Miscellaneous Pics - November, 2011

Some great miscellaneous pics from the month of November . . .

First up, Ethan and Noel giving our new rockers a test run on our back balcony. Noelly was fresh from a bath and couldn't be bothered to throw on clothes before giving them a demo . . .






















Next up, the boys taking a tandem nap during a nice long walk as we started to see the last of the amazing early fall weather. Nice shot of their "huck finn" jeans that Pai loves.




















Next up, a couple of great shots of the boys in the park . . . amazing that we were able to get them sharing a tire swing on camera, given that neither tire swings nor sharing fall high on their list of favorite activities.





















Last up, a cute shot of Ethan pushing his favorite shopping cart around the block during what was the first cold snap of the year. These carts have been well worth their initial investment - they've been pushed so frequently that we rarely make it home with all four wheels still attached.

Potty Training - November, 2011 - Buffet Edition

Some great pics from our continued potty training efforts . . . these come from November when we were still breaking them into the process.

Who says you have to put down your food when you need to use the bathroom? Ethan and Noel say "bring it on over witcha!"

Milestone weekend of 11/18/11 . . .

It was a long, great, hard, fun, frustrating weekend for the Brudam Brigade . . . lots of milestones this weekend:

• First Timeout: Well, actually first 4 Timeouts for Ethan, who was utterly charming 99% of the weekend and utterly terrible for 1%. The Timeouts were issued respectively for pushing Noel, pushing Noel, pushing Noel and dumping over an entire glass of tea despite Pai's clear direction: "Ethan, do NOT turn that glass over." Pushing boundaries is clearly the phase we're entering and there is not doubt we're going to be challenged!
  



• First sentences! Noel uttered not one, but two sentences this weekend, both of which bowled us over given where the boys' growing language skills have been as recently as last week. The first sentence uttered (and captured in the video below - well done, Dad!) was "I did it!" while the second sentence uttered was "Bless you, Daddy" after one of Daddy's super-loud sneezes!
  
  




• Self-feeding (themselves and the pets!): This weekend showed a clear transition towards knowing where food lives and how to ask for it towards independently sourcing, navigating and ultimately obtaining food. For the first time (with much repitition), we noticed the boys identify their favorite cereal (puffs!), use a stool to pull it down, and park themselves on the stairs consuming one puff after another. This works well for a snack, but Pai and Dad realized that we'll have to come up with a higher location for some of the appetite killing, carbo loading, much preferred over meat and veggies snacks. The culmination of their realization came when Ethan was able to discern between toddler food and dog food - he pulled out every treat in the pantry and proceeded to hand-feed each dog until they were stuffed full. Ethan is definitely our little caretaker and this video definitely shows you a uber sweet side of his personality.
  




• Last Family Visit to a Toy Store: This one was completely unexpected . . . we've always taken the boys with us whenever we got to a baby or toy store for a gift or supplies . . . while they occasionally express some interest, we've always successfully utilized diversion tactics to get out of the store without much pain. That all changed this weekend - not only did they demand to touch and hold toy after toy after toy, as we were leaving, Noel saw a Noel-sized motorized car and demanded to rent it with the option to own. When Dad denied his demands, there was a Noelly Canoli meltdown like we have never seen before . . . I'm talking a writhing around on the floor, kicking his shoes off, and screeching like I'd set him on fire kind of meltdown. Pai ultimately demanded that I get him out of the store, so we retreated to the car where the fit continued for another solid 15 minutes (20 minutes in total) . . . during that time, punches were thrown, heads were jerked and he threw every object he could get his hands onto the floor of the car. All over a car that he clearly wanted for his own. The video below captures the last 30 seconds of this fit and shows you that he had not lost any steam that far into it . . . we have definitely concluded that this was our last family outing to a toy store. :(
  
  
  
  



• First planned co-sleeping nap with Pai and Ethan. OK, so maybe this isn't a true milestone, but it is suuuuuuuper adorable and made both of them very, very happy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

A visit from the Lands and our Goddaughter!

Finally getting around to catching up on blog posts and came across some great pics from mid-November, when the Anna, Andy and Zoe Land made their way to Dallas for a good long weekend. Zoe and the boys have spent 3-4 weekends a year together and we love to see their dynamic grow with each visit. Here are some great pics from the weekend:

First up, here is Noelly showing Zoe how to pull her weight while she's on vacation . . . she though she was coming to enjoy the new toys and videos, but Noel though some light sweeping might be more appropriate.














Next up, Zoe serving herself up some yogurt with mixed results . . . doesn't appear that she's too happy with her results. :)





















Lastly, our favorite memory from the weekend . . . the boys absolutely love helping with dishwashing, especially if we let them stand in the sink and control the water. Zoe thought it looked pretty fun, so she joined in . . . that is definitely a look of pure joy on her face.

Sleeping struggles with Ethan . . . the Follow-up!

A few months ago, we posted a series of pics showing just how agile Ethan had become in escaping his crib in search of alternative sleeping locations.

Well, it continued to be an interesting habit to witness and we even began to develop an ear for hearing his little feet hit the floor and pitter patter around the room.

Today, however, was a new discovery. I'd put them down for a nap and left the room with gentle music playing. About 10 minutes later, I thought I'd heard some noise and when I stood at the door, I heard nothing and went back to working on my own nap. Five minutes later, I realized I hadn't heard music before - which is a dead giveaway of an Ethan jailbreak - prompting me to go check back in. The picture below is what I walked into - apparently Ethan now crawls from the crib onto the dresser and then carefully lowers himself into Noel's crib for a shared space nap. Very sweet:

First Fort!!!

Pai had a great impromptu idea today to introduce the boys to their first fort! It was as easy as throwing our large afghan over top of the ottoman to create enthusiasm . . . as you can see from the pictures below, the fort was a great hit!

Ethan jumped right in and seemed fascinated with seeing the ottoman from the ground looking up. He was happy to help complete our furniture de-tagging and enjoyed the experience as long as Noel's Crocs stayed away from his face.

While it took Noel a little longer to warm up to the idea (well, not warm, necessarily, but rather figure out that he had to lower his head to actually navigate underneath the ottoman), once he got in there, he was a giggling mess . . . kicking, rolling and enjoying the experience with Pai and Ethan. Below is a super charming pic . . . Noel surprised me by poking his head outside the covers while I was trying to take the pics . . . super hammy and all Noel!