Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We had a good Valentine's Day! I gave the boys their Valentine's Day gifts yesterday. The little guys got conversational heart candies and each got a new video. Garrett got an I Love Airplanes video and Gabriel got a John Deere construction vehicle video. Oh, and each got a copy of an Elmo Valentine's Day board book. I made cut out heart shaped sugar cookies on Sunday afternoon and then put cookie icing on them last night. It was nice to do something creative. I sent a plate to Garrett's school and a container to Gabriel's, and then saved the cutest ones to eat at home. The boys enjoyed opening their cards from their grandparents. Gabriel brought home a heart made out of paper plates with little valentines inside from his schoolmates. And today I got a dozen red roses delivered at work.

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Happy Valentine's Day

I made cut out sugar cookies yesterday and then decorated them with cookie icing and sprinkles. I like to use the cookie icing because it seems to be sturdier for transport. Not to mention it's a lot easier to make decorative details with cookie icing verses traditional frosting.

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WOW! Knitting again!!

It's been a long time since I have knit, since well before Christmas. It felt very good to make it to Knitting group today and knit, chat, and have some coffee. I got my bamboo toddler sock out and actually finish the first sock. Sadly, I started this project last April and it's still on the needles. I really like the feel of this yarn.

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Gabriel's Out of the Crib

Gabriel started the transition last night to sleeping out of a crib. We put the crib mattress on the floor, and then the whole family gathered around Gabriel as he tried to fall asleep. We turned the Oli night lights on and the turtle that projects stars. The dogs are enjoying the new "dog bed" on the floor and certainly show interest in snuggling up with Gabriel. When I checked in tonight on my way to bed, I found Gabriel hanging off the bed.

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Double Well Baby Appointments

Michael and I took Garrett and Gabriel to their well baby appointments on Wednesday. We were able to coordinate Gabriel's 2 year appointment with Garrett's 4 month appointment and got them back to back slots at Concord Pediatrics.

Garrett went first and he is growing well. He was his usual jovial and chatty self during the appointment with the nurse practitioner. Garrett now weighs 15 pounds and 4 ounces (50-65% percentile) and he's 25.5 inches tall (75% percentile). Garrett seems to be bulkier than I remember Gabriel being at this age, and Garrett seems to be wearing bigger clothes sooner than Gabriel, but the actual appointment measurements just aren't supporting that. It might be those gorgeous ham hock thighs that are throwing me off and making me think Garrett is a pudgy baby. I went back and looked at Gabriel's 4 month appointment stats and he weighed 13 lbs and 14 ounces, but was about a week and a half younger at his appointment than Garrett was. Gabriel was 75% percentile for height as well. Garrett was great with his immunizations and he consoled quickly. And Gabriel was very patient during Garrett's appointment. Daddy took him out just prior to the shots just so there wouldn't be any unnecessary emotional trauma.

Gabriel now weighs 28 pounds (50th percentile) and is 35 inches tall (65-75%). And supposedly if you double a toddler's height at 2 years, you can get the predicted adult height. So that would put Gabriel at 5 feet and 10 inches when he is fully grown. The surprise from Gabriel's well baby check is that he had a nice ear infection. Considering typical two year old behavior, Michael and I (and his day care providers) really had no clue he had a red, pussy inner ear. We started an antibiotic that night since we weren't sure if this was a new and developing ear infection or something that had been around a while. Gabriel had a shot free appointment this time around.

Snow Broom

Gabriel just loves Mommy's snow broom!

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New Year's Resolution

One of my goals for the new year is to do more blogging about the boys. I have a lot of photos for their milestones, but I have not been keeping baby books for them. So it's even more important that I keep blogging so I have the narratives and more details. I found an application for my cell phone that should help me to accomplish this as well. Stay tuned!

POOP!

Gabriel is 21 months old and just pooped on the potty for the first time. Gabriel mentioned he had to go poop and Daddy whisked him off to the bathroom. We haven't been putting a lot of pressure on potty training. We've read two books about using the potty. We have had a potty in the bathroom for a very long time, but used it mostly as a stool. And we recently bought an Elmo potty seat to go on the big toilet. We talk about how some day Gabriel will wear underwear and use the potty. And when he was pooping in his diaper, I would encourage him to tell me in the future when he felt like this and I would take him to the bathroom. We honestly have been thinking he wouldn't be ready until at least two years old, so it had been all talk so far. And we have already been warned by a few parents that there sometimes is a honeymoon period with that potty followed by regression. So far, we've had a pee on the potty and a poop. We will let Gabriel show us what he's ready for. But Gabriel was certainly proud of himself and he kept announcing, "I DID IT!"

I wonder how traumatized Gabriel will be as an adult that I posted his first poop photo?

Garrett's First Trip to the Library

Garrett had his first trip to the library today. We went to the Lapsit morning program at the Concord Public Library. It's a story hour/play time designed for children from newborn to age two. Garrett was wide awake when we got to the library and he seemed to like the colorful rug, the singing, the overhead lights, and looking at a few board books. Garrett was by far the youngest attendee of the day, but he was very popular with the toddlers anyway. They liked looking at him, and Garrett watched them toddle around. Many Moms remarked about how alert Garrett seemed. Garrett became very sleepy as the hour was winding down and he took a solid nap to recuperate. The program will be taking a hiatus and starting up again in November, and I plan to try to take Garrett again sometime before I have to go back to work. I may even try to find a day that it will work to take both Gabriel and Garrett together.