Brennan & Papa Day

Once a month or so, I try to have a day with just me & Brennan. Not that we don't like Daddy, but it's nice to have some one-on-one bonding time, and Daddy could use the break. Last weekend, we went into the city for the "Ahts" festival (i.e., the Boston Arts Festival). We walked along the harbor for a while. The tide was very high. Brennan was mesmerized by the waves and the boats. The water was really as high as it looks here -- occasionally splashing over the top.


Brennan was also thoroughly entertained by the seal exhibit outside the acquarium. We spent a half hour watching that exhibit, with Brennan yelling "fish" every time a seal passed by, mixed in with some "wows." He was really annoyed when we left.

Probably the most amusing thing the whole day was how it ended. We spent a fair amount of time in the playground at Christopher Columbus Park, and I could tell Brennan was getting pretty fatigued. We had been outside for a long time and doing a lot of walking. On our way walking back to the car, we stopped by a ballet performance and decided to sit down and watch for a while. It's hard to see from this picture, but Brennan was thoroughly entertained. He sat there and just watched the dancers dance and listened to the music, clapping along with the audience in between numbers.


So perhaps we have a ballet fan on our hands? Who knew?

Our Morning Routine

We have a pretty set morning routine. Brennan starts making noises around 6 a.m. We ignore him for a while because that's just too early for us. He has gotten in to the habit now of flipping on and off the light switch in his room to further note that he is up. But he remains pretty content for a while -- having deep conversations with Winnie the Pooh and Donald Duck. And if you go in his room right when he starts making noises and ask if he wants to get up, he'll answer "nooooo" in a giggly voice.

Eventually, one of us will get up and bring him down for breakfast. He's overall been a flexible eater from day one, but lately he's gotten a little pickier. He's caught on to the fact that I give him the oatmeal from the variety pack that isn't as tasty (plain oatmeal and "banana" oatmeal that tastes nothing like bananas). Oh well.

Then, it's off to snuggle and watch Yo Gabba Gabba. He gets super excited when the show first comes on. Below is a relatively modest version of his daily excitement:

...and then it's off to the rest of our day.

Food and Hair Come Together

One of Brennan's favorite things to do when he is having a messy meal: show us where his hair is. "Hair, hair," he says, as he sticks his fingers in his hair, spreading around as much as possible of whatever he's eating like it's shampoo. Yes, Brennan, that is your hair.

He knows the word "mouth" too, but that would not be nearly as much fun.

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: