Deezus!

Despite the fact that Brendan is still super picky with what he'll eat, he's somehow managing to grow like a weed. We haven't had him measured since his 18-month appointment and it's damn near impossible to get him to stand still long enough to measure him but I think he's grown at least 1.5" since then.

His vocabulary is also growing by leaps and bounds. His newest thing is saying Jesus all the time. I know I should hang my head in shame over the fact that my child uses the Lord's name in vain and whatnot, but I find it kind of funny that even though his Daddy says lots of fun 4-letter words (the kind that rhyme with truck and pit) he picks up the word Jesus.

I have a habit of saying it as a replacement for other, less toddler-friendly words (like the kind that rhymes with grassbowl). For instance, when I'm driving in the middle lane of a three-lane highway and some driver merges onto the highway and immediately MUST move into the middle lane. Even though THERE IS NO ONE IN FRONT OF THEM FOR MILES and they have to CUT ME OFF to perform this manuever. So out comes, "JESUS!!!" instead of... well, other things that wouldn't be very nice. I never realized just how much I say this until he started repeating me. Thankfully he says it "Deezus" so I doubt most other people know what he's saying.

Brendan is still delightful as a daisy when he wakes up in the morning (and he still wakes up by 6am most days, waaahhh!). On one recent morning when it happened to be my morning to sleep in, I heard him saying "Mommy, Moooommmmmy, up peas (please)." So I opened one eye and said "Tell Daddy to get up." And he whispered, "Daddy's beeping (sleeping)." Why he recognizes that Daddy is sleeping but it doesn't matter that Mommy's eyes are closed is beyond me.

I say this about every age, but this age is sooooo much fun. I'm going to miss this baby talk stuff when he's speaking in full sentences with perfect pronunciation while giving his valedictorian speech at Harvard. At the tender age of five. Because my kid is a genius. Move over Doogie Howser.

Blowing bubbles with Nana (sometimes known as "Nina" although I'm not sure why)








In an attempt to get him to eat more, I thought I'd use fancy food presentation. In a fancy ice cube tray. Left to right: red grapes, cucumbers, swiss cheese, cheddar cheese and pizza, all cut up into bite size pieces. He ate the pizza and grapes. It was a valiant, if not particularly successful effort.


Walking around one of Mima's gardens (Mima is G'ma Annie's new name that B just came up with)






Taking a sip of "wattuz" (waters)










Trying on Daddy's work "shyooz" (shoes)





Brendan is 23 months and 3 days old today!

Stuff and other stuff

Not much new to report. Brendan is still a cruising fool though he allegedly took a few steps last week. I say allegedly because I wasn't present to witness either one, thus then it did not happen. Right? Right. Mommy sees all the firsts, that's the rule.

I've been enjoying a nice, long weekend with my little lovebug. My job gives us a 4-day weekend for Labor Day and Brendan's babysitter is away this week so I've been home with him since Friday and will be again tomorrow. Today we took a ride to the mall so I could drop my car off at Sears and get some new tires. My mom's neighbor pointed out that the front ones were basically bald over the weekend, which totally freaked me out. So while we waited for the new tires, B and I did some shopping. I was hoping to get him some new shoes but didn't find anything we liked in his size. We stopped and had some lunch and I took a chance by ordering something off of the kids' menu for B. I was all prepared to whip out the purees from the diaper bag but Mr. Finicky actually chowed down on some chicken fingers. My little boy is finally eating table food like a real, live person! Sure, it's greasy and deep fried but it's progress people, and that's really all that matters at this point. Right? Right. (I'm loving that you're so agreeable!)

After the mall we met Daddy at the barber for B's second haircut. I made sure to arrange this on my day off so I could be all paparazzi-like and take eleventy billion pictures. Below are some recent pictures, some are from a visit at Grandma Annie's, some are from a birthday party we went to over the weekend and some are from today's haircut. Enjoy!

Aren't they supposed to save this look for when they're teenagers??


Oh, the chub on those legs!


More chubby deliciousness


Giving a smooch to Uncle Scott


Swinging


Taking a tour of the backyard with Daddy




With Nana


Hanging out with Daddy


Haircut:
Before


Watching the progress in the mirror


Starting to get a little uneasy


I don't like this anymore!


And... apparently I forgot to take an "after" shot. We'll have to do that tomorrow before we head to the aquarium. YAY!


Brendan is 14 months, 1 week and 2 days old today!

Pipe Down!

LOUD. This is the only word necessary to describe Brendan at the moment. OH. MY. GOD. I don't know if this is something he picked up at daycare, maybe the other kids yell too? Or maybe he just thinks we're all deaf like his daddy? Best is when he pulls himself in close to hug me (or so I think) and then proceeds to YELL AT THE TOP OF HIS LITTLE LUNGS INTO MY EAR. Then stick his finger in there and pull my hair for good measure. Ouch.

Brendan is now in full-on "I need to be moving every second of the day" mode. He's pulling himself up on furniture and wreaking general havoc. Anything that's not on the floor must end up there. This is Sir's new rule. Oh look, a pile of papers. Pick up. Throw on floor. Repeat with every other object on the table, couch, etc.

It's the final countdown to the big O-N-E. And I'm still not happy about it. But I guess there ain't a whole lot I can do about it! We're celebrating with friends and family on the 28th. Hopefully he'll have a good nap beforehand so as to avoid the whole cranky, everything makes me pissy, sort of behavior.

Sir is still not into the idea of table food. I'm pretty sure we're going to be sending him off to kindergarten with a lunch bag full of pureed fruits and veggies. We've tried cheese, meatballs, pasta, macaroni & cheese, turkey, mashed potatoes, chicken, bread, even a cupcake! Yuck, yuck and more yuck to all of them. As soon as the food is in his mouth, his little face gets all contorted and he starts his whole gagging routine until he either swallows it or, more often than not, throws up. Awesomeness all around. He digs Cheerios and puffs though. I think he'd eat those all day if we let him.

Anywho, here are some recent pictures for your enjoyment.

With Aunt Lauren


Snoozin on G'pa Charlie


The infamous cupcake (what kid doesn't like cupcakes???)


Too cute!


And I said, you've got to wait out the market. You can't just sell, sell, sell...


These are mobile pics so the resolution stinks but you get the idea.
Before:


After:



Brendan is 11 months and 4 days old today!

He ain't heavy...

As I sit here hemorrhaging brain cells while watching Yo Gabba Gabba (have you ever seen this show? The people who write it MUST be tripping 24/7), I'm trying to come up with something blogworthy to write about. Brendan is still as adorable as ever and getting bigger and bigger. In the last two days I've seen two 11-month-old babies who are the same size as my 8-month-old. He is a big boy. Not crawling or walking. Frankly I think he's just lazy and thinks why should he do the work when there are people who will carry him around and move him to where he wants to go?

I don't blame him. Although, like I said, he's not a small kid and lugging around 20lb of squirming little boy gets pretty tiring pretty quickly. I brought him to the doctor a week ago (2 weeks ago?) for his second flu shot and stupidly decided to leave the stroller in the trunk and carry him, my purse and the diaper bag from the parking lot to the doctor's office. The trip in wasn't so bad. But we had to wait a while and that meant I had to keep him entertained while we were in the waiting room. So lots of walking around, bouncing him up and down and all that. By the time we were walking back to the car after the appointment it took everything I had not to drop the bags and sit down in the middle of the parking lot until my back stopped locking up. Somehow I made it to the car without sustaining any permanent damage. Note to self: ALWAYS bring the stroller.

He's an expert sitter and a very chatty little fellow. He's definitely saying mama and dada, although he has no idea what either word means. He's also saying baba and flicking his finger across his lips when he talks to make funny sounds. I've tried feeding him Cheerios and puffs but he has zero interest in either. Grandma even tried giving him a piece of bread but he just wanted to use it as a drumstick to pound the table with. Which makes me wonder, with parents that love to eat, how is it possible that we produced a child who needs to be coerced to eat??

Anyway, here are a few recent pictures. Enjoy!


Mr. Smiley


Being shy Brendan


OK Mom, one more picture and that's it.


Close-up of his beautiful eyes


Playing in his fortress


Sleepy Head



Brendan is 8 months and 1 week old

Snow, snow go away!

I'm tired of snow. It's cold and slippery and hard to drive in. (At least when you have a little Honda Civic. That needs new tires.) While I appreciate the fact that snow means overtime for Kenny which means extra money for us, it also means that I'm basically a single parent until it ends. Sometimes it only means a few hours of overtime. Sometimes it means I don't see Kenny for 2-3 days.

I adore that little bundle of chubby deliciousness but it's exhausting to get up at the crack of dawn with him, get us both ready and out the door by 7:30, drop him off at daycare, work all day, pick him up (if Kenny is still working), get him fed, bathed, spend some quality time with him and then hopefully get him to sleep by 7:30 or so. Then I get an hour, maybe an hour and a half of "me time" before I go to bed. I have such great respect for single parents out there. Especially the ones who have more than one kid. I don't know how they do it!

Anyway, enough of my moaning. We've got grandmothers a half hour or so drive away just chomping at the bit to watch him so it's not like I don't have help if I need it.

The monster, or Sir, as I've become fond of calling him (as in yes Sir, whatever you want Sir, Sir why are you growling, Sir please don't pull my hair) had a check-up last week. Daddy took him to this one by himself and he did a great job! He reported that Brendan is now 28" tall and weighs almost 19lb. He's in the 80th percentile for height and head circumference (he can thank Daddy for that) and 50th percentile for weight. He got a bunch of shots which he did not like one bit but it was nothing a little Tylenol and TLC couldn't cure. I have to bring him back at the end of February for his second flu shot and then he's in the clear until his 9-month appt.

Brendan is eating solids like a champ, three times a day. He gets some cereal and fruit for breakfast, fruit and vegetable for lunch and cereal and vegetable for dinner. All pureed of course. The doctor said he can start finger foods when he's got his pincer grip down (when he can grab small objects with his pointer and thumb fingers). He's just DESPERATE to crawl but he hasn't figured it out just yet. Which, frankly, is fine by me because that's when all the trouble really begins anyway. It's only a matter of time though.

He's got six teeth now, four on top and two on the bottom, and he chews everyhing he can get his chubby little hands on. We're supposed to be brushing his teeth so I went out and bought a tiny little toothbrush for him and gave it a try but he looked at me like it was the most disgusting thing that's ever been in his mouth. Even worse than the time I fed him green beans (which he gagged on and eventually threw up). So I just wipe them with a wet washcloth instead. We'll try the toothbrush again in a few weeks.


Brendan is two days away from 7 months old!

So cute!


Sporting his Alfalfa look


Spending some QT with Grandma Annie


Hanging out with Auntie Andrea




Brendan is two days away from 7 months old today!