Friday, January 23, 2015

Sesame Street Live

Last Friday night Nolan and I went to Sesame Street Live with Laurie, Abigail, and Anika. The kids were so excited! I was a little anxious about how it would go - would Nolan be intimidated by the characters being grown-up size? Would he sit still and watch the show? Would he have an accident? 
There wasn't any need to worry, it all went so well! Better than expected, in fact. When the show started Nolan just got this look of amazemeant and pure joy on his face, it made me so incredibly happy to see. I was lucky to be able to record it (we weren't supposed to record, but I didn't grt caught..haha). 

There happened to be vomit by our seats (so gross), but during intermission we got moved down to second row on the floor! It was awesome! The characters kept coming down to the floor. A few waved at the kids and Abby CaDabby blew them a kiss. Nolan told me he wanted to hug Baby Bear, but then when it came time to go hug him he got a little intimidated. But a short while later Ernie came down and gave Nolan a big hug. The loom on Nolan's face was just like how it was at the beginning of the show, it was so fun to see. I definitely want to take him back to another show, next time with William (maybe nex year, for sure in two years). 

This week flew by. Jason was home on Monday, which was very nice. We went to my parents' both Wednesday and Friday, and we met my friend Carissa and her two boys at the MN Zoo on Thursday. Poor William is having such a tough time with teething. His last one year molar is moving at a snail's pace. Just come through, already! One corner left. Now the bottom eye teeth are puffy and swollen, so he must be working on those. He's been having a nap strike for the last few weeks, which is not fun. Hopefully that will end soon. 

Liam has said a few more words this week, which I am so happy about. He said ca (cat) and dah  (dog), ni-ni (night night), and day you (thank you). He grins and claps for himself when he says new words. It's adorable. Nolan used to leave off the ending sounds of words, too. Nolan has been trying to help him learn new words by encouraging him and saying words to him to repeat. It's sweet.

Nolan had been having some accidents over the last week, but the last three days he has been accident free. Regressions are normal, and this one and been short and not too bad (one accident per day), so I'm hoping that it's over.

Nolan had his first big fear last night. I found him coming out of his bedroom, sweaty and terrified. He jumped a mile when he saw me. I brought him back in his room and talked to him about what was upsetting him. He said he had a bad dream, but he'd only been in bed for 10 minutes. I found out that he had been hiding under his covers, scared of monsters. We had just watched Monsters University, which he didn't act scared of while watching. He had seen Monsters Inc a handful of times and liked it. Maybe now he's a little older and internalizes things more? Anyway, he was scared of monsters. So I checked under his bed, in his closet, behind the door, and a few other places he asked me to check. Then I said a few times (with Nolan parroting me), "Monsters are pretend, not real." He was visibly less frightened, but I wanted to put a happy image in his mind before he went to bed, so we watched a half episode of Curious George. Then we found his nightlight that shines stars on the ceiling and had fun playing with that for a minute. Jason came home then (he was walking Keegy) and sang his goodnight song Nolan loves. He went to bed nicely after that. Jason and I tucked away the monster movies until he's a bit older.


Nolan quotes:
-Jason went into his room a few minutes after tucking him in to see if he left his phone in there. He found Nolan playing with hsi nightlight. "I'm just looking at the stars. Do you want another kiss?"

-I was trying to get Nolan ready to go sledding and he was procrastinating. I finally said in an exasperated voice, "Nolan, put your boots on!" Nolan said, "Ok, ok, mommy. You don't have to get so mad!" That's the exact phrase I've been saying over and over to Nolan lately. He has been yelling/screaming instead of using his words in a calm voice. 

This is what happens when you're the only boy at a party..😂

Nothing better than seeing pure joy on your child's face!

Nolan loves Baby Bear. He was a little hesitant to go say hi to him though when he came down to the floor.

Close up view from our awesome seats

Watching Bert 

Enjoying the new view 

What our new view looked like 

All the characters!

LOVE this one! 

In awe 

So excited for the show!

View from our first seats - not too shabby! 

Nolan was so excited 

Happy kids 

So happy for a Nolan-mommy date!

Battle of the colleges! 
Liam is getting to be a puzzle master

Tire swing with Abigail. They loved it!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Cabin fever

It's been a cold, cabin-fever filled first couple of weeks of 2015! We have been stuck inside for most of it, a lot of days not even attempting to leave the house. This next weekend looks much better, so we'll have to get outside a lot.

Nolan has been having a tough time with his pent up energy. He's been pretty defiant and moody, and has been taking it out on poor Liam. I'm hoping this difficult phase passes soon, because it is not fun! We do see Nolan's sweet side still, cuddling when I read to him and giving William hugs and kisses.

We did have to stop the boys room sharing. It just wasn't working at this time. William is cutting his last molar, top eye teeth, and also possibly his bottom eye teeth. His sleep is unpredictable, sometimes sleeping through the night, sometimes not, and waking up earlier than his norm. It was greatly affecting poor Nolan's sleep. We might try again when all of William's teeth are in and he (hopefully) starts consistently sleeping well. So for now we are back to Nolan having his own room, William in our room, and Jason and I in the front room.

My birthday weekend was a good one. Jason and I went to eat at Bar la Grassa (phenomenal) and my parents babysat. The boys and a blast with them! William was tight with my dad, wanting him to hold him a lot. This made Nolan jealous, so he kept giving my mom shots with his medical kit. Haha. Then, when my dad was reading to Nolan, my mom washed her hands in the bathroom. Nolan heard the running water and asked my dad, "Is Mamie taking a shower?" Hahahaha! Yep, Nolan, she decided to quick hop in.

William has just been the sweetest boy lately, doing his happy dance and just showering us with kisses. It's adorable. He still isn't talking much at all, but he completely understands what we're saying. I'm hoping he'll start talking soon.

Nolan-isms:
-At Bdubbs to the waitress as we were ordering beverages: "I want chicken."

- on Christmas Nolan suddenly walked into the living room (which was full of people) naked from the waist down, still pointing his penis down, and proudly/matter of factly said, "Mommy, I pooped!" It was hilarious!

-Me: "Nolan, come cuddle with me/give me a kiss/hug."
Nolan: "Not now. In two days." Or "Maybe uh-morrow (tomorrow)."

-playing hide and seek:
Me: "...7, 8, 9, 10. Ready or not, here I come!"
Nolan: "I'm right here! I'm under the bed!" And then he shimmies his way out. That was easy!

I have a million videos to post, but they're not uploading onto YouTube right now. So for now, here are pictures.
Side note: it's sparkling grape juice in the last picture, not real champagne. :)

Kisses for my baby

Love him

Sensory play in the rice bin...I was a little nervous doing this inside!

Both boys loved it

Peeking and giggling at each other through the mesh screen 

Wearing a sweater my mom's friend knit for me when my mom was pregnant 

Posing 


Kisses for cousin Ani

Mm pudding

Obviously  a hit with nolan! 

Happily playing with cloud dough


Liam's such a ham :) 

Nolan is really concentrating

Gimme kiss!

More cloud dough fun


Keegs burrowed in to the pillows

Fun at the library. Nolan was matching skeletons to their animals. It was on a lit up table that illuminated the X-rays 

Closet shenanigans 


Fell asleep watching a movie

Nolan's first taste of champagne! He obviously loved it ;)