Surprise!

So, I never know what to get Ian for his birthday.  He comes up with a list that has exciting things on it like nose hair trimmers or a new kitchen gadget.  I know he really wants those things, but they certainly aren't very interesting.  So, a couple of months ago, I asked him if he would mind a surprise for his birthday instead.  He said, "it depends on what the surprise is".  I had an idea brewing, so I decided to go with it.

I planned and worked and worked and planned until this weekend rolled around.  I had Ian's parents come up as they usually do for his birthday.  Then, when he woke up Saturday morning, I handed him a card saying that his bags were packed.  We hopped in the car and left the boys with Gram and Gramps. 

Turns out it worked out perfectly.  He had a wonderful weekend, and so did I.  It was great to have the time to reconnect and actually talk to one another.  We also had some great adventures along the way.  While I need my sleep and don't have enough energy to post on all of our exploits now, I will not leave you empty-handed.  Here's a little preview of what was in store for my wonderful husband on his birthday weekend...

Happy Birthday Baking

Yesterday my wonderful husband had a birthday.  So, of course we had to have a big family birthday celebration.  This involved spending all afternoon in the kitchen.  I even had to bring in two very talented assistant bakers to help me with the cupcakes.  I was trying to make some Mexican chocolate cupcakes with sunflowers on top.  The boys helped me with every step from cupcake making to the frosting.  At the end of the whole process I realized that I am not an expert cake decorator, but the birthday boy seemed to enjoy them, and I think the whole family had a great celebration.

Happy birthday Ian!

(Evan carefully decorates his cupcake.)

(Ben decides to sample the frosting as he decorates.)

(The finished cupcakes)

 (Benny enjoys his handiwork.)

 (I think he likes it.)

(Happy birthday Daddy!)

Beanpole-Davis Style

So, I've already given you a report on Ben at 15 months-what he can do, what he can't.  However, those were only my observations, not those of a professional.  So, I had to add in a little update after we headed to the doctor for his well-child checkup to confirm just how brilliant and wonderful he is. 

Dr. Pickens didn't disappoint.  He said he was doing great developmentally, and all of his little parts checked out healthy-he was the picture of baby health!  Dr. Pickens did confirm that as always, Ben is teething again, getting in all four of his canines this time.  Poor kid!  Fortunately, after that he will actually have a full mouth for a while and not get any more teeth until he gets in the ones that Evan's working on now.  He's quite a toothy kid.

I knew vaccines would not be a high point of the appointment-Benny is such a drama king!  So, after they tried to bring us the wrong vaccination first, they brought the correct shots.  However, by that point Ben was wise to what was going on.  He was thrashing as we were trying to hold him down.  As the nurse exclaimed, "Wow he's strong!" he got his two shots in his little thighs.  As I said, he was not a happy camper.  Benny certainly can scream.

So, we learned that Benny was healthy, got his vaccinations, and we got his most recent weights and measures.  He is continuing on his trend of being long and lean for a Davis-skinny, but growing just as he should be. 

Here are his stats:

Height: 30 inches (10th percentile)

Weight: 19 lbs. 15 oz. (3rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 75th percentile

Little Swimmers

It's amazing that we've gotten to this point in the summer, and we haven't written more posts about the pool.  The boys and I have been spending so much time there this summer.  It's been brutally hot, so that was the best place to hide out as the sun beat down.  It's great to have the pool in our neighborhood, so we've been heading down there at least a couple times a week and then again most weekends.

At the beginning of the summer, Evan was not too comfortable with the water.  He wouldn't really get off the upper steps and was nervous about it all.  So, we decided that swimming lessons were in order.  Fortunately, there was a neighborhood swim team coach that taught swim lessons and was willing to take Evan on.  Miss Maddie was great!  When Evan arrived for the first lesson and screamed and fussed about kicking his legs on the first step, I thought that she would run.  But patiently, the told him that he couldn't get out of the activities, and eventually, he came around.  There were still the occasional battles, but she held her own, and gradually Evan got more and more comfortable.

Here we stand at the end of the summer, and Evan probably still couldn't be referred to as Michael Phelps, but he's come such a long way.  Now, when we get to the pool, he eagerly hops in and walks down the steps to the floor of the pool.  He can blow bubbles and splash around with confidence.  He'll even let you hold him on his back and get his head wet for a few seconds.  He'll jump off the steps on his own and jump off of the side while holding your hands.  Evan loves his little floaty.  He'll put it around his waist and is completely willing to kick around the whole pool on his own.  Today, we even went over to the deep end!  He paddled easily around the 8ft. water.  Then, he climbed the ladder to get out on his own, and scooted back into the water with his floaty completely on his own.  He even asked me not to hold his hands! 

Benny is getting used to the pool as well.  He usually starts off his swimming adventures in his little baby floaty.  He's content to sit in the floaty if he gets to chase his floating fish around the pool.  However, he eventually gets sick of the floaty.  Then, he divides his time between pushing a ball back and forth to his baby friends Kieran and Amelia, jumping in while holding mom's hands, and wandering around the edge of the pool.  Oh, who am I kidding, while he likes the water the spends most of the time at the pool wandering around the edge.  He loves playing on the chairs, wandering off to the gate, digging his fingers in any muddy and funky puddles he can find, or disrupting the bean bag game being played at the edge of the pool.  He's a little explorer.

At the beginning of the summer, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle both boys at the pool on my own.  Now, as the summer winds down, I will definitely be sad to leave our little pool for the year.  Oh well, guess we'll have to make our way to some indoor pools until the weather warms up again!

Hide and Seek

So, this week, our little family has been introduced to hide and seek, and now it has become a little bit of an obsession.  When we were having a little play time after dinner before bath and bedtime one night last week, Ian decided to show the kids how to play hide and seek.  So, he told Evan how to count and showed them both how to search, and the games began. 

The first time, Evan counted and Ian hid and he choose on top of the washing machine as his spot.  As soon as Evan found him, he thought hide and seek was the coolest game in the world.  Here's how a typical hide and seek round will go.  Evan will beg to have yet another turn hiding, so Ian will start counting.  Then, he'll run around screaming excitedly not being able to figure out where to hide until he sees me (doing dishes or whatever chore I'm up to).  He will ask me to help him hide, so I'll hurridely find a place like under the table or behind the blankets in the corner and stick him there.  At first, when Ian started searching, Evan would immediately pop out of his hiding place and say "here I am!"  Now, he's a little better, he'll usually stay hiding until Ian finds him. 

While Evan is hiding, Ben will actually do a pretty good job searching.  Ian and Evan have been given away several times by Ben or Ripple lifting up blankets or sniffing around where they're hidden.  It's so much fun to see the boys all having so much fun.  We have pretty much run out of hiding spaces downstairs, so we'll have to branch out and start playing in other places.  Who know's where Evan will hide next?

 (While these aren't pictures from hide and seek.  I bet Evan would think under that chair was a great place to hide.)

 (Evan rocks on the chair at the mall.)

(Benny thinks all of this playing is hard work.  He better stop and relax for a bit.)

Ben's First Haircut

So, Ian told me it was time to get Ben his first haircut.  At first, I didn't agree.  He wasn't as old as Evan was when he got his first haircut, and I didn't think his hair was that long.  However, dinner was a different story.  Most days he would take his food and smear it into the blond wisps of hair that were inching closer and closer to his eyes.  Then, last week, I took Evan to get his haircut.  Seeing Evan with a clean short haircut made me realize that Ben's was looking a bit long.  I loved the platinum blond mop that he had on his head, but it was about to start getting in his eyes.

So, we went to Peek-a-Doo.  That's where we took Evan to get his first haircut.  They have little cars, trains, and airplanes that they can sit in while they get their haircut, TV's to watch, a play area, and little toys you can buy for them as treats.  Needless to say, this place is a splurge that I'm only willing to do for the first haircut.  (Plus, they have a first haircut package where you get before and after pictures as well as a little baggy of their hair.)

We got there and put Benny in his little airplane chair.  He didn't quite know what was going on, but he was happy until they tried to put the cape on him.  He fussed about that, but once we got it on and freed his hands, he was okay.  The actual haircut didn't seem to bother him.  He sat happily in the chair and let her snip away.  Granted, there wasn't too much actual snipping to be done, but he didn't mind.  Towards the end he started to get a little fussy and we quickly solved that problem with his first lollipop ever.  He thought that was pretty fantastic.

(Benny's in his chair ready for his haircut.)

(Here it goes.)

(What is going on?)

 (A treat for the good boy.)

So, now I have two big boys with big boy haircuts.  Actually, most people can't tell that Benny even got his haircut, but his mommy can tell.  It no longer reaches to his eyes, and thankfully we've been getting through a few meals without dinner ending up in his hair!

(before)

 

(after)

Fully Potty Trained

 
So, the moment that we thought would never arrive is finally here.  We have a fully potty trained little three year old!  It has certainly been a long road since we gave him that little potty for Christmas when he was 18 months old, but we're so proud of our big boy. 

By the beginning of this summer, Evan wasn't wearing diapers at all.  He even slept in his "big boy pants" and stayed clean and dry most nights.  However, there was something about going #2 that he couldn't overcome.  Whenever he had to poop, he would ask for a diaper and go into the bathroom and use the diaper.  He had all the skills to use the potty, but he was completely unwilling to try without the diaper.  We were stuck.  He would throw a tantrum whenever we would ask him to try to go without the diaper.  We were worried that he would be 20 years old and still asking for a diaper.

So, being the good parents that we are, we decided to take advantage of a rare opportunity when it came our way.  Evan had a bit of a tummy ache, so he had to use the bathroom quickly at times.  I decided this was the time to pull the diapers away.  This way, he had no choice but to use the potty when he had to go.  He couldn't wait for the diapers. 

At first he wasn't happy with me, but now, a few days later, his tummy is feeling better, and he's decided that maybe going #2 on the potty isn't quite so bad after all.  In fact, he heads in there as often as he can.  He is soooo proud of himself, it's fun to see.  He got a new Buzz Lightyear toy to commemorate the big occasion, and he hasn't put it down much since.  He has told everyone he comes in contact with whether it be at the mall or the grocery store that he is now "fully potty trained".  In fact, the cashier at the grocery store helped us check out two different times and Evan had to tell her both times.  She, of course, remembered us and rewarded Evan with some stickers in honor of the big occasion.

Unfortunately, there have been some unanticipated consequences of our newfound potty confidence.  For one thing, we can't get him out of the bathroom.  In addition, he wants to go potty wherever he goes.  He even tried out our air conditioning vent in our house...yuck!  We now head out to a park and he wants to head to a corner and pull down his pants.  I feel like I'm the pants police!  Oh well, I guess the novelty will wear off soon.

I'm so proud of Evan!  Now he heads off to preschool in a couple of weeks as a really big boy!  What will our little boy figure out next!