We took the boys to the pumpkin patch last weekend, despite the nearly 80 degree afternoon. If we wait for fall weather to show up here in Tennessee, we may never actually get out of the house to enjoy the fall activities! They were a bit too young this year to get to take part in all the fun that the farm offered, but they enjoyed seeing the animals in the petting zoo, going through the corn maze, and watching the hay ride go by. (I'm actually not sure who the bigger attraction was- the hayride itself, or all the people on the hayride who LOVED seeing the boys in their wagon! They really loved playing in the kiddie area specifically for toddlers. We are excited to take them back in a few more years when they can really get into all the other fun activities.
Party of Five at a pumpkin patch
Cari came along to help wrangle babies
Checking out the animals
They loved seeing the hay ride go by
About as much as the hay riders loved seeing them!
The boys are now falling pretty squarely in the center of growth charts for babies their own age. They are certainly not in the 90th percentile for any measurements, but we're no longer not even on the curve, so that's exciting!
The 2 pound difference between Will and Griffin is especially noticeable. Griffin feels SO heavy these days!
We discovered the other day that Griffin has 2 top molars that have popped through!
Will is obsessed with glasses. Their swim instructor used to let him play with her sunglasses, and since then he LOVES all glasses. He'll tap the top of his head when he's talking about them (I think that's actually the sign for hat, but we get what he means). I've been wearing my glasses pretty regularly in the past week thanks to allergies and Will has been chatting with me about them non-stop. (And all 3 love to swat them off my face!)
I mentioned that they discovered stairs when we were at Cap and Greg's cottage in Michigan a few weeks ago. These days they are almost exclusively hiking upstairs themselves, which is pretty great for Mom and Dad! After meals or snacks, we'll let them walk over to the stairs and herd them up. They are pretty darn good climbers and can climb up the stairs quickly!
We recently hung their one year photos on the hallway wall outside their bedroom. We absolutely love how well the canvases turned out! We had originally intended to hang the photos in the nursery, but we somehow underestimated how large the prints were...there was no way that the pictures could safely hang on the wall and not be grabbed by tiny fingers. So we moved the shots to the hallway, and they look great! It's maybe a touch tight, but it looks great. Will did an excellent job of hanging and spacing everything! The boys go crazy over their photos every time they pass them. And they seem to be drawn to their own photo, which is pretty funny (and pretty adorable).
Love the new photo wall
We officially have climbers on our hands. Griffin and Will are especially good at climbing on to the couch. Unfortunately they haven't mastered how to get off of the couch safely yet. We're working on teaching them to roll onto their bellies and slide down. It's a slow learning process. Griffin, especially, loves to walk the plank and has zero concerns about safety. It's pretty nerve-wracking.
Climbing everything they can
We're starting to get glimpses into the toddler stage of life when it comes to their personalities. They don't like to be told "no", they aren't always the best at sharing, and they will flail around throwing a temper tantrum when they don't get their way. They've also been perfecting their pouty faces lately. They get so sad when we talk sternly to them- it's really, really hard to keep a straight face when they look at us with overly dramatic facial expressions.
Along with toddler life- we have had an issue with biting lately, particularly between Will and Griffin. They both bite out of frustration, and it tends to happen when they fight over the same toy. Those two are definitely the play hard, fight hard brothers. They are constantly at odds with each other, but yet they are always together. Cooper is our little Switzerland- he rarely gets caught up in the drama and will often just remove himself from the situation if he's not happy with how his brothers are acting. I wish Griffin and Will would do the same.
The picky eating continues. Some of their previous go-to favorites are not so popular anymore, depending on the day. They still love yogurt, any and all fruit, string cheese, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Macaroni and cheese used to be a favorite but now is hit or miss. We recently introduced them to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- that went over very well!
Their vocabulary and word understanding has exploded in the past couple weeks. They love, love, love books and being read to- favorite books lately are Where's My Nose, Little Blue Truck, Moo, Ba, La La La, Spookie Pookie, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. They are also starting to follow simple instructions, like grabbing a particular book, or handing their brother something. We're working hard on the concept of sharing lately- some days they are more into the idea than others.
They recently met their dog cousin Gus, a big old goldendoodle. Griffin and Cooper thought he was the best- they couldn't stop laughing and trying to pet him. Will was far more cautious and didn't want to be anywhere near him, though he did let me help him pet him once. Ever since then, though, they've been very into dogs. They point them out in books and on our walks. And they are saying "dog" now (or something that sounds like it).
Some other words that they are saying lately: Mama, Dada, papa, ball, dog, hat, hi, bye, cat, and "trick or treat" (they don't actually say trick or treat, but will match the 3 syllables with their own language). Will is especially good at mimicking us. He will also say a variation of "snack pack" (another favorite food lately) and "watch"
I have lots of blog posts just waiting to be updated. But we were out of town on a (shortened) vacation last week, we are in the middle of changing internet providers so we have no internet (or cable!) at home for the past week, and we are nearly out of data on our cell phones. So we're pretty much off the grid these days. It's been rough (but also pretty nice, if I'm being honest!)
Here's a quick pic to tide everyone over until I can properly update! Lately we've been exploring our anatomy. Our favorite body part? Belly Buttons!!
In keeping with the tradition of wearing last year's football apparel, we busted out the boys' Bears sweater vests last night. I'm happy to report that the vests actually fit them pretty well now! Unlike their Broncos sleepers, I think we may be able to get away with wearing them more than once this season.
Since we aren't in their market we only get to watch a handful of Bears games during football season. We celebrated Monday Night Football by practicing our "roars" and tackling Big Bear:
If you listen really closely just before Griffin tackles the bear, you can hear Cooper call him "Ba Ba" (his version of Big Bear)
And Will and I celebrated by enjoying Giordano's pizza after the boys went to sleep. I'm so glad we live in a world where we can satisfy our Chicago style pizza craving anytime we want, with a click of a button. :)
Yummy
And because I like to torture myself- here is a pic of the boys last year when they first wore their vests. These throw back pictures KILL ME!!
And last night- they sure are harder to wrangle for photos these days!
