Lessons learned

Here are some lessons I have learned (or relearned) this month:

1. Two and a half year olds NEED naps!!

At least Alan does. This week he has only napped twice, and boy, let me tell you what a fun week it has been. When Alan misses his nap he becomes a emotional, hyper active, ball of energy that has 10 times as many behavior problems as when he is well rested (in other words, he hits Conner at lot and spends a lot more time in time out). Thursday was particularly bad...Reed was working late and I had reached the end of my patience by about 2 o'clock. Reed came home to this scene: While I tried to calm Conner down (he was fussy), Alan climbed on the counter and accidently dumped the pancake batter (pancakes was all I could muster for dinner that day) all over the counter and carpeted kitchen floor. I told him to help me clean up and the next time I turn my back I hear Conner cry out. Alan had hit him, so he went into time out. By the time he was done with time out he was in tears, I was in tears and Conner was wailing again. Nice scene for Reed to come home to. To show the benefit of naps here is a nice picture of Conner taking a siesta on our bed.

2. Two year olds aren't interested in magic shows!

We tried to take Alan to a magic show this week (a final party for the reading program with the library). Reed and I thought it was interesting and even Conner sat through it really well but after about 5 minutes Alan started bouncing around in his seat, trying to scare the people behind us, and bugging the kids next to him. In the picture below Conner is making an amazed face at all the cool tricks (just kidding, he is laying on our bed pulling faces)

3. Swimming pools close when you are planning to go there.

The outdoor swimming pool that they have here closed for a while because the water main broke and flooded the building and some of the water pumps. They were going to have a party there for all the kids who read 20 books for the summer reading program at the library. The party got moved to another pool that didn't have a shallow place for Alan to play. Here is a picture of Reed and Alan enjoying the pool before it closed.

4. The parades here in Scottsbluff give out enough candy to rival Halloween night.

A couple of weeks ago was Oregon Trail days here in Scottsbluff. Part of the celebrations were the kiddie parade on Friday and the regular parade on Saturday. Alan had never seen a parade that he could remember and he didn't really know what to think of this one until he realized that they were throwing candy. Then he decided he really likes parades! He got so much candy! There was a middle age couple sitting next to us that gave Alan all of the candy that they recieved too.

5. Whoever decided to put carpet in the bathrooms of our house never had to potty train a little boy.

I think the carpets are going to need cleaned when we are done with potty training!! Or maybe after we have perfected the aiming part. Honestly, who puts carpets in bathrooms?!?! Alan is about 80% potty trained. He hasn't had any wetting accidents for a couple of weeks and he has his bowel movements in the toilet about 75% of the time. I can't wait until he is completely consistent.

Conner's 2 month check up

Conner had his two month check up on Monday (it was more like a 2 1/2 month check up). He is a tall baby! The doctors said he wasn't really on the growth chart for height but he estimated he was in the 97th percentile!! Here are his stats:

Height: 25.5 inches
97th percentile
Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz
75th percentile

Now I have to call the immunization clinic and schedule his shots. We could have got them at the doctor's office for $400, or I could go to the clinic and pay $10. Why are shots so expensive at the doctor's office????

Answers

Okay, here are the answers to the previous Name that Baby post.

Alan is B, B, A
Conner is A, A, B

Thanks to all who guessed!!!

Name that Baby

We have had some people ask who Conner looks like and the easiest answer is: Alan!! Here are some pictures to compare. In each set of pictures one is of Alan and one is of Conner. They are about the same age in the pictures and they are obviously wearing the same clothes. Can you tell which is which? I will post the answers after I have seen some people guess!!

Picture Set #1:
Baby A Baby B

Picture Set #2

Baby A

Baby B

Picture Set #3

Baby A

Baby B

Good luck!!! Post your answers in the comment area.

Funny Morning

This morning Alan and I were eating oatmeal and toast with peanut butter for breakfast. Conner was sitting in his swing close by watching us. I left the room for a minute to get something and when I came back Alan was climbing back into his chair. I glanced at Conner and he was fine so I started to eat again. After a minute Conner started to fuss so I picked him up and brought him back to the table with me. Then I noticed that he had some orange/brown stuff in one of his eyebrows that looked suspiciously like peanut butter. Then, even stranger, I noticed that he had a big wet patch on his forehead. I wiped the wet stuff off with my hand, wondering what was going on. Alan watched me do this. Then he smiled and said "I lick it off". Then understanding dawned. I asked Alan if he had licked peanut butter off of Conner and he said "Yeah!" Alan must have given him a kiss and left some peanut butter on him, so he cleaned it off. Poor Conner!

Then a minute later he wanted to give Conner another kiss so I told him to go and wash his hands and face first. He came running back, whimpering, and said:
A: A lion!!
Me: Is there a lion in the bathroom?
A: Yeah!!
Me: Go tell that lion to go away.
A: Okay
from the hallway I hear:
A: Go outside lion, go outside. Mom, a lion!
Me: Is the lion still there?
A: Yeah!! I want to shoot!
Me: Yeah, go shoo it away.
A: Shoo lion, shoo. Go to Zoo!!

I love his imagination! That is our morning so far. Have a wonderful day.

Busy, busy, busy

So Conner had his 1 month well child check up on June 9th. Here are his stats:
weight: 10 lbs. 1 1/2 oz.
50th percentile
height: 23 1/4 inches
90th percentile
So he is long and skinny (although he is putting on more chunk now, I think).
Here are some pictures of one month old Conner:

Conner and Grandma Bassett Alan giving Conner a kiss

Conner fell asleep on Reed's chest (Reed didn't mind at all)

We all went to the zoo while Mom and Dad B. were here. Here Reed, Alan and I are posing as wildlife.
The zoo has machines where you can put in a quarter and get fish food out. Alan loves to feed the ducks, as shown below.
Alan and Grandpa looking at the lion:
Admiring a peacock that was wandering around.
Last weekend we took Alan to an outdoor swimming pool that has some slides, and a bunch of fun toys. Alan was so past excited it was funny. He couldn't hold still. The pool is surrounded by a fence and the whole time that we were outside the pool Alan kept saying he wanted to go "into the cage". I wish I would have remembered the camera. Unfortunately the pool tricked us and by the time we got in to the pool it was only open for 45 minutes. Oh well.

This week I went to Girl's camp with Conner. I only went up for the day because there wasn't any extra room for me to sleep, plus sleeping there with a 6 week old baby didn't sound like fun. It was a long drive up and back on one day but it was worth it. It was a lot of fun to see the girls there and we had our Bishop's night that evening. It was wonderful to listen to the Bishop talk to the girls and he brought a wonderful chocolate pie to share at the end. Yum!!

Reed is headed to Scout camp this next week. It has been kind of stressful for him to get all the boys ready to go but hopefully it will be fun.

That is an update on our wonderful, busy (I ran out of time to put down all the things we have been up to) life. Have a wonderful day!

First Smiles

Conner is about 6 weeks old in this picture. He started smiling when he was about a month old but this was the first smile I caught on camera. I love baby smiles!!!!

I could sum Conner up as easy-going. He is a pretty relaxed baby. He hardly ever cries and he doesn't get fussy very often for which I am extremely grateful! And last night he slept for 6 hours in a row!!! Yes, I got about 5 1/2 uninterrupted hours of sleep and it felt so good.