One day, Rylee is beginning to terrorize, and Brooke begins to panic about what Rylee is doing, and almost instantaneously, Tanner starts worrying about what Brooke is doing. Oh the irony! Where do I even begin?!?
This pretty much sums up 99% of my time…hence writing a post seems to takes months. But I do LOVE and CHERISH this time together, and it makes me happy to know it’s all been captured, one blog post at a time :)
Rylee (10-11 months)
Rylee is always on the move! She’s been heading UP stairs for months now and has learned how to go DOWN stairs…FINALLY! She puts one foot down, turns herself around onto her belly, and then proceeds to slide down. There’s been a few instances where her second foot hasn’t quite made it down, resulting in her straddling the steps doing the splits! Doesn’t look comfy, but she never seems to mind. Not sure if ANYTHING will ever stop her!
So far, no falls down the steps. I’d like to thank divine intervention for that one…cause I’d say I catch her at the top of my staircase at least once a day.
She also LOVES walking around everything. She’s been walking around furniture since May (7 months) and gaining momentum since. In June, letting go and standing on her own one month later (8 months)
In August, being able to stand up without holding onto anything, kneeling one second, standing the next.
Her body is long and lean but she’s getting some killer thighs going from squatting to standing all day long. I have several pairs of skinny jeans for her that must feel like a straight jacket for her, which is unfortunate cause they’re so dang cute!
But she was hesitant towards taking any steps. When she wanted to get somewhere – she’d sit down and sprint across the rooms on all 4s. She was fast!
I’ve been hesitant towards bringing out the “walking” toys but man was she excited when I did. Since then she’s been unstoppable. Even she got stuck, she’d walk around it and start pushing from the other side. And smiling all along the way :)
Every now and then she’d try to take a few steps, unassisted, but she was unsuccessful most of the time. Then one day, it just happened. She was playing with some toys, stood up, and started taking a few steps. Not just one or two, but 5 successful steps in a row! Every time I glance over at her playing, she’s letting go and taking more and more steps. Now she’s walking from one side of the room to the other, dozens of steps in a row. Isn’t there something magical about a baby learning to walk?
Playing at the park, she’s in her element! In a playground designed for 2-5 year olds, she crawled ups the steps, across the bridge, and then went down the slide. And repeated again and again.
Or she climbed up the slide and then slid back down. She’s not even ONE folks! Of course, none of the videos I took were of her successful attempts:
Until, of course, she had finally had enough. When pushing her on the swing, one second she was awake, the next, totally passed out!
Rylee’s new fave is waving her hand to the music or clapping her hands. We go to a music/movement class once a week, and when we sing her the main theme song, she starts to go crazy! She’ll be bopping up and down on her knees or waving her hand in the air, or clapping away. When others around her start to sing, she can’t help but chime in too.
Rylee's recent fascinations have been remotes and cell phones. On the rare occasion she finds the remote, she acts like she knows just want to do, holds it out, pointing towards the tv, and pushes buttons. And combine that with her love of bathrooms and what do you get? Anthony found out when he was about to pee. So there’s the remote, dunked successfully in the toilet bowl. Awesome!
She also loves to push buttons on my cell phone and then hold it up to her ear and start jib-jabbering away. Which makes it nearly impossible to take cute pictures of her on my phone. Cause she insists on having it.
Rylee wants to join drill team. Or at least that’s what you think when you saw her nurse. She does non-stop high kicks with her little leg, just like she was doing in this high chair!
Rylee now has 2 little teeth – the first one coming in August 9th – the day we got home from our Dallas trip. Which explains A LOT! A whole lot of crankiness and fussiness and refusing to sleep on that trip…or past month..or heck…let’s just go with past SEVERAL months. Just when I thought it was over, it starts again. A month later, tooth #2 came in. And I’m pretty sure those top teeth will be poking through any day now!
My poor attempt to try to take pics of them…but her dang tongue keeps covering that cute lil one just barely poking through!
Just yesterday Tanner commented, “Look! Rylee’s teeth look like stairs.” Yep – one’s bigger than the other – and they look like stairs. But I can’t seem to think they’re anything but razor blades. If you nursed her, you would understand why.
Speaking of which, I’m in the process of weaning her. She’s almost 1 years old – and 11 months is as long as I’ve nursed any of the other 2. but them, it was a natural transition, just slowly weaned themselves (I was working with Tanner and eventually only wanted a bottle, and with Brooke, I was preggo with Rylee and just slowly stopped making enough). With Rylee, I’m not sure what to do cause she hates bottles, formula, milk in any shape way or form other than nursing, doesn’t go to sleep without nursing. Not sure how it’s going to go down.
Brooke (2 years)
Pretty sure 2 is my favorite age. She’s so stinking cute and most days is absolutely hilarious! She's super animated and super expressive in all that she does. Just imagine with everything ending in lots of Explanation POINTS!!! According to my mom, she’s a little Shirley Temple.
Like the day Quincy and her were playing and were being extra silly. They started running around and jumping, doing bigger and better things each time to try to captivate our attention. We were all watching!!! Then Brooke jumps up, high up into the air – and does a BUTT bounce – her bottom totally hitting the floor!!! The whole entire room and house shook. Seriously, that’s something you do on a trampoline….but on the floor! I held my breadth and thought for sure she had hurt herself…but immediately she jumps up to proclaim, “I OKAY!!! I OKAY!!!!” and starts giggling. One of my absolute favorite moments!!!
This girl is more like her momma than I probably should admit.
She loves loves her sleep – and oft sleeps 12+ hours at night, is the only child to ever sleep past 9am [pre-toddler bed phase] and then sleeps up to 3 hour naps. And if you try to wake her up before she’s ready…you’ll be regretting it. Yes, that’s definitely MY girl!
And then she loves food and has my same exact tastes. Tanner is just like his dad – could easily sustain life off of bread and fruit. Brooke likes all the things I love – in the morning, she wants an Aussie bite or Belvita crackers just like I have. And she loves to sneak chocolate chips :) Yet she still goes crazy for her veggies – broccoli and carrots – so at least she’s a balanced eater, right?!?
Brooke dunking her cookie, after seeing Daddy do it. And second, securing her hold on the jar of peanut butter! She’s hilarious!!!
She’s also a very successful negotiator. “Brooke, when you [insert task], you can have chocolate! Her response, “And chocolate i-cream cone! Okay mom?!? I want i-cream cone TOOOO!”
Early one morning, Brooke graced us with her presence and declared, “I awake!” Anthony turned and we looked at each other. Wait…how did she get out of her crib! Did that just happen. Apparently she decided she can climb out of her crib – and from then on there was no turning back. 10 times at bedtime, not that we were counting. At then again at 3am, Brooke came into our room and was starring us down. When we awoke, our eyes were eye level with hers. Kinda creepy :)
Needless to say, she’s been upgraded to a toddler bed. When you lay her down, she’ll try to tell you, “I already AWAKE!” but otherwise doesn’t put up much of a fuss about going to sleep. And when she gets up, she STILL enters the room and joyfully declares, “I AWAKE!”
When you go to get her dressed, she does this pretty much all the time. When you go to put on her shirt, she’ll scream “I CAN’T SEE!!!” and then rip it right off. Only to have to do it again. I tell her I’ll go FAST. “Oh okay” she declares – and 99% of the time the second attempt is successful, evidenced by tiny giggles.
She also attempts to get dressed herself, triumphantly declaring, her favorite line “I DO IT MYSELF!” Which oftentimes results in mermaid pant legs. And I laugh…cause she does have a growing obsession with mermaids.
I’ve also half-heartedly attempted potty training. She always tells me when she goes pee or poop in her diaper, and she holds it a really long time. So…why not give it a try? On the first day of potty training – she only had one accident. Bad news is – she still didn’t go in the toilet either. She has a bladder of steal, or doesn’t drink nearly enough. After a few days just like the first, I kinda gave up, not quite ready to tackle this. Considering how baby Rylee is OBESSED with toilets – spending large quantities [OR ANY] time in the bathroom is not ideal.
She’s rough and tough, always up for a game of “Ready, Set, Go!” and only knows how to move at FULL speed. Yet when she falls or gets hurt, before she even gets up, she yells out, “I OKAY, I OKAY!!!” as if we’ve all been holding our breath, just waiting for her response. Cracks me up.
As tough as she is, she has the most tender heart. If voices are raised, real tears will be shed {don’t ask how i know this}. And she has total empathy for others, cause if they’re crying, she first tries to make them better, and if that doesn’t work, she starts the sympathy cries. With Rylee, she’ll start out, “Ry-Ry sad. I make her happy. Shhhhh, Ry-ry. It’s okay,” and then proceeds to be Mr. Froggy ribbitting or playing peek-a-boo]. Thankfully, it works, most of the time. If not I’ll hear, “Mom, Ry-Ry is SAD. She’s SAD!!! Mooommmmmm!” Tears will then ensue.
Yet only Brooke can get Rylee to laughing like this!
There’s also been times where I leave Rylee alone in her crib to cry for a few minutes before naptime so she can finally be serious about taking naps. I’ll run to the restroom, and come back and find Brooke right next to her. “Mom, Rylee is SAAADDDDD!”
But I guess the sister love works both ways. When Brooke was taking a nap, and peacefully asleep, Rylee kept making her break for Brooke’s room and climbed right up on bed with her, laughing all the way!
When Brendan was in town, Brooke warmed herself right up next to him with all her cuteness. And Brendan gets upset with the kids call him “BrAndon” instead of “BrEndan.” He made sure she wouldn’t forget!
Brooke is a natural nurturer. Her babies are her world and she takes very good care of them, including her baby sister Ry-Ry.
Tucking her babies goodnight.
This girl doesn’t miss a beat. When reading her a new book from the library, she told me the names of all the shapes. Making only 3 small mistakes, (1) calling a rectangle a square, (2) a diamond a kite, and (3) calling an octagon a hexagon. Pretty sure Tanner didn’t know what a hexagon was until he was 5!
She also loves to count…and the other day when I asked her if she’d count to ten…she said “No, let’s count to 25!” She successfully counts to 12, gets lost in the teens, and re-surfaces again at 20!
Maybe it’s just me and my absentmindedness these days, but Brooke helps keep my life together. At the park, we were leaving and she noticed, “Mom, there’s Rylee’s jacket!” over on the far bench and ran to crab it. Or when we get in the car, she’ll tell me, “Mom, I need shoes!” as we’re pulling out of the driveway. What would I do without her!!!
Brooke’s only down fall is that she’s a HUGE tease in the most silently stubborn way. Her latest is shouting out “Nah Nah a Boo Boo” incessantly, and usually it’s just an barely audible whisper. But it drives Tanner insane and she knows it!!! Tanner asks her to stop, politely as first, and then not-so-politely, and then escalates out of control. And I never know who to punish -- the annoying one or the one who looses their temper?
I’ve kinda have a thing against princesses. Not that I’m a huge feminist my any means, but there’s nothing noteworthy or accomplished about a princess looking pretty and just waiting for her prince to come. Besides Frozen, Brooke hasn’t seen any Disney princess movies. I’m sure that’ll change as she gets older…
Despite my best efforts, Brooke LOVES princesses. We had a package up pull-ups from Costco, and she would go through them and insist on only wearing the ones with princesses on them [ Minnie mouse and Monster’s Inc didn’t make the cut]. It’s just natural and innate. She loves to dress up in tutus (yes, multiple ones all at the same time) and accessories with everything in sight – necklaces, bracelets, hats, capes, etc. And purses, she can never have enough…and attempts to fit the entire contents of our home into one.
The other things about Brooke…is that EVERYTHING is hers. Even people. When she refers to her bestest of friends, she calls them, “My Maddie” or “My Brittney.” She’s become quite the little socialite and her cousins occupy a HUGE part of her heart!
One day Scarlett and Brooke got together for a play date – we did story time at the library follow-up by grocery shopping at Sprouts [which was a disaster! 2 little 2 years old on the prowl. with Rylee in my cart, there wasn’t room for another. and i just assumed KT had them both, until we saw them eating prunes. Yep, they just helped themselves to a piece of fruit and started eating it…awesome!’'] Well, that night when it was her turn to pray, she said “Thank you for Katie and Scarlett for coming over today” That’s was monumental - the first REAL things she’s ever said thank you for in a prayer. Yes, our cousin love runs deep here in Kansas!
You know it’s love when they even offer to share their juice box!
And my personal favorite thing in the whole wide world – is when she asks to get picked up. “I HOLD YOU?!?” she asks, and once you scoop her up, she’s squeals out, “I GOT YOU!!!” Every. Single. Time!
Tanner
He’s getting so big, so tall, and super helpful.
But he’s still got a mind of his own. One Sunday Tanner had a chance to give a talk about “Wholesome recreational activities strengthen my family”. I added a line about how Tanner likes to watch shows with fighting but have learned they’re not good to watch cause it makes him want to fight too. We practiced a few times at home, but when it was time to present, he FLAT OUT refused to say that line and just kept on going. He’s hilarious! If he had his way, he’d still be watching Power Rangers. And for the 3rd time in a row, he wants to be a Power Range for Halloween, and eventually I may concede.
He’s been playing with small Legos since he’s been 2 and is just as obsessed. Lately, I’ve been threatening to glue his creations together so they STAY together. I even bought some and told him my genius plan. “Mom, you’re hurting my feelings. I LIKE them that way!” Guess who lost that battle? One day…we’ll have a monument of Legos in his room, but until then, I’ll have to keep trying new ways to keep them organized!
Lego Club Night!
Tanner is my super healthy eater. This summer I got on a green smoothie kick and now he’s addicted! Though at first he asked if I was giving him poop, and then elevated to mud, and now we’re onto chocolate. Now he asks for them everyday, and even takes it for a lunch/snack (in a thermos). He also will eat all the whole wheat/low sugar muffins and breads I make off of Pinterest – and always insist on not having chocolate chips on them. He could easily sustain life off of bread and fruit.
Tanner also started first grade – all day – but that’s another blog post for another day. I miss him! A lot! He’s such a helper and a fun kid to have around!
The cutest new Tiger Cub Scout! Tanner REALLY REALLY wanted to join cub scouts this year with this school. He’s so excited for everything – the campouts, the races, and thankfully, even the popcorn fundraising. When we went to learn more about it at school, none of the other parents volunteered to be there Den Leader. But when I was complaining to Anthony about the dilemna, right away he volunteered!
After the first den meeting, he might have wanted to change his mind, lol! Actually, the kids were great, and the activities may have been Pinterest worthy! Extra kudos for Dad!!!
