Adventures in Life

I have a lot for which to be excited these days! Since I can't possibly contain my happiness all in one post, else you'd be here reading for days, I'll try to be less verbose than normal and capture things as concisely as possible!

• Our neighborhood pool opened! It's within walking distance, and Hubs has already perfected a method to get both boys there in a relatively short amount of time (Dutch rides in the stroller, and Buddy Man sits on the handle bars, similar to how you might have ridden on your friend's bike handlebars back in the day). The baby pool has a fabulous set-up and lots of shade, so with enough SPF in the pool bag, we're typically all set for an afternoon of fun...and a long nap for Buddy Man once we get home!

• I found a great day-care center for both boys for once I start nursing school in a few weeks.  I'm so glad to have that huge task taken off my to-do list, and after turning in some paperwork, we'll be all set for August when they start.
• Buddy Man turned TWO!  We spent his special day running errands, but the last stop of the day was for cupcakes for our family celebration at home.  That weekend, we had a small party with some neighbors and extended family that were in town.

• Dutch was baptized!  We decided to have a big weekend of family celebrations all at once and held the baptism and birthday party all at once!  Between the two events, we were able to have various family members at each party and see everyone at least once, with the exception of my little brother, who had work and class keep him away for the weekend.  My best friend was able to fly in from Boston to serve as Dutch's Godmother, my in-laws drove in from Kentucky, my mom up from her house a few hours away, and my older brother and two sets of aunts and uncles who live about 45 minutes away were also able to participate.

• Dutch started on rice cereal this morning.  He turned three months old yesterday, and today he was going after that spoon like a champ!  Guess I need to revisit my notes on babyfood so I can get started with the purees in a few weeks!
• Buddy Man fell down the stairs for the first time.  We'd just received a shipment of wine, and one of the bottles was broken.  As I tried to clean up the mess and send an email to the vendor, Buddy Man was following me around, despite protests from Hubs to stay in the family room with him.  Half the wine fit in our wine rack in the kitchen, and the remainder I was taking to the basement for storage.  Of course, Buddy Man wanted to follow me.  Since he's gotten pretty proficient on the stairs, and since he was taking forever to climb up and I had a dozen things to do, I wasn't standing behind him; in fact, I was at the top of the stairs watching all this happen.  I watched my son lose his balance and tumble, backwards, then forwards, then sideways, until he thumped at the bottom of the stairs.  He was only scared, and totally fine, so I didn't worry.  I'm sure it's not the last time.  He is a boy, after all!
• Buddy Man has also taken part in helping with his brother.  He offers a paci, sometimes  a bit forcefully, but still...  This morning he tried to give Dutch a bottle.  He's learning to pick up his toys and usually pretty good about helping me with that.  But he's also very much a two year-old.  Temper tantrums abound, as do sweet kisses and hugs.  Demands for that which he cannot have counter "please" and "thank you" requests.  Frustration when he doesn't know the word for something is balanced by a daily vocabulary lesson of pointing and telling me the names of everything in the room.  And the sound of scampering feet as he flits from activity to activity is at once silenced when he sees something out the window which catches his attention and about which he wants to learn.  It's a magical time, this period of excitement of learning from a toddler coupled with the rapid development of an infant!  I might be crazed by the end of each day, but I'm loving every moment, and relishing them since they'll be fleeting come August when I'm back in school and no longer constantly entertained by toddler jibberish and baby cooing!