18 Months (Just a little late)

Ok - I am finally forcing myself to sit down and do an 18 month post about Cannon - its already 2 weeks overdue and before I know it he will be 19 months!   We've had a huge month with Cannon - he is definitely ALL TODDLER and defninitely ALL BOY!  I am seriously getting a taste of what its going to be raising a boy and everything it includes.  I only thought Brooklynn kept me busy - well she definitely does, but just in a completely different way.  Cannon goes a million miles a minute and doesn't stop until I put him into his crib to go to sleep - he is into everything and testing his limits constantly.  He is always making me laugh - even when I really shouldn't be - I do try to hide it from him when its something I need to redirect him from.  Like I tell him countless times a day...he's lucky he is so cute - ha!

Anyway...here are the highlights of Cannon at 18 months:

•Weighs 26.3 lbs at his 18 month dr appointment which is 55th percentile

•Measured 33.5 inches tall at his 18 month dr appointment which is 83rd percentile

•Head measured in the 90th percentile - still got the big noggin!

•Wears size 5 diapers

•Wears size 24 months and 2T size clothing and occasionally 3T in some things

•Drinking 3 bottles of whole milk each day - yes bottle bootcamp didn't happen....we tried sippy cups with milk one day and he wanted no part of it - its just not a battle I am up for yet - and if that makes me a bad mom...oh well I can live with it - we are both happy for now!  Plus we have started a new battle lately with Brookie that is taking alot of effort - trying to get her to stop sucking her thumb.....so that is where our focus is right now as far as battles go.  I know he won't go to kindergarten with a bottle....he drinks juice and water out of a sippy cup like there is no tomorrow so we know he likes them for that...just eventually have to get him to take the milk in there too...one day....  :)

•Great eater - will pretty much eat anything and everything - loves all sorts of fruits - especially strawberries and blueberries.  Loves mac and cheese and would eat it every day if we let him.  He also loves to eat whatever we are eating at the moment and will throw a huge tantrum pointing and whining until he gets a piece

•Still my little snuggler....I love it when he will just climb up in my lap and lay his head on my shoulder and just hang out there for the longest time......I know he won't be like this for long so I am trying to soak it all in

•Still getting about 12 hours of straight sleep during the night - although when he is sick he is like a newborn all over again - up all the time....poor guy just doesn't do well with sleep when he isn't feeling great

•Takes 1 nap a day - usually around 1:30 and goes for about 2-2.5  hours on average.  AND he also is napping at school on his napmat - surprisingly enough!  Never thought that would happen, but he is my napping superstar at school - something his sister never really was too good at

•His walking how now led to him running everywhere. He also is loving trying to walk backwards and sideways...he is a mess!

•Favorite time of day is in the evening after dinner when we can finally get outside to play. He loves to ride around on his little bug ride on toy that Grandma got for him this summer - he zooms around on that thing really fast and he loves it.  He also loves to draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk (in between trying to eat the chalk lol)

•Another favorite outdoor activity for Cannon is to get as dirty as possible in the shortest possible amount of time.  He LOVES dirt and playing in it whenever he can.  He also loves to find any bit of water and sit and play in it despite being fully clothed.  This includes the water at the end of the driveway in the gutters after someone waters their lawns - yuck!  Bonus for him - he saves time b/c that means he can play in the dirt and water all at the same time....he is filthy by the time we go inside for the night.  (And now we don't actually let him play in that stuff...he makes a dash for it when we aren't watching....little stinker!)

•And finally...the big change for this month is.....Cannon started going to school (a.k.a. Mother's Day Out) 3 days a week and is doing really well (better than I ever thought he would do).  He has been going for about 3 weeks now - every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00-2:00.  The mornings have been a little hard on him when he is dropped off - he clings to my leg and starts crying so its hard for me to leave but I know he will have such a great day and know he is in good hands - they told me he normally only cries maybe 5 mins before settling down and having a great time the rest of the day.  And guess what??  Today when I dropped him off - there were NO TEARS!!!!  And he even watched me walk out the door - I was so happy!  I am hoping he now knows the routine and that I come back every single time to get him when the school day is over..hopefully the tears are behind us now :)

And finally here are the pics of the crazy boy that I managed to get the other day - he was ALL over the place that morning - half the pics were of the back of his head or him trying to jump down from the chair.  I tried a few other ways to get some good pics....but he had other ideas - ha!  Excuse the fact that he was still in his pj's that morning when we did pics - he had been under the weather for the last week from a bad cold....and it was our ONE day out of the week where we didn't have to leave the house - yay!

 Such a happy (mischievious) little boy.....

 Trying out his Rocking Moose.....rock rock rock rock rock.....

Back to the chair.....

Too cool to sit down.....

Then he remembered he could rock on the chair....rock rock rock rock rock......

He was just all over the place that morning.....crazy boy!  You would never know he had been under the weather for a few days with a bad cold.....still went full speed ahead all day (we just suffered through the nights)

Finally - Cannon's First Day of School!!

Well it came 3 weeks later then his brother and sister's time, but today finally marked Cannon's 1st day of school.....ever!  I have been so excited for this day to finally get here...but honestly as it got closer, I was starting to get a little nervous.  I was still so excited for him b/c I know how much he will love it and have so much fun once he adjusts, but just nervous b/c he has never really been away from me in a different place for any extended amount of time.  We've been trying to lessen the shock for him by visiting his classroom when we pick up Brooklynn in the afternoons just so he can be somewhat familiar with it.  He was a little clingy each time but seemed to be interested in it.  Baby steps right???

So anyway...we got all ready this morning and took our pics to mark this very important milestone in his life...sniff...my little boy is growing up!  He was loving the excitement that we were building up for him before we left.   I kept telling Brookie to tell him how much fun he is going to have and all the new friends he will meet...not really sure how much he really "got" out of that but still...definitely couldn't hurt just in case.

 Such a cheeseball....he was all smiles this morning...he just looks so big to me!!!

Then I attempted to get a pic of the 2 of them together....lol - why do I even bother???

Cannon was more interested in trying to open his backpack to see all the stuff that was in there....

Well we got to school and drop off went much smoother than I expected.  I decided to drop Brooklynn off first in her room since I wasn't too sure what we'd get out of Cannon.  There were a couple other kids crying in there - one just started a week ago so he is still fairly new to this as well...and he's not really adjusting to well from what I have been told - poor boy.  So he was pretty upset and that was distracting Cannon long enough that I could get everything unpacked and put away.  Well since he was fine for the moment, we decided that it would be best for me to just sneak out...I hated that I didn't say bye to him, but I KNOW that would have definitely set him off.  So I left before any tears were shed from him. 

The day before the school had sent an email out requesting parent voluteers to help with some stuff in the morning after dropoff...so I figured that would be a perfect solution for me to be able to just hang around a little longer to make sure he was ok.  I snuck back about 20 mins later to peek in his window and of course he was crying by then...but they were busy playing with him trying to distract them - definitely had it under control.  A few mins later all the classes walked by the workroom where we were at and he was walking with his class to go sing songs with the whole school.  Before I ended up leaving, I asked one of the staff to peek in at him in the big room and she said he was fine and sitting there nicely.  So I left feeling better that he seemed to be doing ok.

I was so excited to pick him up - couldn't wait to hear about his day - obviously he wasn't too bad that they felt I needed to come get him.  When we finally were able to go back, I walked through the door and he was ALL SMILES!  Made me so happy...of course he was so excited to see me but they told me he had a pretty decent day.  A few tears here and there which were to be expected, but overall did much better than we were all expecting - yay Cannon!  They said when they were all in the big room in the morning singing songs, he was upset, so they brought Brookie over to sit with him and he calmed right down....such a good big sister.  And the biggest shock of the day was that he actually SLEPT ON HIS MAT!!!  I think he was so worn out from all the excitement and was just so excited to finally get his special blankie from home, it was probably such a relief to be able to just slow down a bit.  I know over time he will learn to love it there just like his big sister....way more fun then spending all day with his mom - ha! 

Now it will be interesting to see what happens on Friday when its time go back for day 2.....now that he knows that I leave him there...  :)

First Days of School

Ok...now that we have 2 weeks in the bag for this school year.... I guess it is about time that I post about their first days of school - ha!

First off was Andrew's first day of 7th grade back on August 22nd.  What a difference a year makes - last year he told us he was nervous and had butterflies in his stomach.  Sure everyone in his grade last year was heading to a new school - it was Jr High time...plus it was a brand spanking new school, but to add to it - he was going to a school where he knew none of the kids.  Prior to last year, he had always attended the school by his Mom's place which was also in a different school district.  So last year he also faced going to a new school in a different school district where he knew no one...but he ended up really enjoying it and making some new friends.  Fast forward to this year and he was like an old pro....no worries whatsoever.  7th grade is definitely more of what I remember about my time in Jr High - the expectations are much higher and their workload has increased.  Oh and they actually have homework!  That was our biggest surprise last year - we could probably count on one hand the number of times he was actually assigned homework last year?!?!  Craziness!  So anyway...they are making up for it this year already - they have already had 1 major assignment due and they are only 2 weeks in.  Hopefully this year goes as smoothly as last year!

Poor kid - he's getting to the age now where he gets embarrassed by us...but that't not going to stop us documenting his first days of school - always so neat to look back and see how much difference a year makes!

We had to do the outdoor pic super fast so no one caught us taking pics - ha!

Miss Brooklynn's first day of school was 2 days after Andrew on Wednesday, August 24th.  She was sooooo excited to be heading back.  She absolutely loves her teachers (as do I - they seem really great, they are affectionate with the kids and know how to keep the classroom running smoothly - yay!)  This year is quite different though - she only has 1 other little girl from her class the past 2 years - the kids got split up quite a bit this year from the looks of things.  She is still able to see her two best buds (Lauren & Dalton)though on a daily basis b/c their classes participate in some of the group activities together.  She is really enjoying her new class and her teachers.  She's adjusting well to meeting a bunch of new kids too - I'm sure before long she will forget that before this year, she had never met them all.  This year is also her first official year of Preschool...so that means she will have a much more structured day and will learn tons of new things in a school like setting.  The past 2 years were considered a Mothers Day Out - they did some of the same things, but it was more centered around playing with learning mixed in....I can't wait to see how much she changes this year and all the new things she will be learning.

And here is Miss Brooklynn on her first day - she was so excited to have her new back pack and lunch box....

And don't worry - I didn't forget to do Cannon's first day...his first day isn't until Sept 14th....only 12 more days (not that I am counting or anything!)  I'll do another post for his big day when it comes!