25 months

Well, it's definitely turned from summer to fall, but we are trying to take advantage of any days of sun that we get...

Simon loves riding around on Matt's shoulders, here he is at the zoo when Grandpa and Laura were here:

We hit the wading pool one last time before it closed:

Simon got a couple more great birthday gifts from Lorie and Amy, Nick & Emerson, and both included hats, which made him very happy! (thanks again guys!)

And we started to find things to do inside, like paint our faces like cats one night...

...watch a movie and eat popcorn (he sat still for about 15 minutes!)

And of course, dustbusting is always a fun way to pass the time!

Speaking of time passing, we can't quite believe how close we are to the arrival of baby boy #2! Here I am today, at 32 weeks and 1 day. Only about 7 weeks to go!

Visit from Grandpa and Laura

We had Grandpa and Laura visit a couple of weeks ago and it was a great weekend. Simon was really excited to see them, and talked a lot about "Papa" (he can't quite say grandpa yet). We fit a lot in that weekend: we went to the playground and Simon showed off his climbing and sliding skills. We went to the zoo and Simon got to pet some animals. We played out back with the hose, pool and water table, with Simon making sure everyone was at least partly soaked by the time we were done. And we got a new "talk" book for Grandpa to record since the one he gave Simon at Christmas broke and Simon was upset about it.

Here are some pictures from the weekend and a video of Simon and Grandpa playing out back.

At the playground:

At the zoo:

Playing out back:

Click here to view this video

And reading books at bedtime:

thanks for the visit, it was great to spend the time together!

Pacis are for babies!

Well, it's night 4 without the paci and I feel like I can talk about it without jinxing us.

Simon has been a paci kid since he was born. We made it a crib- and car-only thing about a year ago, with exceptions for times he was sick or really upset for some reason. We knew we needed to get rid of it soon with the new baby coming and our pediatrician agreed.

His recommendation was to prep Simon for a week or so by talking about it, so we told Simon that pacis were for babies and since we was a big boy now, we would be giving his pacis to a baby down the street. At first he would say no and look a little worried, but over the course of a week, he seemed to start to get it. This past Sunday, we told him that we would be giving his pacis away the next day and he nodded in understanding.

Monday morning--I let him have his paci in the car on the way to daycare and when we got there I reminded him that this was it. I said, say bye bye to your pacis--he thought about it for a second, took the one out of his mouth, looked at it and threw it on the floor.

Matt picked him up and there were no pacis in the car on the way home. We were dreading bedtime, but figured we would have a few terrible nights and hoped that the inevitable sleep disruption wouldn't last too long.

So we got to bedtime, we got through PJs, and while we were reading a book, he asked for a paci. We said, what did tell you about pacis? He said "baby!" and that was that.

He did pop up a couple of times that first night and we had to remind him about the baby and the pacis, but he went to sleep fairly quickly. One more pop up at 10, which took a brief visit to put him back down and that was that!

The next morning, he woke up at 6. Ugh. When I went in to get him, he asked again about the pacis, and then seemed to remember and said "baby!" and then pointed to himself and said "big!"

Since then we have had a few moments like that, where we have to gently remind him why he doesn't have his pacis anymore, but no crying, no tantrums, no serious sleep disruption.

We kind of can't believe it's been this easy, so hopefully I won't be updating this post when the other shoe drops. But he has been such a sweet, mature little boy about this, and we are incredibly proud of him!

Here's a picture of him sleeping, without a paci!

Excitement at Toys R Us

We went to Toys R Us the other day and Simon found--and was completely entranced by--this terribly annoying but apparently amazing toy called Fijit. He pressed the "try me!" button over and over and started talking to the toy and answering its questions. Here's a quick video of this happening, but when he realized I was taping him, he got really self-conscious and stopped.

By the way, anyone who gets the idea that this might be a great gift for Simon because he's so into it, please stop right there and walk away from that idea. Just turn around and pretend you never saw this video. matt and i thank you.

Playing in the kitchen

Here's a quick clip of Simon playing in his kitchen--note the stylish diaper and socks getup.

Morning guitar

When I need to get ready in the morning and Simon is already up, I will often ask him to serenade me with his guitar as I put my makeup on. Here's a quick clip of him "strumming".

He's so into his guitar--his teachers at daycare says he "plays" on all kinds of things--he'll pick up any random item--wooden spoon, broom, crayon... and strum away! He has even adopted a collar stay that he found as a pick, and stores it in the strings when he's not playing! When he gets it to stay there, he yells "Oh, got it!" or "I did it!"