All Growed Up!

Well, not quite ALL grown up....but we're getting there. Both boys are celebrating significant milestones today. Today was Joseph's first day of pre-school. I really hadn't been all too worried about it because Joseph is a pretty social kid and because I have super awesome friends (in Charlotte :-( ), I had left him alone at play dates when Conrad was first born and he had done wonderfully! So I was sort of surprised when I was a little anxious and tearful this morning. Anxious that he wouldn't do as well as I expected, anxious that something would happen to him while out of my care...yada, yada...if you're a parent, you know what I am talking about. I was a little tearful too at the thought of my first teeny, tiny little baby being big enough to go to pre-school. He looked like such a big boy in his jeans and rolled up collared shirt and vest and sporting his backpack. Well not too big - because those jeans are Gap adjustable waist jeans, size 12-18 month (he's 29 months) and adjusted to the 2nd to last tightest setting. The child is so skinny and short legged!

In expected Joseph style, he paused for a total of 3 pictures outside before realizing other kids were beating him to get inside and he started demanding "Go in school. Hurry! Hurry!" Once we got in, he made a straight shot for the puzzles and blocks and trucks and laid claim to a specific truck. 2 minutes in and we were having a discussion about sharing the truck. He barely took notice when we kissed and hugged him goodbye.





I returned to a VERY tired Joseph. I didn't even have to talk to him to know he was spent. The teacher reported he had been a non-stop, on-the-move kid and never once asked for me...no surprises there. As also expected, he melted down about 3 seconds after getting in the car. Joseph overtired and overstimulated is a Joseph you don't want to see. A quick drive home, a quick lunch, and 4-5 more meltdowns that left his first pre-school craft project (a clothes-pin butterfly) in numerous pieces and he was off for a nap....which he screamed through for the first 30 min but has now been asleep for 2-ish hours.

Please note the reason the quality of these pictures suck is because we made the rookie, 1st time parent mistake and forgot to charge our nice camera last night. We got 1 picture before it decided to die. Luckily, I still have my trusty little PowerShot.

So on to Conrad. Today Conrad turned 6 months old!!! Has it really been 6 months since I walked into a hospital in shock that I was absolutely about to give birth again. 6 months since we first laid eyes on this sweet, tiny little face:



Conrad is just happy to be a normal 6 month old....eating (well, sort of eating...he seems to have Joseph's picky eating traits) pureed bananas and sweet potatoes and carrots and pears. He's sleeping through the night most nights although this means his wake-up time has become somewhere between 5-6 am. He's tripod sitting like a champ and sitting independently for longer and longer periods. He rolls around trying to keep up with his brother. He's quickly learning rolling isn't going to help him keep pace with big brother and he's becoming increasingly frustrated with his inability to crawl. I can't say I'm excited for the crawling, especially since when held at his waist, Conrad can pretty much handle standing. Crawling turns into pulling to standing which turns into cruising which turns into walking very, very quickly.

In the meantime, we'll enjoy these pictures of Conrad's attempts at sitting. He's looking super cute in the adorable baseball coverall that his great Aunt Helen sent him.



Seriously, when did I become a mom of a pre-schooler and 6 month old?

Hey, good looking...

It's a very well established and fairly indisputable fact that Joseph favors me in the looks department. Particularly as an infant our baby pictures were nearly identical (if you could overlook the 1980's picture quality). Two posts from Joseph's early days clearly displayed our similarities: four months old & eight months old comparisons.


Richard could easily have denied that kid for the first 12 months of his life. Although no one who actually knows Richard and has spent more than, say, 5 minutes around Joseph would have any doubt that that kid is his. Personalities = identical. Plus, Joseph has started to become more of a mix of the two of us in his toddler years.


Conrad, on the other hand, has been more of a mix from day one. Sometimes I look at him and see myself staring back, but most of the time I see a whole lot of Richard. He's got a longer, thinner face and smaller eyes like Richard (compared to Joseph's and my rounder, fuller face and GINORMOUS eyes). I thought these pictures of Conrad and Richard showed off the similarities pretty well:

Rich (6-ish months)

Conrad - almost 6 months

Yeah, Rich can't really deny this one.

It's funny though, because I have so many people tell me how much Conrad and Joseph look alike. I definitely see the resemblance, particularly when Conrad smiles - they both have my smile and dimples- but I don't think they look "exactly alike". A picture of both Joseph and Conrad at 5 1/2-ish months for comparison:

Joseph:

Conrad:

Hmmm...I don't know? Not that it really matters who they look like because Rich and I are both so damn good looking, these kids are set either way....

Last Days of Summer

Fall is in the air. Well, at least it was. The heat radiating off the sidewalks in the last few days resembles weather more appropriate for July than the last days of August. I am starting to think this may be the summer that never ends. We did, however, get a few day break from the heat last week. The cool, crisp mornings that require me to throw sweaters over pajamas for early morning play sessions in the yard and enjoying dinner outside without the humidity causing us to high tail in back into the a/c are reminders that in fact, this summer, like all summers, will end.

The public school buses making practice runs down our street and today's introductory play date in preparation for Joseph's own first day of pre-school are further reminders that end of summer is upon us. The talk of Halloween costumes has become part of our daily conversation

Me: Joseph, what do you want to be for Halloween?
Joseph: A duck
Me: What about a dinosaur? I can't find a good duck costume.
Joseph: No, no dino, Mommy. Duck!

I will not mention the Eddie Bauer and LL Bean catalogues stuffed in our mailbox hawking their down coats and wool mittens and hats. Another reminder that, unlike the last two years, I have to do more than graze the racks of Gap Kids looking for a "cute", not necessarily practical, winter jacket and snow gear. These kids need snow pants and boots and functional hats and mittens. And all this garb needs to be put on for a trip out of the house for like 4-5 solid months. I'm starting to have a panic attack...

At least I won't have to hear anyone refer to a winter hat as a toboggan this year. Seriously, southerners, toboggans are sleds.

So what do my southern born but newly transplanted to New England babies do in the waning days of summer? They get their swim (or sprinkler) on in the backyard.

They drink from hoses:

And slide down homemade water slides:

And make their cheesy "Say Cheese" faces at the camera:

And the littlest one just watches and follows his big brother's every move, waiting for the day when he gets to run through the sprinkler too:

And the biggest one even pauses for a minute in the general vicinity of his brother - just long enough for me to snap this picture:

And if I close my eyes and wish hard enough, this is exactly what we'll be doing in 6-ish months because this summer is never going to end....

Hide N Seek

2010 style. Because kids these days can sit on the couch and play hide-n-seek with their aunt via video conferencing...



As you can tell, he quite enjoyed it.

And a cute glimpse into what Conrad enjoys these days...just hanging out, rolling, watching his big brother's every move.

Of course, Joseph couldn't NOT make an appearance. As you will see when you watch the video, he was quite displeased by the fact that the video was not about him.

I love how the minute the camera is on him, he settles his ass down. I also didn't notice until I watched the video back that at one point Joseph hits Conrad out of frustration for no longer being the ONLY center of attention in our lives.

Pretend Play

Yes! I am blogging! Want to know why after 3+ weeks, I am finally blogging? Because my mother-in-law is here! So despite the fact that after getting both boys down for a nap, cleaning up the house and responding to a few e-mails, Conrad woke up after a total of 25 minutes asleep, I am still sitting here blogging and watching Real Housewives of NJ (Seriously, Teresa stop spending money! You are going bankrupt, why are you going to effing Italy? Ok, rant over), while Conrad is rocked by his Cilla. Yay!

So to the point of this post....I spend too much time at Target. Want to know how I know this? Because Joseph has started playing "Target". Yup, he demanded we play Target the other day while his brother napped.

So, we loaded up some shelves with Target-like wares (some plates and cups, food products, baby products) and Joseph selected his merchandise and loaded his cart:

Then he had me check him out using a bubble wand and some "beep beep" sound effects:

He, of course, had to pay for his purchase with his Gymboree gift card turned Debit Card, which he swiped just like Mommy would:

He loaded his bags back into his cart (with Raggedy Andy playing the part of "baby"):

And headed straight to the elevator (because our Target has an elevator) aka his closet with makeshift buttons:

We played for nearly an hour yesterday until Conrad woke up...at which time, Joseph threw his cart over and stomped out of the room at the mere idea that I would allow his brother to play along.

Joseph loved this game so much that he woke up at 5 am (yes, 5 am) today to start playing. Isn't that fabulous?

Up in the Club

Where was I at 10 am today? Up in the club getting my dance on with two cute boys.

Granted, this club was my living room and the music was the dance channel on DirecTV music. Everyone there was wearing pajamas rather than their slinkiest outfit. The drink special was diluted apple juice served in sippy cups and all the boys were under 3 feet tall whose dance moves involved less grinding and more running in circles.



On a rainy morning with a tired mama who has no interest in leaving the house, we danced and danced and danced some more. We danced to Baby Einstein CDs in Joseph's room, we danced to Laurie Berkner band songs on You Tube in the basement, we danced to satellite TV music channels in the living room. We danced anywhere that would keep Joseph from running to the door and yelling "Out in Car!!!" (Which is his way of telling me simply going out in the backyard to play with the toys he sees everyday ain't gonna cut it. When he says "Out in Car!!" he means take me some place new and exciting with lots of kids to play with...and do it NOW!!!!) And we made it through the morning with only relatively minor fits when his demands of "Out in Car" were met with a sound "NO!!!". Although the first thing out of his mouth when I went to get him from his nap was "Out in car". I relented and we made it up the street for some ice cream.

Warm and Fuzzy

These two little videos with my two favorite little men give me the warm and fuzzies.

First, I present, some of Mr. Conrad's earliest giggles and sweet little laughs:



(On a side note what does not give me the warm and fuzzies is Joseph yelling "Pop Pop" and whining in the background. This was a result of Richard informing him on Friday morning that Pop Pop (my dad) was coming that evening. After a nap session that involved more screaming for Pop Pop than sleeping, my mother and I listened to approximately 3 hours of Joseph saying "Pop Pop" over and over and over again. Thankfully he made it by 5:30 and was greeted my a smiling Joseph running to him before his feet touched our driveway).

Second, we have a cute little ditty starring Mr. Joseph at the Vermont Country Store. Everything about this makes me laugh...the ridiculous cow hat on his head, his head bopping to the cymbal monkey and his demands of "Mine! Mine! Mine!" when he hears the accordion.



I love these little men. Yes, yes I do.