Gender Neutral

One of the best things about toddlers is that they don’t understand “boy-things” vs. “girl-things.”  Gender specific toys, colors, etc. are obviously things that society teaches us over time (which is annoyingly dumb.)

Brody does a lot of typical “boy” things.  Many of them are learned from his father and cousins, and some might just be genetic.  He loves sports, getting dirty and is fearless.  Though I know a lot of girls like that too….

Then the more interesting ones.  Brody loves putting “pretties” in his hair.  This is what the teachers at school call pony-tail holders.  They are constantly putting his hair up.  Now that he’s older, it’s always because he asks for one, not because the teachers think it’s cute.  Also, he loves putting on my shoes.  He doesn’t care that they’re “girl” shoes, he just likes putting them on!  He plays with a dollhouse at daycare and isn’t afraid to wear pink.  I love that he doesn’t care and he is just being himself.

Now for my minor gripe…why does everything we purchase have to be gender specific??  A couple weeks ago, we went to pick out a toilet seat.  We want Brody to feel very excited about potty training (we’re still in the introduction stage), so we let him have a lot of choice.  I told him he could pick out his own seat.

Which one did he pick?  The Dora one!  Yes it was pink, no big deal.  Now for the problem…it didn’t have a splash guard.  For those of you with boys, you know what this is, but it’s a plastic piece that goes in the front of the seat to ensure that his pee actually ends up in the toilet and not all over the bathroom.  The Cars toilet seat had one, the Diego seat had one…but the Dora one?  Nope!  Because clearly only girls can have a Dora seat.  I was a little annoyed.  Luckily we convinced Brody that the blue Diego seat was just as cool.

Clothing is pretty much the same issue.  Boys apparently all like cars, dinosaurs and sports.  Of course go in the girls department and even though there is more selection, you’ll definitely notice A LOT of pink.  I’m sure that drives moms of girls a little crazy too.  Not everyone loves pink.   (Though I’ll admit if I had a girl, I’d probably go overboard on pink)

I’m just happy that Jason is secure enough not to care when Brody wants his hair done or plays with dolls.  Boys will be boys…and a little bit girly too.

3rd Annual Opening Day

As planned, we were able to take Brody to his 3rd opening day at Miller Park.  The last two years were relatively successful.  We knew it would be a little more challenging with a two year old, but looked forward to the day.

Go Brewers!

Tailgating was a must, so we grilled out, played catch in the parking lot and ate lunch.  As always, we had to make sure he stayed away from the grill, but he did a great job listening and eating lunch in a lawn chair.

We headed into the park early to look at the Brewers gear and get settled into our seats.  Brody got a new hat, which I don’t think he took off for 2 days.  Then it was nice to be in there early so that he could sit in his own seat for awhile.  We decided with our tickets this year (and the other 10 games we have tickets for) to keep him on our laps, and not get him his own seat.  This may have been a mistake.  He did a great job sitting in the seat before the people next to us got there.  Next year, since he’ll be over 3, he’ll need his own seat anyway, but I wish we had invested in it in this year.  Oh well!

 Inside the park, Brody spotted Bernie Brewer.  He was so excited to run up to him and wanted to say hi, but once we got close up he became scared.  It was better than our Santa 2011 fail, but he still wasn’t loving him.  Then of course all day he wanted to go find Bernie. 

During the game, Brody actually did really well.  Ironically, we ended up knowing the people sitting next to us (friend of a friend thing), so it was nice to have people around that were being really nice when Brody got a little restless.  I’m not afraid to admit that I brought my iPad with and Brody did watch a TV show for a little bit during the game. 

Naptime on opening day?  Nonexistent.  But, Brody handled it well and there were no meltdowns.  We left the game during the 7th inning stretch (we were getting killed, so it wasn’t a good game anyway).  But it was already 6 by the time we left and it had been a long day.

After repeatedly telling us on the way to the car, “no bedtime!”, Brody passed out minutes into the drive home.  Note that he took the hat off, but didn’t let go of it.

Routine

From early on in Brody’s life, we’ve worked to keep his bedtime routine fairly consistent. Usually, we take him upstairs for pjs, put his sound machine on, read a book, hug and kiss goodnight and lay him down. We’ve had to switch it up a little over time, like when we stopped bottles & formula and rocking him to sleep, we started reading books. Since he’s such a good sleeper, I try not to mess with what works.

Though generally stick to the routine, we’re not at all rigid about it. Sometimes he falls asleep in the car if we’ve been out, every other night we do bath, some nights if he’s tired enough, we don’t even read a book.

So apparently we weren’t being consistent enough for Brody…

He’s going through a stage where he’s latched onto one book that he has to read before bed EVERY night. No matter what. And there’s no playing tricks on this kid, he knows right where the book should be each night and demands that it’s read to him.

After several nights of reading the same book over and over, I tried to put it in his closet. He caught me doing it and started crying and pointing at it instantly. Fine, we read it anyway.

Then…last night I thought I’d lucked out. He brought the book to the bathroom but then got distracted by the running water and set it down. He loves baths just about as much as this book! After bathtime, we went to his room, leaving the book behind. He instantly went for the shelf where it belongs. When it wasn’t there he looked up at me with a sad face, like where did my book go?! Then, he quickly remembered where he left it, ran out of his room straight to the bathroom door.

So what did we do? We read the book. Why mess with what works?

P.S. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Sara for the “Baseball Counting Book,” he loves it, we hate it. 🙂

Go Brewers!

Yesterday was our 2nd Annual Family Trek to Opening Day at Miller Park. Taking a 2+ month old last year, was much different than a 14+ month old this year. But for the second year in a row, I’d say it was pretty sucessful.

Unfortunately, it was FREEZING! I looked back at our pictures from last year, and the sun was shining and we were all wearing short-sleeve shirts. Yesterday, we were bundled up with hats and gloves. That made tailgating a little less fun than normal. But we got there early, attempted to play washers (only one of us could actually score a point), and grilled some brats. Brody loved the food and running around. Unfortunately we were on a slight slope in the parking lot, so when he tried to run downhill he ended up on his face. Not to mention he had a strong desire to run circles around the grill. We spent most of the morning stopping him from hurting himself.

We headed into the game a bit early, even though we actually had seats this year. It was too cold to stay outside any longer. Brody had fun running around the stadium a bit with no one in his way.

Then, the game starts, and Brody passes out…

He slept for about 3o minutes until Jason attempted to move him. Since that was unsucessful, Brody ended up staying awake the rest of the game.

We left after the 7th inning, when Brody started to lose patience. When we left, the Brewers were up 1-0. Unfortunately they ended up losing 2-1 after a couple home-runs in the 8th inning. But if they were winning when I left, do I have to admit that they really lost? Because that’s two years in a row they lost the home-opener…

It could have been a warmer day, but it was still a fun one. And needless to say, all of us were in bed early last night.

We survived!

I’m happy to report that our first vacation with a toddler was very sucessful! After a couple in-town stops (including my necessary Starbucks run) we were on the road by 7am. Since we woke up Brody around 5:30, he was sleepy enough to pass out within 10 minutes of the drive. He woke up for the last half an hour of the drive but I sat in the back seat with him and he was happy as a clam. We watched our nephew’s basketball team shortly after arriving and like usual, Brody loved watching them play. Unfortunately they lost but the boys played hard! The girls team from their school was still in the tournament, so we came back Saturday night to see them play. And this is when we started to get way off of Brody’s normal schedule.

Normal nap time at our house is around 12:30, last weekend, Brody finally got a chance for a nap around 3:30. Then he ate a late snack since he didn’t actually get dinner until almost 8pm that night. And if you know Brody, you know that he’s usually long in bed by 7pm. I anticipated a major meltdown at some point during dinner. Aside from his sleepy eyes, there was no meltdown and he was amazing.

The next morning we decided to take him in the hotel pool. He hasn’t had any pool experience, so I was really excited to see how he’d react. Well….he cried. He loves warm baths so a 75 degree pool was apparently too cold for him. So he was one unhappy kid. We comforted him and tried to get him used to the water without giving up right away. He quickly got used to the water and started having fun. Luckily we had the pool to ourselves so it was fun to play with him.

After we watched another basketball game Sunday morning, we headed back on the road. Since we left after lunch, Brody was able to get his afternoon nap in the car. And so did his mommy!

As for all my concerns, I think they worked out well. And I learned a lot about traveling in the process. We were always able to find relatively healthy meals for Brody despite what we ate. Continental breakfast in the hotel was great and also allowed us to grab fruit for later! I will say I was a little dissapointed in the kids menu at the restaurant we went to Saturday night. There was mostly fried food options or burgers. We went with mac & cheese. Then for side dishes they offered cole slaw or fries. Really?!? No veggies?! So we asked to substitute veggies instead of fries. Not only did we pay extra for the vegetables but were charged for a glass of milk since we asked for that instead of soda. Apparently healthier choices will cost you! But we feel pretty strongly about getting Brody healthy options as much as possible and I’m willing to pay for it.

As for the hotel — while not completely baby-proof, Brody managed to stay safe and entertained just fine. Though as we’re planning our trip to New York in the fall, I’m definitely looking at an apartment style hotel room to give us more space. Not only to give him room to move around but to keep him separated from us when he’s sleeping. It’s hard for him to fall asleep when he can see us right next to him — wide awake.

It was a fantastic weekend & I’m so glad that Brody handled all the change and disruptions so well. He truly goes with the flow and it makes it so easy on all of us.

Score!

For those of you who know my husband, you know he LOVES baseball. He played baseball from a young age through high school. He helps coach his nephew’s little league team when he has time. He’s also a die-hard Milwaukee Brewers fan.

Despite this strong influence, Brody has decided to work on his soccer skills…

A Day in the Life

In order to get to know Brody better, his new teachers asked me what a typical day was like at home. I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer…I mean, I don’t know? We hang out…

Then I thought about it more and here’s really what it’s like at our house. There are naps, meals, snacks and errands. But in between here’s what we do:

Pull Brody away from the dangerous things he likes to play with

Crawl into laundry baskets & then ride around in them like a play-car.

Hangout in toy bins.

Carry tupperware lids around the house.

And probably our most normal activity? Learning to play basketball!

Happy 4th of July

Brody celebrated his first 4th of July this weekend. It was a busy weekend and overall he had a great time!

Saturday we headed downtown to the fireworks that I used to go to when I was a kid. It meant a lot to take Brody with me even though it took a toll on his regular sleep schedule. He decided to boycott his afternoon nap and didn’t fall asleep until well after 9. Then when the fireworks started he woke up again. However, he didn’t seem to mind the noise at all! He actually started to giggle at some points and just wanted to play. We were so close the fireworks that debri was falling down on us, so he stayed in his stroller well covered up. But we did let him see the fireworks a little.

Then on Sunday we headed to Brody’s Uncle Nick & Aunt Jenny’s house to celebrate the 4th with Jason’s family. Again, his sleep schedule was very off. Despite his constant yawning and rubbing of eyes he refused to miss out on any fun by taking a nap. We couldn’t get him to sleep all afternoon/evening and when he did fall asleep, he woke up 15 minutes later. Finally he fell asleep….once the fireworks started! Who knew that loud booming and crowd noise could put a baby to sleep? We were smart enough to keep him strapped in his carseat the whole time, so he slept through the fireworks and straight to bed when we got home. Apparently this is also the trick to getting him to sleep in until 8am.

To wrap up the fun-filled weekend, Monday afternoon we headed to the Brewers game. This was Brody’s third Brewers game in his short 5 month life. He slept a bit during the game waking several times to loud cheers. I don’t think he appreciated the crowd constantly interupting his sleep. He handled the heat really well, but his clothes didn’t last long. What’s cuter than a baby in nothing but a diaper in public? I didn’t care as long as he was cool enough.

Go Brewers!

Anyone who knows Jason knows how much he loves baseball and the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s been a fan through all the team’s ups and downs. Then it should come as no surprise that Jay wanted to take Brody to the opening day game. He wanted to start a tradition of taking his son to the season opener every year, so why not start this year?

Due to the team’s success over the last few seasons, it has become increasingly difficult to get tickets. Since we didn’t have season tickets this year we had to put our name in to be picked to even attempt to buy opening day tickets. Needless to say, it wasn’t very surprising when we were only able to get standing room only “seats.”

Obviously we had to prepare for the game a little differently than if we were sitting down. We have a baby carrier that we could “wear” Brody in. Also, we planned to get into the stadium early with the hopes of getting a table. A couple days before the game we decided we would tailgate before the game since the weather was going to be warm.

We went to the game with our friends Todd & Natalie. They are both great with Brody and understanding about taking a baby to a Brewers game, so it was nice to have them along!

We did get into the game early but weren’t able to get a table. Brody didn’t mind and he quickly fell asleep in Jason’s arms.

Then he woke up hungry and I bet Jason didn’t imagine that one day he’d be feeding a baby at a Brewers game instead of watching the team warm up.

Brody handled the game very well. When everyone cheered he did get startled a little, but then got used to the noise. Then all of a sudden we noticed that the circulation in his legs was off and they turned purple. It freaked me out of course, so I tried adjusting the way I was holding him. They went back to normal. Then a couple innings later it happened again. We figured he’d had enough after being held while standing for a few hours. It was the fifth inning and we decided to head home.

We got home in time to see the 9th inning and unfortunately the Brewers lost.

All in all, I think it went well and we’d definitely take him to a game again. I wouldn’t take him to a game where we didn’t have actual seats. I think standing that long was too much for him and if he could sit on our laps he would’ve been more comfortable. And with any luck, he’ll grow up to be as big of a baseball fan as his daddy!