Picking Food Up Off The Floor

The Boys

Head, …, …, & Toes The boys and I have been singing the “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” song. Drew is really good at putting his hands on his head at the right time. Bran really didn’t seem to care. Today we were singing while waiting for their dinner to cool down (distraction technique) and Brandon started touching his knees and toes in time with the song! And I thought he wasn’t paying attention. He’s not quite consistent with the knees, but he’s got the toes down. Now if Drewie can do his shoulders they have 1/2 the song done between them!

Andrew

Our Little Monkey. Drew is a climber. He especially loves to climb onto the kitchen chairs and the rocking chairs. He gets this really proud look on his face when he’s sitting in the chair. He also likes to sit on the edge and swing his feet. It’s really quite cute. But…now begins the discipline of “no standing!” The other day we were at a party and he climbed all the way into their son’s highchair without help.

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit. It would seem that aside from goodies like cheese, Drew’s favorite food is beans, especially the tooty kind. Kidney beans, black beans, chick peas… For a week he was eating a bean salad every day. He had his little bowl of beans and whenever it was empty he would ask for more!

Talking. The boys aren’t really saying much, but they’re coming along. Here’s what you might find Drew saying on an average day: Doggie (it sounds a bit like dada, but we don’t think he’s confused), done (used when he’s finished eating, sounds like daa). He also uses sign language to say “more” and “finished”. Twice he’s used the sign for eat (once when asking for some crackers and today when he saw corn muffins on the counter and wanted some). He kept signing eat over and over. He also knows sign for diaper change and when I make it he will often come over to get a change, unless he’s being stuborn.

Sliding in public. Drewie loves the slide, but he won’t go down when other kids are around. I always tell people “Drew loves the slide” and then when we’re out at the park with friends or at Sunday School (they have a little slide), he won’t go down. He’ll even go up, and then come back down the steps. Although he is still learning one important fact, that sliding requires one to either sit or lay on the slide, not walk down it. Last week he tried to walk down the little slide at church. He landed on his face, got a little red mark, but is perfectly fine.

Brandon

It’s a dog’s life. Bran loves dogs! He is happiest when playing catch with Noah. This is what it looks like, Noah lets Bran sneak up and grab the ball. Bran starts running, he manages to dodge a couple of Noah’s advances, but then in his excitement he drops the ball. Much giggling ensues and the fun begins again. The other day we were on Campus, Bran and I were walking around the sidewalk and he caught sight of a couple with a big dog, for what amounted to about a block Brandon kept repeating his word for dog over and over while following behind as fast as his little legs would take him. It was really cute! Thankfully the dog and his owners walked around a corner and out of sight. After a bit more chasing, the little one gave up.

What would you do for an…apple?! Our wonderful neighbor Fiore has been bringing us over boxes of apples from his tree. Bran found the box on the deck one day and grabbed two apples (one for each hand). A little while later I noticed that he was 3/4 of the way through one of them. They’re pretty small and he had eaten all the way through, core and all! So for the next several days every time we would leave or come into the house, he had to grab some apples. He took two with him when we went to get his stitches out and left them in his seat in the car. After that ordeal I offered him some crackers, no…he didn’t want any, so I offered cookies, after all a little boy who just got his stitches out should be able to have a cookie, but no…he refused. When we got back to the car, his face lit up and he started eating his apples!

The Stitches. Bran got his stitches out a week ago Thursday. That was not a good afternoon. The stitches had been done very well and they were very tight. So we had to swaddle Bran with his good hand inside. I held him down and sang songs to him while one nurse held his hand/finger and another nurse pulled up the stitches and put the tip of the scissors through to cut. Needless to say Brandon did not enjoy this one bit. The last stitch was really tight and the nurse with the scissors needed both hands, so I had to hold the stitch up! When the boys were in the hospital I left all of this kind of thing to Mike while I sat with the other baby. Now I’ve had to hold Bran down twice in two weeks (once for the IV and then stitch removal) Yuck! Sorry Bran!

What’s This? What’s That? Bran’s newest thing is pointing at objects so that I will tell him what they are. Every morning he points to the different animals on the border in his room, we go through almost all of them. After naps we often do the same. He’s quite a curious little fellow.

Posted under: Drew & Bran