The Harvey Family: April {2015}

Things were very different around here this month because Mimi officially went back to Texas. That's right, we had a crazy month as we started a new normal around this house. Having both boys to myself all day every day was overwhelming to say the least. We have missed Mimi like crazy but after a few weeks we're finally beginning to get into a new routine. There has definitely been a lot more crying than in the past but we're making it work. (Mimi we can't thank you enough for all the time you spent here and the boys will be so much better for all of your special attention! We love you!!) Brett finally got moved into his own bedroom and out of the master bedroom and that took a little getting used to but I think he's getting the hang of it. It is really nice for him to have his own space for naps and at night and still have access to the master suite!

This month Brett:

started walking on 4/4 officially. He had been taking 2 and 3 steps for a week or 2 but then we took him to MyGym for Blake's class. Since Blake was the only one in class, we took Brett out on the floor to let him explore and he was holding onto me one second and then walking across the room the next. He took a good 10 steps, and he hasn't stopped practicing since. I guess it was something about having a big wide open (clutterless) space at MyGym that helped him get started. He has been so much happier with his new skill!
pulls books out of the book shelves one by one and throws them on the floor at his feet or over his shoulder. He loves spending time in Blake's room and once he makes his way over to the book shelf, he can't resist all the books right at eye level. He seems to love the electronic Elmo book the best and always pulls it out first... perhaps it is the big red spine that is so enticing.
has been eating finger foods and his pincer grasp is great. He's been eating the puffs and pop chips that Blake eats and they've really allowed him to master his pincer grasp. At first he'd shove his palm into his face to try and get the food in his mouth and now he can use 2 and sometimes just 1 finger to get a sticky food item in his mouth. Really sticky foods haven't been going as well, like green beans and cooked carrots from my plate.
moved into his own bedroom. Now that Mimi is gone, it was time to move Brett into his own room and of our master bedroom. It figures that he was finally starting to sleep really well in our room right as we made the switch. The biggest downside to having him in his room is that we worry about his crying waking up Blake in the middle of the night since he still wakes up crying 3-4 times most nights. However, it is nice to have him in there for his naps during the day since that bedroom is the most remote room in the house.
slept through the night for the first and only time on 4/5. He slept until 5am! We still don't know what happened that night but it hasn't happened again. He's been fighting a cold off and on for a few weeks so that could be working against us. Most nights he'll wake up once before I feed him around 3/3:30am and then once more before he wakes up for the day around 6:30am.
really knows what we're saying. If you ask him to look for certain objects or people he'll turn and look right at them. He really knows a lot of what is going on around him and can even follow simple instructions like "go get the ball" or "throw me the ball".
likes to put toys in containers and shake them. Once we show him how to do something, he picks it up really quickly. I showed him how to nest a couple nesting cups and he grabbed them from me and did it right away and gave me the biggest smile! He would love when we'd put a toy inside a container because he'd pick it up and shake it, so now he puts them inside containers himself and shakes them to see what sound they'll make. Sometimes he even tries to stuff huge items in small containers and after a few tries realizes it isn't going to happen and moves on.
added a few more words to his arsenal. He says dada, baba, tata, nana, cih, eicht, and knows who mama and dada are. He's started talking a whole lot more, or at least making a lot more sounds all the time. If he wants to get a word in edgewise with his brother he's certainly going ot have to talk a lot!
started pointing with his whole hand. I've been trying to get him to look up in the sky at airplanes and have had zero luck but now it seems like every time we go outside and he sees the trees moving in the breeze he'll point up at the sky. He also loves pointing to the birthday balloons that we still have up on the ceiling from Chris's birthday (the boys wanted to get balloons for him since we got some for Blake's birthday -- it's kind of become a birthday tradition -- sadly they caused the death of our kitchen clock that was hung on the small piece of wall that goes over the entrance to the kitchen -- sad face).
eats 3 solid meals and nurses 6 times most days. Brett still nurses around 9:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:45pm, and then ususally 2 times at night (I always hope the second one will just be around 6:30/7am when he gets up for the day). We're probably going to need to start weaning him from the 4:30pm and obviously I'd love to drop the middle of the night feed but I'm just not sure it's in the cards for us just yet. He eats his other meals with us in the high chair and he will typically eat a fruit/veggie pouch and some toast or pop chips and then whatever other finger foods we have on hand. He LOVES avocado right now but isn't very good at picking it up so I spoon feed that to him still.
can nest 2 cups. He is so stinkin proud of himself for being able to do this and will do it over and over. He started doing it with the actual nesting cups but will even try to do it with any other cups he finds lying around and makes sure to show me with his big ol' grin.
got measured for shoes and measured at a size 5 W so they said he could wear a 5.5 wide. He had just started walking the week before and when we were there he walked out of the store and he was so incredibly excited. He is really strong and coordinated but he also has no fear which is scary coming from our older child who was always so calculated.
feels obligated to pull the seat cushions off the kitchen chairs onto the floor. We always have to rescue a seat cushion to sit down at the table and eat.
is quite the rhino when he tries to snuggle with anyone on the floor. He just drops his head and plows right into you, and most of the time will either climb over you or use you as a stepping stone to climb onto something else like the couch. He's also started biting which is scary as he drives his head into any part of your body. He's mostly gotten my abdomen but I get scared when he gets near my inner thighs or chest. I've started giving him a nail pinch back and he's not biting as much at least.
imitates us brushing our hair. He only really does it with a brush which is quite impressive.
imitates the noise that Blake makes with his tongue but uses the back of his hand instead. See one of the videos below... it's hard to describe.
started dancing while standing. If he hears a song that he likes, mostly on the children's tv stations or on the radio he'll drop down and bounce up and down and get this adorable smile on his face. He is not shy in the least and loves the attention.
moved up to size 4 diapers. The size 3 started leaving marks on his legs which really don't have much baby fat left on them, so we had to move up to 4s for all day use.
claps and waves. After he started pointing, he started waving hi and bye (sometimes he'll put his arm out and maybe wave the whole thing up and down a couple times) but it isn't every time just yet. He does like to wave to every person we pass when I'm carrying him front facing in the baby carrier at the store. Most of the women smile and wave back but the men pretend like they didn't see him (unless they're a dad or grandpa, then they'll wave back and smile). He also started clapping but doesn't really make a clapping sound just yet, only puts his hands together.
requires a 1-2 inch buffer around the kitchen table. He has Gessner arms for sure. Just when you think that plate of crumbs is out of reach he gives it one last stretch and grabs and pulls it down.
loves fruit pouches. These were a savior while I was sick and couldn't bear to fight with him with puree and a spoon. Plus he can down 3.5 oz in a few seconds where it would take no less than 5-10 minutes with a spoon. I can't let him have it on his own just yet because he'll take it and wave it around and throw it on the tray and floor and even squeeze it with both hands right in the middle (think water fountain), so I just "spot" him by holding onto a corner.
holds everything up on his shoulder like a phone. He carries around the tv remote mostly and will hold it up on his shoulder like a phone. If he so much as hears a phone ring he'll just put his hand up on his shoulder like he's using the phone... so funny!

This month Blake:

took a week of swim lessons. We went to the Palm Harbor Y during spring break and Blake was a little slow to warm up to the idea but luckily he got a little one-on-one instruction on the first day and he got a little more familiar with the water each day. He ended up with a fever on Thursday night so he didn't get to go to the last class sadly. He learned how to kick, scoop water, blow bubbles, and jump into the water with a life jacket on. He also got to walk in the shallow end of the pool and go down the water slide at the end of each day.
dyed Easter eggs for the first time. He was so excited and wanted to dip each egg in every color. He couldn't wait longer than 5 seconds before getting it out and moving to the next color. Needless to say, we ended up with a few brown eggs, haha.
took 3 hour naps for quite a few days. He might have just been fighting a cold but he slept from 2-5pm for a good week or so and I have to say it was nice as I am still getting into the groove of watching these 2 boys all day during the week.
has been super sweet and says things to me like, "I love you so much", "You're my favorite girl in the whole world", "I love snuggling with you", and "I really love you all the time."
always talks about how much he loves his brother.
loves pushing Brett in the stroller. When we pick Blake up from school sometimes I'll bring him in the stroller and Blake is so excited to get to push him back to the car.
still fights me about eating breakfast and sometimes dinner. He is so picky that the only thing I can be sure he'll eat in the morning is some sort of fruit puree in a pouch. He'll rarely eat bacon now and sometimes toast with dipping sauce (maple syrup). He used to eat eggs but refuses them now. He went thru a phase where he'd eat bananas but that was short lived once he had one at the wrong stage of ripeness I guess.
throws things without thinking. When he's done with something or gets distracted he'll just toss it aside and it can be just behind him or across the room.
started taking showers. He normally needs to bathe once Brett goes to sleep and now that Brett is in the bedroom right next to that bathroom, it just made more sense to let him take showers in our bathroom. It's much quicker and he seems to enjoy getting to spray things in the shower (since we have the shower head with a long hose).
was so cute when he was trying to avoid getting ready for his nap. While he and Brett were in the playroom he said to me, "You want to come have fun with us?"
continued to make potty training difficult for us. He has so many excuses as to why he can't go use the potty. Every time he has to go pee, he'll ask if he's wearing a regular diaper or a pull up so he can decided if he really should go use the potty or if he can get away with going in his diaper. We recently had to go back to the training underpants because the pull ups seem to irritate his skin anyway. As long as he doesn't get a ton of fluid to drink he seems to do a pretty good job remembering to use the potty (as long as he's home). When he drinks the quantity of juice/water that he wants, he ends up needing to go to the potty no less than 2x an hour, sometimes the trips are back to back. We still are working on using the public potty when we're out and about. Sometimes he'll request to use it and other times he'll make sure he's in a diaper so he doesn't have to go in the bathroom and risk hearing a loud fan or possible electric hand dryer which terrify him.
can finally pronounce the "sp" sound at the beginning of words. He used to replace the "sp" with the "f" sound and we kept trying to get him to say it correctly and he would just ignore us. He loves it when Daddy builds him a jumping spot out of pillows so he can jump off the couch onto a big area of pillows so he'd always ask Daddy to build a "jumping fot". And for some reason he uses a lot of "sp" words when he's talking about all the machines he wants to make. Spray, splash, sprinkle, spread, etc.
likes to say "I surprised you" and I know I need to be scared. This normally means he did something that is dangerous, destructive, or just generally a bad idea. Some of the time it involves Brett too which is never good. For instance he likes to stick the balloon string in Brett's mouth, and of course Brett welcomes anything into his mouth, and Blake will say "I'm going to surprise you... ta-da!"
started getting pretty rough seasonal allergies we think. We got the water table out since the weather has been so hot and after going out 3 days in a row, Blake's eyes were all red from rubbing them and his nose has never really stopped running since then. We went to the Dermatologist and were told that he probably has allergies to something outside which causes his eyes to itch so he rubs them and then causes eczema all over his eyelids. Poor boy! So we've had to put him on Zyrtec in the mornings and Benedryl at night. This is supposed to help his allergies plus help him from scratching any other spots on his skin that might develop into eczema as well. We have only been doing it a week so we'll have to keep going and see if it helps. So far the allergies haven't gotten much better since his nose is still running and his eyes seem to be red and itchy off and on.

Pics:

I'm walking!

Hey look a drum and I already had a drumstick in my hand.

Happy time after his pm nap.

Walking and blowing bubbles.

He climbed onto the car without falling. He's getting closer to being like his brother every day.

One of the many loving wrestling matches that go down on the floor.

The rhino in action, and Blake loves the attention.

The calm after the storm (or before round 2).

Blake using the stud finder. (Daddy was in the other room so it wasn't making much noise -- LOL)

Peekaboo!

Enough whisks for everyone.

It was all fun and games until Brett got stuck.

But Blake, I have a toy in there.

Brett and this construction hat. He was so excited, he would put the hat on (over his face) and laugh hysterically and walk as fast as he could before I stopped him and tried to fix it so he could actually see where he was going.