The Seminaras

Brady had another great week with lots of new firsts. This was his first week in the toddler room and he did great. He's getting on a more formal schedule with breakfast, lunch, and snack times at school. All the kids go down for naps at the same time and we got Brady a really cute nap mat. They come with built in pillows and fleece blankets (adults at Lockheed would love these). So far he's napping ok as they pair the kids off and he sees the other kids sleeping so he sleeps too. They did say he doesn't sleep as long as the other kids, of course he doesn't want to miss anything! The daycare prepares all the food and offers him milk with meals and water periodically throughout the day. So far he hasn't been a big fan of whole milk (at daycare or at home). Some cute things about the classroom are learning to sit and eat at a table in kiddie chairs, the class pet fish Mr Shark, the water table, and arts and crafts. This week Brady drew a picture of the fish tank for Mom and Dad to put on the fridge.

Other developments include running (we knew it wouldn't be long). The walking/falling forward thing quickly became a run. We started putting him in sneakers to get used to real shoes and for field trips and water days at school. At first he took these funny wide steps but then he got the hang of it and they only make him faster.

He's enjoying bath time more trying to drink the bath water (yuck), standing up to play, and playing with the water at the faucet. He likes to splash the faucet water and say "WOW!". Not sure where he learned how to say wow but it's cute and he says it a lot.

As far as eating, his preferences come and go. He seems to really like fruit especially blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and mangos. Veggies it's hit or miss. Sometimes he like peas, corn, carrots, green beans, and avacados, but some days he will shove them aside. He really likes endamame beans when we go out for sushi. For carbs he likes bread, his puffs (any flavor), pasta, and his favorite macaroni and cheese. The messier the pasta the more he enjoys it. He still hasn't taken to meats preferring to shove them on the floor for Indy. Altogether he seems to be growing, looks healthy, and poops frequently so seems he's eating enough. His bottom left molar is all the way in, but the bottom right is taking it's time and hasn't broken through the skin yet. No signs of the upper molars yet. He poops pretty consistently in the morning after his milk or after dinner before his bath. Sometimes he'll poop a 3rd time at daycare.

He's really taken to sign language and can do milk, eat, more, baby, dad, up, tree, airplane, ball and bird. We are working on cup and water. It seems to work well as we can sorta communicate and avoid potential meltdowns (most times haha). He does know how to shake his head "yes" and "no" and will let you know when he doesn't want to eat something.

We started playing with him in the backyard which he LOVES. He's getting taller so will reach for the door when he wants to go outside. He plays in the grass mostly walking around, throwing a ball, or playing in his kiddie pool.

This week we tried the Little Gym in Arlington to try to meet some local parents and kids. It was a lot fun with circle time, shakers, sticks, balls, explore time, and playing on all the gym equipment. There was about 10 kids in the class ranging from 10-19 months (the "birds" age group). Brady was really sweet to one shy little 17 mo old boy smiling at him and reaching for his hand. The shy boy gave him a half smile and within minutes was crawling around getting more adventurous. Mom met another couple who kept apologizing for their son taking balls away from Brady. Apparently their kid stays home with Grandma all day so doesn't get much exposure to other kids or learning to share. Mom told them no worries. We're all signed up for the 11 wk summer program so should be fun.

Another first was Brady climbing the stairs. This kid loves to climb! Mom let him climb and he did extremely well almost like he'd done it before. He was proud of himself when he got to the top. While he can climb up, we'll wait on going back down until he's a little older.

The forecast calls for 100 deg temps this week, bring on the Texas summer!