And vice versa.  In fact, I actually have a school report from Bryson when he was just 10 months old.  Bryson got sent home with an 'Ouch report' because he got into a 'fight' with a friend over a sippy cup!!  He knows how to stand his ground! 



God is funny. "What?" God is funny, Mommy. "Why is God funny, Brooklyn?"  I don't know why. Do you see the clouds, Mommy?  "Yes, I do. Do you know who made those pretty clouds?" God made them. God cares about me. God cares about you, too, Mommy! And Bryson. And Daddy!

Growing up

It's so fun! I've probably said this before, but I'll say it again. And again: My bestie told me one day that she wanted to freeze her daughter's aging process at 18 mos. She said it was just such a fun time and she didn't want it to pass. Then, at 2 years old, she said the same thing. And at two and a half: you guessed it! Same thing. When I was struggling through the fussy infancy of Brooklyn, my friend was there to reassure me that it only gets better...and better...and better. And I'm here to report the same! With every stage comes new excitement, and I want to bottle it up!

Bryson wants to do EVERYthing his sister does. Down to putting barretts in his hair, and patting baby dolls on the back. (Jax swears this won't last long, but I think it's sweet!) He loves being independent. He doesn't want ANY help eating. If we try to spoon feed him, he'll push that spoon away faster than you can say 'uh oh', as the food goes flying across the dining room and splatters on my wall.  He's been using utensils for at least 6 weeks now, which is a rarity for such a young child. I still have to remind Brooklyn to use her fork. (Insert phrase: "See, baby Bryson's using his fork. You're a big girl, right??!") Sometimes I find myself wondering, what are the benefits of being a big girl? Mommy doesn't carry you anymore; you can walk. Mommy doesn't feed you anymore; you feed yourself. And the newest milestone: Mommy doesn't bathe you anymore; you take showers all alone...like a big girl! Being a big girl is fun...but I love it when she needs me. When there's no substitute for my kisses on a boo-boo. (not even a princess bandaid!) When nobody else can read her bedtime story the same way. When she's marching along in front of me and turns around with her arms open wide "hold me, mommy!". I've been seeing those days of neediness slip away from my lil man, too. Since graduating to a new classroom with only one nap a day, he's exhausted after school. In fact, one night when I was just getting settled to read a bedtime story, he climbed down from my lap, walked to his crib and tried to climb in. He wasn't interested in my story. He just wanted some shut eye! But I wasn't ready yet! He got an unusually long back-patting that night.

I love watching our children grow up. I think it's SO much more fun than infancy. But it makes me miss the baby days. Life is a funny thing. People say it flies by. But I don't necessarily agree. I think the problem is that we're molded to look at what's ahead. Look at what tomorrow brings. There's nothing wrong with that. But if anyone's discovered how to bottle up the childhood innocence and unfiltered emotion, I beg you! Share it with me! Because I look forward to the future...but I don't want to lose what I have now.

First musical program!

Brooklyn’s class has been preparing for the spring musical program for months now. She's one singing gal - she LOVES to sing, and she's been coming home with new songs that we don’t recognize.  One in particular, she calls ‘Yes Sir!’ We haven’t been able to figure out the words, and it drives me nuts.  We guess, but she tells us 'No, not that' and then she repeats some nonesense that we can't understand.  I was so glad to finally learn the words during the play:

I may never march in the infantry

Ride in the cavalry
Shoot the artillery
I may never fly o'er the enemy
But I'm in the Lord's army!
Yes Sir!

I'm in the Lord's army!
Yes sir!
I'm in the Lord's army!
Yes sir!

Boy, were we proud to watch our little girl march down the church aisle to take stage and sing in front of a crowd of 100 people or more.  I watched in disbelief.  I fully expected her to see us and run off the stage toward our arms. But she proved me wrong. We made eye contact and she kept up the great act, following all the motions & singing all the songs.  I almost didn’t recognize her; she was so brave and really appeared to be a leader among the group. Precious. I couldn't have asked for a better performance! I’m so grateful for the teachers at their school.  What a challenge to take on: teaching two year olds to sing and dance in an orderly fashion…simultaneously. That’s a small miracle in itself! Thank you, Toddler I teachers! This was a great time, and a memory that will never leave us.
 

Recent happenin's

I find it harder and harder to find the time to blog anymore. But I absolutely love to document our happenings to reflect back on, so here are a few recent highlights...

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We've already been to the zoo three times this spring/summer. They both love to see the animals!  And every time we leave, Brooklyn likes to climb on the tiger statues.  This time in particular, she was posing for pictures, while Bryson was in my arms watching.

At one point, I had to set him down to help her out, and when I turned around, I saw that he had marched over to the tigers, turned around, and posed for a picture of himself!  As if to say, 'don't forget about me, Mom!'

What a handsome fella!

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We spent Mother's Day at Woodward Park, where Brooklyn was determined to pick every.single.wild flower there:

Although she did manage a few minutes to swing with her brother:

It was another great day to be their mother!

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We went to Aunt Jan's lake house for Memorial Day weekend. She always tells us to 'make ourselves at home'. Well, Bryson heeded her advice.  Here he is eating a snack at the table:

He  wouldn't eat any other way. Every meal looked like this. It was hilarious! 

And then he spent some free time tryin to pick up a girl:

He's been workin that mo'jo for a year now...here he is playin footsie with Ella last summer:

He was definitely at home that weekend.

We went on a little boat ride with some friends,

watched Brooklyn make friends with Addison

we watched the boys swim in the water (a certain little girl wasn't keen on the thought of lake water)

And partied til their eyes couldn't stay open any longer (Bryson was actually falling asleep...on his feet!)

Our kids aren't very good at hiding their drowsiness...they'll begin looking for places to get some shut eye if we don't catch on.  Many more fun memories were made that weekend - we had a blast! Thanks, Aunt Jan! :)

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We went to the circus this weekend. It was a great show! My sister & her family joined us, so the kiddos got to enjoy the show together.  And buy cotton candy and hats together.

Brooklyn's was just a tad bit big, wouldn't you say?

She insisted that she could see where she was walking, but I beg to differ!

Want a bottle?

So Bryson’s a full-time walker now. No more crawling for this lil man.

It’s amazing how fast the transition occurs. His first true steps on April 14^th. By May 11^th, he was consistently taking multiple but wobbly steps on a daily basis, but it was more of an activity than a method of transportation. Today, by May 21^st, I can’t remember the last day I saw him crawl! The other night we were all sitting on the living room floor when I asked if he was ready for bed, and if he wanted a bottle. He didn’t react with a yes, no, or heightened sense of excitement, but rather he just stood up. Walked into the kitchen. Marched his way right into the pantry. Grabbed the water bottle. Turned around and delivered it to me! Then he went back to the pantry, grabbed the formula dispenser, and brought that back to me, too! I was cracking up and in disbelief! I was glad Jackson was there to witness it because it seemed unbelievable that he would actually do that. We stopped giving him formula over a month ago, and that water bottle& formula dispenser have just been sitting on that bottom pantry shelf since then. He’s clearly had his eye on it! And more importantly, he clearly understands more than we give him credit for!

I'm sorry

They say it’s easy to teach a toddler words.  But teaching them when the use the word can be a bit of a challenge.  Particularly apologies.  Teaching a child when to say I’m sorry. It’s like teaching them to recognize and identify an emotion.  Not just teaching them when to apologize for something they did, but helping them identify sympathy…

I wasn’t feeling well after work one day when I went to get the kids.  Of course, you can’t really expect them to care about how their parents, though, right?  After all, it’s their world, and we’re just here to provide entertainment.  Well, I was pleased to learn that that’s not the case with my Brooklyn.  We’re in the car on our way home. “Can we go to the playground, please?”  “Brooklyn, Mommy doesn’t feel good.” “I’m sorry Mommy. What hurts? Show me!”  “My tummy hurts, but you can’t see it; it’s inside.”  “Oh it’s okay, Mommy. Come here, come here. Lemme see.”  (She doesn’t get the concept of not always being able to see the boo-boo.)  I reach my hand back to her car seat. She grabs my hand, and begins petting me.  Then she offers up a bracelet.  “Here Mommy. You want a bracelet? Here. This is for you.  You can have my bracelet. Do you want yellow? Or blue?”  “Oh, thank you, sweetie. I’ll take the yellow one.  That’s so nice of you.”  “You feel better?”  And the truth is that I really did!  Her compassion and kindness distracted me. And left me with a great sense of pride. 

I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, considering her love and devotion to all of her babies...her number one hobby is rocking and loving her babies to sleep. So sweet, my Brooklyn.

And he walks!!

Was it the birthday song? Did he realize he wasn't a baby anymore, but becoming a textbook toddler? I'll never know what it was that finally motivated him, but it happened...my boy took his first steps! April 14th.  12 months old.  He's so very proud of himself that the excitement takes over, preventing him from getting too far.   But that doesn't stop him from poppin back up and try, tryin again! 

I'd forgotten how exciting it is to watch such an accomplishment!  Way to go, bubba!