Moving right along

Tyler had his 6 month check-up last week.  He weighed in at 18 lbs and practically crawled right off the examination table.  The kid is unstoppable.  He is now starting to crawl/climb up onto things, and he is pulling himself up onto his knees easily.  If I help him into the standing position, he can stay there so long as he has something to hold onto. 

He has become extremely aware of situations too.  Bedtime has turned into a fiasco.  We lay him down in his crib and he proceeds to sit or kneel at the railing screaming his head off!  He can keep it up for an hour easily.  He's not hungry.  He's definitely tired.  But he refuses to go to bed unless he is practically numb with exhaustion.  I think he is asserting his alpha male status. (Oh, sorry Brian you've been demoted.)

New house rules

I have tried not to overwhelm my toddler with a barrage of rules at home.  We have the basic "no jumping on the furniture" and "please use your inside voice" rules.  As of late though, we have had to add some more specific ones:

1.  Do not choke the baby.
2.  Do not poke the baby.
3.  Do not ride on the baby.
4.  Do not use the baby as a hand-rail.
5.  Do not put anything in the baby's mouth.

As you can tell all of these rules are for Tyler's benefit, since we like the kid and wish to see him live well into adulthood.  Poor Claire feels heavily constrained by our new rules however, as they apparently severely dampen the fun in playing with her baby brother.  Also, I am now forced to be ever so vigilant during the day as Claire seems intent on testing the limits of physical play with Tyler.  It's one thing to make rules, but a completely different thing to actually enforce them!

For his part, Tyler is not completely defenseless against his sister's rough-housing.  He is quite the accomplished hair-puller, and more than once I have had to go pry Claire's hair out of his steel-like grip.  I'm not picking sides!  But I do get a good chuckle when that happens...

The little things

"Hi Mom!  Is naptime done yet?"

It doesn't matter what else happens during my day.  A moment like this one automatically makes it a great day.

Strider Bike Update

Claire's had her bike since the last post about the bike.  She has gotten better since then.  This video is proof:

Story time

Here's Claire "reading" Green Eggs & Ham to her brother.  Tyler is oblivious that he is being read to, but that doesn't stop his sister.

She's even started integrating the Green Eggs and Ham sayings in her vernacular. The other day while Sarah was making Chicken Enchildas, Sarah asked Claire if she would try them.  Her response: 
"Not in a box, Not with a fox"

Happy birthday to me

I got the best combo on my birthday:  I got quality family time AND wine.  We hiked with the kids around Sugarloaf Mountain, enjoying views of the Potomac river and fields, then relaxed at the Sugarloaf Winery at the base of the mountain afterwards.  We're talking a smooth cabernet, live music, delicious tapenade, and well-behaved kids.  It was perfect!  The only hitch about the day was that Claire took a nasty spill while we were out hiking.  She managed to chip one of her front teeth and bust up her lips.  She was quite painful last night, but after seeing her dentist today she has been telling everyone that the "dentist make it all better".  What that means is that the dentist prescribed yummy bubble-gum flavored amoxicillin.  Claire did eat well today and she was in good spirits.  Let's hope that the tooth stays in there.  I've just booked our family portraits for the end of October!

Yeah, that's our boy!  He's getting huger.

 
And of course, there was birthday cake in the evening.  There's something about a child's excitement over birthday cake that just makes the whole aging thing 100% better. 

First day of pre-school

Claire's 2 and a 1/2 years old, and officially starting her academic life.  Starting today she is in "class" for 3 hours on Fridays, at a pre-school in a community center 15 minutes from our house.  She was excited and anxious on our way to school today.  There was some crying when we left her in her classroom (the "smiley room", for 2-3 year olds) but when I picked her up later she was all smiles and she told me she liked school. 

Claire was a little disappointed that she didn't get to ride on a school bus, but I'm ok with that!  On the first day of school I saw all the crying moms dropping their kids off at the bus stops on our street.  It made me start to tear up just watching them with their video cameras and good bye kisses.  Glad I don't have to bear that for a few more years.

Tyler doesn't get to go to pre-school yet, even though he expressed great interest in Claire's classroom.

Spontaneity

...was the theme of our Labor Day weekend.  On Thursday night I called my younger brother Tony to shoot the breeze like we do every couple of weeks.  We took turns talking about how neither of us had plans for the weekend.  Brian is sitting next to me and says, "I'm checking on flights to Detroit".  Before I know it, we're booked to fly out to the Motor City to see Tony and his wife Katie! 

I hope we didn't get them sick.  Both kids came down with colds during our visit (bummer).  That's a risk you take when you invite us over!

Tony and Katie are the most chill people ever.  It was a fantastic weekend.  We ate watermelon on the back porch.  We strolled to the playground nearby.  We reminisced about our college days.  Hopefully we'll get to do it all again sometime soon.