Applesauce

As I mentioned, we just started with purees for Nate. Simon wanted to get in on the action, so we put the tray on his booster seat and got him a bib and his own applesauce.Then he wanted to feed the baby...and he did pretty well!

Friends!

Simon has a good friend from school, Finn (called "Finn Mac" because there are two Finns at school), who he talks about all the time. And since Finn Mac recently moved up to the next classroom, Simon and I got together with him and his mother at a park yesterday. They were adorable together, they had so much fun running around and being silly. Finn would wait for Simon at the end of the slide and help him off...when Finn tripped and fell, Simon did some pratfalls too...they slid down slides side by side...it was great. And when Lisa, Finn's mom, pulled out her camera to get a photo of them at the top of the slides, they got really silly and started yelling "Cheese! No!" over and over. Here are a couple of pictures and a quick video of the two of them together.

April

Spring seems to finally be peeking around the corner! We started the month with a beautiful Easter that I posted about already. Simon is very excited that the weather has been nicer these past few weeks and has been having a lot of fun outside. He is really into lawn mowers at the moment and we watched a neighbor mow his lawn for a while this past week. We were on our way to the toy store anyway, and on the way there he told me that we were going to buy a lawnmower. I crossed my fingers they would have something that he would accept, and thankfully, he has a great imagination. He has spent a lot of time since mowing the lawn and also changing out the pretend batteries in his "lawnmower":

While more sun is a wonderful thing, it also means it's a little tougher getting Simon to believe it's bedtime. He gets a little silly at night sometimes:





But once he calms down, he's awfully sweet and loves to read his favorite books:

Nate is taking some big steps...he is learning to sit up in his seat and play in his jumper and has started the "put everything in his mouth" phase:

We started solids with him today- we gave him some applesauce and he loved it! Here's an adorable picture and a video of him in action.

Nate isn't the only one learning new food tricks. I taught Simon the old "See Food" joke:




Finally, spring means new, cute summer clothes. We had a particularly warm day and I dressed Nate in overalls, so of course Simon wanted to wear some too. Luckily, I bought him a pair at a recent local consignment sale, and we got some adorable pictures of the Osh Kosh brothers:

So that's it for April! Bye for now!

Simon Video Catch Up

Turns out that Matt was hoarding some Simon videos on his phone...so here are three quick fun ones. First, Simon climbs and scares the crap out of me, even when I watch it back on a video.



 Then, Simon shows off his counting skills, kind of. Let's hope he doesn't become a math teacher.



 And finally, here he is at another birthday party-- his friend from daycare, Kailey, was turning three. He doesn't quite get the concept of "freeze".

Yard Work

Now that it's getting to be nicer out, Simon's obsession with household chores has turned to the lawn. He watched a neighbor mow his lawn for a while, and then picked out a "lawn mower" at the toy store. But as with every Simon  activity these days, he had to change the batteries quite a few times to get it to work properly...

Bros

Simon is showing more interest in "bro bro" these days...

We had a really fun Easter last weekend! Grandma was in town, and Simon enjoyed going downstairs to wake her up bright and early each morning. She was a big help with both boys and got lots of Nate smiles all weekend.

We hosted our PEPS group for an Easter egg hunt in the front yard and it was adorable. Some of the kids were hoarders and loaded up their baskets with as many eggs as they could find really quickly. Others, like Simon, couldn't resist finding and opening one egg at a time, and eating whatever they found right then and there. Simon also pulled a fast one on another child--he snuck an egg out of someone's basket, took the candy out and replaced the empty egg. :)

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and the weather cooperated, which was great.

After naps, Simon was excited to see that the Easter Bunny had paid us a visit and left him and Nate each a basket on the front lawn. Again, he went right for the candy, dumping non-edibles on the grass and showing us all of the sweets he got. He was particularly excited to find out that what looked like a toy chick was actually an edible Peep--he's a fan for life, I would imagine.

We also received some wonderful cards and gifts for the boys from family in Atlanta and NJ, thanks everyone! And thanks again to Grandma for visiting and helping us make Easter really fun!

5 months old!

Nate is 5 months old already! He's a bubbly, happy guy pretty much all of the time these days, the days of him crying constantly from his reflux feel so long ago already. He still takes medication for reflux and it seems to keep him pretty stable most of the time, which is such a relief for all of us. And his last potassium draw was a 5.2, which is lower than it's been since we started checking, I believe.

 Nate's been in daycare for about a month now and continues to do well. They love him--he is just as happy and smiley there as he is with us. Simon has even been a little more interested in him these days, and Nate is definitely interested in watching Simon run around.

 Nate is working on sitting up in his various seats, trying hard to put everything in reach into his mouth, although he doesn't have the dexterity to quite manage that yet, and playing with his feet. We have started putting him in a high chair from time to time and he seems to like being able to check the world out from a new perspective. Similarly, we moved him to a "big boy" car seat on the early side since he always cried in his bucket seat, likely from the reflux. He is much happier now, and generally sits contentedly looking out the window as we drive.

 So, here it is, the 5 month photo!

Simon the barber

We took Simon for a haircut this past weekend and he really enjoyed it. He's been lots of times in the past, but he was extra well behaved this time and seemed to actually enjoy himself rather than just put up with it. (The lollipop he gets at the end definitely played a part, that's for sure.) And I found out that ever since, he has been giving all the boys at school haircuts. Don't worry, he isn't actually cutting anyone's hair, but instead he is using toys and running them over the kids' heads, making a sound like the clippers that they use on him at the salon. I even saw a photo--he had a line of three kids waiting!

So when we got home today, he gave me, Matt and Nate haircuts too, and I got it on video. Note at the end how he unwraps presents Matt with an imaginary lollipop, he came up with that on his own. I encouraged him to collect payment, Dad was trying to get away without paying. :)

Nathaniel's Lullaby

A few months after Simon was born, I wrote some new lyrics to the traditional song "Lullaby", simply because the lyrics were really old-fashioned and odd. But that's really become Simon's lullaby and we still sing it to him frequently. So I knew we would need one for Nate, but all the songs I thought about just didn't feel quite right. Until today...one of Simon's favorite Raffi songs is Baby Beluga and I finally looked at the lyrics. So, with a little rejiggering, here is "Baby Nathaniel", sung to the tune of Baby Beluga.

Baby Nathaniel in the deep blue sea
Swim so wild and you swim so free
Sun up above and the sea below
And our little baby boy on the go

Baby Nathaniel, Oh Baby Nathaniel
With tomorrow's sun, another day's begun
You'll soon be waking

When it's dark, you're home and fed
Curled up snug in your waterbed
Moon is shining and the stars are bright
Good night little baby good night
Good night little baby good night

(If you aren't familiar with Baby Beluga, here's a girl singing it on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUjIz3KcE5Q)