The boys lately

Jacob's Current Likes:

• Brody. In fact I think Jacob looks at Brody like he's his pet.
• Green Beans/Asparagus/Broccoli.
• His motorized quad (finally - 3 months later).
• Making Trailers out of anything and pulling them with anything.
• Popcorn.
• Fishing poles/Fishing.
• Tacos.
• His Sandra Boyton "Philadelphia Chickens" CD.
• Forcing Brody to do tummy time.
• Vitamins.
• Exploring about the refrigerator.
• Swimming.
• Throwing things.
• Training Roxy.
• Talking in the third person (his favorite phrase in particular is "Jacob do it!")
• Helping mommy. Except when it comes to picking up things he has thrown.
• Cougars. And I don't mean the animal. Ladies, lock up your daughters.
• Poisonous Mushrooms.

Jacob's Current Dislikes:

• Eating well-balanced meals.
• Going to bed/nap.
• Sharing (your toys or his).
• Scary movies. This includes Nemo and Over the Hedge.
• CAT scans.

Brody's Current Likes:

• Rolling over.
• Sleeping flat on his back with his arms s p r e a d o u t.
• Jacob. (Can't for the life of me figure that one out)
• His toes.
• Being held.
• His Bumbo.
• Placing A.NY.THING. in his mouth.
• Swimming and baths.
• Silky blankets.

Brody's Current Dislikes:

• Baby food.
• Jacob yelling when he is tired.
• Not gaining weight at an aggressive rate.

It has been so fun watching these two together the past few months. Every day they seem to get more interactive. Despite being so rough with Brody, Jacob can be really sweet to him. He tries to calm him down in the car when he gets upset. He loves making him laugh. Also, sometimes when we put Jacob to bed at night he cries and protests at his gate, which then wakes Brody up. As soon as Jacob hears Brody crying he stops sobbing and in a total straight voice says "Mom! Brody crying! Go get him, please!" It's like suddenly he doesn't care about his own problems and is just looking out for Brody and it's so sweet. And funny too.

Brody cracks me up. He is into reaching for everything, which makes it hard to eat/type/do anything else while you are trying to hold him or nurse. He can sit up unassisted for a short period of time. It would be longer, except Brody insists on bringing his mouth to things as opposed to things to his mouth, so he topples over quite often. He can spin around on his tummy, but not quite move forward very well. He certainly wants to though.

Jacob's potty training is going so well. We have finally reached the point where I can mostly trust him to tell me when he has to go, as long as everything is status quo. If we are at a friends house or something, forget about it... he is way too distracted. But on average, I would say 5 out of 7 days are accident-free! This potty training thing wasn't easy though. I must say I was quite surprised how personally I would take the accidents, I guess that is just another aspect of the "mommy guilt syndrome" that accompanies every decision you make as a parent. We are working hard on letters and numbers. While I don't think he is behind in anyway for kids his age in general, it seems that he is a little behind compared to mom friends I talk to with kids his age. He definitely prefers numbers over letters at this point. Kindergym started last week but we missed it to spend some time with Aaron before he headed off on his boys weekend. This Thursday will be our first day as well as one of our family dinners, this time at the Harvitt's.

Speaking of family dinners, I never really explained them well before. This June Kyra, Janet, and I decided that we should get our families together weekly, rotating households. (The Harvitts joined in around August) The family hosting provides the main dish and the other families bring sides. The kids love playing with each other and none of them get a whole lot of social interaction since they aren't in daycare, so we thought this would be good for the kids (and definitely adults too). But we were kind of off to a rough start. Our goal was to meet weekly, but the first available date to get together wasn't until 6 weeks later! But we stuck to it and so far, things have been going great and we have mostly been getting together weekly. I know this fall and winter things will change with busier schedules and sick kids, but hopefully some of us can get together anyways. We shall see...

Here are pics from our last family dinner: