The Harvey Family: September {2015}

This month Brett:

loves books and will sit still for a few pages at least. He even likes to look through books on his own in the car.
asks to nurse ALL THE TIME. He'll come and sit in my lap and tug on the neck of my shirt and say "yes?" or just "Uh?" and start fussing immediately if I don't say yes or if I say no. Needless to say, weaning isn't going well for me.
walks up and gives me random leg hugs. It certainly isn't all the time but he can be super sweet sometimes. I wish he would come and snuggle with me when I was sitting down too, but if he comes and sits in my lap it's because he wants to nurse or maybe he just decides that since he's in my lap that it would be nice to just go ahead and nurse too. The leg hugs are the only unmotivated affection I seem to get, so I'll take it.
started pinching. He pinches himself and me just because he likes grabbing skin I think. He is confused when I jump and tell him that it hurts me.
says bye bye, more (mah), dog (dah), all done (ahh nuh), uh oh, mama and dada (and means it), num num (muh muh - nursing), yes (ssssss), baby (bah bah), hello (eh nah)
prances while running. I really need to get this on video. It is so adorable when he gets excited and runs into the other room with his arms up and little legs running as fast as possible on almost tip toes.
hugs people when they cry (or as soon as they're done crying). He can be very sensitive when it comes to other people. He can sense when other people are upset and he is so cute when he goes over and hugs them to make them feel better. He wants to do this when Blake is in time out too which is sweet, but it isn't helping Blake get the point of his time out when Brett just wants to make sure he's ok. Ironically, a lot of the time Blake is in time out for hurting Brett.
has tried brussel sprouts, kidney beans, beef, chicken sausage, pork, zucchini, bell peppers, and rice milk. He likes veggies mostly and will eat a couple bites of meat if that, but didn't like the milk so we'll have to keep looking for one he'll drink (to be honest, it is pretty chalky and yucky).
got his final 1 year molar (lower right).
has the most high pitched, ear piercing scream ever. And he screams a lot. He is just at the stage where he is so frustrated about not being able to communicate everything he wants, then not being able to get everything he wants even though he can communicate it, and sometimes Blake just wants to love on him too much.
started music class and MyGym while Blake is in school. Music class is getting a little better with each one. He's getting used to the songs and being in a group setting. He actually enjoys when the teacher sings songs to the group and reads stories. He was a little confused with MyGym since he'd only ever been to the open play and having structure was too different. Hopefully with a few more classes he'll get used to it more.
says "hello" every time he hears the garage door open. It started because he'd say it when Daddy got home from work, but now he'll even say it if I run out there to the trash can or to my car.
started climbing onto the kitchen chairs. I guess he figured if Blake does it, he should be able to as well. He finally figured out how to climb up the side rungs and now there is no stopping him. The kitchen place used to be safe from his grabby fingers, but sadly, not anymore. The kitchen counters now require a 2" buffer as well. Not only does he climb onto all the chairs, but he stands on them and constantly wants to climb onto the kitchen table. Man I hope the excitement wears off sooner than later. I wish I had a baby gate big enough to close off the kitchen most days.
has had to begin Time Out. Most of the things he gets in trouble for are learned from his older brother. Lately he goes in there for banging heavy things (wooden spoon) on the big mirror in the play room, biting (he's been very upset and out of sorts the past week), and screaming the most ridiculous high pitch scream for the smallest things.
went to the doctor for his 15 month checkup (a little late as always) and he weighed in at 22 lb 3 oz (13%) and was 30" long (31%) with a head circumference of 19" (67%). He's a petite boy with a big head basically. He seems to be right on point with things and we had his iron tested since he doesn't eat much meat and I guess all the nursing has been enough to keep his iron within normal range so that was good to hear.

This month Blake:

started 3 year old preschool and loves it. He even cried on the second day when I came to pick him up because he didn't want to leave. He goes to The Robin's Nest this year at Palm Harbor UMC and he goes for 3 hours and 15 minutes which is a great amount of time for him to get to learn new things (although he claims he never learns anything new) and experience new crafts (arts and crafts are his absolute favorite right now), plus it allows me to spend 1-on-1 time with Brett.
started cleaning up after himself after meal time. I do a lot of cleaning up around this house so it seemed like a good job for Blake to start doing by himself, so after meals he cleans up his plate and silverware and makes sure the tv in the kitchen is off.
reads pretend signs to people. If he wants you to do something a certain way he'll act like he's pointing out all the words on an imaginary sign above your head, so that you have to follow "the rules" on the "sign".
quotes: "I need a new machine to make you smaller so you can be 3 and come to school with me." "Are you hungry for a hug?" "Oldsmar, here we come! (When we were heading to the Oldsmar library and he was excited to return books and check out new ones.)" "Baby Brett, will you snuggle with me?... Pretty please?"
is potty trained for #1 and #2!! It has finally clicked and he stays in underpants all day now with just a sleep diaper at night. He takes trips out of the house and takes naps without a diaper now which is actually really great. He's gotten much better at going potty all by himself and he even pulls up his pants on his own now. Yay! He's been going poop once a day now and it's becoming more of a routine since he usually puts it off until right before bed when I remind him that he hasn't gone all day.
says "last day", "this day", and "next day" instead of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I'm not sure why he hasn't learned the right words yet. He actually hasn't learned the right words for breakfast, lunch, and dinner either even though we talk about them all the time.
is doing great with his reading. We found some books at the library that incorporate rhyming words into a story, in addition to a select few "sight words" (words that you can't spell out like "the") that he has been doing really well with. They have the word list at the end, so he goes over those first and then helps Chris read them.
has become obsessed with making paper stamps and doing arts and crafts. He has finally found a hobby that he enjoys! He would rather do art than eat most days and he loves paper stamps. This is something he learned about at school and he cried when he had to leave school the second day because he loved doing stamps so much. We ended up getting him some stampers for home and he'll cut out stamps and glue them to paper for hours.
cannot entertain himself without being violent. If Chris and I start talking, he'll have to start throwing things or kicking things or banging or doing anything other than playing nicely by himself. He has no ability to entertain himself unless it is his new found arts and crafts. I'm glad he finally has found something he likes, but even with this he wants me to be by his side the whole time he's doing it. If I have to go tend to Brett or go fix dinner, he'll just start banging something on the table to get my attention so I'll come back.
has been asking for splash time in the bath. It was so hard to keep him from splashing water all over the bathroom during baths and I would finish bath time so upset and frustrated, so I decided to give him time dedicated to splashing after both boys got all clean. I close the shower curtain and put towels on the floor on either side to soak up overflow and then peek my face in one side and let them both have at it and splash as much as they want and it seems to be a good compromise.

Pics:

Blake's first day of preschool. He had such a great time!

We finally had a day that wasn't ridiculously hot so we took advantage and headed out to the playground for the first time in months.

Blake was trying to show Brett how to climb up the steps and go down the slide.

Brett found something else less stable to climb instead.

Blake climbed all the way up the climbing wall and his reward was a trip down the super high twisty slide!

Monkey see, monkey do.

Brett does everything in his power to keep up with Blake.

Blake on the big boy swing.

Blake did so well on this spider web thing. He's getting so much better at his climbing!

And up the rock wall!

The fort that has been created under the card table. The card table is one of the only spots we have to put things that little hands can't reach. It also happens to be a good spot to put boxes that would otherwise be a climbing hazard since this little monkey likes to climb on everything and see how far off the floor he can get.

I know I'm biased but he's so beautiful. =)

Dropping Blake off for his first day of preschool. "Blake, look at the camera... Blake... where's the camera?..."

Brett is kind of obsessed with this hat right now.

He cutie!

The boys like to hug each other when they both get good naps and are in a good mood. This was totally unprompted! Luckily they hung on long enough for me to snag my camera.

Blake using the messy glue like a big boy.

Trying to get a sweet picture of the two of them. This one was pretty good I think!

And hugs. I think Brett was checking to see if he gave a good enough hug and if he was free to go.

All the artwork from Blake's obsession with paper stamps.

This little monkey is always finding things to bring into the kitchen to climb on and get up to the counter. He loves giving me a heart attack.

The muffins that we make all the time. Of course I eat the majority of them but I think we've pretty much perfected the rice flour muffins and they are amazing when they're fresh out of the oven. As you can see, I had to eat the whole back row before I remembered to take a picture, hahahaha.

Brett put himself in timeout for something and they just can't be apart so Blake had to go over and play peekaboo and Brett thinks his brother is the funniest.

Just love these cuties when they're playing nice.

The artist.

The mess maker.

First go at finger paint. He loved it but I was a mess worrying about everything that would need to be cleaned up at the end. Luckily Chris took Brett out of the house while Blake got dirty so it wasn't as big of a deal since Blake doesn't really like to get that dirty.