Science Musuem & Other Weekend Fun

We joined the Science Museum today and since Seth is napping only every couple of days we decided to go with no end point. We all had a lot of fun. Seth went pressing every button he could find. We had lunch and then saw a juggling act. Seth loved it and kept asking to see it again. Justin seemed to be interested in everything to see.

We had a really nice weekend. Yesterday was the one beautiful day - so we spent some time walking around our neighborhood, going to the playground and then down by the pond for a picnic lunch and Seth then spent 30+ minutes throwing rocks into the pond. What a boy!

This afternoon - Seth and I made ladybug snacks. The idea came from one of his magazines. Cute - but the combination of strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips and black licorice was a little bizarre.

Sitting on my own...

Justin still falls over when he gets distracted - but he is doing such a great job at sitting we don't even need a pillow behind him. He can now play with his toys better and is having a blast!

Bath

We have been entering a new frontier of Seth not napping. On days that he naps we have a very difficult time trying to get him to go to sleep at night. So most days we are trying to go with the flow and not napping everyday. Maybe every other day? Today there was no rain so I wanted for us to get outside. Justin and I picked Seth up at camp and walked to a nearby park. We ran into some of Seth's new friends from camp and Seth played really nicely with them. We then walked to a farmers market and had ice cream. We then drove to our friend Joshua's house for some outdoor fun of digging in the dirt. Clearly I had two dirty boys on my hand. This was my first attempt at a joint bath and it went well. They both thought it was pretty funny.

Justin is Waving!

No pictures or video yet - but Justin started waving today and he is so proud of himself. Too cute!!!

7 Months Old!!!

Another busy and eventful month for our Justin. We were food focused this month. Justin expanded his daily menu to include not just breast milk and rice cereal but different fruits and vegetables and even cheerios! He did have a reaction to peas - and we are worried about a possible peanut allergy - but we will keep a close eye on what he and I eat. Justin is really growing up before our eyes. He now is sitting on his own - and day by day becomes more steady. He babbles non-stop saying "Dadada" and "Nanana" but no "Moma" yet. Justin also seemed to turn the corner on sleeping. He does seem to wake up on the early side (5:30!) but at least I don't have to run down in the middle of the night to feed him anymore. As always, Justin is still our "Mellow Fellow" and seems to be just a happy baby!

Happy Father's Day!

Text of the card to Jerald from the boys...

"Dear Daddy,
We love you so much! We are so happy when you spend time with us. We love playing games and reading stories with you. We love it when you make us laugh! We know how hard you work for us, but you still find so much energy for us. You are the best!
love,
Seth & Justin"

That pretty much sums it up. Jerald you are the best! We love you more than we could ever say.

We had a nice father's day. We let Jerald "sleep-in" (until 7:30 - hey it is better than our usual 5:30!). We made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and all went to a birthday party. After naps (or rest time as Seth now calls it). We went to Nana's house. Jerald, Great-Grandaddy, Uncle Jono and Uncle Josh played cards in the afternoon and then we had a yummy dinner. Thanks Nana and everyone else who cooked.

And a special Happy Father's Day to everyone we weren't able to see today. We love you!

Grandma Visits!

Grandma came to Boston for a much needed visit! We played a lot in the house and even took her to one of our favorite parks on one of the nice days. When Seth was at camp Justin, Mom and I met my Aunt Lauren for lunch downtown. It was really nice to spend time with her! It was fantastic having Grandma for a visit. We were all very sad to see her go but are very excited for our upcoming trip to the Cape. We missed you Pa!!!

First Cheerios!

Justin has been getting much better with his food. He regularly eats his rice cereal and now loves applesauce, carrots and sweet potato. We decided to let him try out some finger food. He thought it was fun to play around with, but when he got one in his mouth he was not ready for the texture. He made such a face that I think we will wait a little more before our next adventure with cheerios.

in Justin news

The blog has been very Seth focused lately - end of school, potty training, camp - but a lot of things have been going on with Justin...

He has gotten much better with food. In the beginning he would push most of the rice cereal out with his tongue instead of down his throat. Once we introduced carrots he seem to get it. Justin now has had rice cereal, banana, carrot, peas (which he might be allergic to) and apple sauce.

Justin had been doing the tri-pod sitting thing for a while now - in the last week he is really sitting. You still need to be next to him because he tips over quite easily but you can tell how proud of himself he is. Justin loves to sit because he can better play with his toys and watch his big brother.

Finally, Justin is saying "dada!" Constantly! He doesn't know what it means, but is having a great time saying it. And we love listening...especially his Dada.

Camp

Today was Seth's first day of camp. We were not really worried how he would adjust - Seth really takes to new people and new situations pretty easily. Of course not much of camp is new. He is in the same building, but new classroom, has one teacher from the year and two new ones who he knows quite well. The big change is that he is going 5 days a week instead of 3 and staying from 9am-2pm instead of 9am-Noon. We are going to have to figure out if he will nap when we get home or not. But it should be a fun 6 weeks. I am sure Seth will have a blast and it will give me a chance to have some more alone time with Justin and for Justin to sleep in his crib instead of the car! In preparation Jerald and I thought long and hard about a lunch box for Seth and came up with Madagascar. Seth loved it and happily carried it off to camp. It was a very successful day. Seth seemed to have a blast.

Day two

Today went really well also on the potty training front. Seth had three little accidents - but they were when he was distracted with something else (eating, watching tv). Each time he let us know, stopped and we would run to the bathroom (which Seth thinks is really funny). At the birthday party we brought this really cool little travel potty I got. Seth even got the hand of this pretty quickly. A successful day two. I am nervous about how he will do tomorrow for the first day of camp.

National Underwear Day

Ok - maybe it is not national underwear day, but it is underwear day in our house. We have been building it up for some time now and we were confident that Seth was ready. And so were we! This weekend we didn't have too much going on so we figured we could stick around the house and work on this potty training thing. Seth started the day out with his "Bob the Builder" underwear. All day long we took him to the potty every 15 or so minutes. Seth was great. Only one pee accident all day! We are exhausted after living in the bathroom all day. Thanks to Nana for coming over to entertain us all and take over some of the potty trips for a while - we really appreciate it! As Seth was trying to fall asleep (he is wearing diapers at night still - one thing at a time) he asked me to tell him a story. Often, I tell him a story about what we are going to do the next day. Tomorrow we are going to a friends birthday party at a park. Seth asked "Can I wear underwear outside?" I couldn't help laughing. One day one of potty training Seth hadn't left the house so we could be close to the potty - he wasn't sure if underwear was an inside and an outside thing! Great job Seth!

King Seth

Not posed - this is how Seth was actually watching tv yesterday morning. Too funny...

School Picnic

We celebrated the end of school with a picnic with Seth's class. It was really nice to be able to chat with the other Moms and to watch the kids play and interact with each other and some older siblings. Really fun morning!

Sleeping like a . . .

BABY!!! Justin has been continuing pretty much sleeping from 7:30pm until 5:30am. Unfortunately, he seems to be a morning person and cannot be convinced to go back to sleep after eating. So he has been snuggling with us.

Last day of school

Today was the last day of school. Trying to explain Seth what this means wasn't easy. He loves school. He loves his teachers, his friends, and all the fun activities they do at school. It is not too sad since he has one day off and then starts camp at his school on Monday. It is different - a different room, different mix of teachers and students (some old and some new). But still a milestone to be finishing his first year of school.

I cannot even remember all of the accomplishments and different things Seth has learned this year. He has really grown from a toddler to a little boy this year. He is more independent but he is still the little boy who loves life and when he gets excited his legs and feet start moving (hard to explain but if you have seen it you know what I am talking about).