Our Future Yoga Master

During my workout one morning, Brendan decided to join in and show off his sweet yoga moves.  He loves to stretch (especially when Chris is doing his stretches for his back pain) and he loves my yoga mat.

He’s got some pretty sweet moves.

This boy cracks me up.

My baby is growing up

This past weekend, Chris took Brendan on his first Father-Son camp out with our church and it made me realize just how grown up Brendan is. I can’t believe he’s old enough to go camping with his dad!

NOTE: As a first hand witness to the camping events, I thought I'd add a few insights into what went on during Brendan's first camp out. My notes will be in red font throughout this post.

NOTE: This is the first time Valerie and I have collaborated on a post.

NOTE: Valerie doesn't know I am doing this. Hopefully she approves of my content.

NOTE: I will now proceed with my details of the weekend's events.

Brendan was super excited about going camping even though we weren’t sure if he knew exactly what camping meant. I did a Google Image search and showed him pictures of people camping and sleeping in tents, and that got him even more excited until I told him he’d be sleeping in a sleeping bag- he didn’t like that idea very much but everything else sounded good to him. While we were getting everything together by the door, Brendan decided to line up all his toys to take with him too. He even packed a backpack full of his trains and cars but unfortunately he had to leave all those behind. Our tent isn’t that big.

I wish we had some video showing Brendan packing up all of his toys for the big camp out. It wasn't just him piling up the toys by the door, it was him yelling, squealing, running back and forth, and the occasional pause as he stopped to think about what other items he needed to pack, then it was back to squealing, running, and yelling. This probably went on for 45 minutes or so. It's safe to say he was excited. He didn't know what camping was, but he new it would be fun and I suspect he thought it would be for more than a day, which is why he felt the need to pack everything he owns.

Brendan was a little mad about the toys but once the car was packed, he was ready to go. Of course it didn’t hurt that his best buddy Josh was going to be there too. Brendan kept saying before they left, “Brendan camping, dad camping, Josh camping.” He was so stoked that his favorite people were all going to be there.

I have to admit that I was worried about this Father and Son camp out. I thought Brendan might run off and get lost in the woods, but to my surprise, he was well behaved and always came back when I called him, even when his friends were off playing elsewhere. If Brendan keeps this up we can avoid the embarrassment of hooking him up to a toddler leash. Although, Brendan might actually enjoy the leash.


Brendan is a big fan of hot dogs so he actually ate dinner there. I was a little worried that he would be too excited to eat. He’s been known to do that.

You wouldn't know by this picture, but Brendan actually toasted his own hot dog over the campfire. It was cooked just right; nice and hot, but no black char marks. Brendan also wanted to throw other items in the fire, such as his juice box, cookies, and the rod used to cook the hot dog.

 
It was quite warm and humid that night so Brendan got to sleep in just his pull-up, which he loved. Brendan loves to be as naked as possible as much as possible.

Falling asleep was a little hard since Brendan could hear people in the other tents and the older kids who were still awake. Chris said that Brendan kept yelling “Quiet!” at the other kids, which made me laugh because usually Brendan is the loud one and we’re telling him to be quiet.

Chris and Brendan had such a great time and I’m glad that they could have a special father-son trip together. Plus, it meant that I got to go out with my friend Sasha and have a nice night out all by myself. It was bliss.

For such a special occasion, we hired a professional photographer to take pictures of us as we slept soundly in our little two-man tent.

Before the above picture was taken there was a moment when we first were getting settled into the tent where I smelled something funny. I checked Brendan's underwear and he was clean. I then checked my underwear. I too was clean. I tried to ignore the smell, but it kept getting worse as Brendan moved around. I finally tracked down the origin of the foul odor and it turned out to be a whole lot of fresh poop on the bottom of Brendan's shoe. I immediately ripped the shoe of and tried to clean it up as best I could scraping most of the mess off onto a log, then dumping bottled water on it. I left the shoe out the rest of the night. The scary thing is that no one had any animals with them at this camp out and I could only assume it was human. Very gross.

In other camping news, Brendan found a little frog that he chased around a tree while I set up the tent. Some other kids found a turtle they carried around with them the whole night. But the wildlife adventures didn't end there. When we got home from the camp out I noticed a small bug crawling up my leg. I tried to smash it, but it was strong and couldn't be squished. I took it outside and was able to crush it with a rock. My first thought was that it looked like a tick. However, it looked different from any tick I had seen, so I just brushed the thought off. A while later Brendan was getting changed and I saw a bug with it's small head burrowed into Brendan's belly. I new it was a tick. We got one out of his stomach, his leg, and his head. A day later I had one in my leg (even after showering twice and changing all my clothes). We don't like ticks, but the good news is that there appear to be no signs of Lyme disease.

Back to the camp out. Brendan and I slept through the night and were woken up at six AM to kids shouting and running around. We didn't get much sleep and we tried to eat the breakfast they made for us, but Brendan isn't in to breakfast burritos, so we just came home. We surprised Valerie by being home so early, but she was happy to see us again. She always enjoys having the bed to herself. But the camp out was a success and will surely be the first of many more to come.

The End

I think I’ve created a monster

I mentioned before that I started rewarding Brendan with a car every time he successfully did #2 in the potty, and I think it’s gotten a little out of hand.

I should note that many of these cars are not new; they’re ones that he’s owned for a while but his collection on a whole has spiraled out of control. He’s gotten to the point where he tries to force himself to go poop every time he uses the bathroom, and I can hear him grunting with effort of trying to force it out. Sometimes he’s successful in squeezing out a tiny one and he’ll come and tell me “Another car, Mommy”. We’ve cut him off of this habit and I don’t think he likes it.

But I have to say that his rewards worked though. He was so excited to go to the bathroom and he quickly transitioned into his underwear full-time. This whole experience has been a bit up and down but for the most part has been better than I was expecting. I think the cars helped a lot.

For very special accomplishments (like lasting the whole 3 hours of church without an accident), Brendan would get a Cars figurine car and they are his pride and joy now.

Again, this is something that we’ve stopped doing but has seemed to help him be more motivated about using the bathroom and going longer periods of time without accidents.

Now that we’ve made it through potty-training, the transition to a big boy bed is up next this summer. I’m hoping that that goes as well as potty-training did but I’m not looking forward to it. Again, if anyone has any tips or suggestions, let me know. I’m sure I’ll need them!

Because the weather here is not the greatest at the moment

Brendan has been complaining a lot that it’s “too sunny” when we go outside so while at the store the other day, I asked him if he’d like a pair of sunglasses to which he respond with a squeal of delight. Brendan has never liked sunglasses in the past and wouldn’t wear them longer than a few seconds but now that’s he’s 3, he’s totally into them.

It definitely feels like summer with my boy running around in shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses! I just wish the weather would cooperate now.

The Best Homecoming

Chris was gone all weekend and got home late Monday night. We tried waking Brendan up so he could see his dad for the first time in 4 days but the kid was out cold. Even the mention of presents didn’t do the trick. So this morning, Brendan discovered the presents his dad left him and he couldn’t rip into them fast enough.

The Lego airplane was a HUGE hit and Brendan demanded that we put it together immediately. It took me a while to get it right since it was 8:30 in the morning but we finally did it and it is pretty cool.

Of course Iron Man had to get in on the action. (Iron Man was a recent addition as well from a Burger King kids meal- they have the best toys right now!)

Grandma sent a magnet book and it was also a huge hit- Brendan loves magnets. His favorite is the snake and he likes to chase me with it while making some fierce hissing sounds. Brendan sends a big thank you to Grandma for sending such an awesome surprise home with his dad. She knows him so well!

I think I got the best gifts though- a box of See’s chocolates (which I’ve devoured most of already), I have my husband home again, I don’t have to sleep alone anymore and I’m no longer a single parent. It was hard work being on my own with Brendan for so long and we’re both thrilled that Chris is back!

Brendan needs a kitten

At the library yesterday, Brendan happened to find a book about cats and fell in love. I think it was meant to be- he just stumbled upon it while I was looking for a book in the adult non-fiction section and it was in the same aisle. He clutched it to his chest the whole time we were at the library and the first thing he did when we got home was jump on the couch and start reading it.

There are tons of pictures and Brendan can’t get enough of them. He stops every few seconds to say “Look Mommy!” and show me yet another picture of a kitty.

I think this means that Chris should finally give in and let us get a kitten.

Double the Trouble

Yesterday we found out that we’re expecting another baby boy come mid-September. We couldn’t be more excited and are looking forward to meeting our newest boy.

 

It was a great experience to see the baby opening and closing his mouth, sticking out his tongue, and curled up in a super tight ball. He was quite active during the ultrasound and the technician felt more than a few of his kicks- what can I say? It seems that we produce kids abounding with energy.

Our ultrasound technician also happened to be practicing her 3-D ultrasound skills so she used me as some extra practice. We didn’t get the best images since the baby didn’t want to cooperate and get in a better position but it was still amazing to see him. He’s a real baby! Who knew? I am completely and whole-heartedly in love.