Happy Birthday Brennan!

Brennan turned a whopping one today!

Since we're trying really hard to keep him healthy, he's been under quarantine for a couple of weeks now (only a couple more to go). This meant no little pals over for his birthday.

Not to worry, I think he was sufficiently overwhelmed by the family we did have join us!

Yesterday we were able to have his Grandma, Grandpa, Oma, Opa, Uncle Matt and Aunt Kelley visit for presents and cake.

Brennan made out like a bandit, even getting his own firetruck ride to add to our stable of ride-on toys. This turned out to be a perfect fit as it's a little lower to the ground and he's been easily hopping on and off all day.

To Clay's credit, he tried very hard to celebrate Brennan's birthday selflessly. When I asked him all last night and today, "Whose toy is that?" while he was borrowing one of Brennan's new toys, he'd always respond, "Brennan!"

I did notice last night that he had put together a new scheme for getting extra time with his brother's gifts. Every time he saw Brennan open a new gift that he coveted, he'd proclaim "Brennan's getting tired!" As if, perhaps, Brennan should go to bed early and Clay would selflessly open the rest of Brennan's gifts for him (and test them all to make sure they were in proper working order).

In honor of his actual birthday today, Lisa's parents and our family headed off to the gym to play at the pool for some fun (and to get Clay "The Terror" Boyer out of the house). Everyone had a lot of fun and Brennan's making great progress in walking in the water and righting himself when he goes down.

Finally, please be sure to notice Brennan's "Walking for Dummies" bump on his forehead. In case you've forgotten, it's a family trait. All Hagen genes, I assure you!

On His Own

Clay headed off to Oma and Opa's today for his very first sleep-over. They'll be taking care of him for a little bit next month, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to have a trial session.
In classic grandparent form, Oma and Opa have converted their home into Disneyland. He's got his motorcycle, bowling alley and his very own electric train set. Not too shabby!
For our part, Lisa and I are taking advantage of the opportunity. Brennan will go to bed early and we'll enjoy that most precious of moments -- a quiet dinner.

Clay "DOG" Boyer

Brennan's gone mobile. And he likes to climb chairs -- usually kitchen chairs strategically located over hard kitchen tile flooring. He's been walking for about 6 weeks now, and he's quick. At this point, Clay's fairly self-sufficient and so we'd forgotten how closely you've got to watch these guys.

On regular occasion, we'll suddenly realize that we haven't seen Brennan for 30 seconds (he only needs 5). For a couple of weeks, we'd drop what we were doing and run off looking for him. Somewhere along the way, however, we realized we had a very willing candidate for bounty hunter already on-call.

Now, we simply say "Clay, where's Brennan?" and the big brother is off and running. Invariably, we hear either a loud thump or Brennan's squeal -- depending on whether Clay opts for the mace or the tazer to subdue his quarry -- followed by "I found him!"

Life is good.

I've Discovered Clay's "Carrot"

So Clay has decided he likes running. Nay, he LOVES running. He participated in Lisa's YoungLives tot trot on Saturday and was smitten. On our way home from brunch after the race, he kept saying, "Go race now? Go race now?" I promised we would go running again soon.

This afternoon, he and Brennan both woke up much too early from their afternoon naps. Knowing Lisa was still in a serious sleep deficit from her preparation for the race, I offered to take them over to the local track and run off some steam.

Clay had a blast, and whenever he began to fade (mumbling, "Take a break? Take a break?") I'd just get several feet ahead with Brennan in the stroller and declare, "Brennan's winning! Brennan's winning!" Upon hearing that, Clay would suddenly find a fifth, sixth and even seventh gear and zip by us proclaiming, "Clay's winning! Clay's first!"

All in all, he ended up running 3 laps around the track (with some breaks in between each for dribbling a soccer ball).

I figure if I can get a 2yo to run 1200m simply by invoking his sibling rivalry, I can get him to do anything!

Daylight Savings Time -- Not As Cool As It Used To Be

For years, DST was the adult equivalent of a 2-hour school-opening delay. You didn't get the whole day off, but you got a little extra bump to get you through the day.

Lisa and I are (were) notoriously late sleepers. We had our dogs well-trained to not beg to go outside and we'd just snooze the morning away. DST was like Christmas -- a whole extra hour before church! We might actually make it on time for once!

And then came kids. Kids. The kind that wake up at o-dark-thirty demanding to be fed. And now that Clay's potty-training, he's banging on the door pleading to be let out. And we get up. And by "we" I mean "Saint Lisa".

This wasn't in the paperwork I signed. I want a refund.