November

How is November almost over??? Here's a quick recap of our day-to-day:

Brooke seems back to enjoying her time at preschool and her class when I'm at BSF. She was having some separation issues for a good part of October. We're still seeing some attitudes and tantrums, but for the moment they're not as bad as they were a little while ago. Status quo on pooping. I'm shortening her afternoon naps because she was having a pretty hard time falling asleep at night. She stays in her bed so it didn't bother us, but falling asleep at 10:30 can't be good for a 3-year-old. Here she is on a daddy-daughter date. She always pushes for Yogli-Mogli but Matt strong arms her into going to Oberweis.

Some cute recent quotes:

-"Go on up, Daddy. I'll be right behind you." As Matt was trying to get her to go up for bed.
-"I'll still have room. I"ll keep it over here." Pointing to one side of her tummy after I had told her a snack before breakfast would ruin her appetite.
-"Would you like to join us for dinner, Aunt Jamie?" Completely independently after I'd told her it was time to eat when Aunt Jamie was visiting.

Also, it turns out I must say "actually" a lot as it's become a regular part of her vocabulary.

Miles seems to be cutting another tooth. Here he is on a recent day when napping wasn't part of his agenda. He's still sleeping well, overall, though. He's doing some scooting, but still no crawling. He's gotten really loud at babbling and likes to make clicking noises with his tongue. I noticed him using a pincer grasp to pick something up of the floor today, so I think we might be trying puffs in the near future.

I also have to brag about my other guy. Some companies give out corner offices, my husband gets a special parking spot. For playing ping pong. At work. I'm so proud.

Matt and I have been able to get out a few times this month, including to see a couple of movies ("Lincoln" and "Silver Linings Playbook" - both great) and a concert. We went to the fun. concert with Jamie a couple of weeks ago. I felt really old and was out way past my bedtime, but it was a very good show.

Bring on December!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

It's officially Christmastime! We started to put up our decorations today. It's really fun to see Brooke's interest and participation increase each year.

I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I'd hoped as we tried to cram decorating in between church and naps (and the Bears' game), but we still had fun. And I love the feeling of a house decorated for Christmas.

Miles was entertained by the Little People Nativity set.

And Brooke decided to try on the stockings.

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent most of last week in St. Louis, celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. On Wednesday, we decided to take the kids to the Magic House. Turns out that was a very popular idea. It was really crazy, so we left after a couple of exhibits (Tim and Krissi are members. If we had paid you'd better believe we'd have gotten our money's worth).

Brooke loved the imaginary city area.

Of course the girls also got some play-dough time in.

And this guy was happy to take it all in.

Thanksgiving day was beautiful and warm, so we were able to spend a lot of time outside. This was probably a good thing as there were almost 30 people at dinner this year.

  

Poor Miles was so tired (and I think his diaper was really full). At any rate, he was OVER it. And like good parents, before rescuing him we had to take a couple of photos.

Brooke tried her hand at a little pigskin.

We tried to get in a few family pictures. I don't think we've taken any since Miles was a couple of months old. Now I know why we don't try more often...

The lovely Timmerman family.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Our Culture On

Last Saturday Brooke and I went with our friends Kali and Christy to the circus as a late celebration of the girls' birthdays. While I don't see anything wrong with the circus, I feel the need to disclaim that our original intent was to go to "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" at the symphony downtown, but that was sold out. The circus had a live orchestra there, so it was practically the same thing.

It was quite the experience, most of it good. There was just SO MUCH of everything - noise, lights, things to look at...I can't imagine how her little sensory system handled it. I kind of wanted to curl up in a dark corner for a few hours after we left.

But, there were a lot of great acts and both girls were entertained for the full two hours.

As a special treat, Brooke got the clown wig and make-up, which she proceeded to smear before we even got to our seats.

The other end of our Thanksgiving sandwich was a trip to the theater to see "Cinderella" at the Lincolnshire Marriott Theater. The son of some of Matt's family friends played the Prince and Brooke was able to meet him after (but not in costume, so I think she was a little confused).

She's never actually seen the "Cinderella" movie or even read the full, real fairy tale, so she did a good job keeping up, considering. She was worried when Cinderella wasn't in the first scene and when she lost her slipper. I think she was also thrown by her being brunette and not wearing the blue Cinderella dress that Disney's brainwashed us with.

Both kids did great for the whole performance (it was very family-friendly) and we all had fun. Miles was happier than this - I think the flash in the dark threw him a bit.

We're feeling pretty cultured now. I think next weekend we may attend a poetry reading or cheese tasting.

Hanging Out

 

This weekend we had some really nice weather and we were able to get outside and enjoy it a bit. Miles is a huge fan of the swing and it's actually helped Brooke transition full-time to the "big girl" swing...and she's almost forgotten that time this summer when Matt gave her an underdog and she fell out of it.

 

It seems that now that birthdays and Halloween are over, we're enjoying some much-needed downtime. I also feel like I'm finally adjusting to staying home full-time. Brooke decided she wanted to wear "exercise clothes" the other day. She kinda looks like a little Sue Sylvester, no? She also got her first pair of "running shoes" - she laughs at me anytime I call them tennis shoes. I guess she has a point...

This is her in a compilation of the dress-up clothes she got for her birthday. She informed me that this is her next Halloween costume. (And I'll just throw it out there that this post obviously isn't the best showcase of my photography skills.)

Brooke's still really good about playing with Miles, although her patience is a bit thinner as he's able to do more. In her defense, he's really grabby. The other day, he grabbed something of hers and she said, "Miles, I'm going to count to three and you need to let go. 1...2..." Maybe I'm using 1-2-3 Magic too much?

Then tonight Miles was whining about tummy time and she ran over to him and said, "Don't worry, Miles, I'm coming to your rescue!"

 

We continue to try to come up with a way to get her to not poop in her nighttime diaper. Bribery doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I may have to bite the bullet and put her to bed in underwear (gag). We've also got a bit of a sassy-pants on our hands. I swear sometimes she sounds like she's 13 with the tone she uses. I'm also hoping to nip that in the bud. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, we're looking forward to the holidays (especially me!) and life is good!

Comparisons

I figured it was time for another "comparison" post. Here's Miles in Brooke's chair. He's 7 months. She was almost 10 months when these were taken.

 

And we obviously had to recycle the tiger costume. Brooke was a year old when she wore it and obviously wasn't a fan. I could be wrong, but Miles seemed pretty happy to be wearing it.