Milestones

I seem to always be in catch-up mode with memory recording. I think back and wonder how I had more time when my little man was littler. Things were perhaps no less busy, but he slept more. These days naps are a fading trend – and when he’s awake, we’re busy making the memories. Daddy and Brendan are out on an adventure right now. Adventures have taken on a whole new flavor these days because he learned to ride a bike with NO TRAINING wheels while The Uncles were visiting last weekend (THE UNCLES WERE VISITING LAST WEEKEND!!). He knew he was ready – but Mommy and Daddy weren’t sure. He really wanted Daddy to take off the training wheels, but we didn’t expect this to happen:

We went from those very first moments to this, very quickly:

And now there is no stopping him. We’re going to have to get Daddy a bike because a scooter just isn’t fast enough to keep up with speedy anymore.

It was so great to have The Uncles here! I almost feel like Brendan knew they needed to be here to watch him learn to ride a bike. We played and ate and hugged and smiled every minute they were here, and then missed them the second they left.

But when you are Brendan Gianino, learning to ride a bike isn’t enough for one week – he also started swim lessons, and LOVES it.


And I love his teacher, Miss Carie. Something about her face makes me feel calm. And it’s incredible how relaxed and wonderful she is teaching babies how to swim. Brendan was cracking us up because he truly thought he was putting his face underwater, but he wasn’t. Since then, he has taken it upon himself to practice in the bathtub:

and he is NAILING it. We can’t wait to see Miss Carie’s face when she see’s him in action this week! He loves it so much that sometimes he wakes up and asks to take a bath so he can practice with his “googles”. Sometimes he even practices in the car:

He also brought his goggles for show and tell at school this week, and when I came to pick him up, he was sitting on the floor playing – with his goggles on.

And just in case we weren’t hitting enough milestones, he also decided he was ready to poop in the potty. And in typical Brendan style, when he decided he was ready, he just did it. No more diapers. No problem going at home, at school, in restaurants or wherever we are. Oh my gosh, no more diapers??!?! I’m clearly in denial because we still have the CHANGING TABLE set up with wipes and diapers and everything, even though we haven’t used it in 6 months. MY BABY IS GROWING UP!!!!! So proud of him.

Even though it is very spring-like now, we had one final rainstorm and went out to enjoy it to the fullest. I loved watching him walk the entire time with at least one foot trailing in the river that formed in our gutter:

Also loved watching him try to keep his puppy dry:

I always take way too many pictures when we walk in the rain, because they are some of my favorite moments. I hope he always wants to walk in the rain with his mama.
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And lets not forget Valentine’s Day. Last year he helped me decorate, but this year he even helped cut out the cookies and put them on the tray. Mommy made a bunch of cookies (some are in the freezer still waiting to be delivered…) but the ones that had his little fingerprints embedded in them were my very favorites.

He also brought in Valentines for school. This is the first year most of his class brought Valentines and it was VERY exciting. Brendan even got to make a special bag to collect all his Valentines. One of these days he’ll probably decide he wants to pick out a box at Target, but until then I’m going to keep having fun trying to figure out how to incorporate washi tape into a boy’s valentine.

And then, there were these two Valentines:

They have chosen each other every single year of their lives – it’s a bond that warms my heart.

The lovebirds also have a deal with their mommies – if they do a good job going to bed (and staying in bed) they get a sticker on a chart. When they both get 4 stickers, they get to go on a fun adventure with the mommies. This week, we had a picnic lunch out by the pond.

I know he needs to go to bed like a big boy – and he’s doing fine with it, but I still get to soak in the morning snuggles. It’s one of my favorite times of the day because even though he’s a big boy now, it’s the time when I set to remember that he’s still my baby.

There was one unfortunate rhyming incident… we were playing our rhyming game on the way home from school – he does a great job with both real and made up words. For instance, “Mommy – do you know what rhymes with cheese?” “Please, Squeeze, Feeze, Meeze….” or “Mommy, do you know what rhymes with car?” “Star, Bar, Far, Lar, Schmar….” and suddenly my baby said, “Mommy – do you know what rhymes with bucket?” Let’s just say that the word did indeed rhyme, and started with an “F”. I had to stifle my surprise and choose my response very carefully – quickly grasping for some other rhymes I offered “chuck it” and “luck it”. We’re going to steer clear of words that rhyme with ‘bucket’ for a while.