Spotlight on: Davey Bubs

photo by Jason M.

He never gets to go first anymore, but David is sweetness personified. I think he was given to me to change my perception of having a boy, because wow, I never could have imagined how I love my son. He loves to snuggle, is very sensitive (be careful not to hurt his feelings - he'll break your heart!), and has a gentle heart. Of course, he's also a 2 year old boy. He is obsessed with cars and trains. He'll lay on his side on the floor rolling a matchbox car around and around and around and around (and around and around and around). And he has his meltdowns over terribly unjustified things like a broken cracker.

He's matured so much in the past couple of months. He seems more and more like a preschooler. He loves to read books, and gets attached to them. Last night he couldn't find his train book and he was in tears because he was so worried that it was lost forever. He pours over his Thomas catalogues, trying to name the trains and gift sets. Oma gave him the Cars DVD a couple of weeks ago, and it's safe to say that we're on a Cars kick.

I've been amazed how older siblings expose kids to things at a younger age. David is more familiar with concepts like school, bikes, letters and numbers, television, board games and the like, because of his older sister. I know Katy wasn't doing many of these things at two and a half. Sometimes I hope that it doesn't rush him into things for which he isn't ready. But in other ways, he's learning skills sooner than he otherwise might have.

Ever since he was a newborn, David has loved to eat. He hasn't met many foods he doesn't like. Of course, given a choice, he'd choose french fries and M&Ms over carrot sticks, but he will taste and eat most things. Strangely enough, however, he doesn't like cheese.

David is so much fun, and I especially look forward to those little moments that I steal with him by himself. He talks and talks and shows me more of his wonderment. I can't wait to see how he grows in the next few months into a bonafide preschooler. I love my Bubby Boo!

Spotlight on: Lukey Loo

photo by Jason M.
4 month stats: 15 lbs, 4 oz (60%'ile), 25.5 in (65%'ile)

Luke is 4 months old. He's had a stuffy nose and a cough for a month (checked out twice), but you wouldn't know it. He really doesn't complain too much. He spends more time than most in his car seat being carted around to his siblings' activities.  He's very smiley. Daddy gets him to laugh the loudest. He alternates sucking on his pacifier, his thumb, and his fingers (David style).

His sister is his biggest fan: whenever she sees him, she lights up and teases him with some kind of song, (to the tune of This Old Man), "Lukey Loo, Lukey Loo, La La La La Lukey Loo, with a Lukey, Lukey, Lukey-Lukey-Loo, La La La La Lukey Loo." Never a dull moment in his world.

After being really awful for a month or so, his sleep is gradually getting better. Most days he takes one long nap in the afternoon in his crib and then catches cat naps the rest of the day when he can get them. He's still getting up about twice in the night, but that may partially be due to some milk-supply issues from mom (a story for another day).

He rolls from back to front and then sleeps on his tummy. He tolerates tummy time much better since he started this. He likes to stand, and we've put him in the Exersaucer and the doorway jumper a few times. He babbles and jabbers and drools and spits up like crazy.

This past weekend I took him on two long walks in the jogging stroller, each of them over an hour, and he didn't make a peep. He even fell asleep for part of them. I love this sweet boy, interested in the world and just taking it all in. So glad I have my Luke.

Wishy-Washy November

I'm looking forward to November. We don't have a lot planned, I'm hoping we'll be healthier, and the weather in October has been so great that I'm hoping to stretch it out a bit. But I've been debating about NaBloPoMo (daily posts in November for National Blog Posting Month). In the past I've done it, and I've even said, "I'll do it if I can," but then I'm frantically typing at 11pm and Brian's saying, "I thought it was only if you had time?"

But one thing that I really enjoy is looking back at archives, and I've noticed that during the daily November posts, I write more about the day to day stuff, rather than Big Events, and it's nice to read that, too. So if it's only for Future Me, I'm going to try again. They may be short, maybe a few questions for you, and possibly Wordless Weekends.

So for my first question: what do you do as far as Halloween candy distribution? How often and how much candy are your kids allowed to have, and do you just get rid of it at any point?  So far this year (4 days), I've let them pick one piece after lunch and one piece after dinner. But I don't think I want to do this until it runs out - that's a lot. And they look at it so much, I know I can't just "make it disappear" without them noticing. They know how much is there.

So what do you do?