Video of Bryce

Just a video of Rycie being cute after bath tonight and showing off his newly learned sign language.

Thank you Grandpa B.!

Cason, like all little boys, has long since loved lawnmowers, edgers, and the like. I thought about getting him a toy lawn mower for Christmas in 2008 but didn't. Then we he turned two, I thought he was getting too old for them and would outgrow it soon. Well, he continued to love the toy lawnmowers that he saw everywhere and would want to go in the one year old room at church just to play with the lawnmower. His friend, Collin, has a lawnmower and one day when we were going over there to play, that's all Cason could talk about. "I'm going to Collin's house to play with the lawnmower!" So I looked around on the internet again and they had a new one out that looked pretty cute. I figured if he outgrew it soon, Bryce would still love it for a long time to come.

My dad gave the boys Toys 'R Us gift cards for Christmas. I put them in a drawer so we could wait a few months before using them. So last month when the lawnmower idea popped up, we grabbed the gift cards and headed to Toys 'R Us. I had shown the two choices to Cason on the internet at home (the green mower we ended up getting and the blue and red one like at church) and he was pretty set on the green one. We grabbed the lawnmower and walked around the store to see if there was anything else we could use the rest of the gift cards on but couldn't find anything so we decided to save them.

It even has it's own gas can. Doesn't everyone mow in their undies?



What lawnmower would be complete without a pull start?



Not sure what he's doing here.



As I had expected, Bryce has become more interested in the lawnmower than Cason. I have video of him playing with it but I'm too busy too lazy to find it and upload it to my computer at the moment. I'm sure once he starts walking he won't leave it alone.

So we got the lawnmower about a month ago and I have been slacking off on writing this post this whole time. In the meantime, I was looking for some new toys that the boys could play with on our patio this summer because they both love being outside so much. I stumbled across some adorable plastic bugs and accessories. I showed them to Kelly and he liked them too.

But I couldn't just order them. You see, Cason has been afraid of bugs for a long time. Totally my fault since I hate spiders. I must have at one point said "eww" in reference to spiders because he would say that all bugs are "eww". The first time we went to his friend, Josiah's, house, he saw a plastic ladybug (realistic looking) under the trampoline. He FREAKED out and wouldn't stop screaming until Josiah's mom took it away. From then on, she had to hide it every time he came over to play. And every time we visited, he would go to the trampoline and look around for the ladybug to make sure it wasn't there.

But these bugs were cute, brightly colored, and not at all realistic looking. I showed Cason the bugs on the computer and he said he didn't like them. Then I showed him the bug house, bug net, and magnifying glass that goes with the bugs and he quickly changed his tune. He started talking about how he was going to get some bugs, a bug house, bug net, and magnifying glass and was pretty excited about it. So I went ahead and used the rest of the gift card money to order them. I also got a second bug house for Bryce and instead of bugs, he gets lizards (bigger and less of a choking hazard). Bryce doesn't care too much about them yet but I bet he will in 6 months or so.

It took a week or so to get everything here but Cason loves his bugs. They sent everything in 3 shipments so Cason just loved getting stuff in the mail. If you ask, he will tell you that he "ordered his bugs off the internet". He now says that "spiders are eww and scorpions are eww" because Daddy hates scorpions. But bugs are "not eww".





He's telling me about his "two ants".



He kept taking them in his bed once he got his big boy bed.



Cason's bug net, bug house, and bugs.



Cason's magnifying glass, Bryce's bug house, Bryce's lizards.













Thank you for the gift card Grandpa B.! We love our lawnmower, bugs, lizards, and accessories!
Love Cason and Bryce

Our big boy

Cason has made several big changes in the past two days. First, he started waking up from nap dry pretty consistently so on Tuesday I gave him the choice of wearing a diaper or undies for his nap. He chose undies and did great, he has woken up from nap dry the past two days!

The second change we had been planning for awhile. He crawled out of his crib a few times in January so we knew we had better think about switching him to a "big boy bed" aka take the front side off his crib and add the little toddler rail. He surprisingly only crawled out of the crib about 3 times ever but we knew it was time to make the switch anyway and we need him to get used to a real bed before our vacation this summer because he's going to be sleeping on a trundle mattress.

So we've been talking up the big boy bed for a month or so now, and pointing out his friends' beds (because I think ALL of his friends are in big boy beds by this point). I also ordered him this awesome Good Nite Lite. It's a cool nightlight that is programmable. I set his bedtime for 7:29 and so at 7:29 every night, it turns on and glows like a blue moon.



It is a blue moon all night long and then when it's time to wake up (any time I choose, right now I have it turn on at 7:01), it changes to a yellow sun. Cason loves his night light and understood the concept right away. He often wakes up earlier and we hear him just talking and singing to himself. At 7:01, we usually hear "the sun is on!!!" and we go in and get him. It also helps at night, he knows not to ask for another story because his moon is on. I got it because I was hoping it would help him stay in bed (or at least in his room) until his sun comes on when we switched his bed. So far, so good.



Anyway, yesterday morning, we took the front side off his crib and he instantly loved his new bed. We kept finding him in it throughout the day, reading books and playing with his toys. I was worried he wouldn't nap but he surprised us and went right to sleep and slept great! He did great in it last night too. He still sleeps like he's in a crib though (sideways and he flat out refuses a pillow).



The final change is that Cason still sleeps with two pacifiers -- up until yesterday anyway. After we switched his bed, he was playing in it and kept moving his pacifiers around. I asked him "when are you going to throw your pacis away?" He thought about it for a second and said "I'm going to throw my pacis away," and headed for the kitchen trash. I stopped him and explained to him that if he threw them away, we weren't buying any more, he would have to sleep without them. He still went and threw them away.

A little while later, he started talking about going to get new pacis. I told him "No, no more pacis. You're a big boy in a big boy bed and you don't need pacis anymore." That upset him so he dug them out of the trash. Sigh. I washed them off in near boiling water and didn't say anything more about it but later that morning, I found them in the trash again. So I got them out and hid them so he couldn't retrieve them again. He didn't ask for them at nap or at bedtime but he did wake up crying for them at 9pm. We explained again that he was a big boy and didn't need them and tucked him in with his favorite "softy blanket" and he slept great the rest of the night.

I'm glad that I took this picture a few weeks ago. It will be great to show his future girlfriends that he slept with a pink pacifier when he was two!

Rycie clapping

We're not big clappers around here so I have never tried to teach Bryce to clap. But yesterday we were on a walk and he was sitting in his stroller and it looked like he was trying to clap. He did it again when we were outside talking to our neighbors. This morning, he was doing it during breakfast and it was clear that he was really clapping. Babies clapping are so cute!

Random March Cason tidbits

Just some funny stories and things that Cason has been up to lately in no particular order.

A few weeks ago we were at a friend's house to play. Sesame Street was on in the background while the boys were playing. Cason has never seen Sesame Street before. All of the sudden, he looked up at the TV and said, "Oh, look at that duck! Quack quack quack!" I don't know why that struck me as funny, I guess he is a duck. I have just never thought of Big Bird as a duck.

A few days ago we went over to another friend's house to play. Cason knocked on the door and his buddy, Harrison, came to the door and looked out the window. He had a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt on. Cason said "He has a shamrock on his shirt." I was impressed, I have never told him about shamrocks before. I said "yes he does, where did you hear that?" He said, "at preschool".

We were at Target the other day and we stopped in the toy section looking for cheap toys we could play with on the patio. Cason fell in love with a $2 shovel -- the big kind that goes up to his chest. I let him get it so when we got home he was pretending to dig in the living room. He put his foot up on the back of the shovel and said "Look Mommy, I'm digging a hole!" I said "Yes you are, where did you learn to dig like that?" He replied "In my book." I was racking my brain, trying to figure out which book has a big shovel in it. He said again, "In my book. Grinch Meets His Max." The things they pick up on that we don't even notice...

He is forever quoting his favorite books. We'll be just playing or driving down the street and he'll just start randomly saying lines from one of his favorites. He loves Dr Seuss books, Curious George, and Berenstain Bears. I learned that the best Berenstain Bears books are the classics from the 80's. Did you know they are STILL making those books???

He just, like in the past week, figured out counting with his fingers. So now every time he says a number 1-5, he'll have to hold up the corresponding number of fingers. Then repeat it over and over again until I acknowledge it. He also stares at his fingers in some sort of amazement while he is holding them up.

We've never really mentioned our last name to him before. A few weeks ago, a martial arts instructor came to my MOPS meeting to teach us some basic self defense. He mentioned that every kid should know their parents' first and last names and a phone number. So we taught him our first and last names and are still working on the phone number. He likes to add a random "R" to our last name.

Lessons learned

I've trimmed and buzzed Bryce's hair more times than I can remember in the past 10 months, starting at just two weeks when we cut off the rat tail he was trying to grow. But today was the first time that I got out the clippers and scissors and attempted to do a full haircut. A hairdresser I am NOT. My biggest problem is that I kept going back for more. First I used the clippers on the sides and the back. Then I grabbed a comb and scissors and tried to trim up the top. After nap, I wasn't satisfied with the top so I went back at it. Then it looked totally uneven so I had to keep cutting more and more. In the end, I think it turned out okay. It's not great but it's not *that* bad either.

Lessons learned

1. There is a reason people go to school to cut hair. It's really not that easy.

2. Put the baby in his high chair with some food for goodness sake. Trying to cut his hair while he is outside playing on the patio is not wise. Neither is trying to cut it in the playroom while he's bouncing a basketball. Seriously.

3. Stop while you're ahead. If it looks good, put the scissors away. If you go back for one more snip, the whole thing will be uneven and you'll have to take off a lot more.

4. Unrelated to hair but I love my 50 mm lens on my camera because it totally blurs out all of the clutter in the background.

Here is how his hair turned out. No "before" pictures because I almost never think to take before pictures. I'm impulsive like that. But you could always scroll back a post or two if you're really curious.





And the styled look.

Found this morning

This is what I found when I walked into Bryce's room this morning:







I don't know if his sleep sack keeps him from moving freely or what but this is the first time that I've found him standing up in his crib. He has never even sat up before. He seemed quite pleased with himself.

Taking after Daddy

Bryce may not look much like Kelly but has taken after him in one area -- eating. I was thinking Bryce would be a picky eater since he refused to eat pretty much any baby food but now that kid will eat just about anything I set in front of him. He takes after Kelly by eating -- and liking -- any vegetable I have given him. He loves peas, carrots, green beans, asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, spaghetti squash, and sweet potatoes. He also loves any kind of bean (kidney, black, pinto, etc), chicken, beef, bananas, apples, pears, peaches, plums, blueberries, cottage cheese, rice Chex cereal, and of course cheese. Crazy! I hope he keeps it up.