THREE MONTHS

It's no secret. Riley is a big boy. And he likes to eat . . . a lot. I decided to jumpstart giving him solids, and gave him his first taste of rice cereal today. He ate it like he was born with a spoon in his mouth. I have a feeling we won't be having the picky eater issues with him like we've had with Connor. He's our Chunky Monkey.

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........Riley's first taste of cereal . . . ............................ and his "deer in headlights" look

Ice Cream Social

Our community has an ice cream social at the town center park each year. It happens to be within walking distance for us, so I loaded the kids up in the stroller and walked over to check it out. We ended up meeting up with Rita and her parents, which was a godsend. It would have been near impossible for me to handle Connor running all over the playground while also taking care of Riley. Thankfully, Rita's parents were able to help out, especially when it came to Connor trying out his Spiderman abilities. Both Connor and Rita seemed to enjoy running around even more than the ice cream.

Jake's Party

One of Connor's buddies from daycare, Jake, is turning 3 this week. To celebrate, he had a big birthday party this afternoon. Jake's parents hired someone to do face painting and balloon animals. Connor wanted nothing to do with the face painting, even though he thought the snake Jake's brother got on his face was pretty cool. Instead, he settled for a snake tattoo on his arm. Rita didn't want anything to do with the face painting either, but settled for a fairy tattoo on her arm.













Like two peas in a pod, Connor and Rita followed each other around. At one point, the two of them were standing at a water table. Another girl was standing between them, and out of the blue she decided to splash Rita, which did not make Rita happy at all. Connor looked at the girl and immediately splashed her as payback. Later, Connor and Rita were jumping in a blow up "bouncy house." The same girl knocked Rita down. Connor came to Rita's rescue again and helped her stand up, reached out to smooth down her hair, then continued jumping. What a little gentleman!

Watching TV

Oh boy. He has the TV blank stare, just like Daddy and his big brother. It appears we have another couch potato. The picture says it all.

Do Me A Favor

Connor's teacher at daycare called me last week to let me know there are a few openings in preschool and they think Connor is ready to move up. There's only one catch - he has to be potty trained. We agreed to increase our efforts in getting him to the point where he can make the switch. Connor has known for a while now when he needs to go potty. He just doesn't want to go. In fact, he's been known to stand in front of me, look me in the eye, and actually tell me he's in the process of doing his business in his pull up. It's been so frustrating! Luckily for us, his best friend Rita has moved up. As he puts it, she's now "in the big girl class." Surprisingly, this has lit a fire under him and he is now very willing to do what he needs to do so he can be in the big boy class. The other night, he announced he had to go potty. We were so excited to hear those words and rushed him into the bathroom. He asked for some privacy, so we closed the door. After a minute or so, he called out from the bathroom . . .

Connor: Hey Dad?
Daddy: Yeah buddy?
Connor: Can you do me a favor?
Daddy: Sure. What do you need?
Connor: Can you give Riley a hug for me?
Daddy: Sure.
Connor: Thanks.

A few minutes went by. Then . . .

Connor: Hey Dad?
Daddy: Yeah buddy?
Connor: Can you do me another favor?
Daddy: Sure.
Connor: Can you give Riley a kiss for me too?

This morning he woke up a bit early. I went into his room and asked him to play quietly while I got ready. Right after I finished blow drying my hair, I heard him rummaging around in his closet. I couldn't fathom what shenanigans he was getting into and soon heard him calling for me. When I opened his door, he greeted me with a big smile and wearing nothing more than his pajama top. He excitedly told me he had gone to the bathroom in his potty. It's a little portable potty that has been more useful as a step stool for him than as a potty. Until today. Realizing that he had to go, he took it upon himself to drag the potty out of his closet and took care of business. I think my eyes actually filled with tears of joy.

4th of July

The 4th of July was pretty low key for us this year. We stuck around the house most of the day, waiting for dinnertime for my family to join us for a BBQ. As in past years, we didn't have to go far to see the fireworks display. We can sit in our front yard and have a great view. Riley didn't last long enough to see the fireworks. He pooped out early, so snoozed in his crib while the rest of us watched the sky light up. Lexi wasn't sure what to think of the fireworks at first and ended up falling asleep in Nate's lap.

TWO MONTHS

He's such a happy baby . . .

The Big Screen

In the three years he's been alive, Connor has seen many, many movies. And he's seen those many movies many times. Until today, he has watched those movies on a measly 42" TV. We've been biding our time with sharing the ultimate movie experience with him. I kept hoping The Incredibles or Toy Story would come out with a sequel, but came to grips with the fact that they won't have sequels anytime soon. Giving up on Disney, DreamWorks finally released a movie that I decided would be sufficient in fulfilling Connor's first movie experience . . . Kung Fu Panda. He had no idea what was in store for him. He helped Daddy purchase the tickets and buy the snacks for us, including a kiddie pack for himself. When he walked into the theater and saw the big screen, his eyes just about bugged out of his head. Like most kids, he covered his ears when the sound reverberated through the theater, but soon became accustomed to it. He barely moved throughout the movie, but started squirming a bit about 10 minutes before it was over. So at 3 years, 3 months, and 4 days old, Connor saw his first movie in a movie theater. With that said, Riley saw his first movie in a movie theater at one day shy of 2 months old. Just like his big bro, he barely moved throughout the movie. In fact, I don't think he even opened his eyes. I guess he takes after his mommy - snoozing through the movie.

Thank Yous

Both Connor and Riley were spoiled with gifts when they were born. In fact, we received so much when Connor was born, there wasn't much we needed when Riley was born. Therefore, we really weren't expecting much in the way of gifts. We should have known better. Family, friends, and co-workers were more than generous. Because so many gifts were given before Riley was born, instead of just sending a thank you, I wanted the giver to see Riley with their gift. It took some creativity, lots of wardrobe changes, and breaks for napping and eating. All in all, Riley proved to be very cooperative.

Cousins

Since we had the family together, we had to get an updated picture of all the grandchildren together. We've had three new additions since the last photo was taken. We didn't think it would be a big ordeal to take the picture. The two older kids (Micah and Mischa) and the three babies (Lexi, Kameron, and Riley) were the easy ones. It was the two in the middle that gave us a run for our money. The little stinkers wouldn't sit still. We finally had to just take the picture.
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I partially blame myself (but not too much). After all, I did get them matching t-shirts that said "Rebel" on them. With Connor's haircut and their matching shirts, they looked pretty similar. It kind of threw us for a loop.

I also bought matching onesies for the babies. Kameron and Riley got blue, while Lexi got pink. Unfortunately, we forgot to get a picture of the three of them together. We almost forgot altogether, but remembered in time to at least get Kameron and Riley together. In the midst of taking their picture, Riley stuck out his bottom lip and gave his most endearing, break your heart, sad face. Connor used to do the same thing.

It's About Time

Connor's been needing a haircut for a while now. I decided since we were at Grandma's, we could break out the clippers and take care of it. However, he did not want ME to do it. Aunt Tin had to do it. And while she was doing it, I had to put the occasional M&M in his mouth. It was worth it to get the end result.

The Zoo Crew

As we tend to do when Brrrian, Jules and the boys are in town, we took a trip to the zoo. Connor is an old pro when it comes to the zoo, knowing exactly which exhibits he wants to check out. However, it was Riley's first trip to the zoo. As expected though, he didn't take much notice of his surroundings. When we first arrived, both Riley and Kameron needed to be fed and changed, so while we tended to their needs, Aunt Tin took Connor and Kenner into the store and let them pick out a surprise. The zoo was hosting a fundraising event in the evening, so it was closing early. We didn't find out about this until we arrived, so we had to zip through the zoo pretty fast to be sure we would see the favorite exhibits in what we thought would be limited time. As it turned out, we were there for the perfect amount of time. The older boys started getting cranky and were in need of a nap, and both babies had to be fed again just as we were getting ready to leave. While we were feeding the babes, Connor and Kenner decided to do some role playing.





















Of course I had to get a picture of our Little Monkey with some other little monkeys.

An Afternoon at the Park

Watching Connor and Kenner grow up together has been fun, even though their time together is limited due to geography. I guess it makes it that much more impressive that they get along so well - the majority of the time, anyway.

Whenever Connor goes to Grandma's house, he always asks to go to the park. Regardless of weather or time of day, he will ask. It's obviously not always feasible, but today was a perfect day to fulfill his request. We loaded the babies up in strollers and set out. Without any prompting from anyone, Connor and Kenner held hands on the way there. I'm sure years down the line it's the last thing either of them would want to do, but for now, it makes for a cute picture.

Anyone who knows Grandma knows she's about as handicapped as they come when it comes to using a camera. On our way to the park, Jules and I asked her to take a picture of us walking with our strollers. We posed and she snapped a shot, following it up by saying, "You may want to look at it to make sure I didn't cut off anyone's head." Thank goodness for digital cameras! I took one look at the picture and could barely stand up because I was laughing so hard. She managed to cut out everyone except Riley. I adjusted my camera and let her have a second try, which turned out much better.

Once at the park, the boys went crazy, running from one thing to the next on the playground. Meanwhile, I was able to catch Riley on camera with his newfound smile. He started smiling last week, right about the time I was complaining that he wasn't smiling yet. It comes at the most unexpected times though, so it's been a challenge to get a picture of it. Mere moments after I took the picture of him, he was fast asleep.

Kameron soon joined Riley in la-la land, so we were able to give Connor and Kenner our undivided attention. They had a fabulous time, chasing each other around and burning off lots of pent up energy. On the way home, they were both fascinated with a spider scooting across the sidewalk. Again, without speaking, they decided at the same time that the spider should meet it's demise.