Bren got in trouble today. We’ve been working on his hitting and he just wouldn’t give it up today. He smacked Darrell a good one this evening so I sent him to his room. Two minutes later, I went and got him and tried to get him to kiss Daddy (kind of saying sorry since he does not yet say sorry). He wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t even look at him. Instead he tried to pull stunts. So he’d go back in his room for a bit and we’d try to get him to apologize again by kissing daddy’s cheek. We went about 5 rounds before he finally gave a half-hearted kiss and hug. It wasn’t very fun.
In the midst of punishing him we were *trying* to watch a simple half-hour episode of Good Eats. Good thing it was taped. We kept pausing and restarting. After it was over we started the show up again and watched the last couple of minutes. I remarked to Nico that I was sorry it took a whole hour to watch- and gave a mock-evil look to Brendan. He immediately countered with, “Oh! My bad!” Omigosh we busted up laughing! Hahahahaha.

Bren and I were playing his toddler game today and we watched a little animated scene where a red car drives around the screen and makes all sorts of cars noises. When it was over, Bren just shook his head and said, “What’s up with that?” I about split into two with laughter. That makes 4 word sentence #5!!

He went down and stayed down and didn’t fuss. TWICE.
All hail to the conquering toddler- he has mastered the big boy bed! I am so proud of him!
I would be lying if I didn’t mention how excruciatingly stressful these past few days have been. Mostly because I had anticipated a much longer trial period and how I didn’t anticipate how upset a couple of people would get at my letting him cry in his room and my method of doing so. Such a hot topic but the family bed just doesn’t work for this family. So Brendan had a few tough nights and now he goes to bed wonderfully hassle-free (knock on wood).

We’ve gone from this

to this

to this

My baby isn’t a baby any more. 🙁
As you can see, Bren has achieved a new state of bigboyness. It was not the crib (read: captive) longivity I had hoped for but Bren surprised us two nights ago with climbing out of his crib. If he can get out on his own, we may as well make it safer for him. We took it apart and had a “bye-bye baby bed” ceremony complete with kisses to its holy wood. It was… a hormonal time for both DH and I.
Last night was the first night in his big bed. How did it go? Well, not bad but definitely not good. By not bad I mean he did sleep in it for the majority of the night. By not good I mean that we waited til he was sound asleep in our bed (1:00 am!) to move him and then he woke up at 7:00 anyway and I slept the rest of the morning in his bed with him.
Today’s nap will mark the first “go to sleep on your own in your own bed” attempt. Please cross your fingers.
In other news, Bren called the garbage truck a “big truck” today. He also (in addition to shoes, socks and an occassional diaper in the past) can take off his own pants.

Happy 22 months Brenny!
P.S. Bren says thanks now, well, “Tenks!” anyway. 🙂

Brendan and I played his computer game today- Reader Rabbit Toddler. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it for 18+ months toddlers. Not only does it score high on quality/quantity of entertainment & learning, but it is absolutely the easiest to use too. All Brendan has to do is hit random keys on the keyboard OR move the mouse around (no clicking necessary).
In times past, Brendan played almost exclusively by the hitting keys method. Occassionally he’d give the mouse a try because he sees us use it all the time but then would go back to hitting the keys. Today, Brendan made the connection of “when I move this around on the desk, it moves the star on the screen”. Brain-fireworks flew as he looked at the screen instead of the mouse under his hand. Brendan thus completed Mouse Basics 101.
He also surprised me with a new word. We were playing a game where a girl mouse was on the screen. When he moved the star-cursor over her she let out a big squeak. He LOLed. I LOLed. He pointed at her and said “silly!” 🙂

Mommy: Ah—-Chooooo!
Brendan: Bless you! 🙂
We’re a sneezy lot these days and it seems that Bren has caught a cold. He’s runny and sometimes breathes in gasps. Yak! What a time to have lost his booger-sucker. Wonder when he’ll learn to blow his nose? You know he’s not totally there when he voluntarily climbs onto the couch with a pillow and blanket and lays there calmly. Just not a normal noonish activity.

Brendan is doing very well sleeping (knock, knock). He may play for awhile after being put in his crib one or two nights, but he doesn’t cry. He does wake up early about 2 mornings a week too- though I can’t blame him- Nico and her kids wake him while eating breakfast and getting ready. The kitchen in right outside his door.
Found out that Brendan would climb out onto a shelf beside his crib to get a new pacifier if he lost his so that shelf is now across the room. I hate having to go clear across the room to get diapers and wipes but it is much safer now. It was just a matter of time before he swung his legs over and climbed down the shelves too. Hopefully, he won’t get any ideas about climbing out of his crib because I am not ready for that!
Brendan has also just started saying “No!” and pointing his finger at you all the time. It is really annoying and when he follows it with hitting he gets a few minutes in his crib sans the pacifier. I am afraid the Terrible Twos are upon us- conveniently two months early.
Oddly enough, Brendan really enjoys old Heathcliff cartoons now. I am going to try to find the Heathcliff movie on DVD for him. He calls him “Kitty, Kitty”. It’s really sweet. I think he is tired of his Bob cartoons. They don’t keep his interest for long anymore though I can still get a shower out of one of them if I hurry.
He is more interested in books now and will sometimes even sit still through a whole one. This is a big breakthrough for him! He usually gets antsy and turns the pages. He loves books that have the ABCs printed on the inside covers such as Dr’ Seuss’ ABCs and Chicka-chicka-boom-boom. He loves to help us sing the song while we point to each letter. He knows when to say G and ends it with Y and Z on his own.
Brendan eats yogurt now- with a spoon all by himself. Dannon’s La Creme yogurt is really good and the container has an easy wide mouth. We share a McDonald’s yogurt parfait once in awhile. He ate his first McDonald’s cheeseburger the other night. All he left was a rind of bread. It was so cute and he looked so grown-up holding it. Sadly, he isn’t too interested in bananas anymore. He still eats apples though.
I think he has put on some weight. I’d guess that he is 29 pounds now. He’s back into a kissy-huggy stage and I love that!

Brendan and I spent some time outside today. He sat across from me at our picnic table. He started moving his arms in circles and pointing to the sky. Then he sang out, “The sky is pretty!” Four word sentence #4! I can’t believe he used “the”.
Right now he is sitting in a chair beside me. He has his hand up to his face like a megaphone and is belting out “Da!!!! Da!!!!!” He’s obviously trying to get his daddy to come to him. Such cuteness today!

Hard to believe but Bren transitioned back into being put to sleep awake and directly into his crib without hardly a sniffle. We also noticed that he has a full set of choppers- all his corner teeth are in!
Bren also opened a door with a babyproofed doorknob today- twice. Ha ha ha!