Last weekend, Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa John came to visit us in Rochester. We had a lovely time, playing at home, playing at the park, and playing at the indoor play area in the mall. We happened to go to the mall on a day when Santa was giving a concert--so it turned out to be quite the exciting outing. Here are a few photos and videos from the weekend.
Meet Brownie Bear:
Brownie Bear lives at Miss Lisa's house (Simon's child care provider). Every weekend one of the kids gets to bring Brownie home, and when they return on Monday they report about what Brownie did over the weekend. Last time Brownie came home with Simon, he got to meet Grandpa Steve and Grandma Marilyn--this time he got to meet Grandpa John and Grandma Phyllis. Lucky bear!
Brownie, meet Grandma
Simon loves the indoor playland at the mall. Thanks to Santa's appearance drawing a huge crowd of kids into the food court and away from the playland, it was nearly empty for most of the time we were there.
Simon the duck tamer?
peek-a-boo!
Playing with Grandpa:
Thanks for a great weekend Grandma & Grandpa! And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
We realized before moving that this was going to be a transition year for Simon. It seems there are a lots of "baby" things that we're planning to have him say goodbye to somewhere in the vicinity of his second birthday. We don't really have any hard-and-fast timelines in mind, but now with Poppy (aka TaterTot) on the way, we do have a end-date goal for at least three things: 1) giving up the pacifier, 2) weaning entirely, and 3) moving from crib to bed. Toilet learning would be on the list too, but I'm guessing we won't attempt that until after baby arrives, unless Simon shows a real interest before then.
So we've had these in mind with the rough idea of sometime between now and May for them to happen--preferably not too close to May, because we don't want him to feel, for instance, that he's being kicked out of his room so the baby can sleep there (why add fuel the likely baby-resentment-fire?). I also didn't necessarily have an order in mind for those events. Maybe he would transition to a bed more easily if he still had a binky to sleep with and nursed before bed...on the other hand, maybe he would more easily give up the binky and nursing if he still had the safety and comfort of his familiar crib to sleep in...and so on.
Recently, however, an opportunity presented itself that made the choice of which of these to tackle for us. Several weeks ago (months? I lose track of time), Simon started chewing on his binky in a new way, which creates holes in the nipple in record time. This is no good. Not only do pacifiers become choking hazards once they get a hole or crack, they're also not cheap, and we were not fond of the idea of replacing binkies every few weeks. So when he bit a hole through his nearly-last binky a few weeks ago, I brought him to K-mart with me to buy a new one, and on the fly decided to just go ahead and bring an end to the binky days. In the store, we made a deal: he got to pick out all by himself his last set of binkies (sold in pairs), but with the understanding that these were the very last binkies we would buy him and that whenever a binky gets a hole, it has to go in the trash. He listed quite earnestly while I laid out the terms, thought for a moment, and agreed. We went home, he was thrilled with his new orange binkies, and all was well. We found a missing binky, lost a different binky, and otherwise shuffled a few around unintentionally...and then early last week, we arrived at the lastbinky. It was green. He had chewed through the brand new orange ones in record time, and I didn't know how long this one would last. Unfortunately, he was (is) also sick, and I just hoped it would get him through the misery of his cold, as I both did not plan to break the agreement by buying him more, but really didn't want to make him give up his comfort device when he was sick, either.
Sunday was the day. Saturday I noticed a hole in the binky, but decided to let him go another night--we had company over, including little Wayne who had his own binkies, and Simon is still recovering from his cold, so it just didn't seem fair to make him give it up under the circumstances. Sunday morning, however, I showed him the hole. He knew what it meant, and protested. I said he could wait until after church, but that then we would have to throw green binky in the trash.
As you can see in the video, he had to work up a little courage to do it--but he did! We have had some tears both yesterday and today, but all in all its gone surprisingly well so far...and most surprisingly for me, no tears going to bed last night. He asked for it, I reminded him that it was gone and he was all done with binkies, and he went to sleep without asking for it again. Here's hoping tomorrow goes just as smoothly!
Bye-bye Binky:
For those of you coming to visit in the next few days, compliments on what a big boy he is have been quite well-received :).
We had the privilege of spending this weekend with Ashley, Ian, and Wayne--or "baby Nayne!" as Simon says. We hadn't seen Wayne since he'd started walking several months ago, and he has grown into quite the adorable little toddler! The two boys were pretty fascinated with each other, and they both kept the adults entertained as well. Thanks for coming to see us, baby Nayne!
swinging at the park--we had fun until a herd of Boy Scouts arrived and over-ran the playground
Wayne & Ashley, on their way to the park
Wayne & Simon had the uncanny ability to unwittingly match each other's jammies. One would get ready for bed upstairs, the other in the basement, and voila, here they both have dinosaurs...the next night they both had space/rocketship-themed sleepers (and no, the adults did not consult each other either!)
We are pleased to announce that we are expecting baby #2 (who we'll be calling Poppy while in utero, to compliment Simon's "Pickle" nickname) to make an appearance on or around May 30! Hooray!
We had a lovely Halloween celebration here in Rochester. We decided Simon would most enjoy the holiday with a few loved ones, so we threw a Halloween party with Grandpa Steve, Grandma Marilyn, and Uncle Peter (Aunt Karlie couldn't make it :-(...maybe next time).
We made and ate caramel apples, and then painted pumpkins...
...look at those gorgeous pumpkins! Simon was responsible for three of them.
After dinner we dressed Simon in his costume--a bumblebee!
When we saw the wings, antennae, and little stinger at our church rummage sale for $2, we knew we'd found our Halloween costume for the year! Then it was a matter of tracking down black pants (Goodwill), a black shirt (surprisingly difficult to find a child's all-black shirt--that ended up being the most expensive part of the outfit at $8, and I had to buy a girl's shirt that's about 3 sizes too big), and sewing some yellow stripes on. I'm rather pleased with the end result!
Our cute little bee venturing out for his first trick-or-treating adventure!
We went to about 5 houses before heading back home. Simon was getting cold (he had jammies on under his costume, but still), and I was getting concerned at how much candy he was getting--people were putting a handful of candy in a toddler's treat bag! Don't they know toddlers can't delay gratification and will want ALL that candy RIGHT NOW?! (We had to cull through after Simon went to sleep and narrow the selection by swapping out some less-toddler-friendly candy.)
All in all it was a lovely Halloween. We overestimated the number of trick or treaters we'd get and now have TONS of candy left...luckily, I bring candy to my class review sessions, so I will feed at least some of it to college students before Simon notices it is sitting on top of the fridge.
Last but not least, here's a cute video of earlier in the day, when Simon "helped" daddy get ready for the party by raking...er, relocating, leaves (side note: we bought that coat at the same rummage sale, for $2; hat and mittens for $1...I love rummage sales!):
Simon the duck tamer?
