Such a boy

Here is a list of tiny observations about his boyness:

• We have dinner at Natachees, which happens to be directly infront of a rail stop. Brock spends the entire time watching the "trains". One comes about every seven minutes. That is almost all he does while we are there
• I get him a air ping pong gun, the kind that squirts out a ping pong ball, with a nice pop. His new favorite toy. He loves building a tower of blocks, and shoot them down.
• Go to a gymnnastics party or a bounce house party, and he wants to play catch
• On the gymnastics mat, he loves to run and tumble, but not in a somesault way. More in a run full speed, jump, and land on his knees and then roll to the side kind of way. 

Corrections from school

Brock and I were playing this morning and he said put your hands up if you want to "waterski" ( pull on the jumprope attached to the ottoman on wheels).

So I put both my hands in the air.

"Big boys only put one hand in the air," says Brock.

Then somewhere along the way, he asked me a yes / no question, to which I replied "uh-hun" and he said "yes or no... you have to say yes or no"

Schlitterbahn

While at Schiltterbahn last weekend, Brock recognized that he was tired. He slept on a lounge chair in the shade in the middle of the park for an hour and a half.

What a rock star!

Swimming

Brock is a great swimmer. At 2.5 he is starting the minnows class. The description for this class says for 4-6 year olds. He is incredibly comfortable in the water, and for the most part, doesn't need supervision to make his way across the pool. He is able to retrieve sunken toys and loves to swim like a dolphin.

First incredible insightful play on words

So, here we have it. Brock is 31 months old (2.5 + 1 month) and he said is first intentional insightful play on words. We were at a friends house, who happen to have a guitar hanging on the wall.

Brock said it was an "art-tar", as in guitar art. I was unsure if this is what he meant, so I asked him if he ment "guitar". He said "no it's an art-tar". I asked him if he meant  it was "art", and he said "no, it's and art-tar". I asked him if it was guitar that was art, and he said "yes, an art-tar".

:):):):):):):):)

Big boy toothpaste

For the record, Brock started using spit toothpaste.

Sleeping sounds

Last night was the first night in 5 years that we didn't need to use the monitor any more.... Good bye white noise oceans sounds. Hello music to sleep to again. I've missed you.

Bedtime "routine"

Its is amazing how different the kids are. For Quinn, it took years before she'd let us leave the room before she was alseep. Brock is not that way at all. He could care less about the stories and songs from mom and dad. He "reads" on his own, sings, plays with toys all by himself. He'll come out several times to get a new toy or book, and then go back to his room to continue to play.

Granted, it still takes him at least an hour to fall alseep, but it is all on his own.

Pre-Day planning - Curiosity of genetics

It is REALLY bizarre what genetics brings to the table. I'm a planner... It normally takes me a fair amount of time to fall asleep because I'm thinking about the days events and what I'll be doing the next day. Brock is exactly the same. He will talk, sing, and plan in his bed for up to an hour after we put him down. Last night he was talking about all of the fun adventures he was going to do today, along with a couple of songs.

I have know idea how he picked this up from me.

Falling in the pool

This post is just for the record of it... but Brock was helping me clean the pool this morning and fell in.
He did great... he was able to swim enough (not really above water), that I could reach him from the side. And when I pulled him out, he was most upset that he got his pajamas wet.

We talked about what happened, and how we always need to be safe around the pool.

He was swimming an hour later, clearly not even phased by it. (I was hoping for a little phasing, so that maybe he might learn from it.... we'll see).

Skiing

Brock skiied and stood up on the ski trainer by himself this weekend

Excited about the lake

We made the mistake of telling Brock on Friday that we'd be going to the lake the next day. He was so excited that he slept for 5 minutes, woke up and was ready to go to the lake.

Then we tried to convince him that it would be after breakfast... So he wanted cereal at 9 at night.

He is so excited to go on the boat.

Bikram bedtime

I don't get how he can go to sleep so hot. He has got his footed winter pajama's on. Then his fleece blankie. Then the double layer felt train blanket from Tia Mandy. Then a large stuffed hippo. And we keep the inside temperature at 77.

He has got to be super toasty.

Vocabulary Jump

I was gone for three days, and when I came back Brock was talking in multiple complete sentances. I'm fairly certain that he wasn't before I left.

Dayenu

There is a Hebrew sing called "dayenu" (di-e-new). Which the kids, going to the jcc, love to sing.... It starts with
Di di enu.... Di di enu

Anyways this morning, Quinn said she had diarreah. Brock breaks out with

di di reah, di di reah

I'm sure you had to be there, but it was hillarious.

Favorite song and dance

At the moment, the can can us Brock's favorite sing and dance. Specifically, "You can can-can"

Zinc Cholride

So we were at Lowe's and Brock was happily exploring PVC pipes and some street cones. I'm looking at PVC cement options. Next I hear "No like it"... Brock somehow opened a small container of plumber's Flux (Zinc Cholride)... and I think he tried to smell it.
It ended up on his nose and mouth area. F**K.
I wipe it off with his shirt, and we go to the bathroom to wash our face. We drink as much as we can from the fountain. The bathroom only has paperless options, so I have Brock put his face in my cupped hands full of water.
We come home an wash with a wash cloth and give him a whole bottle of water to drink.
I guess we are on poison / irritant watch.

Potty training

Brock is doing great on his potty training... We are averaging 0 to 1 accident per day... even usually going poop in the potty. Still at the vigilance stage from us, as he usually doesn't indicate he had to go himself (unless it is after bedtime).

He does a little dance though whenever he does manage to go.poop.

Also, he often doesn't point down enough, and sometimes pees over the edge of the toilet and onto his pants.

Sleeping over at Popo's

Brock slept over at Popo's last night. Of course we camped upstairs in case any assistance was needed.

Same Clothes / no Diapers

Brock managed to stay in the same outfit all day and he didn't have diapers on.... only underwear... Woot!

Great Progress

Space Center Houston

Brock had a great time at the space center today.... especially following Quinn through the massive play space, spaceships, and slides.

The Shefmans

Brock is now calling everyone by their full name. Mommy Shefman, Daddy Shefman, Dee Shefman...

it is very cute... Esp because it sounds like Sherman.

Out of bed

That didn't take long. Brock figured out he could get out of bed on his own, and climbed in our bed in the middle of the night.

Big Boy Bed

Brock voted to sleep in his big boy bed tonight. First time. Let's see how that goes.

Actually, went well... he slept later (till 6am) then he normally does (5:30). Yeah!

Trying new foods conundrums

While cooking dinner tonight, I ran into an unexpected philosophical dilemma. We were grating parm, and Brock wanted to try it. Fine. Quinn was already snitching massive "pinches" at a time (that IS the whole fun of helping, right). So Brock tried it, and spit it out.

"No like it," as he is famous for saying.

Fine.

A minute later, he takes another big sampling. Splits it out, again "No like it"

This repeated 2 more times. Then the fifth time, we actually cut of a small piece of the cheese for the kids to have... again spit it out.

As I'm amazed that Brock clearly doesn't learn that he doesn't like Parm cheese, another part of my brain was jumping in with the following internal dialogue.

"Don't mention anything!!! He just tried something he didn't like 5 times. This is gold! Quinn figures out she doesn't like something after -1 tries, Brock never figures it out...... this is good, keep your mouth shut about the wasting food"

Counting to ten

Brock was able to count to ten today. I thought that was pretty cool.

Potty awareness

Brock kept the same pullup from morning through dinner. Getting closer.

Daddy is not for sick days

Apparently as Daddy, I'm completely unwanted when Brock is not feeling well. Couldn't even be in the room without a major meltdown. I had the night shift, so that Pam could sleep and recover from her own not feeling well. So when Brock woke in the middle of the night and wanted Mommy, I went in. Which caused him to WAIL for mommy. Soon the whole house is awake at 2am. He wouldn't let me in the room, talk to him, nor touch him. Even after mommy was in the room, and I returned with a blanket for her, he wailed again.

Its great to be loved

Feeling sick and sharing food

Healthy kids don't share food. When everyone is healthy, you have to somehow convince the waitstaff to split the incredibly large child's portion in the kitchen, without letting the kids know that you've only ordered one dish for them, because they want it all.

When they are sick though, they will literally take the food out of their mouth. Drink from their cup, and share food and utensils as if they were the same person.