Pure boy. RC cars and trains

Pure boy. Brock takes his remote control car and drove it along his new train track.

Train for his birthday

Clearly a train set was the perfect gift for Brock for his two year old birthday. He scooted and slid along the floor with his train for hours today. "Train comin... toot toot". Just as adorable as could be.

First Movie

Went to go see Arthur Christmas in the theaters for my birthday. Brock did great... even with his nap in the middle. He was quiet and enjoyed the whole thing.

Hurt toe

Big ouchies today as Brock pulled out a drawer too far and it fell and landed on his toe. It bled and he cried, but I don't think it is broken because he was eventually distracted.

Pooped in potty

Brock asked to go potty and successfully pooped in the potty today. Woot! No luck or timing involved!

Differences are amazing

So just to list some of the ways that I'm different than my sister (in the context of Disneyland)

When she is tired,she wants to get to the hotel.... I want to run around
Scary music on a ride, she is cowering.... don't get that at all... lets do it again
She likes to ride in the stroller, me I'm gonna walk
She is bold around the characters, I'm shy
She doesn't like 4d shows, I love em
Last time we were here, Quinn basically ran screaming from the fireworks, I was pretending I was making the booms myself.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them at the moment

Definant twos

He's a little early, but the twos are going to be rough... Very definant at lunch today.

Wheelchair and Popop

Every wheelchair we pass Brock points to it and says Popop

Dee

Just in case we haven't recorded it before Brock calls Quinn, Dee

Independance

Brock is certainly at the stage where he wants to do everything for himself.

Cut his own food, pour his own cereal and milk, climb into his own chair, put on his own clothes.

He is very insistent about this fact as well.

Drag racing

Frustrated with riding, Brock decided to walk his tricycle. But the peddles kept getting in the way, so with the wheel turned, he drug the bike 4 blocks to the playground. Persistence, determination, and stubbornness to do it his way. Uh.... great.

Trying to pee

Brock really wanted to try to pee in his potty tonight. He squeezed really hard and pushed out two drops. We cheered wildly!

LIghts! Camera! Action!

Quinn was so cute tonight. She was about to demonstrate how well she's doing her cartwheels. She informed Drew, "You'll want to get your camera, Daddy." :-)

Cow Cow hoo-oo

While the title might seem like baby talk, it is anything but. There is a song on the kids music called Rubber Biscuit. It is a scat like doo-wop song. I put it into their playlist, because they do sing nonsense words as part of the song, which is perfect for kids. 


Anyways, the song's first stanza is:

Cow cow hoo-oo
Cow cow wanna dib-a-doo
Chick'n hon-a-chick-a-chick hole-a-hubba
Hell fried chuck-a-lucka wanna jubba
Hi-low 'n-ay wanna dubba hubba
Day down sum wanna jigga-wah
Dell rown ay wanna lubba hubba
Mull an a mound chicka lubba hubba
Fay down ah wanna dip-a-zip-a-dip-a



It came on today, and Brock was signing right along... with extra emphasis on the hoo-oo.


It was insanely cute

Pooping in the potty

How do you lose when you have two firsts? If one of those firsts is a poop in the potty, followed, three minutes later, by the first poop on the floor.

Ren fest

Brock loved the ren fest today. We rode the dragon swing forever (they were slow so they let us stay in for nearly 10 minutes). He also got to ride an elephant and a pony. We managed to find him a dragon tear that wasn't so to small for him. He was quite frustrated that he couldn't do all the fun stuff that his sister could do. Although while his sister was approaching all the fairies, Brock was flagging down knights and barbarians. He is such a boy!

Counting

Wow, Brock can count to three. That seems way early?!

Intentional peeing

This morning Brock decided to adjust himself so that he wasn't protected by the diaper anymore, and then promptly peed on the floor.

Wired this morning

Man Brock was AWAKE this morning. Starting at 5:30 or so, just up and running and joyfully yelling. Pam got him first, but then I came out around 6 and he gave me a running hug yelling "DADDY". It  was great, early, but great.

Not Daddy preferences

Okay, while I get that Brock has a general preference for Mommy, it was really frustrating today, when he wouldn't let me wash his hands. He kept saying Mommy, Mommy and wouldn't let me do it. Then Quinn comes in and he lets HER was his hands.

Clearly I see where I stand.

Exhausted

So after quite a long day for Brock, we were reading his two books before bed. He wanted another book. I said no, and went to turn off the light. Brock was at the bookshelf trying to get his next book. As soon as I turned off the light, he basically collapsed and practically fell right to sleep.

Just a record of some of his words

doh = window
yogurrrr = yogurt
zo-zo = zoe (the dog)
youce = juice

Brock is also singing happy birthday alot as well as other popular songs.

Swimming comfort

Brock is fully comfortable in the water. He able to stand on our platform and reach down, put his head under and pick up things at his feet

Well at least he isn't hitting his head anymore

The series of goose eggs has been replaced by injured toes. Brock seems to scrape, kick, and otherwise make his big toe(s) bleed . This weekend, his toe was infected. He also scraped it twice, to the point that it was bleeding significantly. Although on a lighter note, as we were lancing the infection, he clearly said "Ouwie mommy, ouwie"

Goose eggs continued

I think that yesterday's head hitting count was up to 4 or 5. Quinn ran into him in the morning causing him to face plant on the concrete to get the forehead. Then he fell of of the first step of a bleacher into the 2nd step for a back of the head hurt. Then we walked into the corner of the same bleacher for a side injury. Was reaching for something under the table and came up too soon, that covered the top of the head. It is possible we missed the opposite side, but I'm not sure...

Oy vay

Dang it

Brock knocked over a box that was on my desk and quite clearly said "dang it".... hmmm....

Dr's Visit

At his 18m Dr's visit, Dr said that Brock was incredibly verbal for his age, and that she clearly understood several of his words. I'm not sure I agree, as my memory of Quinn has the words being much more clear - but it is good to hear.

Salsa

At a Mexican restaurant tonight, Brock was insistent on dipping a chip into the spicy salsa. I warned him against it, but he wouldn't listen... Needless to say, that he wasn't very happy after he tried it. Oddly enough, about a half hour later, he had apparently forgotten, because he wanted to do it again. Also, not a good sign.

Faceplants

Brock has discovered immense joy in face planting on the sofa. He has done it a dozen times or so today. Several of those times he has hurt his face or nose. But he hasn't stopped.... this is a bad sign.

Feeding others

Brock might be a chef when he grows up.... He loves feeding others!

Words

While Brock still mostly talks in grunts and noises, he does have a few words albiet mostly unique.

Mamma and dadda - of course
Quinn sounds like "mamma" but at a unique pitch.. it isn't something I can spell
Zoe is said with a click... as in general "come here" for dogs
Yogurt is "yogurrrr"
Milk is "mmmmmm"
There have been a couple of other one-offs which were quite accurate, but nothing consistent yet

What a trooper

In Pittsburgh, Brock did a great job of pushing through naps and extending bedtimes as we forced him to tour Pittsburgh and DC with us. I was quite surprised at how flexible he was with his schedule.

First haircut

Brock's first haircut was today... Just recording it for posterity :)

Tongue gash

Brock fell and bit his tongue... He has a sizable gash. I'm amazed he ate dinner at all...

On another note, I heard a very clear "monkey" as he was pointing to a photo of a chimp

Swimming in the lake

Brock swam in the lake for the first time today.

Swimming

2 hours of swimming yesterday, 3 hours of swimming today... man it is certainly exhausting especially because Brock can't swim yet.

Different then my sister

We went to Rainforest Cafe the other day. Brock LOVED it... We sat right next to the elephants and he was entranced the whole time...

For Quinn, it took a lot of convincing that they were fake elephants and it wasn't really raining... She did great and hid her head during the "thunderstorms"... But overall she was still scared.

Worst couple of days

So Monday at 6:00pm we had a biking accident where the chariot holding both kids tipped over as we hit a curb trying to avoid a car that didn't see us. Quinn hits her head on the concrete and Brock hits Quinn.

6:15pm Brock has a febrile seizure from a rapid temp increase to 103.

We treat his fever all night and take him to the doctor on tuesday. They say it is probably Roseola and should have a fever for 3 days. Okay we are leaving on Wed (today) to San Jose, CA... so we plan for the fever reducers and get a anti-seizure suppository for the plane.

1:00am he wakes up so dad takes him to the apartment (because of course mom is also sick) around 4:40am he throws up on dad he still has a fever, medication, throw-up again wakes up mom and then sleeps for 20 minutes (lower temp at least). New meds at 6:15 including anti-nausea, throw-up again. Sleep finally for 30 minutes and Quinn wakes him up....

By 7:15am, fever again, throw-up without any med or provocation, of course all over mom... but now able to eat 20 cheerios... shower and ready for the doctor, of course have to throw-up one more time before we even leave the house around 10:50... sleep on the way to the doctors, at the doctors, and confirmed vis a CBC test it was a virus.... not only does Brock hate the finger prick, but the band-aid is like a mortal enemy, even when he feels crappy.

finally, make it home and into bed (again) by 1:30 and sleep until almost 4pm... wake up a new kid and ready to eat... and eat... and eat... cheerios, then oyster crakers, mac-n-cheese, applesauce, stole some of Quinn's fish sticks... and overall generally happy considering the disappointing 1.5 hours in the double stroller waiting for Southwest to never get on a plane to San Jose...

We had perfectly planned on 1 hour and 30 minutes to give us plenty of time at the airport. For whatever reason getting through the line to check in bags took 1:29. We were not able to catch our flight. The whole family was very disappointed. Here is Quinn's reaction as we are leaving the airport, having missed our flight

Corn

Quinn hates corn... Brock on the other hand, who hasn't had it, practically fell out of his chair reaching for mine last night. He ate over 1/2 a cob.

Playground heights

Didn't think he would do it, but Brock tried to climb Down a very high ledge. It is too bad, I was starting to trust him on the playground a little bit.

Amazing feats of strength (and death avoidance)

Somehow Brock managed to topple a very heavy candelabra yesterday. Fortunately it didn't land on him, as it weighs near 50 lbs. It is funny to imagine that a toddler can do something that requires an adult to use tools to fix.

Two word sentances

Brock is now able to say "More Please" in sign language.

Learning from sister

Quinn is doing a great job of teaching Brock how to take this out of her hands and hitting people in the face :(

Opening doors

Who knew that Brock can open the double doors to his room already.

Travel, vomit, and fainting

Well Brock had a busy travel day today. As we were about to board from Denver to Houston, Brock threw up 3 times. Then he got a fever on the plane. On the drive home from he was glassy-eyed and threw up three more times. Then he fainted and stopped breathing long enough to turn blue. (Clearly speeding toward the hospital at this point.) Brock comes back and starts breathing again, whew, and now we are speeding to the doctor's office. Doc says it is a stomach virus, with a coinciding vagal (fainting) incidence. Giving him some anti-nausea and fever reducing medicines. All seems okay at the moment, but way scary. Certainly wasn't the end of a vacation experience that you want.

Cocktails

Brock discovered a new mixed drink that he likes. Orange honey salad dressing. It is OJ, honey, oil, and Dijon. He loved to drink this... He did not like straight OJ btw.

Baseball

UH, so Brock accidentally? Tapped Quinn with a baseball bat. It is hard to reprimand Brock for hitting and to try to teach Quinn that he is learning that from her at the same time

Standing in his head

Apparently practicing what he had learned in gym, Brock spent alot of time trying to stand on his head today, which freaked his teachers out.

Quite a fall

Brock somehow managed to fall over the learning tower. He was leaning on the top edge and somehow leaned just right to lose his balance and tumble over the edge... About a 3.5 ft drop. Scary! But he seems to be fine.

Bitten phase

Brick is entering that phase where his classmates bite... That's a bummer

He gets it

Just like Quinn, Brock gets it. He understands the world. Ask him any question and he seems to respond correctly in his own vocabulary, gestures, and body language.

Peeing in the potty

Sabrina reported that Brock peed in the potty twice today. Yeah!

Sleeping in

OMG, Brock slept in to 7:15!

Kookaburra

Brock loved that the kookaburras sang for him at the zoo today. It was pretty cool for daddy too :)

Heads shoulders knees and toes

Guess who knows the hand gestures to the song! So cute!

Climbing the Rock Wall

Today in gymnastics Brock climbed the mini rock wall - by himself; maneuvered himself into a sitting position and slid down the cheese!! At 14 months!!! On the parallel bars, he held on with both hands and stepped over the rungs (as opposed to stepping on, over or whatever). Tried bouncing on the trampoline while lying down by pushing with his feet. He's getting the hang of gymnastics really fast! Go Brock! :-)

Dancing in the morning

We have a new morning routine, which involves dancing to whatever song is on the ipod. It is great... Quinn and Brock really enjoy the music.

High Chair Deep Clean

Clean that Brock has such great gag reflexes that he stops choking, but my goodness is it messy... Had to do a disassembly and emergency deep clean of the high chair last night, after Brock didn't choke on some apple skin

Truisms

So there are two truisms developing for Brock.

1) he will always walk in the opposite direction from where you are headed... Even if you haven't indicated a direction yet.

2) while walking away from where you want to go, he will trip and hit his face or head.

Road trip

Brock just rode an hour and half in the car, awake the whole time, and didn't make a single sound. Every once in a while he'd clap with the music, but mostly he just watched the lights... Amazing... Especially compared to his sister who talked the whole time until she was distracted by a video

Croup

Cough, cough, croup :(

Brock's First Gymnastics Class

Tia Mandy & I took Brock to his first gymnastics class at the JCC. He did amazingly well!!!! He did the entire obstacle course several times and loved it. Especially the trampoline where he got to jump. He also smiled hugely as he slid down the big cheese. Bonked his head twice and never cried. He's going to so enjoy this class. :-) On our way to take him back to his classroom we heard singing. It was Quinn's class having Shabbot. We joined in and danced. The music teacher said that Brock really rocks when she's playing her guitar and singing. A good day all around.

New Words

Brock now recognizes he can say yes and no by shaking his head... I'm also pretty sure he said "una" while we were counting tonight too.

New Nickname

I think his name should be Brockston Goose-egg Toby Shefman, given the sizable bumps that develop on his forehead when he (continually) accidentally bangs his head into something. Tonight he got one that was at least an inch in diameter.

Very sad

Assertion of Will

So Brock certainly knows what he wants. He wants to brush his teeth by himself, and will not release the toothbrush for you to aid. He knows which books he wants to read, and with writhe and wiggle out of your arms to fetch the one that he wants, not the one that you choose. He will absolutely stop eating whatever is in front of him if the Life cereal is on the table....

Pooping in the potty

Brock pooped in the potty three times this vacation... if only we had more days to just spend with the kids...

Sleeping on the plane

We had to fight with him returning the rental car, but keeping him awake was perfect because he slept for 2 hours on the plane from Arizona.

Plane potty poop

Brock poops in the potty on the way to Danny's wedding.

Also didn't cry at all, slept a little, ate a lot... And was generally happy.

Awesome.