Back to Nancy Care

Ok, it's been a while, but I'm going to act like it hasn't and just jump right in to things, because I just don't feel like doing an "it's been a while" post in which I would have to summarize the last two months.

Brennan goes back to family care (day care in someone's house) on Monday, as Carl returns to work part time. We got a little preview on Tuesday of how things might go next week, as we left Brennan at "Nancy Care" for most of the day because Carl had some meetings at work. Even before we woke up, Brennan somehow knew something was going on. Rather than waking up at 7 as is usually the plan, he stared fussing at 5:30. We just don't wake up that early, so we caved and brought him into bed with us for a little bit. Fortunately, we don't do this so often so he's use to it -- he's pretty much incapable of falling asleep in our bed just because he almost never sleeps anywhere but his crib (except for travel).

Then, he was pretty fussy throughout the morning. Snuggling with Mickey and watching Yo Gabba Gabba helped a little bit, but as you can tell from the picture, he was still a little upset:

Then we took him to Nancy Care together, and he was not very happy. He's had two stints in Nancy Care before -- this past spring and the spring before, each about a month -- but since then he has developed some attachment issues. The second we walked in he knew what was going on. He clutched on to me tightly, and when I put him on the floor to walk over to Nancy, the tears started flowing. Trying not to make things worse, we made a quick exit.

Turns out that he ended up sleeping for most of the 5 hours he was there. He had been sort of sleep deprived the last few days, having refused to nap, and he had a little fever, we think from teething. Also, it was a dark & rainy day. Poor kid.

Hopefully next week he'll get back into the swing of things and be happily playing with all the other kids. He really is a social kid and especially loves hanging around with the older kids. Especially now that he's finally walking, he should be able to keep up with them too. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Speaking of Yo Gabba Gabba, it's coming to town in September. We might just have to go. At first I was unsure. As much as Brennan loves Yo Gabba Gabba, he'll only be 19 months old. A little young for his first concert. Then I read that Biz's Beat of the Day will be included in the show. DJ Lance Rock, Brobee, Foofa, Plex, Muno, Toodee, and Biz Markie all on one stage? That's a hard concern to turn down.

Daddy in NYC

Daddy went to NYC this week with Adrienne, so Brennan & Papa had some fun together at home.  We went to the playground every day, went on plenty of walks, and had a lot of fun.  He always wants to do whatever the big kids are doing.  Even playing on the big kid equipment at the playground:

Yes Papa called himself Daddy when he was ready to go down the slide.  No wonder Brennan sometimes gets our names mixed up too.  Brennan's not quite walking yet without help, but he has fun pushing things around.

The baby dolls in the stroller escaped with only minor injuries.  This was in a great indoor playground we go to on rainy days.  After practicing with the stroller, Brennan tried his luck on the "race track" in the indoor playground, pushing around little cars until he was exhausted.  Then at home after a refreshing nap, Brennan was ready to go again, pushing a whole train:

Talking and Almost Walking

Brennan has been talking up a storm lately.  He says "daddy," "papa," "night-night" (when he's tired), "no" (when you're doing something that annoys him, he will discipline you), "yes," "ducky" (both ducks and dogs both get called "ducky", and of course, "hi," which he says to pretty much everyone who looks at him.  He's stood up a couple of times, but hasn't quite made it to walking yet -- he gets where he wants just fine by crawling, so why bother?  

He climbed up the stairs yesterday, which he hadn't done in a while, but we wanted to see daddy (who was upstairs), so he was determined to find him.  

He loves the noisy things attached to the fridge, which we finally took out of the boxes:

The only downside is this is all the way across the room from the other noisy toys, so he can't quite get all the noisy toys making noises all at once, despite his best efforts.

1-Year Old

Brennan turned 1 on Sunday.  He had his one-year checkup this morning.  He had some blood taken from his finger (he is braver than me).  Here he is with his band-aid on his finger:

He's a big boy -- 30 1/2 inches, and 22 lbs 8 ounces, but we already knew that.  Now he & daddy are staying in for the big snow storm (aka flurries and drizzle so far), while papa's at work, hoping he can get home this evening!

Hockey Day in Canada; Papa & Brennan Day

Saturday was a fun day for two reasons.  First, it was Hockey Day in Canada.  We're not Canadian, but we still celebrate this holiday.  What better way to start off HDIC then watching last night's Sabres game on DVR with Papa?

Then, while Daddy was away for the afternoon, Brennan & I got a whole afternoon to hang out.  We went to an indoor playground, where Brennan crawled from toy to toy to toy for an hour and a half straight, making some new friends along the way.  Here's Brennan playing in the ball pit:

After all this fun, Brennan was thoroughly exhausted, and needed a nap.  He stayed in this position for a full hour and a half, not moving an inch:

He was sleeping so hard I actually had to wake him up.  It was 5:30 pm and he needed to eat dinner and get a bath.  But to round out the fun day, we went to Burger King for dinner.  Here's Brennan trying to win the "see how much hamburger I can stuff in my mouth" contest: