The Santa Claus Parade - Part I

We went to our local community Santa Claus parade this weekend. We've been getting Simon pumped about Santa lately and were excited to get the Christmas season started. We stood with our neighbors (who have a boy that goes to daycare with Simon) and it was so much fun to see their excitement. Miles was just along for the ride but he got lots of comments because he was so darn cute. Aside from getting rained on, and Simon totally missing Santa (for some reason, he was on a float about 15 feet in the air - I guess they thought kids were going to rush him), it was the perfect morning.

Finished Basement

We've been spending most of our weekends underground working on getting our basement finished. It's amazing how long the whole process takes when you're only able to work for a few hours on weekends. Plus, Matt and I have no clue what to do so we relied heavily on the expertise of my parents. We started out hoping to finish before Miles was born. We were only off in our estimate by about 4 months!

The basement is probably one of the nicest spaces in our house now. The trim work is gorgeous, we have a few built in touches, it's painted in non-builders colours it's a huge space and I finally have my black doors! Here's some pictures of the final stages of handi-work and Simon testing out the integrity of the shelves.

Simon Says

Lately at bed time I'm hearing a lot of, "Can you do me a favour?". It's a great stall tactic but he hasn't quite figured out what to ask me for.

Overheard at potty time today...
Simon: "Knock, Knock" (where did he learn this??)
Matt: "Who's there?"
Simon: "Daddy"
Matt: "Daddy who?"
Simon: "You're a gorilla" (well I guess he doesn't totally get the concept)

And the grossest thing we have heard around these parts. "Muummy threw the vitamins in the toilet" (as he was chomping on something suspiciously gummy). Apparently he washed them first or so he said but yuck!

At the change room after swimming.
Simon: "Is that a baby Daddy?"
Matt: "Yes. Are you a baby Simon?"
Simon: "No, I'm a big boy. A huge boy, just look at my belly."

At gymnastics
Simon: "Can you hear the tractors Mummy?"
Simon: "I can hear them smiling"

Miles @ 4 months

Miles is the perfect addition to our family. He is such a mellow, happy baby (except for Monday's after the Lonestar). At four months, Miles:

-has the chubbiest cheeks, which is the reason I think he doesn't love tummy time because it's so hard to keep that head up!
-has ever changing eyes - some days they are clearly blue, others grey and others hazel. The only colour they are definitely not (yet) are brown.
-is still sleeping in his vibrating chair by the bed - we're thinking a custom, larger one may be in order :)
-is a pretty good sleeper and usually wakes once, sometimes twice a night to eat.
-naps a lot...he can hardly go two hours before he needs to crash.
-goes to bed between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and wakes between 6:00am and 7:30am.
-is wearing mostly size 3-6 month clothes and 6-9 month sleepers.
-has more than doubled his birth weight and is now 15lbs. 10oz. and 26 inches.
-is still wearing size 2 diapers.
-has started rolling from tummy to back - no more tummy time for him.
-has his first tooth poking through.
-always has his fist shoved in his mouth causing frequently gagging and puking incidents.
-loves to watch his big brother.
-smiles a lot and gets his whole body in on it.
-is doing a lot of belly laughs - particularly when you're kissing his chubby cheeks.
-loves to chatter and is quite pleased when you imitate his noises.
-is still swaddled tightly in the miracle blanket - again, not sure if we're going to be able to give this one up.
-looks so much like Simon at the same age - just with different eyes and without the crazy cowlick.
-frequently launches himself backwards without warning.

Carving Pumpkins

We have come very close to having uncarved pumpkins the last few years because we always leave things until Halloween. This year, we wanted to get Simon involved so Matt got to work on carving the pumpkin and scooping out the guts. Simon did not want to touch the pumpkin innards since, "they feel gross". He also told Matt that he would scrape the inside because Daddy couldn't do it. He also had great fun helping sort out the seeds. Unfortunately, I cooked them for 2 hours; they are roasted for sure!

Here's some pictures of the festivities. We tried to get Miles in on the action too...

Picking a Pumpkin

We braved a no nap day and prepared for the possible meltdown/guaranteed poor behaviour so that we could pick out a pumpkin. Simon fought us getting dressed, getting the car, cried because we weren't going to McDonald's, and then took off as soon as we got there but we perservered. He had many meltdowns and spent a good deal of time looking down, throwing pumpkins, and doing fake "cheese" grins. Miles was generally just happy to be along for the ride - although he wasn't thrilled with being squeezed into the cracks between pumpkins. It was all worth it for the great photo opportunity.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Simon has been using sleep as a control mechanism lately. We can't really force him to stay/go to sleep so he has been using "nap" time to read, stomp about and recently he has discovered the art of "play". I got tired of listening to him stomp about the other day and finally decided to go get him since I wasn't really benefitting from any quiet time. This is what I found when I opened the door. He said, "look Mummy, I'm playing". I had to go get Matt lest I laugh since it's not something I want to encourage. When Matt was cleaning up, Simon was particularly proud of the fact that he pulled the wipes out one by one.

Simon Says

As heard this morning after a lively game of chase.

Simon: Let's go the other way
Matt: No Simon, I'm pooped
Simon: You pooped in your pants (trying to check it out)
Simon: You're not supposed to poop in your pants, you're supposed to poop on the potty (I guess he has been listening)
Me: Simon, pooped also means tired
Simon: Let's go poop on the potty right now (marching Matt upstairs to the potty)

Some Pictures

I haven't done the best job with keeping up with the stories lately but I have been better with taking photos. Here are some of my favourties....

Brothers

Simon and Miles are rarely in the same frame but I have managed to capture some photos of the two of them.