Friday, April 18, 2008

He's My Brother AND He's Heavy

Brennan had a quick follow-up appointment this morning to get some vaccinations skipped at his four-month appointment. As part of his visit, they rolled him onto the scale again. This time he weighed a whopping 18lbs 4.5oz!. I took a look at the growth charts to see how he stacked up and he was (literally) off the chart. They had an asterisk for a footnote, so I scrolled to the bottom of the page and all the footnote said was, "Are you kidding me?"

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Death By A Thousand Cuts

Clay is refining his tactics in disobedience. Previously, if you asked him to do something and he didn't want to (climb into his chair to eat, go to bed, etc), he would shout "No!" and run in the opposite direction. Trying to be progressive parents, we offered him two or more choices -- all that resulted in our desired outcome ("Do you want to walk upstairs or be carried?"). This had a lot of success -- he was picking, we were winning.

Well, he's begun to take it to another level now. Instead of overt rebellion, he's taken a more circuitous route -- a strategy that could be best summarized as "One moment, let me do this first." For instance, let's walk through our "getting ready for bed" routine this evening:

Me: Clay, it's time to go to bed.

Clay: Let me first put this play train away. Oh, wait. Let me back it up j u s t perfect.

Me: C'mon Clay, seriously.

Lisa: Clay, Daddy said it's time to go to bed.

Clay: Oh sure, I'm just being helpful. Here let's walk up the steps. Oh, wait, here's one of Winnie's toy bones. Let me just take care of that. Can't have dangerous toys on the stairs, someone might fall and be injured! I'll just carry this down to the living room and tidy up a little bit.

Me: C'mon Clay, it's after 9:30!

Clay: I'm coming, I'm coming! Ooh, wait, let me just go do this . . .

Me: Criminy!

And on it goes . . . In these scenarios, the only thing I can do is pick the boy up and carry him (kicking and screaming) up the stairs. And let me tell you, nothing settles a 2 year-old down for bed like a good fit.

For what it's worth, I've learned more about patience in the last 25 months than I managed to learn in the prior 30+ years.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

More Photos

Brothers

Uploaded another batch of photos last night. Only 2 more months of photos to catch up on!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Catching Up On Photos

I just uploaded a huge stack of photos. That should bring us up to speed on photos from 2007.

In the next few days, I'll start adding the photos we've taken so far this year.


Thursday, April 10, 2008

A Brennan Turnover

Relish the Rolling Boyer! Marvel at his mobility! Gasp at his gyrations! Wonder at his whirling!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Where Were We?

Let's see. How does my blog template go? Oh yes, I begin by apologizing for the intervening days (weeks/months) since my last update and continue by promising to do better. Ok, that is out of the way.

The plague is slowly moving out of the house. First, Lisa came down with bronchitis. Next, Clay began showing symptoms and was diagnosed with the flu. Now Brennan's had a fever and the sniffles for about a week. I've felt like Prince Prospero for a couple of weeks now, just waiting for the next shoe to drop. I've been sucking down my GNC Ultra Zinc Lozenges and I swear by those little suckers. So far, so good -- it seems like the illness passed over me and headed directly on to my father, who received bronchitis and the flu! Fortunately, it seems everyone is on the mend.

Brennan has his four month appointment today. He won't receive his vaccinations because of his fever, but they will weigh him. I hope they've got a large animal scale in the back of the office because I don't think he'll fit on the infant machine! Last week, a few days shy of four months, he already weighed over 17lbs. I give Clay five more months (six tops) before Brennan outweighs him.

I've begun (affectionately) referring to Brennan as "Plumpelstiltskin". On the rare occasion where I change his diaper, I find it very difficult to discern where his bottom ends and his thighs begin. He's got a tiny little pair of cheeks, surrounding by several concentric rolls of thigh. Either he's going to have a massive growth spurt, or he's going to be as round as he is tall. Only time will tell.

He is a happy baby, though. I remember Clay as a smiler, but Brennan laughs -- constantly. He giggles, he chortles, he guffaws -- and it doesn't take much to get him started. He responds to tickling, bouncing, or a good long stare. All are met with joviality.

Clay continues to adapt very well to Brennan. He insists on kissing him good night, comforts Brennan when he's upset, likes to help get him out of his swing and loves tickling him to get him to laugh. His latest trick is "God Bless You". Everybody gets a "God Bless You" when they sneeze, but Clay makes a special point to bless Brennan when he sneezes (which has been all the time during the past week). In turn, Brennan can't take his eyes off Clay. He always turns to see what Clay is doing and is enthralled. It really is the most rewarding thing to see them interact, I pray that their mutual adoration extends past infancy!

Lisa and I continue to adapt to the new state of affairs. I spend most of my evenings taking care of Clay and on the weekends spend a lot of time with him at the gym and our pool. Lisa spends most of her waking life (and sometimes her sleeping life) feeding Brennan. He is still a champion eater (explaining his magnificent rotundancy) and that keeps her pretty occupied. We try and make a point of at least seeing each other once every other day, and I catch a glimpse of my bride over the dinner table on occasion. I expect things will settle in over the next couple of months as Brennan begins to sleep through the night and begins supplementing his feedings with human food.

Well, that should bring everyone pretty much up to speed. Remember, in the world of The Brothers Boyer, it's quality and not quantity!