He Did Great!

When I picked up Carter this afternoon I was so happy to find out that he did great. The teachers both said he was super sweet, was a big helper, played really nice with the other kids, and had really good manners. I hope he continues to be this way because once he gets more comfortable in a situation, he can get a little crazy. I asked if there was anything I needed to do or to talk to him about and the teacher's response was don't change anything because he is perfect. Wow! I'm so relieved!

Everyday the kids get a little report to let you know a few details about their day. Carter took a 45 minute nap! The kids sleep on mats on the floor that are about the size of a crib mattress (but not as thick, obviously). Carter was a little crabby for awhile because he's been taking crazy 3 hour naps lately, but he's doing better now. The note on the bottoms says, "What a big helper! Sweet, sweet, sweet boy!"


Instead of writing about lunch, they just leave what the kids didn't eat in their bag so you can see. Carter ate all his cheese and raisins and half of his peanut butter sandwich.

The kids did a couple of art activities ...



And they read "The Kissing Hand" which is about a raccoon's first day of school and the kiss his mom gives his hand so he can hold her kiss all day long (we got the book through the free book program in Tennessee). The kids got to take kissing hands home with them so we remember to give them kisses each day.


While Carter was at school, Rylan and I came home so he could take a nap and I could do a little work (I'm crazy and have decided to work part-time again). Then we met Brian for lunch, did a little shopping at TJ Maxx, and then it was time to pick up Carter. It was nice being able to give Rylan more attention and it was so easy with just one kid!

First Day of School

I dropped Carter off this morning for his first day of preschool (actually, Parents' Day Out).

He did awesome! On the way to school he was cheering, "Carter go to school! Yeah! Carter go to school! Yeah!"

We got there a little early so we had to wait outside of his room for a few minutes. Some of the other moms and I introduced the kids to one another but none of them seemed too interested in one another. Then we went in the room and Carter went right to the trucks. I had to get him to come back over to hang his bag up by his name.

Carter continued to play with trucks while I waited to introduce him to his teachers. After a brief introduction, I gave him a quick kiss and told him I'd be back in a little while and he just kept playing.

I peeked through the door for just a minute before leaving and Carter left the trucks and joined the other few kids that were there already at a table to play with some puzzles.

I can't wait to pick him up and find out how he did!

Builder Meeting

We met with our builder today to go over the choices we made at the design center a couple of weeks ago. We also got to see where our house is going to be built on the lot we chose. Below is the drawing. The front of the house is on the right and the back on the left. We are on a cul-de-sac and there is also an alley behind our house that connects to the cul-de-sac along our lot. This means we still have a side-entry garage instead of a rear-entry.


I don't think I've ever posted a picture of what our house is going to look like. Here it is ...


And here is the layout of the first floor. We'll also have a bay window in the study and a deck next to the screened porch. Also the layout needs to be flipped because the garage is on the left instead of the right.


This is the second floor layout ...


The builder should be breaking ground in the next couple of weeks. We are so excited to start seeing progress!

Puzzles

Carter pulled out some puzzles I bought several months back yesterday and has been obsessed with them ever since. He's getting pretty good at them too ...

Lobsters

This is the highlight of the grocery store! Both boys LOVE watching these guys!

Another Haircut

Since Carter is starting school in a few days, I took him to get his haircut at Carson's Barbershop where we took Rylan a few weeks ago. I never realize how long and crazy his hair really is until it's shorter and neat. Carter did a good job (as usual) and was very pleased to get a Dum-Dum when he was finished.


Afterwards we went to Barnes and Noble for storytime. This is probably my second favorite storytime after the Brentwood Library. Today's theme was the circus. After reading a couple of books to the kids, they got to do some circus-type activities, including walking the tight-rope ...


Then they got to paint these circus-theme drawings ...


This storytime is nice because it's not very crowded. And there is a train table. Both Rylan and Carter will never get sick of other people's train tables.

Lazy Sunday

We didn't have any plans today so we decided to explore the northeast side of Nashville.

First we took the boys up to the Shelby Bottoms Greenway for a jog/walk. We parked on the east side of the Cumberland River and walked across this huge pedestrian bridge to the greenway.


After we finished our jog/walk, we let the boys play at the Two Rivers Park where we had parked. The playground was another one of those wooden play structures that seem to be really popular around here.

We had a quick lunch and then went over to Opryland to walk around. Carter had fun exploring the atriums.





After awhile, Carter was over the photos. This was the only face he'd give me ...


We can't wait to go back at Christmas when they decorate Opryland for the holidays. And this year they are supposed to have special Dreamworks stuff. Carter was very excited about the posters of Alex the Lion from Madagascar that were hanging everywhere.

After dinner we took our evening walk so that Charlotte could get some exercise. Tonight's walk was to the Redbox at Walgreens. Living so close to so much is what's making living in this apartment bearable! Brian and I have rented 3 movies since we've lived here. I think that's more than we usually rent in a year!

Adventure Science Center

I took the boys to the Adventure Science Center on Thursday.

Carter seemed to remember the place and ran to the green screen right away to watch himself dance ...


Rylan liked throwing these balls but never got close to the mouth ...


There is a germ game where you shoot targets with laser guns. Carter did a good job of pulling the trigger while I aimed the gun for him ...


Carter got about half way up the vertebra ladder before chickening out and wanting some help back down ...


Rylan played at the train table while Carter checked out everything else in the preschool area ...


We ended up going back to the museum with Brian today. I think Brian is allergic to us because like last Saturday his allergies started bothering him really bad this morning. We didn't want to be outside so we decided on the Science Center.

Carter and Brian had fun scooping up balls with the excavator ...



We only stayed an hour and I didn't take many pictures. We had fun though and Carter had a blast running around with Brian instead of Rylan and me.

Rylan Update

It's been awhile since I've posted about the things that Rylan is doing. So, here it goes ...


Rylan's still holding off on walking. He's gotten great at pulling up, cruising, and getting from a crawling position to sitting. He's also crawling "normal" most of the time now instead of belly crawling.

Rylan doesn't have any true words yet. Sometimes I think he says mama, dada, and bye-bye but he's not consistent. He does have a particular scream he uses when he wants something. He usually points at something when screaming so I generally know what he wants.

Rylan is starting to recognize some songs, and he'll do the hand movement to match the song. His two favorites are "The Wheels on the Bus" where he spins his hands around each other and "If You're Happy and You Know It" where he claps.

Rylan is still not a fan of books. When I sit down to read a book to him, he loses interest on the first page. However, he has been pulling books out of the basket in the family room or off the shelf in Carter's room more often and will turn the pages in them. The only books he has an true interest in are the ones with flaps in them where there is something to find behind the flap.


I'm still nursing Rylan though I could probably wean him anytime now since he likes milk. I'm generally nursing him before his afternoon nap, at bedtime, once during the night (I REALLY want to cut that one out!), and if he gets up between 4:30 and 5:30 am because he'll usually go back to sleep for a bit. I've tried cutting out the middle of the night feeding but Rylan takes a long time to settle back down on his own and I can't sleep with him crying. He doesn't follow the theory of crying less each night of making him cry it out. I'd rather spend 10 minutes nursing him than be up for an hour or more listening to him cry.

Rylan has gotten pickier about eating. He doesn't eat much baby food anymore (though I do get some in him most days) but he doesn't like much else either. He often likes something new once or twice and then refuses to eat it anymore. It seems like he eats very little each day lately.

Rylan has slimmed down a lot in the last few months but he still has a descent amount of chunk. I wonder if all that extra weight has slowed him down with learning how to walk.

Rylan is fussy a lot still. Staying home and playing in the apartment is not something we do too much because Rylan does more fussing than playing. He just seems bored with all his toys even though we have tons.

One of Rylan's favorite things to play with when we are at places that have them are train tables. Unfortunately ours is in storage since there is no room for it in the apartment. He's also a big fan of balls and throwing them back and forth.

Even though Rylan can be difficult and we feel like we're going crazy, we love him a ton and can't imagine life without him!

More Storytimes

With it still so hot and me not wanting to spend a ton of time at playgrounds right now, we've been going to different storytimes still almost everyday. Since Rylan's not walking yet, it's hard to put him down at playgrounds. So I end up following Carter around while holding Rylan and we both just get all hot and sweaty and don't have much fun.

Yesterday we checked out the storytime at the Williamson County Library in downtown Franklin. The librarian that led the storytime did a few songs and read a few books. The boys both did a pretty good job staying in one place (though neither paid much attention). Carter's favorite part was when they did a song where they got to play with shakers made from plastic Easter eggs.


Today we went back to the storytime at the Brentwood Library. Today's craft was a frog on a lilypad.


So far this is my favorite storytime of the 4 places we've been to.

We are starting to make some friends too. I met a woman today at storytime that has a 2 year old boy and 4 month old boy. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully get together sometime soon. We also met someone that lives in our apartment complex last week at Brian's soccer game that has a 10 month old boy. Her boyfriend was playing on the team Brian was playing against. We met them at the apartment pool last Thursday.