Walking and Swimming?

Here's a front view of Finn walking in his jammies this morning.  It's so funny how there are big bursts of growth.  Last week, after taking that video of just a couple steps, the very next day, Finn walked from the living room into our kitchen.  He's off to the races now!

This week was also our first week of ISR (Infant Swim Resource) for both boys.  ISR is a wonderful (not to mention intense) program that teaches kids a swim/float/swim sequence that they can rely on in water.  The theory is that if they can see underwater and find a target, they can get themselves there as long as they know to float for a short time to catch their breath.  The main focus is drowning prevention, but the water confidence gained is also huge.  Both boys are doing great!

What you're seeing in this first video is Brady floating, and then turning himself over to swim to a target (in this case the teacher or the steps).  I apologize that he's off camera for a little bit...my trusty assistant moved my camera for me prior to the lesson.

This one is Finn.  He has learned this week to be able to roll himself over into a float.  Though he gets mad while he's in the water, he's no worse for wear once he gets out.  It is absolutely thrilling to see our child gaining this valuable life skill!

Finn's off and running...er, make that walking!

Finn took his first steps a couple weeks ago, and I haven't been having much luck getting several steps on video.  Tonight, Brady asked if he could use my Flip video camera, and I realized that he might be the perfect videographer!  Sorry for the clanging and banging...it's a typical day's soundtrack with two boys around.

I think Finn is really happy to be walking.  He seems less frustrated now that he can navigate the world upright and on his terms.  He has entered that cute, goofy-smile, lots of belly laughs, huffing and puffing laughter stage.  I love it!

This one is from early July (Finn already looks different now!), but this is pretty typical.  Brady would do nothing all day but squeeze and kiss on his brother if Finn would let him!

VBS a HUGE SUCCESS!

Brady got to go to his first week of Vacation Bible School last week, and he had a lot of fun.  I was there volunteering, and as the first day ended, the song leader commented to me that my son is sure, 'exuberant!'  Yep, that's him!  Here is a video of his recital Friday night.
Brady's VBS Recital

Also, I realize I haven't written about Finn in awhile.  He's doing great!  Tonight I observed him walking around our coffee table (while holding on of course) until he got to the far end to reach for the remote.  I don't think it will be long until we're all out walking.  Lookout!!  We're working on Patty Cake and Bye-Bye.  He's done So Big a couple times, and then looks very proud when we all light up.  Brady continues to mangle him at every chance he gets - the kid just CANNOT keep his hands off his little brother!  At his 9 mos. check-up, he was 21 lbs 3 oz and 30 inches long.  That translates to 50-75% for weight, 90-95% for height, and 25-50% for his head circumference.  I guess I've got another pea-on-top-of-an-orange shaped baby.

Here he is on Father's Day

Dropping F-Bombs on the Playground

Lastnight we were driving to dinner at Brady's favorite spot, Lupe Tortilla.  We were meeting his friend, Palash's, family, so he was quite excited.  Lupe Tortilla is Brady's favorite because they have a large sandpit for children to play in while their parents enjoy some much-too-infrequent-with-small-children dinner conversation.

When we picked Brady up from school, his class was out on the playground.  I could see that he was running around with a girl that I would deem his scheming-smart-funny-female counterpart, Rocky.  As we drove away, we asked him what they were playing.  He said that he was the king, and Rocky was the Snow Queen, but for short he calls her 'F-Bomb' and she calls him 'F-Bomb-F'.  Again I ask...what are we going to do with this kid!?

Happy Father's Day!

The Grabnabber and The Gummie Worms

This kid of ours...  We've had a bit of a challenging week from a behavior perspective.  Finn is much more mobile, and hence demands a lot more attention.  That's the only thing I can think of that's different, because it seems like Brady has started doing the whole 'act naughty to get attention' thing.  But, I have to hand it to him, he's clever!  Sometimes I don't want to punish him because secretly I'm proud of the things his little brain comes up with.  Today was one of those times.

This morning, I asked him if he could run down to the laundry room and get me a roll of paper towels.  I explained that they were right next to the fridge, but after several minutes, I heard him say to himself, 'Nope...no paper towels here.'  I went down to see what was going on and immediately recognized why he hadn't found the paper towels.  Apparently the Grabnabber had gotten his attention prior to the towels.  You know, it's one of those trash picker-upper stick things like workers use to get trash out of the ditch.  Brandon bought it for me when I was pregnant with Brady because he thought I'd really appreciate his attempt at humor when my belly was too be to bend over, but that's an aside.  Brady thinks it's a pretty cool thing.  Nothing more happened this morning as we had to leave the house shortly after all this.

Then tonight, we got home before Brandon, and I noticed when Brandon walked in that I didn't hear the usual chorus of, 'DDAAAADDDDDDYYYYYY' like I usually do when he walks in.  When Brandon came upstairs, he asked where Brady was.  I told him I thought he was downstairs, but was surprised he hadn't seen him already.  Brandon grinned and said that he noticed the light was on in the laundry room and the door was closed.  He went down to check it out.  As he opened the door, Brady said, 'don't come in!'  I have to backtrack for a second.  This same scenario presented itself a couple weeks ago, and when I found Brady in the laundry room, his mouth was full to the brim.  I asked if he was sneaking Gummy Worms, and though his mouth was so full he could barely talk, he gave me his best little brown-eyed look and said, 'Yes...I'm sorry mom.'  I told him he wasn't in trouble because I was proud that he hadn't lied to me.  In order to avoid this situation in the future, I simply placed the Gummy Worms on the top shelf of our storage unit.

I know you know where I'm going with this...tonight he used the Grabnabber, that he remembered from this morning, to procure the Gummy Worms off the top shelf, and was now enjoying his prize.  I just had to laugh when Brandon told me!  The fact that he had figured out where the Gummy Worms were, and then figured out that he could get them with the Grabnabber, and then was actually coordinated enough to do it!?  What are we going to do with this kid!?

Guys Getaway

Many moons ago, Brandon and Brady went on their first guys trip together.  They had an absolutely wonderful time and were very compatible traveling companions!  They went to Gillette and saw Uncle Nate and Aunt Erica as well as some life-sized Tonkas at Unlce Nate's mine.  Then on to Montana Tech to teach a class to some college students.  From there, they went to the ranch.  So much fun!

With Uncle Nate at the mine (or 'mind' as Brady calls it!)

With daddy in the biggest sandbox ever!

Love the big Tonkas!

At the Museum of The Rockies

Making Brady's fave, carrot cake!

Helping Papa with a baby calf.

Playing with daddy's childhood toys.

And he learned some other things while at the ranch as well...

While they were on their trip, Finn and I went to DC for the weekend to meet Idris and see the rest of the Ken family.  Here are some photos of our trip!

Finn with Auntie Ivy

Our whole gang!

Ken with both babies

Io in her Rainbow Brite gear

Happy Birthday Brady!

To celebrate Brady's 4th birthday, we had a HUGE party! We have dodged the 'kid party' scene the previous 3 years, but realized this year that we would no longer be able to get away with that. There was some debate about how many/which kids to invite, as Brady's class at school is pretty big (about 30 kids). In the end, we decided to just go ahead and invite everyone to avoid the playground squables about who is invited and who isn't. We ended up having 21 kids and their parents and it was TONS of fun!

This is the train that came to give kids rides around the neighborhood - fun!

Here's Brady while we're singing with his Transformer carrot cake!

This is Brady with his teacher, Mrs. Mirella as the kids sang Happy Birthday to him when we brought cupcakes on Friday.
Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!