Portrait of and Escape Artist

Brian is still working on how he will get past the new barrier Daddy just added to his crib. He didn't have any problem crawling out (and a little later, back into) his pack n play yesterday though! Mommy happened to capture his escape with the camera so lets take a little look at him in action.

His first step is to get his foot up onto the edge............

.......then he pulls himself up and over. Nothing could be easier right?

Is that the face of someone who has just been caught red handed or what??? Shortly after these pictures were taken, the parental decision was made that Brian and Spencer needed to switch pack n plays. Brian now uses the one shown here on the left which as you can see, is a couple inch's taller. It won't keep him confined for long, but for the time being, it will keep him out of trouble for a few minutes when Mommy or Daddy need him to be in it.

Tool of the Day! (and.....I'm 18 Months Old Today!)

First of all.......Brian sends out loving birthday wish's today to Grandpa D!


Brian's tool of the day is somewhat of a secret.....at least to his parents! We mentioned that Brian has already managed an escape from his crib. This situation created the need for another go round of the game we refer to as "Is Daddy smarter than an 18 month old?" Daddy is determined to modify Brian's crib in order to foil any future escape attempts and Brian is determined to figure out a way around it!





Daddy came up with a clever solution. By attaching an additional slat that we will eventually use again when the crib is converted into a toddler bed, Daddy put a big obstacle in Brian's escape path! Originality point to Daddy!


















Daddy even made the slat movable so that it's easier to get Brian in and out of bed! Creativity point to Daddy!


Brian's SURE that he has something in his tool shed that will help him outsmart Daddy....he just hasn't selected it yet. When he does, he will let us all know though! In the meantime......heres a recap of Brian's 18 month well being doctor checkup today. At Brian's 15 month appt his head circumference was 47 (in the 45th percentile range). Today it measured 48 (which is in the 55th percentile range). Three months ago, Brian stood 31 1/2 inch tall (the 65th percentile range). As of today, he now stands 32 3/4 inch's tall (still in the 65th percentile range). His weight has gone from 21 pounds 13 ounces (the 20th percentile range) to 24 pounds 3 ounces (the 25th percentile range). The doctor was very happy with his overall grown and development. We are also happy to report that he is hitting all of the marks that the doctor wants him to be able to achieve by 18 months!

A Prisoner Is Out Of Bed!

Brian is a terrific sleeper, but by 6:30 or 7:00 AM, he is awake and ready to start his day. After waking up, he is usually very good at entertaining himself in his crib playing and jabbering to himself. So, this morning when Mommy and Daddy heard Brian talking in his room they thought nothing of it. However, a few minutes later they heard a familiar sound.......little footsteps running! They looked at each other and then at the side of their bed where a smiling Brian Thomas stood looking back at them! How he managed to crawl out of his crib on his own - we have no idea! We also aren't sure if this was an isolated incident since he didn't make any attempt to scale the crib walls after his morning or afternoon nap today. Maybe his little brother will tell us when another prisoner break is scheduled to happen so we can be better prepared!

Work Out Buddies

Brian has decided to try his hand at some gymnastics and Walter has been spotting him. Basically, when Walter is standing still, Brian lays across his back so that he is in the position to be able to roll over him and do a summersault.

This is usually the point where Mommy encourages Walter to either go lay down in a Brian free zone or to just sit down. Sitting down not only takes away Brian's launching pad, it also offers Walter the perk of getting some "huggin's"!

Hysterical!

Brian is always doing funny stuff, but last Saturday night he topped himself! As we have mentioned before, he is big a fan of Lawrence Welk which just so happens to air on our public television station Saturday evenings. Depending on the song that is on, sometimes he does some dancing, sometimes he does some playing with his toys, but when each song ends, he always heads back to the tv where he bounces up and down and claps his hands. That in itself cracks us up! However, last Saturday he added something new.........he started bowing to the tv, then clapping....then bowing some more! Maybe he thinks he's part of the Lawrence Welk cast! Whatever the reason, it was the funniest thing we have seen! This picture doesn't do the incident justice - but we hope you get the general drift.

Happy Birthday Krista!

Brian and his family went to cousin Krista's house today to help her celebrate her 8th birthday! He thought dinner was very yummy and playing with all the toys at Uncle Kevin and Aunt June's house is always great fun. However, while Krista started opening her presents Brian located a toy cell phone........

.......and that was it! Once he had a phone in his hand he completely lost all interest in anything else happening in the room! Anyway - Happy Birthday Krista! Thanks for having us over to help you celebrate!

Is This Oil Based?

Daddy needed to run by a couple business's that he frequents quite often during his regular work week. Since Brian is always up for an adventure, he decided to accompanied Daddy this morning. The first stop was at Hines Lumber Yard. From there it was off to Floors and Walls. While there, Brian decided to browse some of the paint selections available.

Fun With Grandma and Grandpa!

Brumble: (brum` bl) action verb 1. one that brumbles 2. to slide feet first on your tummy in constant contact with a surface, generally a flight of stairs.

Brian and his brother enjoyed an overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's house last night! During this visit, Grandma helped Brian work on a new skill he has been trying to master. He is learning to go down stairs by himself - in other words, he is learning how to brumble! To help in his lesson, when Brian woke up Friday morning, he was very excited to see that his cousin Haley had also stopped by for a little visit. She was a huge help since she learned the art of brumbling not that long ago herself! Brian would fly up the stairs after Haley.......









....and with her instruction and supervision, he would brumble on down! The picture is blurry because.....well, he was brumbling!

Tool of the Day!

It probably goes without saying, but if you are going to be a carpenter, you are going to want to have several tools handy while you are working. That being said, Brian is modeling his Leatherman B-27L Carpenters Apron. Even though this is technically called an apron, both Brian and his Daddy refer to it by it's every day name - the tool belt.

Build It And They Will Come!

Brian has been playing with blocks for a while now, but recently he has started enjoying building towers by stacking them up high. Considering he prefers to stack them on the furniture (not the smoothest surface) as opposed to the floor, he does an outstanding job! He used to get startled when his tower would topple over but now he just takes it in stride and rebuilds!

Do The Wave!

Back in the olden days when Daddy was a little boy (and okay, when he still had hair), one of his favorite things was when his Daddy would pull out a comb and put a "wave" in his hair. Ever since Brian was born, Daddy has been looking forward to giving Brian a wave too! Here are a couple pictures of Brian's recent wave hair-do's after bathtime!

Fold Your Hands!

Brian is really getting the hang of saying a prayer before mealtime! With a tiny prompting from Mommy or Daddy to "fold your hands" or "it's time to pray", he quickly folds his hands with a smile on his face that goes from ear to ear! He sometimes looses his focus mid prayer but that doesn't take away from the fact that he is doing an amazing job at learning to pray like a big boy.

What!?!?!?

There is no question about the fact that Brian has a devilish side to him! When he learned to walk, things were okay. When he learned to climb, things were still okay. Now that he has learned to combine the two - look out! In this picture, Brian had just climbed up the sofa and crawled over the edge onto the end table. From this location, he can play with the phone or a variety of remote control's!

Haircut!

Brian has been needing another haircut for a few weeks and today was the day! Grandma and Grandpa came over for a visit this afternoon and Grandma brought her hair cutting sissors with her! He sat in his booster chair on the kitchen table and while Grandma snipped away, Brian amused himself with a few blocks. All in all, he was the perfect client for his stylist! He even tips well......he gave out hugs and kiss's! It doesn't get any better than that!

Babysitters!!!!!

Tonight Mommy and Daddy went out for the evening so Brian and his little brother got a special treat. Our good friends Diane and her husband Jeff came over and played with them all night long! Mommy and Daddy will probably never know exactly what all they did, Brian has been pretty tight lipped about it. This probably means that he got to do all the fun stuff that Mommy and Daddy always yell at him to stop doing! Any way you look at it, theres nothing better than getting to spend the night with great babysitters! Thank you Diane and Jeff.......Brian wants to do this again very soon!

Tool of the Day!

Today's tool of the day is the Verutex Model C015E. I have no idea what this is and Brian won't tell me so there you go! He had fun showing it off though so that should count for something!

On a side note, Brian wish's everyone a Happy Valentines Day and wanted to ask his very special girl (you know who you are Elizabeth)......will you be my Valentine?

Stick A Fork In Me!

As long as Brian doesn't have any new teeth coming in, he usually has a pretty good appetite and is willing to at least try almost anything. Lately, he has wanted to take on more control of the instuments (ie: his fork). He is doing a really good job feeding himself! He sometimes needs a little help getting the fork reloaded, but from that point, he does very well!

Sometimes a guy's better off just opting for his personal 5 fingered fork.

Hello Operator?

Brian has toy telephones and toy cell phones but given the chance, nothing beats playing with the real deal!

Spider Man

We have been told that every boy and/or girl Brian's age will go through the stage (one what we hope will be a very short stage) when they want to climb up everything in sight! Here are some shots of our little Spider Man in action!

After Mommy took these pictures of Brian today, she turned her back for 2 seconds. When she looked back, he had crawled up ONTO the kitchen table. Since standing on a table is qualified as inappropriate behavior in most social circles, Mommy decided that having him pose for a picture before making him get down might send a mixed message. So instead, you will just have to imagine the devilish smile on his face - followed by a small tantrum when he was physically removed.

All The Comforts Of......wait, I AM at home!

Brian is still very much a "2 nap a day" kind of guy but on Sundays, our day normally only allows for him to get one. Today was no exception and by the time dinner rolled around, he was starting to run out of gas. After relaxing on his Big Bird sofa to watch one of his movies, he was more than ready to go to his room, read a couple books and then hit the hay a bit early.

"Mommy Day"

Today Daddy gave Mommy what is known as a "Mommy Day". This is when Daddy stays home with the boys and Mommy gets the whole afternoon to herself to go and do Mommy type stuff. Shopping without children, lunch at a grown up restaurant and a movie are all examples of Mommy type stuff. Sooooooooooooooo, while Mommy was out, Daddy was very busy! In addition to supervising his two charges, he decided that he was also going to get 5 loads of laundry done too! Daddy is no stranger to doing laundry, in fact, he does the great majority of the laundry at our house. However, today Brian decided to throw a curve ball at him! Brian tried to convince Daddy that there was no need to take the clothes OFF the children before loading them into the machine! Daddy questioned this, but hey - Brian is a pretty smart kid and it makes sense to get the laundry done while giving Brian a bath at the same time doesn't it? At the last minute - Brian told Daddy that he was just kidding and that a Maytag bath probably wouldn't be a good idea.

***Attention All Grandparents - No Grandchildren were harmed in the events of today's activities.

Where's Brian?

When everything gets very quiet it usually only means one thing......Brian is doing something that he probably shouldn't be doing! This is one of the locations that he has been spotted in recently. He is behind and kind of under the sofa table in the living room. It's a cozy little spot to look through any mail that you may or may not have just pulled off the sofa table!

Tool of the Day!

Daddy got just a tiny bit carried away with today's Tool of the Day but Brian played along with him anyway. In case you hadn't guessed yet, today's Tool is the Pony Model 3201 3-inch Spring Clamp!

If you noticed that there are 2 additional Pony Model 3202 5-inch Spring Clamps in this picture, congratulations, you have an excellent Tool of the Day eye!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

When Daddy finished up clearing the snow off the driveway, he brought something in for Brian to check out.

He was very curious about why his hands kept getting cold and wet and from time to time he would look over at us as if to say "Hey, have you guys ever seen anything like this before?"

Did You Vote?

Brian wore his "I Voted Today" sticker with great pride today! Well, actually it was Daddy's sticker.....Spencer was already wearing Mommy's sticker, but you get the point. He was glued to the TV as the results started coming in. Unfortunately, he had to go to bed before too many results were in. That's okay though, is just means that he and Daddy will have a LOT to discuss tomorrow morning over his bowl of oatmeal!

Housekeeping!

Loud noises have never bothered Brian much. When he was a tiny baby, Mommy used to vacuum around his pack & play while he was asleep in it. Up to this point, when the vacuum cleaner has been out, Brian has only been a spectator. However, that all changed last weekend when Mommy asked him if he wanted to help with this little task. He was all smiles and giggles as soon as he turned it on. Of course, that could have had something to do with the fact that in order to start and stop it, he got to push a button - which just happens to be one of his most favorite things in the whole wide world to do! Either way, I don't think his first vacuuming experience will be his last!

Break Out The Tub Toys!

Brian's baths in the kitchen sink are getting fewer and fewer as he gets bigger and bigger. When he takes a tub bath, he usually does it with Daddy but tonight, he had his first alone in the bathtub tub bath! He loves splashing around in the water with his toys so being solo in the tub didn't bother him one bit.

Tickets Please!

Now stopping in.......the kitchen. Next stop...........the living room! With two boys currently wearing the same size diaper, as we have mentioned before, there never seems to be a shortage of Pampers boxs around our house.

Today, instead of the normal box car Brian plays in, Daddy went with a more complicated design of a train car! As you can see by the conductor - it was very exciting!

Let It Snow!

When we woke up this morning, there was significantly more snow on the ground than when we had gone to sleep! No, those aren't leg warmers Brian is wearing - those are Daddy's socks! He decided that he needed to try them on as Daddy was getting dressed to go dig us out.

You can't see Daddy very well in this picture, but Brian had no problem keeping an eye on his every move as he gave the snow blower a work out this morning!