Well, I DID tell him to say "Cheese"

Bathtime, Anyone?

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Hi everyone. I'm hacking into Mommy's blog to tell you my sad, pitiful tale.



It was my birthday last week. I'm 9 months old now. You know how I celebrated it? No, not with the blissful taste of my very first cookie. With peas. And ground turkey and carrots. Which I can hardly taste, thanks to my horrible cold. I can't even breathe when I eat. And Mommy keeps attacking my face with Kleenex. I hate that. (I let her know, but she still keeps doing it.)

On Sunday I threw up all over the pew during Sacrament meeting. No one even gave me a hug, they just frantically scrubbed the pew.

I have four new weird things in my mouth. They all decided to show up at the same time. I don't know what they are, but they hurt a lot. And they make me drool excessively.

Mommy took me on a walk a couple days ago. I think she was trying to make me feel better. Instead, she sunburned my head.

To top it all off, a mean lady gave me a shot yesterday. And then JEFFREY got a lollipop. Not me. Not even a little lick for me.

I can't even find solace in sleep. My brother keeps throwing toys on top of me every time I try.

If any of you out there love me, give me a BIG hug and kiss the next time you see me.

And tell me that there's more to life than this.

What are you afraid of?

It's been kind of interesting as Jeffrey has grown up to see what has scared him. In most ways, he's like the average little kid: unexpected loud noises, big animals, tall heights. He's actually remarkably good at comforting himself when confronted with them. ("It's ok, Jeffrey, it's ok....") However, occasionally something terrifies him in ways I never would have predicted:

1. Grass. He refused to sit on it or touch it for the first year of his life.
2. Bubble gum. If someone blew a bubble anywhere in his vicinity, he would seriously run and hide.
3. Vacuum cleaners. I call mine "Monstera" because it's big, clunky, and both kids HATE it. Jeffrey's gotten better, though. He now allows me to turn it on without screaming the whole time I vacuum. As long as he can watch my every move from the couch. With his blankie. And a cookie. And his fingers in his mouth. Then it's ok.
4. Electric toothbrushes.

This last item is the topic of my blog today. A couple months ago, I read an article about what a HUGE difference it makes to brush your teeth with electric toothbrushes rather than regular, and how they should especially be used by young children, who squirm too much to let you brush their teeth effectively. Wooed by the article's statistics and doom-and-gloom threats, I was thoroughly convinced. I let Jeffrey pick out a super-cool Walle toothbrush. He loved it. He played with it all the way home from the store.

Then I tried to put it in his mouth.

Screams. Tears. Tantrums. Whimpers. I tried everything I could think of. We sang toothbrush songs. We did a toothbrush dance. We counted to ten before trying to put it in his mouth. I let Jeffrey brush my teeth with my electric toothbrush. I got Mr. Potato and let Jeffrey use Walle to brush Mr. Potato's teeth. (Jeffrey even kindly helped Mr. Potato spit in the sink.) I let Jeffrey try to do it himself. ("It's ok, Jeffrey, it's ok....") But he couldn't actually do it.

We waited a few days. We tried again. Screams. Tears. Tantrums. Whimpers

Repeat the above sentence 3-4 times.

Once or twice, Daddy MADE him use Walle. Not pretty.

Eventually, we just gave up and used Walle only as a tool of terror. The following scene was a typical one at our house for a couple weeks:

Mommy: Jeffrey, it's bedtime.
Jeffrey: No bed.
Mommy: Jeffrey, we gave you your 5-minute notice. It's bedtime.
Jeffrey: No bed.
Daddy: Come on Jeffrey, we need to get ready for bed. It's time to brush your teeth.
Jeffrey: No bed.
Daddy: Jeffrey, Elmo or Walle?
Jeffrey: No Walle no Walle no Walle!
And off he runs to get his teeth brushed by Elmo (the normal toothbrush), and for the rest of the bedtime routine he is absolutely angelic.

I had despaired of ever using an electric toothbrush with Jeffrey. He was doomed to a life of dental dismay. Then a few days ago, at the grocery store, I saw this:



Dude. PROBLEM SOLVED.

My Little Theologian

Jeffrey and I have been doing scripture study together, with limited success. An excerpt from the last scripture we read together:

Mommy: "In the beginning..."
Jeffrey: "In the beginning..."
Mommy: "God..."
Jeffrey: "God..."
Mommy: "created..."
Jeffrey: "created..."
Mommy: "the heaven and the earth."
Jeffrey: "a fire truck."

The Big Brother Syndrome

Jeffrey tries very hard to be a big brother. It's a full-time job.

There's holding the baby...

Playing with him...

Helping him go to sleep...

Feeding him....

And testing out his equipment. (Strictly for safety purposes, of course.)

But sometimes, Jeffrey takes his job a bit too seriously. The other morning, he and Brandon woke up around the same time, and he decided Brandon needed some entertainment.

I heard some intermittent crying that morning for about an hour, but since it always quieted back down I assumed Brandon was still dozing. When the cries finally became genuine, Brian went to get Brandon from his crib and found this:





EVERY toy in the room was piled in there. Not only that, but Jeffrey had taken the time to separate every Lego, empty every baggie, and pull every drawer out of every dollhouse dresser. (Yes, by the way, I give my son dollhouse toys. No apologies. That's just what happens when you have a dollhouse business.) Every inch of the crib was covered 6 inches deep, except for the teeny-tiny corner in which our poor crying Brandon was scrunched.

Oh, brother.

This is what it looks like when a mommy shows off

Since I've posted very few pictures of Brandon since he was born, I thought we'd play catch-up. Here's his entire life in a nutshell:

Brandon, a couple hours after he was born

Getting ready for his first bath

First day with his life-long buddy (or arch-nemesis?)

Brandon's baby blessing, at about 5 weeks old

Brandon LOVED his swing and wouldn't sleep anywhere else for the first 5 months

Brotherly love

Brandon at about 8 weeks

Just after a walk with Mommy in Texas heat to pay rent

Brandon was smiling by this point, but he refused to let me take a picture of it. This was as close as I got for a while....

Jeffrey loved matching his brother--though I thought the brothers would look a little more alike! Outfits courtesy of Great-Grandma

Huddling up at Brandon's first football game

3 1/2 months old

Another unsuccessful attempt to get my SMILING boys on camera

Success! Put Brandon in a Halloween costume, and he won't stop smiling!

Not Brandon's favorite place to be, but he NEVER cries in the car. Mommy likes car trips.

Meeting my old teddy bear Wellington

Brandon at 5 months

Brandon doesn't find stuffed animals as interesting as Jeffrey's cars and trains, but he liked this one a lot.

To prevent being woken up by Big Brother, Brandon took a lot of naps in our bed (until he got really good at rolling over and un-swaddling himself)

6 months old--First Christmas!

He loved every minute of it!

Why do we bother buying toys when babies have toes?

First solids (carrots). Brandon clears through about 6 containers of baby food a sitting. (The boy likes to eat!!!)

A favorite place to be nowadays! This was at 7 months.

He LOVES playing with paper. (Doesn't it show?)

My super-sitter-upper! He started at about 6 1/2 months; he was 7 months in this picture.

Getting ready for our snow day!

Taken last week. So, is he adorable or is he adorable?

I love this kid!!!!