Why Not?

When the world asks, "Why would you wear a monkey hat at the dinner table?", Adelie answers...

"Why not??"

Compliment?

On Saturday, I got my hair done.  The stylist dried and straightened my hair.  When I got home, Adelie told me, "Mommy, your hair looks so beautiful!"  I thanked her for the compliment.  Then she added, "Because it looks really bad when it's curly."

#tellitlikeitis
#nofilter

Eighteen Months

Briggs is now 18 months old.  I just love this age!!  Briggs is so fun, learning so much, and developing his own little personality.  As of his 18 month check-up on Friday, Briggs is 32" (34th percentile) and 22 lbs (18th percentile).  He is wearing his 12-18 and 18 month clothes, size 4 shoes, and size 3 diapers.  He takes a nap every afternoon, generally for 1.5-2 hours.  He sleeps about 11-12 hours at night, from about 8ish to 7ish.  He smiles big with his 12 teeth.

My happy, smiley boy

Likes:  Briggs LOVES trucks, cars, buses, fire trucks, trains, diggers, and tractors.  His favorite toys are his trucks/cars, our train table, and his Paw Patrol vehicles and figures.  He loves to read with his favorite books being those with (shockingly) cars, trucks, tractors, diggers, buses...  He does also still like the princess and mermaid figurines, his Little People toys (especially the bus), and most things that his sisters are playing with.  It's not uncommon to see him walking around with necklaces or purses or bows on.  If he gets to choose the after-nap show, he usually picks "Ryder.  Marshall."  (Paw Patrol).  Briggs likes going on outings, playing outside, baths, animals, and his water table.  He loves to climb. When we take Staley to school, Briggs always gets excited about seeing the school buses and the fish in Staley's kindergarten classroom.  Briggs is a pretty good eater with favorite foods being waffles, fruit, rolls, fish, crackers, and anything sweet.  He sleeps with his Cookie Monster and now also asks to be covered up by a blanket.  He still sucks his right thumb when he's tired.  He remains a bit of a Mama's boy and he love, love, loves his sisters.

Briggs cheesing it up with his necklace on.

(He's my only child who will look at the camera, smile, and say "cheese" when I take his picture.)

Sand, a shovel, and a dump truck?  Life doesn't get much better than this.

He's something of a Mama's boy, but he sure does love his Daddy too.

Dislikes:  Briggs definitely has a temper and will let you know when he's not happy.  Patience is not his strong suit.  He will throw fits when he doesn't like the food on his tray, when he has to stop playing a preferred activity, when someone takes something he's playing with, and when we won't pick him up when he wants to be picked up.  He is a pretty good eater, but does not like most meats or pastas.

Skills:  Briggs walks well and is trying to run and jump, although hasn't quite figured those out yet.  He can crawl up and down stairs, and loves to climb on step stools and ladders.  He tries to do everything his sisters do, including somersaults, running, and wrestling.  Briggs likes to figure things out, like turning on/off switches, activating pop-up toys, and putting together magnets.  He likes to scribble and put stickers on paper.  Briggs feeds himself with silverware, drinks from a spout cup, brushes his teeth, puts a brush to his hair, and helps get dressed/undressed.  He often lets us know when he's pooping or peeing.  Briggs is getting so smart.  He understands so much of what we tell him and follows directions well.  He is great at cleaning up his toys, throwing away garbage, getting his shoes, or finding a specific toy/book.  He can recite parts of books and songs.  He made up his own knock-knock joke and makes great connections, like seeing a St. Jude emblem and saying "Jude runners."  Briggs is talking up a storm.  He has hundreds of words, and is now putting 2-3 words together to express an idea like "Adelie cry."  "Briggy's shoes."  "Daddy mow tractor."  He talks very clearly and even has a few 4 syllable words in his vocabulary--"guacamole" and "Pocahontis."  Briggs can identify most of the Paw Patrol characters, Shimmer and Shine (from one of the girl's favorite shows), Nick and Judy (from one of the girls' favorite movies), some of the Mickey characters (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy), and some Disney princesses (Aurora, Belle, Elsa, Pocahontis).  I love hearing the new things he says every day and the new connections he's making.

Walking on the balance beam, just like his sisters.

Briggs is so much fun.  He is growing and changing so quickly, but still remains my sweet, snuggly, loving little boy.

My big 18 month old

St. Louis

We have an annual tradition of taking a week-end trip to St. Louis each fall.  Now that we are working around a school schedule, we decided to take advantage of Labor Day to enjoy our long St. Louis week-end.  Note to self:  Going places on school holidays means everywhere you go is way busier.  And going places on school holidays when the weather is beautiful means everywhere you go is way, way busier.  Despite the crowds and lines (and the 2 a.m. hotel fire drill), we had a great week-end.  And Zach's parents joined us again this year, which made it all the more fun for us.

The St. Louis Zoo is always a favorite.  Briggs LOVED seeing and riding the train.  The girls always love the carousel.  And, of course, we saw plenty of cool animals too.

Grant's Farm was our second day outing.  Another carousel, a tram ride, a pony ride, exotic animals, an elephant show, and a junk food lunch topped off with ice cream made for an exciting day...and wore the kids out!

The girls even got to ride a camel!

After the day at Grant's Farm, we went back to the hotel for naps and rest.  After an Adelie nap and a Staley rest, I took the girls to the pool while Briggs and Zach finished their long naps.  Hotel pools are always a treat, even when they are cold, tiny, and frankly kind of disgusting.

The Magic House Children's Museum was Staley's top request for the week-end.  Although the weather was nice, a heat wave on Monday and Staley's consistent request made it an easy decision for our last day in the city.

The model train room at the Magic House was Briggs's favorite.

And just like the past 2 years, the pet clinic was Staley's favorite area.  She literally would have stayed in there all day.

Adelie spent her week-end attached to Papa's side.  She always wanted to sit by him, walk with him, and hold his hand wherever we went.

The kids always enjoy the little things about our vacations.  Playing at Turtle Park, hanging out in the hotel, eating at restaurants, watching movies in the car,...all the seemingly little things make our trips special for the kids.  Even the middle of the night fire alarm that dragged us out of bed (and down 8 flights of stairs) was memorable for the kids.  Briggs was thrilled about seeing all the fire trucks pull up in front of our hotel.

Although it wasn't full of great family photos, our week-end was full of fun!

Question of the Day

Why is it that my son will chew on his shoes, suck on wet dish towels, lick the handle of the shopping cart, and eat things off the floor, but refuses to eat most meats and pastas?

It's obviously not his discerning palate.

Another First Day of School

Today is Staley's 14th day of school, which she will be quick to tell you if you ask.  That has been 14 long, long days where Adelie has been anxiously awaiting her turn to start school.  Adelie has been counting down until "after Labor Day" to start pre-school.  She has been consistently talking about her new teacher, Mrs. Ferguson, and wondering what she looks like and sounds like.  After I had met Mrs. Ferguson at pre-school orientation night, Adelie's first question was, "What does she sound like?"  That's a hard question to answer.  I went with "nice."

So this morning Adelie bounced out of bed, put on the special outfit she picked out for her first day of school, put a couple of pictures that she had colored in her backpack (because she was very concerned that she didn't have anything in her backpack), and sort of stood still for a few first-day-of-school pictures.

What a ham!

Adelie had absolutely zero apprehension about starting school.  We walked into the building that she'd never been in before, found her classroom that she had never seen before, briefly met her teacher who she had never met before, and headed right in with a group of kids she didn't know.  Big smile.  Big wave.  Big girl!

Hanging up her backpack

This morning Adelie was only at school for an hour.  (Normally it will be 2.5 hours.)  She told me that Mrs. Ferguson was nice, that there were baby dolls and blocks and animals to play with, and that she made a friend named Lola.  Apparently Lola shared her people with Adelie and Adelie shared her animals with Lola.  Although Adelie was a bit concerned that they didn't have a snack today, she otherwise seemed enthused about her first day and said that she is excited about going back on Thursday.  Since Staley started Kindergarten, I've felt that Adelie just needs her own thing to be excited about.  I'm glad she has that now!

My little pre-schooler

Questions of the Day

Why is it that my one child who has the inability to just lie quietly in bed and snuggle with me while I try to wake up is my earliest riser?

Why is it that my one child who is my slowest moving is the one that has to be up, ready, and fed every morning by 8:00?

Why is it that my one child who doesn't want to be held and insists on walking when we are trying to get someplace quickly is also my child who screams when I won't hold him while I try to shower, use the bathroom, or make supper?

Ah, universe.  I'm not sure I always appreciate your sense of humor.