new toy

Scott stopped by the children's resale shop near our house the other day and brought home this fabulous new toy. It's one that you can set up a myriad of ways depending on the child's age/development. I think Gavin likes it as much as, if not more than, Colin :) It's fun to watch the boys play together.

Now that Colin can sit up on his own he's able to check out the world from a whole new vantage point. Watching him explore and discover is fascinating.

rolling

Colin rolled over yesterday! For real, not a fluke this time - he was on his tummy and rolled onto his back, a number of different times. Then today, he was on his tummy on the carpet and starting licking it - ew - so I rolled him onto his back, then I looked over and he was on his tummy again, so it's just a weekend full of rolling fun. Sitting, rolling, he's a milestone maniac these days :)

my men

Gavin's Happy Meal toy was a lego car. Scott was helping him put it together while Colin looked on. Colin was sitting up and I left him to grab my camera, and while I was gone he went from sitting to laying on his tummy. It's the first time he's made that particular transition - usually he sits with his face in the carpet, unsure of how he got there or how to fix it :)

Gavin was less than pleased that Colin attempted to eat the directions that came with his car. Scott reminded Gavin that directions are usually unnecessary (haha) which made everything all better. My engineers...

sitting up

Colin is getting more and more stable when sitting up without support. He doesn't do it for too terribly long before he falls to the side (or the ever-hilarious face-plant into the carpet) but he's getting stronger every day. When I sit him up in the bathtub he has the time of his life splashing the water with his hands. He usually lays on a sling in the tub that keeps his head out of the water, so he kicks like a froggie and splashes with his legs. The new splashing with his hands has him transfixed - he loves watching the splashes, and his eyes get huge. I still have to be *right there* in case he starts to fall over, but once he's more stable I'll get video. It won't be long, I'm sure.

my boys

I think I really am the luckiest lady in the world. I have the 3 best men in the history of ever, right here under my roof. Today after I picked the boys up from Kelly's we were playing in Gavin's room. I had to pump so I brought it in with me, and got myself hooked up. Colin started to fuss a bit, and Gavin jumped right in to play with him and entertain him. In this picture he's helping Colin chew on a teething toy. Colin kept dropping it - Gavin is pretending to feed him a cookie. They were both highly amused at themselves. :)

Colin passed out early tonight so it was just me, Scott and Gavin at Gavin's bedtime. He wanted his daddy to read the bedtime story he'd picked out so Scott climbed into bed with him. I love watching Scott with the boys - he's a fabulous dad. Gavin absolutely hero-worships him. Colin's face lights up when he sees daddy. So cool.

I've been pumping and giving bottles to Colin in place of breastfeeding in an effort to help him adjust to bottle-feeding at Kelly's house and to help him learn to self-soothe in ways other than the breast, since Kelly can't offer it when he fusses. It's been going very well, and he's taking bottles at home like a champ. And today he finished an entire bottle at Kelly's house! It took him all day to do it, but that's more than he's ever eaten over there. I'm hopeful that he'll get more comfortable soon. Things are looking up.

baths and bedtime

The boys are both so sweet in the evenings. (Afternoons can be a bit rough - today's sure was - but by bath and bedtime they've usually chilled out and are sweet as can be.)

After Gavin brushes his teeth, I always ask for a "fresh breath kiss." Totally stole that from Missy, and I'm glad I did. Any chance to get extra kisses makes my day!

Tonight wasn't technically bath night (we do every other night unless they're yucky), but Colin was a bit of a mess so it seemed prudent. He spit up big time at Kelly's, and tonight when trying applesauce for the first time (a HUGE hit, by the way) he got kinda covered in food. He was splashing, kicking, and talking up a storm in the tub so I grabbed the camera. Gavin elected not to take a bath but he does make a cameo appearance in the video.

Now that the boys are going to Kelly's during the day and I'm going back to work I won't have quite as many opportunities to catch their cuteness in action, but I'll try to keep up with posting stories and pictures after school and on the weekends. It's been fun to chronicle what we've been doing these past 2 months. I started a blog for my classroom, too -mrsdurhamsclassroom.blogspot.com - maybe I'll make it a point to update both at the same time so neither gets neglected (or they both do!).

squawkity squawk!

Gavin sounded like a martian from Mars Attacks when he was a little guy, and Colin sounds like a baby pterodactyl.

bananas and bikes

Colin had decided to take a break from eating cereal for a while (I was making it too thick, I think) but yesterday and today gobbled it up again. At dinner, he was happy and it was almost feeding time so we decided to try bananas. He ate nearly the entire jar! The first bite caused a "what's this stuff?" look, but then he just kept on eating.

He really liked the way the spoon felt against him gums.

We also had a bit of progress in the bottle department. He'd always taken a bottle without issue, but lately he's been chewing on the nipple and refusing to suck, which will make it hard for Kelly to feed him when I'm back at work. Today Scott brilliantly tried a sippy cup without the valve and Colin had a blast. He was grabbing for the cup, demanding more, when we'd pull it away! I'm excited that we have an alternative to the bottle.

Gavin got his strider bike a while ago, but he's just now getting comfortable on it. This evening he went around the block twice! The first time, we passed a couple of little girls in their front yard, and he sped up when he saw them. Show-off. The second time, he asked his dad where the girls were as they were leaving our front yard. Helpfully, his daddy told him they could "cruise for chicks." To which Gavin replied "we're lookin' for some chicks." Nice.