Big Boy at the Big Top

Today, Alan got to play at the indoor playground instead of just being carried around. Our baby is becoming a big boy!

First Day of Preschool

Mommy and Daddy were sad and proud at the same time for Kevin's first day at preschool. It was an early morning for everyone, since we had to drop Kevin off at 7:30 for breakfast. We got Kevin dressed, including new shoes and a new backpack with his name embroidered on it by Auntie Karen H.



The whole family went to drop Kevin off. He was doing fine, carrying his backpack like a big boy, until he saw his teacher Ms. Anna.



Mommy and Daddy went home with Alan and waited, wondering if the phone would ring. Ms. Anna called at 8:30 to say that Kevin stopped crying as soon as she took him inside and was doing great!

Mommy picked Kevin up at 10:45, and he was excited to see her through the door. What a much happier boy than this morning!



Kevin had a lot of fun on his first day, including a trip to the playground, playing with glue and meeting a very pretty 4-year old girl! But he was still pretty tired. There's a whole new routine to get used to.



It's nice to be home!

Alan Stands!

It's been a busy day! First we had to lower Alan's bed, and then he sat up all on his own - no hands!



Of course, while Mommy was trying to take pictures of this, he came crawling over to check out the camera.



First he got up on his knees -



then his feet!



Mommy propped him up on the big wooden block



and decided to put the legs on the Leap Frog music table. Alan must have loved the view from up there, because once Mommy put the table back, he got up on his knees and reached up.



While she was on the phone telling Daddy about him sitting up on his own, she looked over and saw that Alan had pulled himself up to stand on his own too!



Phew! How are we going to keep up with this boy?



"Look Ma! Just one hand!"

Our Little Adventurer!

Earlier we reported that Alan had been pulling himself up to his knees. He's been having a grand time with the new perspective on the world - so much to see! He's crawled over to the play area and greeted himself in the mirror.





What a happy baby!



In addition to crawling on his knees (much easier on his outfits than the commando crawl on his tummy), he's been experimenting getting up on his hands and feet. He looks like a little baby yogi doing downward facing dog.



We knew we'd have to lower his bed, but hurried to do it this afternoon when he decided to climb out after his morning nap! We'll need to be on our toes with this one!

Brothers Play

It's great fun to watch the two boys playing together. Kevin is rediscovering all his old favourite toys as we bring them out for Alan. He's great about sharing with his little brother even though he tends to take over and "show" him how to play.



Kevin is having fun squeezing himself into the Baby Bumbo. Alan is just glad to have a turn with the Leap Frog driving toy.



Of course, they were driving Mommy crazy. She was trying to get a picture of them looking up and smiling at the same time. Better luck next time Mommy!

Now that Alan is crawling, we've put some of Kevin's less baby-friendly toys in a bin with a latching lid. Kevin pulled out the trains and tracks and Alan quickly came crawling as the forbidden toys became available again.



Mommy moved the Fridge Farm toy (purchased in Canada for English and French!) down the fridge door so that Alan could reach. As soon as Kevin heard it, he came running to show Alan how it was done.





"But when is it going to be my turn!"

Meet the Teacher

Kevin starts preschool on Monday - our baby is growing up! Tonight we went to Meet the Teacher night. Kevin cried at first, but after a while started exploring his soon-to-be school room. Alan joined him and Daddy on the circle time carpet to play with the toys.

Moving up

Alan pulls up on to his knees! Good news, he's pulling up. Bad news, he's doing it at the fireplace. Good thing it isn't used very often!



After checking out the fireplace, Alan decided to take a tour down the hallway.

Wakey wakey!

Mommy sends in Alan to get his big brother Kevin up for the day. "Hey! How did you rate such a big bed?"

It's a Gymboree day!

Mommy has started taking Alan to Gymboree again. Wow! Look at all the different balls!

Smiles and Joy

This blog has always been about sharing the minutiae of Kevin and Alan's day-to-day life with Daddy while he's travelling and with our out-of-town-friends and family. I've never been one to share my thoughts on parenting, childhood or my experience as a stay-at-home Mom.

Recently, though, I found the following video on our favourite daddy blog. It made me smile, it made me happy, and it made me laugh. In short, all the things that our two beautiful boys do. We share a lot of pictures of how they look and videos of what they do. This video, I hope, will give you an idea of how they make us feel.



Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.