"autumn and fall are two words for the same season"

"Autumn and fall are two words for the same season." That's how Britton explained fall to me. "Why is it called 'fall,' Mommy?" "Because the leaves fall, Britton."

It's my favorite season, actually my favorite moment of the year when it's just nippy enough that you need a jacket. Leaves changing color, piles of fallen leaves in the yard for jumping into, pumpkins and corn stalks and JoAnn's scare crows decorating porches - this is my dress rehearsal for Christmas. And I love every minute of it.

So when I heard that Soergel's, our local apple orchard/nursery/farmer's market was having a Fall Festival, and Britton asked to go back to their Butterfly House, it seemed easy enough to head out there on a Saturday afternoon and soak up all the fall goodness. Fresh pressed apple cider? Check. Pumpkins as far as the eye can see? Check. Pumpkin donuts? Heck yeah. I was expecting a leisurely stroll around the grounds, a quick duck into the Butterfly House, then a plop on the bench with my hot cider and pumpkin donut. I was not expecting this...

Seems this place is quite popular in the fall! Crowds of people everywhere. But we were already there, so we went ahead with our lunch and fun plans. First stop? Hotdogs and roasted corn...

Barrett hung out in his stroller and eventually fell asleep. Oh, how I envied him - getting pushed around in gorgeous fall weather while he dozed!

Britton lost interest in the Butterfly House once she saw the bouncy slide. And the bouncy house. And the pumpkin blow-up house. She had to do them all. And get some cotton candy. The hubs and I gave up on buying cider and a pumpkin when we saw how crowded the check-out areas were. But I did get a chance to sneak inside and get some pumpkin ice cream!

wellness visit

We had wellness visits this week for this kids, and Britton was all prepared to get a shot.  We acted out getting the shot with her Doc McStuffins medical kit.  I even pulled out a Daniel Tiger move and had her imagine being in a happy place while she got the shot.  I asked her where her happy place was, expecting the playground or Memaw's house, but no, she picked the dentist.  Seriously.  I can't make this up.

Long story short, she never got a shot.  She isn't due for a booster until next year, so just to make it up to her I scheduled her a flu shot for next week.  Yes, I know.  I spoil her!  And so did the doctor, because he let her keep her examination gown.  

And then Britton was imitating Randy from "Christmas Story" and sporting a hat and scarf while playing dominoes.   So, I kind of already knew what the doctor said - I've got two normal healthy awesome kids!

starting soccer

We gave Britton the choice for fall - ballet or soccer.  Seeing as she already did ballet, and how interested she was in the soccer ball we found at the playground, it came as no surprise when she picked soccer.  While the hubs and I were in Oklahoma City, Memaw and PawPaw got to hear all about her upcoming soccer lessons.  And her excitement was infectious, because they totally hooked her up with new sneakers, cleats, shin guard socks, and Umbro shorts and shirt.  And a soccer goal and ball!  

    How cute does she look?  

She has wanted to know since 7:00 am this morning why we couldn't go to soccer.  And every hour we reminded her that soccer didn't start until 10:45 am!  She had a blast.  She was dribbling the ball, kicking it hard, telling the coach that she had a goal at home just like the one in the gym.  

I was impressed with how much she just wanted to get in the middle of the action.  I was always shy when I played sports, reserved and afraid of making mistakes in front of everyone else.  But not this girl, and I love it.  I love that she wasn't afraid to just go for it.  She even blocked three goal attempts!

drooling mess

Lately, Barrett has been a gassy mess.  At first we attributed it to starting solids, so we backed off of the baby food.  Then when that didn't help, we assumed it was because we phased out the Alimentum formula, so we put that back into rotation.  But once we returned from our trip, Barrett was still losing his cool every evening and we didn't know why.  But he was drooling up a mess and going for the hubs' finger to gnaw to death, so we quickly put it together that this boy is teething.  

Britton has always had a high pain threshold, even battling double ear infections as a baby without so much as a whimper, so when she went through teething we never heard a peep from her.  Barrett, on the other hand, he wants it to be known that his mouth hurts and the drool dripping down into his stomach is giving him tummy pain!

I looked through our old baby stuff, and I guess I didn't keep Britton's teethers.  So I ran off to Babies 'R Us at lunchtime to pick up the Sophie the Giraffe teether, a tried and true relief.  Barrett can't quite grasp that he needs to hold it to keep it in his mouth, but he loves when I'll sit there and hold it for him! So for now, Sophie, his fists, and any toy within reach has turned into a teether.

And, as luck would have it, this teething mess is right smack dab in the four month sleep regression.  So the hubs and I are back to getting up multiple times per night with Barrett.  Last night he had the poos (another side effect of drool draining into his tummy) at 2:30 am so I had to change him.  He took that as a sign it was time to hang out!  He fussed on and off until the hubs gave up on him at 5:00 am and let him stay up.  Here's hoping we all survive!

These fingers taste good!

first trip without two

Britton and I read a Berenstain Bears book where Sister Bear lost her tooth when bobbing for apples.  So when your kid says she wants to try bobbing for apples, what do you do?  You pull out some apples and a mixing bowl and go to town!

And then you remember that you have a flight to catch.  The hubs and I planned a little getaway when we were in the weeds of raising of two kids.  We knew we were not only going to need a break, but that we also needed a trip to look forward to.  Luckily, a Southwest Airlines email showed up with tickets to Oklahoma City half-off.  We took it as a sign. We didn't want to go somewhere new because honestly, we didn't want to put the work into learning everything about a new place - we just needed "easy."  And with September 15th being the hubs' 35th birthday, and Memaw and Paw Paw ready, willing, and able to watch the kids, the trip plans came together.

35 years young...

We road around the town we called home when Britton was born.  Speaking of Britton...

We couldn't find a "Barrett Road."  Oklahoma City is a land of perpetual new home construction, and the hubs and I love going to open houses.  We went into a few and I found some awesome ideas for our future master bathroom remodel.  We also went past our old house, which is being kept up nicely, except for the missing rose bushes I planted out front.  

And I easily gained ten pounds with all the good restaurants!  We went to our hands-down favorite ever - Cheevers - on our first night there, and I never stopped eating.  We even got to try a new place, Kitchen 324, for breakfast.  

Then came the hunt for souvenirs.  And BBQ sauce.  Oh yes, the BBQ sauce.  And Gigi's Cupcakes.  I may be drooling on my laptop right now.

                           

And we got to spend time catching up with the hubs' Granny!  We surprised her that we were in town, and stopped by to see her new apartment and get all the info about the family goings-on. 

But most importantly, we were completely selfish.  We slept in, we ate at nice restaurants, we drove around with hot Starbucks coffees and no agenda, and we did whatever we felt like.  It was the perfect break from life, so that we could return to our life refreshed and appreciative.  

rolling and reading

This morning, Barrett rolled onto his side and I remembered all day that I needed to put it into his baby book.  So this evening, while Barrett was on his playmat, I snuck into the living room real quick to write it down.  And what does Britton yell from the family room?  "Mom!  Barrett is on his tummy!  He rolled over!"  

I ran back into the family room and yep, there he was on his tummy when just seconds ago I had left him on his back!  Ironically, by trying to commemorate his rolling, I missed the actual complete roll over.  Maybe I'll catch the second roll?  

And, totally unrelated, but something I found incredibly interesting - I read an article that said that only 30% of kids these days get read to by their parents.  The researchers found that television and video games have taken over book time, and some parents have just lost interest in reading to their kids.  Reading this made me incredibly sad.  I know how much Britton loves having books read to her.  So I've stopped whining about reading her the same books every night.  Sometimes I just need a little perspective, you know?

Maybe I can talk Mom into 10 books tonight!

defending the girl

I encountered a first at the playground yesterday - the obnoxious bully kid who won't leave your kid alone. It all started out innocently enough. Britton wanted to climb up inside the tube slide, and the girl wouldn't get out of it. Annoying, yes, but kids this age can be annoying so I told Britton to just find another slide. When she went to the twisty slide, the girl ran to the twisty slide, climbed up it, and sat in the way so that once Britton got up there she couldn't get down the slide. I was starting to get mad now, and the girl's father was no help since he was sitting on the tables, face not two inches from his cell phone. He never looked up. Ever.

I figured, as most parents do, that Britton would need to learn to handle conflict. Yes, it's unfair that this girl is blocking the slide, but it's a public playground and there's not much I can do (apart from screaming at her father to handle his daughter, which wasn't going to happen anytime soon). But then I overhear the girl say, "If you give me one of your rings (reference: Princess rings from the Dollar Store), then I'll let you go down the slide." And that's when I've done had enough.

Because, no. I'm not having this. I went up to the slide and told the girl, "That's not going to happen. Move so others can use the slide." And she was at first surprised, then devious, and I've seen that look before - the kid who never gets attention at home unless it's negative and she now no longer cares if it's negative or not, so long as someone will acknowledge she exists. But I don't have to make it up to her that her dad is lost in YouTube videos; I'm there to play with my kid.

She finally slides down the slide, and then as Britton is getting ready to go down the slide, she runs back up it and says, "I will move if you say pretty please. You have to say please. You can't say move or else I won't listen to you. Say it. Say pretty please. Say it nice." Ok, at this point, things are just getting weird. I don't think that a six-year-old should have those-phrased demands in her playbook, so to speak. And frankly, I'm just done with the whole thing because if I wanted to expose Britton to the negative sides of life I'd just let her wander around the downtown Greyhound station. So I very loudly told Britton, "This girl obviously doesn't want to share the slide. Why don't we play somewhere else? When she leaves, you can use the slide. And we will stay longer than she does."

And Britton has this Fisher-Price bus with her (because we were going through her old toys for the baby and everything old is new and desirable again) and the girl starts following Britton asking to play with her bus. And Britton doesn't want to share it because this girl hasn't exactly screamed "nice friend material" and Britton says, "I will share it if you promise to give it back." And the girl says, "Pinky swear." And Britton goes, "I can't do that. Because I don't know what it is."

Long story short, they played until Britton wanted to push the bus up the slide and the girl kept throwing her hand out and stopping it. And Britton told her she wanted to play by herself because the girl wasn't listening to her. And, honestly, I wasn't all that upset to see her go. And as she's climbing into her car, I yell for Britton to meet me at the twisty slide. Sure, I was now acting like the six-year-old, but dang it all. I'm just not ready for obnoxious bully kids to be at the playground, around my kid, reminding me how awful that felt when I was the kid.

Barrett: 4 months old

Oh, I tried my darndest to get this boy to smile for his picture, but the combination of just waking up from his nap with his overwhelming desire to eat meant that I got no more than 5 photos and no smiles. Barrett has his first bout of sickness this week - the croup and the beginnings of an ear infection in his right ear.  It seems this boy is taking after me and his sister with the ear infections, and just like with Britton, we will get him tubes sooner than later if the ear infections keep coming.  It hasn't been too bad though, since he is not especially fussy or whiny when he's sick.  Whew!

The only good thing about him having to go to the doctor is that we got his weight - 18 pounds, 7 ounces.  A measurement by the hubs with the tape measure says he is about 29 inches long.  Barrett is growing out of his 9 month clothing, so I've already started stocking up on some fall clothes in 12 months.

We started him on some cereal, but that stopped while he was sick - we were more concerned with him staying hydrated than learning to eat the cereal, and didn't want to fill him up.  But now that Barrett is back to normal, I tried the cereal again and while he liked it, it gave him some gas/farting issues.  So I guess we will be taking the whole baby food thing slowly!  Barrett is currently drinking 5 oz bottles during the day, every 2 to 3 hours, and 7 oz bottles at night.

Hey, Mom.  I knocked over the weird gopher thing.

Nights.  Yeah, let's talk about that.  He was doing so well, only waking up once at 3:30 am for a feeding, then right back down.  But being sick made him not too interested in eating as much as he should have been during the day, so he decided to make it up by eating twice at night.  You wouldn't think that would be a hard adjustment, considering I was up every 1.5 to 2 hours when he was a newborn, but it was horrible!  I get used to sleep quickly, and the extra feeding just made me tired!  Luckily, he's now only throwing in an extra feeding night every now and then.

Developmentally, Barrett is grabbing and reaching for objects, and taking them to his mouth.  If he isn't stuffing his fists in his mouth then he's trying to get a blanket in there.  I don't mind since it sops up his excess drooling!  He loves his playmats at home and at daycare, and on each his favorite toy is yellow (house - lion; daycare - giraffe).  His teachers said that when they take him of the playmat, he grabs the giraffe for dear life and won't let go!  We pulled out the exersaucer and he's enjoying that too, even with a blanket stuffed around him to help him support himself.  And we moved the highchair to the table so he could sit with us at dinner - he giggled for our entire dinner tonight, just in such a good mood.  I think he was enjoying being included.

Likes:  yellow toys, rice cereal, when you smile/coo/sing to/stick your tongue out at him, bath time, walks in the stroller (without being in the carseat), chewing and drooling, when Britton plays with him

Dislikes:  waiting to eat (when he's hungry, he was actually hungry 10 minutes ago), not much else!

49 months old

First off, I have to admit that this picture, while it says September 2nd, was actually taken yesterday.  Memaw and PawPaw called us Saturday night to see if Britton wanted to join them for a roadtrip to Hershey, PA and she wanted to go badly.  Of course, that meant she wouldn't be with me on the 2nd, which is a first in her 49 months of life!  So I staged her monthly photo yesterday, as Memaw and PawPaw were showing up.

Any craziness of 3-3.5 years old (the constant rule testing, the mood swings, the refusal to stay in bed) has disappeared.  Magically, when Britton turned 4, she let all that go and her normal agreeable self has returned.  Lately Britton has really enjoyed being creative - painting, coloring (especially Color Wonders), and practicing her numbers and letters.  She is going to a classmate's birthday party next weekend, so I pulled out a card for him so I'd remember it.  Britton took it and wrote her classmate's name of it by herself, without asking me how to spell it!  I was impressed!

She is doing great at school.  They are learning new things every week (one week was about Australia, the next was about Hawaii) and the amount of knowledge she retains is incredible.  One day on the way home, she told me all about the volcanoes and how "lobby" (lava, apparently) flows out of them to make rocks and the rocks become islands and that's how Hawaii was made.  Just cracks me up how tickled she is about learning new things.

Britton is finally staying in bed (knock on wood).  We let her turn her light on if she wants it on, and she is allowed to "read" books as long as she stays in bed. So far, she hasn't abused this privilege by staying up too late past her normal bedtime.  

Britton is doing well with Barrett, though she's more interested in feeding and diapering her baby doll than doing the same things for him!  I'll take her indifference over sibling rivalry any day.  She does love that any interaction she gives Barrett leaves him with a huge smile on his face - she truly is his favorite person.

Likes:  my new necklace (she hasn't taken it off yet), going to the pool, the playground especially when other kids are there too, her new Minnie Mouse vacuum, art, reading as much as possible, root beer floats, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes

Dislikes: when Barrett cries, zucchini