Vacation

The above picture pretty much summarizes our whirlwind, 12-day, 3 city vacation for the holidays. Although we got to see a lot of family and friends, and we ate a lot of good food, the vacation was thoroughly exhausting.

Brennan slept in a total of seven different places (not including naps in the car, stroller, or planes). Fortunately, he's a pretty flexible kid, so he was able to sleep everywhere we went. But he was definitely getting fed up with the trip near the end. Acting up, throwing a few punches, throwing some food off the table. Now that we're back in town, it's time to eliminate those bad habits. Also fortunately, Brennan dodged the Christmas cold that always circulates around our families, but I didn't, and I'm still suffering from it.

This trip included a few "lasts" for us, for at least as long as we have young children:

- This was our last multicity trip

- This was our last trip longer than a week

- This was our last trip in which we take EIGHT pieces of luggage (including carry-ons).

- This was our last trip with Brennan as a "lap infant" on the planes. Both because he's turning two and because we wouldn't want to do it again anyway.

- This was our last trip with Brennan sleeping in a pack-n-play. He just doesn't fit anymore. Time to get him used to the big-boys bed.

Dipping in the Katsup

Brennan has become a big fan of dipping things lately. Doesn't matter if it's even something logical to dip. Dip a cookie in some salsa? Yummy. Dip some pumpkin bread in syrup? Why not? Here he is doing some more traditional dipping:

No More Broccoli Until You Eat Your Quesadilla

Brennan has for the most part not been a picky eater. But he certainly does have some preferences emerging. He's becoming a less of a fan of meat, particularly when its not strongly seasoned. Blackened chicken and the like he'll eat up, but plainer forms of chicken and other meats are not as interesting. He loves vegetables, with lettuce and broccoli being his favorites. Nancy from his family care tells us that when she takes the kids to Bertucci's, Brennan is all about the salad and not as much the pizza. Well at least he's learning to eat healthy. I'm not sure where he gets that from -- not from us certainly.

Same sort of thing happened at Chili's a couple of weeks ago. We got him chicken quesadillas (Hmmm... Blogger suggests that when I say "quesadillas" I have simply misspelled "peccadilloes"--sort of the same but not quite). I tried the quesadillas out and can confirm they were yummy and definitely deserving of the party in Brennan's tummy. But we also got a side of steamed broccoli. Brennan wasn't the least bit interested in the yummy cheesy quesadillas; all he wanted was broccoli. Never thought I'd be saying to a nineteen-month old, "no more broccoli until you eat more quesadilla."

Fun at the Mall

Brennan loves the play areas at the malls. Since it was a little hot out Saturday for taking him to one of his favorite outside parks, we headed over to the Natick Collection for a bit, just so Brennan could run around and have some fun outside of the house. We get there and realize -- no stroller. This is sort of a big mall too. But fortunately, the Natick Collection has something even better. Every mall should have these. Grocery stores too, for that matter. Brennan was thoroughly entertained.

Superhero

Daddy sent this picture to me without explanation, so the best I can guess, Brennan has decided to be a superhero of some sort today. Or a wizard. I'm not sure.