Left Handed

The boys and I stayed inside this afternoon because of the heat.  Like half the country, it is ridiculously hot right now.  Nashville hit an all time record of 109F today.

We spent a lot of time coloring and painting. 

And I think it is official.  We have one right-handed kid.

And one left-handed kid.

I thought a long time ago that Rylan was left handed.  But then he started doing more with both hands.  But now he has been predominately coloring and throwing with his left hand.  And he always kicks a ball with his left foot (even when he roll it directly at his right foot).

2 Year Checkup

Rylan had his 2 year old checkup today. 

This was his second time seeing this doctor and Brian came to help me make the decision if we want to stick with this doctor or try another one.  She is the second pediatrician we've tried in this practice.  The first doctor we saw was for Rylan's 15 month and Carter's 3 year old checkups.  We didn't love him after Rylan's appointment but gave him a second try with Carter and decided he did not mesh at all. 

Missy's kids see this new pediatrician.  I was pretty indifferent about her the first time we saw her 6 months ago, but Brian and I decided that we liked her today.  The only thing about her that "bothers" me is that she doesn't have kids of her own.  But she took her time, gave us lots of suggestions like how to introduce more vegetables, and never lectured or talked down to us.  I want a pediatrician that works with us to make sure our kids are healthy and safe but doesn't make me feel like I'm doing a bad job.  So I think we will continue seeing this pediatrician.  About the only thing I hated about moving from Knoxville was that we had finally found doctors for all of us that we loved and now had to start over.

Anyway, Rylan is doing great.  The pediatrician had no concerns.

Here are Rylan's recent statistics ...

Rylan's 2 year stats:

• Weight: 30 lbs, 12 oz (80-85th percentile)
• Height: 34 inches (45th percentile)

Rylan's 18 month stats:

• Weight: 27 lbs, 3 oz (50-75th percentile)
• Height: 32.5 inches (50-75th percentile)

The pediatrician said that Rylan's weight should go back down a little in percentile when we switch him to skim milk.  She wasn't really concerned though with it going up a bit.

Rylan did a great job during the entire appointment.  He stood still on the scale and stood straight up at the wall to get his height measured.  He was very compliant during his exam and didn't fuss.  He didn't go completely shy where he closes his eyes and lowers his head, but he definitely wasn't sure about what was going on and sort of just shut down.  That made the exam easy though.

Rylan is due for a Hepatitis A shot but he's technically a few days early for it.  The pediatrician said it doesn't matter as far as immunization goes but schools often fuss about things like that.  So we'll be going back in a few days to get that shot.

Outtakes

I did a couple of photo sessions about a month ago with the kids to get a good picture of them to put in the frame they painted for Brian's birthday.  Here are some of the outtake photos that I didn't use.

From around the Cool Springs House at Crockett Park:

 From Cheekwood:

Stuck

We met Missy and her boys at Monkey Treehouse on Wednesday.  We got there right when it opened and Carter set up the large foam blocks in the baby area to make an obstacle course (as he said).  I went to go say hi to Missy as she signed the kids in and started hearing Carter calling for me.  I didn't hurry because I didn't think it was a big deal, but I found him stuck upside down in the cylinder with his feet and legs waving in the air.

Carter was a little freaked out but fine.  I wish I had a picture of him like that because it was kind of funny but I "saved" him instead.

Before getting stuck, the very first thing the boys did when getting to Monkey Treehouse was get dressed up as "working guys", as usual.

Crossed Eyes

Telling him that his eyes are going to get stuck like this doesn't make him stop.

Happy Birthday, Rylan!

Our "baby" is 2 today!

We gave Rylan his presents when he got up this morning because we had put together the big one last night and didn't really want to try to hide it.

We have friends with trampolines like this one so Rylan already knew what to do.

The rest of his gifts from us included an Animal Planet ocean animals set, Let's Rock Elmo, and a Weebles Turn 'n Tumble Home.  So far, everything seems to be a hit!

We had birthday waffles for breakfast.

Since it was so hot here today, I took the boys to the theater again for the weekly movie special.  Today's movie was Kung Fu Panda.

We got to the theater just as they were opening the doors (at 9:30 am) and didn't have to wait in line nearly as long as last time.  Unfortunately that meant we had to sit in the theater for 20 minutes waiting for the movie to start.

At least I got a few pictures of the kids this time!

I was planning on taking the boys to a library program at 4 pm but they woke up from their naps a little later than normal I didn't want to have to rush everyone out the door and most likely be late too.  So we stuck around the house and played.

We met Brian for dinner at McDougal's and then had cake when we got home.

Happy birthday, sweet boy!  We love you!

Go, Dog, Go!

Carter can "read" ...

Really?!?

I'm hoping that weather.com is wrong about the highs for Friday and Saturday!

My Three Guys

Reading before bed ...

This Week So Far

We've been trying to keep busy, as usual, this week. 

Yesterday we met Jen with Chase at Monkey Joe's.  I had two more passes that I had gotten for cheap that expired this week and wanted to use them.  I'm not a big fan of going there in the summer since the older kids are out of school, but it wasn't too bad (my boys only got runover a few times, and never too bad).

Carter was being a "sweet" big brother and took (pulled) Rylan down the slide with him.

This morning we went bowling again.  This time only the boys bowled and the guy working the counter made Carter wear bowling shoes (he wears the smallest size they have).  So the boys both bowled for free but the shoe rental cost $2.75 (still, not bad for 45 minutes of entertainment).

Carter really wanted to show off his shoes (he thought they were SO COOL).

(Carter convinced me on Sunday to put all the left over pirate tattoos on his arms and legs.  I think I was still half asleep when I said yes because this is way too many tattoos!)

When Carter got a spare, a couple of older men several lanes down that were part of a bowling league shuffled down to us to congratulate Carter and give him high fives.  It was really sweet and he felt pretty special.

Every time I had my back turned to help Carter, I'd turn back around to find Rylan struggling to carry his ball.  An 8 pound bowling ball is not easy for this little guy to carry!  Luckily he never dropped it!

After bowling we met Brian for lunch.  I decided after that to take the boys to the Brentwood Library for one of their summer programs that started at 1 pm and just put the boys down for a later nap.  Today's performer was Jill Thatcher, a ventriloquist.

The show was just okay.  However, the boys stayed interested the whole time so it couldn't have been too bad to them!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Carter picked up a new song recently that he can sing all by himself.

I've actually begun singing this (and B-I-N-G-O) to Rylan at bedtime and he has suddenly not been crying when I leave the room (sometimes it starts up later, but not usually).  He usually just tells me "Night, night, Mommy".  Today at nap he added, "See you soon".  That probably should have been a tip-off that he was not taking a nap!

Anyway, Rylan has begun singing part of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with me and this afternoon, he sung some with Carter.

Ice Cream

Brian's parents sent him an ice cream maker for his birthday.

So last week Brian made ice cream with the boys.  I did the grocery shopping and they did the rest.  We decided on strawberry ice cream since that was one of the simplest recipes in the book.

They started off on Wednesday preparing the mixture that would be frozen into the ice cream.

First they used the food processor to chop the strawberries.

Then they blended the milk, sugar, and salt.

And then mixed in the heavy cream, vanilla, and strawberries.  They put the mixture in the refrigerator then for the night.

We had planned to finish up the ice cream Thursday night but had forgotten to put the freezer bowl in the freezer the night before.  So we had to postpone the ice cream making until Friday night.

Carter stirred up the mixture made a couple nights earlier.

Then Brian put it in the frozen freezer bowl in the ice cream maker.

Then they turned on the mixer for 20 minutes.

Rylan was finally interested!

I took the boys upstairs for a quick bath while the ice cream mixed.  This is what it looked like when we returned.

At this point the ice cream was soft and creamy.

Carter never eats ice cream because he always says it's too cold.  Somehow Brian convinced him to try what they made though.  He wasn't too sure at first.

"Yummy!"

Rylan has never been as picky.  He's had a few bites of ice cream before and liked it.

I think we now have another ice cream fan!

Thanks GG and Papa Art for the cool present!